Scrap the six weeks school holidays for teachers (balance the work load)
Right, hear me out here teachers because I know from being on a PGCE the battle you are facing when it comes to paperwork.
1) You have to fill in constant paperwork for assessment and monitoring of progression purposes
2) You undergo rigorous inspections from Ofsted
3) On top of this you are expected to put together enthralling lesson plans that are engaging and that meet the needs of all pupils whether SEN, EAL, etc. (differentiation)
My argument is, surely the focus during the school year whilst the pupils are in school should be the pupils and planning the best lessons possible. Yes you will need to assess but this can be done formatively by you. It can be done on paper or in your head if you know your pupils well enough.
My suggestion is:
1) Scrap the six week school holiday and have an independent body that you submit your progression forms to at the end of the school year. They look at the pupil progression forms and if enough pupils are making progress everything is fine. You receive them back in time for the next school year and use that as a foundation for that year.
2) It would work in a similar way to the tax year. The evidence is provided and put forward to an independent body. This means in the summer you can collect what you want to send off and do so. As long as your pupils are showing progression you will not be inspected. You as a professional will be trusted to be doing your job as you have been trained to do.
3) Only when you're slacking and numerous pupils within your class are not making progression will you be called before the independent panel and asked to explain why this is happening. This would be done in the summer as opposed to during term time meaning that these reviews also would not hinder the planning of lessons.
The problem at the moment is teachers are trying to do 12 months work in roughly 10 months. Spread the load and make things easier. Yes it is nice to have that free summer but surely its nice to go home at 4.30pm as opposed to 7pm on weekdays on a regular basis too? Just because pupils have a school year and summer holidays it doesn't mean teachers have to have that too.
It's unbelievable that teachers, trained professionals, are not trusted to do the job they're trained to do and are passionate about doing.
tl:dr version: scrap most of the paperwork and inspections during the school year and have a submission window in the summer for pupil progression to be reviewed by an independent body. If pupils are progressing then the teacher is clearly doing a good job. If there are numerous pupils showing no signs of progression then query that teacher and ask why.
My proposal is merely a proposal and therefore at this stage is not going to be foolproof. The whole point is to encourage debate on the topic and then go from there.
Thanks
1) You have to fill in constant paperwork for assessment and monitoring of progression purposes
2) You undergo rigorous inspections from Ofsted
3) On top of this you are expected to put together enthralling lesson plans that are engaging and that meet the needs of all pupils whether SEN, EAL, etc. (differentiation)
My argument is, surely the focus during the school year whilst the pupils are in school should be the pupils and planning the best lessons possible. Yes you will need to assess but this can be done formatively by you. It can be done on paper or in your head if you know your pupils well enough.
My suggestion is:
1) Scrap the six week school holiday and have an independent body that you submit your progression forms to at the end of the school year. They look at the pupil progression forms and if enough pupils are making progress everything is fine. You receive them back in time for the next school year and use that as a foundation for that year.
2) It would work in a similar way to the tax year. The evidence is provided and put forward to an independent body. This means in the summer you can collect what you want to send off and do so. As long as your pupils are showing progression you will not be inspected. You as a professional will be trusted to be doing your job as you have been trained to do.
3) Only when you're slacking and numerous pupils within your class are not making progression will you be called before the independent panel and asked to explain why this is happening. This would be done in the summer as opposed to during term time meaning that these reviews also would not hinder the planning of lessons.
The problem at the moment is teachers are trying to do 12 months work in roughly 10 months. Spread the load and make things easier. Yes it is nice to have that free summer but surely its nice to go home at 4.30pm as opposed to 7pm on weekdays on a regular basis too? Just because pupils have a school year and summer holidays it doesn't mean teachers have to have that too.
It's unbelievable that teachers, trained professionals, are not trusted to do the job they're trained to do and are passionate about doing.
tl:dr version: scrap most of the paperwork and inspections during the school year and have a submission window in the summer for pupil progression to be reviewed by an independent body. If pupils are progressing then the teacher is clearly doing a good job. If there are numerous pupils showing no signs of progression then query that teacher and ask why.
My proposal is merely a proposal and therefore at this stage is not going to be foolproof. The whole point is to encourage debate on the topic and then go from there.
