In defence of teacher training days

Every school holiday, I take a trip to the barbers. There is no time during term time, so I make sure I get my hair cut short enough to last about six weeks, until the next holiday.

So it was this February. My sideburns had taken on that brillo pad texture and I had developed an uncontrollable quiff that was drawing attention from the children in my class. It was time.

Hairdressers are great places to eavesdrop - not that I make a habit of doing it. It's just impossible to avoid the small talk of another punter in the barber's chair. It seems some people prefer to spill the mundane facts of their own life in minute detail rather than sit awkwardly for the 15-minute duration of a short back and sides.

On this particular trip, it quickly became apparent that the conversation I was unwillingly eavesdropping on was in fact the parent (let's call him Mr P) of a child in my class. Topic got onto school, and naturally my ears pricked up. It became evident that this particular gentleman (who hadn't recognised me - must have been the quiff) had issues with the school holiday system.

"What really annoys me  is the training days. We never had them when I was at school. Why do they have them? I don't agree with it. Teachers get too many holidays as it is."

Now I was in a dilemma...do I stand up and defend my profession? Or do I respectfully maintain my silence so as not to create a scene? Of course, I did the latter, and thought I'd write a blog instead!

Let's take the first point...training days. Why do we have them? Do we need them?

Well, yes Mr P. We do need them. This government, believe it or not, despite the underinvestment and woeful approach to teacher recruitment, wants our education system to be the envy of the world. That can only come through regular development and training of staff to sharpen our practice and inspire us in our work. If you, Mr P, had read the leaflet about the expectations we sent for your KS2 child, you would know that we are teaching them about subject-verb agreement, subordinating conjunctions and the perfect tense. And that's just the writing! Children are expected to do much more in 2016 than they were ten years ago. Consequently, much more is expected of the teachers.

How about this issue with holidays? Tricky one. Yes, it's certainly an attractive perk of the profession. We do get regular holidays where we can spend more time with our own families, but boy, do we need them! Imagine, Mr P, if you would, six hours daily with twenty children like yours but slightly different - all with different needs and demands; all with different home situations; all with different levels of academic ability. Imagine that the government told you that none of these children were up to scratch and it was up to you to get them where they needed to be - your salary depended on it.

That is the pressure cooker that builds throughout the term. On the Friday before the school holidays, the lid lifts and the pressure escapes. The relief is palpable. Teachers need the holidays. And before you get any ideas, Mr P, our holidays are not all spent lazing on beaches in some far flung corner of the world. More often than not, our holidays are times to gather our ideas and focus for the next term. I have spent almost each day of the February half term doing some form of school work. I have been into school for one day too. The only true 'break' a teacher gets is in the summer holidays. Six weeks is a lovely, relaxing and special time, and I am so glad of it. That said, it will only be five weeks, as I'll spend the final week getting my classroom ready for my next group of children.

And that is why I do my job. It's for the children. It's because I honestly believe, Mr P, that I can help your child, little P, to be the best he can be. I believe I can get him writing with subordinating conjunctions, and multiplying fractions in maths, And as for his handwriting, I'll sort that out too.

It's not for the holidays. It's certainly not for the money. It's for little P, and the rest of them. That's why each day of my job is a privilege and a pleasure.

I just wish sometimes that you, Mr P, and a few others would understand. We are not a glorified baby sitting service, We might just be the difference between whether your child will sink or swim through life.

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#10 Schools can change the world

Looking at the news this week, I've been feeling really down.

In the Middle East, Palestinian terrorists are attacking Israel, and Israel are retaliating by bombing Gaza into submission. In Iraq, hundreds of thousands of Christians have been sent into the mountains to die simply because of their religious beliefs.

Ethnic cleansing on this scale has been rarely seen since the World Wars, and as we mark the centenary of the beginning of WWI, we have to ask the question 'have we learnt nothing at all?'

In both of those stories, the media is keen to stress how children are frequently the victims here. Children. Girls who should be skipping to school with bunches in their hair. Boys who can't wait for break time to get out and kick a football. Instead, they are killed and maimed simply because they happened to be born in the wrong country.

In the west, we really don't know how lucky we are, but it shouldn't be this way. Every child has the right to a childhood, safe from harm and exploitation. But we can do something about this.

As a teacher, I have noticed that schools often educate children about very contentious issues. They encourage children to make choices about morality and raise awareness of the importance of charitable giving. In September, World War One will be a focus of many schools up and down the land, and children will gain knowledge and insight about that chapter in our collective history. Schools are very good at teaching, and even analysing history BUT (and it is a big but) they are not always so good at telling children what is happening RIGHT NOW.

Be it lack of understanding; lack of time in the curriculum; fear of being political or even blind ignorance, most schools will completely gloss over Iraq and Gaza this September. Yet as teachers, we are in the unique position of having a group of twenty or thirty young people with us for six hours every day. There is no other sphere of life that brings people together so frequently in such a melting pot. Further to this, these children don't want to be passive observers...they want to change the world, and we as teachers have the great privilege of facilitating that.

So what can we do?

