Teachers, what is wrong with the education system?

[ColourMeGreen]

England, Wales, NI, Scotland and anywhere else across the world. What's wrong with it, what does it need, how could you reach every child?

[Youmadorwhat]

@Littleandoften they are immersed here too, yes. I probably didn’t explain properly but they are taken out in groups 3-4 times a week with the EAL teacher and they work on Language using a curriculum consisting of 10 themes. Myself, weather, food, clothing etc etc.

[MelbaToast]

It needs to be run by people who have worked as teachers and understand the problems within schools instead of parents/politicians/ just about everyone who thinks they know because they went to school and therefore believe they're right.

[Tiggering]

I think a huge problem for education is that lots of parents are too busy working to be able to have the time, energy and brain space to raise school-ready children. The entire economy is based on a need for people to work very long hours, but if it were somehow possible to reduce the working week to 4 days then it would make a huge difference. Never going to happen though.

[Ineedaweeinpeace]

Money

Parents who do their bit

Money

Educators in charge of education

Mats to be fucking abolished!

[Tiggering]

Also proper provision for children with SEN. One teacher with 30 children cannot be expected to provide 10+ adapted versions of the same lesson at the same time. If there is only one child with SEN then meeting their needs with 1 adult in a while class is achievable but when there are 12, and a few EAL and a few at either end of the achievement range, it just isn’t realistic. Even if each child’s SEN adaptation only needs 3 minutes of adult assistance per lesson, that could easily be half a lesson gone, which only leaves 30 minutes for the 20 remaining children with their various academic, behavioural and language needs. We’re using a system which could only work really well if we limit the number of children with SEN in each class. That could be resolved with smaller classes but it’s too expensive.

[Kazzyhoward]

I think a huge problem for education is that lots of parents are too busy working to be able to have the time, energy and brain space to raise school-ready children.

Sounds a good theory, but not borne out in practice. Most of the failing schools are in run down areas with high unemployment, so the chances are that the parents aren't working, but still aren't spending the time to rise "school ready" kids.

Yet, most of the best schools are in more "normal" areas where both parents are working, so somehow, despite working, the parents have the time to get their kids "school ready".

[TheWorstWitch11]

Urgh. Technology in lessons. Utter waste of time beyond the basics. As if kids don't have enough access to screens, let's plug them in all day at school too.

[Kazzyhoward]

Utter waste of time

Glad to see you're open minded.

[noblegiraffe]

I saw Daisy Christodoulou talking about EdTech on Saturday. She said it’s a constant cycle of hype followed by disappointment and failure to deliver.

So Kazzy, when you are demanding that teachers be open-minded about tech, remember, they’ve seen it all before.

[Kazzyhoward]

they’ve seen it all before.

No doubt because all they've been exposed to is bad tech, like all the other flawed big education initiatives. But have they actually seen the good tech, tech that actually works, tech that is actually useful and adds value?

I'm not convinced that schools are some special case where decent tech can't make a massive difference. I can't think of any other industry, trade, profession, business, organisation, or workplace that hasn't been utterly transformed by tech over the past decade or two.

But, as I say, if some teachers havn't seen anything better than an "online text book" which is nothing more than a pdf of the paper version, then I'm not surprised they're not impressed!

[noblegiraffe]

Of course teachers have seen better tech than that, there’s some fab software out there.

But not to replace a teacher.

[Pieceofpurplesky]

@Kazzyhoward I worked in tech before teaching. The reality is to most teachers we have too much to do to 'play' with the tech on offer. It would be amazing in some instances but with all the content to deliver it's back to the old fashioned way of delivery ...

[Pieceofpurplesky]

Also we deal with human kids - unlike other businesses.

[Piggywaspushed]

I haven't seen better tech than 'that'. In fact, I haven't seen an online text book.

We can't afford it!!

[BelindasGleeTeam]

Can't afford enough bloody glue never mind tech 🤣

[Piggywaspushed]

I am fairly sure policing (at its core) and social work have not been utterly transformed by tech. I am not sure frontline NHS /midwifery has either, beyond the essential life saving equipment. Or legal practice, either. Tech is used as a communication tool and to enhance admin in most of those jobs, as it is in schools.

I am extremely sceptical as to what tech adds to or enhances the art of teaching. I accept children are moving into a more technological world but we also need to preserve the human skills of interpersonal communication, writing and reading books.

[HerRoyalNotness]

In our case if a child doesn’t attain 70% average they’ve failed. That’s right 70%. This leads to teaching to pass tests. Mine have quizzes and tests every week for every subject, tests counting towards grade. If you fail a test you get another opportunity to pass, if you still fail, you get to have a lunch time relearn and test. Not all children are capable of this level. Instead of teaching a love of learning they’re teaching how to regurgitate material to get the grades. Failing leads to summer school or a repeat of the year.

It’s ridiculous and puts undue pressure on the DC. Class sizes are good (23 max), new schools built to accommodate growing communities etc.. but the method of teaching and grading needs a big overhaul.

[noblegiraffe]

I haven't seen better tech than 'that'.

Maths has great stuff like TimesTables Rockstars, Diagnostic Questions or Hegartymaths. Good for practice outside of lessons.

Languages has got all sorts for learning vocab, flashcards and the like.

[Piggywaspushed]

No real difference from old fashioned flashcards !

But those are not examples from my subject, anyway.

Anyway, my central point is many schools do not have the money even for basic tech.

[noblegiraffe]

But those are not examples from my subject, anyway.

I know! Kids at my school are always going on about kahoot, that’s not subject specific.

The ones I listed for maths are for at home.

[Piggywaspushed]

I think the telling thing about how little teachers feel tech adds to that actual act of teaching is how many schools survive without interactive whiteboards. In my school there is one . Not one per classroom. One.

I'd rather have a decent working, environment, heating that works in the winter, and aircon in the summer than legions of ipads.

The last thing I recall our school investing in was those handheld spellcheckers! So that must have been 15 years ago at least!

[noblegiraffe]

My department did have interactive whiteboards and we got rid of them. No one was using them interactively, just as a projector.

Couldn’t teach without my projector though, that’s a piece of tech that has definitely improved my teaching. Before then it was OHPs!

[Piggywaspushed]

Visualisers are all the rage in some schools. I like them but they get in the way on my desk and the novelty wears off after a few uses.

[noblegiraffe]

Not entirely sure why I should be excited about writing in a book instead of on an board.

Good for showing pupil work I suppose.

[BelindasGleeTeam]

Love my visualiser. It's my absolute favourite.