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The Association of Teachers and Lecturers in Sandwell ü
for three years the only professional association website
dedicated to its Sandwell members. |
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the thinking
person’s alternative |
last
update: Friday, 07 November 2008 |
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photo ©
Natasha Mileshina, “I do
not take a single newspaper, nor read one a month, and I feel myself
infinitely the happier for it.” Thomas
Jefferson 1743 - 1826 Keep in touch To
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in given in good faith. Please exercise discernment, especially when visiting
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ATL’s very own highly selective take. TESsummary courtesy of Ken McAdam from
ATL’s London Office Friday 7th November 2008 STRIKE OUT! (Union opts against strike over pay. P1) The
NUT has decided against strike action over its ongoing pay dispute,
despite its members voting in favour of a walkout. A ballot of 250,000 teachers
came back with a slim majority in favour of strike action, with 52 per cent
voting in support. But with a turnout of fewer than 30 per cent and a
worsening economic climate, the NUT’s executive realised it was in a weak
position to press ahead with industrial action. NO ASSISTANCE! (Heads are ‘failing to support assistants’.
P12) Teaching assistants are not getting proper training and support
despite being integral to raising standards, Ofsted has warned. Schools
are failing to invest sufficient time and money in the extended workforce and
focus too heavily instead on teachers, inspectors said this week. Of 23
schools studied by the inspectorate, only six had a coherent cycle of
training and professional development for all staff on how raise pupils’
standards. Support staff were often unsure of what they were
accountable for and reviews of their performance rarely focussed on personal
targets or the school’s overall aims. LUCKY JIM! (Knight starts a new day for academies.
P’s 24/5) In a department that has seen six secretaries of state in the
past seven and a half years, Jim Knight stands out as a rare beacon of
stability. In fact, he informs The TES that he has only a few
months to go before he becomes this Government’s longest-serving minister of
state for schools. Mr Knight says he is proud of many things in his
current job – right from his first decision to introduce nutritional
standards into school meals to his most recent one to introduce statutory
PSHE and sex education. And his mistakes? “What mistakes?” he
laughs, before nominating his gaffe at the ATL conference last year, where he
“allowed a comment that I made on class sizes to be misinterpreted so that
some people believed that I thought a class size of 70 was OK, which certainly
isn’t the case”. HAVE A WORD! (Adopt a Word. P10) Is
“globlish” – using only the 1,500 most common English words – on the rise in
your classroom? If so it may be time to take up a charity’s invitation
to adopt a word. The charity, I Can, which runs two special schools for
children with communication problems and trains teachers to work with them,
is asking people to pay £20 - £30 to take ownership of a word for a year. The
words on offer include a selection about to be deleted from the Collins Dictionary
in 2009, several new ones that are poised to make an appearance, plus obscure
and Christmas-themed words. AND FINALLY… MISS TAKE. (Caught out in pole position. P47) A teacher in Hungary is in trouble with parents and other
teachers after stripping off for a pole dance at a party for her 15-year-old
pupils. The teacher was supposed to be supervising the teenagers at the
start-of-term bash when she joined in a game of truth or dare. When
pupils suggested she perform a pole dance, she agreed, not noticing that one
boy was filming it on his phone. Opinion seems to be divided.
