Michael Gove and the teachers

[Goldstone Rapper]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Thank you so much for posting this. Magnificently insightful.

 

[elbowpatches]

As much as I have a general loathing for politicians and although Michael Gove fits the bill quite beautifully, I have to applaud his response to the hostile audience of headmasters. I can speak from experience. So whereas private sector versus public sector is bad enough, if you work 37 weeks a year with breaks every six weeks and home by ten to for four plus a pension that outweighs most private options, please don't use stress as a reason for your unhappiness. The fact you can be upset that somebody might just want to sit in your enclosed environment to check you might be half decent, is surely the least we should do for the children.

Everybody remembers a good teacher that they had a school. Mysteriously it is usually only one. And I doubt that ever used the word stressed.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-22582627

Words cannot describe my contempt for this post. I won't bore you with the details of my 60 hour week or what I do during the holidays because you won't be interested. You'll be too busy believing the rubbish in the Mail.

Gove is only interested in his own ego and creating a Gove legacy. It is working. He seems to be the most loathed education secretary ever.

New curriculum full of 1950's style learning by rote. Teachers pay and conditions changed purely to antagonise the profession. The pensions debacle. Asking highly respected educators their opinion and then ignoring them.

He seems to care more about his ego and preparing for a leadership challenge than the children in this country. Teachers are the opposite.

This whole government are doing their upmost to destroy the public sector and privatise it.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Words cannot describe my contempt for this post. I won't bore you with the details of my 60 hour week or what I do during the holidays because you won't be interested. You'll be too busy believing the rubbish in the Mail.

Gove is only interested in his own ego and creating a Gove legacy. It is working. He seems to be the most loathed education secretary ever.

New curriculum full of 1950's style learning by rote. Teachers pay and conditions changed purely to antagonise the profession. The pensions debacle. Asking highly respected educators their opinion and then ignoring them.

He seems to care more about his ego and preparing for a leadership challenge than the children in this country. Teachers are the opposite.

This whole government are doing their upmost to destroy the public sector and privatise it.

I agree with all of this. In fact I agree with every single post on this thread except the first.

Gove and Osborne, two people well out of their depth and with the most important departments in the UK.

 

[elbowpatches]

Thank you so much for posting this. Magnificently insightful.

Superb. Our new curriculum needs to be forward thinking not backwards. The revised curriculum 2010 did that and was agreed by educationalists and the government. Gove came in and ditched it.

I'll finish with this thought. 80% of today's jobs didn't exist 20 years ago. The same may well be in 20 years time. We need to prepare today's children with the skills to be able to adapt to change. For example, a lot of schools are not renewing their desktop computers but investing in iPads. A different way of working. We as a profession have to keep adapting and I'm not against it. But change has to be purposeful for the future.

 

[piersa]

As much as I have a general loathing for politicians and although Michael Gove fits the bill quite beautifully, I have to applaud his response to the hostile audience of headmasters. I can speak from experience. So whereas private sector versus public sector is bad enough, if you work 37 weeks a year with breaks every six weeks and home by ten to for four plus a pension that outweighs most private options, please don't use stress as a reason for your unhappiness. The fact you can be upset that somebody might just want to sit in your enclosed environment to check you might be half decent, is surely the least we should do for the children.

Everybody remembers a good teacher that they had a school. Mysteriously it is usually only one. And I doubt that ever used the word stressed.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-22582627

I really hope you are fishing and are not that simple. If you don't understand the issues with Gove, seek help from an adult.

 

[piersa]

Words cannot describe my contempt for this post. I won't bore you with the details of my 60 hour week or what I do during the holidays because you won't be interested. You'll be too busy believing the rubbish in the Mail.

Gove is only interested in his own ego and creating a Gove legacy. It is working. He seems to be the most loathed education secretary ever.

New curriculum full of 1950's style learning by rote. Teachers pay and conditions changed purely to antagonise the profession. The pensions debacle. Asking highly respected educators their opinion and then ignoring them.

He seems to care more about his ego and preparing for a leadership challenge than the children in this country. Teachers are the opposite.

This whole government are doing their upmost to destroy the public sector and privatise it.

I am not a teacher. I work in the private heath sector, so no real bias. I would like to shake your hand. Your post is on the nail. Michael Gove is a dangerous self serving individual that needs to be removed.

 

[Hamilton]

As much as I have a general loathing for politicians and although Michael Gove fits the bill quite beautifully, I have to applaud his response to the hostile audience of headmasters. I can speak from experience. So whereas private sector versus public sector is bad enough, if you work 37 weeks a year with breaks every six weeks and home by ten to for four plus a pension that outweighs most private options, please don't use stress as a reason for your unhappiness. The fact you can be upset that somebody might just want to sit in your enclosed environment to check you might be half decent, is surely the least we should do for the children.

