We’ve been wanting parents to be pissed off about the state of education for years

[noblegiraffe]

Having spent years on here trying to tell parents that education is in a complete mess, that there’s a critical shortage of teachers, that there’s no funding, that the DfE are a bunch of useless tossers there has always been the question ‘why are parents not up in arms about this?’

And we’ve thought that parents just don’t know what’s going on: That their kid is taught by a series of unsuitable or unqualified supply teachers. That we don’t have the resources to do our job. That the exam system is a nightmare. That a large minority of kids are disengaged. That a decentralised academy system and no national curriculum means that everyone is doing something different, that teachers are wasting huge amounts of time reinventing the wheel, that textbooks aren’t allowed. That many kids with SEN are being failed in mainstream where they cannot access the work and do not get the support they need.

We know this. We know that we, personally, have been doing our best in a shitty system, trying to fill gaps and making up for it by working harder and harder.

Schools have been covering up the true extent of the issues to parents because we need bums on seats.

Well now they can see them can’t they?

It is entirely possible that a kid who was taught by a string of supply teachers when in school isn’t getting an optimal education experience when at home.

It’s possible that a large number of kids aren’t engaging with home-learning. We know the efforts that are gone to to get them to even bring a pen to school - now it’s a headline.

We know that the DfE are a bunch of liars who have systematically lost swathes of teachers through poor policy decisions. Now parents can see just what a bunch of farts in a jar they are for themselves with the absolute bodge job they have made of the return to school.

We know that the Tories don’t give a shit about disadvantaged kids. Now they know too, thanks to being publicly shamed by Marcus Rashford.

Why are we defending it? We know there are systemic problems.

Why not say ‘Yes, there are kids out there who aren’t receiving a good enough education’ and point the blame in the right direction. Not the individual teacher. Not even the school. But the systematic underfunding and destruction of our education system over the past 10 years. Can they honestly look at how education has been managed over the lockdown and say that the government is doing a good job? And then ask whether they think that this complete incompetence is a recent development. Why are some schools doing X and others not? Because there are massive inequalities in provision in the system AT ALL TIMES, it’s only now you can see it.

And then say ‘now you know just how bad things are, what are you going to do about it?’.

[NeurotrashWarrior]

Honey, it's interesting you say that as someone in a fb teaching group posted about how the evidence of extra progress boosting input was stronger in "metacognition and self regulation," than tutoring.

Which I had to google; and was effectively around being taught how to learn, set your own goals and measure your own progress.

This was the cropped post (I wasn't sure where the poster was looking)

It said it had to be done carefully and we'll, but had far greater learning satisfaction and outcomes.

[TheHoneyBadger]

Sounds similar to what I did with ds. Kind of autonomous learning in the smaller focus but big picture.... I haven’t got the proper language for this but I call it having a good tree and knowing where to hang the leaves/knowledge and ideas on it when it comes in. I think that relates to meta-cognition? Anyway getting that up and running in him was my job.

When I first started teaching and realised how much some people struggle to learn I had to try and unpack why learning had been easy for me so that I could understand what they hadn’t got that I could help give them so they could learn. That’s where my tree business came from.

Sorry I’m really poor at putting things that make sense to me intuitively into words.

[serenada]

@TheHoneyBadger

Good analogy, though. I will pinch that.

On another note, anyone know why the supply teacher thread in AIBU was deleted?

[Phineyj]

I have thought about this often, although more from an admissions point of view. Why on earth do we put up with this crappy system that disadvantages women and ignores the world of work and commuting, while giving this weirdly prominent role to parental religion?. I was astonished to discover that you couldn't even establish for sure in advance if a particular school had wraparound and if you'd be able to get into it. I think post-Covid, I've got my answer. It mostly affects women and children and only for a relatively short chunk of time. And policymakers don't have to think about it as they have nannies. And go private. Which I have done myself, but it doesn't mean I'm unaware of class sizes etc as I started in state. But couldn't handle the 60 or 70 hours a week and 29 in an A level class.