The Fifty-fourth Republic - Easter holidays anyone?

[StaffRepFeistyClub]

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.

Do not give the staffroom password to non-staff as it attracts the wrong sort of crowd.

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. Do not sit on the chairs and do wear a mask

Here is the racial disparities report, due out later today. Longer school day heading to a school near you. I'd have to read the whole report to see why they reached that conclusion. It sounds like they think school is the answer to everything.

Tony Sewell, who headed up the report, is a slightly controversial figure in sociological research and fairly beloved of the Tories, so you can see why he was chosen. His most famous report is criticised for blaming black communities for their own educational underachievement. Thing is the government will only commission and listen to one report, obviously.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-56585538

It’s all so different Beachhuts90! That cost too

That's interesting, Piggy, he seems to conclude that racism isn't the driving factor behind underachievement in education seeing as most ethnic minorities do rather better than the white working class boy.

More research is needed to examine why pupils perform well in certain communities, so this can be replicated to help all children succeed

What will happen when the research concludes that parental support for education is the key factor? We already know that's why.

@noblegiraffe

That's interesting, Piggy, he seems to conclude that racism isn't the driving factor behind underachievement in education seeing as most ethnic minorities do rather better than the white working class boy.

More research is needed to examine why pupils perform well in certain communities, so this can be replicated to help all children succeed

What will happen when the research concludes that parental support for education is the key factor? We already know that's why.

Exactly.

The 'white working class boy' narrative is considered dangerous by many , and avoided by most sociologists as it suggests race plays a factor, which plays right into the hands of extreme groups.

Before we all cheerlead for Sewell, you might want to momentarily consider that the man is a knob :-

www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/16/concern-choice-charity-boss-tony-sewell-head-uk-race-commission

I also now want to know what the government is going to do to address poverty inequalities. They seem so keen to say there aren't racial ones and, in doing so, can only concluded poverty is a driving factor. Whoops.

ps white working class could also be an ethnic minority : studies show huge underachievement's in certain non British white communities : eg Polish communities and travellers.

Sewell is usually very keen to blame parents, although usually only within black communities.

Schools are the answer to everything for this government. Start funding them then.

They recently learnt that one reason black minority groups were beginning to perform better was the extra London funding. They didn't extend this to other areas though as a result. Too much focus on London, arguably, has enabled them to conclude race isn't a factor.

The 'white working class boy' narrative is considered dangerous by many , and avoided by most sociologists as it suggests race plays a factor

I’d conclude from it that race doesn’t play a factor? Or at least is not the driving factor, of course there is racism in schools. If you have some ethnic minorities performing well and some badly, and some white groups performing well and some badly, then it’s hard to argue it’s down to systemic racism.

I think the traveller community is the lowest achieving group isn’t it? Possibly because they miss a lot of school.

No , the idea is that if you say white working class boys don't achieve, they believe race plays a part and therefore attribute their underachievement to the success (as they see it) of ethnic minority immigrants. you should hear Tommy Robinson on this (it's unsettling).

Traveller communities is not just attendance : lots of issues.

This is another interesting story. At the end there are some stats about the value of uni, though which would definitely make me encourage people to go rather than focus on present debt :-

www.theguardian.com/education/2021/mar/26/black-graduates-shut-out-of-academic-science-and-technology-careers

The report concluded that black Caribbean boys do still perform badly but they are sweeping that under the carpet because Bangladeshi children don't. Yes, gender, wealth and geography play their parts too but the report can be read to say ' we recognise there are issues in black communities but they just need to get over it really'.

It is a very New Right report. David Lammy will be v interesting on this!

The gypsy and traveller communities (former British, latter Irish) have the worst life expectancies and health issues as well - or did when I did my training with Leeds Gate many years ago. Also very high rates of domestic abuse which feeds into the aces stuff.

I've just had one of those annoying, 'sorry we missed you texts' for a delivery when I've been right here!

I can't see how longer days that required longer hours for teachers would work. Even if they came up with the cash for more directed hours there aren't enough hours in the day for the extra undirected time to plan and resource and mark for extra lessons especially when you're eating more hours of the day with directed time itms?

Morning all.

Honey if they’re asking you to pay for redelivery it’s a scam text. I got one yesterday.

I can't see how longer days that required longer hours for teachers would work. Even if they came up with the cash for more directed hours there aren't enough hours in the day for the extra undirected time to plan and resource and mark for extra lessons especially when you're eating more hours of the day with directed time itms?

Surely this is why they want more MATs and Free Schools??

But the obsession is with full time teachers - all schools seem to prefer them. If you add on hours to their school day which also adds more hours onto out of school prep and marking etc where does the time come from? It seems like a lot of teachers say they're already working 50-60 a week - if they added another hour a day to school hours I can't see how it fits.

If a teacher is already, with existing school hours working ten hours a day plus ten hours over the weekend how much more can they realistically do before they say fuck this I'm off?

I know mats etc don't have to follow working hour rules so much but they do have to retain staff.

I think if the school day extends it has to be for extra curricular stuff that doesn't rely on teachers and formal lessons with planning and marking. I can see the value of homework clubs, extra sports and team activities, mental health workshops and education etc.

