Quote:
Originally Posted by Guinness
If we are talking sweeping statements here...take a look at the quoted statement of your own general secretary in my first post! Patronising, belittling and downright garbage!
You are correct, its not 1937, its 2012, does that mean that kids do not need to be able to do the basic 3 R's to get a job?
Going off topic for a sec.... IMO using VAK and SMART only works with people who want to learn...most kids (13-17) realistically don't want to learn, school is somewhere they hangout between 9 and 3, I guess I could argue that secondary teachers are overpaid childminders
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Ms Blower is someone who gets carried away with her own rhetoric, I agree. She seems to have fallen into the politicians snare of concentrating on the education of politics at some press conferences. No guesses which quotes the largely Tory press pick up on, take out of context and subsequently use as kindling for a little union baiting.having said that, it's partly her job to protect her members' interests as she is directed. She also has a point in demonstrating ire in the way schools are judged as schools in vastly different areas, dealing with raw material (kids) with vastly different abilities, backgrounds and environmental challenges are expected to get similar levels of attainment or face being academised. Senior leadership replaced, staff pay scales reordered, pupil numbers and learning hours rearranged as a result. Education is a political football that few governments can resist "punsing", as we used to say in our house.
I can't recall writing that children don't need to learn how to read, write or have numeracy skills. If I implied this, it was in error and I apologise.
I completely agree that any and all teaching methods are only effective if people actually want to learn, but to call my secondary colleagues childminders is a little harsh when their charges are often 6'+ and built like prop forwards. Gaolers, orderlies or security guards all with benevolent and academic intentions would be nearer the mark, I think. Raising the leaving age to 18 and expecting people to keep turning up on a daily basis for 6 hours of activities they lost interest in around about the same time they stopped playing tig will not improve matters, but will keep a temporary lid on "NEET" figures.