There’s a lot of advice out there on discipline:
“Set out your expectations.”
“Don’t smile until Christmas”
“Don’t use sarcasm”
“Establish clear routines.”
“Keep the students occupied” (Is this the same way as France was occupied from 1939-44?)
A lot of it is good. Some of it is dire. But most of it won’t get you past the front gate of your challenging (i.e. badly run) comprehensive because most of it is based on two false assumptions:
Assumption No 1: Students will acknowledge your instructions and can, with enough effort and attention, be made to obey them.
Assumption No 2: Once you have the class understanding how they are meant to behave you have dealt with the problem.
These assumptions are made because those adopting them believe that discipline is an organisational problem. This is illustrated by the use of terms such as “behaviour management” and “classroom management.” Missing from this is the realities of the contemporary classroom. You could come up with a system of identifying and punishing all crimes and misdemeanours, you can establish all your expectations and rules with the class perfectly, but you still have to face the “Fuck-Off” factor. This occurs at the point where a child in a classroom in which the teacher has established control realises that they are unable to do whatever they like and have a great danger of having to learn. They cannot play with their mobile phones. They cannot continue the conversation/football game/wrestling match/unfinished bullying from break. They cannot play on their PSP. They cannot just put their head down and have a nap. They cannot be the centre of attention for everything they say. They are confronted with the replacement of their social world with the academic world, a world they don’t control.
And they tell the teacher to “Fuck off”.
Or they do something equivalent. They walk out of the classroom to play with their friends in the corridor. They do everything necessary to stop teaching or to get sent out. They call the teacher “pathetic” or “sad” (or “smelly” or “bad breath” or “gay”). Simply put they refuse to be a part of the learning classroom.
It’s what happens here that makes the real difference between schools. If you get good enough at classroom management, have the back up, and don’t try anything too different in your lessons you can get round almost every sort of behaviour in every school, up until the point where the Fuck-Off Factor comes into play. Advice on discipline assumes a classroom can become a place where learning takes place. It doesn’t take account of the fact that some children cannot tolerate a classroom where learning takes place. This isn’t a case of the natural disposition of the child, this is the deeply entrenched belief that they are the most important person in the universe, that learning is unimportant, and any failure to appreciate those two facts (which are acknowledged for 90% of their school day) is a form of malicious bullying.
What should happen is this: The child is made to leave the school and never return. No other public service allows users of the service to abusively decline the service and stop others making use of it without consequence. Doctors don’t treat people who are hitting them. The police can arrest people that abuse or obstruct them as they carry out their duties. Abusive customers are asked to leave shops, buses and bars.
Yet somehow, in the one place that does the most to set future expectations about how to behave the emphasis is on keeping them receiving the same service at the same outlet they’ve just rejected. What does happen about these kids follows this spectrum:
At best:
They are excluded for a short length of time.
Their parents are contacted.
They are told off by a more senior member of staff.
At worst:
They swap classes (“it was a personality clash”).
Nothing.
Nothing is done about the student and the teacher is blamed for their poor relationships with the student.
You don’t understand modern teaching until you acknowledge the fact that teachers are told to fuck off and many, many times at many, many schools absolutely nothing happens.
Apologists for this state of affairs love to make excuses for the students. If students don’t like their situation then, of course, they behave badly. If you do believe this (and I know some people who read this do) then I have a challenge for you. Every time you are in a situation you don’t like during the next two weeks, just tell the nearest authority figure (or failing that the most responsible person in he room) to fuck off. Whether it’s a traffic warden, a shop assistant, a taxi-driver, your spouse, your children, your mother, your boss, a policeman, a bouncer, a bar man, an air steward, a magistrate, a high court judge, an OFSTED inspector, a council official, whoever they are, tell them to fuck off. If you can do that for two weeks without wrecking your life and possibly ending up in prison, then I will consider the possibility that the students who do that for five years of permanent education are just the victims of unfortunate circumstances behaving in a perfectly reasonable way.
Any takers?
oldandrew.edublogs.org/2007/07
Scenes from the battleground teaching blog about teaching in the UK (United Kingdom).
Related posts:
Behaviour
teachinengland.blogspot.com/2007/12/in-england-teachers-are-attacked-every.html
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Teaching in England/the UK - Teacher's Salaries for Unqualified Teachers
This post deals with the salary and wage you get teaching in England/the UK.
You will not have QTS (Qualified Teacher Status) if you come from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, America or anywhere else outside of Europe. You are considered unqualified. You will be paid on the unqualified pay scale.
You cannot gain QTS before you come to England. You cannot gain QTS when you arrive in England. You can only be eligible to take a QTS training course once you are hired by a school, or if you take the teacher's training course again. Do not think anyone will care about your qualifications. They count for nothing.
The pay scale for unqualified teachers is divided into four zones. Distance from London determines what zone you are in. The zones are "inner London", "outer London", "London fringe", and "the rest of England and Wales". Inner London is central London. Outer London is the area surrounding central London. London fringe are the towns outside London like Essex and Sussex. The rest of England and Wales is the rest of England and Wales.
Remember, everything costs double in England. If McDonalds costs $4.00 in Australia, it costs 4 pounds in England. If the McDonalds worker makes 7 dollars in Australia, she'll make 7 pounds in England. She makes twice as much in England, but you, the teacher, will not make twice as much money. You will make the same or less money, but all of your expenses will double. Don't think that twenty thousand pounds equals forty thousand dollars. Living off twenty thousand pounds in England is like living off twenty thousand dollars in Australia.
In other words, teachers don't make shit in England. See for yourself.
Pay scale/salary for unqualified teachers living in England and Wales.
01 year experience - 13,483 pounds
02 years experience - 14,112 pounds
03 years experience - 14,505 pounds
04 years experience - 15,352 pounds
05 years experience - 16,035 pounds
06 years experience - 16,879 pounds
07 years experience - 17,342 pounds
08 years experience - 18,710 pounds
09 years experience - 20,302 pounds
10 years experience - 21,690 pounds
Pay scale/salary for unqualified teachers living in Inner London.
01 year experience - 17,090 pounds
02 years experience - 17,690 pounds
03 years experience - 18,290 pounds
04 years experience - 18,899 pounds
05 years experience - 19,620 pounds
06 years experience - 20,237 pounds
07 years experience - 20,759 pounds
08 years experience - 22,164 pounds
09 years experience - 23,689 pounds
10 years experience - 25,001 pounds
Pay scale/salary for unqualified teachers living in Outer London.
01 year experience - 15,879 pounds
02 years experience - 16,610 pounds
03 years experience - 17,220 pounds
04 years experience - 17,809 pounds
05 years experience - 18,220 pounds
06 years experience - 18,900 pounds
07 years experience - 19,500 pounds
08 years experience - 20,919 pounds
09 years experience - 22,589 pounds
10 years experience - 23,789 pounds
Pay scale/salary for unqualified teachers living in the fringe of London.
01 year experience - 14,470 pounds
02 years experience - 15,080 pounds
03 years experience - 15,680 pounds
04 years experience - 16,390 pounds
05 years experience - 16,990 pounds
06 years experience - 17,624 pounds
07 years experience - 18,139 pounds
08 years experience - 19,598 pounds
09 years experience - 21,109 pounds
10 years experience - 22,401 pounds
You will not have QTS (Qualified Teacher Status) if you come from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, America or anywhere else outside of Europe. You are considered unqualified. You will be paid on the unqualified pay scale.
You cannot gain QTS before you come to England. You cannot gain QTS when you arrive in England. You can only be eligible to take a QTS training course once you are hired by a school, or if you take the teacher's training course again. Do not think anyone will care about your qualifications. They count for nothing.
The pay scale for unqualified teachers is divided into four zones. Distance from London determines what zone you are in. The zones are "inner London", "outer London", "London fringe", and "the rest of England and Wales". Inner London is central London. Outer London is the area surrounding central London. London fringe are the towns outside London like Essex and Sussex. The rest of England and Wales is the rest of England and Wales.
Remember, everything costs double in England. If McDonalds costs $4.00 in Australia, it costs 4 pounds in England. If the McDonalds worker makes 7 dollars in Australia, she'll make 7 pounds in England. She makes twice as much in England, but you, the teacher, will not make twice as much money. You will make the same or less money, but all of your expenses will double. Don't think that twenty thousand pounds equals forty thousand dollars. Living off twenty thousand pounds in England is like living off twenty thousand dollars in Australia.
In other words, teachers don't make shit in England. See for yourself.
Pay scale/salary for unqualified teachers living in England and Wales.
01 year experience - 13,483 pounds
02 years experience - 14,112 pounds
03 years experience - 14,505 pounds
04 years experience - 15,352 pounds
05 years experience - 16,035 pounds
06 years experience - 16,879 pounds
07 years experience - 17,342 pounds
08 years experience - 18,710 pounds
09 years experience - 20,302 pounds
10 years experience - 21,690 pounds
Pay scale/salary for unqualified teachers living in Inner London.
01 year experience - 17,090 pounds
02 years experience - 17,690 pounds
03 years experience - 18,290 pounds
04 years experience - 18,899 pounds
05 years experience - 19,620 pounds
06 years experience - 20,237 pounds
07 years experience - 20,759 pounds
08 years experience - 22,164 pounds
09 years experience - 23,689 pounds
10 years experience - 25,001 pounds
Pay scale/salary for unqualified teachers living in Outer London.
01 year experience - 15,879 pounds
02 years experience - 16,610 pounds
03 years experience - 17,220 pounds
04 years experience - 17,809 pounds
05 years experience - 18,220 pounds
06 years experience - 18,900 pounds
07 years experience - 19,500 pounds
08 years experience - 20,919 pounds
09 years experience - 22,589 pounds
10 years experience - 23,789 pounds
Pay scale/salary for unqualified teachers living in the fringe of London.
01 year experience - 14,470 pounds
02 years experience - 15,080 pounds
03 years experience - 15,680 pounds
04 years experience - 16,390 pounds
05 years experience - 16,990 pounds
06 years experience - 17,624 pounds
07 years experience - 18,139 pounds
08 years experience - 19,598 pounds
09 years experience - 21,109 pounds
10 years experience - 22,401 pounds
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Discipline in British Schools
The Two Discipline Systems
http://infet.co.uk/blog/index.php/a/index.php/2007/11/24/t
No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other.
Luke 16:13
Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them . . . To tell deliberate lies while genuinely believing in them, to forget any fact that has become inconvenient, and then, when it becomes necessary again, to draw it back from oblivion for just so long as it is needed, to deny the existence of objective reality and all the while to take account of the reality which one denies — all this is indispensably necessary. Even in using the word doublethink it is necessary to exercise doublethink. For by using the word one admits that one is tampering with reality; by a fresh act of doublethink one erases this knowledge; and so on indefinitely, with the lie always one leap ahead of the truth.
Orwell (1948)
In my experience schools have a split personality where behaviour management is concerned. There are two discipline systems. There is a theoretical one, that appears in the Staff Handbook and anywhere a school governor, a job applicant or an OFSTED inspector might get to read it, and there is the one that actually exists in the day to day running of the school.
The theoretical system will usually follow the following pattern to some degree:
Some offences are to be automatically punished with a detention which parents will be informed of the day before. These may include having a phone on in school, dropping litter, turning up late to lessons. Similarly, certain items (phones, chewing gum, excessive jewellery) will be subject to confiscation.
It is assumed that all teachers can and will set detentions according to the rules and all students will do them.
Form tutors will be expected to ensure their tutor groups all have the correct equipment and uniform.
In the event of a persistent problem, such as failure to attend detentions or repeated disruption of lessons, year heads and other middle managers will be involved.
Serious incidents, such as verbal abuse of staff, will be referred to SMT for exclusion, or similarly serious measure. In extreme cases students will be permanently excluded.
The actual system is usually more like this:
Most offences will be subject to at least one warning. Students will expect a chance to put prohibited items away in their bags and will not expect to be punished as long as they do this. Even in schools where phones are banned outright several students will use them in a lesson and will not expect to be punished when caught as long as they then put them away.
Detentions are seen as discretionary for staff and optional for students. Staff will try as far as possible to keep students in at lunchtime or break or just give short after school detentions without a day’s notice. Teachers who set proper detentions simply because rules are broken may be subject to criticism by management as well as harassment by students. A large part of the student body will be effectively detention-immune. Frequent truants and students with awkward parents are extremely unlikely to have to attend detentions.
Students will turn up repeatedly without the correct equipment or uniform. Form tutors will either tolerate this as they simply do not have the time to enforce all these rules or alternatively the students will simply skip registration in the morning.
Year heads and middle managers will be completely overwhelmed and unable to chase up all persistent offenders. The best of them will communicate to staff just what they are actually able to do to support them. The worst will ignore requests, make promises they can’t keep or blame the teachers involved for the problem they are reporting.
SMT will ignore referrals unless you corner them. The vast majority of serious incidents will end up with year heads (which is a large part of the reason why year heads are always overwhelmed). The two most likely consequences of verbally abusing a teacher are a) nothing and b) a telling off. Exclusions will be saved for ludicrously serious offences, setting fires, bringing in weapons, thumping teachers in the face. Permanent exclusions simply will virtually never happen. SMT will talk about the lack of permanent exclusions as if it was a good thing.
Of course maintaining two contradictory systems at once is difficult. How does a headteacher tell somebody about the theoretical system in their job interview and the real system once they’ve got the job without seeming insincere or delusional? How do SMT follow two masters, the theoretical discipline system and the actual discipline system? The answer is that it takes a certain amount of “doublethink”. Usually this is done by considering the theoretical system to be a genuine system but one that bad, unprofessional teachers have to use due to their poor relationships with the children and weak behaviour management skills. The actual system, by contrast, is much more lenient because able teachers are so liked by students that they barely have to enforce the rules and therefore this much more casual approach will work. Once this philosophy is accepted it soon becomes clear that every teacher enforcing the rules rigorously, or worse, expecting school managers to support them with enforcing the rules, is incompetent and unable to relate to children. Children can only be found to have broken the rules due to inadequate teaching. Enforcing the rules is simply a symptom of being bad at behaviour management. It becomes more acceptable to complain to management that students have upset you than to report that they cannot be stopped from breaking the rules. Euphemisms help with the process of doublethink. Allowing misbehaviour becomes “strategic ignoring”, inconsistency over the rules becomes “flexibility” and appeasement becomes “building relationships”.
I suspect practising doublethink in this way may be bad for one’s psychological health. Long serving members of SMT can become completely detached from reality. As well as the delusions that the teaching staff are to blame for everything and that anybody who reports a problem might also have caused it, some members of SMT even begin to imagine that they are actually making a positive difference to the lives of the students in their schools.
References:
Orwell, George, Nineteen Eighty-Four, 1948
written by oldandrew
tags: discipline british schools teaching in the united kingdom uk
http://infet.co.uk/blog/index.php/a/index.php/2007/11/24/t
No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other.