Thanks
OK. I'm not an expert, but I have a few objections.
1. Where is this independent body coming from? How are they qualified? How are they going to check everything that is coming in?
2. You aren't really scrapping the holiday. Anyone sensible would fill in the forms throughout the year, bundle them together and send them off.
3. Define 'progression'. It's going to change between years, between courses, between schools, even between students. For instance, if a A-level student starts the year at a predicted B grade, and ends on a C, will the teacher be dragged before some committee to answer for it?
4. The whole point of inspections is to check that the teacher is capable, regardless of the students. You could have an excellent teacher who gets a bad class and, in this proposal, would then be marked as not being good because pupils are not 'progressing'.
And finally 5. What are you going to do with all this data? It's going to have to be stored somewhere, kept private, whatever. What if a damning report happens to fall into the hands of the media? That would not be a good thing at all.
1. Where is this independent body coming from? How are they qualified? How are they going to check everything that is coming in?
2. You aren't really scrapping the holiday. Anyone sensible would fill in the forms throughout the year, bundle them together and send them off.
3. Define 'progression'. It's going to change between years, between courses, between schools, even between students. For instance, if a A-level student starts the year at a predicted B grade, and ends on a C, will the teacher be dragged before some committee to answer for it?
4. The whole point of inspections is to check that the teacher is capable, regardless of the students. You could have an excellent teacher who gets a bad class and, in this proposal, would then be marked as not being good because pupils are not 'progressing'.
And finally 5. What are you going to do with all this data? It's going to have to be stored somewhere, kept private, whatever. What if a damning report happens to fall into the hands of the media? That would not be a good thing at all.
Original post by Black Hippy
Right, hear me out here teachers because I know from being on a PGCE the battle you are facing when it comes to paperwork.
1) You have to fill in constant paperwork for assessment and monitoring of progression purposes
2) You undergo rigorous inspections from Ofsted
3) On top of this you are expected to put together enthralling lesson plans that are engaging and that meet the needs of all pupils whether SEN, EAL, etc. (differentiation)
My argument is, surely the focus during the school year whilst the pupils are in school should be the pupils and planning the best lessons possible. Yes you will need to assess but this can be done formatively by you. It can be done on paper or in your head if you know your pupils well enough.
My suggestion is:
1) Scrap the six week school holiday and have an independent body that you submit your progression forms to at the end of the school year. They look at the pupil progression forms and if enough pupils are making progress everything is fine. You receive them back in time for the next school year and use that as a foundation for that year.
2) It would work in a similar way to the tax year. The evidence is provided and put forward to an independent body. This means in the summer you can collect what you want to send off and do so. As long as your pupils are showing progression you will not be inspected. You as a professional will be trusted to be doing your job as you have been trained to do.
3) Only when you're slacking and numerous pupils within your class are not making progression will you be called before the independent panel and asked to explain why this is happening. This would be done in the summer as opposed to during term time meaning that these reviews also would not hinder the planning of lessons.
The problem at the moment is teachers are trying to do 12 months work in roughly 10 months. Spread the load and make things easier. Yes it is nice to have that free summer but surely its nice to go home at 4.30pm as opposed to 7pm on weekdays on a regular basis too? Just because pupils have a school year and summer holidays it doesn't mean teachers have to have that too.
It's unbelievable that teachers, trained professionals, are not trusted to do the job they're trained to do and are passionate about doing.
tl:dr version: scrap most of the paperwork and inspections during the school year and have a submission window in the summer for pupil progression to be reviewed by an independent body. If pupils are progressing then the teacher is clearly doing a good job. If there are numerous pupils showing no signs of progression then query that teacher and ask why.
My proposal is merely a proposal and therefore at this stage is not going to be foolproof. The whole point is to encourage debate on the topic and then go from there.
Thanks
1) You have to fill in constant paperwork for assessment and monitoring of progression purposes
2) You undergo rigorous inspections from Ofsted
3) On top of this you are expected to put together enthralling lesson plans that are engaging and that meet the needs of all pupils whether SEN, EAL, etc. (differentiation)
My argument is, surely the focus during the school year whilst the pupils are in school should be the pupils and planning the best lessons possible. Yes you will need to assess but this can be done formatively by you. It can be done on paper or in your head if you know your pupils well enough.
