AIBU to think some school policies are at least partially responsible for the rise in pupil unhappiness?

[Alittlebitofmin]

A friend’s kid described school like a prison. He is likely to be a school success story set to get really good grades, but sees school as something to mainly tolerate. AIBU to think the school system itself is at least a significant partial reason why teenagers report lower levels of happiness at schools in England? Schools seem increasingly punitive and restrictive, pressure seems high, some children are even made to feel guilty if they have a day off sick.

Exactly!

And not being prepared for meetings because you cba to bring a pen or pad or whatever is fine as a one off but if a regular thing, it points to the staff member being disorganised which can have an impact on performance reviews etc.

True Gaul these kids will be fired if they continue to behave like that once they're in work presumably (or they just won't get a job to start with).

I think a lot of it is probably more to do with a packed curriculum that focuses heavily on academics (with a lot of ‘coaching’ kids to learn how to give the correct answers in exams) with not very much (or any) time left for arts/practical subjects that a) some children are better at than the academic ones and b) provide some light relief/respite from the academic subjects even for students who excel at maths etc.

There's a mum near me who is always banging on about how her poor kids got "detention for breathing" and therefore how bad the school was, when mine have been at the same school for 5 years and never had a detention between them.

Same kids who went to every primary school in the area cos she moved them every 5 minutes due to how "awful they were to my kids"

Maybe your kid is the common factor here love??

What School policies are you referring to?

And every company has potentially irritating and pointless rules.

And whether it’s school or work, people have a choice - follow the rules or leave and join another employer/school.

Oh Lordy I feel sorry for their potential future employers 🤣 There is a thread on here about a 22 yo man who got fired for being late every day and his mother is up in arms about the unfairness of it all 🤣

I think some kids of strictness are important. I’d want and encourage any school to clamp down hard on bullying or anything approaching it, for example.

Then they do have to at least enforce the rules like uniform and equipment- especially equipment as the kids need it to learn.

Some schools go massively too far though- with lining kids up in the playground for inspections, banning talking in the corridors, not allowing kids to use the loo etc

My DS’s school has quite a tough catchment but they seem to find a good balance from what we’ve experienced so far.

Every single day.

This.
I work in a secondary and wish we were allowed bodycams as a one off to show certain parents what their children are actually like.
Most of the kids are lovely but the strict rules our academy enforces are to prevent the disruptive pupils from disrupting the classrooms as much as possible as it isn't fair on the children who want to learn.

It always annoys me when people say something like rules are too draconian without actually asking the school why those rules are in place.

'not allowing kids to use the loo' - did you see the post upthread about the kids deliberately wrecking the newly refurbished toilets? Pretty much every school has stories about things going on in unsupervised toilets that would make your hair curl.

'banning talking in corridors' - kids at my school are allowed to talk in corridors. Do you know what's a massive problem in my school? Lateness to lessons.

'lining kids up in the playground for inspections' - don't know what that's about but I did work in a school where kids had to line up outside before every lesson because the corridors were too narrow.

I felt exactly the same 35 years ago. Had quite good grades but couldn't wait to leave school. Just grew out of it. The problem is that kids mature at different rates, so some are responsible and can be relied upon to behave, but some aren't. The mature ones pay the price in terms of the restrictive rules and babying required to control the other ones.

Younger teachers moving through the ranks are brainwashed into teaching to Rosenshine and Tom Sherrington and are trained specifically to teach as per academy trust preferences. They are much more likely to be automatons, or leave the profession because they can't be the teacher they imagined they would be.

Tom Sherrington is shit. I twice saw him present using some work from a mate of his son from like 2003.
How these people who are sacked from their jobs managed to jump onto this gravy train is impressive

Oh god.... the "can only teach from booklets and pre prepared PowerPoints" brigade.

All lovely and shiny until the power goes off and Bob asks a tangential question.

If you can't do it with just a dried up board pen, then you have a problem.

Walkthrus (vom) are one of the worst "research led" additions to teaching I have ever seen. Those and "trauma informed behaviour systems".

It's all edubollocks. But it's shiny so it must be good.

Look at the emperor ... he's got new clothes.

In the case of Ofsted versus Tom Sherrington, I'm very much on Sherrington's side.

I pay no attention to Ofsted at all, so have no idea where they would be in a fight with Sherrington. I just hate the Walkthrus and having him quoted at me in CPD briefings.

Also, I would much rather Rosenshine than the bollocks I was taught on my PGCE. Rosenshine is what I actually figured out as how to actually teach in the early years of my career but having to do it secretly and then put on show lessons of kinaesthetic crap and group work when being observed because that was 'good' and teaching kids stuff by going through examples and then getting them to do some practice was 'boring', even though it actually worked much better.

He could have been an earlier Ruth Perry.

And the 4th year teacher who waved the Rosenshine's Principles of Instruction book at me to make a point. Oh ssshhhhh...

Good as a general 'idea', not 'followed to the letter when it doesn't work with the kids in front of you'. I really resent being told how to do things by teachers with less experience than me. But then I'm probably the problem. Ah well.

Think it is also something that lends itself very well to maths.

Creative subjects where you need flair or any sort of freedom, not so much.

I've had to sit through an awful lot of INSET on reading with a ruler though, so we all have our time wasted in different ways 😴

This

schools have always been focussed on uniform and giving out detentions

And that is really the problem. Schools and the education policies which govern them have become so fixated on creating productive economic units and exam passers, that they have lost sight of the real value of education. If I were in charge I’d start by banning the national curriculum. I’d tell primary schools that their only job is to develop curious, enthusiastic children who can read and do arithmetic, but beyond that they can teach what they want, how they want. I’d tell secondary schools to offer fewer choices of subject, fewer facilities and focus as much money as possible on smaller class sizes. I’d set the maximum size of a primary school as a 2-form entry, and at secondary as a 3-form entry. No GCSE work permitted until year 10.