Do teachers like CfE?

[NoLotteryWinYet]

I've been wondering about the Scottish 'Curriculum for Excellence' - do we have any Scottish primary teachers on here and what do you think are its strengths and weaknesses? How long has it been going and what results do you see?

In my experience a lot of people who apply for PSA jobs are mums who want school hours working and holidays and are not suitable for the job. Ours are brilliant - I can't speak highly enough of them.

However some are qualified Nursery Nurses and others who started out doing jobs they enjoyed (working with P1-3 or helping struggling learners) - now find themselves being defied and sworn at on a daily basis by kids who have no consequences applied to their behaviour. It must be so demoralising, especially for the shitty amount pittance they are paid.

As for ASN teachers, some think it's an easy option. I have heard people say "Oh they sit around with 1-1 or little groups of pupils - much easier than teaching a whole class" Or this gem - "I don't think ASN teachers should get paid as much as proper teachers" - and that came from a PT!!

Redscissors you are spot on in that case study. We have one exactly the same. The only special school for behavioural needs was closed and replaced by a centre that takes kids once or twice a week. However parents have the final say and our pupil's parents wouldn't allow him to go there so he stays with us using up PSA time or disrupting the mainstream class.

It's all very well getting money from the PEF but there are no staff to recruit. None of my probationers over the past few years see themselves lasting in this career for more than a decade, staff are leaving in droves, people are discouraging their dc from teaching myself included. I'm SFL just now but if the rumours are true and they continue to cut us back would be funny if it weren't true and force us back into class I'll be leaving too.

I agree with a pp about PSA staff too, mine are increasingly used to cover pupils who can't be educated in class. In my school that also includes me and my SMT bring timetabled to do the same. It's all reactive and no time/money to plan and resource to try and be proactive. I despair and wonder where it's going to end.

I'm a primary teacher and to go back to the OP, I do like CfE in principle. It suits the way I teach and run my classroom, for the most part. I agree with PPs about the lack of guidance as it was introduced though.

As for the PEF, time will tell whether schools manage to utilise the funds in an effective way. My understanding is that it can only be used to fund initiatives which will raise attainment for the poorest children, and there will have to be data to back this up. So it could reasonably be used to support children who can't be in a mainstream class, and this might have a positive knock-on effect for those children still in the mainstream class. I suspect more and more of the school's budget will begin to be distributed in this way, so the stakes are high.

i wonder 2 things about that superjaggy one, if a school didn't get enough from PEF to fund any additional staff of whatever kind to provide more contact, how will that help, and also, what about the middling kids that could be doing a lot better - we're hoping they get more attention if the disruptive children have better help? Time will tell.

it's interesting that even when the funding is increased, there's a timelag to be able to find people with appropriate skills. Hiring people that can't do the job just creates more stress for whoever is trying to cope already.

the ones affected are the struggling but quiet ones

This worries me about my daughter. She is academically fine, not top on the class but middling. No worries about her behaviour or her effort - she is a plodder who is conscientious and just gets on with it. She is not demanding of teacher attention and I feel sometimes in a class of 32 she just melts into the background while the teacher concentrates her efforts on the noisy, shouty ones who are disruptive, or the academic superstars who are always finished first and are clamouring for something else to do.

Class sizes at our school are ridiculous, my daughter has been in a class of 31 since P2 as apparently the maximum of 25 can be breached in Infants if it's exceptional circumstances, and the Head decided that having lots of children was exceptional. She also accepts lots of placing requests every year - at least a third of my child's class is out of catchment. Can see why she's doing, it as she's paid per pupil but it is frustrating as the parent of a plodder. I'd hate to think how it would be if they had some children with serious behavioural issues too.

The PEF allocations were made using FSM data. While obviously every school would like £££, I think most people agree that each school got more or less what it was entitled to.

AFAIK, placing requests are dealt with by the LA, not the HT. If there is space within the school, the child has to be given the place.

These huge classes really aren't good for anyone.

NoLottery the PEF doesn't have to be used for staff, it could be a piece of software or a new practical resource... and as Red says, can only be used for the identified children. Although it makes sense that other children should be able to benefit as a consequence. I suspect if this model of direct funding is successful, then it may well be rolled out in future years to allow HTs to target whoever they like in schools... but councils will fight that kind of decision all the way.

Agree that 31/33 is a huge number for infant classes though, that can't be easy for staff or for the children.

no i know, it seems that appropriate staff shortages are behind so many of these issues though.