tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24374049884871941982024-03-13T23:53:50.696-07:00#teacherROARAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03243253508552676086noreply@blogger.comBlogger36125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2437404988487194198.post-80496682114842046192015-04-23T09:31:00.000-07:002015-04-23T09:39:59.882-07:00Let's #TellPearson<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">The "global educator" Pearson are holding their AGM in London tomorrow (Friday).</span><br style="background-color: white;" /><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A number of organisations here and abroad are taking the opportunity to highlight the role Pearson's play in the corporate takeover of education, spying on kids and the drive towards a data, test driven model of education.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is capitalising on the fact that Pearson are already under a lot of pressure in the US. Read more about that <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/mollyhensleyclancy/pearson-has-a-common-core-problem#.vjMKqAEREW">HERE</a>.</span><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QnCW_pVc9Gc/VTkgSd4LaUI/AAAAAAAAAEk/hkIqyVoHaNg/s1600/spying-483x247.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QnCW_pVc9Gc/VTkgSd4LaUI/AAAAAAAAAEk/hkIqyVoHaNg/s1600/spying-483x247.jpg" height="163" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br style="background-color: white;" /><br style="background-color: white;" /><span style="background-color: white;">Various things are planned for tomorrow including press briefings and a delegation to the AGM.</span><br style="background-color: white;" /><br style="background-color: white;" /><span style="background-color: white;">One way in which we can all join in and support this is by taking to Twitter - from 7pm tonight and all day tomorrow - using two hashtags</span><span style="background-color: white;">#tellPearson</span><span style="background-color: white;"> and </span><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1429775238680_72801" style="background-color: white;">#Childrendeserve</span><br style="background-color: white;" /><br style="background-color: white;" /><span style="background-color: white;">Some example tweets could be:</span></span><br />
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<span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1429775238680_72796" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">#TellPearson stop monitoring social media #ChildrenDeserve not to be spied upon<br /><br />#TellPearson end high stakes tests because #ChildrenDeserve a better education<br /><br />#TellPearson no to for profit schools because #ChildrenDeserve good public education</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Remember that during a Twitter storm it's the amount of original tweets that counts. Retweets have little effect but it's perfectly acceptable to copy and paste other people's tweets. The main thing is getting the message out there.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">OK. Are you ready? Go!</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">PS. This is just phase 1 of the social media campaign. Phase 2 will kick in tomorrow. Stand by for details.</span></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03243253508552676086noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2437404988487194198.post-64474864814613021352015-03-11T02:35:00.004-07:002015-03-11T03:21:17.324-07:00Mocksteds. Still happening. This is what happened when a member of a governing body objected...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wBTMF-C5OKE/VQALw2ZDjkI/AAAAAAAAAEQ/mmSAiBa4rwk/s1600/Ofsted%2Binspections.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wBTMF-C5OKE/VQALw2ZDjkI/AAAAAAAAAEQ/mmSAiBa4rwk/s1600/Ofsted%2Binspections.jpg" height="192" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>This is an anonymous guest post from a member of a governing body, sacked for questioning the merits of a 'Mocksted'.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"I cannot see why any school would/should want to put itself through a mocksted" </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sean Harford, National Director for Schools, Ofsted</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The recent holidays delivered a shock. After two years of association with the Governing Body (GB) </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">of my children's school, a letter arrived terminating this connection without warning or discussion. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My professional background means I am well-qualified to assist with issues of law and governance. I </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">took up my post with enthusiasm and rigour, initially assuming that my skills would be welcomed. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">However, although the GB was happy to let me undertake enormous amounts of work for it, there was </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">a sense of discomfort attached to this as no one wanted to acknowledge the reason for the work, i.e. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">there were deficits in corporate governance and management. The letter through the post confirmed </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">that it was easier to 'shoot the messenger' than deliver real change. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">People may not appreciate the unusual and contradictory dynamic of a GB. It has significant strategic </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">responsibilities for a school, yet it must not interfere with operational matters; it needs to ensure </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">statutory duties are being met, yet it is comprised of volunteers who may have little or no </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">understanding of the law; it has multiple duties to ensure equality and promote access to education </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">for vulnerable groups, but it may wrongly view these as barriers to league tables places; finally, it may </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">know it has to hold the headteacher to account, but it may be crippled by deference, especially if its </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">members are not prepared to read/understand/question the data produced.