My suggestion is:
1) Scrap the six week school holiday and have an independent body that you submit your progression forms to at the end of the school year. They look at the pupil progression forms and if enough pupils are making progress everything is fine. You receive them back in time for the next school year and use that as a foundation for that year.
2) It would work in a similar way to the tax year. The evidence is provided and put forward to an independent body. This means in the summer you can collect what you want to send off and do so. As long as your pupils are showing progression you will not be inspected. You as a professional will be trusted to be doing your job as you have been trained to do.
3) Only when you're slacking and numerous pupils within your class are not making progression will you be called before the independent panel and asked to explain why this is happening. This would be done in the summer as opposed to during term time meaning that these reviews also would not hinder the planning of lessons.
The problem at the moment is teachers are trying to do 12 months work in roughly 10 months. Spread the load and make things easier. Yes it is nice to have that free summer but surely its nice to go home at 4.30pm as opposed to 7pm on weekdays on a regular basis too? Just because pupils have a school year and summer holidays it doesn't mean teachers have to have that too.
It's unbelievable that teachers, trained professionals, are not trusted to do the job they're trained to do and are passionate about doing.
tl:dr version: scrap most of the paperwork and inspections during the school year and have a submission window in the summer for pupil progression to be reviewed by an independent body. If pupils are progressing then the teacher is clearly doing a good job. If there are numerous pupils showing no signs of progression then query that teacher and ask why.
My proposal is merely a proposal and therefore at this stage is not going to be foolproof. The whole point is to encourage debate on the topic and then go from there.
Thanks
Hi I'm a teacher.
First things first, you are going to need a bigger budget. We don't get paid for the six weeks holidays, so if you're expecting teachers to work over that period then we will need a wage increase. Our pay is spread over the year, but we are not paid for all the holidays that we have.
1) If you hand in progression forms at the end of the year and it's not gone well, then this will get picked up on by the media, parents, every tom dick and harry who has an opinion on education and we will be told off for not acting sooner. Also are year 6 teachers exempt from this?
2) How do you judge when a lack of progression is down to the teacher or other circumstances? (of which there are numerous),
3) The philosophy behind assessment and evaulating progression is that it informs planning. If this is left until the end of the year then it is too late.
Thanks for thinking about it, I wish more people had the same attitude.
(edited 9 years ago)
Original post by FrostyLemon
Hi I'm a teacher.
Hi
First things first, you are going to need a bigger budget. We don't get paid for the six weeks holidays, so if you're expecting teachers to work over that period then we will need a wage increase. Our pay is spread over the year, but we are not paid for all the holidays that we have.
True and that is the fault of government to be honest.
1) If you hand in progression forms at the end of the year and it's not gone well, then this will get picked up on by the media, parents, every tom dick and harry who has an opinion on education and we will be told off for not acting sooner. Also are year 6 teachers exempt from this?
I don't mean that you shouldn't assess throughout the year but just make it so there is no requirement for it to be formalised immediately. The school can be aware of such and then work on improving things. The point is that you can see when a child is in need just from observing them in other lessons, asking teachers how they behave in other lessons, and so forth.
I am just bewildered that doctors, nurses, etc. are all allowed to get on with their profession and are trusted yet teachers need to report back constantly - its as if teachers are not trusted to do the job they're trained to do and need a higher power to ensure they are doing their job correctly.
2) How do you judge when a lack of progression is down to the teacher or other circumstances? (of which there are numerous),
In a similar way you do now.
3) The philosophy behind assessment and evaulating progression is that it informs planning. If this is left until the end of the year then it is too late.
Assessment and evaluating progression can be done internally with no requirement for interference throughout the school year. The paperwork can be cut back during the school year and then what the teachers do have can be sent off at the end of the year. In Finland they have far less paperwork yet pupil progression is still very high.
We need to let teachers do more of the job they were trained to do.
Thanks for thinking about it, I wish more people had the same attitude.
No problem. I plan to be a teacher myself. I understand the need for assessment and feedback but I also want to spend all my time teaching because i'm very passionate about doing so.