“It’s disgusting,” said one parent. “She’s a pretty woman in her
20s and the children couldn’t believe their luck,” said another. Friday 24th October 2008 SATS NICE! (Bonuses for Sats bunglers. P1) Civil
servants who oversaw this year’s Sats shambles have been awarded thousands of
pounds in bonuses, The TES reports. Some 104 of 105 officials at
the National Assessment Agency, which appointed private firm ETS Europe to
oversee the marking of the exam papers, will collect performance pay next
month. The agency oversaw this summer’s marking, during which thousands
of scripts went missing or were delivered to the wrong place. Many
markers were paid late and more than 1 million pupils’ results were delayed. SATS IT! (Bigger than Hadron. P39) Pubs
in AN INSPECTOR CALLS! (No-notice visits to get trial
run. P13) Ofsted
has vowed to press ahead with trials of no-notice inspections, despite
overwhelming criticism of the proposal by school staff. Over
three-quarters of heads said they either disagreed or strongly disagreed with
the idea of unannounced inspections, results from an Ofsted consultation
show. More than seven out of ten teachers also said they were against
such inspections, saying they showed a lack of trust, were impractical and
would increase stress on staff. WRITE ON. (Subjects: English. P24) English
teachers are signing a petition calling for the reinstatement of a Carol Ann
Duffy poem that was dropped from an exam board’s anthology because of
concerns about knife crime. The AQA exam board contacted schools last
month asking them to destroy copies of “Education for Leisure”, which it has
removed from the syllabus. But Michele Ledda, an English teacher in AND FINALLY… TRUTH IS STRANGER THAN FICTION! (That’s a bit of a
stretch. P39) Recent
attempts by some US schools to introduce yoga exercises have met with
opposition. Some Christian parents are concerned that the stretching
could turn children into Hindus. Thankfully, Massena High in Friday 10th October 2008 At least one state school is planning to follow the
example of top English independent schools by opening branches in two foreign
countries. WISHFUL THINKING. (Small classes explain
lure of defection to private sector. P4/5) More than half of state school teachers would defect to
the private sector on account of the smaller class sizes and superior
facilities, a TES survey has found. Almost nine out of 10 state
school teachers named smaller classes as the top attraction in swapping to an
independent school, according to a poll of 2,400 staff. Freedom from
government interference and better behaved children also ranked high on their
list of attractions to the independent sector. But difficult parents
were highlighted as the number one drawback of private schools. Around
six out of 10 state school teachers indentified “demanding parents” as a
problem, with around half criticising the independent sector for failing to
take enough children from poorer homes. RISKY RELATIONSHIPS! (Unions back Keates
in her bid to clarify sixth form sex law. P 8/9) The TES reports that teacher unions have questioned
the law surrounding teachers who have sex with sixth formers. Speaking
on ITV’s Tonight programme earlier this week, Christine Keates NASUWT
general secretary, said sex between teachers and pupils above the age of
consent should not be a criminal offence. At the moment, teachers who
have relationships with pupils risk jail or having their names added to the
sex-offenders’ register. ATL General Secretary Mary Bousted agreed that
the law is anomalous. “It is wholly unacceptable for a teacher to have
a sexual relationship with a pupil with whom they have a relationship of
trust,” she said. “However, there is a legitimate question whether the
Government should hold a thorough review of the current law.” MONEY, MONEY, MONEY. (Strike ballot over
pay. P19) Ballot papers have been sent out to around 250,000 NUT
members asking them to vote on possible industrial action over pay. The
choice is between discontinuous action, which could include anything from a
one-day national strike to locally co-ordinated action short of a full
walk-out. The outcome will be announced on November 6. AND FINALLY… RISKY RECIPE! (A week in education P2) A 15-year-old was expelled from a Friday 19th September 2008 BROTHERS GRIM! (BNP pair face being struck off. P1) A
prominent British National Party member could be struck from the teaching
register if he is found to have espoused racial and religious
intolerance. Adam Walker and his brother Mark, both teachers in TOP MARKS! (Lib Dem policies top teachers’ poll. P1) Teachers
believe the Liberal Democrats have the best education policies of the three
main political parties, a TES survey has found. The poll, commissioned
to coincide with the party conference season, asked nearly 6,000 teachers to
consider five education policies from each party, without saying who had
proposed them. On balance they were positive about four of the Lib Dem
ideas, two Conservative proposals and only one from the Government.
Teachers own policy ideas indicate that what they want most is for
politicians to leave them alone. GOD’S WORK? (One third of science teachers see God’s hand
in creation… P3) A
third of science teachers believe a divine being had a role in the creation
of humanity, a study shows. The finding adds a further twist to the row
over how creationism should be discussed in schools after the Professor
Michael Reiss was forced to resign as director of education at the Royal
Society. He suggested this week that creationism should be discussed
alongside evolution in science lessons. The research by Pam Hanley, an
education academic at SUPPLY AND DEMAND. (NQTs forced into supply. P17) Just
two-thirds of teachers who qualified last year are working as registered
teachers, figures published today show. And the AND FINALLY… MORE PLEASE. (Can’t pay for lunch? Hard cheese.
P47) Friday 12th September 2008 WORK WAR. (War on workload abuses. P1) Schools
that fail to fully adopt the teacher workload agreement face losing control
of their budgets and having their governing bodies replaced under plans being
considered by ministers. The TES understands that the Government
is planning to introduce direct sanctions because there is currently no
legislation in place to ensure the recognition of the workload
agreement. A TES poll last month found that 47 per cent of
teachers said their school had not implemented the agreement in full. PAYBACK TIME. (Unions limber up to rejoin pay battle.
