There is a very interesting article in The Sunday Times today about education. It is headed 'Sit down and pay attention'. I have read it through three times and would love to ring my son and discuss the ideas Colville puts forward, but I know his mornings - writing for a couple of (very early) hours and helping his wife (who is much more mobilely (is there such a word or have I just coined it?') handicapped than I am, I endeavour not to ring in the mornings unless I have to.
Apparently 'performance data' on how well or badly schools have the done (we are speaking here of over 11's = Secondary education) has just been published. Of course I don't know the criteria on which the schools were judged but the interesting thing I think is that using that criteria the 'top' schools were all ones who had 'high standards', 'firm discipline' and 'strong leadership' The schools were 'knowledge focused'.
Mi chaela Community School' which is in Wembley - often called 'Britain's Strictest School' in this survey also comes out top. The Best.
I have been retired from teaching now for forty years but for most of my working life my career was centred on what used to be called 'the less able'. (but often capable of doing things I still can't do like turning radiators on, There are plenty of skills which so called 'less able' can do better than I have ever been able to do - teacher should be able to latch on to these skills and give praise where it is due - make the young person aware that they are jolly good at some things - not worthless because they struggle with catching up with their reading age.)
The difference between living and teaching in Wolverhampton one of the towns/cities loosely called 'The West Midlands' and housing a huge population of 'immigrant' families from The West Indies, Pakistan, India and other places and living up here in The Yorkshire Dales where seeing anybody with a face which isn't white is almost always confined to Indian Restaurants, Pizza outlets and the like (and even then the owners usually come up here daily from towns like Bradford - where their families live. Family is very important to most 'immigrant' folk.) couldn't be greater.
But it has altered my views in many ways. I love living here but the one thing I missed greatly when I came up here thirty odd years ago to live was the black faces. I loved the mixture of races, religions, colours from Asian through to West Indian. And I always felt, when teaching, how well the children got on together; it gave me hope for the future.
Now - away from it - and thinking about teaching and the emphases attached to various aspects - I begin to wonder.
Everybody needs to read. I remember my Grand-daughter (now almost forty) trailing me round the streets of the West Yorkshire town where they lived- me pushing the pushchair, Emily looking at the street signs searching for the 'e' for Emily.
Their house was full of books - she could read quite well when she started school. The early learning is being repeated in the next generation where Ula her daughter is reading fluently and can give you her opinion on everything - talks the hind leg off a donkey -it is a delight to hear her rattling on about the things that interest her. It is obvious that Mum and Dad listen to her and discuss with her.
Contrast that with my Carer J. I suspect she has probably never read a book from pure choice - and W, another carer, is the same. But my goodness me they are both jolly good at their jobs. Neither have ever voted - can't be bothered - too busy. I once asked J why she hadn't gone to University. Her reply was to question what good it would have done her. She took her Caring Qualifications locally and then got on with it. "I would have had to move away to get on and I wanted to stay here" was her reply.
Reading is the key. Read well and the options are there. Struggle with reading and the options begin to lessen. Dyslexia was jusy beginning to be tackled in my day.
But sadly it is almost always true that a child from a home with plenty of books, plenty of chat at home (see Magnon's meanderings today for another slant), where talking, discussing, giving your opinion, has a huge head start. Add to that discipline, a focus on knowledge and an atmosphere that oozes learning as a pleasure and you are half way to improving our schools.
Since I have lived up here I have seen into the lives of folk more than I ever did when teaching (too busy working, bringing up a child). Now I watch young people passing - they live in a different world from the one I inhabited.
So much is on offer for our children, so much more opportunity than I had. Our children deserve better than they are getting in many of our Secondary schools. I love where Robert Colville quotes in his article an advert for teachers from Mercia School in Sheffield. It wanted teachers 'willing to work ridiculously hard', 'be wedded to their job' have 'high energy' and be willing to accept that sometimes work might dominate their lives.
