Gove at it again

A hilarious remark from a peer....

"This no-nonsense advice, which also dishes out some strong words to the teachers' unions, is the political equivalent of telling Mr Gove he needs to get out more.

"Whitehall has a habit of isolating ministers," says Sir David."

....and another, from another peer.....

"A previous Ofsted chief inspector, Sir David Bell, has also issued a warning to Mr Gove to not "to believe his own hype".

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Gove at it again

A hilarious remark from a peer....

"This no-nonsense advice, which also dishes out some strong words to the teachers' unions, is the political equivalent of telling Mr Gove he needs to get out more.

"Whitehall has a habit of isolating ministers," says Sir David."

....and another, from another peer.....

"A previous Ofsted chief inspector, Sir David Bell, has also issued a warning to Mr Gove to not "to believe his own hype".

One wonders why us teachers spend years learning educational theory, trying to understand how children learn, learning about the latest research. You might as well shut down all the education university departments, because Mr Grove has all the answers.

Make everywhere like Eton...because you know...everyone is like him.

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Reality Internet Personality

Whatever next? Teach them by letting them watch floor shows?

Clegg-backed guidance to schools annoys family campaigners

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Whatever next? Teach them by letting them watch floor shows?

Clegg-backed guidance to schools annoys family campaigners

Where was this guidance when i was at school?!

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Life on earth is the global equivalent of not storing things in the fridge.

Or under a hedge in the woods.

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Life on earth is the global equivalent of not storing things in the fridge.

Now there's a comment I can agree with, and have said many times to my ex-brother-in-law, who is deputy head of a large comprehensive.

Vince Cable: 'Teachers know absolutely nothing about the world of work'

Now there's a comment I can agree with, and have said many times to my ex-brother-in-law, who is deputy head of a large comprehensive.

Vince Cable: 'Teachers know absolutely nothing about the world of work'

That may be true but he also said something which many already know......

"The Lib Dem MP said: “There has been an argument in Government about how to get the right careers advice in schools and successive governments have frankly messed this up."

...so he's being a right a******e in blaming the teachers!

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Now there's a comment I can agree with, and have said many times to my ex-brother-in-law, who is deputy head of a large comprehensive.

Vince Cable: 'Teachers know absolutely nothing about the world of work'

That may be true but he also said something which many already know......

"The Lib Dem MP said: “There has been an argument in Government about how to get the right careers advice in schools and successive governments have frankly messed this up."

...so he's being a right a******e in blaming the teachers!

That's a bit like watching a pot telling a stainless steel soup ladel that, not only is it black... but it's a kettle.

:) Having a nice day everyone?

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oh...and did we say we like humans too? Well we do :)

Vince cable is a crusty old beggar, and quite frankly an embarrassment to the Lib Dems. The best teachers make their mark in industry/commerce first then use that experience to teach. What you don't want are 16 year olds with A levels, going straight to Uni, then straight into a PCGE, then straight into a school. That narrow background of academia is not good for the broad education the kids need. How can you encourage kids to get their exams to get a good job when you've never had one yourself?

Being a teacher is not a good job?

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I think you'll find it's a bit more complicated than that ...

Vince cable is a crusty old beggar, and quite frankly an embarrassment to the Lib Dems. The best teachers make their mark in industry/commerce first then use that experience to teach. What you don't want are 16 year olds with A levels, going straight to Uni, then straight into a PCGE, then straight into a school. That narrow background of academia is not good for the broad education the kids need. How can you encourage kids to get their exams to get a good job when you've never had one yourself?

An excellent point. In fact, may I take a flying leap here (did you like it?)and say that the best maths teacher I ever had never actually qualified to teach maths. She was brilliant. She saw a difficulty someone was having from the perspective of the person struggling. The words "oh but that's easy" came out of our mouths not hers, and if someone still couldn't get it - she saw the failure as hers not theirs. By the end of the year, our grades had gone from a class average of 32% to 68%...

She would have been sacked under this bunch in charge. Oh, and she also had an affair with the husband of my worst teacher EVER - but that's probably not relevant here. :)

Vince cable is a crusty old beggar, and quite frankly an embarrassment to the Lib Dems. The best teachers make their mark in industry/commerce first then use that experience to teach. What you don't want are 16 year olds with A levels, going straight to Uni, then straight into a PCGE, then straight into a school. That narrow background of academia is not good for the broad education the kids need. How can you encourage kids to get their exams to get a good job when you've never had one yourself?

Being a teacher is not a good job?

Hi Bobby :) Being a teacher after getting some other skills out in the big wide world beyond the limitations of classrooms is what I think the point being made here is. It actually encourages joined up teaching (as opposed to compartmentalised - you're doing geography now and you will not the see the relevance of it or have any interest in it until you're about 38 so there!) and joined up teaching leads to joined up learning. Well tha's sor' of wha' I fink anyways :)

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oh...and did we say we like humans too? Well we do :)

Vince cable is a crusty old beggar, and quite frankly an embarrassment to the Lib Dems. The best teachers make their mark in industry/commerce first then use that experience to teach. What you don't want are 16 year olds with A levels, going straight to Uni, then straight into a PCGE, then straight into a school. That narrow background of academia is not good for the broad education the kids need. How can you encourage kids to get their exams to get a good job when you've never had one yourself?