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My GB reflected all of these dichotomies. Further, the school's physical location and demographic </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">produced a conservative and traditional outlook which presented significant challenges to providing a </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">rounded 21st century education or even to working collaboratively with staff and parents. In a way </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">which is perhaps symptomatic of the malaise affecting many modern bureaucracies, the GB often </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">seemed to lurch from panic to complacency, lacking an overall strategic vision. I think this is partly a </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">consequence of the Ofsted blame/praise game where the focus of the school is distracted by </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">appearances and its desire to 'look good'. I have some sympathy: there are significant external and </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">internal pressures acting on all schools . However, a relentless search for quick fixes and 'magic </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">bullets' fails children and staff and distracts from the real business of educating pupils.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For me, the turning point in my relationship with the GB proved to be a proposal to conduct a </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">'mocksted'. It was not discussed at GB and seemed to spring from nowhere. It was to be undertaken by </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">someone whose ability to 'pretend to be Ofsted' seemed open to question but, more importantly, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">although the GB and the head were arranging it and so had several weeks' notice, it was proposed that </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">the teachers were not to be told until the day before.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This concerned me greatly and I made my views known. I didn't expect Governors to agree with me </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">but I genuinely believed they would be prepared to discuss the issues I was raising. I suggested we </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">work collaboratively with staff rather than 'surprise them'. I felt this was damaging to school/staff </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">relationships. I also questioned the purpose of a 'mocksted' when the GB did not even self-evaluate. I </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">stressed that we had to know our school first and foremost.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The inspection went ahead on a day when the GB knew I could not attend school. It went ahead in the </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">way planned. It was very clear that some Governors saw my views as undermining but they did not </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">discuss it with me so I did not suspect that they would respond by ejecting me. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Inevitably, the 'inspector' confirmed what the school thought about itself. So that really was money </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">well-spent. Governors can now rest assured that not always implementing or understanding policies </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and practices is not necessarily a problem when it comes to inspection time as long as they can </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">'handle' what is thrown at them. And, clearly, inspection time is what counts.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The first GB meeting after the inspection was then also changed to a date I could not attend.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I heard nothing more. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Two weeks later, without any attempt to speak to me, my holiday time letter arrived, telling me that </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">the GB had decided to terminate my position, leaving me feeling hurt and shocked. This termination </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">felt like an act of bullying which could have been incredibly damaging to someone who hadn't </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">developed my rhino's hide and could have irreparably damaged the relationship between school and </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">parent and possibly even school and child. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Are the two issues related by anything other than timing? The letter suggests otherwise but a </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">reasonable conclusion is that they are as the last GB meeting had seen me being assigned additional roles.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The GB's decision was entirely challengeable legally and I have told the GB this. But what benefit is </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">such a challenge to anyone but me? And, realistically, who wants to be part of such an organisation?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After raising the illegality of their practices, I was asked to attend a meeting. I said I would if I was to </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">be provided with an apology for their poor handling of this matter. This response has been complete </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">silence. Clearly, the school's 'values' agenda applies only to children.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Interestingly, on Monday 2 March I was alerted to a twitter conversation which was started by </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">@emmaannhardy who asked: "I keep hearing about Mocksteds in schs & the crazy pressure they put </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">staff under. :( I wondered what you thought to Mocksteds @HarfordSean"</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The answer from Sean Harford, Ofsted's National Director for Schools, was:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"I cannot see why any school would/should want to put itself through a mocksted. A good L&M team </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">will know its school and 1/"</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"2/3 staff well enough to support school improvement. Why should it need to put more stress on staff </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and spend more public"</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"3/3 money? Just can't see any justification for this."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I felt slightly vindicated on reading this but as the conversation progressed it was clear that the only </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">accountability mechanism being suggested was the local authority - a body unlikely to involve itself </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">in these type of school disputes, especially when LAs take money off schools for these 'mocksteds'.