Luke 16:13
Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them . . . To tell deliberate lies while genuinely believing in them, to forget any fact that has become inconvenient, and then, when it becomes necessary again, to draw it back from oblivion for just so long as it is needed, to deny the existence of objective reality and all the while to take account of the reality which one denies — all this is indispensably necessary. Even in using the word doublethink it is necessary to exercise doublethink. For by using the word one admits that one is tampering with reality; by a fresh act of doublethink one erases this knowledge; and so on indefinitely, with the lie always one leap ahead of the truth.
Orwell (1948)
In my experience schools have a split personality where behaviour management is concerned. There are two discipline systems. There is a theoretical one, that appears in the Staff Handbook and anywhere a school governor, a job applicant or an OFSTED inspector might get to read it, and there is the one that actually exists in the day to day running of the school.
The theoretical system will usually follow the following pattern to some degree:
Some offences are to be automatically punished with a detention which parents will be informed of the day before. These may include having a phone on in school, dropping litter, turning up late to lessons. Similarly, certain items (phones, chewing gum, excessive jewellery) will be subject to confiscation.
It is assumed that all teachers can and will set detentions according to the rules and all students will do them.
Form tutors will be expected to ensure their tutor groups all have the correct equipment and uniform.
In the event of a persistent problem, such as failure to attend detentions or repeated disruption of lessons, year heads and other middle managers will be involved.
Serious incidents, such as verbal abuse of staff, will be referred to SMT for exclusion, or similarly serious measure. In extreme cases students will be permanently excluded.
The actual system is usually more like this:
Most offences will be subject to at least one warning. Students will expect a chance to put prohibited items away in their bags and will not expect to be punished as long as they do this. Even in schools where phones are banned outright several students will use them in a lesson and will not expect to be punished when caught as long as they then put them away.
Detentions are seen as discretionary for staff and optional for students. Staff will try as far as possible to keep students in at lunchtime or break or just give short after school detentions without a day’s notice. Teachers who set proper detentions simply because rules are broken may be subject to criticism by management as well as harassment by students. A large part of the student body will be effectively detention-immune. Frequent truants and students with awkward parents are extremely unlikely to have to attend detentions.
Students will turn up repeatedly without the correct equipment or uniform. Form tutors will either tolerate this as they simply do not have the time to enforce all these rules or alternatively the students will simply skip registration in the morning.
Year heads and middle managers will be completely overwhelmed and unable to chase up all persistent offenders. The best of them will communicate to staff just what they are actually able to do to support them. The worst will ignore requests, make promises they can’t keep or blame the teachers involved for the problem they are reporting.
SMT will ignore referrals unless you corner them. The vast majority of serious incidents will end up with year heads (which is a large part of the reason why year heads are always overwhelmed). The two most likely consequences of verbally abusing a teacher are a) nothing and b) a telling off. Exclusions will be saved for ludicrously serious offences, setting fires, bringing in weapons, thumping teachers in the face. Permanent exclusions simply will virtually never happen. SMT will talk about the lack of permanent exclusions as if it was a good thing.
Of course maintaining two contradictory systems at once is difficult. How does a headteacher tell somebody about the theoretical system in their job interview and the real system once they’ve got the job without seeming insincere or delusional? How do SMT follow two masters, the theoretical discipline system and the actual discipline system? The answer is that it takes a certain amount of “doublethink”. Usually this is done by considering the theoretical system to be a genuine system but one that bad, unprofessional teachers have to use due to their poor relationships with the children and weak behaviour management skills. The actual system, by contrast, is much more lenient because able teachers are so liked by students that they barely have to enforce the rules and therefore this much more casual approach will work. Once this philosophy is accepted it soon becomes clear that every teacher enforcing the rules rigorously, or worse, expecting school managers to support them with enforcing the rules, is incompetent and unable to relate to children. Children can only be found to have broken the rules due to inadequate teaching. Enforcing the rules is simply a symptom of being bad at behaviour management. It becomes more acceptable to complain to management that students have upset you than to report that they cannot be stopped from breaking the rules. Euphemisms help with the process of doublethink. Allowing misbehaviour becomes “strategic ignoring”, inconsistency over the rules becomes “flexibility” and appeasement becomes “building relationships”.
I suspect practising doublethink in this way may be bad for one’s psychological health. Long serving members of SMT can become completely detached from reality. As well as the delusions that the teaching staff are to blame for everything and that anybody who reports a problem might also have caused it, some members of SMT even begin to imagine that they are actually making a positive difference to the lives of the students in their schools.
References:
Orwell, George, Nineteen Eighty-Four, 1948
written by oldandrew
tags: discipline british schools teaching in the united kingdom uk
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Ofsted
The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is part of the educational system in England. More on this in the future
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Index
Everything you need to know about teaching in the UK. Click on the following links to learn more
The students control the classrooms
Theinmates run the asylum
Teachers are routinely falsely accused of physical and sexual abuse
Schools give teachers bad references
Differences between British and American Schools
In England...
There is no such thing as a high school diploma... EVERYONE graduates
The students finish high school after grade 10 (i.e. year 11)
Every school has 12 Principal Skinners
Video showing what students are like in England.
In England...
There is no such thing as a high school diploma... EVERYONE graduates
The students finish high school after grade 10 (i.e. year 11)
Every school has 12 Principal Skinners
Video showing what students are like in England.
How Foreign Teachers feel about teaching in England
In England, teachers feel like rubbish
Kiwi teachers would rather chew off their own legs than teach in England
In England, teachers feel like rubbish
Kiwi teachers would rather chew off their own legs than teach in England
How British Teachers feel about Teaching in England
In England...
Teachers are miserable
They go on stress leave
They want to quit teaching
They kill themselves
In England...
Teachers are miserable
They go on stress leave
They want to quit teaching
They kill themselves
Working environment
In England...
The students control the classrooms
Theinmates run the asylum
Teachers are routinely falsely accused of physical and sexual abuse
Schools give teachers bad references
Bullying
Information about bullying in British schools by British teachers and school management against other teachers and staff.
In England, teachers are bullied by school managers
In England, schools treat staff like cattle
In England, teachers are punished for doing their job
In England, teachers commit suicide
How to fight bullying from schools
Information about bullying in British schools by British teachers and school management against other teachers and staff.
In England, teachers are bullied by school managers
In England, schools treat staff like cattle
In England, teachers are punished for doing their job
In England, teachers commit suicide
How to fight bullying from schools
Credential recognition
QTS - Qualified Teacher Status
Why "unqualified" teachers are allowed to teach
What happens when you get QTS
QTS - Assessment Only Route
QTS - Qualified Teacher Status
Why "unqualified" teachers are allowed to teach
What happens when you get QTS
QTS - Assessment Only Route
Low Standards
In England, teachers are untrained and unqualified
In England, teachers are untrained and unqualified II
In England, students lack basic math and literacy skills
In England, every school manipulates test scores
In England, teachers are untrained and unqualified
In England, teachers are untrained and unqualified II
In England, students lack basic math and literacy skills
In England, every school manipulates test scores
School Management
In England, headteachers bully teachers
In England, teachers think school managers are full of shit
In England, schools give bad references
In England, headteachers bully teachers
In England, teachers think school managers are full of shit
In England, schools give bad references
Student behaviour
“Are students in England that bad?” The good news is that the answer is no, students in England are not that bad. The bad news is that they are much worst.
What do British teachers think about behaviour in British schools
Scenes from the Battleground - A Teaching Blog
“Are students in England that bad?” The good news is that the answer is no, students in England are not that bad. The bad news is that they are much worst.
What do British teachers think about behaviour in British schools
Scenes from the Battleground - A Teaching Blog
Saturday, December 15, 2007
In England, teachers are attacked every day
Attacks on teachers 'every day'
A teacher suffers a violent attack almost every school day in England, official government figures suggest.
There were 221 attacks on teachers last year alone, and 1,128 between 2000 and 2006, information revealed by the Liberal Democrats shows.
The figures show the number of injuries caused by violent attacks increased by a fifth over the same period.
Lib Dem education spokeswoman Sarah Teather, who obtained the figures, said such attacks led to fear in schools.
She said: "These chilling figures reveal the shocking levels of violence in schools.
"Some teachers are in tears every day"
A London teacher
"Every few years a particularly tragic case makes the news, but the hidden story is that a teacher in England falls victim to a serious assault every single working day.
"As with patients who attack staff in A&E, pupils and parents have to be made to understand that the law applies inside the school gates just the same as outside.
"Violent attacks against teachers are completely unacceptable and must be prosecuted.
Time off work
She said the impact of such incidents spreads much further than just the victim's suffering.
"It damages the atmosphere of the entire school and creates a culture of fear," she said.
Ms Teather obtained the information after tabling a question to junior minister in the Department of Work and Pensions Anne McGuire.
"Violent attacks against teachers are completely unacceptable and must be prosecuted"
Sarah Teather
She asked how many serious injuries caused to school teachers by physical attacks had been reported to the Health and Safety Executive yearly between1999-2000 and 2005-6.
The number of injuries resulting in the victim needing three or more days work rose by 29%.
'Strong action'
Most attacks were reported in Preston, Rotherham and South Derbyshire where five injuries to teachers were logged last year.
Bradford, Ealing and Purbeck local authorities followed closely with four.
A spokeswoman for the National Union of Teachers said any attack was "completely unacceptable", but that they were relatively rare.
"It's particularly galling when the attacks are being carried out by parents because they are the ones who should be helping with discipline and good behaviour among children," she added.
Sentencing guidelines now make it a more serious offence to assault those working in the public sector, such as school staff
DFES
General Secretary of the NASUWT Chris Keates said her union had been raising the issue of violence against teachers for many years.
"We need to take strong action where there's serious violence against teachers."
But she warned there was a need to keep the issue in perspective as most teachers said the biggest challenge they faced was low level disruption in class.
A spokeswoman for the Department for Education and Skills said violence against members of school staff would not be tolerated.
"We fully back schools taking tough action to remove or prosecute anyone - whether parent or pupil - who is behaving in an aggressive way," she said.
"Sentencing guidelines now make it a more serious offence to assault those working in the public sector, such as school staff."
Chief executive of Teacher Support Network Patrick Nash said violent attacks can have a devastating impact.
"Many of the teachers experiencing violence told us that they have suffered severe stress, anxiety and a fear of going to school.
"In some extreme cases, this has led to long-term sickness absence and even ill-health retirement."
Your comments
I will never teach in a state school again
Adam, UK
I'm still getting treatment for injuries received 5 years ago when I was attacked by 2 pupils known to me at the school I then worked in. As it was about 200 feet outside the school grounds the school, board and LEA declined to take my side or support me. It's time people accepted that some children are beyond any help from schools and teachers, we should not be doing the work of social workers and psychiatrists. The fact is some, a minority, of children are too damaged or poorly socialised to cope in a school environment. We should not be the ones to pick up the pieces, take the blame for parental failure and risk our health for the errors of others. I will never teach in a state school again, it's too dangerous and I know I will not be supported by the school, the board or the LEA.
Adam, UK
A cousin trained to be a teacher and was accepted to be a teacher in Nigeria. She enjoyed it so much as the children were keen and eager to learn. Upon her return, after two years, she took up a teaching position at a comprehensive school. After less than two terms she resigned as she had no desire to try to teach pupils who were insulting and disruptive with no desire to learn. With no effective disciplinary sanctions to support her she felt she was wasting her time. I agree with her action but I would also call for less bureaucratic measures in dealing with such pupils.
Jim, UK
My partner works as a teacher and has had her wallet stolen, has been threatened, has had chairs thrown at her and drugs dealt in her classroom. What I can't understand is that these cases which ordinarily in normal society would be a police matter, particularly violent assault, internally there is an enormous push for them to be dealt with as 'internal matters'. Don't people want to know what is going on in their schools or are they happier pretending these things don't really go on?
John Staveley, UK
I am an American, but I taught in a rather rough primary school in the southeast for three years. My wife and I now teach in a Brazilian private school now.
Although we are both fully qualified, we have no plans to return to education in Britain due to the lack of respect for educators and mountains of government schemes and paperwork.
The abuse is due mainly to the misguided policy of stripping teachers and schools of any power to discipline and giving the pupil and parents the power to call the shots instead. All school discipline these days is pretty much a paper tiger.
Bill Cleveland, Brazil
Teachers are not given training to deal with these pupils
Kevina, UK
Problems of violence also occur due to a lack of training of staff. SEN students are expected to learn in mainstream. However teachers are not given training to deal with these pupils who often have behaviour difficulties. In our case inappropriate physical handling of our son by a teacher caused our SEN son to lash back. I agree teachers should not have to tolerate violent behaviour from pupils. However, I also strongly believe the actions of staff need to be looked at closer as some children (both SEN and NT students) are also victims of violence and abuse from staff who not trained adequately to deal with behaviour difficulties of students expected to attend mainstream.
Kevina, UK
My daughter, a teacher in the state sector, has been subjected to several dreadful verbal assaults of an obscene nature in the past few months without any serious action being taken against those responsible. My wife gave up teaching in the state sector for the private sector and has noted the marked difference in standards between the two.
The teaching unions should back their members in taking out some test cases in court to publicise the daily assaults, and shame the educational establishment into providing real backing for teachers.
Don, England
As I am a PCV driver I have the pleasure delivering and collecting school pupils, I find these young children to behave like animals, they create trouble as soon as they come out the school gates, and the onus is on the bus driver. We have just had the first very light snow fall in the midlands for the start of 2007 and immediately what they do is throw ice balls at the school bus as it leaves the stop BUT LAST WEEK a snowball was armed with grit and stones which hit one of my colleagues in the eye and almost blinded him, the last I heard was his eye sight was just returning but he is very bloodshot and due to this assault he is still off work sick.
Trevor, UK
Attacks on teachers 'every day', 02/01/2007. Retrieved on 12/16/2007.
A teacher suffers a violent attack almost every school day in England, official government figures suggest.
There were 221 attacks on teachers last year alone, and 1,128 between 2000 and 2006, information revealed by the Liberal Democrats shows.
The figures show the number of injuries caused by violent attacks increased by a fifth over the same period.
Lib Dem education spokeswoman Sarah Teather, who obtained the figures, said such attacks led to fear in schools.
She said: "These chilling figures reveal the shocking levels of violence in schools.
"Some teachers are in tears every day"
A London teacher
"Every few years a particularly tragic case makes the news, but the hidden story is that a teacher in England falls victim to a serious assault every single working day.
"As with patients who attack staff in A&E, pupils and parents have to be made to understand that the law applies inside the school gates just the same as outside.
"Violent attacks against teachers are completely unacceptable and must be prosecuted.
Time off work
She said the impact of such incidents spreads much further than just the victim's suffering.
"It damages the atmosphere of the entire school and creates a culture of fear," she said.
Ms Teather obtained the information after tabling a question to junior minister in the Department of Work and Pensions Anne McGuire.