That's the spirit. Good committed teachers, an inspired head - firm leadership, and an all-pervading atmosphere that makes every child feel they are an important part of the school community and you've cracked it.
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30 comments:
Well we are all different and success doesn't automatically come to book readers any more than it automatically doesn't come to non bookreaders and your frequent eulogising of your carers and their skills bears that out, if indeed they really haven't read a book in any case. I know plenty of people who don't read books and they do alright in the world of things that we need to keep us all going. I read, others don't. I am friends with them all and they are friends with me even if I don't know who they are at all because it is never something that arises in everyday conversation. People have vibrant and amazing lives each in their own way.
I went to one of those high standards, firm discipline, etc. etc. schools but it was not the right school for me. I lasted two years there but it was too overwhelming for me. I did well in some subjects, but not up to their high standards. I did learn a lot about music and art and was a good reader which I appreciated. I never wanted to be a doctor, lawyer, author or public servant so it was money wasted by my family sending me there. That school actually put me off wanting to go to university and I have done very well and learned what I needed to learn on my own. I ended up a good person, so maybe the discipline part did rub off on me. I was lucky to have always gone to schools with excellent teachers, but they didn’t have to put up with unruly students like the teachers do today in some parts of the city.
No Rachel - I obviously didn't make it clear enough what I mean - it is not the importance of reading books - it is the importance of the written word. If you grow up not seeing how important it is to actually read you are not motivated to learn to read - that means that when you emter the world of work you are at a severe disadvantage. It is no accident that many MPs - especially Conservative - went to Eton. Whether you fancy Great Expectations or not your expectations are limited by your level of literacy. That is also a jolly good argument in my opinion for the old Seconary Modern Schools - Joinery, Metalwork, Home Economics, Needlework - all subjects that virtually disappeared with the arrival of Comprehensive education - now living up her and it is most likely the same in your area I guess - builders, plumbers, electricians are in short supply, I am not suggesting they can't read but by golly young men and women would be more motivated to learn reading skills with manuals on trades to read.
Gigi - I agree. A good argument for "Horses for Courses" obviously a different type of school may well have suited you better - but you obviously had good teachrs which makes all the difference.
I also like diversity in communities and among friends. Schools seem to range from poor to outstanding. The privileged have access to the outstanding schools and this creates an early divide. Schooling could be a great equalizer if they were all high quality. Also, as you state, reading is a key skill and all children should be provided the instruction they need to learn to read. This continues not to happen consistently. Reading is the key to learning and if you can not read, you can not learn. I also support trade schools and alternative learning. The trades are having a bit of a resurgence in the US and this is sorely needed. Today, electricians, plumbers, and home builders are in short supply and high demand.
Golly Pat, both you and that Colville chap do seem to see education in a very simplistic way. Go to a good school, read lots of books and have parents that talk to you about life in general every day and every thing will be OK - well current life and children in general are not like that. Both parents these days, have to go out to work every day, some doing two jobs a day, which leaves very little time when they get home for chatting with children that are more than likely shut in a bedroom on a smat phone. As for the written word, they get plenty of that but it's on the smart phone, wild horses wouldn't make them want to read a book.
Perhaps Mr. Colville should vist my neck of the woods where the two academy schools will be taken over by new companies next September because two recent inspections have found the schools have low staffing levels because teachers simply won't come there to work, and a high rate of misogyny, racial discrimination and foul language was present in the students. I'm sure that many schools in this country have the same problems these days, things just aren't the same anymore.
You don't have to have attended Eton in order to learn to read and write so I don't understand what you are saying that it is no accident that many MPs went to Eton with your point being firmly on reading in this post. Reading comes in all schools. John Major could read and write and became Prime Minister and went to a comprehensive I believe. I understood your post about the importance of reading but you went on to say about your carers not reading and I picked up on that point. Am I to believe that the Sunday Times says that we are still producing children at the end of their education who can't read or write? I suppose it has always been thus and so it will go on.
