2008, my first year as a blogger, has been interesting and challenging. Although it seems to have passed by very quickly, it has been filled with a real mix of experiences and emotions, positive and negative, in both my working and personal life. The coming year will surely be more of the same, with the inevitable unexpected challenges thrown in along the way: "You have to wait until tomorrow to know what will tomorrow will bring."
I hope that you have all had a wonderful festive period so far and I would like to take this opportunity to pass on my best wishes for the New Year- may it be a happy, healthy and successful one for all of us.
Wednesday, 31 December 2008
Wednesday, 24 December 2008
Bad parents
"Poor parenting is the key factor behind the significant gaps in readiness for school."
Of course it is! For a long, long time I have been screaming from the rooftops that the system must hold irresponsible parents to account for their negative actions and their inactions. Innovative technology, superb teaching staff and so-called new pedagogical ideas will ultimately serve no purpose unless certain parents - or types of parents - make more of an effort to raise their children to be well-behaved, articulate people who are able to contribute positively to society.
At the moment, 10% of the students in my school - namely those who are victims of poor parenting - take up 90% of the school's time and resources. And this statistic will be mirrored once these students leave school and stumble, unprepared, out to the world. Incapable of obtaining or maintaining genuine employment due to a lack of social skills and of course a lack of qualifications, this 10% of people will use 90% of society's resources, namely using and often abusing the ridiculous benefits system that exists in this country. This problem, in my opinion, needs to be properly addressed at the source.
Of course it is! For a long, long time I have been screaming from the rooftops that the system must hold irresponsible parents to account for their negative actions and their inactions. Innovative technology, superb teaching staff and so-called new pedagogical ideas will ultimately serve no purpose unless certain parents - or types of parents - make more of an effort to raise their children to be well-behaved, articulate people who are able to contribute positively to society.
At the moment, 10% of the students in my school - namely those who are victims of poor parenting - take up 90% of the school's time and resources. And this statistic will be mirrored once these students leave school and stumble, unprepared, out to the world. Incapable of obtaining or maintaining genuine employment due to a lack of social skills and of course a lack of qualifications, this 10% of people will use 90% of society's resources, namely using and often abusing the ridiculous benefits system that exists in this country. This problem, in my opinion, needs to be properly addressed at the source.
Tuesday, 23 December 2008
BBC news: "Schools seek police aid"
After reading this article on the bbc news website, I am now wondering which Tory MP is using my blog as inspiration!
Wednesday, 17 December 2008
Police Academy
Following on from yesterday's post, which mentioned frivolous expenditure amid the credit crunch, I realised today that our school must be wasting a fortune every term on 'phone calls to the local police station. The cops are being called on to the premises on such a regular basis lately that I am on first name terms with several of the officers. In fact, there has even been talk of a combined teacher-police night out during the festive season.
Several students have been caught shoplifting from local premises while truanting from class and have since been banned from the town centre; one Year 10 boy was taken out on a stretcher, with the constabulary in attendance, after overdosing on acid (before 10am); a colleague's car was vandalised for the fourth time since the beginning of the current academic year; and yet another Year 10 student, another truant, was knocked down by a local resident's 4x4 while his classmates trudged through some Spanish grammar.
Perhaps we could do our bit to ease the financial burden and cut down on the 'phone bills by employing on-site community officers, as they do in some schools. Or, better still, franchising the local station and therefore bringing the police under the umbrella of the local education authority. My main concern, however, is that our fearless and anti-social students would simply view this new presence as a fresh target for their abusive rage. I wonder if abusing the police in this way would qualify them for free refloxology treatments?
Several students have been caught shoplifting from local premises while truanting from class and have since been banned from the town centre; one Year 10 boy was taken out on a stretcher, with the constabulary in attendance, after overdosing on acid (before 10am); a colleague's car was vandalised for the fourth time since the beginning of the current academic year; and yet another Year 10 student, another truant, was knocked down by a local resident's 4x4 while his classmates trudged through some Spanish grammar.
