How would you reform primary education?

[Hobbleouchouch]

I found the secondary education thread really interesting.

As a soon-to-be-primary-school-parent, I would love to know your thoughts on what would make the perfect primary school!

Thanks!

Does anyone have a link to write to her in the capacity of SoS? There is a generic link to the DfE but that isn’t helpful-it’s about making a complaint or whistleblowing.

www.gov.uk/contact-dfe

You can write to MPs but unless you are in her constituency, you won’t get a reply.

Could be compensated for by slightly longer holidays as I think it’s good for them to get down time

Not sure parents will want more holidays to cover with annual leave or find and pay for childcare for.

Saw a new story today about Italy's working mothers/parents starting a campaign to reduce their summer holiday - I think it's 12 weeks. Though I wasn't keen of Wales now scrapped plans to reduce 6 week summer break to 3 or 4 weeks.

Maybe I am asking if all the challenges are overcomeable with skilled and dedicated teachers, or whether the whole system is failing?

So many fab answers to this on P5. Too many to be able to quote.

I think you can send to your own MP with a request that this be forwarded to a Sec of State. My MP has done this for me in the past.

If everyone did it ............? Just a thought .......

I’d say smaller classes and smaller schools. Old style village schools are the ideal to my mind.

I have sent the link to my MP with a request that his office forward it to the Sec of State. I have also asked if there is a way this can be sent directly.

But what if all parents got the same number of weeks' annual leave as school holidays?

I think school holiday and inset days need around 65 days cover as it is in UK.

Most parents do cover that with mix of annual leave, family help or paid childcare.

So the choices would be parents work 65 to 37 days( 65-standard 28 annual leave) less than none parents so should they do with less money despite often higher costs or should government cover the bills for more holidays from taxes.

Also what if you critical mass of parents in a work place/industry- hospitals or so many in a factories have to shut putting no parents out of work those weeks. Plus would employers then be worried about employing parents - so making it actually harder for working parents.

So I think advocating for more school holidays and more parental leave to cover those wouldn't be popular with wider public - though the current mismatch is a source of stress for many parents.

I had read OP’s question in a slightly different way - whether it was inevitable that their child would encounter evidence of the current difficulties in primary education, or whether it was possible that they might be lucky and have a series of individual teachers who were still delivering an excellent education and experience within the current system.

I would say that it is still - just -possible that they may be lucky, but it is really, really hard to know because there is a culture of individual teachers delivering a positive spin to parents even when the actual situation is dire.

I have a very wide array of cards, positive e-mails and lovely comments, indicating that to parents this year I have managed (as a skilled and dedicated teacher) to deliver an extremely positive experience for their children. They do not know at what cost that has come, and what things have never been mentioned. They do not know about the behind-the-scenes battles on behalf of children with extreme SEN. They do not know about the excessive workload imposed by the paperwork and the planning for multiple children with individual high needs. They do not know about all the holes in a broken system I have tried my hardest to fill through sheer effort of will and my own time and resources. They do not know how much more positive their child’s experience might have been with the curriculum, backup and funding from even just a decade ago.

So yes, if IP’s question is ‘are there gleams of light within the system still?’, the answer is ‘yes’, but they are dying. I am not teaching next year, and I am one of at least 10 staff leaving a medium sized primary this year. Only 1 of the departing teachers is moving to another teaching job.

I wouldn’t send them to school until they were much older. Maybe 7 ish. I know they do they in other countries. Five seems too small to go to school. There isn’t enough time for play.

My sister in law is a reception teacher. I would also make it a rule that children can’t start school until they are toilet trained. This causes a lot of problems for her in her school and teaching. I know there are ways sen exceptions etc. and I don’t mean to lump everyone together - however, from what she says there are more and more each year that aren’t out of nappies. Which is just sad.

More male teachers.
Boys need good role models more than ever now that as soon as they're in their teens (or before) they'll come up against toxic views online. I had a very biddable, nerdy boy with a lovely daddy who lived with him, but even he would have appreciated a male teacher.

I have a daughter too, but feel that girls were set up to do better somehow because the teachers were all female.