"Violent attacks against teachers are completely unacceptable and must be prosecuted"
Sarah Teather
She asked how many serious injuries caused to school teachers by physical attacks had been reported to the Health and Safety Executive yearly between1999-2000 and 2005-6.
The number of injuries resulting in the victim needing three or more days work rose by 29%.
'Strong action'
Most attacks were reported in Preston, Rotherham and South Derbyshire where five injuries to teachers were logged last year.
Bradford, Ealing and Purbeck local authorities followed closely with four.
A spokeswoman for the National Union of Teachers said any attack was "completely unacceptable", but that they were relatively rare.
"It's particularly galling when the attacks are being carried out by parents because they are the ones who should be helping with discipline and good behaviour among children," she added.
Sentencing guidelines now make it a more serious offence to assault those working in the public sector, such as school staff
DFES
General Secretary of the NASUWT Chris Keates said her union had been raising the issue of violence against teachers for many years.
"We need to take strong action where there's serious violence against teachers."
But she warned there was a need to keep the issue in perspective as most teachers said the biggest challenge they faced was low level disruption in class.
A spokeswoman for the Department for Education and Skills said violence against members of school staff would not be tolerated.
"We fully back schools taking tough action to remove or prosecute anyone - whether parent or pupil - who is behaving in an aggressive way," she said.
"Sentencing guidelines now make it a more serious offence to assault those working in the public sector, such as school staff."
Chief executive of Teacher Support Network Patrick Nash said violent attacks can have a devastating impact.
"Many of the teachers experiencing violence told us that they have suffered severe stress, anxiety and a fear of going to school.
"In some extreme cases, this has led to long-term sickness absence and even ill-health retirement."
Your comments
I will never teach in a state school again
Adam, UK
I'm still getting treatment for injuries received 5 years ago when I was attacked by 2 pupils known to me at the school I then worked in. As it was about 200 feet outside the school grounds the school, board and LEA declined to take my side or support me. It's time people accepted that some children are beyond any help from schools and teachers, we should not be doing the work of social workers and psychiatrists. The fact is some, a minority, of children are too damaged or poorly socialised to cope in a school environment. We should not be the ones to pick up the pieces, take the blame for parental failure and risk our health for the errors of others. I will never teach in a state school again, it's too dangerous and I know I will not be supported by the school, the board or the LEA.
Adam, UK
A cousin trained to be a teacher and was accepted to be a teacher in Nigeria. She enjoyed it so much as the children were keen and eager to learn. Upon her return, after two years, she took up a teaching position at a comprehensive school. After less than two terms she resigned as she had no desire to try to teach pupils who were insulting and disruptive with no desire to learn. With no effective disciplinary sanctions to support her she felt she was wasting her time. I agree with her action but I would also call for less bureaucratic measures in dealing with such pupils.
Jim, UK
My partner works as a teacher and has had her wallet stolen, has been threatened, has had chairs thrown at her and drugs dealt in her classroom. What I can't understand is that these cases which ordinarily in normal society would be a police matter, particularly violent assault, internally there is an enormous push for them to be dealt with as 'internal matters'. Don't people want to know what is going on in their schools or are they happier pretending these things don't really go on?
John Staveley, UK
I am an American, but I taught in a rather rough primary school in the southeast for three years. My wife and I now teach in a Brazilian private school now.
Although we are both fully qualified, we have no plans to return to education in Britain due to the lack of respect for educators and mountains of government schemes and paperwork.
The abuse is due mainly to the misguided policy of stripping teachers and schools of any power to discipline and giving the pupil and parents the power to call the shots instead. All school discipline these days is pretty much a paper tiger.
Bill Cleveland, Brazil
Teachers are not given training to deal with these pupils
Kevina, UK
Problems of violence also occur due to a lack of training of staff. SEN students are expected to learn in mainstream. However teachers are not given training to deal with these pupils who often have behaviour difficulties. In our case inappropriate physical handling of our son by a teacher caused our SEN son to lash back. I agree teachers should not have to tolerate violent behaviour from pupils. However, I also strongly believe the actions of staff need to be looked at closer as some children (both SEN and NT students) are also victims of violence and abuse from staff who not trained adequately to deal with behaviour difficulties of students expected to attend mainstream.
Kevina, UK
My daughter, a teacher in the state sector, has been subjected to several dreadful verbal assaults of an obscene nature in the past few months without any serious action being taken against those responsible. My wife gave up teaching in the state sector for the private sector and has noted the marked difference in standards between the two.
The teaching unions should back their members in taking out some test cases in court to publicise the daily assaults, and shame the educational establishment into providing real backing for teachers.
Don, England
As I am a PCV driver I have the pleasure delivering and collecting school pupils, I find these young children to behave like animals, they create trouble as soon as they come out the school gates, and the onus is on the bus driver. We have just had the first very light snow fall in the midlands for the start of 2007 and immediately what they do is throw ice balls at the school bus as it leaves the stop BUT LAST WEEK a snowball was armed with grit and stones which hit one of my colleagues in the eye and almost blinded him, the last I heard was his eye sight was just returning but he is very bloodshot and due to this assault he is still off work sick.
Trevor, UK
Attacks on teachers 'every day', 02/01/2007. Retrieved on 12/16/2007.
In England, schools are like "war-zones"
'My school is like a war-zone'
Teaching at schools in deprived London boroughs is like working in a war-zone, says one disillusioned young teacher.
The 25-year-old, who does not wish to be named for fear of losing his job, says he has been threatened with a range of weapons and kicked and punched for real.
"As soon as you walk through the school doors - you have absolutely no idea what will happen - it's like a war-zone.
"There's extreme cases of bullying - some teachers are in tears every day.
"It comes to the stage where the curriculum doesn't even come into it. I am satisfied just if I get the kids to be nice to one another."
He turned round and told me to go and get a bullet proof vest - that he would be back
He continued: "In my first year I was threatened with a knife.
"A boy had one in his pocket and he went to grab it - another teacher had to restrain him."
"Eventually the boy was excluded," he explains.
Most recently, when he and another teacher were helping with an after-school event, they had to remove a group of youngsters who had climbed over a fence.
"A few of the pupils had tried to get in without tickets and so we told them to get out. They wouldn't so I had to physically remove them.
"I picked one of them up and threw him out and he turned round and told me to go and get a bullet proof vest - that he would be back."
He says he and his colleagues take this sort of threat with a pinch of salt but one day the person making the threat might just follow through.
That day armed police arrived from a nearby police station and the group ran off.
'Difficult backgrounds'
Unlike the teaching unions, our teacher says these sort of incidents are a daily occurrence in most inner London schools.
"We have to fill in so many statements and reports. We spend most of the time babysitting rather than teaching.
"I am 25 and when I went into teaching I didn't think my days would be spent making sure pupils didn't injure themselves or others.
"I thought I would be teaching. Really I am a cross between a social worker and some kind of policeman.
"I know a lot of the children have really difficult backgrounds and some of them don't go home to parents at all but there is a big difference between what people think teachers are doing and what they actually do."
Once in a blue moon you get a sense of achievement - when you get through to someone
He says there is a police officer attached to the school in the deprived London borough in which he works.
But even so, many incidents go unpunished or children escape with three-day exclusions rather than something more permanent.
"I don't think that we, as teachers, are equipped with the powers to deal with what goes on.
"I feel senior management don't use their powers to support us."
He cites the case of a teacher who was spat at on numerous occasions.
Committed
"The pupil's mother was called in, but the pupil got away with a slap on the wrists."
So what makes him turn up at the school gates every morning?
"Once in a blue moon you get a sense of achievement - when you get through to someone.
"But that's in an emotional sense not an educational one.
"That makes you feel good."
"I have good relationships with some of the children - like my form group - I love them to bits.
"I don't want to let them down."
'My school is like a war-zone', 02/01/2007. Retrieved on 12/16/2007.
Teaching at schools in deprived London boroughs is like working in a war-zone, says one disillusioned young teacher.
The 25-year-old, who does not wish to be named for fear of losing his job, says he has been threatened with a range of weapons and kicked and punched for real.
"As soon as you walk through the school doors - you have absolutely no idea what will happen - it's like a war-zone.
"There's extreme cases of bullying - some teachers are in tears every day.
"It comes to the stage where the curriculum doesn't even come into it. I am satisfied just if I get the kids to be nice to one another."
He turned round and told me to go and get a bullet proof vest - that he would be back
He continued: "In my first year I was threatened with a knife.
"A boy had one in his pocket and he went to grab it - another teacher had to restrain him."
"Eventually the boy was excluded," he explains.
Most recently, when he and another teacher were helping with an after-school event, they had to remove a group of youngsters who had climbed over a fence.
"A few of the pupils had tried to get in without tickets and so we told them to get out. They wouldn't so I had to physically remove them.
"I picked one of them up and threw him out and he turned round and told me to go and get a bullet proof vest - that he would be back."
He says he and his colleagues take this sort of threat with a pinch of salt but one day the person making the threat might just follow through.
That day armed police arrived from a nearby police station and the group ran off.
'Difficult backgrounds'
Unlike the teaching unions, our teacher says these sort of incidents are a daily occurrence in most inner London schools.
"We have to fill in so many statements and reports. We spend most of the time babysitting rather than teaching.
"I am 25 and when I went into teaching I didn't think my days would be spent making sure pupils didn't injure themselves or others.
"I thought I would be teaching. Really I am a cross between a social worker and some kind of policeman.
"I know a lot of the children have really difficult backgrounds and some of them don't go home to parents at all but there is a big difference between what people think teachers are doing and what they actually do."
Once in a blue moon you get a sense of achievement - when you get through to someone
He says there is a police officer attached to the school in the deprived London borough in which he works.
But even so, many incidents go unpunished or children escape with three-day exclusions rather than something more permanent.
"I don't think that we, as teachers, are equipped with the powers to deal with what goes on.
"I feel senior management don't use their powers to support us."
He cites the case of a teacher who was spat at on numerous occasions.
Committed
"The pupil's mother was called in, but the pupil got away with a slap on the wrists."
So what makes him turn up at the school gates every morning?
"Once in a blue moon you get a sense of achievement - when you get through to someone.
"But that's in an emotional sense not an educational one.
"That makes you feel good."
"I have good relationships with some of the children - like my form group - I love them to bits.
"I don't want to let them down."
'My school is like a war-zone', 02/01/2007. Retrieved on 12/16/2007.
In England, Parents have to buy the school to give their kids an education
'My son needs this school. So I had to buy it'
The mother of a severely dyslexic teenager was so upset when his independent school faced closure because of financial difficulties that she bought it herself.
Annabel Goodman, 35, lost faith in the state system after sending her 13-year-old son Jacob to nine different schools, but eventually settled him at The New Elizabethan School in Hartlebury, Worcs, which has just 19 pupils.
With smaller classes and supportive teachers Jacob, who has the reading capacity of an eight-year-old, flourished.
But a few months after he joined it the school announced it was in financial trouble. Desperate not to send her son back into the "wasteland" of the state system, Mrs Goodman decided to buy the school herself.
Now she juggles her position of principal with her career as a barrister.
Yesterday she said: "Staff in the state sector were totally under-resourced, and although they tried very hard to deal with Jacob's special needs, they were simply unable to do so.
"When I first came to see this school it was like finding an oasis in the wasteland of all the other schools I had seen.
"The teachers are incredibly supportive and the children here — who all have various needs — are all very accepting. They don't just tolerate difference, but actually celebrate it. That is such a refreshing thing which I had never come across before." She said her other son, Reuben, nine, was happy at a state school but that the state system cannot cope with children with special needs.
She added: "Even if you shout loudly you are very unlikely to get what your child needs. And if you do finally get it, your child may well be married with kids by that point.
"Jacob is very dyslexic. He is really very bright — he's got a much higher than average intelligence — but his reading, writing and spelling are that of about an eight-year-old."
Set in eight acres of grounds, the school caters for just 19 pupils, aged from four to 16.
Mrs Goodman, from Hartlebury, bought the school's leasehold at the start of term for an undisclosed sum, and is relying on donations to keep it afloat.
She said: "I put some money in myself and have secured funding from some very supportive backers.
"The school has charity status and is very well supported by alumni — it has been here since 1600.
"We are hoping to hold lots of fundraising events and the other parents are really supportive.
"Like me, they have trawled through the system and if this school did not continue they would have nowhere to send their children."
She added: "Jacob has settled into this school really fantastically well.
"However, he is embarrassed about my involvement — like any 13-year-old boy would be.
"But I think he is secretly quite proud of me".
Britten, Nick. "'My son needs this school. So I had to buy it' ", 01/30/2007. Retrieved on 12/16/2007.
The mother of a severely dyslexic teenager was so upset when his independent school faced closure because of financial difficulties that she bought it herself.
Annabel Goodman, 35, lost faith in the state system after sending her 13-year-old son Jacob to nine different schools, but eventually settled him at The New Elizabethan School in Hartlebury, Worcs, which has just 19 pupils.
With smaller classes and supportive teachers Jacob, who has the reading capacity of an eight-year-old, flourished.
But a few months after he joined it the school announced it was in financial trouble. Desperate not to send her son back into the "wasteland" of the state system, Mrs Goodman decided to buy the school herself.
Now she juggles her position of principal with her career as a barrister.
Yesterday she said: "Staff in the state sector were totally under-resourced, and although they tried very hard to deal with Jacob's special needs, they were simply unable to do so.
"When I first came to see this school it was like finding an oasis in the wasteland of all the other schools I had seen.
"The teachers are incredibly supportive and the children here — who all have various needs — are all very accepting. They don't just tolerate difference, but actually celebrate it. That is such a refreshing thing which I had never come across before." She said her other son, Reuben, nine, was happy at a state school but that the state system cannot cope with children with special needs.
She added: "Even if you shout loudly you are very unlikely to get what your child needs. And if you do finally get it, your child may well be married with kids by that point.
"Jacob is very dyslexic. He is really very bright — he's got a much higher than average intelligence — but his reading, writing and spelling are that of about an eight-year-old."
Set in eight acres of grounds, the school caters for just 19 pupils, aged from four to 16.
Mrs Goodman, from Hartlebury, bought the school's leasehold at the start of term for an undisclosed sum, and is relying on donations to keep it afloat.
She said: "I put some money in myself and have secured funding from some very supportive backers.
"The school has charity status and is very well supported by alumni — it has been here since 1600.
"We are hoping to hold lots of fundraising events and the other parents are really supportive.
"Like me, they have trawled through the system and if this school did not continue they would have nowhere to send their children."
She added: "Jacob has settled into this school really fantastically well.
"However, he is embarrassed about my involvement — like any 13-year-old boy would be.
"But I think he is secretly quite proud of me".
Britten, Nick. "'My son needs this school. So I had to buy it' ", 01/30/2007. Retrieved on 12/16/2007.
In England, students are punished for fighting for regular teachers
Pupils suspended over walking out
Eleven pupils have been suspended from a school after they walked out saying there were too many supply teachers.