That's without even touching on how knackered kids would be.

There seem to be a lot of young teachers in free schools who seem not to realise they are being asked to work unreasonable hours.

A lot of the school will claim that their behaviour is better (see yesterday re the zero bullying school) and therefore long hours are a pay off. Certainly my local free schol promotes itself on impeccable behaviour and 'no' marking.

No one cares if kids are knackered. they are in school : therefore, not back with their feral communities, in gangs. Poverty stops at the schol gates, according to Sewell.

But the obsession is with full time teachers - all schools seem to prefer them.

Except full time UPS teachers-especially in primary, it seems. Once you’ve gone part time, it can be very difficult to increase your hours as it’s so much cheaper to get an NQT. Many of us at my school feel trapped. Can’t increase days as the budget is crap and can’t move beside nobody wants to pay ups. Crap part time wage (no, that’s not actually fair-it’s not a crap part time wage in itself-I think I’m well paid for part time, it’s just crap that I can’t do more) long term means crap pension.

I think school prefer full time teachers : but only if they don't inconveniently want promotion . They want them in the classroom, teaching squillions of kids.

@Piggywaspushed

No one cares if kids are knackered. they are in school : therefore, not back with their feral communities, in gangs. Poverty stops at the schol gates, according to Sewell.

Similar to U4T’s desire to have school’s open at all costs, as honey and others have suggested previously.

www.telegraph.co.uk/education/2021/03/30/vast-majority-positive-covid-tests-taken-schools-likely-false/
I wonder if John Deeks also said anything about false negatives this time.

Bit of a non story, though, since in-school tests are a thing of the past?

Have they had to acknowledge that young people are shit at doing the tests , and the schol finance officer and exam lady are not trained clinicians overseeing the correct processes?

DS2 literally only did his properly when I told him where his tonsils were.

This is the recommendation in full re the extended schol day :

*Recommendation 13: Build social and cultural capital – enrichment for all
The Commission recommends that the Secretary of State for Education, in collaboration with the government’s education recovery commissioner, urgently consider phasing in an extended school day. Led by evidence showing the positive impact of a longer school day for disadvantaged pupils, the phasing of the extended school day should, at first instance, prioritise the most disadvantaged areas and communities. The additional hours must provide all pupils with the opportunity to engage in physical and cultural activities, including working with local activity clubs. Participation in such activities will improve pupils’ health and social capital, allowing such pursuits to be more accessible to the most disadvantaged students.

Imperative for a successful extended school day is for the Department for Education (DfE) to secure ongoing additional funding allocation that will establish this recommendation as a permanent change in the way that schools operate. In order to overcome the significant operational challenges of delivering an extended school day, advice should be sought from education practitioners, parents, pupils and key stakeholders.

This is a unique opportunity for DfE to improve current practices and ensure education practitioners are best equipped and rewarded for their time. Consideration should be taken on how the change in additional school hours can allow for the school day to be a different length for older years, support flexible working arrangements (which could make the profession more attractive to many), ensure staff are paid to teach the after-school time they currently deliver and retain their holiday period.

This includes, for example, DfE to explore working with post-16 and post-18 institutions such as UCAS to change the application submission dates for higher education institutions, as well as Ofqual to move the GCSE and A level results days from the summer holiday.*

If it were me, I'd shorten the academic schol day and have the other stuff in daylight hours and ending about 3 pm. We refuse to look to Europe, Canada and the US on this, I note.

I am not sure what the last paragraph implies about summer holidays??

True - I'm guessing I'd be finding it easier to increase my hours if I were cheaper.

I've just put together and sent my CV for the remote History post. Just a one page - qualifications, current employment, paragraph on experience and rationale of my interest in the role. We shall see. Not getting my hopes up.

What about if instead of putting the additional stuff after school they put it first? Eg. from 8.30-10 it was all that enrichment stuff and making sure kids actually got some breakfast and teaching was from 10.30-4.30 (with breaks obviously so eg. periods 1 and 2 10.30-12.30, lunch 12.30-1.20, periods 3 and 4 1.20-3.20, ten minute break then period 5). Guessing no one would want to teach a period 5 when they've been in school that long but it would be nice to start later and to know all kids had been fed before period 1.

I haven't seen this body if evidence that says longer school days improve long term inequalities.

I am not convinced it exists. It certainly doesn't hold up internationally.

I mean if home is truly shit and you don't get any input from parents or access to activities then yes I guess a longer school day would be better for you. I presume the logic is that even if you provided community services that allowed for engagement in these activities the parents of the kids they want to target wouldn't actually bother to use them? Ergo it has to be in school where they're already locked in and get no say? Seems pretty miserable to enforce a longer day on everyone just to target the few though and, for example, I teach a girl who does about 15hrs a week of swimming training and couldn't do that if she was forced to attend school for longer.

Guy came straight back to me wanting to arrange a call [there is no terrified emoji]. I've suggested a time tomorrow - there is a 7hr time difference with Shanghai which presumably makes scheduling lessons interesting.