Re: Consider Home-Schooling...
Paul - I don't know what the school system is like in the UK. Perhaps it is perfect. I'd suggest that most people in North America don't think ours are perfect. Sure we have some excellent teachers and some well-run schools but we also have our problems. Throughout most of North America, I think it's accurate to say, that once a teacher is in our publicly funded school system their continuing employment does not depend on performance. Their pay scale is based on education and seniority and not performance. I'm sure their are exceptions but for the most part that is the way it works. Most schools have their share of ineffective teachers and it is well known in the schools themselves as well as by parents & students. How bad is it? Well the vast majority of us accept it as a reality and continue to send our kids to publicly-funded schools. The wealthy have what we call private schools where teaching quality is expected. Middle-class families generally cannot afford to send their kids to such schools. So our kids go to regular schools & we hope for the best. A growing number of families are choosing home-schooling as an alternative. Typically the curriculum is still determined by government and certain standards are expected. The parents of home-schooled kids still have to support the regular school system through taxation.
I respect the difficult job that teachers have and I believe most take their responsibilities seriously. It's a bit of a crap shoot whether your kid will get a good teacher or a not so effective one. If they get a bad one this year you hope next year will be better. Overall I think my kids are getting a reasonable education but their are many parents who would disagree and more who are apathetic. Parents get involved in local schools through 'Parent Teacher Associations' in the USA and 'Home & School Associations' here in Canada. The other stakeholders in the system are the powerful Teacher's Unions, local (elected) School Boards, and State/Provincial governments who provide the tax-generated funding and try to maintain standards.
Regards, Ross
Re: Consider Home-Schooling...
Ross,
The UK system is far from perfect. Tha basic system in the UK is similar to what you describe in North America. The quality of schools is assessed by an inspection authority and schools graded. Schools in the inner cities probably fare the worst with a more challenging intake from tough housing estates - this problem is universal.
I know that regulation of teacher quality is far more stringent now than it used to be when I was in school, but there will always be bad teachers and there will always be great teachers and there will always be the luck of the draw.
Fortunately we were able to get our kids into the best school in the area (not a private school) and it has an excellent reputation, but according to my kids it has some questionable teachers. I know that recruitment for the school in some subject areas has been a major problem.
I'm not suggesting our school system is superior, I was defending your school system from being improved by taking our rejects!
Re: Consider Home-Schooling...
Quote:
Originally Posted by
pauland
i was defending your school system from being improved by taking our rejects!
funny!
Re: Consider Home-Schooling...
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Ross Macintosh
Are kids better off being home schooled?
This would have been a great joke letter to take home if
the letter would have had the date april 1st instead of the 20th.
Re: Consider Home-Schooling...
Ross I know you have this interest in matters educational [talent-skill-motivation etc]
Some parts of the UK educational system are dreadful - where I live at present is a case in point, but this is more the fault of the local authority [that runs it] rather than the teachers IMO
Teachers are human like the rest of us, and if you run a system a certain way, you will end up with a certain kind of person - it is no longer the vocational career it once was. Again IMO
A debate about such matters might be interesting, but the letter is a joke
Re: Consider Home-Schooling...
For us, underlying much of the problems with our system seems to be the Teacher Union that appears to stymie any meaningful evaluations of individual teacher performance. I'm sure they are well aware of who are underperforming but the approach they advocate is increasing numbers of "in-service" professional development days where the kids stay home, the teachers do some workshops and then bugger off in the afternoon. As a parent it is noticable how many of these in-service days fall on days that give the teachers 'long weekends'. This is Easter weekend -- we get Friday & Monday as holidays. My son's school had an in-service day Thursday. It seems the teachers really like long weekends. All the inservice days are negotiated with government. It seems an alternative to paying higher salaries is to give them more days where they don't need to teach. I do understand these in-service days are potentually useful but yours truly, and I'd suggest most parents/taxpayers in my country, feel they are abused. I just checked: here in PEI in the current school year there are 195 school days per year but only 185 are considered 'teaching days'. Add to this the number of 'snow days' (several) we get and our kids are home a lot!
All the stakeholders in our local school system do work hard to try to improve the system -- and the Teachers Union plays a big part in those efforts. They however want to keep teacher evaluations and consequences like firing off the table. It is understandable but most parents don't like it.
Regards, Ross
Re: Consider Home-Schooling...
My wife is actually a primary school teacher and she's on the school Easter break.
Normally she's at school at 8AM, often not leaving until 6PM and then often marking books and preparing lessons in the evenings and weekends. She puts in huge hours.
On the 'snow day' front in the last cold weather snap, one of the parents threatened to sue the school because one of the kids fell over on snow/ice on the way in, so it's safer for the school to close it's doors.
My wife is frequently sworn at by children and sometimes parents and unlike the teachers of my day is treading on eggshells very often.
My wife is often disappointed by in-service days because they frequently involve boring presentations by people who should be able to present a whole lot better.
She also does an after-school club once a week and one evening a week is involved with Boys Brigade.
Ross, when you talk about long-weekends and buggering off in the afternoon, we really don't know what you're talking about.
Paul
Re: Consider Home-Schooling...
teacher[s] in my family too - maybe that's why we responded to this?
they can't wait for retirement [delayed now of course :(]
paperwork and lack of resources, together with ever increasing demands to get kids through exams and tests rather than into life, are the killers.... its not longer a job of choice...
Re: Consider Home-Schooling...
Well maybe they should consider becoming architects like me. More education required, less pay, longer hours, high stress, relatively little vacation time, no pension, no health plans, etc. etc. Teachers may not have the greatest jobs but they shouldn't complain too loudly. Not much sympathy. It will only make them feel worse.
It might not sound like it but I do respect the work of teachers.
Regards, Ross
Re: Consider Home-Schooling...
The common perception of Architects is of rather grand people living in huge self-designed houses full of designer furniture with Porsches and Mercedes littering the drive and getting in the way of the stable entrance. Architects typically turn up in the afternoon, interfere with well meaning builders and knock up a few plans with CAD software that does their work for them and they generate a fat bill at the end. You've gone wrong somewhere Ross!
I guess that's the problem with stereotypes and generalisations..
Seriously though, I guess the current downturn must have hit you and the profession particularly badly Ross.