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English classes, playground duty, and helping supervise lunch
15/05/2007 08:44
After two days living with a Muslim family in Birmingham – two days as a teaching assistant in a Hull secondary school. Two English classes, some playground duty, and helping supervise lunch are the main elements of my day. Remembering how to analyse and write about poems, without getting my metaphors confused with personification, oxymorons or enjoinment is one of the main challenges.
Two English classes, some playground duty, and helping supervise lunch are the main elements of my day. Remembering how to analyse and write about poems, without getting my metaphors confused with personification, oxymorons or enjoinment is one of the main challenges. Tomorrow I'll be helping the history department, which I hope will be more familiar territory.
I'm at a recovering school serving a pretty tough housing estate on the outskirts of the city. A few years ago this school had one of the lowest GCSE pass rates in the country – now it's above the national average with 62 per cent getting 5 A-Cs at GCSE. But when you look at the percentage getting these grades in core subjects like English and maths, the percentage falls to 7%.
The day starts badly, for me at least. Helping register a class of 13 year olds, no-one – and I mean literally no one – has even heard of the Conservative Party. Using “hangman” on the smart new interactive whiteboard we get to “Conser_ati_e party” before any one gets it. As the point of me being here is to observe and to learn – and not get the usual “here's a visiting politician” treatment - maybe this is a good thing.
I'm not the only one with a bad start to the day. I meet a 16 year old boy loitering outside the hall where he's supposed to be sitting an important GCSE and he tells me he feels rotten - “got pissed last night” - and isn't looking forward to the exam. A timely reminder that improving schools is as much a matter for parents as it is for teachers.
Impressions?
The skill that some teachers have in maintaining order, using their natural authority, while making the subject interesting is a wonder to behold. Given that they are doing this at a time – during GCSEs - of maximum “teaching for the test” it's even more impressive.
But the overwhelming impression I get is of the importance of good behaviour and discipline. It's what the teachers talk about most – and it was the thing that most exercised a small group of kids I had lunch with. And in every class you can see the potential, and often the reality, of poor behaviour by a few wrecking the chances of the rest. And this is in a school that has made huge strides; as the deputy head said to me, before recent changes they were “just glorified baby sitters” looking after children who often behaved appallingly. Truancy – or “twagging” in the Hull slang - is still a problem but here it's getting a little better.
Two teachers I have coffee with in a small staff room would favour a zero tolerance of poor language and behaviour – and I think they're right. In the run up to GCSEs you feel so clearly that these kids only get one chance – and for too many it's simply missed.
Of course there's more to say about teaching methods, the madness of closing special schools (including those for children with behavioural problems), the paramount importance of the basics and the dangers of new teaching fads (I am still to be convinced by the mania for “personalised learning”), and I will say more about these things tomorrow. But order, discipline and behaviour absolutely have to come first.
The current system makes it harder to enforce discipline. Like all schools, the one I'm at is fined for every pupil they exclude, so it's not surprising that they try and avoid excluding disruptive pupils even when they want to do just that. The result is that language and behaviour that simply would not have been tolerated in the past is put up with. What's more, the kids know it.
Change in our society – big, long term, substantial cultural change - is needed. And we should start by making every school head the absolute captain of their ship, able to maintain discipline and exclude poorly behaving pupils without being second-guessed or penalised for doing it.
Of course we need to think hard about how to turn excluded kids around – the current system based around Pupil Referral Units is a bit of a disaster. In the last few months I've visited a couple of fantastic social enterprises that do a brilliant job with excluded kids, and we're working on plans to enable them and similar organisations to be able to offer their expertise to more and more kids who need it.
But I've seen today how much teachers and pupils suffer from and resent the bad behaviour of a minority ruining the chances of the majority and we've been far too soft on this. Teachers want to teach and most kids want to learn – it's pathetic that our education system makes it harder, not easier for them to do that.
Posted by srfielding 16/05/2007 09:13:14
Subject: Keep up the good work
Wow, a politician going to a 'recovering school' outside of an election, what is this Country coming to!!!! Seriously, please keep up the good work of not only listening to people's issues and problems but also seeing to be listening, it is a stark contrast to the Labour Spin Machine seen at Brown's 'rallies'.
How about spending a couple of days in a hospital next working on some wards with the nurses and junior doctors?
Posted by chewie 16/05/2007 16:20:51
Subject:
"A few years ago this school had one of the lowest GCSE pass rates in the country – now it's above the national average with 62 per cent getting 5 A-Cs at GCSE. But when you look at the percentage getting these grades in core subjects like English and maths, the percentage falls to 7%."
whos the MP for Hull?
Posted by Votedave 16/05/2007 16:46:42
Subject:
If it's Hull East, then it's the Right Honourable John Prescott. The other two Hull MPs include Alan Johnson, a contender for the Labour deputy leadership.
Posted by DavidBartlett 16/05/2007 17:09:01
Subject:
I've just finished reading "It's your time you're wasting", and the problems of discipline was a recurring issue in the book.
Posted by lilleker 16/05/2007 18:26:26
Subject:
I really feel it is a sad indication that 13yr olds have such low political knowledge, perhaps a serious reform of the curriculum is required to ensure that the next generation of voters are prepared to perform their democratic duty if they choose to.
Dr Darren G. Lilleker
www.darrenlilleker.blogspot.com
Posted by StevenL 17/05/2007 18:59:04
Subject:
So a class of 13 year olds didn't know who the Conservative Party are?! I'm not sure whether this is evidence of dumbing down or something more sinister.
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