Standard of English for Teachers

[Drago]

I think that's frowned upon . . .

Apparently it's OK with History teachers.

 

[Hugh Manatee]

yeeebut...
I've had a few beers, this is just a cycling forum and i ain't writing a formal e-mail to a student's parent... but other tan that...

Maths teacher perhaps?

 

[Drago]

At risk of being pernickety, it's not really formal if it's an email. That's a bike like wearing formal Nike Airs.

 

[User10119]

[QUOTE 4724998, member: 45"]Email the head's PA and ask for a copy of the complaints policy. They'll have it all sorted in a day.[/QUOTE]

Or just look for it on the school website since (assuming it is a maintained school) it is a statutory requirement that they publish a whole load of stuff there and iirc the complaints policy is one of those documents that should be there.

 

[Spinney]

If it takes significantly less than the length of a lesson to finish their IT work, they are not being taught/set appropriate work.
If they are not in sets or streamed for (IT) - which is quite likely in Year 7 - then some kids will finish before the others. In this case the teacher should have planned further IT work to stretch or extend these brighter ones.
In no circumstances should they be spending time in an IT lesson doing work from other subjects.
The only exception to this I can think of is something such as having (say) some data from a science lesson to analyse, and the science teacher has arranged for the IT lesson to use that 'real' data in a lesson on Excel graphing, or in setting up formulae in spreadsheets.

And all that is leaving aside the general incomprehensibility of the teacher. The lack of classroom management skills would be less apparent if the class had sufficient work to keep them occupied!

(speaking as a former secondary Head of Science - although it's getting on for 20 years since I escaped!)

 

[Electric_Andy]

I think you're confusing coursework with homework.

No I'm not. When I was at school, coursework was always a project that made up a percentage of your overall mark for GCSEs etc, and was not done in class. You had 3 months or whatever time to do it, but your normal lessons carried on as normal so your homework was always coursework AND whatever else you were given in the lesson.

 

[Pro Tour Punditry]

School, over-rated.

 

[Spinney]

No I'm not. When I was at school, coursework was always a project that made up a percentage of your overall mark for GCSEs etc, and was not done in class. You had 3 months or whatever time to do it, but your normal lessons carried on as normal so your homework was always coursework AND whatever else you were given in the lesson.

Depends on the subject. In science, when I was teaching (it's not the same now), coursework involved planning and carrying out an investigation and then writing it up. The investigation was done in class and, for the less able (and less willing!) the writing up was often done in class as well, so the teacher could make sure they got on with it. The way 'coursework' is assessed changes with time (every bloody government think they know far better than teachers how things should be taught and assessed!)

 

[mjr]

The way 'coursework' is assessed changes with time (every bloody government think they know far better than teachers how things should be taught and assessed!)

And every bloody parent and a significant minority of the students also think they know far better than teachers how things should be taught and assessed! Much of government seems to be made up of such people - yay, representativeness(!)

I didn't mind so much when I was teaching at a level where I understood why I was doing things and could justify it and persuade most except the "I'm paying £x000/year for this and the customer is always right therefore you should do as I want" ones, but as I moved younger, what I was required to teach and how didn't always make sense to me...

 

[Spinney]

And every bloody parent and a significant minority of the students also think they know far better than teachers how things should be taught and assessed! Much of government seems to be made up of such people - yay, representativeness(!)

I didn't mind so much when I was teaching at a level where I understood why I was doing things and could justify it and persuade most except the "I'm paying £x000/year for this and the customer is always right therefore you should do as I want" ones, but as I moved younger, what I was required to teach and how didn't always make sense to me...

I used to have fun with a few of the know-it-alls (the ones who were nice kids apart from that) by handing over the chalk (that dates me!) and retiring to the back of the class while they attempted to explain something to the rest. They soon learned it wasn't quite as easy as they thought and/or they didn't know quite as much as they thought they did!

 

[Julia9054]

No I'm not. When I was at school, coursework was always a project that made up a percentage of your overall mark for GCSEs etc, and was not done in class. You had 3 months or whatever time to do it, but your normal lessons carried on as normal so your homework was always coursework AND whatever else you were given in the lesson.

Coursework nowadays is done in class. It is a requirement of exam boards that the work is done under supervision of the teacher so you can be sure that it is the pupil's own work.

 

[growingvegetables]

... When I was at school, coursework was always a project that made up a percentage of your overall mark for GCSEs etc, and was not done in class ...

My God - you're ANCIENT! A veritable crumbly!

Seriously - the old course word regime has to a very large extent been replaced by "controlled assessment" - done within time limits, in classroom space and time. It avoids the once frequent cases of student presenting magnificent Geography (or whatever) work --------- produced by mummy/daddy/older sibling who happens to have a PhD/etc.

[edit @Julia9054 types faster ]

 

[Deleted member 26715]

I think that's frowned upon . . .

Shame, it ought to be compulsory they they go out & get an education in the real world before being allowed to be cosseted within the school system, our children's education is too valuable to be left to people who do not have a clue how the real world works, it's all theory & no practise.

 

[Julia9054]

Shame, it ought to be compulsory they they go out & get an education in the real world before being allowed to be cosseted within the school system, our children's education is too valuable to be left to people who do not have a clue how the real world works, it's all theory & no practise.

Please provide us with your list of jobs constituting "the real world"
Seriously though, with teachers leaving the job in droves and a massive recruitment crisis, many schools are struggling to fill posts permanently with anyone at all.
(And it's practice btw)

 

[screenman]

Shame, it ought to be compulsory they they go out & get an education in the real world before being allowed to be cosseted within the school system, our children's education is too valuable to be left to people who do not have a clue how the real world works, it's all theory & no practise.

Yeh! and they get paid a massive £23,000 a year for it. Teachers are underpaid by a long way, many do not get parental support or for that matter goverment support.