The Sixteenth Republic - waiting on the GCSE results show!

[StaffAssociationRepresentative]

You are most welcome to this school staff support thread to get us through stressful times. It is meant for school staff. Baiters and bashers can jog on somewhere else.

If you are NOT staff and just have a general education query please start your own thread.

You can play here only if you are a member of one the following groups-

-ABBA - anti bashers and baiting association
-SWAB - school workers against bashers
-SWOT - school workers opposing teacherbashers
-STARS - schoolworkers together against ranting + slurs

Other requirements for staff room entry include the ability to find the staff room, the ability to find a clean mug in the staff room, knowledge of the photocopier codes, and the ability to sniff out where the toffee vodka is hidden.

If you are fed up with cakes and biscuits there is now a cheeseboard on offer

If you come with a stick to beat us with then please do so elsewhere and not in the staffroom

Just noseying at Us4Them on twitter...look what I found

That water thread was them, as I think some of you twigged.

Here is the clearest explanation of what happened in Denmark that I have seen. We are nowhere near this!

twitter.com/dgbassani/status/1294707856462295041?s=21

@noblegiraffe

Just noseying at Us4Them on twitter...look what I found

That water thread was them, as I think some of you twigged.

Grey? A child has no water for four hours (although I assume less with the drink at lunch) and he turns grey? That's a serious hidden health problem then.

Do people remember that when we were at school we didn't have water bottles or even access to a drink?

I think it’s more than wilful ignorance. Despite the bashing and loathing we are somehow expected to be more selfless and more risk accepting than even nhs workers.

I need to ponder but I think it’s something to do with the fact that people hand over their kids at 4 and have to have blind faith that they’re doing what’s right and best in doing so

To have to face state schools are massively flawed and on their knees from underfunding, lack of staff and vital specialist provision would cause huge cognitive dissonance in the I’m a good parent, I am doing them good by forcing them into school defence.

I think that’s part of the denial. Maybe faith in schools and by extension the state and how much power they have over your children’s quality of life is like a mental house of cards. You can’t afford to take out one and examine it or the whole lot will fall down. Maybe

@TheHoneyBadger

I've had that conversation many times with people - that's exactly what it is.

I had to unpack a lot of that to take ds out of school in year 2 for a few years. Even as a teacher it was tricky to face how little useful learning really takes place and how stifling school rcan be for a child’s development.

There are parents complaining that their 6 year old only got a few worksheets a day. They’re 6 ffs. Do they think they’re doing rocket science at school? Is it a way of denying that actually your kids would likely be better off learning in a different way than shoved in a little classroom 5 days a week?

It feels like telling parents about the limitations and problems in education is being met with complete rage and denial by some. They are majorly invested in believing school is the best thing for their children and fight against anything that wobbles that belief.

There has to be more to that level of rage and the impossible simultaneous belief that teachers are untrustworthy and shit yet their children will be ruined without us.

Brilliant-Geoff Barton on Twitter telling the government that if they don’t come up with a plan for the exams, secondary schools won’t be able to open in 2 weeks as they’ll be too busy doing appeals

I'll say it again: I love Geoff Barton

Grey? A child has no water for four hours (although I assume less with the drink at lunch) and he turns grey? That's a serious hidden health problem then.

Especially since he’d drunk a litre of water in the preceding two hours.

Disappointed with Kier (Keri?)
First day of full opening tomorrow, I really can't imagine it. Have just bitten off a nail I've been growing for ages

Keir? I know it's not Keri!

Good luck mistress. Hope it goes ok

www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.08.03.20167395v1.full.pdf

Just going to leave this here in case anyone finds it useful on another thread. I don’t think it’s telling us anything that wasn’t suspected anyway.

Thanks Badger. Covid aside, I think I might have forgotten how to teach!

Even as a teacher it was tricky to face how little useful learning really takes place

In most of the schools I've worked in, Year 8/9 has been the low point. There is actually a lot of slack which is why I haven't been overly worried about my own DCs.

It’ll be like riding a bike. Good luck.

Good luck mistress. I'm sure you haven't forgotten how to teach, you'll be back in the swing of things before you know it.

Good luck Mistress, I remember feeling like that after maternity leave. Then you just find yourself teaching without thinking.

@Mistressiggi

Thanks Badger. Covid aside, I think I might have forgotten how to teach!

Don't most people feel like that after the summer hols?

You'll be fine and love it once you're back with all the fantastic kids!

Front page of tomorrow's Telegraph states that Ofqual want to ditch their algorithm as they feel it has undermined public trust in the qualifications. Apparently, Gav is saying no at the moment.

I don’t trust the Telegraph.

What that story means is that the Telegraph has been briefed by the government that there may be a u-turn and if it happens, they want the blame to fall of Ofqual.

Oh who the fuck knows what's going on anymore

Slightly before disbanding Ofqual and paying a fortune to a Tory mate with a business and very few assets to run an exam system that will work even less well. Probably managing to make the American company that ran the SATs that year look competent.

Even Etonian are fuming about downgrades (apparently justified).

Scorching letter to parents: twitter.com/lewis_goodall/status/1295105129331466242?s=21

I've just followed this link from another of Lewis Goodall's threads.

twitter.com/pembroke1347/status/1294765758417903617

Given that Cambridge colleges must get thousands of applications every year from students with high GCSE grades and high predicted grades, the initial offers were presumably made with reference to that contextual information. It makes no sense that that information isn't good enough now that students have been allocated a grade based on the attainment of previous cohorts.