P6) The TES incorrectly reports that
all the major teaching and support staff unions voted this week to “fully
support” co-ordinated industrial action across the public sector in protest
at the Treasury’s 2 per cent pay cap. Not so. In fact the unions
voted to support a campaign on public sector pay. Martin
Johnson, ATL deputy general secretary, said the association supported the
campaign resolution because declining pay would make it harder and harder to
recruit teachers. “We listen to our members, and our members are
becoming more and more unhappy with their pay situation,” he said. LOW MARKS. (Angry markers left unpaid. P14). Many
markers who were trained to assess Sats papers this year, yet never received
any scripts, are still waiting to be paid by the disgraced firm ETS
Europe. The company had assured markers it would pay £250 compensation
by August 1 to anyone who had not received papers. ETS’s contract ended
last month after a stream of complaints from markers and schools over
shambolic administration. Exam board Edexcel is now helping to process
schools’ results appeals. BIG ISSUE. (Teachers lose priority place in home-buying
schemes. P17) Money
previously promised to teachers and other key workers to help them buy their
first homes is now being offered to all first-time buyers on low
incomes. Last week’s high-profile housing rescue package spelt the end
for the only remaining government home-funding targeted specifically at
public sector workers. Following last week’s announcement, several
major housing associations confirmed they would reopen their shared equity
home-buying schemes. However, the money would be shared among all first
home-buyers with incomes under £60,000 – not just teachers, nurses and police
officers. AND FINALLY… A LIKELY STORY! (A week in education. P2) Not
fancying double maths on a Wednesday morning is an infliction as old as
school itself, but the Observer reported that around one in 20 pupils
now suffers from “school phobia”. Psychologist Dr Nigel Blagg said the
medically recognised condition was likely to develop at the start of the
school year, and could be exacerbated by the trend towards bigger schools.
Hmm. Friday 5th September 2008 HEADS ROLL. (Mayhem for heads on schools hit list.
P1) Schools
have been left in a state of confusion about whether or not they are now on a
hot-list of secondaries being threatened with closure because of low exam
results. The Government announced in June that its National
Challenge scheme would provide targeted support for 638 schools where fewer
than 30% of pupils achieving five or more A*-C GCSEs including English and
maths with a threat of closure if unsuccessful. But the Department for
Children, Schools and Families this week admitted it did not know how many
schools were on the list. One official even implied there was no list. YOU’RE FIRED! (A week in education. P2) Teachers
faced harsh words from Christine Gilbert, head of Ofsted. Ms Gilbert
said she agreed with heads who felt it was too difficult to sack weak
teachers. In an interview with the Sunday Telegraph, she
professed to have little patience with schools that argued poor results were
down to poor year groups. She also urged parents to challenge schools
more. “We have to be fiercer,” she said, as if Ofsted were regarded as
pussycats. DEEP CUT! (Board ditches knife poem. P7, Letters P34,
Leading article P36) An
exam board’s decision to drop a poem from the GCSE syllabus because of
concern over knife crime has infuriated English teachers. The AQA board
has written to schools asking them to destroy copies of its poetry anthology
containing the offending poem, Education for Leisure by Carol Ann
Duffy. Teachers began criticising the decision in letters to the board
and on the TES online staffroom last week. The poem begins with
the words “Today I am going to kill something” and ends with the protagonist
holding a bread-knife. FIVE YEARS ON… (‘Someone still has to do the work’ P22/3) The
school workforce agreement was designed to improve the lot of teachers.
But has it? A TES poll of 3,453 teachers found that only 3.6 per
cent believed the agreement had led to a “substantial reduction”.
Another 38.3 per cent said there had been a small reduction and 48 per cent
said it had no effect. The TES poll does suggest one obvious
reason for the continuing upsurge in teacher workload. Only a quarter
of teachers said their school had introduced the agreement in full, 28 per
cent didn’t know and 47 per cent were definite that it had not been
implemented. AND FINALLY… THE RICH ARE DIFFERENT! (A week in education. P2) Delivering
messages to wealthy parents via the chauffeur is one of the challenges
private schools face, The Times reported. Jane Reddick, a form
teacher in an Edinburgh prep, said she could often only contact the parents’
PA. “I’ve ended up asking the chauffeur, to tell the nanny to remind
the parents that their son needs his violin,” she said. But the best
excuse for failing to collect a child after school was recalled by Isabella
Grierson, a reception teacher at a pre-prep in the Friday 4th July 2008 BIG MISTAKE! (Error risk in marking rush. P1) The
accuracy of marking on millions of Key Stage 2 and 3 papers is in doubt and
examiners fear many will not be returned to schools by next week. All
test papers are due back to primary and secondary schools by Tuesday.