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Schools should not be fiefdoms but the reality is that, with no genuine accountability, GBs can </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">effectively do what they like. In the hands of managerialists this will result in a focus on targets and a </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">concern with how schools look to those who inspect them, irrespective of the true picture. My view is </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">that this fails pupils and staff but evidently it was not a view I was permitted to hold. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I can only conclude that Thomas Paine was right when he said: “A body of men holding themselves </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">accountable to nobody ought not to be trusted by anybody.”</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03243253508552676086noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2437404988487194198.post-56121403378461126352014-11-11T23:26:00.001-08:002014-11-12T03:24:49.899-08:00Hate Mail<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">OK people, we need you to roar like you’ve never roared
before.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Why?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Daily Mail has used its front page to attack teaching
unions.</span></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_ksIP8NNO24/VGMLKC8QOSI/AAAAAAAAADw/Aj86ehVCmco/s1600/Daily%2BMail%2BFront%2BCover%2B12%2BNovember%2B2014.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_ksIP8NNO24/VGMLKC8QOSI/AAAAAAAAADw/Aj86ehVCmco/s320/Daily%2BMail%2BFront%2BCover%2B12%2BNovember%2B2014.jpg" width="247" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Some background:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The NUT representative for Haringey in London is a woman
called Julie Davies. She has ruffled some feathers locally both by representing
her members effectively, and by supporting the Save Downhills campaign, which
caused Gove and his goons no end of grief.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now two head teachers have said that they will no longer
accept Julie Davies as the NUT representative in Haringey. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is obviously completely unacceptable. The whole basis of teaching
unions is democracy, and the NUT members in Haringey voted in Julie Davies as
their representative. Heads cannot dictate who represents NUT members in
Haringey, only the union members themselves can.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When strike action is taken locally, rather than at national
level, it is usual for that action to be ‘sustained’, i.e. the union concerned will
use funds set aside for the purpose to ensure that members aren’t
disproportionately penalised financially - as they are taking action over and
above national action.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The NUT in Haringey is not “paying teachers to strike,” they
are using union funds, set aside for the purpose, to defend the rights of all
members. It is a clear point of principle that heads cannot decide who
represents union members. The very idea undermines all teaching unions and that’s
why it’s absolutely necessary for NUT members in Haringey to take strike action
– they do so on behalf of all of us!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here at TeacherROAR we are a huge supporter of all the
teaching unions. They are the last bastion against the likes of Gove and have
had considerable success in slowing down his ‘reforms’. We cannot allow them to
be undermined in this way.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Daily Mail are using this dispute, and twisting the
truth, to further their agenda to damage and weaken the teaching unions. We
need to show them that we will not tolerate this.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So what can you do to show your disgust at the actions of
the Daily Mail?</span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">Join in our Twitterstorm at 9pm tonight (12 November). Express your disgust for @DailyMailUK using the</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -24px;"> hashtag </span><span style="background-color: yellow; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -24px;">#HateMail </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">If you use Facebook post messages expressing your concerns on the Daily
Mail page </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/DailyMail" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">https://www.facebook.com/DailyMail</a></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">Send email messages of support to </span><span style="background: rgb(245, 248, 250); color: #292f33; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -18pt;"><a href="mailto:admin@haringeyteachers.org.uk">admin@haringeyteachers.org.uk</a></span></li>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03243253508552676086noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2437404988487194198.post-10667309806491600932014-10-13T02:43:00.001-07:002014-10-13T03:16:58.284-07:00Will 'superteachers' be just like 'superheads'?<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bZo9gudUxww/VDuejUe8s8I/AAAAAAAAADg/xVWrkpwFV_o/s1600/superteachers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bZo9gudUxww/VDuejUe8s8I/AAAAAAAAADg/xVWrkpwFV_o/s1600/superteachers.jpg" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">David Cameron has written in today's Mail about his great new education policy - 'superteachers'!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">He says:</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>A National Teaching Fellowship will pay the best of the best to work in failing or inadequate schools. I want to see 1,500 of these top teachers signed up and in post by 2020. That means two in every school; every child within reach of first class teaching.</i> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Where to even start with this hugely insulting nonsense? </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The UK has the second best education system in Europe and the sixth best education system in the world according to a recent <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-27314075">study</a>. Every child already has access to first class teaching. It's a huge insult to the teaching profession to suggest that they don't.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The fact is that teachers are constantly being told that
they are doing it wrong and other people know how to do it better. This is
demoralising whether you are a classroom teacher, middle management, or a head.
