Gove. When will he go?

[stillenacht1]

Things are unravelling for our Michael. What do you think will become of him? If he goes I will hold a party

I wonder what private sector employer cot watcher works for? It's obviously a really crap one.

Also, Education Ministers are usually subjected to criticism but never to the extent of that given to Gove. Believe it or not, teachers really do care about your children. Gove cares for his political future. Shake up, shout a lot, never mind if schools and their teachers are undermined and never flinch when robbing schools of finance in favour of his pet project; those wonderful Free Schools staffed by unqualified teachers and in one case an unqualified Head. (However, she didn't stay the distance). Please parents, don't be led by those who are basing their understanding on past childhood memories.

Fascinating article about how schools in Birmingham have been manipulated and undermined by a group of extremist governors and senior staff with a frightening agenda and way of operating.

www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationopinion/10700041/Muslim-extremists-and-a-worrying-lesson-for-us-all.html

Lulu...it seems quite reasonable to me that some teachers work in their "holidays"....teachers get more holidays than any other worker I know off...about 14 weeks for goodness sake....so to work 4 days is hardly a hardship....and teachers get paid an annual salary not just so much per day....and the starting salary is above £21000...I have just looked it up...and you get annual increments....who else gets that.?

I would send my children to a free school and not worry about whether the teachers had qualified teacher status. I know a lot of teachers and many are left wing and politically opposed to the present government. Some non qualified teachers have good degrees and are enthusiastic about their subject and are excellent teachers. Some teachers I know are against free schools and academies because they are concerned about their pay and conditions of service, not about the children's education. I do not, and never have, read the Daily Mail, and am a qualified teacher. I am all too aware of the power and influence of the teachers' unions and am delighted if that power is diluted.

We don't get annual increments - read properly.

If you were still teaching, you might know that.

Cotwatcher
I'd be interested to know where your a lot of teachers work because DH goes to over 100 schools a year of all hues and types and has never heard ANYBODY say a nice thing about Gove.

cotwatcher the starting salary for an NQT is £21,804.

Teachers are no longer entitled to annual increments- the government changed that last year. Schools no lo ger have to honour increments in any form- either as amounts or as awards.

You really are ill-informed.

I pity your children because you clearly have liitle concern for the quality of their education and are happy for them to attend a Free School where a company makes money from education funding rather than spending all of it on rovision for children. I am assuming you have already arranged for them to move to one of Mr Gove's marvellous Free Schools and that you will be getting a job thete yourself hopefully- I certainly would not want you and your views any where near my children in a state school.

I think cotwatcher is a qualified teacher who doesn't actually teach, TalkinPeace. Maybe the terms and conditions were just too good for him/her.

Or maybe it was out of concern for children's education that he/she gave up.

Or perhaps she just couldn't hack it.

I can't imagine that you have been employed as a teacher in a state school for quite some time, cotwatcher.

cotwatcher ' some teachers I know are against free schools and academies because they are concerned about their pay and conditions of service'

Well, all teachers I know are against free schools and academies because:
They are run as businesses, paying huge salaries from public education funding to administrators and academy chain officers who are often incompetent
They take funding away from state schools
They have dangerous freedoms that are open to misuse as in Birmingham, They are run by academy chains that are incompetent and who just hand them back to the DFE once they risk being accountable for their failure, leaving children in the lurch
They can teach what they like and have anyone they like teaching

In the middle of all of that are children whose life chances are at their mercy

I teach in an outstanding school where our staff work incredibly hard for all children, some for very poor wages as NQTs. You should be ashamed of your ill- informed opinions.

I was listening to Nick Clegg on the radio this morning talking about how Free Schools and academies don't have to teach the national curriculum, but maybe it would be a good idea to have a basic core set of knowledge that they are expected to teach, instead of whatever they want.

I mean shit, did no one think of that before signing away control of these schools to whatever groups managed to fill in the paperwork?

Teachers have moaned for decades. I remember it 40 years ago too. It is in their DNA.

Hmm. I've heard lawyers moan, too, JaneParker.

And it appears to be a journalist's professional responsibility to moan.

Bankers moan incredibly loudly when anyone suggests doing anything about their bonuses.

As for politicians and their expenses... They only did it because they aren't paid enough, you know.

Teachers have moaned for decades. I remember it 40 years ago too. It is in their DNA.

Yes, usually in response to stupid people who suggest that they don't work very hard.

So easy to write off reasoned criticism as 'moaning' rather than engaging with the debate. It doesn't add anything, but it does make you look a bit of a lightweight.

No, the teachers have special qualifications in moaning and are some of the best in the land at it. I am not proposing we stop allowing them to do so but they certainly never seem happy. Was there ever a time they were happy with their lot in the last 100 years?

But I rarely hear a teacher complain about actually teaching - I've only heard them complain about not being trusted to get on with their jobs, having the goalposts constantly moved, and having people go on about how little work they do. I'm fed up with goalpost moving now and I'm just a parent with children in the education system, so I have to say, I have considerable sympathy with teachers. I also don't think teaching PROPERLY in the way parents actually expect is a job with plenty of time off. To do it properly, it's a massive commitment and I wouldn't be willing to put that much effort into something if I weren't trusted and only had ignorant people whine at me because in THEIR mind, it's a cushy number with plenty of holidays.

Yep, I'm a journalist and I'm REALLY good at moaning. Teachers are lightweights by comparison.

MI is right