Highers and AH cancelled!

[ScoldsBridle]

My DS is horrified!!

@Wbeezer, perhaps, but on the end they gamble on the fact that England will cancel them too, otherwise they are going to look quite foolish (not that anyone would care...).

Scotland cancelled all exams

That's one way to avoid the year on year collapse of Scottish education in an election year.

I've taught for a long long time now. The pupils recently aren't producing inferior work or achieving less than the ones I had 20 years ago. They're maybe a bit too dependent on looking stuff up on their phones! But that's the difference I see.

@Possums4evr is it that other countries are achieving more than they used to which is why scotland has fallen down the rankings? Well before we were removed from them.

It's nearly 40 years since I was at school and I think with a few exceptions, teaching for my DC was generally good and at times exceptional. I think they probably could have been pushed harder at times but then life is a balance really and I'm sure in some countries with higher academic achievement maybe the quality of life for the DC is reduced?

Possums Another long in the tooth teacher here , though not quite 20 years! I feel the same and in fact, in my experience, pupils are pushed to achieve more ( in school) today.
I have seen the impact of a lack of parental input and this may be due to working longer hours so I'm not blaming parents. Children are reading less at home which affects grammar, spelling, vocabulary and a whole host of other areas. Sadly, most of mine don't even sit down for dinner with their families and instead eat it alone, in their rooms, with a TV for company.

Don't get me wrong there are things I hate about CFE. When I started 5-14 was coming in and being roundly criticised too! I think teachers basically teach despite the initiatives from government, we make sure young people gain the knowledge and skills we think they need in our subject area.
My own dc are at school and I'm not overly worried re "falling standards". I speak to a lot of teachers in England and the government's obsession with things like SATS sounds appalling.

Yip. I've also got friends who've taught down south and came back up due to a whole host of reasons. Some examples- a complete lack of funding and struggling to buy essentials like jotters and teachers being made redundant yet Academy heads on £100k plus, any Tom Dick or Harry able to gain employment as a class teacher (on a low wage mind you), huge focus on 'teaching to the test ' in primary school which impacts children's mental health.

I dont have any major complaints about anything but I do feel that we could do with more quality Maths teachers, its the only area that I feel my kids have been a bit let down on. Nat5 Maths has a lot of content and is very challenging for non "mathsy" kids yet DS3 had 4 different teachers last year. This year he finally had a cheerful, good communicator and pedagogue but he got moved to teach Higher and advanced Higher classes and DS3s performance has slumped again I suppose its a recruitment and retention issue.

Part of the problem is teachers don't seem to move on - take English - still on about books all the time, but today's kids take in literature in a dozen different ways.

History teachers in Scotland seem to be in thrall to the SNP.

Computing teachers UK wide are terrible.

I teach loads of media at a all levels. I am trying to up-skill myself in digital media too. But will defend encouraging reading. How on earth would you cope in further and higher education without reading skills?

You've given me a flashback to my dodgy S1 History teacher. He was always ranting on about the English, his least favourite being Mrs Thatcher. He liked to use the belt too!

I got a hilarious email a few years down the line from a self confessed reluctant reader who I'd taught at Higher . All the while promising him if he bagged Higher English in S5 he'd be done with critical essays. He went on to study Engineering. Apparently, I lied his first assignment was a literature review.

As I said before, so many perspectives, there have been plenty of posters on Scotsnet who are troubled by the lack of books in English courses. Will never please everyone not for lack of trying.

Reading should definitely be a priority. DC at uni is expected to read about 10 books a week. Non-fiction.