Gove’s reforms have been a disaster. He has restricted the curriculum, driving out creativity and individuality, and forced teaching into a method driven strait-jacket which completely blankets the teacher’s personality and prevents harmonious interaction. Education has become stifled.
In pursuit of the ridiculously narrow PISA international tables we have jettisoned the very things we were brilliant at in favour of teaching by numbers. Like Voldemort it sucks the life out of teaching.
As if that wasn’t bad enough the added bureaucracy and stringent marking and preparation policies have created a joyless workload that is numbing teachers and driving them into the ground.
At the end of a gruelling day (in which class sizes and contact time has increased due to budget deficits) they start the task of tediously marking hundreds of books (thirty plus per class – four/five classes a day – 3-5 minutes a book – you do the maths!) and preparing lessons for the next day.
I am hearing tales of teachers working between 60 and 80 hours a week. Many are taking early retirement or dropping out into other jobs, many are dropping hours in order to cope and keep their sanity. Probationary teachers are swamped and seeing the workload and demoralisation are opting out.
Add to that the years of pay freeze and you have a recipe for demoralised disaster!
Education is the most important element for our children’s future and the economy of the country. We need to invest in it!
Gove’s legacy is a dismal destruction of a fine system.
This is my book on education. I spent thirty six years teaching. The philosophy I operated on was the same one that informs my life: equality, tolerance, respect, responsibility, empathy and love.
I developed a school that was open, caring and friendly.
This book is packed with anecdotes from my own school days and my time in teaching that illustrate why I think the way I do.
Education is the only hope for the future.
Education is not about passing tests, examination of Ofsted inspections. It is about freeing the imagination and scope of students.
You don’t have to be in education to enjoy this one.
If you fancy a good interesting read that tells you the inside story just as it is then you’ll enjoy this. This is fun and passionate.
In the UK:
In the USA :