There have been protests at Berryhill Sports College and High School in Stoke-on-Trent on Monday and Tuesday, with dozens said to be involved.
Chairman of the governors, Terry Crowe, said the 11 pupils, who are aged about 15, were told to stay away for two weeks.
"Parents who have taken part with the children are irresponsible," he said.
Police were called during a protest on Monday, a spokesman for the school in Bucknall said.
"I won't be bullied by children or parents"
Terry Crowe
Chair of governors
Head teacher Ruth Poppleton said pupils were getting a good education.
"I think some pupils quite rightly are concerned we are having some supply teachers in school.
"I think it shows some pupils are worried about the quality of their education."
One of those to have been excluded, Nikita Bailey, told the BBC that about 60 pupils were involved in Monday's demonstration.
She said: "All the students are just getting to the point where they don't want supply teachers any more.
"They just want a proper education with proper teachers and everyone's just getting sick of it, so we just walked out to get heard really.
"The teachers and the head teacher won't listen to us and we thought we would get heard if we walked out."
Issues resolved
One parent who was outside the school on Tuesday, Mandy Moore, said: "I believe the children have a right (to protest). Nobody seems to be listening."
The school said those who have been excluded were the protagonists and some issues had been resolved.
Mr Crowe said staff had said there had been complaints over school uniforms and body piercing.
The school said it could not give specific reasons why pupils had been excluded but it was not aware of an issue to do with uniforms.
Mr Crowe said: "I've been the chairman of governors for 20 years and I won't be bullied by children or parents to do things I don't think are compatible with what the school is about.
"Staff have got a hard enough job these days without parents egging them on. It's not good for school discipline."
"The vast majority of students enjoyed a normal school day"
Mark Ranford
Deputy head
The school said it was available to listen to the views of parents and students.
Deputy head Mark Ranford said: "A small number of pupils engaged in an unacceptable demonstration against school rules at the school gate.
"Four representative pupils were invited into the school and discussed with senior staff ways of resolving their issues.
"Several students then returned to lessons as normal. The vast majority of students enjoyed a normal school day."
The school said a meeting had been arranged with the chair of governors later this week to allow further dialogue between students, parents and senior staff.
The city council said it was concerned about the situation but the issue of school discipline was a matter for the head teacher and the governors.
"Pupils suspended over walking out", 01/23/2007. Retrieved on 12/15/2007.
Eleven pupils have been suspended from a school after they walked out saying there were too many supply teachers.
There have been protests at Berryhill Sports College and High School in Stoke-on-Trent on Monday and Tuesday, with dozens said to be involved.
Chairman of the governors, Terry Crowe, said the 11 pupils, who are aged about 15, were told to stay away for two weeks.
"Parents who have taken part with the children are irresponsible," he said.
Police were called during a protest on Monday, a spokesman for the school in Bucknall said.
"I won't be bullied by children or parents"
Terry Crowe
Chair of governors
Head teacher Ruth Poppleton said pupils were getting a good education.
"I think some pupils quite rightly are concerned we are having some supply teachers in school.
"I think it shows some pupils are worried about the quality of their education."
One of those to have been excluded, Nikita Bailey, told the BBC that about 60 pupils were involved in Monday's demonstration.
She said: "All the students are just getting to the point where they don't want supply teachers any more.
"They just want a proper education with proper teachers and everyone's just getting sick of it, so we just walked out to get heard really.
"The teachers and the head teacher won't listen to us and we thought we would get heard if we walked out."
Issues resolved
One parent who was outside the school on Tuesday, Mandy Moore, said: "I believe the children have a right (to protest). Nobody seems to be listening."
The school said those who have been excluded were the protagonists and some issues had been resolved.
Mr Crowe said staff had said there had been complaints over school uniforms and body piercing.
The school said it could not give specific reasons why pupils had been excluded but it was not aware of an issue to do with uniforms.
Mr Crowe said: "I've been the chairman of governors for 20 years and I won't be bullied by children or parents to do things I don't think are compatible with what the school is about.
"Staff have got a hard enough job these days without parents egging them on. It's not good for school discipline."
"The vast majority of students enjoyed a normal school day"
Mark Ranford
Deputy head
The school said it was available to listen to the views of parents and students.
Deputy head Mark Ranford said: "A small number of pupils engaged in an unacceptable demonstration against school rules at the school gate.
"Four representative pupils were invited into the school and discussed with senior staff ways of resolving their issues.
"Several students then returned to lessons as normal. The vast majority of students enjoyed a normal school day."
The school said a meeting had been arranged with the chair of governors later this week to allow further dialogue between students, parents and senior staff.
The city council said it was concerned about the situation but the issue of school discipline was a matter for the head teacher and the governors.
"Pupils suspended over walking out", 01/23/2007. Retrieved on 12/15/2007.
In England, 15 year olds are Europe's heaviest drinkers and smokers
Crackdown urged on youth drinking
Tougher methods of teaching children about alcohol and tobacco are among measures needed to combat the rise in consumption, an advisory panel says.
The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) calls for controls such as raising duty on alcohol and increasing the legal smoking age from 16 to 18.
British 15-year-olds are among Europe's heaviest users of alcohol and tobacco.
A proposal by the panel for a new lower drink-drive limit for young adults was immediately ruled out by ministers.
Between a fifth and a quarter of 15-year-olds are regular smokers, half drink alcohol at least once a week and nearly a quarter have used illegal drugs in the past month, the panel said.
Among the measures it recommends are to ban alcohol advertising on TV and to prevent brewers sponsoring sports and music events.
And while it said that children should be given drugs advice, many people took up drugs or increased usage in their late teens and early 20s, and they should also be targeted.
Having reviewed research from across the world, the committee of doctors and scientists concluded that the success of school-based schemes was "slight or non-existent" and could even be "counter-productive".
REALITY CHECK
Tougher methods of teaching children about alcohol and tobacco are among measures needed to combat the rise in consumption, an advisory panel says.
The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) calls for controls such as raising duty on alcohol and increasing the legal smoking age from 16 to 18.
British 15-year-olds are among Europe's heaviest users of alcohol and tobacco.
A proposal by the panel for a new lower drink-drive limit for young adults was immediately ruled out by ministers.
Between a fifth and a quarter of 15-year-olds are regular smokers, half drink alcohol at least once a week and nearly a quarter have used illegal drugs in the past month, the panel said.
Among the measures it recommends are to ban alcohol advertising on TV and to prevent brewers sponsoring sports and music events.
And while it said that children should be given drugs advice, many people took up drugs or increased usage in their late teens and early 20s, and they should also be targeted.
Having reviewed research from across the world, the committee of doctors and scientists concluded that the success of school-based schemes was "slight or non-existent" and could even be "counter-productive".
REALITY CHECK
- Smokers die 10 years younger than non-smokers, on average
- The addiction is the cause of 29% of all UK cancer deaths
- Cigarettes have killed about 6m people in the last 50 years
- Alcohol misuse leads to up to 22,000 deaths a year
- Drink plays a role in about third of domestic violence cases
- The NHS spends up to £1.7bn a year on alcohol misuse cases
Sources: Cancer Research UK, Prime Minister's Strategy Unit
Its chairman, Dr Laurence Gruer, said urgent action was needed to deal with alcohol use.
"We've seen over the last 10 to 12 years, particularly among young women, our consumption of alcohol has virtually doubled.
"We are also seeing across the whole of the UK a dramatic rise in the amount of cirrhosis of the liver that's caused by chronic drinking and we are now the fastest growing country in Europe in terms of alcoholic cirrhosis"
A government spokesman said measures were already being taken to combat smoking and drinking among young people.
"We are working with the industry to reduce underage sales of alcohol"
Government spokesman
Smoking rates among children aged 11-15 had reduced to 9% in 2005, and consultation was already being done on raising the legal age to purchase tobacco from 16 to 18.
"We are preventing the sale of alcohol to children by cracking down on irresponsible retailers and working with the industry to reduce underage sales of alcohol," the spokesman added.
The 100-page report included other recommendations including:
- a ban on alcohol advertising on TV and at most cinemas
- forcing shopkeepers to demand proof of age and greater use of under-age test purchases
- stopping the use of drug testing and sniffer dogs in schools
- The report said excess drinking caused the most widespread problems and suggested cutting the alcohol limit for drivers under 25 to reduce accidents.
"The government has no plans to change the drink-drive blood alcohol limit from 80mg for young drivers or anyone else"
Stephen Ladyman
Transport minister
This would amount to reducing the legal limit from 80 to 50 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood for motorists aged 17 to 25.
But Transport Minister Stephen Ladyman said there were no planned changes "for young drivers or anyone else".
Ministers are likely to consider the council's latest proposals carefully, BBC home affairs correspondent Danny Shaw says.
The council is an influential body and ministers acted on one of its previous recommendations by re-classifying cannabis.
In response to the report, the Tobacco Manufacturers' Association said it backed moves preventing young people accessing tobacco, but it was up to the government to decide at what age the threshold should be.
A spokesman for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents said cutting the drink-drive limit to 50mg for all age groups would save 65 lives and 230 serious injuries a year on British roads.
"Crackdown urged on youth drinking", 09/14/2006. Retrieved on 12/15/2007
In England, teenager sex attackers roam freely
Teenage sex attacker walks free
A teenage sex attacker was spared jail despite confessing to raping a 12-year-old girl while he had a knife.
The boy, who cannot be named, was given a two-year supervision order for raping the girl in Winton, Salford. He was 14 at the time of the attack.
He will also be electronically tagged and be subject to a curfew between 2000 BST and 0700 BST for three months.
The girl's mother described the sentence passed by Judge Jeffrey Lewis as "absolutely disgraceful".
Yesterday when I had to go home and tell her [the sentence] it was the hardest thing I have ever had to say
Victim's mother
The boy, now 15, will also have to sign the sex offenders' register for two years, following Thursday's hearing.
Greater Manchester Police said the boy had threatened the girl with a knife before raping her.
But Judge Lewis, sitting at Manchester's Minshull Street Crown Court, decided that, although the teenager had intimidated the girl with the knife, he had not used it during the rape.
The court heard the victim had been out playing with friends when the attack happened in an alleyway near a shop on 18 January.
The boy was arrested the following day and later charged with rape. He pleaded guilty on 22 June.
'Minutes away'
Speaking to the BBC on Friday, the victim's mother said she had considered moving her family after the incident.
"It's hard for me to let her out on the streets knowing it happened two minutes away from my doorstep with someone she knew," said the woman, who cannot be identified.
"I think its absolutely disgraceful.
"He is tagged for three months, allowed out until seven or eight o'clock at night - he raped her at tea time."
"Yesterday when I had to go home and tell her [the sentence] it was the hardest thing I have ever had to say."
"Teenage sex attacker walks free", 08/04/2006. Retrieved on 12/15/2007.
A teenage sex attacker was spared jail despite confessing to raping a 12-year-old girl while he had a knife.
The boy, who cannot be named, was given a two-year supervision order for raping the girl in Winton, Salford. He was 14 at the time of the attack.
He will also be electronically tagged and be subject to a curfew between 2000 BST and 0700 BST for three months.
The girl's mother described the sentence passed by Judge Jeffrey Lewis as "absolutely disgraceful".
Yesterday when I had to go home and tell her [the sentence] it was the hardest thing I have ever had to say
Victim's mother
The boy, now 15, will also have to sign the sex offenders' register for two years, following Thursday's hearing.
Greater Manchester Police said the boy had threatened the girl with a knife before raping her.
But Judge Lewis, sitting at Manchester's Minshull Street Crown Court, decided that, although the teenager had intimidated the girl with the knife, he had not used it during the rape.
The court heard the victim had been out playing with friends when the attack happened in an alleyway near a shop on 18 January.
The boy was arrested the following day and later charged with rape. He pleaded guilty on 22 June.
'Minutes away'
Speaking to the BBC on Friday, the victim's mother said she had considered moving her family after the incident.
"It's hard for me to let her out on the streets knowing it happened two minutes away from my doorstep with someone she knew," said the woman, who cannot be identified.
"I think its absolutely disgraceful.
"He is tagged for three months, allowed out until seven or eight o'clock at night - he raped her at tea time."
"Yesterday when I had to go home and tell her [the sentence] it was the hardest thing I have ever had to say."
"Teenage sex attacker walks free", 08/04/2006. Retrieved on 12/15/2007.
In England, students do not learn about right and wrong
Schools told it's no longer necessary to teach right from wrong
SCHOOLS would no longer be required to teach children the difference between right and wrong under plans to revise the core aims of the National Curriculum.
Instead, under a new wording that reflects a world of relative rather than absolute values, teachers would be asked to encourage pupils to develop “secure values and beliefs”.
The draft also purges references to promoting leadership skills and deletes the requirement to teach children about Britain’s cultural heritage.
Ministers have asked for the curriculum’s aims to be slimmed down to give schools more flexibility in the way they teach pupils aged 11 to 14.
Ken Boston, the chief executive of the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA), set out the proposed new aims in a letter to Ruth Kelly, when she was the Education Secretary.
The present aims for Stage 3 pupils state: “The school curriculum should pass on enduring values. It should develop principles for distinguishing between right and wrong.”
The QCA’s proposals will see these phrases replaced to simply say that pupils should “have secure values and beliefs”.
The existing aims state that the curriculum should develop children’s “ability to relate to others and work for the common good”. The proposed changes would remove all references to “the common good”.
The requirement to teach Britain’s “cultural heritage” will also be removed. The present version states: “The school curriculum should contribute to the development of pupils’ sense of identity through knowledge and understanding of the spiritual, moral, social and cultural heritages of Britain’s diverse society.”
The proposals say that individuals should be helped to “understand different cultures and traditions and have a strong sense of their own place in the world”.
References to developing leadership in pupils have also been removed. One of the present aims is to give pupils “the opportunity to become creative, innovative, enterprising and capable of leadership”. This is due to be replaced by the aim of ensuring that pupils “are enterprising”.
Professor Alan Smithers, of the University of Buckingham’s centre for education and employment research, said: “The idea that they think it is appropriate to dispense with right and wrong is a bit alarming.”
Teachers’ leaders said that they did not need to be told to teach children to distinguish between right and wrong.
A spokeswoman for the National Union of Teachers said: “Teachers always resented being told that one of the aims of the school was to teach the difference between right and wrong. That is inherent in the way teachers operate. Removing it from the National Curriculum will make no difference.”
But she insisted that it was important for children to understand about their cultural heritage. “To remove that requirement can undermine children’s feelings of security in the country where they are living,” she said.
A spokesman for the QCA said: “The proposed new wording of the curriculum aims is a draft which will be consulted on formally next year as part of the ongoing review of Key Stage 3. One aim of the review is that there should be more flexibility and personalisation that focuses on practical advice for teachers.
“The new wording states clearly that young people should become ‘responsible citizens who make a positive contribution to society’. It also identifies the need for young people who challenge injustice, are committed to human rights and strive to live peaceably with others.”