Original post by Black Hippy
Right, hear me out here teachers because I know from being on a PGCE the battle you are facing when it comes to paperwork.
1) You have to fill in constant paperwork for assessment and monitoring of progression purposes
2) You undergo rigorous inspections from Ofsted
3) On top of this you are expected to put together enthralling lesson plans that are engaging and that meet the needs of all pupils whether SEN, EAL, etc. (differentiation)
My argument is, surely the focus during the school year whilst the pupils are in school should be the pupils and planning the best lessons possible. Yes you will need to assess but this can be done formatively by you. It can be done on paper or in your head if you know your pupils well enough.
My suggestion is:
1) Scrap the six week school holiday and have an independent body that you submit your progression forms to at the end of the school year. They look at the pupil progression forms and if enough pupils are making progress everything is fine. You receive them back in time for the next school year and use that as a foundation for that year.
2) It would work in a similar way to the tax year. The evidence is provided and put forward to an independent body. This means in the summer you can collect what you want to send off and do so. As long as your pupils are showing progression you will not be inspected. You as a professional will be trusted to be doing your job as you have been trained to do.
3) Only when you're slacking and numerous pupils within your class are not making progression will you be called before the independent panel and asked to explain why this is happening. This would be done in the summer as opposed to during term time meaning that these reviews also would not hinder the planning of lessons.
The problem at the moment is teachers are trying to do 12 months work in roughly 10 months. Spread the load and make things easier. Yes it is nice to have that free summer but surely its nice to go home at 4.30pm as opposed to 7pm on weekdays on a regular basis too? Just because pupils have a school year and summer holidays it doesn't mean teachers have to have that too.
It's unbelievable that teachers, trained professionals, are not trusted to do the job they're trained to do and are passionate about doing.
tl:dr version: scrap most of the paperwork and inspections during the school year and have a submission window in the summer for pupil progression to be reviewed by an independent body. If pupils are progressing then the teacher is clearly doing a good job. If there are numerous pupils showing no signs of progression then query that teacher and ask why.
My proposal is merely a proposal and therefore at this stage is not going to be foolproof. The whole point is to encourage debate on the topic and then go from there.
Thanks
1) You have to fill in constant paperwork for assessment and monitoring of progression purposes
2) You undergo rigorous inspections from Ofsted
3) On top of this you are expected to put together enthralling lesson plans that are engaging and that meet the needs of all pupils whether SEN, EAL, etc. (differentiation)
My argument is, surely the focus during the school year whilst the pupils are in school should be the pupils and planning the best lessons possible. Yes you will need to assess but this can be done formatively by you. It can be done on paper or in your head if you know your pupils well enough.
My suggestion is:
1) Scrap the six week school holiday and have an independent body that you submit your progression forms to at the end of the school year. They look at the pupil progression forms and if enough pupils are making progress everything is fine. You receive them back in time for the next school year and use that as a foundation for that year.
2) It would work in a similar way to the tax year. The evidence is provided and put forward to an independent body. This means in the summer you can collect what you want to send off and do so. As long as your pupils are showing progression you will not be inspected. You as a professional will be trusted to be doing your job as you have been trained to do.
3) Only when you're slacking and numerous pupils within your class are not making progression will you be called before the independent panel and asked to explain why this is happening. This would be done in the summer as opposed to during term time meaning that these reviews also would not hinder the planning of lessons.
The problem at the moment is teachers are trying to do 12 months work in roughly 10 months. Spread the load and make things easier. Yes it is nice to have that free summer but surely its nice to go home at 4.30pm as opposed to 7pm on weekdays on a regular basis too? Just because pupils have a school year and summer holidays it doesn't mean teachers have to have that too.
It's unbelievable that teachers, trained professionals, are not trusted to do the job they're trained to do and are passionate about doing.
tl:dr version: scrap most of the paperwork and inspections during the school year and have a submission window in the summer for pupil progression to be reviewed by an independent body. If pupils are progressing then the teacher is clearly doing a good job. If there are numerous pupils showing no signs of progression then query that teacher and ask why.
My proposal is merely a proposal and therefore at this stage is not going to be foolproof. The whole point is to encourage debate on the topic and then go from there.