Being ‘offered support’ has come to have a whole new meaning in education
circles. People wince when they hear it, knowing that it will usually entail
not genuine support, but a constant stream of critique that is undermining and destructive.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">And
it’s not like we haven’t been here before. Before 'superteachers we had 'superheads'. We had superheads like <span style="background-color: white; line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2136392/206-000-superhead-quits-police-probe-lavish-spending-Academies-chief-hired-family-spent-millions-riding-centre-French-complex.html"><span style="color: #cc0000;">Richard Gilliland</span></a> (who employed his son and his daughter and resigned after g</span><span style="background-color: white;">overnment auditors uncovered a series of extraordinary purchases including hi-tech gadgets, antiques and sex games), </span>like <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-27390139"><span style="color: #cc0000;">Jo Shuter</span></a>
(despite being given a CBE and a head teacher of the year award, she
was investigated for fraud and struck off the teaching register after using school funds to pay for her own birthday party), and
like <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-24383163"><span style="color: #cc0000;">Sir Alan Davies</span></a> (knighted for services to education he narrowly avoided jail after pleading guilty to six charges of false accounting).</span></span>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Do you see where we're going with this?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">For
the record we don't know any teachers - heads or otherwise - who don't
want to get better at what they do. And mentoring and coaching done in a
collegiate way can be extremely effective. Sharing and building on good
practice is essential to developing and improving education (and
incidentally is one of the many things which performance related pay
could destroy). </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Superteachers? Thanks for the idea Dave, but it's about time you and other politicians told the truth. This country is already full of superteachers and they are fed up with being denigrated and insulted by you. </span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03243253508552676086noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2437404988487194198.post-19806469088977654912014-09-29T01:11:00.001-07:002014-09-29T01:19:55.861-07:00Major online action tomorrow night!<span style="font-size: large;">Here at TRHQ we've got wind of a major online action tomorrow night (Tuesday 30th). All we know right now is that it will happen between 9 and 10pm so make sure you've got internet access then. There will be a special hashtag which will be revealed nearer the time. </span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03243253508552676086noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2437404988487194198.post-23904747060516588032014-08-01T07:42:00.004-07:002014-08-01T08:15:11.441-07:00Harris: Leaving the 'Evil Empire'<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
<i>An experienced teacher, who wishes to remain anonymous, writes about their feelings on leaving the Harris Academy chain.</i></div>
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When I tell teachers where I’ve worked for the majority of the last decade, when I mention the name “Harris”, I often see a look in their eyes of haunted horror mixed with deep personal relief that it wasn’t them. But finally, I’m going. I have a new job in a great comprehensive and I can finally begin to put my professional life back together. Sounds melodramatic? They don’t call it “The Evil Empire” for nothing.<u></u><u></u></div>
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While not all of the academies in the chain are the same, there is a common theme that the Harris federation really struggle to hang on to the staff in their schools. Average annual turnovers of between 25-40% of personnel are not unusual at some sites. OFSTED have been known to spin this in their glowing inspection reports as being part of a 'relentless drive' to ensure the very best teachers work at Harris academies: the inference being that those driven out can’t cut the mustard. But that’s just not true. We keep losing perky GTP youngsters, full of beans and inventiveness and a desire to succeed… burned out and gone. On the other hand, in my mid-sized secondary academy there will only be seven teaching staff over the age of forty left from September, because valuable, experienced, ‘outstanding’ teachers have been driven away year-by-year through a constant compulsion to throw away the practices that work in favour of those that are flavour of the month. Only one member of our SLT and one of our Middle Leaders have school-aged children of their own, doubtlessly because the 60-80 hour standard working week is simply incompatible with family life. I have one friend at another Harris academy who returned to work part time after having children, but regularly has to put them into childcare on her ‘days off’ in order to keep on top of the workload. Needless to say, she’s also looking for work elsewhere. Through one initiative and another the weekly contact hours with students grow higher and higher, and staff are no longer invited but expected to teach additional classes in the holidays.<br />
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You may be thinking “well, come on – long hours go with the job“ …and they do. They always have. There is much more to it than workload. I'm sure you all remember when Sir Michael Wilshaw, the outgoing Chief Inspector of Schools, infamously said in 2011 <span lang="EN">"If anyone says to you that 'staff morale is at an all-time low' you know you are doing something right." A phrase so unethical, so vile that I hardly knew where to begin in my reaction to it. Well, it seems to me that leaders of the Harris federation may have taken that comment as a goal - an instruction that they should go out of their way to destroy morale, as the surefire way to achieve their objectives. Because achieve them, they do. Harris academies get great results in tough areas, and it can be hard to argue with that… until you look at other schools which also get those great results with similar kids, and you see that those schools can hold onto their staff. I have occasionally been invited to the staff social events of other schools and what's remarkable is that no one is crying in the corner; or tearing out their hair; or endlessly, furiously trying to make sense of the head’s latest brainwave. It’s a revelation. Because there’s nothing