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Guardian 'Secret Teacher' on student teachers

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jsc1985

Hmm, strange...because I'm a top Oxbridge graduate, as are many of my colleagues, and most of us worked in other professions before becoming teachers. I've worked in a lot of schools and my experiences elsewhere match up to the ratios in my current school.

Can't remember seeing many people scraping average, unless they were soon to leave the profession because it wasn't for them.

Couldn't possibly be that you're pushing an agenda and don't know what you're talking about, could it?

Reply 21

lantan

Original post by Clip

Why is it so hard to accept that most teachers (like a huge number of people in life) are actually just about scraping average?

It's so easy to throw stones at MPs and bankers and soldiers and policemen for being rubbish. Yet teachers are somehow automatically competent?

A lot of the people bobbing along in their degree courses with no real will or direction are going to be the next generation of teachers. They will find the PGCE and the classroom tough because they have no comparator. People going into a most professions find their early days hard going - because that's their first job.

Which planet do you come from again?

Seriously, though, how many schools have you been to? How many teachers do you know? Who are you to make such grand statements?

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 22

TraineeLynsey

Original post by Clip

Why is it so hard to accept that most teachers (like a huge number of people in life) are actually just about scraping average?

May I ask what evidence you base this statement on? As in all professions, there are certainly those that barely get by, but to say 'most' is quite an assertion. Care to back it up?

Original post by Clip

It's so easy to throw stones at MPs and bankers and soldiers and policemen for being rubbish. Yet teachers are somehow automatically competent?

I don't believe anyone said any such thing. I think you'll find that what has been remarked upon is your significant misunderstanding of the workload involved in teaching. Unless I missed it, nobody claimed that we are all, without fail, competent at our jobs. As I say above - all professions have their failures.

Original post by Clip

A lot of the people bobbing along in their degree courses with no real will or direction are going to be the next generation of teachers. They will find the PGCE and the classroom tough because they have no comparator. People going into a most professions find their early days hard going - because that's their first job.

May I ask what degree course you either plan to, are currently, or have already 'bobbed along' through?

Additionally, I'd love to read this audit you've obviously seen about the experiences of teachers previous to qualifying. My anecdotal evidence suggests that, in fact, the majority of teachers are career changers with years of experience in other industries prior to training as teachers. I would be so very interested to read your evidence to the contrary though.

Reply 23

TraineeLynsey

Original post by Mr M

Seen it hundreds of times.

Fortunately that famously left wing organ the Daily Mail tells it like it is.

Couldn't hold myself back any longer. Oh well.

Interesting article. I actually would have thought it would be a bit higher, even taking account of the holidays and turning it into an average over the entire year. Maybe that's just because I'm still new to it all and relatively slow at all of the prep work. I'm doing more like 65-80 hours a week, but then I do have PGCE assignments to do as well I suppose.

Reply 24

purplestudent

Original post by Clip

It's understandable that teachers, especially ones fresh from their PGCE, will find communicating with pupils difficult in their first year. As I've previously stated, credit where credit is due, you seem to be oblivious to the teachers that want the best for their pupils and for society around them. But isn't that what teaching is about? Gaining the experience to know how to communicate with the more difficult pupils and guiding them through their most important years. I would imagine that there is no greater feeling than having a pupil saying to their teacher thank you and seeing the pupils face when they achieve what the teacher guided them to achieve. Not all teachers are average, same goes for mps, bankers, soldiers or policemen and to be quite honest I've never known anyone to throw stones at soldiers.

Reply 25

Clip

Original post by purplestudent

and to be quite honest I've never known anyone to throw stones at soldiers.

Literal or metaphorical?

Metaphorically, no problem. Start a thread on TSR stating "Thank you, British soldiers" and within one hour, you will have bile and vitriol that would make criticism of teachers pale by comparison.