We’ve all seen the infamous Dr. Pepper advert – The one where the young boy goes to see the school nurse, his drink spills over the intercom system, and the entire school listens to part of their conversation. As the young boy walks out of the nurse’s office, the entire school is stood outside mocking him, and the slogan “Dr. Pepper, what’s the worst that could happen?” is displayed across the screen. Continue reading “What’s the worst that could happen?”
On the morning of Friday 24 June 2016, just hours after it had been announced that the UK had voted in favour of leaving the European Union, 60 civil servants had gathered at the Treasury to listen to an important talk.
Westminster, still stunned by the UK’s decision to change the course of history, congregated to listen to Carol Dweck – a psychologist who has become famous for her ‘growth mindset’ theory.
The growth mindset theory is a general belief that one can improve oneself through effort. Continue reading “Racism isn’t reserved for the old anymore”
Pupils are now being punished if their parents/carers fail to pay lunch bills.
Well-known Conservative supporter, and self-titled superhead, Katharine Birbalsingh is the headteacher of Michaela Community School, a free school in the London Borough of Brent. Ms Birbalsingh originally gained attention as the anonymous blogger To Miss With Love, in which she wrote about her experiences teaching at an inner-city secondary school. She then came to national prominence after she spoke at the 2010 Conservative Party conference in support of the party’s education and policies, criticising the state of the British education system. Ms Birbalsingh sent a letter home to parents/carers to inform them that if they did not pay their fines, then their children would be punished as a consequence. Continue reading “When does punishing children go too far?”
Balloon artistry, marzipan modelling and self-tanning could be among a number of courses running on borrowed time as ministers prepare to scrap these vocational qualifications widely derided as “Mickey Mouse” courses.
It has been revealed in the news recently that, under new government plans, up to 20,000 vocational courses are to be scrapped and replaced with 15 new qualifications for teenagers in England. Continue reading “The death of Mickey Mouse courses?”
A national scheme has been set up which will allow interns to teach in schools. TryTeaching, a company founded in March of this year, has developed its graduate teaching internship scheme to enable prospective teachers to experience working in a school for a period between one and three terms, before enrolling on initial teacher training (ITT) courses. Continue reading “Is this the end of the road for teaching assistants?”
The House of Lords has published a report claiming that scrapping the national curriculum for pupils over the age of 14 and taking careers advice away from schools could help young people make better choices about their future. Continue reading “The future of the national curriculum?”
This week’s blog comes from our expert contributor, Veale Wasbrough Vizards (VWV), on the subject of MAT formation.
Those readers who have recently seen presentations by the Schools Commissioner Frank Green, will know that the current political focus is firmly placed on school collaboration and the expansion of the multi-academy trust (MAT) model. This follows on from the clear messages contained in the Education and Adoption Bill. Continue reading “Thinking of starting, joining or expanding an MAT?”
I was lucky enough to go to a very good school which had a number of excellent teachers. To choose one inspirational teacher is a very difficult choice as, to be honest, I had quite a few. The one who stands out though would be Mr H, my form tutor through years 9 – 11.
Mr H had just joined St. Thomas More RC High School when he took my class as his form. To begin with, he demanded that we stand on his arrival, and that silence was a must in his presence unless you were spoken to. At first the students, who had not received such direct orders before, were happy to go along with this routine.
After a few weeks it became quite frustrating to say the least! I think it is fair to say 9am was not a happy time of the day. Not only did it signify the start of lessons, but now it had become the start of military school, and Mr H’s class were the only ones attending.
However, after a short period of time, I feel that Mr H realised that this was not the best way to get the respect and authority that he deserved, and he very quickly became a mentor for my class, instead of an authoritarian.
Mr H would speak to us as adults and give advice based on his childhood or life experiences, rather than using generic ideologies and theories that most teachers would use.
Over the next 3 years our class and Mr H formed a good relationship, one that meant we knew our place and that if he ever had to raise his voice you knew you were in trouble. With his manner and level of communication with us, Mr H very quickly earned the respect of his students.
It was his transformation from the first day in Year 9 until the day I left High School that is an inspiration to me. Children don’t always need to be the ones to change in order to make the classroom experience a better one for all; it is joint effort that requires compromise and respect of each party’s place. We became better students as he developed into a confident and inspirational teacher.
This is something I hope I have taken into my professional and personal life myself.
I don’t come from a family of teachers. We actually only have one teacher in the whole family, and he married in!
My father is a broadcast journalist and my Mum is a retired benefits advisor. Between them, they make up the most dynamic teaching team I’ve ever encountered. Our Mum was the one making sure our homework was done (even on occasion, doing our homework) and that we were learning our spellings and times tables, Dad was teaching us life skills and making sure we always picked our battles correctly (as well as teaching us how to fight those battles).
I’ve often said that my Dad should “get into teaching” to quote the DfE, but his answer is always the same.
“No, I don’t want to teach, I want to inspire”, but surely those are one and the same?
Although he has worked for most of his career in the media, he has close ties to the education sector. He gives inspirational talks at end of year awards ceremonies, and acts as a Master of Ceremonies at assemblies.
He doesn’t realise that he is already a teacher and has been for years!
With all the best intentions, I was never going to be a “brilliant” student. I was easily distracted, creative and received regular reports stating “Lydia would really excel if only she could put as much effort into her work as she does into her classroom conversations.” I would get bored easily and preferred to be writing stories rather than writing essays. Dad never minded, so long as I put my all into whatever I did.
Last week, Jamie Oliver told the media that he often encourages his daughter to skip her homework and will be “surprised” if any of his children end up at university. Dad didn’t go as far as this, but he always encouraged us to go our own way, my way just happened to be university!
After thirty years I’m still learning from him every day.
The lessons I learn from him now aren’t about English and History, they are about standing up for myself, being the person I am rather than the person I pretend to be and of course, inevitably, how to drive!
It was from him I learned the art of debate and how to develop an argument and now my weekends are often spent pulling out my soap box and discussing the state of the nation with my Dad.
The most important thing I ever learned from my father was “good leaders take people with them” and whenever I have stood at the front of a classroom, that is the ideal I have tried to emulate.
Who is your inspiration? Join the conversation on Twitter #BeTheInspiration.
Gifted and talented children are often overlooked. Being picked on for being bright or for showing any sort of academic aptitude is common and it is hard to know how to help these kids.
Here is a short piece from our guest blogger Emma Garside about how the right teacher can inspire gifted and talented pupils.
“Mrs Smith or Madame Smith (how very French) was the sole reason I enjoyed French and indeed school. From day one I had shown a willingness to exceed… also known as the girl who asked a million questions and the brain box.
I quite simply had a love affair with French as Mrs Smith answered all my questions and always gave me that little bit more to study, even being in top group was a bore for me so her extra work kept me engaged. To be honest, I hated school otherwise and it was only Mrs Smith’s attitude to nurturing those who wanted to excel that kept me focused throughout secondary school, her teaching was simply first class
I’m 35 and although I didn’t follow her into the teaching profession, I still talk about her, I’m sure she’s teaching advanced French up in heaven.
Madame Smith made me realise that it was cool to be a geek and to ignore the kids who picked on me because I was good at something.”
Truly inspirational. Join the conversation on Twitter #BeTheInspiration.
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