An excellent point. In fact, may I take a flying leap here (did you like it?)and say that the best maths teacher I ever had never actually qualified to teach maths. She was brilliant. She saw a difficulty someone was having from the perspective of the person struggling. The words "oh but that's easy" came out of our mouths not hers, and if someone still couldn't get it - she saw the failure as hers not theirs. By the end of the year, our grades had gone from a class average of 32% to 68%...

She would have been sacked under this bunch in charge. Oh, and she also had an affair with the husband of my worst teacher EVER - but that's probably not relevant here. :)

I am so glad that most of my teachers were people who had served in WW2, and had therefore seen some of the best and worst of life, and not been in the education system all their lives.

P.S. I usually find that flying leaps end up as inelegant splats on the wall or heaps on the floor.

Vince cable is a crusty old beggar, and quite frankly an embarrassment to the Lib Dems. The best teachers make their mark in industry/commerce first then use that experience to teach. What you don't want are 16 year olds with A levels, going straight to Uni, then straight into a PCGE, then straight into a school. That narrow background of academia is not good for the broad education the kids need. How can you encourage kids to get their exams to get a good job when you've never had one yourself?

Being a teacher is not a good job?

Apparently not. Although having done "real" work and having been a teacher I can safely compare the too. Teaching is way, way, way harder and more demanding in every way than any "real" job. I often think that I might go and get a "real" job one day just so I can have a rest.

Perhaps Mr Cable should spend a week as a teacher then he'd know exactly what orifice he's talking out of.

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Reality Internet Personality

I don't think Cable was saying teaching isn't hard, but rather that because a lot of teachers have no, or very little, experience outside a classroom or lecture hall, they have no idea about advising career's.

And following on from that, it is logical to make the assumption that most teachers don't know what businesses require from their students once they have left school.

OK, I know that in the UK these days the syllabus in schools is set by higher authority, but that was possibly brought about because the teachers, without relevant knowledge, were teaching the wrong things, and probably still do, and the CBI etc. complained.

Teaching is way, way, way harder and more demanding in every way than any "real" job.

I can believe that, it's why i don't want to become one, a proper one anyway.
I'll stick to guiding my little group of minions in the lab and giving the odd tutorial.

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Life on earth is the global equivalent of not storing things in the fridge.

I offer this link, without comment as it is about the American way, but do think that in the UK we need to be careful now that University students pay for their higher education.

NYT - The Great Divide, College, the Great Unleveler

Teaching is way, way, way harder and more demanding in every way than any "real" job.

I can believe that

Me too, especially with kids! And the question is, are we teaching the right thing?

So glad I'm not a teacher, couldn't cope with the responsibility...

Although as a mother you're a teacher as well...but those are your own kids then, that's different.

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+1

I reckon that anyone that "wants" to teach the under 16's is a masochist! It's far more rewarding doing FE where the students actually want to be there, not because they have to be. Plus also, you get a bad teacher at school and you are stuck with them, at least in FE you can walk out. Therefore you only get those that want to be there.

Is it possible that some may find it more rewarding to engage the minds of a group that did not choose to be in the same room?

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I think you'll find it's a bit more complicated than that ...

I am so glad that most of my teachers were people who had served in WW2, and had therefore seen some of the best and worst of life, and not been in the education system all their lives.

P.S. I usually find that flying leaps end up as inelegant splats on the wall or heaps on the floor.

Hee hee hee hee there {leap}..........

................................................boing


...............................................................SPLAT

yep... inelegant was the word to use :)

There are some young people out there who do have wiser heads on their shoulders than others - and perhaps a mixture of different levels of life/work/straight to classroom experiences could build up teams of teaching expertise that might reach more groups of youngsters that may otherwise not be reached?

Bobby's point does strike a bit of chord with me - but that may be because I have an autistic son and for a large part of his early schooling he learnt absolutely nothing. He attended a mainstream school every day, he was described as "a pleasure to teach" at every parent's evening and none of his teachers had any idea he wasn't "engaged".

It was his first foreign trained teacher (Australian) on his very first day in her class - who did. She was a straight from school and back into school teacher. Every teacher who taught him after that benefitted from her training and personal skills. And everyone of them would come out beaming at the end of the day and regale me with the rewarding feeling they'd experienced by reaching him. My son will be going to university this September. It may be in part because he was fortunate to be taught by a serendipitous (I grant you) mixture of "experienced" teachers. Blanket rules can suffocate at times.

Very interesting discussion this. I will now mostly be shutting up and listening though :)

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oh...and did we say we like humans too? Well we do :)