IN A QUANDARY
In citizenship classes, teachers ask pupils to discuss issues such as whether it is ever right to pass on information received in confidence and situations such as what they would do if they saw someone writing graffiti on a bus; heard friends talking about stealing; found a wallet full of cash; or saw people fighting
The current wording states that the curriculum should pass on enduring values, develop pupils’ ability to relate to others and to work for the common good and help them “to become creative, innovative, enterprising and capable of leadership”
The proposed changes remove references to “the common good”. Teachers should simply ensure that pupils have secure values and beliefs and a strong sense of their place in the world. Rather than develop leadership skills, the pupils should be enterprising
Charter, David. "Schools told it's no longer necessary to teach right from wrong", 07/31/2006. Retrieved on 12/15/2007.
SCHOOLS would no longer be required to teach children the difference between right and wrong under plans to revise the core aims of the National Curriculum.
Instead, under a new wording that reflects a world of relative rather than absolute values, teachers would be asked to encourage pupils to develop “secure values and beliefs”.
The draft also purges references to promoting leadership skills and deletes the requirement to teach children about Britain’s cultural heritage.
Ministers have asked for the curriculum’s aims to be slimmed down to give schools more flexibility in the way they teach pupils aged 11 to 14.
Ken Boston, the chief executive of the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA), set out the proposed new aims in a letter to Ruth Kelly, when she was the Education Secretary.
The present aims for Stage 3 pupils state: “The school curriculum should pass on enduring values. It should develop principles for distinguishing between right and wrong.”
The QCA’s proposals will see these phrases replaced to simply say that pupils should “have secure values and beliefs”.
The existing aims state that the curriculum should develop children’s “ability to relate to others and work for the common good”. The proposed changes would remove all references to “the common good”.
The requirement to teach Britain’s “cultural heritage” will also be removed. The present version states: “The school curriculum should contribute to the development of pupils’ sense of identity through knowledge and understanding of the spiritual, moral, social and cultural heritages of Britain’s diverse society.”
The proposals say that individuals should be helped to “understand different cultures and traditions and have a strong sense of their own place in the world”.
References to developing leadership in pupils have also been removed. One of the present aims is to give pupils “the opportunity to become creative, innovative, enterprising and capable of leadership”. This is due to be replaced by the aim of ensuring that pupils “are enterprising”.
Professor Alan Smithers, of the University of Buckingham’s centre for education and employment research, said: “The idea that they think it is appropriate to dispense with right and wrong is a bit alarming.”
Teachers’ leaders said that they did not need to be told to teach children to distinguish between right and wrong.
A spokeswoman for the National Union of Teachers said: “Teachers always resented being told that one of the aims of the school was to teach the difference between right and wrong. That is inherent in the way teachers operate. Removing it from the National Curriculum will make no difference.”
But she insisted that it was important for children to understand about their cultural heritage. “To remove that requirement can undermine children’s feelings of security in the country where they are living,” she said.
A spokesman for the QCA said: “The proposed new wording of the curriculum aims is a draft which will be consulted on formally next year as part of the ongoing review of Key Stage 3. One aim of the review is that there should be more flexibility and personalisation that focuses on practical advice for teachers.
“The new wording states clearly that young people should become ‘responsible citizens who make a positive contribution to society’. It also identifies the need for young people who challenge injustice, are committed to human rights and strive to live peaceably with others.”
IN A QUANDARY
In citizenship classes, teachers ask pupils to discuss issues such as whether it is ever right to pass on information received in confidence and situations such as what they would do if they saw someone writing graffiti on a bus; heard friends talking about stealing; found a wallet full of cash; or saw people fighting
The current wording states that the curriculum should pass on enduring values, develop pupils’ ability to relate to others and to work for the common good and help them “to become creative, innovative, enterprising and capable of leadership”
The proposed changes remove references to “the common good”. Teachers should simply ensure that pupils have secure values and beliefs and a strong sense of their place in the world. Rather than develop leadership skills, the pupils should be enterprising
Charter, David. "Schools told it's no longer necessary to teach right from wrong", 07/31/2006. Retrieved on 12/15/2007.
In England, half of all school leavers are unfit to get a job
CBI says education still failing
The UK education system is continuing to fail business, Sir Digby Jones, the outgoing head of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), has alleged.
Speaking ahead of standing down from his position next month, Sir Digby said half of all school leavers were still unfit to enter the job market.
He told the BBC's Working Lunch show that the government should have done more to resolve the problem.
But Sir Digby praised Labour's achievements in running the economy.
He also said the UK was leading the way in meeting the challenges of globalisation and the growing strength of developing economies led by China.
'Fabulous business climate'
Describing the period since he took up the top job at the CBI in 2000, he said the UK's continuing economic stability, low interest rates, low unemployment and low inflation had created a "fabulous situation for business to operate in".
"We are doing all the globalisation stuff better than the US, France, Japan and Germany...but in the skills base there is a real missed opportunity"
Sir Digby Jones
But the skills shortage of British workers remained a serious problem, he said.
"When I arrived in the job in 2000...I could not believe...that one in five of the adult population of the UK couldn't read, write and count like an 11-year-old," he said.
"And then the following summer I get told that half the children taking their GCSEs didn't get a C or above in English or Maths.
"In other words, basically they were unfit to go out and get a job.
He said that the situation had not improved in the six years since.
'Asian century'
While much of the problem was general complacency in UK society, Sir Digby added that "government could have done a lot more, got on the case more quickly".
Although he recognised that the UK now has the most literate 10-year-olds in Europe, he said this achievement needed to extend through to secondary education.
"We are doing all the globalisation stuff better than the UK, France, Japan and Germany...but in the skills base there is a real missed opportunity."
Sir Digby added that "the 21st Century belongs to Asia", and that for UK workers to improve their job security in the world economy, they needed to improve their skills base.
BBC news, "CBI says education still failing", 07/05/2007. Retrieved on 12/15/2007.
The UK education system is continuing to fail business, Sir Digby Jones, the outgoing head of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), has alleged.
Speaking ahead of standing down from his position next month, Sir Digby said half of all school leavers were still unfit to enter the job market.
He told the BBC's Working Lunch show that the government should have done more to resolve the problem.
But Sir Digby praised Labour's achievements in running the economy.
He also said the UK was leading the way in meeting the challenges of globalisation and the growing strength of developing economies led by China.
'Fabulous business climate'
Describing the period since he took up the top job at the CBI in 2000, he said the UK's continuing economic stability, low interest rates, low unemployment and low inflation had created a "fabulous situation for business to operate in".
"We are doing all the globalisation stuff better than the US, France, Japan and Germany...but in the skills base there is a real missed opportunity"
Sir Digby Jones
But the skills shortage of British workers remained a serious problem, he said.
"When I arrived in the job in 2000...I could not believe...that one in five of the adult population of the UK couldn't read, write and count like an 11-year-old," he said.
"And then the following summer I get told that half the children taking their GCSEs didn't get a C or above in English or Maths.
"In other words, basically they were unfit to go out and get a job.
He said that the situation had not improved in the six years since.
'Asian century'
While much of the problem was general complacency in UK society, Sir Digby added that "government could have done a lot more, got on the case more quickly".
Although he recognised that the UK now has the most literate 10-year-olds in Europe, he said this achievement needed to extend through to secondary education.
"We are doing all the globalisation stuff better than the UK, France, Japan and Germany...but in the skills base there is a real missed opportunity."
Sir Digby added that "the 21st Century belongs to Asia", and that for UK workers to improve their job security in the world economy, they needed to improve their skills base.
BBC news, "CBI says education still failing", 07/05/2007. Retrieved on 12/15/2007.
In England, teachers are miserable
Just had a really awful afternoon. Straight after lunch I had year 9 set 3. There are usually five or six in this class who are really hard to handle and I tend to dread having them. Today however I was in a really good mood because I was on a behaviour for learning course last week and was looking forward to using some of my newly gained techniques with them.
However the class had other ideas and the usual suspects were even worse than usual. All my newly learnt techniques went flying out the window and for the first time I felt that I was in no way in control of the class.
The next class I had my year 10's who I usually enjoy teaching. Today though I turned rund to find a note on the board saying "Are you pregnant miss?" (which obviously I'm not!).
Anyway upshot was that after school I ended up in tears with my head of department and I now feel really embarassed. It was really no worth crying about. This is a second career for me and I thought I would be mature enough to be able to cope with bad behaviour etc..
Anyway I just wanted to know if others have been brought to tears infront of staff?
moonberry in "Why did I start to cry?"
Is anyone else the same.. i feel so tired all the time... i am going up to bed at 8.30 to read a book and go to sleep... i am up again at 6.00!
my lessons have really taken a slump... i am getting to the point where i am getting the kids to do presentations on the topics we should be covering... I know i really am not being fair to them but i just have no energy in me to plan amazing lessons and battle with them all the time. At least this way they are quiet!
I just feel that i just need to chill for a week at Christmas and then once refreshed can plan some stunning lessons... All i can think about is how tired i am. I have never been like this before i have always been very concientious and organised but even my house looks a mess.... just dont feel like i am coping at all well... mentor is off sick as well (and next to useless) and i am setting her work!!!!!
Munchkin77 in "I feel so drained and feel like i am losing teh will to live!"
My Year 10's have been driving me insane since the start of term. I finally had enough today and walked out twenty mins before the end. My second in department was supportive, but now I'm worried that it's going to look bad tomorrow when my head of department comes back. Feel really stressed. Don't want to go in tomorrow at all.
Also one of the kids went to the toilet after I left and caught me crying in the corrider. What to do?!
pamela2612 in "WALKED OUT"
I feel that I am in some way being set up to fail my NQT year. This term, my first, I have had 2 satisfactory obs and 2 goods (although one made it very clear that it was only just good!). I am due two more before Christmas. Problem is classroom management and for my last observation the teacher was very critical of my relationship with the students. Even asked them for comments which were then included on the form. This, by the way, was for an AS class and I don't feel terribly secure about the knowledge I have of the subject either. I was told that although I have already passed my first term, I will not be passing next term unless I sort this out. I have spent most of the weekend in tears, thoroughly dreading the next three weeks as I feel watched constantly and, I have to say, a bit bullied by this.
I know I'm rambling - the tears are flowing as I type, and I'm not really sure what I'm asking for. Advice? Support? I just feel so desperately miserable.
Mrs Never Ready in "demoralised NQT"
I'm an NQT who sailed through the PGCE. I am at a good, supportive primary school but after four weeks I have been signed off with anxiety. Symptoms began in the second week of the job. My performance in the job was good (children settled and good relations built, good first observation, visitor to classroom organised, trip organised, etc.), but physical symptoms set in - not sleeping, crying, being sick, numbness. Saw GP who prescribed anti-anxiety/depression medication and has signed me off for two weeks (taking me until half term). School are being incredibly supportive and saying to take as long as I need and that health comes first. However, it's called into question for me whether I should pursue the job at the cost of my health. I was a TA before training with no health problems and, despite lower pay, job satisfaction.
Anyone else in a similar situation and what are you planning to do?
McCall in "Any NQTs signed off/in similar position?"
I've got all of these symptoms too and know that a doctor would sign me off. I'm sticking it out at school though as I hate to let people down, even at the cost of my own health (and nobody else could make sense of my planning anyhow!). Colleagues say it gets easier with time but I'm really not coping or keeping up, let alone enjoying it and inspiring the class. It's all well and good trying to keep going to complete the induction, as everyone says I should, but I'm sure that I'm not being an effective teacher and the children, the school and my fellow teachers there deserve very much better. My decision is made.
Just re-read my post and it sounds as though I'd decided to stay in position, come whatever. That's not the case! I'm sticking at it in the short term rather than being signed off but I have now set the resignation ball in motion.
whoatetheflakes in "Any NQTs signed off/in similar position?"
Help, I have had the worst day possible and as the title of my post suggests I have no job to look forward to after the holidays.
Here's the thing:
I am an NQT and in Spetember I was visiting schools with my CV's. One school that I went to offered me a job on the spot, that of co-ordinating Extended Schools with the option of a maternity cover after Christmas. As jobs are scare here in NI, I decided to take it. The principal told me that the maternity cover was in a difficult class, an MLD/SEN unit. Being up for a challenge, I decided to go for it and the arrangement was that I spent every Tuesday in the class to gain experience.
Anyway, due to the teacher being sick I have been in this class teaching for the last few days. After a week I feel that I have been through hell. Today I got shouted at by a pupil and had a ruler thrown at me. There was a physical fight and one other child went so mental that he actually tried to tear the skin off his face and poke his eyes with a sharp pencil. One child sits constantly making gun noises at me (which as you can imagine is a tad unnerving). There is another child who actually goes into some sort of fit and rocks back and forth all the time whilst screaming. It really is like a mad house in there. This is only the tip of the iceberg really and it is the SAME THING EVERYDAY.
These are primary school children by the way.
To cut a long story short I was taking to the Vice principal today (HT is now long term sick) and I told him that I can't work in this kind of an environment. He agreed that it is madness to consider putting an NQT in this kind of a job. My situation now is that I have NO WORK after Christmas. I am 28, have a mortgage and bills and I am so panicing. Day from hell, any words of encouragement please? All I have done today is cry:(
lottie3d in "Day from hell and now I have NO JOB after Christmas"
(sorry, this is going to be one those 'feel sorry for me' threads)
Had a rubbish day and I feel useless. My class are lovely (i teach year 4) but they are really starting to get to me.
Behaviour isn't a major issue (just a few that try their luck now and then) but they just don't seem to be learning anything.
Today I had so many blank faces looking at me, either because they weren't listening or they were just confused.
I know it's the time of year and they've had enough but I just want to push them that bit more.
They are becoming really lazy in their work and sometimes they just don't even try.
I'm fed up with giving work back that isn't to their best ability.
I've really got to push them this year because there is still a huge chunk of them at level 2 in maths and writing - which is really getting me down.
What can I do to put a bit of life back in them? (and me!)
captain oats in "Fed up and useless"
However the class had other ideas and the usual suspects were even worse than usual. All my newly learnt techniques went flying out the window and for the first time I felt that I was in no way in control of the class.
The next class I had my year 10's who I usually enjoy teaching. Today though I turned rund to find a note on the board saying "Are you pregnant miss?" (which obviously I'm not!).
Anyway upshot was that after school I ended up in tears with my head of department and I now feel really embarassed. It was really no worth crying about. This is a second career for me and I thought I would be mature enough to be able to cope with bad behaviour etc..
Anyway I just wanted to know if others have been brought to tears infront of staff?
moonberry in "Why did I start to cry?"
Is anyone else the same.. i feel so tired all the time... i am going up to bed at 8.30 to read a book and go to sleep... i am up again at 6.00!
my lessons have really taken a slump... i am getting to the point where i am getting the kids to do presentations on the topics we should be covering... I know i really am not being fair to them but i just have no energy in me to plan amazing lessons and battle with them all the time. At least this way they are quiet!