I'm stuck at home with covid and now my grandson has it as well. Yesterday we sat on the couch and chatted, because I'm too tired to do much. We started off talking about poop and what is poop made of. Enter google, which led to a discussion of bacteria, then good and bad bacteria, viruses, and then bodily defences which included phagocytes, lymphocytes, and killer T cells, all brought to life with the help of electron microscopes. We both enjoyed the chat immensely. He's like a sponge (he's 4.5) and I never talk down to him.
I grew up in a largely adult household - my cousin was 10 years old than me and taught me to read, write and how to do simple sums. I have always loved books, always wanted one for a birthday or Christmas, and still buy them far too frequently.
It is many years now since I had any close contact with our schools systems, so I am not equipped to pass judgement.
I do agree with the comment that we need dedicated teachers who are willing to work hard, but we need many others in careers which provide other services to do the same.
Being a competent reader is an essential skill, whether used for books, tablets, smartphones etc. However, communication is a two-way process, and it is just as important to be able to write effectively - grammar, spelling, sentence structure etc are equally necessary. In a past life I was responsible for recruitment, and it was an eye-opener to see the deterioration in the quality of writing on the application forms over a twenty year period. Most of the more recent forms had been completed on-line, and obviously showed that the applicant had either not proofread the form, or blindly accepted the autocorrections to spelling and grammar, a lot of which made the form entries unintelligible, or more likely had never been taught the correct use of English at school. And all of this happening long after you had left teaching, Pat.
...teacher should be able
to latch on to these skills and give praise where it is due,make a person aware
that they are good at
something,not worthless because they struggle...
What a wonderful outlook you have Pat! Life has taught me that praising someone for the good they do will encourage them to do even more good..
A young man was listening to people speak at a meeting I attended ,most were saying that we should all help each other improve daily , he said we don't know what struggle another person is going through, maybe we are most helpful if we simply and quietly sit beside them so they know they are not alone, Mary
Yes Rachel there will always be some - some through no fault of their own. There are naby reasons apart from Dyslexia which make it difficult for some. Dyslexics with the right training do mostly learn how to read and spell - a struggle but with a trained teacher it seems to work well.
Derek - nothing simplistic about good teachers Derek but many coming into it straight from college only really succeed if they enter the right environment - one of reasonably disciplined learning. And that depends entirely on a good leadership, a well worked out, discussed and agreed upon discipline and a good environment.
A n interesting lot of comments. Most of us at some time in our lives will have come across inspirational teachers - ask almost anyone and they will recall one particular teacher that started them off on the right path.Often a good head can make for a good school - it is to some extent learning to run with the hare and the hounds. I met and worked for one who could charm the birds off the trees. The kids would toe the line for him and the staff respected him and listened to his advice. The school ran like clockwork and was a joy to work in.
There are some areas of our country that have poor housing, a limited range of shops, very few leisure opportunities, a shortage of police and social workers and, yes, below average schools. We can hardly expect the teachers in these schools to magically achieve the same results as those in more favoured areas. Of course there will be exceptions - a few pupils from disadvantaged areas will succeed academically and some from top schools will turn out to be incompetent, lying buffoons. Somebody was talking about "levelling up" but I haven't seen much evidence of it yet. If it ever happens (and I don't have much faith in any politicians to effect the change) then teachers might have a level chance of helping each child achieve the success they deserve.
I agree with John, but would add that teaching and the duties of the headteacher have changed tremendously since budgets and all other responsibilities were 'devolved' from local authorities. All premises budgets and repair issues, H&S, safeguarding, welfare, staffing budgets, policies on food served/use of phones/liaising with police when there are suspected breaches or improper behaviour (pupils as young as 8 or 9 to my knowledge), preparation for inspections and justifications therin, gender policies and breaches, difficulties with parents (bullying, fighting - on school premises sometimes!), it all now comes down to the staff in the school. How some head teachers keep everything together is a small miracle.
I don't think that a child's future depends solely on his teacher or the school he attends. I think that the biggest determiner of a child's success is his parents. If the parents value education, the child is more likely to as well. If a child values an education, they are less likely to be a problem child in school.
