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The staffroom

Whether you're a permanent teacher, supply teacher or student teacher, you'll find others in the same situation on our Staffroom forum.

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Original poster

Looking at the state of the school system now, are you really happy about putting your own children through it?

95 replies

bronya · 08/02/2015 08:04

I quit last year but keep up with teacher friends. It makes me feel sad to think of my own children having stressed, overworked teachers, an increasingly narrow curriculum, over emphasis on tests etc.

OP posts:

Primaryteach87 · 08/02/2015 19:44

*^teaching

fuzzpig · 08/02/2015 19:50

Thank you very much for your reply Littlemiss :)

fuzzpig · 08/02/2015 19:58

Meant to say also I like the idea of not automatically making sat/sun the 'days off' - might do something similar ourselves as this would allow DH to have more input on weekends.

rollonthesummer · 08/02/2015 20:08

Can I be nosey and ask what the ex-teachers are now doing?

I'm part time-I need find something that lets me take home about £1000 a month...

Yuleloglatte · 08/02/2015 20:19

My Dh is a secondary teacher and loves his job. Our children go to his school and are doing brilliantly - it's an inner city high, where the grammars cream off the brightest. It's so sad to hear of all these negative experiences, both for teachers and young people.

Original poster

bronya · 08/02/2015 20:20

SAHM here - saving us over £1500 per month in nursery fees.

OP posts:

Ludways · 08/02/2015 20:24

I'm happy that every child is now monitored and teachers don't just get to teach their favourites or even just the ones they actually notice. I dropped through the cracks at both primary and secondary as I was so quiet and shy, I simply wasn't seen.

I know things are harder for teachers and maybe things have gone too far but it really did used to be awful.

MrsTawdry · 08/02/2015 20:26

It's sounding awful....but my children attend a small village school which has been listed as being in the top 150 so my experience might not be realistic...I don't know why but the teachers look very happy and don't appear to be stressed at all...or they're very good at hiding it!

rollonthesummer · 08/02/2015 20:29

I'm happy that every child is now monitored and teachers don't just get to teach their favourites

That's not something I have ever witnessed.

BlueBrightBlue · 08/02/2015 20:30

My dc's experience of school is a happier one than I experienced; however their spelling and vocabulary are appalling for what is a very bright and confident child.

Ludways · 08/02/2015 20:38

Rollonsummer, I see it several times a year when I'm sent reports or when I speak to the teachers. My ds in y8 isn't an academic child's and in my day would've been passed over. I speak with his teachers often and we send emails etc. The school is a community now, in my day I turned up at 9, left at 3:30 and I wouldn't have spoken to a teacher all day.

pieceofpurplesky · 08/02/2015 20:40

I teach at a state secondary school. I love it as do 90% of the pupils I teach. My son will attend the local state secondary which is excellent. He has loved his primary.
Not all experiences are bad

threepiecesuite · 08/02/2015 20:42

I'm not sure what is meant by 'just teach their favourites' but this is not something I've ever experienced in teaching, by anyone.

The job has changed immeasurably over the last few years, but one thing that hasn't is inclusion. Every child in every class of mine is important and it has been ever thus.

Mistlewoeandwhine · 08/02/2015 20:48

I am an ex secondary school teacher - I home educate my own kids.

Ludways · 08/02/2015 20:55

Threepiece, you're lucky then. I can assure you I've seen it first hand many times. The ones getting noticed were either clever, naughty or chatty. Often the quiet ones were a bit of a project for the teachers but invariably they were sweet children too, which I wasn't, lol. You can ask my parents who still tell the story of how my teacher didn't know my name at the end of being in her class for a whole year (secondary, obviously).

Ludways · 08/02/2015 20:56

Plus I suspect my schooling was over long before you were teaching.

threepiecesuite · 08/02/2015 21:00

Ludways, that's sad to hear. What was it that made you so shy at school, can I ask?