Thanks
The bolded bit is bull****. You can't physically force a student to study, meaning that ultimately, pupils' progress depends on the pupils. Absence of pupil progress is not causally related to a teacher slacking. The fact that many high positioned people believe is the reason why poor schools (mostly in need of good teachers) have poor teachers.
Original post by Unruly Marmite
OK. I'm not an expert, but I have a few objections.
1. Where is this independent body coming from? How are they qualified? How are they going to check everything that is coming in?
2. You aren't really scrapping the holiday. Anyone sensible would fill in the forms throughout the year, bundle them together and send them off.
3. Define 'progression'. It's going to change between years, between courses, between schools, even between students. For instance, if a A-level student starts the year at a predicted B grade, and ends on a C, will the teacher be dragged before some committee to answer for it?
4. The whole point of inspections is to check that the teacher is capable, regardless of the students. You could have an excellent teacher who gets a bad class and, in this proposal, would then be marked as not being good because pupils are not 'progressing'.
And finally 5. What are you going to do with all this data? It's going to have to be stored somewhere, kept private, whatever. What if a damning report happens to fall into the hands of the media? That would not be a good thing at all.
1. Where is this independent body coming from? How are they qualified? How are they going to check everything that is coming in?
2. You aren't really scrapping the holiday. Anyone sensible would fill in the forms throughout the year, bundle them together and send them off.
3. Define 'progression'. It's going to change between years, between courses, between schools, even between students. For instance, if a A-level student starts the year at a predicted B grade, and ends on a C, will the teacher be dragged before some committee to answer for it?
4. The whole point of inspections is to check that the teacher is capable, regardless of the students. You could have an excellent teacher who gets a bad class and, in this proposal, would then be marked as not being good because pupils are not 'progressing'.
And finally 5. What are you going to do with all this data? It's going to have to be stored somewhere, kept private, whatever. What if a damning report happens to fall into the hands of the media? That would not be a good thing at all.
That.
Original post by Juichiro
The bolded bit is bull****. You can't physically force a student to study, meaning that ultimately, pupils' progress depends on the pupils. Absence of pupil progress is not causally related to a teacher slacking. The fact that many high positioned people believe is the reason why poor schools (mostly in need of good teachers) have poor teachers.
That's why I said multiple as in more than what is deemed the usual amount and yes, even now, if loads of your pupils are failing to meet their targets you will ultimately pay the price because your promotions now are based on performance. If you're not getting children to meet their targets then you won't be getting promoted.
The job of a teacher now is not only to educate but to motivate and cater to the needs of every pupil regardless of whether they have a learning difficulty, are regarded as gifted or they're an EAL pupil. Long gone are the days when teachers were merely educators. Teachers now work with SENCO's and other much closer to those in the health and social sector and so on to ensure the welfare of each child.
The Coalition deemed it that your pay is linked to your performance and you are there to ensure children meet their target grades. You are as much a motivator as you are an educator.
If a pupil is slacking and you're not intervening by any of the options available to you whether its (a) contacting parents (b) escalating the matter to SL (c) speaking to your colleagues, then surely you are slacking by letting them get away with it. Yes its more work for you and yes sometimes parents don't want to talk or can be quite abrupt and rude but I'm sure most of us were aware of that when we signed up in the first place. If you escalate the matter then you are covered in the event of an independent review at the end of the year so there's no problem. If you didn't then it's your own problem.
Original post by Unruly Marmite
You could have an excellent teacher who gets a bad class and, in this proposal, would then be marked as not being good because pupils are not 'progressing'.
An excellent teacher should be able to handle a bad class because they have a wealth of experience when it comes to behaviour management techniques. Regardless, even if it was the one class, this would not hinder the teachers rating because it would be one class out of 'xyz' amount they teach. It is the exception rather than the norm and could be explained in review if it was taken that far.
Original post by Black Hippy
An excellent teacher should be able to handle a bad class because they have a wealth of experience when it comes to behaviour management techniques. Regardless, even if it was the one class, this would not hinder the teachers rating because it would be one class out of 'xyz' amount they teach. It is the exception rather than the norm and could be explained in review if it was taken that far.