I'm a reader. I always have been. Despite the fact that my children were exposed to books and reading from their very earliest days, my son is not a reader. I've never asked, but I do doubt that he's read a book for pleasure in his adult life. That being said, he's a gifted engineer, nationally recognized for his work with his company. He did not go to college. He went to a two year technical school for a course that he had a special aptitude for.
I guess what I'm saying is that there are all kinds of kinds, aren't there?
We cannot ever negate the importance of reading and learning. Seems to me this is a given. I taught school. The best students were readers. Does this mean they have time for tons of reading as adults? Probably not. Encouraging children to read is important. Brenda
You're still in the game when it comes to education. I also preferred the kids who had some challenges. I taught to my own tune. I changed curriculum to suit the kids. One of those kids is a multi millionaire. He had an accountant but he is very imaginative and creative. Kim developed automatic sensors to monitor gas wells here. More kids know how to read before entering school than we think. On the other hand far too many kids are neglected at home.
I taught all three of my children to read and write BEFORE they went to school. I taught in private schools where discipline was not a question, and therefore took no time. I would say that 99% of the children were very bright, and really wanted to learn. They were a pleasure to teach.
Studies all over the world show that the teachers play the most important role at school. The curriculum, the methods of teaching, the technical equipment, the number of students are all important, but the success depends of the teacher.
And the second factor are the parents. If they don´t value education, it will not be important for the child. This has nothing to do with money. because schools, textbooks and of course libraries are free.
A recent study here in Germany found out that about one quarter of the 15 year old cannot read properly. I think this should shock all the authorities concerned. But instead they said that there also were good news. The English skills have improved because the students watch lots of TikTok! I really wonder what kind of English they can learn this way.
Hilde in Germany
If I really got started on this subject, my comment would be longer than your post, Pat. Let me just say that I learned to read about a year before I started school, and while it has served me well in one way, it has also made things difficult for me later on. I was so used to being ahead of everyone that I missed the point where I should have caught on with learning; as a child, I simply thought it will always be like that for me at school - easy to the point of boredom.
Enter "big school" and things weren't so easy anymore. I had not mastered the art of sitting down and studying properly for next day's subjects, which eventually lead to me quitting school with the German equivalent of O-levels and no qualifications for university. I don't regret not having gone to uni, since I still had good training (first as a Librarian, later "on the job" in various jobs) and I am making a living without back-breakingly hard work or having to hold two jobs to get by. So, no regrets, just my personal experience.
Life without books? I can hardly imagine NOT to read, and when I was not able to read for more than 10-20 minutes at a time before my eye operations, I found that hard to bear.
Librarian. You always seem to do such a lot in your life and to be so contented with it. I didn't go to University until I was 37 and lived near enough to travel there every day from home after I had got my son off to school. It seems to me we have both done alright for ourselve. Interesting what you say about not mastering the art of studying. A really good teacher might have picked that up and worked with you to master it. The trouble is that class size often means that this sort of thing gets missed especially if you seem to be doing 'alright' - if you had fallen behind then it would perhaps have been different. But it is I would guess almost a case of 'all's well that ends well' - your life always sounds so interesting. I know, like me, you have had your ups and downs but like me you have had the strength to weather the storms. x
Thank you, Pat - you are so kind, and I think you have summed up very well what makes us similar in some ways.
At the school where I experienced real trouble and did indeed fall behind in several subjects (although I kept top grades in all languages as well as some other subjects), the policy was that if you weren't able to keep up, you were at the wrong place and had better go to the "lower level" school which was actually part of the same complex of buildings in that part of town. And that's what I did; I had to repeat a year but repeated it at that "lower level" school, and did so well I won a prize at the end of my last year. From there, I went on to do really well at a bridge year and then my Librarian training. As you say, all's well that ends well.
Weave I disagree with you about Mercia School's attitude and job spec.
