tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-985080357558043054.post5992420345368644783..comments2024-03-27T18:54:46.951+00:00Comments on Syniadau :: The Blog: Valuing TeachersSyniadauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13876017048168055247noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-985080357558043054.post-7880557226289602412011-03-29T16:31:07.599+01:002011-03-29T16:31:07.599+01:00I saw a TV documentary which focused on boys and r...I saw a TV documentary which focused on boys and reading, and on the difference it made if fathers read with their sons, Don. So I'd agree with you on that.<br /><br />As to respect, I take your point about decline in respect in society as a whole, but I think it's fair to say that good teachers earn respect. It's part of the job, and that's why teaching is a tough job.<br /><br />I don't have any strong views about whether it's better to hold children back a year unless they achieve that year's expected standard, or whether it's better to address it by remedial or additional teaching. But it is something that needs to be addressed because (especially with literacy) once a child starts to fall behind, they'll simply fall further behind unless it is adressed. <br /><br />We know from <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-12277159" rel="nofollow">Estyn</a> that 40% of children have a lower than expected reading age, so the problem is huge. I just can't see that holding back 40% of children would work logistically, and it certainly wouldn't be cheap to pay for 40% of children getting an extra year of schooling ... but that's not to say it wouldn't be worth the cost. <br /><br />Off the top of my head, I think the transition from primary to secondary is critical. If a child was only a year behind it would probably be better to let them go through but with remedial/additional teaching. If any child was more than a year behind, it might be better to hold them back. But that's no more than thinking aloud on my part.MHhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09329059309196746446noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-985080357558043054.post-37701789086259156322011-03-28T17:15:32.386+01:002011-03-28T17:15:32.386+01:00The report that I referred to has a detailed analy...The report that I referred to has a detailed analysis regarding the benefit of parental involvement or interest in education from simple things like being read to by the father. Children who are read to by their father (or male) have better reading ages and better attainment than those who are not. So educational results would be increased from supporting family literacy campaigns as well.<br /><br />I agree that parents are far to willing to support their child than ever before (having four parents complain when I moved their daughters for talking and disrupting lessons). However, this is in line with decline in respect in the wider society. I would be interested in hearing your ideas how this trend can be reversed. <br /><br />We have found ourselves in a rights oriented society, where everything is someone elses responsibility - we should not expect our school to be the sole source of education that our children receive. We need to get parents to take responsibility for their childrens education. Teaching standards in "worse" schools is often better than those in "good" school but the key difference is the attitude of the parent. I'm generalising here, on the whole parents in good schools, look for educational opportunities, they look to get support for children who are having difficulty or they can supply it themselves. Those in "worse" schools, think that as long as their children attend school that their job is done. They feel no obligation to check homework, or support the school in any manner (I had a parent call their daughter in the middle of lessons). <br /><br />In addition to encouraging learning in the home, I feel the easiest step to encouraging children to take attention to their education is, having set standards for progress, rather than age related progress. Would be a comparitively cheap alteration.Taffia Donhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01637579783752739740noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-985080357558043054.post-70169191628216264762011-03-28T15:13:25.706+01:002011-03-28T15:13:25.706+01:00I think sending kids to Sunday School would do a l...I think sending kids to Sunday School would do a lot in terms of increasing literacy, discussion skills, learning 'manners', learning morals etc.<br /><br />I guess most kids who were sent to Sunday School in 'the old days' weren't necessarily better than other kids, they may not even be religious. But one thing they did gain was an extra hour or so of reading, discussing, learning etc. An extra hour which children which didn't go to Sunday School didn't have the benefit of.<br /><br />I'm not saying Sunday School is the only option ... but I'm not seeing many other secular institutions offering this asset. <br /><br />As a father I now see the benefits which my children get from Sunday School and guess what that amounts to over a year or a school career. Let's say 1 hour x 40 weeks x 8 year? That's about 320 hours extra of 'education' which a child not attending Sunday School may not get.<br /><br />Sunday Schools were cheap (almost free). And even with the old chapel snobbery, was much less class conscious and elitist than many more popular extra curricular activies today.<br /><br />I think we in Wales lost a lot when Sunday Schools went out of fashion. This is maybe more so in working class Wales and Welsh-speaking Wales where the Welsh-medium Sunday Schools did so much to help with Welsh literacy. <br /><br />There were many bad points to do with Welsh non-conformity, but over the last generation or so we've seen the evidence of being very neglectful of something which helped us a lot over 200 year. Something we ridiculed and then neglected ... and no we have nothing (except maybe the Urdd Eisteddfodau) to put in its place.<br /><br /><br />'Sunday School Boy'Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-985080357558043054.post-33539714189117848232011-03-28T13:34:09.427+01:002011-03-28T13:34:09.427+01:00Thanks, Don. For others who are interested, that ...Thanks, Don. For others who are interested, that report is <a href="http://education.gov.uk/publications/eOrderingDownload/DCSF-Parental_Involvement.pdf" rel="nofollow">here</a>.<br /><br />Yes, teachers' pay and conditions are not devolved, but I think they should be, as I said <a rel="nofollow">here</a>. I am actually more convinced of this now, having spoken about it with people from a couple of unions over the weekend. To be blunt I see it is the only way of protecting teachers' pay, as it is almost inevitable that the ConDem government will seek to extend regional pay scales to teachers, which will mean teachers in Wales will lose out in comparison with their peers in most parts of England. <br /><br />Now it's all very well to say that there should be more emphasis on education in the home. There are many parents who realize this and encourage (or even drive) their children to do well. But there are many parents who, even with the best will in the world, are not able to be educators and must therefore rely on schools to take that full burden. And there are some who simply do not value education very much, and instill negative attitudes and a sense of hopelessness in their children about how much difference education can make, particularly as a route out of poverty. This becomes a cycle, and increasingly polarizes the better off from the poor. This polarization is, in my opinion, the single biggest problem we face as a society. <br /><br />This attitude was not prevalent in Wales a couple of generations ago, when education was seen as the main route to advancement. To me, this change has coincided with us placing less value on teachers. Who knows which is the chicken and which is the egg; but we think less of teachers, pay them comparatively less than we used to, and attract fewer of the brightest and best graduates to be teachers.<br /><br />I don't think teachers are particularly dissatisfied with their pay, and in the current crisis I don't think it is reasonable to pay them more. But our society does tend to correlate what we pay people with what we think they are worth in a wider sense. So in the long term we must seek to reverse this trend by attracting more of our best graduates into teaching (and keeping them there) and this will mean paying them accordingly.MHhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09329059309196746446noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-985080357558043054.post-34719133875589957242011-03-28T12:24:39.154+01:002011-03-28T12:24:39.154+01:00Teachers pay and conditions have not been devolved...Teachers pay and conditions have not been devolved, so it is impossible for the Assembly to change these. <br /><br />But as the DCSF report (DCSF-00924-2008BKT-EN) says "Parental behaviour has a bigger effect than school quality on pupils' attainment..." We need a greater emphasis on education in the home, greater emphasis on parents as educators, and greater emphasis on educational success, if we want to improve.<br /><br />Paying teachers more will not made an impact if pupils don't see the value of education.Taffia Donhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01637579783752739740noreply@blogger.com