1. Share the story

Some children will know about the issues, but others won't. Often parents choose to shield their children from news like this. Find a child-friendly source of news that will be accessible to all children, and not too graphic in content. I often start a class discussion by watching BBC Newsround. They will have plenty of video material on these recent conflicts.

2. Give

It's only when we see the plight of others that we understand how fortunate we are to live in the west, and an important response is to donate some of our worldly wealth. This could be money; Christmas presents for children; paper and pens; baby clothes...the list goes on. School's are often tied in to commitments with charities meaning non-uniform days (the quickest and easiest way of raising a few hundred pounds) are booked in for the year. That said, school's also need to be reactive to where the most pressing need for help is. Right now, there are humanitarian crises in Iraq and in Gaza. The easiest way to donate money to any of these appeals is through the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC). This website can be used for any area of need in the world at any particular time.

You may want to do something slightly different...how about a sponsored sleepover in school? You could build makeshift shelters to try and go some way to understanding what life is like for Iraqi Christians trapped on a mountain.

3. Pray

OK, quite a contentious one here, especially given that these conflicts have religion as their root cause. Having said that, the vast majority of believers of all of the world's religions are praying right now for peace and relief for those that need it. Praying can be important for children as it helps them to be reflective; see situations through different eyes; and feel that they can do something about a situation. Whether you're a faith school or not, prayer can be a powerful tool in mobilising your class behind a common cause. Prayer doesn't have to be boring either...in fact it can be extremely creative and fun. Here are some ideas as to how you might use prayer in your classroom to engage with this topic.

4. Write

As an adult, this is one of those ideas that we like the sound of but rarely do anything about, if we are honest. But with children, persuasive writing is part of the curriculum, and is even more engaging for children if we are actually going to do something with the work. So what can we right about? How about asking the Government to increase aid from our country? Or banning the export of weapons from EU countries to these conflict zones? Or putting pressure on countries that kill innocent children? Or how about this - opening our borders so Christians living in fear can take refuge in the UK.

If your local MP receives a different letter from every child in your year group, he will have to respond in some way. You can find a list with your local MP on here.

5. Sponsor a Child

What better way to understand the issues faced by children in another part of the world than by sponsoring one of them as a class? This video provides some information on child sponsorship and how you can go about doing it.

6. Learn more

Here are some more websites with ideas for you and your class to learn more about what is going on in Gaza and Iraq:

Christian Aid
Save The Children
CAFOD
Unicef


So there are some ideas as to how we can engage with Gaza and Iraq. Teachers have a unique role to play in helping to shape and change the world that we live in, and can do this by promoting a curriculum that is responsive and reactive. We don't need to be overtly political to do this...we simply need to be able to distinguish between what is right and what is wrong. And there are plenty of things that are wrong in the world today.

Shall we do something about them?

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#6 It's NOT all about the children

SATS. The very word fills most people in schools with a resigned sense of dread.

As an NQT, I couldn't believe it when I was offered a role as Year 6 teacher, helping children through this crucial stage of their education. It was a great massage for my ego. Now, with one week to go, I would prefer to retreat to the safety of teaching in a year further down the school.

This week, I have seen several children in tears and spoke to a number of concerned parents who are worried about what the prospect of the SATS are doing to their children. A sense of impending doom is prevalent amongst some in the staffroom, and I am spending my Bank Holiday weekend feeling tired and run down.

It's no surprise. During the week, the children have been either revising excessively or taking tests. Often the tests don't reveal what the teacher wants or needs them to, and so the stress levels rise. The children, the vast majority of whom wish to please their teacher, feed off this stress. Consequently, the classroom can become a very emotional place. It takes a special teacher to keep a classroom calm at this time of the year!

I've been asking myself the question, "What is all this for?"

Is it for the children? Well, yes, to an extent. It may be preparing them for testing in High School. It may be furthering their knowledge. It may ensure that they are being taught what they should have been. But once a child leaves primary school and enters High School, what has all of this taught them? They have been in school lessons for the last six years. They know the curriculum. The crucial difference is that some children can retain information. They will thrive. Those that can't will crumble.

Is it for the teachers? Yes, much more so. Future contracts can depend on good results. Headteachers can hold back pay if they deem results not good enough.

Is it for the schools? Absolutely. If children aren't gaining Level 4s, this can be seen by everyone in the school league tables. Since these are usually the first thing that's looked at to judge the effectiveness of a school, the SATS results have got to be good.

The government has created a system that perversely puts children last of all. They are simply pawns in a political game where Britain aspires to prove it's greatness against the more rigid and seemingly successful school systems of Singapore, Finland et al.

Some schools are taking this so seriously that their Year 6's are going in this weekend, on a Bank Holiday, for extra revision.

When I was at school, I can't remember being tested heavily. I didn't know my levels. I knew I was on the brighter side of my class, but there was no sense of competition, no pressure like there is today to succeed. People argue that children need to experience this pressure as that is what life is like in the real world, but surely not at 11-years old?

Sometimes I wish our school system would allow children to be children. There must be an alternative to this rigorous testing.

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