"I've taught, and I can still remember trying to interest children who had no interest whatsoever in English. They didn't want to be in the classroom. If I'm honest I didn't want them to be there either because they were disruptive to [other] children.However bad the problem is now, it is going to get worse in about 5 years, because the cohort starting secondary school this year are going to be forced to remain in education until they are 18, so Sixth Formers will be able to enjoy the disruption and distraction of half a class that doesn't want to be there. It will do wonders for the unemployment statistics though.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Think Of The (Stupid) Children.
Chris Woodhead is claiming that some children are simply 'not very bright'. This is true, in fact some research suggests that up to 50% of children might be of below average intelligence:
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In the face of this challenge, I fully expect the Labour Party to announce a radical new initiative; shiny new academies where suitably able pupils follow a skills- or sports-based curriculum.
Post-KS2 assessment could identify practical high-flyers who would benefit from a manufacturing, service or leisure industry-related education.
The rest could attend a more traditional institution where they would follow a more restrictive classroom-based curriculum. We could call it, say, a 'grammar school'.
Being a teacher is just going to get worse and worse. Broken families, zero aspirations, zero prospects, no respect for authority - our school children are slipping away from society at an alarming rate.
"We could call it, say, a 'grammar school'.".
No that would never work.
The schools should stream the children and put the astoundingly dim and disruptive ones in the C form and teach accordingly. In the 6th form we were there to study for A levels so we all had an interest in learning and progressing on to university. Having a bunch of idiots in the same room would not have been conducive to learning. This is political bollox as usual. More apprenticeships or some equivaLENT WOULD BE MUCH BETTER FOR EVERYONE.
"The schools should stream the children and put the astoundingly dim and disruptive ones in the C form and teach accordingly. "Yes, the teach accordingly is the important part.
The disruptive ones are not neccesarily dim, and the dim ones not neccesarily disruptive... but bright kids being disruptive because they are bored should also be fixed by streaming, of which I am in favour. In fact, instead of dividing children into groups of stupid-middle-bright on an academic scale, I would suggest that finding what each kid is actually good at and teaching them based on that may well lead to more of them having enjoyable school careers and minimise disruption in classrooms. It would mean weaning ourselves off of tagets and league tables though, as it would introduce oranges into the equation.
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