Not entirely. In my secondary school it wasn't uncommon for the better teachers to get mostly lower set, disruptive classes because they were thought to handle them better. And besides that, what when more than one teacher has a class? For instance, my A-level physics group, in the first exam, all got Us except me, and they all dropped out at the end of the first year, apart from me, again. How bad would that look?
Original post by Unruly Marmite
Not entirely. In my secondary school it wasn't uncommon for the better teachers to get mostly lower set, disruptive classes because they were thought to handle them better. And besides that, what when more than one teacher has a class? For instance, my A-level physics group, in the first exam, all got Us except me, and they all dropped out at the end of the first year, apart from me, again. How bad would that look?
If that was the case it'd back up the teacher in that the class were the problem and not the teachers.
Original post by Black Hippy
If that was the case it'd back up the teacher in that the class were the problem and not the teachers.
Aha! Yes! But the thing was, one teacher was awful and one was quite good: in fact, the second teacher was removed after multiple complaints from the class. But in this system, it might be entirely different.
Original post by Black Hippy
An excellent teacher should be able to handle a bad class because they have a wealth of experience when it comes to behaviour management techniques. Regardless, even if it was the one class, this would not hinder the teachers rating because it would be one class out of 'xyz' amount they teach. It is the exception rather than the norm and could be explained in review if it was taken that far.
Nonsense. It is one thing to get the children to stay quiet and it is another thing to make them study. As I said, you can't physically force them to study. And it is this lack of study what ultimately decides what grade they get. All this regardless of a teacher's ability.
Original post by Juichiro
Nonsense. It is one thing to get the children to stay quiet and it is another thing to make them study. As I said, you can't physically force them to study. And it is this lack of study what ultimately decides what grade they get. All this regardless of a teacher's ability.
As a teacher, you are accountable for pupils' progress and that is every pupil.
Original post by Black Hippy
As a teacher, you are accountable for pupils' progress and that is every pupil.
I never denied that state of affairs. I just meant that being fully accountable for something that you can't fully control is a bit (?) irrational.
It's like a driver being accountable for a bus that he only drives 1/2 of the day.
As I said, that state of affairs won't improve the landscape of the compulsory education for obvious reasons.
(edited 9 years ago)
Original post by Black Hippy
As a teacher, you are accountable for pupils' progress and that is every pupil.
As a pupil it is ludicrous to suggest a teacher has that much control.
Original post by Black Hippy
Right, hear me out here teachers because I know from being on a PGCE the battle you are facing when it comes to paperwork.
1) You have to fill in constant paperwork for assessment and monitoring of progression purposes
2) You undergo rigorous inspections from Ofsted
3) On top of this you are expected to put together enthralling lesson plans that are engaging and that meet the needs of all pupils whether SEN, EAL, etc. (differentiation)
My argument is, surely the focus during the school year whilst the pupils are in school should be the pupils and planning the best lessons possible. Yes you will need to assess but this can be done formatively by you. It can be done on paper or in your head if you know your pupils well enough.
My suggestion is:
1) Scrap the six week school holiday and have an independent body that you submit your progression forms to at the end of the school year. They look at the pupil progression forms and if enough pupils are making progress everything is fine. You receive them back in time for the next school year and use that as a foundation for that year.
2) It would work in a similar way to the tax year. The evidence is provided and put forward to an independent body. This means in the summer you can collect what you want to send off and do so. As long as your pupils are showing progression you will not be inspected. You as a professional will be trusted to be doing your job as you have been trained to do.
3) Only when you're slacking and numerous pupils within your class are not making progression will you be called before the independent panel and asked to explain why this is happening. This would be done in the summer as opposed to during term time meaning that these reviews also would not hinder the planning of lessons.
The problem at the moment is teachers are trying to do 12 months work in roughly 10 months. Spread the load and make things easier. Yes it is nice to have that free summer but surely its nice to go home at 4.30pm as opposed to 7pm on weekdays on a regular basis too? Just because pupils have a school year and summer holidays it doesn't mean teachers have to have that too.
It's unbelievable that teachers, trained professionals, are not trusted to do the job they're trained to do and are passionate about doing.
tl:dr version: scrap most of the paperwork and inspections during the school year and have a submission window in the summer for pupil progression to be reviewed by an independent body. If pupils are progressing then the teacher is clearly doing a good job. If there are numerous pupils showing no signs of progression then query that teacher and ask why.
