I am confused..................

I would like to ask, with all the "new initiatives" and cash thrown at Education over the many years since OFSTED ,  why are there still kids that leave school hardly able to read and write?
I would also like to ask, what makes you think that "league tables" are the way to improve schools' performance?  Just because schools get '98% A* to C' does that mean that schools are turning out well-balanced, polite, graduates, able to think for themselves? 
Several years ago, more years than I care to remember, I started a P.G.C.E. to become a Secondary Science Teacher.  As part of the course, we had to pass a Literacy, Numeracy and I.T. Proficiency test.  As one of the Lecturers said, "You all have English and Maths qualifications.  If they do not prove that you are literate and numerate, then perhaps they should fix the English and Maths qualifications rather than make you do these tests."
Personally, my view is that Education is not fit for purpose.  Does the honourable Michael Gove, Minister of State for Education seriously think that turning back the clock and making Education the image of the Education he experienced, will fix all of the problems?
Only time will tell.
Perhaps we should take education out of the political arena all together and stop it being used as a political football?

Being on Supply

I am a skilled man.  I have 3 'A' Levels in Chemistry, Physics, and Zoology; an honours degree in Psychology; 16 years experience as a Registered Nurse; and 10 years experience teaching 'A' Level Psychology.  Since leaving my last job, I have been doing some Supply work, as well as Invigilating exams in a local Secondary School.  But it is the question of supply teaching that I wish to turn to.
I have been on supply at a Secondary School, covering a teacher that has been on long term sick.  Prior to me arriving at the school, the students had a succession of supply teachers.  While I was there, I had to give the classes a test on the stuff that they had been set while their teacher was absent.  All of the students said that they did not know the topic, I replied that it was important that they learn the stuff that supply teachers give them.
In the last weeks of my stay, I had to set them a project to do.  The hand in date coincided with my last day at the school.  Some of the students had obviously worked hard at the project, and I gave them praise and wrote nice comments in their books about the work that they had done.  Not surprisingly, some of the students had not done the work, I wonder what the consequences for those students will be?  What will those consequences say to the students that had worked hard at their projects and those that did not a lot?  I must say that in a previous stint as a supply teacher that I was at a school where the students told me that their teacher threw away the work that they do while he was off sick.  Is that what will happen to the students' work who had completed their projects?  I hope that the school will be able to look those students in the face and tell them that the work they did was valued!

Reminisences of College - No. 1

When I worked in a College, I taught A Level Psychology.  One of my students used to come to my lecture at 10 a.m. on time, because she set her mobile to remind her at 9.30 a.m.  On the same day as my lesson, she had an exam at 9.00 a.m. when her Mum woke her up.  At 9.30 a.m. her mobile phone, still in her pocket, went off.  It is normal exam invigilation technique to remind students, more than once, to hand in their mobile phones.  This obviously fell on deaf ears as far as this student was concerned.  The result was that she was disqualified from the exam, and all other exams in the series.  When other people found out about this, and no doubt said something to her, she decided to leave College.
I wonder what happened to her?
Answers please in the box below.

Housing Benefit changes

The current Government are seeking to cut the benefits budget by cutting the amount of money that people are paid via Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit.  In places where it is expensive to live, rents are correspondingly high.  Before today's change, people would merely offset their high level of rent against Housing Benefit, and the money would be paid direct to the landlord.  This represents a transfer of Government money direct to landlords who could charge what they liked and the government would cough up the cash.  I do not have the figures, but I would imagine that Housing Benefit payments started to spiral out of control once rents were deregulated back in the years of the Iron Lady.
Part of Ian Duncan Smiths rhetoric is to deprive people of Housing Benefit to 'force them' into work.  What planet does he live on?  'Ere in 'Ull there are 50 to 60 people chasing every job.  This is just further proof the the Government are out of touch.

Nurse! Nurse! I'm getting worse!

Because of the disaster at the Mid-Staffordshire N.H.S. Trust, there are a number of suggestions on how to 'fix' the problem.  On the Beeb this morning there was an 'ex-nurse', a gentleman who had lost his son as the result of a medical accident, and someone from an organisation called A.M.A. The 'M.A.' stood for 'medical accidents', but I can't remember what the first 'A' stood for.  They were calling for the creation of a duty of 'honesty' i.e. when you made a mistake you confessed rather than try and sweep it under the carpet.  Good luck with that one unless you do something about the countless firms that will help you get the compensation 'you deserve' after medical negligence.  What has happened that 'accidents' no longer happen?