I just feel that i just need to chill for a week at Christmas and then once refreshed can plan some stunning lessons... All i can think about is how tired i am. I have never been like this before i have always been very concientious and organised but even my house looks a mess.... just dont feel like i am coping at all well... mentor is off sick as well (and next to useless) and i am setting her work!!!!!
Munchkin77 in "I feel so drained and feel like i am losing teh will to live!"
My Year 10's have been driving me insane since the start of term. I finally had enough today and walked out twenty mins before the end. My second in department was supportive, but now I'm worried that it's going to look bad tomorrow when my head of department comes back. Feel really stressed. Don't want to go in tomorrow at all.
Also one of the kids went to the toilet after I left and caught me crying in the corrider. What to do?!
pamela2612 in "WALKED OUT"
I feel that I am in some way being set up to fail my NQT year. This term, my first, I have had 2 satisfactory obs and 2 goods (although one made it very clear that it was only just good!). I am due two more before Christmas. Problem is classroom management and for my last observation the teacher was very critical of my relationship with the students. Even asked them for comments which were then included on the form. This, by the way, was for an AS class and I don't feel terribly secure about the knowledge I have of the subject either. I was told that although I have already passed my first term, I will not be passing next term unless I sort this out. I have spent most of the weekend in tears, thoroughly dreading the next three weeks as I feel watched constantly and, I have to say, a bit bullied by this.
I know I'm rambling - the tears are flowing as I type, and I'm not really sure what I'm asking for. Advice? Support? I just feel so desperately miserable.
Mrs Never Ready in "demoralised NQT"
I'm an NQT who sailed through the PGCE. I am at a good, supportive primary school but after four weeks I have been signed off with anxiety. Symptoms began in the second week of the job. My performance in the job was good (children settled and good relations built, good first observation, visitor to classroom organised, trip organised, etc.), but physical symptoms set in - not sleeping, crying, being sick, numbness. Saw GP who prescribed anti-anxiety/depression medication and has signed me off for two weeks (taking me until half term). School are being incredibly supportive and saying to take as long as I need and that health comes first. However, it's called into question for me whether I should pursue the job at the cost of my health. I was a TA before training with no health problems and, despite lower pay, job satisfaction.
Anyone else in a similar situation and what are you planning to do?
McCall in "Any NQTs signed off/in similar position?"
I've got all of these symptoms too and know that a doctor would sign me off. I'm sticking it out at school though as I hate to let people down, even at the cost of my own health (and nobody else could make sense of my planning anyhow!). Colleagues say it gets easier with time but I'm really not coping or keeping up, let alone enjoying it and inspiring the class. It's all well and good trying to keep going to complete the induction, as everyone says I should, but I'm sure that I'm not being an effective teacher and the children, the school and my fellow teachers there deserve very much better. My decision is made.
Just re-read my post and it sounds as though I'd decided to stay in position, come whatever. That's not the case! I'm sticking at it in the short term rather than being signed off but I have now set the resignation ball in motion.
whoatetheflakes in "Any NQTs signed off/in similar position?"
Help, I have had the worst day possible and as the title of my post suggests I have no job to look forward to after the holidays.
Here's the thing:
I am an NQT and in Spetember I was visiting schools with my CV's. One school that I went to offered me a job on the spot, that of co-ordinating Extended Schools with the option of a maternity cover after Christmas. As jobs are scare here in NI, I decided to take it. The principal told me that the maternity cover was in a difficult class, an MLD/SEN unit. Being up for a challenge, I decided to go for it and the arrangement was that I spent every Tuesday in the class to gain experience.
Anyway, due to the teacher being sick I have been in this class teaching for the last few days. After a week I feel that I have been through hell. Today I got shouted at by a pupil and had a ruler thrown at me. There was a physical fight and one other child went so mental that he actually tried to tear the skin off his face and poke his eyes with a sharp pencil. One child sits constantly making gun noises at me (which as you can imagine is a tad unnerving). There is another child who actually goes into some sort of fit and rocks back and forth all the time whilst screaming. It really is like a mad house in there. This is only the tip of the iceberg really and it is the SAME THING EVERYDAY.
These are primary school children by the way.
To cut a long story short I was taking to the Vice principal today (HT is now long term sick) and I told him that I can't work in this kind of an environment. He agreed that it is madness to consider putting an NQT in this kind of a job. My situation now is that I have NO WORK after Christmas. I am 28, have a mortgage and bills and I am so panicing. Day from hell, any words of encouragement please? All I have done today is cry:(
lottie3d in "Day from hell and now I have NO JOB after Christmas"
(sorry, this is going to be one those 'feel sorry for me' threads)
Had a rubbish day and I feel useless. My class are lovely (i teach year 4) but they are really starting to get to me.
Behaviour isn't a major issue (just a few that try their luck now and then) but they just don't seem to be learning anything.
Today I had so many blank faces looking at me, either because they weren't listening or they were just confused.
I know it's the time of year and they've had enough but I just want to push them that bit more.
They are becoming really lazy in their work and sometimes they just don't even try.
I'm fed up with giving work back that isn't to their best ability.
I've really got to push them this year because there is still a huge chunk of them at level 2 in maths and writing - which is really getting me down.
What can I do to put a bit of life back in them? (and me!)
captain oats in "Fed up and useless"
In England, teachers go on stress leave
i am currently extremely stressed out due to being 'bullied' and constantly being told that i'm unsatisfactory if Ofsted was here by the Head and Mentor.'ve been trying my level best to do everthing (planning, displays, assessment etc) but there is ALWAYS something negative for them to say. i feel less motivated, on a Sunday i spend all day 'crying' because i don't want to go school. i'm an NQT and because i loved teaching i'm still there. But i can't take it anymore i just want to leave!! do you think it will be hard for me to find a job elsewhere?...
thanks for all your replies. i'm on stress leave at the moment since last week because i just couldn't take it any longer. i know you might think that this was the easy option but believe me it wasn't. i've been going in since October thinking it'll get better but its got worse. they've extended my first term which i'm really unhappy about because i've done everthing that i could. i just can't see the Head or the Mentor thinking postive about me!! i have about 5 hours sleep every night and i'm constantly thinking about school which has made my social and family life crap!
03150579 in "NQT- hate my first term! want to quit. please help"
i'm on stress leave at the moment, seriously this school is making me cry all the time. even though their are teachers who feel that i'm good i just don't know for how long i can cope? i feel the best option is to ask for a early release? it'll make my life more colourful. but, at the same time i want to teach but not at this school. just don't know how to get out of this school and find a new job with the crap reference that i'll end up getting
03150579 in "NQT- hate my first term! want to quit. please help"
thanks for all your replies. i'm on stress leave at the moment since last week because i just couldn't take it any longer. i know you might think that this was the easy option but believe me it wasn't. i've been going in since October thinking it'll get better but its got worse. they've extended my first term which i'm really unhappy about because i've done everthing that i could. i just can't see the Head or the Mentor thinking postive about me!! i have about 5 hours sleep every night and i'm constantly thinking about school which has made my social and family life crap!
03150579 in "NQT- hate my first term! want to quit. please help"
i'm on stress leave at the moment, seriously this school is making me cry all the time. even though their are teachers who feel that i'm good i just don't know for how long i can cope? i feel the best option is to ask for a early release? it'll make my life more colourful. but, at the same time i want to teach but not at this school. just don't know how to get out of this school and find a new job with the crap reference that i'll end up getting
03150579 in "NQT- hate my first term! want to quit. please help"
In England, the inmates run the asylum
Spying in the classroom? I’d give it 10 out of 10
How would you react if your child came home and said that a lesson had been wasted by a persistent 14-year-old who had absented himself from his own lessons and intruded into your child’s classroom? Let’s say a supply teacher was in charge and that when this boy had snatched up a handful of pupil reports and refused to hand them back, the teacher had grabbed his wrist and retrieved the papers.
Thank goodness for that: order restored, you’d think. But then the deputy head arrived, armed with a sheaf of paper. Without any acknowledgement of my presence – for I was that supply teacher – she gave each of the pupils a sheet and asked them to write independent accounts of what had happened. At the mention of my having touched the boy there was a gasp of mock horror from the class, a piece of tomfoolery that she failed to challenge. She would, she said, see me later.
I pointed out that any adult who tolerated such behaviour condoned it. She said that she would have to bring the matter to the attention of the supply-teaching agency. I told the agency that were I sent again to that school I would take a box of matches with me and save the world a deal of trouble: it was a school which I had known while head of a neighbouring school.
Supply teachers are visitors entitled to respect and support so that they can work effectively. Often they don’t get that, as the case of Angela Mason shows. She is arraigned before the General Teaching Council accused of unacceptable professional conduct. Her crime was covertly filming the defiant and destructive chaos she saw in 18 schools, which was then broadcast on television.
Two important questions need to be asked over and over again until there are straight answers. First, what has happened to the so-called teaching profession when a government poodle, the General Teaching Council, is sitting in judgment on someone who is revealing crucial information about what happens in schools and the misbehaviour of pupils?
Far more importantly, where on earth is the moral justification for compelling attendance at state schools when learning is impossible? The first question that any parent should ask a head teacher is, can you assure me that my child will not be left unsupervised with children who steal, bully, lie, cheat or seek ways to frustrate teaching and learning? Mrs Mason brought to our attention the ease with which disaffected pupils can now so easily disrupt schools.
Like prisons, schools are now places where the inmates are obliged to keep company with others whom they might prefer to avoid. Parents need to know about these things.
Peter Inson is a former head teacher of a state school
Inson, Peter. "Spying in the classroom? I’d give it 10 out of 10". 04/26/2007. Retrieved on 12/15/2007.
How would you react if your child came home and said that a lesson had been wasted by a persistent 14-year-old who had absented himself from his own lessons and intruded into your child’s classroom? Let’s say a supply teacher was in charge and that when this boy had snatched up a handful of pupil reports and refused to hand them back, the teacher had grabbed his wrist and retrieved the papers.
Thank goodness for that: order restored, you’d think. But then the deputy head arrived, armed with a sheaf of paper. Without any acknowledgement of my presence – for I was that supply teacher – she gave each of the pupils a sheet and asked them to write independent accounts of what had happened. At the mention of my having touched the boy there was a gasp of mock horror from the class, a piece of tomfoolery that she failed to challenge. She would, she said, see me later.
I pointed out that any adult who tolerated such behaviour condoned it. She said that she would have to bring the matter to the attention of the supply-teaching agency. I told the agency that were I sent again to that school I would take a box of matches with me and save the world a deal of trouble: it was a school which I had known while head of a neighbouring school.
Supply teachers are visitors entitled to respect and support so that they can work effectively. Often they don’t get that, as the case of Angela Mason shows. She is arraigned before the General Teaching Council accused of unacceptable professional conduct. Her crime was covertly filming the defiant and destructive chaos she saw in 18 schools, which was then broadcast on television.
Two important questions need to be asked over and over again until there are straight answers. First, what has happened to the so-called teaching profession when a government poodle, the General Teaching Council, is sitting in judgment on someone who is revealing crucial information about what happens in schools and the misbehaviour of pupils?
Far more importantly, where on earth is the moral justification for compelling attendance at state schools when learning is impossible? The first question that any parent should ask a head teacher is, can you assure me that my child will not be left unsupervised with children who steal, bully, lie, cheat or seek ways to frustrate teaching and learning? Mrs Mason brought to our attention the ease with which disaffected pupils can now so easily disrupt schools.
Like prisons, schools are now places where the inmates are obliged to keep company with others whom they might prefer to avoid. Parents need to know about these things.
Peter Inson is a former head teacher of a state school
Inson, Peter. "Spying in the classroom? I’d give it 10 out of 10". 04/26/2007. Retrieved on 12/15/2007.
In England, teachers routinely are falsely accused of physical and sexual abuse
False claims 'fuelled by lawyers'
Parents are making unfounded complaints about their children's schools in the hope of making money in out-of-court settlements, head teachers claim.
The National Association of Head Teachers said no-win-no-fee lawyers encouraged a wave of false allegations against schools and their staff.
Many parents knew a claim for less than £12,000 would often be settled out-of-court by education authorities.
The NAHT called for justice, saying reputations were being wrongly damaged.
Parents know that if they put in a claim for anything up to £12,000 and it will never go to court
Head teacher Dame Mary MacDonald
A report being presented to the NAHT annual conference in Bournemouth this weekend suggests that "most teachers and heads have faced false allegations at some point in their careers".
"The official view that these events are extremely rare is not borne out by the available evidence," the union said.
NAHT general secretary Mick Brookes said firms offering no-win-no-fee arrangements exacerbated the problem.
"Parents, at times, don't hesitate to go there," said Mr Brookes.
"It gives the green light to people to do this."
Fear of reprisals
Dame Mary MacDonald, a head teacher who has herself been the subject of a malicious allegation, said parents often made complaints hoping for an out-of-court settlement.
She said she had heard of cases where insurance companies advised local education authorities to settle claims that might go over £12,000.
"Parents know this, they know that if they put in a claim for anything up to £12,000 and it will never go to court."
One head, who did not want to be named for fear of reprisals against her staff, said a complaint about a PE teacher at her school was settled out-of-court, without her knowledge.
The complaint was made by the mother of a 13-year-old girl who needed hospital treatment after she hurt her ankle while jumping off a trampoline.
Tougher deterrents
When the head followed up the allegation, that the teacher had not acted with due care and attention, she found the education authority had agreed to settle out-of-court, without informing her.
"This has caused enormous problems for my staff - the girl now says to other pupils 'Don't do that, you might hurt yourself'," said the head.
"It knocks the confidence out of staff."
The NAHT is concerned that the names of accused teachers and head teachers is often released to the media, while the names of alleged victims is protected.
The union said, while the safety of children was its primary concern, too many teachers and heads were suffering the shame of unfounded allegations.
Small number
Mr Brookes said: "We have clear evidence that lives are being damaged and careers ruined by a failure by the law to adequately protect people who are innocent of accusations levelled against them."
Dame Mary, 56, said that, before she retired, she wanted to see malicious allegations punished.
"I make no apology for that because I've seen it destroy some excellent colleagues' reputations and their family lives.
"No teacher who has been falsely accused of physical or sexual abuse should ever have to sit and look at that pupil again.
"And parents should be taken to court."
The Department for Education and Skills said it was "keenly aware" of the devastating effects of false allegations.
But a spokesman said the number of allegations made each year was "very small" as a proportion of the number of children and staff in schools.
Katherine Sellgren, "False claims 'fuelled by lawyers'", 05/04/2007. Retrieved on 12/15/2007
Parents are making unfounded complaints about their children's schools in the hope of making money in out-of-court settlements, head teachers claim.
The National Association of Head Teachers said no-win-no-fee lawyers encouraged a wave of false allegations against schools and their staff.
Many parents knew a claim for less than £12,000 would often be settled out-of-court by education authorities.