Everybody remembers a good teacher that they had a school. Mysteriously it is usually only one. And I doubt that ever used the word stressed.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-22582627

I suggest you spend a year teaching and then come back and revisit this post.

 

[Ernest]

I agree with all of this. In fact I agree with every single post on this thread except the first.

Gove and Osborne, two people well out of their depth and with the most important departments in the UK.

What about Hunt ? Plenty more totally out of their depth but went to the right school or have the right connections

 

[Deano's Invisible Pants]

Mixed feelings on Gove so far. Can't see how the increase in nursery ratios can be a good thing. That said, I think he's done the right thing on the curriculum. The fact of the matter is that we have sunk in international education league tables and there were some very obvious weaknesses - particularly in the teaching of subjects such as history and geography.

At work, I frequently join interviewing and selection panels for graduate recruitment and can vouch for the fact that too many young people (often well qualified in other respects) are making themselves much more difficult to employ, due to not being able to spell, or write a sentence grammatically, or demonstrate an acceptable minimum level of numeracy. Less serious, but still surprising, is the level of ignorance of many 'Gen Y ers' when it comes to their own country's geography, history and general knowledge.

Having said all of this, it's difficult to change things for the better without the support of the profession - top-down directives nearly always fail. There is too much antagonism and the government should do more to recognise the contribution of good teachers.

 

[Dandyman]

Blimey. Providing this is not a fishing attempt, you must be easily impressed.

Gove is playing a major part in destroying education in this country, and all you can do is fall so completely for his strawman tactics. He is presenting teachers as frightened, fragile things wanting to be unaccountable and unanswerable, which is hardly a fair representation. This man, together with Elizabeth Truss, is making judgements and decisions based purely on ideology rather than listening to educational experts, teachers and nursery workers who know their stuff. All are telling him he doesn't know what he's talking about. I work in pre-school education, and the proposals on changes to ratios, not to mention his attack on play-based learning, are going to have a negative impact on the learning and development of children in this country. But carry on being impressed by the blatherings of this idiot who recently used exercises taken from a website (i.e. not from any school) as evidence of a decline in standards in school teaching.

Excellent post.

 

[Napper]

Astonishing really that you have Cameron , Ian 53 quid smith , Jeremy hunt , George Osbourne and Gove all in their own way trying to make the biggest hash up of things. Have we ever had a worse collection of politicians .

 

[elbowpatches]

The fact of the matter is that we have sunk in international education league tables

Having said all of this, it's difficult to change things for the better without the support of the profession - top-down directives nearly always fail. There is too much antagonism and the government should do more to recognise the contribution of good teachers.

We are 6th in world ahead of USA, Germany and France according to international reports.

http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/education-20498356

However I completely agree about nursery numbers and the failure to engage a profession. Regarding graduates and their ignorance I couldn't comment but I certainly teach children more about grammar and general knowledge (albeit in a more creative manner) than I was ever taught at primary school. I therefore find it surprising that it hasn't carried through. Is it that us older generations always think the younger generation are more ignorant?

 

[Barrel of Fun]

I wonder if Gove has spent any sort of time in schools.

He's a Dick.

 

[The Modfather]

Gove is the most loathsome polictician we currently have.

 

[Dunk]

As (another) teacher, this thread has warmed my heart.

I can't work out how bright Gove is. His refusal to listen to advisers when they point out his 'reforms' won't work has lead to chaotic U-turns on exams and stupid-looking policies like making AS and A Levels separate. His apparent need to be constantly in the news leads to statements apparently designed to wind-up teachers and, more recently, Lib-Dems. This suggests he is attention seeking but not so clever.

However, if he is seeking to privatise education through acadamisation and free schools- and provide smoke-screens and fight opposition groups- then he is doing a good job (at achieving that aim). This would suggest he is sophisticated in his cunning.

Either way, he is no longer merely a joke or a credible leader. He needs to be removed from his post as education, I think, is too important an area to suffer the change, uncertainty and incompetence we have seen. Well done to the NAHT for highlighting this.

 

[Krusty]

Astonishing really that you have Cameron , Ian 53 quid smith , Jeremy hunt , George Osbourne and Gove all in their own way trying to make the biggest hash up of things. Have we ever had a worse collection of politicians .

And Ed Miliband leading by 3% in the latest poll

 

[joeinbrighton]

Gove's approach to the education system and its shortcomings appear to be to use a sledgehammer to crack a walnut. All that will end up happening is that the next time there is a change of Government, they will then reverse some of his hare-brained ideas at great expense.

 

[Albumen]

He's an evil ****, the face of the future Tories.

 

[shaolinpunk]

It's a relief upon entering this thread to see that nobody agrees with the OP

 

[CorgiRegisteredFriend]

http://paulbernal.wordpress.com/2013/05/09/mr-gove/

I'm not a violent person but Gove has got the world's most punchable face.

His face alone should prompt the long overdue return of Spitting Image.