But in at least three subjects – KS2 English and KS3 reading and maths –
marking will continue over the weekend, with some markers warning it may take
longer to clear the backlog. Senior examiners have warned that quality
control is weaker this year, so pupils may receive less accurate results. FAITHLESS! (A week in education. P2) The
Government has backed a “witch hunt” against faith schools, according to a
report by Christine Odone for the Centre of Policy Studies. The report
said ministers had exaggerated the extent of selection in Christian, Jewish
and Muslim schools. But ministers said the future of faith schools was
secure. PAY DEAL BLUES. (Pressure for even lower pay deal.
P4) A
pay increase, which thousands of teachers considered was worth striking over,
could become even lower if the Treasury gets its way. Ministers are
asking teachers to accept a pay increase consistent with getting inflation
down to 2 per cent. But cutting the agreed 2.3 per cent pay rise for
2009-11 is likely to prove too difficult for ministers, already struggling to
avert a “summer of discontent” with strikes planned across the public
sector. ATL Deputy General Secretary Martin Johnson said
below-inflation pay rises were unacceptable. ATL had no position on
strike action, but he said members’ stances were “hardening”. WORK-HEALTH BALANCE! (Stressed staff ‘must seek
help’. P9) Fear
of being sacked should not stop teachers with mental health problems from
seeking help, says new government guidance. The guidance from the
Department for Children, Schools and Families says: “Some people put off
looking for help because they think that they will inevitably lose their job
if they have a problem. Most staff are easily treated and, with
temporary adjustments, do return to work.” Commenting on the report,
ATL General Secretary Mary Bousted, said: “I am afraid that our experience
shows that schools can be very unforgiving places if teachers are mentally
ill from stress…Admissions of these problems can lead to capability
proceedings. We deal with far too many cases like this.” AND FINALLY… SUPERWOMAN! (People. P31) In
its bid to recruit Higher Level Teaching Assistants (HLTAs) specialising in
maths and science, the Training and Development Agency for Schools has
resorted to extreme measures. The agency has drafted in Jo Salter, Friday 27th June 2008 MAKING THE GRADE. (Grade predictions lottery. P1) Targets
never before published show the huge difference ethnicity and postcode make
to expectations of exam performance in LISTEN UP! (Motormouth teachers achieve better
results. P3) Hyped-up
teachers who talk quickly are more likely to be effective in the
classroom. The finding from Brian Apteran, an educational psychologist
for PARENT POWER! (Parents back Ofsted. P4) No-notice
school inspections have been backed by nearly a third of parents responding
to a consultation, the chief inspector said. Christine Gilbert, head of
Ofsted, said parents had come out “strongly in favour” of the
lightning-strike inspections that will come into force in September
2009. The Ofsted consultation closes on August 11. STRIKE BACK! (Support staff to walk out. P 11) Thousands
of schools are expected to close next month when Unison
support staff members plan two days of strikes. The industrial action
is planned for July 16 and 17. The action could be joined by the 70,000
school-based members of the Unite, who are still balloting over whether to
take strike action over this year’s 2.45 per cent pay offer. AND FINALLY… SEX AND THE SECONDARIES! (A week in education. P2) Almost
a third of secondaries now operate “sex clinics”, a survey by the Sex
Education Forum suggested. It defined a school as having a sexual
health service if pupils who need them could obtain condoms or pregnancy
tests. The findings were widely welcomed by health charities, but Andy
Hibberd of the Parent Organisation said: “This is the end of innocence.” Friday 20th June 2008 DO WELL, CLOSE DOWN. (Threatened schools are doing
well. P1) Nearly
half of the secondary schools under the greatest threat of closure are
performing above the national average by one of the Government’s main
yardsticks. Some schools on the list have had letters from Jim Knight,
the schools minister, congratulating them on their value-added GCSE
results. A TES analysis raises questions about ministers’ claims
that their clampdown on struggling schools has taken into account the challenging
context in which thousands of teachers work. QUIET PLEASE! (Women, step back and shut up. P3) Female
teachers need to stop talking so much and at such a high pitch if they are to
engage with boys in classes, a parenting expert claims. Celia Lashlie,
an education adviser and author from STRESSFUL STRUCTURES! (Restructuring puts pressure on
staff. P 11) |