The NAHT called for justice, saying reputations were being wrongly damaged.
Parents know that if they put in a claim for anything up to £12,000 and it will never go to court
Head teacher Dame Mary MacDonald
A report being presented to the NAHT annual conference in Bournemouth this weekend suggests that "most teachers and heads have faced false allegations at some point in their careers".
"The official view that these events are extremely rare is not borne out by the available evidence," the union said.
NAHT general secretary Mick Brookes said firms offering no-win-no-fee arrangements exacerbated the problem.
"Parents, at times, don't hesitate to go there," said Mr Brookes.
"It gives the green light to people to do this."
Fear of reprisals
Dame Mary MacDonald, a head teacher who has herself been the subject of a malicious allegation, said parents often made complaints hoping for an out-of-court settlement.
She said she had heard of cases where insurance companies advised local education authorities to settle claims that might go over £12,000.
"Parents know this, they know that if they put in a claim for anything up to £12,000 and it will never go to court."
One head, who did not want to be named for fear of reprisals against her staff, said a complaint about a PE teacher at her school was settled out-of-court, without her knowledge.
The complaint was made by the mother of a 13-year-old girl who needed hospital treatment after she hurt her ankle while jumping off a trampoline.
Tougher deterrents
When the head followed up the allegation, that the teacher had not acted with due care and attention, she found the education authority had agreed to settle out-of-court, without informing her.
"This has caused enormous problems for my staff - the girl now says to other pupils 'Don't do that, you might hurt yourself'," said the head.
"It knocks the confidence out of staff."
The NAHT is concerned that the names of accused teachers and head teachers is often released to the media, while the names of alleged victims is protected.
The union said, while the safety of children was its primary concern, too many teachers and heads were suffering the shame of unfounded allegations.
Small number
Mr Brookes said: "We have clear evidence that lives are being damaged and careers ruined by a failure by the law to adequately protect people who are innocent of accusations levelled against them."
Dame Mary, 56, said that, before she retired, she wanted to see malicious allegations punished.
"I make no apology for that because I've seen it destroy some excellent colleagues' reputations and their family lives.
"No teacher who has been falsely accused of physical or sexual abuse should ever have to sit and look at that pupil again.
"And parents should be taken to court."
The Department for Education and Skills said it was "keenly aware" of the devastating effects of false allegations.
But a spokesman said the number of allegations made each year was "very small" as a proportion of the number of children and staff in schools.
Katherine Sellgren, "False claims 'fuelled by lawyers'", 05/04/2007. Retrieved on 12/15/2007
In England, teachers are untrained and unqualified
Schoolchildren are taught by untrained 'teaching instructors'
Thousands of graduates without teaching qualifications are working as supply teachers in schools.
The graduates, who do not have qualified teacher status and who have often received no training, are being taken on by agencies to provide cover for up to 12 months at a time.
Called "teaching instructors", so that schools are legally able to employ them, they are placed in charge of classes, plan and set work in key subjects and have responsibility for pupils' behaviour.
At Select Education, Britain's largest supply agency, one in five of the "teachers" they employ are unqualified graduates who are expected to take on full classroom responsibilities. Advertisements for other agencies invite applications from "both qualified teachers and experienced teaching instructors" to fill supply teacher jobs in London, Manchester, Leicester, Leeds, Wakefield and Bradford.
The extent to which graduates are being used to fill often long-term gaps left by a shortage of teachers has shocked teacher unions and parent organisations. Supply cover jobs of four to six months at a time are not unusual, often in important curriculum areas such as maths and science.
Tough inner city schools, in particular, have to rely on supply teachers, exacerbating the problem of high staff turnover that was pinpointed by Ofsted, the inspection body for schools in England, as a major barrier to school improvement.
Margaret Morrissey, the spokesman for the Confederation of Parent Teacher Associations, said: "This has got to stop. Every parent will see the advantage of having an expert in a particular subject working alongside a teacher but they should be as well as, and not instead of. We do not expect an education system, which is being funded by billions of pounds of taxpayers' money, where our children are being taught by 'pseudo teachers' or classroom assistants."
The supply teaching market has increased over the past 10 years because of teacher shortages and the number of staff on stress-related sick leave. Recent government reforms that allow classroom assistants and cover supervisors to stand in when teachers have guaranteed time away from class for planning and marking has also increased demand. It was estimated that £383 million was spent by schools on supply teachers in 2004/05.
Official figures show that the number of teaching instructors in schools without qualified teaching status has soared from 1,500 in 1997 to 6,800 in 2006, although this includes teachers from overseas.
The National Union of Teachers blamed the Government's reforms for creating a situation where "a whole range of unqualified people" could now teach classes.
"Ministers changed the rules so that it is no longer necessary to have professional training," a spokesman said. "The floodgates have opened and we have classroom assistants, cover supervisors and teaching instructors acting as supply teachers for long periods. Parents presume that the person in front of the class is a teacher. That is no longer always the truth."
There is no compulsory training that graduates must complete before working as supply teachers. As long as they have the relevant degree, provide references and a satisfactory Criminal Records Bureau report, and pass an interview, they can teach. Unqualified graduates are paid about £100 a day by agencies, compared with about £140 a day for those with qualified-teacher status.
John Dunn, an education adviser for the Recruitment and Employment Confederation, said: "The school system will have to acknowledge this trend. It is almost impossible to recruit full-time, qualified teaching staff."
Julie Henry and Rachel Barrett, "Schoolchildren are taught by untrained 'teaching instructors'", 04/07/2007. Retrieved on 14/12/2007.
Thousands of graduates without teaching qualifications are working as supply teachers in schools.
The graduates, who do not have qualified teacher status and who have often received no training, are being taken on by agencies to provide cover for up to 12 months at a time.
Called "teaching instructors", so that schools are legally able to employ them, they are placed in charge of classes, plan and set work in key subjects and have responsibility for pupils' behaviour.
At Select Education, Britain's largest supply agency, one in five of the "teachers" they employ are unqualified graduates who are expected to take on full classroom responsibilities. Advertisements for other agencies invite applications from "both qualified teachers and experienced teaching instructors" to fill supply teacher jobs in London, Manchester, Leicester, Leeds, Wakefield and Bradford.
The extent to which graduates are being used to fill often long-term gaps left by a shortage of teachers has shocked teacher unions and parent organisations. Supply cover jobs of four to six months at a time are not unusual, often in important curriculum areas such as maths and science.
Tough inner city schools, in particular, have to rely on supply teachers, exacerbating the problem of high staff turnover that was pinpointed by Ofsted, the inspection body for schools in England, as a major barrier to school improvement.
Margaret Morrissey, the spokesman for the Confederation of Parent Teacher Associations, said: "This has got to stop. Every parent will see the advantage of having an expert in a particular subject working alongside a teacher but they should be as well as, and not instead of. We do not expect an education system, which is being funded by billions of pounds of taxpayers' money, where our children are being taught by 'pseudo teachers' or classroom assistants."
The supply teaching market has increased over the past 10 years because of teacher shortages and the number of staff on stress-related sick leave. Recent government reforms that allow classroom assistants and cover supervisors to stand in when teachers have guaranteed time away from class for planning and marking has also increased demand. It was estimated that £383 million was spent by schools on supply teachers in 2004/05.
Official figures show that the number of teaching instructors in schools without qualified teaching status has soared from 1,500 in 1997 to 6,800 in 2006, although this includes teachers from overseas.
The National Union of Teachers blamed the Government's reforms for creating a situation where "a whole range of unqualified people" could now teach classes.
"Ministers changed the rules so that it is no longer necessary to have professional training," a spokesman said. "The floodgates have opened and we have classroom assistants, cover supervisors and teaching instructors acting as supply teachers for long periods. Parents presume that the person in front of the class is a teacher. That is no longer always the truth."
There is no compulsory training that graduates must complete before working as supply teachers. As long as they have the relevant degree, provide references and a satisfactory Criminal Records Bureau report, and pass an interview, they can teach. Unqualified graduates are paid about £100 a day by agencies, compared with about £140 a day for those with qualified-teacher status.
John Dunn, an education adviser for the Recruitment and Employment Confederation, said: "The school system will have to acknowledge this trend. It is almost impossible to recruit full-time, qualified teaching staff."
Julie Henry and Rachel Barrett, "Schoolchildren are taught by untrained 'teaching instructors'", 04/07/2007. Retrieved on 14/12/2007.
In England, students lack basic math and literacy skills
Teens 'cannot function in work'
More than half of employers say school leavers often cannot function in the workplace due to a lack of basic maths and literacy, a survey suggests.
But the poll of 507 firms for business leaders the CBI also suggested youngsters' IT skills can give them the edge over their bosses in this area.
The CBI survey found many were having to retrain school leavers in the basics they should have learned in class.
Last year 53% in England achieved less than grade C English and maths GCSEs.
"Basic literacy and numeracy problems are a nightmare for business"
Richard Lambert
CBI director general
The report comes days before this year's GCSE results are published.
New figures from the 2007 CBI/Pertemps Employment Trends survey suggest 52% of employers are dissatisfied with the basic literacy of school leavers, 59% with their basic numeracy.
But some 92% say youngsters' IT skills - in increasingly technology-driven workplaces - are acceptable.
CBI director general Richard Lambert said: "Their fluency with iPods, mobiles and MySpace has translated well into the workplace, and often gives them an edge over their bosses."
But he went on: "The challenge ahead is for schools to channel that same enthusiasm into numeracy and literacy skills, where far too many young people are struggling.
"Basic literacy and numeracy problems are a nightmare for business and for individuals, so we have to get these essentials right."
Remedial class
Mr Lambert added: "Maths and English skills are a vital bedrock for further learning, and are essential both in the workplace and in life."
"We have to sharpen the skills of more of our young people, so that they are starting from the strongest possible position."
The CBI survey suggested 86% of employers think improving maths and English skills should be the government's top priority.
Some 15% offered remedial training in maths and 13% trained staff in basic literacy.
Mr Lambert suggested that the cost of not turning the UK's workforce into a highly skilled one would be "grave".
'Functional literacy'
This is because Britain would never be able to match the labour costs of China, India and emerging economies, he argues.
The CBI acknowledges that progress has been made but argues that it is "nowhere near enough".
Skills Secretary John Denham said the government was taking steps to make sure young people were equipped for the job market.
"The Labour market has changed. Thirty years ago most people could go to employers without these skills and there were jobs for them," Mr Denham said.
"Today, the same employers require them to have functional literacy and numeracy, they require them to have computer skills.
"We've got to make sure that they have those."
In 2005, the then education secretary Ruth Kelly said pupils would have to pass tests in "functional" literacy and numeracy.
English and maths GCSEs are being changed to fulfil this pledge.
The leader of the NASUWT teachers' union, Chris Keates, Chris Keates, said the CBI was "the arch serial detractor of educational achievement".
"It would have everyone believe that there was a golden era in the past when everyone left school highly literate and numerate. This is simply not the case."
Progress in raising standards in English and maths over the last 10 years had been remarkable and the CBI would do better to remind its members to invest more in training, she said.
BBC News, "Teens 'cannot function in work'". 08/20/2007. Retrieved on 12/15/2007
Friday, December 14, 2007
Index
Everything you need to know about teaching in the UK. Click on the following links to learn more
Teaching Environment
In England, teachers are miserable
In England, teachers feel like rubbish
In England, teachers go on stress leave
In England, teachers want to quit teaching
In England, teachers kill themselves
Working environment
In England, the students control the classrooms
In England, the inmates run the asylum
In England, teachers are routinely falsely accused of physical and sexual abuse
In England, schools give teachers bad references
Bullying
Information about bullying in British schools by British teachers and school management against other teachers and staff.
In England, teachers are bullied by school managers
In England, schools treat staff like cattle
In England, teachers are punished for doing their job
In England, teachers commit suicide
How to fight bullying from schools
Credential recognition
QTS - Qualified Teacher Status
Why "unqualified" teachers are allowed to teach
What happens when you get QTS
QTS - Assessment Only Route
Low Standards
In England, teachers are untrained and unqualified
In England, teachers are untrained and unqualified II
In England, students lack basic math and literacy skills
In England, every school manipulates test scores
Schools
Schools you do not want to work in
School Management
In England, headteachers bully teachers
In England, teachers think school managers are full of shit
In England, schools give bad references
Student behaviour
You’re thinking about teaching in the UK and want to what is classroom behaviour like. You know that English soccer hooligans went to school once and that England is largely a drinking culture. You might have even heard of horror stories involving English students and wonder, “Are students in England that bad?” The good news is that the answer is no, students in England are not that bad. The bad news is that they are much worst.
What do British teachers think about behaviour in British schools
Scenes from the Battleground - A Teaching Blog
What the...?
No training or qualifications required to teach in England
School bans mother for speaking out!
Teaching Environment
In England, teachers are miserable
In England, teachers feel like rubbish
In England, teachers go on stress leave
In England, teachers want to quit teaching
In England, teachers kill themselves
Working environment
In England, the students control the classrooms
In England, the inmates run the asylum
In England, teachers are routinely falsely accused of physical and sexual abuse
In England, schools give teachers bad references
Bullying
Information about bullying in British schools by British teachers and school management against other teachers and staff.
In England, teachers are bullied by school managers
In England, schools treat staff like cattle
In England, teachers are punished for doing their job
In England, teachers commit suicide
How to fight bullying from schools
Credential recognition
QTS - Qualified Teacher Status
Why "unqualified" teachers are allowed to teach
What happens when you get QTS
QTS - Assessment Only Route
Low Standards
In England, teachers are untrained and unqualified
In England, teachers are untrained and unqualified II
In England, students lack basic math and literacy skills
In England, every school manipulates test scores
Schools
Schools you do not want to work in
School Management
In England, headteachers bully teachers
In England, teachers think school managers are full of shit
In England, schools give bad references
Student behaviour
You’re thinking about teaching in the UK and want to what is classroom behaviour like. You know that English soccer hooligans went to school once and that England is largely a drinking culture. You might have even heard of horror stories involving English students and wonder, “Are students in England that bad?” The good news is that the answer is no, students in England are not that bad. The bad news is that they are much worst.
What do British teachers think about behaviour in British schools
Scenes from the Battleground - A Teaching Blog
What the...?
No training or qualifications required to teach in England
School bans mother for speaking out!
Why British Schools Suck
What works in education: the lessons according to McKinsey
THE British government, says Sir Michael Barber, once an adviser to the former prime minister, Tony Blair, has changed pretty much every aspect of education policy in England and Wales, often more than once. “The funding of schools, the governance of schools, curriculum standards, assessment and testing, the role of local government, the role of national government, the range and nature of national agencies, schools admissions”—you name it, it's been changed and sometimes changed back. The only thing that hasn't changed has been the outcome. According to the National Foundation for Education Research, there had been (until recently) no measurable improvement in the standards of literacy and numeracy in primary schools for 50 years.
