White Men Can’t Jump and Primary Teachers Can’t Blog… About Anything Important, At Least!

A Primary teacher’s take on education blogs…

“Like many primary bloggers, I am unable to engage in grown-up discussions about education because my brain is full of glitter, toy bears and gingerbread” - TruthfulClassroom

I once heard, those that can, do… Those that can’t, teach… Those that can’t teach, teach primary! We primary teachers, at the bottom of the food chain, don’t have much to offer the world of ‘professional dialogue’. Where secondary and tertiary teachers are able to talk policies and such, as MissHorsfall  acknowledges, we primary teachers are better suited to topics such as:

-Why the hell do the red felt tip pens run out so quickly?

-Why do I either have 5 red pens and no black when it comes time to do the register, or vice versa?

-How exactly do 7 year olds get through so many glue sticks?

TruthfulClassroom and MissHorsfall are joking of course (I would actually, however, like some of those questions answered, to be honest!).

They write in response to this post in which Michael1979 pondered the lack of primary teacher bloggers. Specifically, the lack of primary teachers that blog about ‘real’ education issues. Hence, wh the above tongue-in-cheek comments came about. He asks, why don’t primary bloggers write about topics such as:

-Will ‘scaled scores’ provide useful information at end-of-key-stage tests?

-How will we assess English and Maths once levels are scrapped?

-Is primary schooling becoming all core and no breadth?

-Will the new grammar requirements in the National Curriculum raise standards of reading/writing?

-Is the current level 4b a viable expectation for 85% of students?

-How is the newly-enhanced Pupil Premium going to have an impact in primary?

-What impact are small cohorts or small sub-groups having on Ofsted inspection outcomes?

-What is the professional view on baseline assessments for children on entry to YR?

Did that list put you to sleep, as it did for me? You can see TruthfulClassroom’s counter-list here, which includes topics from the very *a-hem* important, such as:

-Literally, where the f*** do all the children stash the red felt tip pens?

-Which facial cues alert you to the fact that a child is about to projectile vomit all over their workbooks?
-Do any other teachers feel nauseous when they see Comic Sans?

To the more *literally* important topics, such as:

-How can we expose children to texts that they can relate to, but which also challenge them?
-How can we educate to equip children to challenge the rampant inequalities that face them?

-How can you teach climate change to 6 year olds in a way that scares them enough to care and empowers them enough to acts?

-Do all young male teachers get rapidly promoted out of the classroom, or just most?

All people are different and bloggers are all looking for something different. Some might get a kick out of dry post about education policy, whereas others enjoy posts that help them, as teachers, make a difference in the day-to-day. Both, of course, have their place. If we don’t get more of the ‘right people’ making big policy decisions at the top, our future generations will be worse off. Similarly, if we don’t have the ‘right people’ at the classroom level, potentially great policies will make no difference.

Jokes aside, I enjoy blogging because it gives me a chance to read and write about education-related topics that interest me, as I work to facilitate the academic, social, behavioural and emotional development of young children. If it relates to kids and improving their futures, I’ll read it… if I have time! Similarly, I don’t try to limit myself to writing about any one topic in particular. I’ve written on topics such as why parents need to get their kids to school on time, why 'grades' should be scrapped in favour of real feedback,

why I think schools are becoming overly 'academic' , lots about the importance of ‘relationships’ in education here, here, here and here, and the importance of 'play'.

I’m always keen to give my 2 cents, or ‘a teacher’s take’ on all sorts of topics that will help children to have the best possible start to life, particularly during their primary school years. So as always, please do let me know if there’s anything in particular that you want me to write about!

Teachling <Wordpress> < Twitter>

Image source: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8MThzVdfBNZiXCSUw5sq_wmjdfO-hcy4lSXig5an5ZsiWM-ha6C4u6VhGd4VwzvsF20GWppVZOPPpya-ZIv4Yxg9puSDI9Mue-2fp_DUBww9cbyemyCPH_EzYDaUF4iPFLFTHil4w6vxm/s1600/shakespeare.jpg

What is education, anyway? Pt.2

Let’s face it, children are basically all the same and should be taught in the same, tried and tested, chalk and talk, fashion. Teachers in schools should focus purely on the 3R’s – Reading, wRiting and aRithmetic – and leave that creative ‘fluff’ for kids to pursue in their own time. Children should be viewed as empty vessels and a teacher’s role is to fill them with enough knowledge to pass the test. Some kids are just lazy, hyperactive or incapable of learning, so teachers should let them be whilst focussing on the other kids that can and want to learn. Wait… What? Was there actually a time when people thought this way about education? I do hope that the opinions above are not felt by any person on this earth. My opinions are much more aligned with those articulated in Ken Robinson’s Ted Talk, "How to escape education's death valley" (2013). So let me quote some of the highlights…

Ken Robinson’s take on how we should be viewing education…

What’s wrong with the current model of education?

• “I will make you a bet, and I’m confident I will win the bet. If you’ve got two children or more, I bet you, they are completely different from each other, aren’t they?”

• However, “education… is based on, not diversity, but conformity”

• “[We assess] what kids can do, across a very narrow spectrum of achievement.”

• They say there’s an ‘ADHD epidemic’, but “If you sit kids down hour after hour, doing low grade clerical work, don’t be surprised if they start to fidget.”

• “In place of curiosity, what we have is a culture of compliance” in schools… and a “culture of standardization.”

How should we be viewing education? What needs to happen?

• “Kids prosper best with a broad curriculum that celebrates their various talents; not just a small range of them.”

• As well as literacy, science and maths, “a real education has to give equal weight to the arts, the humanities, to physical education.”

• “The whole point of education is to get people to learn. If there’s no learning going on, there’s no education going on”

•  The role of teachers is “to facilitate learning”… to “mentor, stimulate, provoke, engage”.

 It seems pretty obvious when Robinson observes that education ‘happens’ in classrooms in schools, and that the people who ‘do’ education are the teachers and the students. “If you remove their discretion, it stops working”. Why then, is virtually every aspect of what goes on in education dictated by politicians, administrators, businesses and organisations, and even parents? It must be said that great teaching and learning happens in spite of the current model. “It’s like people are sailing into a head wind all the time.”

 

It’s all well and good to whine and moan about education and the fact that teachers are dictated to and that the current model of education is so outdated it is beyond ridiculous. But why don’t we stop the complaining and actually do something about it?

In this article, a veteran teacher, frustrated with the current state of affairs in schools, notes that “no one ever asks the teachers, those who are up to their necks in the trenches each day, or if they do, it is in a patronizing way and our suggestions are readily discarded. Decisions about classrooms should be made in classrooms. Teachers are the most qualified individuals to determine what is needed for their own students.”

I wonder what education would ‘look like’ if we handed control to teachers and students?

Teachling <Wordpress> <Tumblr> < Twitter>

What is education, anyway? Pt.1

Ken Robinson's take on schools, and how they kill creativity...