Pivotal

[Hercwasonaroll]

theunofficialteachersmanual.blog/2020/02/19/why-we-should-boycott-pivotal-education/amp/?__twitter_impression=true

This blog is doing the rounds on twitter. Shows how harmful Paul Dix is.

I've worked within this nonsense and absolutely behaviour deteriorated whilst SLT seemed to have a much easier life than before as they absolved themselves of any responsibility.

Working link [[https://theunofficialteachersmanual.blog/2020/02/19/why-we-should-boycott-pivotal-education/amp/?__twitter_impression=true
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I saw this earlier - if I’d started the thread it would have been ‘Paul Dix hates teachers’ because as soon as I read that bit it rang true.

Or not working link theunofficialteachersmanual.blog/2020/02/19/why-we-should-boycott-pivotal-education/amp/?__twitter_impression=true

That video he's done is awful. How has he made so much money from spouting this rubbish?!

It'd be my first question on interview "do you have a Paul Dix inspired behaviour policy?". If they answered yes I'd leave.

Meanwhile, Tom Bennett and various people are shouting at each other on Twitter. It's all rather nastily toxic.

Is this over Sabisky?

I’ve seen claims that ResearchEd is some sort of alt-right organisation. Which Paul Dix will be bloody loving.

Partly over him but also because some man has set up a 'Tom Bennett Watch' page which is just weird. People are very polarised on there and now just all follow and retweet (and block!) each other. No one cares what normal teachers think. I dared make a comment once about all of their debates overlooking corridor behaviour and got smacked down (can't remember of that was by one of them or by Paul Garvey who is equally childish)

I do think Research Ed has become very smug, entitled, entrenched and remains very male : this doesn't help them...

Paul Dix has been quiet on Twitter lately @ but I guess he can be because his acolytes keep tweeting !

@ not deliberate!

Oh yes the tweeting and blocking is ridiculous, Paul Garvey is so rude. The Tom Bennett watch got far more attention than it should have.

Research Ed has some good ideas but it is a very white male environment with them all patting themselves on their backs.

Edutwittwr is so polarised. Any middle of the road comments are pretty much ignored!

That article is brilliant.

Paul Garvey gets slated a lot doesn't he ?

Paul Garvey started off very nice but has reacted badly to the EduTwitter crew and aligned himself with Ban The Booths. He has become very aggressive. It's all such a shame that there are very few people on there who aren't ideological and practical and just speak up for the ordinary teacher (tries to think of exception...) : but then those people are probably too busy teaching!

What's wrong with Ban the Booths?

I left teaching this year but am following conversations about Pivotal as I’m genuinely anxious about what is awaiting my children at secondary school as this approach is being adopted by poor school leaders. It means SLT position themselves as kindly friends to the students, this relieving themselves of any unpleasantness. Experienced teachers leave the profession. New teachers absorb the message that all behaviour is their fault and struggle harder and harder until they sink. And badly behaved, aggressive students are in control of the school. The middle ground of students are swayed over to them. Disrespect is rife and physical assaults increase. Learning is pushed way back down the list of priorities. I do not want my children to attend a Pivotal-influenced school.

I also agree that the crucial line in this piece is that Dix hates teachers. I want my children to be taught by respected and well supported professionals. That won’t happen in a Dix school.

They are an ideological group who don't engage in any debate and have trolled people almost continuously on Twitter. They use horror stories about isolation booths (which are basically library desks) engage in massive hyperbole and have no other practicable solutions to teachers' anxiety about aggressive and sometimes violent behaviour in schools.

Honestly, in RL no one is as bothered by this sanction as that campaign or the other, opposite mob think they are. We have had a (very small) isolation room in our school for 20 odd years and no one has batted an eyelid. In fact, most teachers at my place would argue it is under deployed! Ideological battlegrounds very rarely reflect concerns on the ground.

I think one of the big problems is when you have once perfectly reasonable people like Ross McGill telling teachers they are imagining a behaviour crisis... this is arrogant and not helpful at all.

Totally agree re booths piggy.

It's a ridiculous campaign full of "I heard from my best friends dogs neighbours they lock children in a cage" style posts.

I've never heard of Pivotal but very interested (and shocked) to read about it. I'm a secondary teacher.
Reminds me of a former head at my place to an extent though it was more favouring parents over staff in her case - a child was asked to wear a longer skirt so complained via parent that staff were wearing short skirts (they were knee length) so immediately we were all reprimanded...

Ban the Booths totally fucked what should have been a reasonable discussion about extended use of isolation for pupils with special needs. Instead they focused on the fact that desks in isolation rooms may have dividers so that kids can’t catch each other’s eyes and piss around so easily.

They started by wanting to get rid of isolation rooms altogether, and then when people said ‘don’t be daft’, switched the focus to ‘desk dividers’ and when people said ‘don’t be daft’ they’re now saying ‘we’re only concerned about DEEP CONFINEMENT BOOTHS. Which I think is an isolation room full of toilet cubicles.

And despite being a bit of a joke, they actually held a ‘ban the booths’ conference (now named ‘lose the booths’ to be less aggressive) where every session seemed to have the title ‘booths are bad, mmkay’ and looked like the most boring CPD ever. And that’s saying something.

Love this. Thanks op

Research Ed has some good ideas but it is a very white male environment

I have a major soft spot for Tom Bennett so have some sympathy for him on this count. Yes, the speakers are often white and male, but isn’t that just a reflection of the pool of voices? We know that SLT are dominated by white males, and education research, so that will be reflected in the speakers. I don’t think it’s by design, and I’ve certainly seen plenty of women speak there - Daisy Christodoulou is one of their most popular speakers. And the audience, as you would expect with teachers, has lots of women.

I suspect that the people who complain about white males also don’t like Katharine Birbalsingh.

I have always rated Tom B but he has become very entrenched and allowed certain views to dominate at Researched. I feel like he has lost control of it. Sabisky as a guest speaker rather showcases this..(and Bennett's response to this)

I feel the white male environment at Researched is more of a Twitter thing. Also, I am never quite sure where you are noble but I know not a single person , male or female, who ahs attended a ResearchEd meeting, so it is pretty metropolitan , too. Certainly , round my parts no one would attend a weekend CPD!

I have witnessed on Twitter the Researched people literally shouting down females to the extent they feel bullied. Sue Cowley has come off Twitter, Jennifer Webb keeps herself to herself (and so doe Birbalsingh to an extent) and there has been sneering at WomenEd voices. that said, Paul Garvey has also shouted down women and BAME voices - in fact probably more so. I don't know who Naureen Khalid is but there has been very nasty stuff aimed at her.

Allowed certain views to dominate? The whole point of ResearchEd was that it was evidence-based, so that would naturally exclude views where the evidence doesn’t stack up. Is he supposed to allow sessions on project-based learning when the evidence isn’t there?

Not sure what you mean by his response to Sabisky?