What educational guff is winding you up the most?

[Justagame]

I could list a few; teach like chump, coaching, sporting analogies, endless acronyms and those motivational quotes with inspiring images just to really help you understand the power of the message. Are there any schools that aren't full of this shite at the moment?

[NewName54321]

What does ACES stand for?

[halfbakedkate]

Deep dives - makes me grind my teeth.
Cultural capital - painful.

[JhustJenny]

Oh can I gatecrash as a non teacher? Theyre big into coaching in the organisation I work for. I work in finance so don’t know a whole load about it but I’d be interested to know why it’s popular and why people think of it as guff/are ideologically opposed to it. It seems to be a bit like mindfulness i.e. it places a lot of responsibility on the individual in times of major systemic problems and underfunding

[AllPointsNorth]

I’ve been teaching for decades, and what infuriates me is nothing that’s happening now.
It’s that in a year or so, it will be obsolete or even unmentionable and blanked from the collective memories of all SLTs. Like all of the previous must-do, three-line whip policies and philosophies.
Disposable, throw-away education.

[FlamingoAndJohn]

I agree with the behaviour being your fault because you aren’t meeting their needs.

[FlamingoAndJohn]

Not that I agree that it’s the fault of the teacher but that it’s bullshit.

[Piggywaspushed]

What amuses me about cultural capital is not the theory itself (which I have lots of time for), but the complete and wilful misunderstanding and misappropriation of what is a Marxist theory by right wing educationalists!

[noblegiraffe]

Cultural capital is Marxist? I thought that was about seizing the means of production not going to the theatre?

[Waterlemon]

Laughology anyone?

Spent my day off (Inset day) at a crap hotel with crap food (that ran out) “learning” how to create a “happy cantered” school. At least the overtime came in handy for Christmas.

[Pieceofpurplesky]

Purposeful Practice is the one for me. Has to be in every lesson - as if it's not something we do anyway.

We have a new and dynamic teacher who really thinks he is reinventing the wheel every time he shows us a great resource he has downloaded and claims it as his idea. But it's something we did ten years ago - it's just become trendy again!

[noblegiraffe]

Purposeful Practice

Is this just ‘doing some work’?

Laughology

What. The. Really? Teachers as clowns?

[theluckiest]

Oh god, Paul bloody Dix. Our head buys into whatever shit is current and trendy so consequently behaviour is dire.

Grab a sick bag...'shallow paddle' followed by a 'deep dive.' Piss off. Just piss...OFF!!

[DippyAvocado]

"Quality first teaching". Just an excuse to reduce funding/support to SEN pupils and then blame the teacher if their learning suffers.

[Pieceofpurplesky]

Exactly noble but we have to identify it in our planning so that SLT can check it is being done 🤨

[Hercwasonaroll]

Ohh so much of this list!

The teacher tapp on restorative justice was unbelievable. Did Dix army only answer. There must be an inherent bias in there somewhere because no actual teacher agrees with Dix.

#flipthenarraritve on twitter is a bit shit too.

[halfbakedkate]

Oh and gaming...
Could someone please explain to OFSTED that the reason primary schools are relentlessly teaching reading and maths is because of the enormous pressure on results. OFSTED created the stick and now they are hitting teachers with it. Makes my blood boil. How dare they create a climate and then punish schools for it.

[Piggywaspushed]

It is noble.You have rather proved my point! It's Pierre Bourdieu.I could do a whole lesson on it....

But basically it is about how the elite keep the plebs in their place by having a certain type of elite culture (which the elite define themselves)and thereby ensuring no pleb can be on an equal footing. They simultaneously refuse to place value on any more working class culture. Bourdieu did not say 'so fix this by teaching them all Classical Mythology'. He was a Marxist. He thought the elite would just redefine culture if the plebs started knowing more.

So, it really does wind me up when- ironically half educated people -start wittering on about cultural capital!

Basically, it's a sticking plaster. Because all the other (better) solutions to social inequality in education cost huge amounts of money and a step change in education.

[Areallthenamestaken]

Sick of hearing intent, implementation and impact and being questioned all the time. 'But WHY are you doing this?' I already told you. Stop trying to catch me out and let me teach!

Deep dives

This mad focus we have on reading while seemingly ignoring everything else

[Piggywaspushed]

What's wrong with reading! That's not guff!

[JhustJenny]

I’ve reread my last post and it’s prob not clear. They’re big into promoting coaching to teachers and I’m wondering why that is the case if the consensus here is that it’s not useful or wanted (especially as all of them are former teachers)

[EmotionalEllie]

I'm not a teacher so apologies for gate crashing!

Most of this sounds truly awful and I also work in a role with a lot of corporate nonsense so I empathise.

However I do have a bit of a soft spot for growth mindset! My daughter seems to love it and responds really well to it. Until reading this thread though I had absolutely no idea it was a widespread thing, I thought my daughter's school had invented it...!

[Areallthenamestaken]

@piggywaspushed

Reading is obviously important but it's an Ofsted focus at the moment so EVERYTHING we do is about reading at the expense of the other subjects (primary SEN). We have to prove we're doing x y z so we're doing all this paperwork and making up schemes of work etc.

In the meantime, maths has become a focus but my SLT have no focus on it at all. It feels like we're over-preparing for reading for a group of children with extremely complex needs who will likely never read in the traditional sense, and then OFSTED will turn up and ask us about another subject and it will be tumbleweeds all round because we've not got as many fancy bits of paper for it.

Basically we are over evidencing reading at the expense of everything else, for a cohort of children who regularly disappear in ambulances and don't come back for days if at all. All subjects are important and there should be balance, if not more focus on independence, therapies, etc.

[ElderAve]

Growth mindset makes a lot of sense to me.

As does the behaviour thing. I work in a PRU and almost all our students' issues at school stem from overly rigid behaviour policies that didn't meet their needs. (Usually as a result of trauma, we don't get any where theres not a clear reason for how they are). I appreciate the need for consistency in schools, obviously, but that doesn't change the fact that the behaviour was caused by needs not being met.

[monkeytennis97]

@halfbakedkate totally agree

[Piggywaspushed]

Hmmm... I see your point about reading but that's an interpretation of reading by your school because of Ofsted fear.

Recent research shows that the students who do worst in GCSE maths are those with low literacy, not numeracy!