Warm-strict

[noblegiraffe]

Does anyone else want to vomit when they hear this? I’m hearing it increasingly often and it seems to be a propaganda replacement for ‘zero tolerance’.

It’s ‘yeah, I’m super-strict and don’t let the kids breathe out of turn but I’ll hug them on results day’, isn’t it?

Lehain apparently presenting today at ResearchEd.

Oh you do know how to treat me, noble !

Didn’t see him at ResearchED yesterday, was going to ask him why the kids at BFS weren’t all getting Cs yet.

I thought of you as I walked past David Didau. Still can’t believe you like him.

Oh , I don't like HIM. He is a twat. I do like the cut of his jib , though, as he was basically the first education writer who came out and said lots of things are bollocks. He has now become one of the chosen inner circle, though, and I wonder how much he likes not being a renegade. But he s definitely a typical, cocky male.

His book on literacy is really excellent, though.

I suspect Lehain no longer really would take any responsibility for BFS (credit, though!). There is a new mini me head there ( very young!) who they have trained up. The interim chap was actually a good bloke but is now the executive head of the group of schools. The T and L woman is genuinely excellent and lovely.

Oh, at least we agree he’s a twat. Obviously the literacy stuff is irrelevant to me as a maths teacher

I wonder where all this warm-strict stuff is headed. Obviously Lehain is pushing it massively as part of his role at the PTE pressure group, and looking at their list of supporters, they are not without influence parentsandteachers.org.uk/supporters/

On the one hand, I don’t want some Ofsted edict saying we all have to SLANT and have silent corridors. On the other hand I do want Paul Dix kicked the hell out of schools.

Twitter is a bit abuzz with it today, including Paul Garvey and Sue Cowley who have been vocal about isolation and SEND issues. I like Sue C but her focus is very primary school these days. Paul G is another one who likes to spoil for a fight and is jealous, I think, of others' Twitter ascendancy.
That aside, Paul G has tweeted telling us not to be fooled by the fluffy name!

I feel exactly as you do! I think most teachers do.

We have anew head. He keeps mentioning 'relationships'. So definitely more Dix than dictator.

That is an interesting list! Tom Bennett is not really a SLANT guy and Barnaby Lenon certainly isn't (although he has little experience of schools where it might be needed!)

Tom Bennett has always struck me as eminently sensible on behaviour.

The sticking point for ‘warm-strict’ (zero tolerance) is that middle class parents don’t like it or want it for their kids (fine for other people’s kids though). You can see that on Mumsnet. The Daily Mail does this with ‘Britain’s strictest school’ puff pieces interspersed with sad face stories about the wrong trousers and unreasonable teachers.

The problem with the likes of Garvey is that schools like Great Yarmouth were genuinely shit and where was their outrage then?