General Chat

I agree. Much of the problem stems from the home environment. Schools are seen as childminding institutions and parents do not provide home support - in many cases they even encourage their offspring by telling them that homework is not necessary or pointing out that they have rights and should remind their teachers of the fact on an hourly basis.
Literacy and numeracy are dire - partly through dumbed down examinations which probably wouldn't even stretch the intelligence of a baboon.
I might point out that all baboons I have had the pleasure of encountering have displayed better manners than the vast majority of young people and quite possibly a higher intelligence quotient.
Then there is the attitude that it is ok to get things wrong and that spelling and grammar are not important.
It seems to be a popular current attitude for adults to relish in the fact that they use "text speak" and say things such as "should of" instead of "should have" etc etc.
Since when has it been ok? If it is wrong IT IS WRONG!
But as soon as one alludes to that, one is accused of picking on people - and then the dyslexia/problems card is dealt.
As for ADHD, I totally agree with Maggiewinchester. It is purely a badge in many cases and a means to get more money. I have spoken to both teachers and paediatric specialists who concur that in a vast majority of cases the only thing that is wrong with the child is that they are thick!

Applauds Maggie :-D

Rollo has also made a number of pertinent observations from the perspective of an employer/industry.

There is no such thing as 'Thick' - the child has a 'learning disability'. Never mind that s/he has lent the brain cell to his/her sibling that day! Never-the-less, differentiated learning material and one-to-one support can enhance his/her learning experience.

The rule of thumb for a 'Statement of Education' based on literacy used to be 'can they read the Sun newspaper?'. That publication used to considered accessible to someone with a reading age of 11.

What really pees me off, is that, if caught early enough, and with the right encouragement, these children can actually enjoy school life, instead of seeing it as a way of putting them down.
Why can't state schools be run like private schools? Having a maximum of 16 children in a class must be heaven!

Why is it, that in the workplace you rarely have one manager managing 30+ ADULT employees on their own, yet a teacher (okay, usually with a LSA/teaching assistant) is expected to manage 30+ CHILDREN?

Not necessarily Maggie :-0

A relative moved from teaching in the State sector to the Private one. They have worked in 2 schools, both with small classes.

At the the first school the students were engaged with their work - the relative was taken aback that there were no discipline issues.

Its completely different at the current school - half the time is spent settling the students.

Many parents send their less academic children to Private Schools so that they can get the educational attention. Many of the students at the current school have as bad an attitude to 'authority' as some State school students. (The relative blames the school ethos and the lack of Managerial support)

private education does not equal good education

There is a widespread misconception that private schools provide a better education but this is not necessarily the case.

Indeed, because there is no standardised pay scale in the private sector, rates of pay are very often lower than in state schools. What this can mean is that private (public) schools can, and often do, attract a lower calibre of teacher.

MOST PARENTS WORK PART TIME TO FIT IN TIME WITH SCHOOL TIMES
AND DO NOT USE TEACHERS AS MINDERS,AND EVEN WITH BOTH PARENTS WORKING THEY ARE NO WHERE NEAR THE PAY A TEACHER GETS MIN WAGE MEANS YOU CANT AFFORD TO USE CHILD CARE ALSO BY NOW ALL A/L DATES ARE TAKEN UP WITH TEACHERS TRAINING DAYS

Dizzy I would be interested to know where you are getting your information from.

Secondary teachers work an average of 55.7 hours each week.
For primary teachers it rises to 59.3 hours per week.

Classroom teachers earn a minimum salary of £21,804 pa.
That equates to £419.31 a week.
Or £7.53 an hour for secondary teachers and £7.07 for primary teachers.

Unqualified teachers earn a minimum of £15,976 pa.
That equates to £307.23 a week.
Based on the above figures (although granted, they probably work slightly less hours) that works out at £5.52 for secondary teachers and £5.18 for their primary counterparts.

The national minimum wage is currently £6.31 per hour.
The average salary in the UK stands at around £26,500.
Just out of interest, childminders are paid an average of around £13,000.

In addition, I know of at least two supply teachers (both highly qualified) who get paid a meagre £10 an hour out of which they have to find their travel expenses, tax and NI contributions as well as pension etc.

I sometimes wonder if 'strike action' ever produces a settlement the strikers/unions are aiming for.

The people I feel most sorry for are the ones that have vital exams during the disruptions.