Both children achieved equally brilliantly but I feel some boys may have fared better with a better balance

• Smaller class sizes (maximum 24 pupils)

• More funding for TAs (at least one per class, plus additional for SEN/D support - required more and more in mainstream school)

• More funding for resources/equipment to enable effective, interactive, fun teaching/lessons (rather than trying to make 2 outdated maps work for a class of 30)

• Extension of an EYFS-style curriculum into KS1, with continuous provision throughout the whole primary phase (know of several schools who extended continuous provision into Y1 last year and the impact was huge)

• More trust for teachers

• Streamlined curriculum with a focus on basic skills (reading/writing/maths) and incorporating them into foundation subjects in a meaningful, interesting way

• Complete overhaul of the inspection system, starting with the scrapping of OFSTED and creation of a new methodology where teachers knowledge and experience are valued and respected

• Let teachers talk to and play with children - the best learning happens in incidental moments

That's just for a start!

My DD is 6 and have no complaints so far, so this is (semi) lighthearted but actually not…6 week holiday IMO is far too long for working parents, and also DD misses her mates and is bouncing off the walls, she thrives on routine. I would propose, 3 weeks at Christmas - as Xmas hols seem like such a rush cramming everything in and would be nice to have the option to go away somewhere at Xmas . 2 weeks May half term, 2 week October half term? Then 3 weeks summer…much better.

Yes, to all this !
Even in play based reception classes there just isn’t the time to get to know the kids on a personal basis because of assessing / doing booster sessions etc .
I would also like more of an insistence (like there used to be ) of kids having basic skills prior to starting school . Toilet trained at the very least !!!!! How it would be implemented though I’m unsure .
Ofsted should be more of an assistance than a threatening experience .

Yes, all of this.

Formal education should start at 6 or 7 as in other countries instead of 4 or 5. I’d also ban homework until at least secondary school if not year 9. Rationalise GCSEs so that children receive a single school leaving certificate that itemises what they have studied and their achievement level. Reduce paper work for all teachers and let them concentrate on teaching and work intuitively more often. Have two teachers per primary school class: one an experienced professional and the other possibly a trainee or newly qualified teacher. No primary children should be taught by unqualified classroom assistants but secondary children should be able to have the benefit of learning from specialists from non teaching backgrounds such as professional artists and musicians, chefs and motor mechanics to give just a few examples.
As you can tell I’ve thought about this a lot. Very little chance of any of it happening mind.

Agree with most of this.

This! Teaching children, not an overloaded over- prescriptive curriculum. Primary school children are not miniature university students. They should learn from both formal lessons and experience. Meet visiting theatre groups, musicians, artists, authors, local experts. Visit art galleries, museums, the library, other schools. Enjoy a wide range of physical activities both individual, learning skills, co- operative and small competitive team games at their own competency level so can be enjoyed by not just the athletic and sporty types. Be able to read for pleasure and information, with understanding. Have opportunities to work as part of a team as well as individually.
Learn to solve problems, learn to use simple tools and design & make things. Learn social skills develop resilience and responsibility. All of this in a supportive, caring environment where the teachers care more about interesting exciting activity and learning than testing and box- ticking. Where every teacher knows every child's name. Where every achievement, not just academic, as important as that is, is recognised and valued. Yes of course spoken language reading, writing, maths sciences but so very much more.

Well that's a start!

Why scrap restorative behaviour policies?

I don’t think it is effective. Children aren’t stupid. They learn to say the right words to meet the policy.

Plus, the time teachers are spending on individual altercations can be immense.

I’ve worked in primary education in all age groups as a TA and 1:1 SEN TA. When Labour were last in power we seemed to be heading in the right direction making lessons more fun, more creative, interactive. We were encouraging more trips out and more immersive days like a “Roman Day” or similar. Stuff that stimulated children’s interest in learning. Several years into Tory leadership I left as all the fun had been taken out of lessons. Creativity was limited. Children weren’t allowed to write imaginatively. We used templates and rewrote versions of existing stories. We got hung up on grammar and spent far less time creating, drawing, cooking and being active. That’s no fun for the children or the staff.

I'd create special schools for children whose needs are too complex for mainstream education.

Some of The stories in that FB group are truly shocking !

Throwing money / incentives to attract people to teaching isn’t the answer - retaining teachers is what needs looking at (workload / resources etc )