I am less understanding. How and why are teachers allowed to bunk off at will? Why are so many of them so apathetic about doing what must be the most important job there is?
Neither Hannah nor Elliott knew, so the work experience crew set to and conducted an inquiry into the matter. In the last few weeks they’ve googled schools around the world and they’ve concluded, Mr Balls, that the English system is specially designed to demoralise teachers.
The first question they have is: why do we expect so little from teacher training applicants? The only academic credential you need to train to be a teacher is a C grade at GCSE in English and maths. Surely we want most of our little darlings to aim at least a bit higher than that? What’s the sense in requiring less of teachers than we do of pupils?
The second question is: why can’t a teacher be sacked? However badly a teacher does; however much attendance or enthusiasm plummets on his watch, unless he’s actually caught groping some Year 7 tot, it’s almost impossible to get rid of him.
I teach high school math. I’ve given it three years, and just started my fourth. I have an MS degree and was in the private sector for many years before deciding to “give back” to society. Well, I’m done with giving back, at least in terms of teaching. This is the most thankless job I’ve ever had. I was given many outstanding evaluations last year, amid being cussed at, threatened, and treated in a condescending manner by students…but was not invited back for another year. I believe it was because of my “f-rate”. I seriously don’t believe a kid should pass a class if they are discipline problems, don’t do their homework, and perform poorly on their tests. I was told that even if the kid does nothing (homework, classwork, etc), but barely passes some of their quizzes and tests, they HAVE to be given a passing grade…because they know enough of the material to move on. I had a 30% f-rate the first semester. After I was consulted by the administration, I inflated the grades so only about 2 kids from each class failed. I am actually considering joining the Army.
We home school and avoid the whole mess. Good luck in the Army.
My saintly spouse teaches kindergarten in a relatively affluent school. She has been teaching for almost 30 years in many different environments but she is now at her wits end. You would not believe the horror stories I hear every single night.