The point that I wish to make is one that is not mine, but I think that it has enough merit for it to be repeated.  Since I trained as a nurse, nurse training has undergone several changes, and still things happen that make people want to change nurse training again.  The latest is to make people work in hospital wards for a year before they can apply for training, a kind of internship.  But the idea I want to put forward is to have nurses licensed.  The license will be awarded as long as nurses can carry out 'basic nursing care' to an acceptable standard.  This is not as easy as it sounds.  The license will also cover them to administer medication safely (you only need to get five things right: the right patient; the right time; the right drug; the right dose; and the right route of administration.).  To get a job in Cardio-Thoracic Care, for example, you would have to complete a conversion course, where the specifics of cardio-thoacic care are dealt with.  Years ago the English National Board ran loads of these courses, and I think that they should be extended into the normal pattern of nursing qualifications.  The result of this is that when your relative is admitted to the Heart Unit after having a 'Heart Attack' there will be nurses there who are licensed to care for your relative, and have been trained in the specific needs that their condition presents.  Like I say, not my idea, but I think that it has merit.

Job Hunt

Rather brazenly, I applied for a para-legal job with a firm in Hull.  I have no qualifications in Law so I really had to pull the finger out to even get them to look at my C.V.  this is the cover letter that I wrote:

"Please accept this letter as my application for the post as Legal Assistant/Para-legal at your firm. There is no doubt, from looking at my C.V., that my chances of getting an interview are very slim. (That ticks the 'sense of humour' box, I think.) However, in the next few sentences, I have to persuade you to give me a chance. Yes, I am on the wrong side of 50, but that brings life experience that people with “no snow on the roof” will not have. Unusually, for my age, I have quite good computer skills, and run web sites, one for a community group that I am a member of. I am well educated, I have a degree from the University of Aberdeen, and I have trained as a nurse, and I can explain to anyone that will listen how fridges and air-conditioners work. I have a thirst for new knowledge that is, sadly, not being exploited to the full, and I would like that to change before I become old and decrepit.

So, how have I done? Will I get the chance to further persuade you of my suitability for the post, or are my documents shredded and sent off with the re-cycling? I will, no doubt, find out in the fullness of time."

I enclosed a copy of my C.V., obviously, and waited, expecting to hear not a peep.  However, a reply did come, and here it is........

 "Thank you for your application for our paralegal post.  I am sorry to have to tell you that on this occasion your application has been unsuccessful.  We did very much enjoy your covering letter and for the record I shall myself very shortly be radically altering my own opinion as to which side of fifty is the right side to be.  We were also very impressed by your CV and the range of life experience you have had.

Unfortunately, however we received nearly fifty applications and many of those people had very relevant HR experience which really was the sort of background we were looking for.  we had toyed with the idea of inviting you to an interview merely on the basis that it would probably be quite interesting to meet you but that in reality would probably not be fair!"

If I come across anyone who is interested in Employment Law, I would, in the strongest terms possible, advise them to work for the author of the reply.  In my search for work, it is the norm. not to receive even an acknowledgement that my application has been received, but the author here has not only replied, but has taken the time to think about what to write in reply to my frankly outrageous application.

The firm?  GOSSCHALKS

Sexual Politics & Education.

Although this situation has probably existed for millenia, it was brought into sharp focus recently.  I was 'on supply' at a school, covering a Year 7 English class.  Their regular teacher was there at the start, and he explained that he was letting them watch a film as it had relevance to some work they were doing in the next half term.  He then left to attend a meeting.  The film started and some of the students were not interested and decided to get some paper and draw, which I allowed.  I then noticed that all the tables were either all male or all female, except one.  On this table, a lone boy sat with, and I don't mean to sound lecherous here, with some of the prettiest girls in the class.  He started 'playing up' so I told him off.  He continued to 'play up' so I went over to give him a stern talking to.  He complained that this happened in every class.  He pointed to a girl sitting opposite and said that 'she threw something at me.'  I said that was unfortunate, but if I saw her misbehaving, I would deal with it, appropriately.  'But Sir!  This happens in every lesson!' was the boys complaint.  'Then you have to be careful of who and where you sit' I said trying to be helpful.
The next time I looked in the direction, he was on his feet, trying to squash his tormentrix between the table and chair.  'Right! Come here!'  I was ready to throw the book at him, but as there was only 10 minutes left of the lesson, I could not have him standing outside, so I made him sit an another, all male, table.
This has certainly happened to me in Junior school, and is probably the reason that some schools teach boys and girls separately.  There are some people that do not possess a 'Y' Chromosome that can make a possessor of a 'Y' Chromosome do some things that he may not want to, which leads to the owner of the 'Y' get into trouble.