My proposal is merely a proposal and therefore at this stage is not going to be foolproof. The whole point is to encourage debate on the topic and then go from there.
Thanks
1) You have to fill in constant paperwork for assessment and monitoring of progression purposes
2) You undergo rigorous inspections from Ofsted
3) On top of this you are expected to put together enthralling lesson plans that are engaging and that meet the needs of all pupils whether SEN, EAL, etc. (differentiation)
My argument is, surely the focus during the school year whilst the pupils are in school should be the pupils and planning the best lessons possible. Yes you will need to assess but this can be done formatively by you. It can be done on paper or in your head if you know your pupils well enough.
My suggestion is:
1) Scrap the six week school holiday and have an independent body that you submit your progression forms to at the end of the school year. They look at the pupil progression forms and if enough pupils are making progress everything is fine. You receive them back in time for the next school year and use that as a foundation for that year.
2) It would work in a similar way to the tax year. The evidence is provided and put forward to an independent body. This means in the summer you can collect what you want to send off and do so. As long as your pupils are showing progression you will not be inspected. You as a professional will be trusted to be doing your job as you have been trained to do.
3) Only when you're slacking and numerous pupils within your class are not making progression will you be called before the independent panel and asked to explain why this is happening. This would be done in the summer as opposed to during term time meaning that these reviews also would not hinder the planning of lessons.
The problem at the moment is teachers are trying to do 12 months work in roughly 10 months. Spread the load and make things easier. Yes it is nice to have that free summer but surely its nice to go home at 4.30pm as opposed to 7pm on weekdays on a regular basis too? Just because pupils have a school year and summer holidays it doesn't mean teachers have to have that too.
It's unbelievable that teachers, trained professionals, are not trusted to do the job they're trained to do and are passionate about doing.
tl:dr version: scrap most of the paperwork and inspections during the school year and have a submission window in the summer for pupil progression to be reviewed by an independent body. If pupils are progressing then the teacher is clearly doing a good job. If there are numerous pupils showing no signs of progression then query that teacher and ask why.
My proposal is merely a proposal and therefore at this stage is not going to be foolproof. The whole point is to encourage debate on the topic and then go from there.
Thanks
Ok, I am a 2nd year SEN teacher. Yes i agree, the inspections, formal assessment forms, etc should be scrapped. But not the 6 week holidays. Teachers (as well as pupils need these) I spend term time being verbally (and sometimes physically) abused. My class (because they are SEN pupils who have behavioral and learning difficulties and are autistic- not because i cant control my class) are very difficult to teach, anyone who does not have serious balls would be destroyed by them. I need an incredible amount of patience to teach them. I am exhausted at the end of each half term. I have to constantly plan exciting lessons every day, otherwise the behaviour problems start. Most children in the class are what used to be referred to as EBD (unofficially 'every bloody day') and are exhausting to teach- I actually have scars on my arms from being bitten and scratched by pupils. I teach some very disturbed children (why, i dont know- i must be mad) but if i did not get regular weeks off school, I would not have the patience to deal with this extreme behaviour 'every bloody day'.
Some of the kids i teach, could be the next generation of prison population. I am working to prevent this. Teaching is the hardest job you can do. We need breaks................
The
What on earth is a progression form
The progress of my classes is monitored at the end of each year for PM purposes ... What do you want me to spend six weeks creating
Assessment and progress data is used for planning purposes ... If you have a school that is asking you to do more than is needed you should talk to your Union rep
And just to clarify
1. No I don't have to fill in constant paperwork
2. OFSTED monitor once every 3-5 years and they judge the school not the individual teacher
3. Planning lessons is the job
Original post by Black Hippy
Right, hear me out here teachers because I know from being on a PGCE the battle you are facing when it comes to paperwork.
1) You have to fill in constant paperwork for assessment and monitoring of progression purposes
2) You undergo rigorous inspections from Ofsted
3) On top of this you are expected to put together enthralling lesson plans that are engaging and that meet the needs of all pupils whether SEN, EAL, etc. (differentiation)
My argument is, surely the focus during the school year whilst the pupils are in school should be the pupils and planning the best lessons possible. Yes you will need to assess but this can be done formatively by you. It can be done on paper or in your head if you know your pupils well enough.