Someone who works ridiculously hard, is wedded to their job, and is willing to accept that work sometimes might dominate their lives, hardly seems a well-rounded person to me.
If you truly would jump up to meet the criteria with enthusuiasm, surely any 'high energy' would be used up by such requests from others, and burn-out would ensue, which happens here a lot.
I don't think anyone should be requested to work ridiculously hard at anything. Hard yes, but not ridiculously so. Health often suffers, particulary when finally relaxing into retirement.
My husband, a career teacher, met all of the above criteria, gave his life to teaching, and his health. He just limped over the finishing line to retirement, and occasionally, five years into retirementm we will recount to each yet another teaching dream of a full day's teaching and admin under trying circumstances and wake up exhausted.
We always taught in the public and not private school system for reasons I prefer not to go into here. It was a considered choice, and not an easy path, but we have much more in common with the staff from these schools than the privileged schools and their clientele. Just the way it is , or was. - Pam, Aust.
Hilde - interesting take on things, especially on teachers. A child only really needs one really inspirational teacher to catch that magic moment when suddenly learning becomes exciting. Unfortunately in some schools such teachers do not necessarily exist. As to fifteen year olds - I think that is too late to do anything about it. If a child hasn't caught on to the fact of how important reading is by then it is probaboly too late unless he or she takes up a job which needs reading text books or instruction manuals or something like that. Then he or she can catch up. I have said on here before I have encountered girls who a year after leaving school having beeen unable to catch on to simple maths are working on Tesco check-out like seasoned operators (suddenly they have seen the need and worked at it).
Cro there is a correlation here between class size in private education and state education.
There is a very good prep school fairly near where I live - average class size 9. Average in state primary schools in some cases well over twenty.
Debby you have hit the nail on the head. There is such a difference between learning to read accurately and loving books. They are too different things. My first husband was a painter - give him an art book and he would devour it - give him a novel and 'no thanks.'
Well said Stargoose. A few of those "buffoons" around. No names, no packdrill!
THANKS TO YOU ALL. ANOTHER OF THOSE POSTS WHICH HAS HIT A 'SORE POINT' ANOTHER POST WHERE ALL SITTING AROUND TOGETHER WITH A DRINK AND A PLEASANT ROOM AND WE COULD HAVE HAD A PLEASNT, CHATTY AFTERNOON.
I cannot really commentate at my school upbringing, as I was ill quite a bit of the time, and then divorce and moves in the family hamstrung my education. But I did study later on with three A levels and really enjoyed the studying bit but not exams, I would dissolve into panic.
All my grandchildren are hard workers and have/are attending universities, which I think is not only down to my daughter's approach to life but the children themselves.
I think approaching how education is at the moment, is not for me to say anything about. The advent of hand held phones brings information to our fingertips at an instant. So the phone probably helps children to read. I think teachers are hard pressed with 30 pupils per class, and as I also went on to teacher training - but didn't take it up, are also very brave to tackle many of the problems they face on an every day basis.
Why didn't I take up training, it was walking into my daughter's comprehensive school and being faced by a long corridor of over-excited children (all taller than me)rushing down that corridor.
As you have found my website, Weave, email me on that if you can..it will turn up on my usual email as well .or send me yours on a comment and I won't publish it. We can sort everything when we get back home!!
After reading John's post today (Oct. 24) about the Anne of Green Gables movie/series, I'll weigh in here to let you know that I'm re-reading my beloved Anne of Green Gables series of books. You mentioned in a comment to John that you purchased the first two books (Anne of Green Gables and Anne of Avonlea) when you visited PEI many years ago. If you haven't already, can I suggest that you purchase/borrow and read the following three volumes--Anne of the Island; Anne of Windy Poplars; and, Anne's House of Dreams. These books continue the story of Anne and are every bit as enjoyable as the first two volumes. They would make excellent, uplifting winter reading! Best wishes to you, and thank you for writing this interesting and thought-provoking blog!
Anne (with an "e") in Maryland, USA
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