The Forty Second Republic - Lockdown 3 online learning struggles continue

[SantaAssociationRepresentitve]

You are most welcome to this school staff support thread to get us through stressful times. It is meant for school staff only – a sort of room of requirement. Baiters, haters, goaders, 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 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

Do not give the staffroom password just in case it attracts the wrong sort

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 booze is stashed - Thirsty Tuesdays, Fizz Fridays now in operation.

If you come with a stick to goad us then that is not allowed in the staffroom and you will receive a detention

Oh because I teach an NEA subject I do! I definitely don't trust the accuracy of English exam marking.

I worry about terminal exam at the mo for kids who have been very disadvantaged. I do think some kids have gone backwards and it wouldn't be fair to assess them in only what they can do in May.

But also Mrs H moderation is in there as a thing.

I am very influenced by the absolute debacle that was the first year of reformed GCSE marking.

I worry about these appeals...

The consultation says NEAs won’t be moderated though.

Perhaps this is a maths and English divide again.
Not many of ours have truly gone backwards, and a terminal exam would give impetus to learn stuff by May. Teacher assessment will cap some of ours that would have responded well to the pressure.

I'd feel the same. I've had a nose at other dept qmas and the marks they've given and it made me feel like a really mean marker but in reality I'm just sticking to the mark scheme and giving proper feedback and making them apply it so that they can get to be genuinely be on and then above target.

Some colleagues seem to just give them the mark that matches their target so the books balance for the teacher. I don't think I'd trust people to mark fairly when in essence they are marking their own performance really.

And saying we'll get round that by requiring broad evidence and portfolios just adds masses of work and the fiddler types will just spoon feed the kids what to put anyway.

I'm an exams fan personally. Nobodies pushy mummy or ambitious teacher is sat in the exam telling them what to put.

I meant moderation for exams... but yes the NEA stuff reads like afterthought.

I was more thinking that kids in e.g. Hull and Liverpool may have not progressed. The playing field needs levelling somehow.

This solution is a hodge podge

The suggestion seems to be we should assess what grade they are working at. I don’t get how that doesn’t disadvantage Hull still.

ALGI would love you lot! [Grin]

They would be disadvantaged if exams came back is what I meant.

Doesn't anyone else hate exams? It can't just be me...

@noblegiraffe

The ONS infection survey results which are normally released around lunchtime have not yet been released 👀

Someone on Data thread said there was a tweet or something this morning saying there was a problem and it wouldn't be out today?

I don't hate exams per se. I can't bear what they have turned schools into. Constant assessments and marking and feedback on a repeat cycle.

fb.watch/31ChP1ISkl/

So funny - love Mr P

I hate the pressure exams have given. I hate the over reliance on "data" being used to manage performance across all stages of education.

I am yet to find a fairer solution than externally marked exams. Especially when the stakes are so high and teachers are judged on the results.

Hmmm.. we'll ahve to beg to differ on the second para. But am not a maths teacher.

I also don't think exams are 'real life'. That is ballcocks and winds me up!

Thanks spellcheck!!

When I was at school it was really clear that if you didn't revise and work you wouldn't get good grades. I really don't think there was this culture of it being your parents or your teachers fault or responsibility really.

That also meant kids weren't constantly under pressure. If they weren't at all academic or if they really couldn't be arsed then poor results were the natural outcome.

Not saying this applies to kids who've missed loads of content but then in many subjects the exam board revision guides and a concerted effort could overcome that. Somehow now it's all down to us what our own children or our students achieve with very little room for different effort levels and temperaments.

Soap box moment

yes I agree but , also, I do think all the emphasis is on us and others fretting over grade inflation and kids getting better marks than they deserve. And, yes, I can't stand that bleating form parents about what their lazy boys 'would have done'! But there are also plenty of students who d worse than they should under any system. I actually think CAGs etc favour hard workers and am in favour of that.

No mention of prior attainment and data in the consultation. Which was nice.

I think exams are real life. It's putting in the preparation without the script in your hand and then having to improvise with your knowledge and your skills and your ability to bring that together in the moment.

If a uni looks at results part of what they're looking for is can this person apply their skills and knowledge to what is thrown at them? Can they when dropped in the water solo put it all to use and swim of will they flail helplessly the second you take the stabilisers off? Can they randomly mix metaphors incoherently?

But coursework is also real life. We ahve a generation of kids who cannot research, edit, refine or present ideas carefully, creatively and in detail.

Not all jobs have the kind of pressure you describe . Some want people who think, reflect, apply. Rethink. Rewind. Reapply.

LOL at the mixed metaphor

For example, it is bollocks to write about and compare two poems although the poems in front of you. Regurgitating what Mr Bruff said.

And it's also true that there are kids who teachers won't like and who aren't willing to write 5 drafts and come to coursework sessions etc who are perfectly capable when the stakes are high of pulling it out of the bag and performing well in exams.

I get what you're saying about hard working but that's an effort grade imo not a result.

without not although!

Meh. Does waffling about poems really have much worth whether you do it in coursework or an exam? I love poetry by the way.

Perhaps I really am an enemy of education.

@SantaAssociationRepresentitve

fb.watch/31ChP1ISkl/

So funny - love Mr P

Totally captured it! 🤣