"How to be top", 10/18/2007. Retrieved on 12/14/2007
THE British government, says Sir Michael Barber, once an adviser to the former prime minister, Tony Blair, has changed pretty much every aspect of education policy in England and Wales, often more than once. “The funding of schools, the governance of schools, curriculum standards, assessment and testing, the role of local government, the role of national government, the range and nature of national agencies, schools admissions”—you name it, it's been changed and sometimes changed back. The only thing that hasn't changed has been the outcome. According to the National Foundation for Education Research, there had been (until recently) no measurable improvement in the standards of literacy and numeracy in primary schools for 50 years.
"How to be top", 10/18/2007. Retrieved on 12/14/2007
School BANS mother for speaking out!
Mother banned from child's school
A mother has been banned from her daughter's school after writing a series of letters of complaint.
Fran Horsman wrote four letters to Loddon Junior in Norfolk, questioning how the school, which her 10-year-old daughter Gaby attends, was run.
Chair of school governors Chris Boswell said Mrs Horsman, who was a parent helper, could come to school events with the head's permission.
He said he was sad the relationship had broken down but he stood by the ban.
Mrs Horsman said she would write a letter to Ed Balls, Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families.
Her daughter Gaby said: "I don't understand why she is being banned. It's just really weird because other mums and dads are allowed to go in and out of the school but my mum's not."
'Parent's job to question'
Mrs Horsman can only walk her daughter to and from the school - she cannot go inside without an official appointment.
She claimed it was because of the four letters she wrote to the school.
In one she spoke of her "total despair at the general state of affairs", while another said "there is no justification for having every class of mixed year groups".
Mrs Horsman told the BBC: "Part of my job as a parent is to question what goes on at the school and to make sure my daughter gets the best possible education."
A letter from the chair of school governors said the school had consulted its legal team and any further negative correspondence could be viewed as offensive.
Scouts' barbecue
Chris Boswell, chair of governors, said: "I am saddened that the relationship between the school and one of our parent helpers has deteriorated to the extent that the governors have felt it necessary for her to stay away from the site other than to bring or collect her child from school.
"We wrote to the person involved back in July, setting out our concerns, and explaining the basis for our decision.
"If the person concerned wishes to discuss an issue with the school we have asked her to simply make a prior appointment.
"Over the summer the school has had no issue with her attending sports day and a scouts' barbeque for example."
"Mother banned from child's school", 11/09/2007. Retrieved on 12/14/2007
A mother has been banned from her daughter's school after writing a series of letters of complaint.
Fran Horsman wrote four letters to Loddon Junior in Norfolk, questioning how the school, which her 10-year-old daughter Gaby attends, was run.
Chair of school governors Chris Boswell said Mrs Horsman, who was a parent helper, could come to school events with the head's permission.
He said he was sad the relationship had broken down but he stood by the ban.
Mrs Horsman said she would write a letter to Ed Balls, Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families.
Her daughter Gaby said: "I don't understand why she is being banned. It's just really weird because other mums and dads are allowed to go in and out of the school but my mum's not."
'Parent's job to question'
Mrs Horsman can only walk her daughter to and from the school - she cannot go inside without an official appointment.
She claimed it was because of the four letters she wrote to the school.
In one she spoke of her "total despair at the general state of affairs", while another said "there is no justification for having every class of mixed year groups".
Mrs Horsman told the BBC: "Part of my job as a parent is to question what goes on at the school and to make sure my daughter gets the best possible education."
A letter from the chair of school governors said the school had consulted its legal team and any further negative correspondence could be viewed as offensive.
Scouts' barbecue
Chris Boswell, chair of governors, said: "I am saddened that the relationship between the school and one of our parent helpers has deteriorated to the extent that the governors have felt it necessary for her to stay away from the site other than to bring or collect her child from school.
"We wrote to the person involved back in July, setting out our concerns, and explaining the basis for our decision.
"If the person concerned wishes to discuss an issue with the school we have asked her to simply make a prior appointment.
"Over the summer the school has had no issue with her attending sports day and a scouts' barbeque for example."
"Mother banned from child's school", 11/09/2007. Retrieved on 12/14/2007
In England, Cover supervisors teach with NO training and NO qualification
'I can't do maths.' 'You'll be fine,' said the head
Though totally unqualified as a teacher, Colin Edwards found himself covering up to five lessons a day
Colin Edwards
Tuesday September 4, 2007
Guardian
I came back to education rather late in life - just turning 50. I had disliked school from day one. Learned to read and write, and that was about it. I knew I would never return after age 16. But life is funny, and when I found myself a has-been at 49, I had to look outside the comfort zone I had built up with 30-odd years of writing and editing. In fact, it was my wife who looked outside my comfort zone. She had always had a strange belief that I would make a marvellous teacher. Where she got this notion from I have no idea. It was she who applied for me on seeing a job advertised for a cover supervisor at the local comprehensive.
From September 2004 the government and Nasuwt decreed that all schools had to make sure teachers would do no more than 38 hours of cover (taking lessons for absent colleagues) each year. And so was born the position of cover supervisor, a full-time job covering lessons across the whole curriculum for teachers absent through illness or coursework. A masterstroke of the government and the education system was that the position called for no qualifications or even training, allowing for a minimum wage.
No qualifications or certificates in hand, I applied for the post. When called in by the headteacher, I was upfront about my lack of qualifications. Regardless, he took a shine to me and, to my amazement, I was offered the job.
"I can't do maths, you understand," I protested.
"You'll be fine," he assured me.
He's the head, I thought. He must have spotted some quality in my character hidden to all but him and my wife.
Haircut and suit. September 6. Back to school. I'm the new boy, aged 50. My first cover lesson: maths.
"Sir, what's this mean?" asks a 12-year-old. I look. Gibberish covers the page of his text book.
"This is looked on as a revision lesson," I explain. "When your teacher returns he needs to be able to see what you don't know as much as what you do know." Pretty cool on-the-spot thinking. I'm convinced. Unfortunately, the boy isn't. "He doesn't know," he whispers to his mate.
Nor did I. I also didn't know science, geography, French, German, DT, business studies or cookery, but soon found myself holding lessons in all of them between three and five times a day. For the year and a half I was at the school, not once did a teacher step into a class to observe how or indeed what I was doing. A lot of cover lessons would degenerate into handing out word searches.
"We've done this!"
"Three times already!"
"Then it shouldn't be too difficult for you!"
The students knew this situation didn't quite add up. Speaking of adding up, I often wondered just how many cover supervisors there were up and down the country taking countless lessons each term. We are looking at hours and hours taken out of each student's lesson timetable. They might as well have been doing dot-to-dot puzzles. Hearing the government claim it had put x number more teachers into schools made me gag. The con being that we cover supervisors were on a puny wage, so hasn't the government done well, a zillion more teachers at half the cost.
During my time at the school I was attacked three times. Once with a hammer. Fair dues to the lad, we were in the woodwork area so he was using the correct tool. The second attack was with a carving knife, and again praise to the boy involved as I was taking a cookery lesson at the time. My favourite incident was when a 14-year-old girl walked across my science class while unwrapping a Black Velvet liquorice-flavour condom.
"Do you want to use this on me, sir?"
Again full marks for politeness and sexual responsibility. As an untrained teacher I recognised the minefield that lay before me with whatever response I gave. Amidst sniggers from the class I simply told her to get back to work. When I reported the incident later, the head's reaction was: "She can be difficult."
He also came down like a ton of feathers on hammer-boy, giving him a two-day suspension which, since he spat at me on his return, didn't seem to have the desired effect. Knife-boy had to write a letter of apology to me in which he promised it would never happen again. So that was all right then.
It was strange to mix with teachers in the staff room. Certain social skills seemed missing from the majority, particularly those who had gone straight from school as students to school as teachers. On my first day in September, one of them had given me the often-heard tip: "Don't smile until after Christmas." Although I had little to smile about, I found this an impossible task after a lifetime of smiling like a loon. It is obviously a skill acquired during teacher training. The majority of teachers were stressed and unhappy, with paperwork and lack of support being the main problems moaned about daily.
During my first term, there was concern from the more militant teachers over my position as the uneducated teaching the uneducated. Unions were mentioned, but nothing came of it as I was soon covering so many lessons each day (three to five out of five) that it made life easier for the staff.
I did snap once. I was holding a science class for the dregs of the school. As text books and beakers flew every which way, I bellowed that they were a "bunch of tossers". Silence. And then: "You can't call us that. We're going to report you." My only thought: "Please go get me fired."
Angry parents phoned the head demanding justice for my slur on their family escutcheon. Writing out an incident report, I exchanged the word tosser for dosser and no more was heard about it.
Ofsted inspectors came to the school. It was interesting to see that they didn't come into lessons covered by me or my fellow cover supervisor. The school was deemed "good".
Not a week went by when I wasn't astounded at school life. On the way home one evening, I spotted a student happily scrawling the initials KKK on a town landmark. When I brought this up with the head, he just shook his head. "Nothing we can do if he was outside the school." No feeling of duty to educate the boy on the full wonders of the Ku Klux Klan.
One day I was holding a class in RE when my mobile rang and someone offered me some freelance writing work. The class was quite out of control, with Bibles being hurled out of the window. I felt I was either going to strike a child or a teacher at some point soon. I had to go.
The students remain, preparing for tomorrow's bright new world. Cover supervisors continue holding lessons - up to GCSE and A-level - for which they have no training or qualification. Children deserve better.
· The author is writing under a pseudonym
Edwards, Colin. "'I can't do maths.' 'You'll be fine,' said the head", 11/03/2007. Retrieved on 12/14/2007
Though totally unqualified as a teacher, Colin Edwards found himself covering up to five lessons a day
Colin Edwards
Tuesday September 4, 2007
Guardian
I came back to education rather late in life - just turning 50. I had disliked school from day one. Learned to read and write, and that was about it. I knew I would never return after age 16. But life is funny, and when I found myself a has-been at 49, I had to look outside the comfort zone I had built up with 30-odd years of writing and editing. In fact, it was my wife who looked outside my comfort zone. She had always had a strange belief that I would make a marvellous teacher. Where she got this notion from I have no idea. It was she who applied for me on seeing a job advertised for a cover supervisor at the local comprehensive.
From September 2004 the government and Nasuwt decreed that all schools had to make sure teachers would do no more than 38 hours of cover (taking lessons for absent colleagues) each year. And so was born the position of cover supervisor, a full-time job covering lessons across the whole curriculum for teachers absent through illness or coursework. A masterstroke of the government and the education system was that the position called for no qualifications or even training, allowing for a minimum wage.
No qualifications or certificates in hand, I applied for the post. When called in by the headteacher, I was upfront about my lack of qualifications. Regardless, he took a shine to me and, to my amazement, I was offered the job.
"I can't do maths, you understand," I protested.
"You'll be fine," he assured me.
He's the head, I thought. He must have spotted some quality in my character hidden to all but him and my wife.
Haircut and suit. September 6. Back to school. I'm the new boy, aged 50. My first cover lesson: maths.
"Sir, what's this mean?" asks a 12-year-old. I look. Gibberish covers the page of his text book.
"This is looked on as a revision lesson," I explain. "When your teacher returns he needs to be able to see what you don't know as much as what you do know." Pretty cool on-the-spot thinking. I'm convinced. Unfortunately, the boy isn't. "He doesn't know," he whispers to his mate.
Nor did I. I also didn't know science, geography, French, German, DT, business studies or cookery, but soon found myself holding lessons in all of them between three and five times a day. For the year and a half I was at the school, not once did a teacher step into a class to observe how or indeed what I was doing. A lot of cover lessons would degenerate into handing out word searches.
"We've done this!"
"Three times already!"
"Then it shouldn't be too difficult for you!"
The students knew this situation didn't quite add up. Speaking of adding up, I often wondered just how many cover supervisors there were up and down the country taking countless lessons each term. We are looking at hours and hours taken out of each student's lesson timetable. They might as well have been doing dot-to-dot puzzles. Hearing the government claim it had put x number more teachers into schools made me gag. The con being that we cover supervisors were on a puny wage, so hasn't the government done well, a zillion more teachers at half the cost.
During my time at the school I was attacked three times. Once with a hammer. Fair dues to the lad, we were in the woodwork area so he was using the correct tool. The second attack was with a carving knife, and again praise to the boy involved as I was taking a cookery lesson at the time. My favourite incident was when a 14-year-old girl walked across my science class while unwrapping a Black Velvet liquorice-flavour condom.
"Do you want to use this on me, sir?"
Again full marks for politeness and sexual responsibility. As an untrained teacher I recognised the minefield that lay before me with whatever response I gave. Amidst sniggers from the class I simply told her to get back to work. When I reported the incident later, the head's reaction was: "She can be difficult."
He also came down like a ton of feathers on hammer-boy, giving him a two-day suspension which, since he spat at me on his return, didn't seem to have the desired effect. Knife-boy had to write a letter of apology to me in which he promised it would never happen again. So that was all right then.
It was strange to mix with teachers in the staff room. Certain social skills seemed missing from the majority, particularly those who had gone straight from school as students to school as teachers. On my first day in September, one of them had given me the often-heard tip: "Don't smile until after Christmas." Although I had little to smile about, I found this an impossible task after a lifetime of smiling like a loon. It is obviously a skill acquired during teacher training. The majority of teachers were stressed and unhappy, with paperwork and lack of support being the main problems moaned about daily.
During my first term, there was concern from the more militant teachers over my position as the uneducated teaching the uneducated. Unions were mentioned, but nothing came of it as I was soon covering so many lessons each day (three to five out of five) that it made life easier for the staff.
I did snap once. I was holding a science class for the dregs of the school. As text books and beakers flew every which way, I bellowed that they were a "bunch of tossers". Silence. And then: "You can't call us that. We're going to report you." My only thought: "Please go get me fired."
Angry parents phoned the head demanding justice for my slur on their family escutcheon. Writing out an incident report, I exchanged the word tosser for dosser and no more was heard about it.
Ofsted inspectors came to the school. It was interesting to see that they didn't come into lessons covered by me or my fellow cover supervisor. The school was deemed "good".
Not a week went by when I wasn't astounded at school life. On the way home one evening, I spotted a student happily scrawling the initials KKK on a town landmark. When I brought this up with the head, he just shook his head. "Nothing we can do if he was outside the school." No feeling of duty to educate the boy on the full wonders of the Ku Klux Klan.
One day I was holding a class in RE when my mobile rang and someone offered me some freelance writing work. The class was quite out of control, with Bibles being hurled out of the window. I felt I was either going to strike a child or a teacher at some point soon. I had to go.
The students remain, preparing for tomorrow's bright new world. Cover supervisors continue holding lessons - up to GCSE and A-level - for which they have no training or qualification. Children deserve better.
· The author is writing under a pseudonym
Edwards, Colin. "'I can't do maths.' 'You'll be fine,' said the head", 11/03/2007. Retrieved on 12/14/2007
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