Perhaps we could do our bit to ease the financial burden and cut down on the 'phone bills by employing on-site community officers, as they do in some schools. Or, better still, franchising the local station and therefore bringing the police under the umbrella of the local education authority. My main concern, however, is that our fearless and anti-social students would simply view this new presence as a fresh target for their abusive rage. I wonder if abusing the police in this way would qualify them for free refloxology treatments?
Tuesday, 16 December 2008
Massaging the figures
I prefer reading books and magazines that suit my own tastes and therefore choose not to read a newspaper every day. Now and again, when I have the time to relax completely, I read the papers at the weekend to catch up on the different sports that I like to follow. I do, however, make a genuine effort to watch the television news at least once each day because I like to, and feel a need to, keep up to date with current events. Every single bulletin that I have watched in recent months has included a significant segment dedicated to the international credit crunch. The ramifications rumble on.
I am earning more money at the moment than I have ever earned before. Which is nice. The problem is that my money is no longer worth what it once was or things that I would like to buy cost more than they once did. Or vice-versa. I am a man of simple pleasures and I have not developed extravagant tastes. I'm not a tight guy, though. I like to eat out and I really like to buy things for other people. Money leaves my pocket easily but I'm not yet worrying unnecessarily.
I do get irked, however, when I see other people being flippant and/or flashy with their cash. This is a common problem at work, of course, and I never cease to be amazed by local eduation authorities who are brazenly wasteful with what is effectively other people's money. For example, as reported by Mike Kent in the Times Educational Supplement: A London LEA recently spent - nay, wasted - £90,000 on two reflexologists to massage the feet of disruptive students. No, I promise that I am not making this up. Granted, the article mentions neither the school nor the authority but I am not surprised to read such a story. In a sector where inclusion and so-called innovative ideas are more important to some people than such things as competetive salaries and having a decent number of decent textbooks, I have no doubt that Mr Kent's article is indeed based on fact and, even more worrying still, that it is simply the tip of the iceberg when it comes to similar tales of waste and bad taste.
Once again, I call in to question the value and purpose of some people with seemingly important roles in education, people whose lack of better judgement causes teachers and students to suffer unnecessarily. In this situation, students and teachers will suffer because, as with the credit crunch, inevitable cut-backs will be made to accomodate for the poor judgement of others. And those of us left holding the fort in our classrooms will soon feel a familiar pinch.
I am earning more money at the moment than I have ever earned before. Which is nice. The problem is that my money is no longer worth what it once was or things that I would like to buy cost more than they once did. Or vice-versa. I am a man of simple pleasures and I have not developed extravagant tastes. I'm not a tight guy, though. I like to eat out and I really like to buy things for other people. Money leaves my pocket easily but I'm not yet worrying unnecessarily.
I do get irked, however, when I see other people being flippant and/or flashy with their cash. This is a common problem at work, of course, and I never cease to be amazed by local eduation authorities who are brazenly wasteful with what is effectively other people's money. For example, as reported by Mike Kent in the Times Educational Supplement: A London LEA recently spent - nay, wasted - £90,000 on two reflexologists to massage the feet of disruptive students. No, I promise that I am not making this up. Granted, the article mentions neither the school nor the authority but I am not surprised to read such a story. In a sector where inclusion and so-called innovative ideas are more important to some people than such things as competetive salaries and having a decent number of decent textbooks, I have no doubt that Mr Kent's article is indeed based on fact and, even more worrying still, that it is simply the tip of the iceberg when it comes to similar tales of waste and bad taste.
Once again, I call in to question the value and purpose of some people with seemingly important roles in education, people whose lack of better judgement causes teachers and students to suffer unnecessarily. In this situation, students and teachers will suffer because, as with the credit crunch, inevitable cut-backs will be made to accomodate for the poor judgement of others. And those of us left holding the fort in our classrooms will soon feel a familiar pinch.
Tuesday, 9 December 2008
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