My suggestion is:
1) Scrap the six week school holiday and have an independent body that you submit your progression forms to at the end of the school year. They look at the pupil progression forms and if enough pupils are making progress everything is fine. You receive them back in time for the next school year and use that as a foundation for that year.
2) It would work in a similar way to the tax year. The evidence is provided and put forward to an independent body. This means in the summer you can collect what you want to send off and do so. As long as your pupils are showing progression you will not be inspected. You as a professional will be trusted to be doing your job as you have been trained to do.
3) Only when you're slacking and numerous pupils within your class are not making progression will you be called before the independent panel and asked to explain why this is happening. This would be done in the summer as opposed to during term time meaning that these reviews also would not hinder the planning of lessons.
The problem at the moment is teachers are trying to do 12 months work in roughly 10 months. Spread the load and make things easier. Yes it is nice to have that free summer but surely its nice to go home at 4.30pm as opposed to 7pm on weekdays on a regular basis too? Just because pupils have a school year and summer holidays it doesn't mean teachers have to have that too.
It's unbelievable that teachers, trained professionals, are not trusted to do the job they're trained to do and are passionate about doing.
tl:dr version: scrap most of the paperwork and inspections during the school year and have a submission window in the summer for pupil progression to be reviewed by an independent body. If pupils are progressing then the teacher is clearly doing a good job. If there are numerous pupils showing no signs of progression then query that teacher and ask why.
My proposal is merely a proposal and therefore at this stage is not going to be foolproof. The whole point is to encourage debate on the topic and then go from there.
Thanks
1) You have to fill in constant paperwork for assessment and monitoring of progression purposes
2) You undergo rigorous inspections from Ofsted
3) On top of this you are expected to put together enthralling lesson plans that are engaging and that meet the needs of all pupils whether SEN, EAL, etc. (differentiation)
My argument is, surely the focus during the school year whilst the pupils are in school should be the pupils and planning the best lessons possible. Yes you will need to assess but this can be done formatively by you. It can be done on paper or in your head if you know your pupils well enough.
My suggestion is:
1) Scrap the six week school holiday and have an independent body that you submit your progression forms to at the end of the school year. They look at the pupil progression forms and if enough pupils are making progress everything is fine. You receive them back in time for the next school year and use that as a foundation for that year.
2) It would work in a similar way to the tax year. The evidence is provided and put forward to an independent body. This means in the summer you can collect what you want to send off and do so. As long as your pupils are showing progression you will not be inspected. You as a professional will be trusted to be doing your job as you have been trained to do.
3) Only when you're slacking and numerous pupils within your class are not making progression will you be called before the independent panel and asked to explain why this is happening. This would be done in the summer as opposed to during term time meaning that these reviews also would not hinder the planning of lessons.
The problem at the moment is teachers are trying to do 12 months work in roughly 10 months. Spread the load and make things easier. Yes it is nice to have that free summer but surely its nice to go home at 4.30pm as opposed to 7pm on weekdays on a regular basis too? Just because pupils have a school year and summer holidays it doesn't mean teachers have to have that too.
It's unbelievable that teachers, trained professionals, are not trusted to do the job they're trained to do and are passionate about doing.
tl:dr version: scrap most of the paperwork and inspections during the school year and have a submission window in the summer for pupil progression to be reviewed by an independent body. If pupils are progressing then the teacher is clearly doing a good job. If there are numerous pupils showing no signs of progression then query that teacher and ask why.
My proposal is merely a proposal and therefore at this stage is not going to be foolproof. The whole point is to encourage debate on the topic and then go from there.
Thanks
What on earth is a progression form
The progress of my classes is monitored at the end of each year for PM purposes ... What do you want me to spend six weeks creating
Assessment and progress data is used for planning purposes ... If you have a school that is asking you to do more than is needed you should talk to your Union rep
And just to clarify
1. No I don't have to fill in constant paperwork
2. OFSTED monitor once every 3-5 years and they judge the school not the individual teacher
3. Planning lessons is the job
(edited 9 years ago)
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