I teach some students who are ultra passive in class, in fact I don't think I've heard a word muttered all year. Other than the encouraging written feedback I give, I don't really know how to engage with them, I'll admit. I do try to get a feel for how they think their learning is going via a quick chat on the way out but they are mainly unresponsive. How can I help them?

Ludways · 08/02/2015 21:12

I was afraid of hearing my own voice in such an open space as a classroom. I was also frightened of being laughed at so avoided interaction at all costs. If they spoke to me out of the blue I'd think I was being singled out and would panic, it's best to start slow and build up. I left school not knowing my multiplication tables, I'd just mouth them along with the class and no one ever noticed.

I left school with 2 o levels as I was told by one teacher I wouldn't get anymore than that. I went on the get an American high school diploma and went to uni, so I definitely could get more than that. Mr Boyle, you were wrong, nrrr!

Ludways · 08/02/2015 21:14

Honestly, the written feedback is really good, that's not something I ever got and I'd have read and re-read it if I had. A hello from my teacher would've also been noticed by me even if I hadn't shown it at the time.

Nonie241419 · 08/02/2015 22:42

I'm a primary teacher and hate the relentless pressure I have to put on children (I'm in Year 6 - the buck stops with us). I worry for my own children, especially DC1 who will be in the first cohort to take the new SATs and will be pawn in the political game which led to the clear as mud new curriculum. I try to be encouraging, but I won't pressure them to do any more than their best.
Education is in a bad, bad way. Lots of the current expectations and trends are based on good ideas, but they entirely fail to understand that people don't make linear progress and we cannot force that. In trying to force it, we're having to fudge things and pass on far too much of the pressure to children. My class know that their KS2 results are extremely important. What they don't know (but I'm thinking of telling them), is that they are of very little importance for THEM. They matter for our school's judgement grade, for the security of our leadership and for mine and my job share's pay (and jobs). And that, frankly, completely undermines what primary education should be for. It should be all, all, all about the individual children, and nurturing them forwards to the point they can reach whilst taking into consideration their emotional maturity, their outside circumstances and their aptitude at that point in their life. I hate being a government drone teacher.

threepiecesuite · 08/02/2015 22:46

Excellent post Nonie - you are absolutely right about the state of education at the moment. The sad fact is though we will never pass that picture to the general public.
The myth that teachers work short hours, for long holidays, and have gold-plated pay and pensions will remain for many, many years to come. No-one will ever quite believe it's as bad as it is.

mayfridaycomequickly · 08/02/2015 22:57

It terrifies me. I 'teach' in the FE 'resit' department - students who've not gained high enough levels in English and Maths to get on to even the lowest level programmes across college.

I teach GCSE resits and Functional Skillls to students in classes where ability can range from Entry Level 2 to Level 2. Students who've been failed by the system and, in some cases, those raising them.

There's nothing more soul destroying than watching a 16 year old with no special needs (often other than needing a cuddle, a decent meal and someone to encourage them to go to bed before 3am) struggle to read a question that many year 3 children could read without hesitation.

storynanny2 · 08/02/2015 23:01

Well said nonie.
My children, now in late 20's and 30's had the most wonderful state education, had loads of fun and achieved good academic standards.
I now am in despair at what I see on supply in infant schools locally.
There is absolutely no fun, no creative activity, no singing, no dancing, no time to be curious, no time to explore at their own pace, no time for listening to lots of stories, just more and more and more phonics, writing and numeracy.
I await with interest to see if it will make any difference to academic standards in 10 years time.
When I return to a class, they ask what songs we are going to do and what stories I have brought. I sneak them in when I should be doing yet more phonics.
I am very very glad my children have gone through the system already.
It is my sole aim as a supply teacher to make those little ones have a fun learning day when I am working with them.
That is why I no longer work full time as I can not be the teacher the government wants me to be.

Callooh · 08/02/2015 23:23

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

threepiecesuite · 08/02/2015 23:50

Fuck knows who teachers will vote for. Every party looks like they will keep fucking about with education despite fuck all knowledge of the current state of it. I'm beyond raging about it.

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