OKAY ONE QUESTION
IF YOUR CHILD HAD VITAL EXAMS THAT DAY
WOULD YOU STILL THINK THE SAME WAY.

No teacher will be striking on exam days Dizzi..............they care about their pupils and work blooming hard to make sure they get the best they can from our education system.

Do people think that all teachers have no children in education who they are having to make arrangemnts to be cared for on strike day,!!!

I fully back my daughter and her colleagues for their stance.

If parents stopped whinging and got behind the strikers perhaps those in in higher places would realise what an important role they play.

without the importance of teachers there would be no education system.....!

What Kay said :-D

Before I began working in school I thought teachers had short days and long holidays.....................boy was I wrong!!

Today, the year 6 teacher I work with was in school at 7.15 am, taught all day, including her lunchtime club and playground duty and will leave around 10pm tonight as she is involved in a talent show the children really enjoy.

Just one of many extras the youngsters enjoy which wouldn't be done unless the teachers and support staff didn't care so much about the children.

If teachers would only be left to do the job they do best with minimal intervention by successive politicians, everyone would benefit and our children would really be given the education they need.

well said Maggie and Det thank Christ the education system isn't what it was in 60's and 70's where children word with blindness or dyslexia were constantly whacked on the head with a heavy book or wrapped across the knuckles with a ruler and called thick lazy and stupid .......my how these teachers were respected :-(

And still I am not just not getting it that 2 parents on low incomes can not arrange child care between them to cover a school day.

Agree with you Hayley, my husband used to be punished for being left-handed :-0

No child is thick......they sometimes need to learn in a different way at their own pace to be the best they can be.

The 37 in our class range have mixed abilities and 3 have learning difficulties, yet every day, for every lesson the teacher has the resources ready for them all to learn as much as they can in however many different ways it takes................I honestly don't know how she does it all with a smile on her face.

I am left handed by nature but was fairly firmly persuaded to be ambidextrous at school. This has been a wonderful thing as I don't have to worry about left handed mice, guitars and dealing with the service at the Lord Mayor's banquet and such. Being ambidextrous is a huge advantage for assembling IKEA furniture and playing piano duets. I am still free to bowl a left handed googly :-)

Modern academy schools can be pretty good. One of my younger rellies went here:

http://www.sirjosephwilliamson.medway.sch.uk/page/default.asp?title=Home&pid=1

and now he is a high flyer with Microsoft and earns a mint.

It must have been awful to be a left hander in the 'old days'. An ex in-law, also a high flyer, ended up with a stammer. He didn't have the condition until his teachers forced him to use his right hand.

My relative had to move into the Private sector because all the State school jobs they applied for were given to NQTs. NQTs are cheaper. For personal reasons the rellie was relocating form a different part of the country and needed a job....any job.

Back to the child care discussion. On the rare occasions when our children's school was closed (INSET, heating on the blink, there was a water leak) if our parents couldn't help out, then the children were looked after by their friends mother(s). As a tit-for-tat arrangement, no cost was involved. Apart from INSET, there was no prior notice of the closure. We sorted it out between ourselves!

In this instance, the parents have just under 2 months to make tentative alternative child care arrangements.

Those with GCSE/GCE exams won't be affected even if their own subject teacher opted not to work. Most schools arrange for those students to go on study leave from May half term, only attending school for coaching lessons. It would be extremely unusual for every single member of the teaching staff to be members of the striking Unions, meaning that there would be Teachers on site.

[edited to replace OFSTED with INSET - it was too late at night!]

As far as I can work out, there are A2 exams on the mornings of 23, 24 & 26 June. Not that many students will be involved.

A2 exams are the 2nd year of A levels and are sat by Year 12 (17 year olds)

There are GCSE and A-level exams scheduled to be taken on the first three days of the week of proposed strike action in June.

But the union's general secretary, Christine Blower, said strike action "will not disrupt exams" and that any staff who need to supervise an exam will be given exemptions from taking part in industrial action.

Going back to left handers, my mum (born 1930) was left handed, and was never forced to write with her right hand. She even went on to win prizes for her handwriting. :-D
However, when she was at school, they used real 'ink' pens, so there was the danger of smudging what you had just written. She didn't write with her hand over the writing, she held her hand below the writing, like most right-handed people do.
Have to admit, when I was a LSA, I discouraged left-handers from 'crabbing' their hand and arm above their writing - as far as I could see, it took more energy and effort and put a strain on the wrist, making writing more of a toil and less of a plesure.