wrong with the destination: maximise progress, never give up on the kids, pursue excellence in teaching… it’s great stuff. It’s just the route Harris academies take that destroys dedicated, skilled, motivated teachers. The philosophy of the federation is to pre-empt what they think the Department for Education / OFSTED might want, identify a way to deliver it that will produce lots and lots of evidence (at whatever cost to actual teaching time), and make that the ONLY permitted way to teach. And at the same time, you must, at all costs (and you may have heard dark rumours about methodologies at some of our academies) deliver four levels of progress for every single student otherwise not only will your pay stagnate but if it isn’t Ebacc, your subject or course can disappear from the curriculum with no notice or consultation - in some cases triggering redundancies. Three mini-OFSTEDs a year with 48 hours notice will keep anxiety levels high (and that’s at the academies where ‘Outstanding’ has already been secured – at our newer or more troubled sites the inspection regime is constant and aggressive). There may be some happier Harrises, but the atmosphere at the ones I know is toxic. There is a culture of presumed incompetence, and each observation or evidence gathering exercise is used as an opportunity to catch you out. And it's this culture, in combination with the workload, that’s simply unsustainable. I look around at the federation training events and see thousands of mostly young staff, (overwhelmingly slim, caucasian, dressed for sober commerce - there’s a definite Harris ‘look’) and above all the hubbub and din there’s an almost audible note of all these bright, resilient spirits being stretched to breaking-point. For my own part: I’m a consistently outstanding teacher and I've lasted a lot longer than most... but that's partly because I have been made to feel, for many years, that despite my observations and great exam results no one else would ever want to employ me. It made me so unhappy that a summons by the head for a ‘chat’ (never any indication of the subject matter, this is management-as-guerilla-<wbr></wbr>warfare) would see me feeling sick to my stomach. Worse, I know the poisonous culture has made colleagues at more than one Harris academy consider taking their own lives. <u></u><u></u></span></div>
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<span lang="EN">A while ago, Gove (ahh, Gove… I like to imagine his strange, disappointed little face when he heard about the reshuffle) wrote about Lord Harris as a “hero” and his overpaid henchman / CEO Sir Dan Moynihan as “inspirational”. Every current or ex-Harris teacher I saw respond to this described a feeling of nausea having read the article and for me it was a sickness borne of frustration. How can they pretend this is a bowl of proverbial cherries? How can they ignore how unhealthy it feels to work in this system? How can they look at exam results and OFSTED judgments and pretend not to see how many teachers – talented, intelligent, professional teachers – are leaving the federation and will never, ever return?</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03243253508552676086noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2437404988487194198.post-77927853340842467482014-07-09T00:10:00.004-07:002016-07-04T00:20:34.434-07:00In a teaching union that's not striking? What should you do on a strike day?<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">You should NOT cover for striking colleagues. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This undermines their democratic right to withdraw their labour. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Please support colleagues on strike by following the official advice of the teaching unions.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><u>NASUWT official advice</u></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">NASUWT members should:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">make clear to the headteacher/principal that they will be reporting for work as normal;</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">make clear that they will not accept any variation to their contracted duties and/or undertake the timetabled or other responsibilities of those engaged in action, including taking into their timetabled lessons pupils from classes of teachers who are involved in strike.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">That's taken from this <a href="http://www.nasuwt.org.uk/Whatsnew/NASUWTNews/Nationalnewsitems/otherunions">page</a> on the NASUWT site. </span></div>
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<u style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.8em;">ATL offical advice</u></div>
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<span style="background-color: #fdfdfd; color: #444444; line-height: 18.135000228881836px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">ATL members should advise the head teacher that they are available to work normally, but they are not willing to accept arrangements which undermine the industrial action of colleagues. This is normally done via the rep.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">ATL will normally consider it unreasonable for you to be asked:</span></div>
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<li style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px 10px;"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">to take over the work of colleagues engaged in industrial action, other than in exceptional circumstances (such as genuine emergency)</span></div>
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<li style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px 10px;"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">to undertake a teaching load greater than usual or to accept additional responsibilities or duties as a result of colleagues taking industrial action</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">to agree to the amalgamation of groups of pupils or students or to the division of one group between others as a result of colleagues taking industrial action.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">That's taken from this <a href="http://www.atl.org.uk/help-and-advice/union-rights/what-to-do-in-case-of-industrial-action.asp">page</a> on the ATL site. </span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03243253508552676086noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2437404988487194198.post-30168028882548710512014-04-25T13:25:00.002-07:002014-04-25T13:26:22.367-07:00On the Rise of Pearson (oh, and following the money)<h3 class="entry-header" style="border: 0px; margin: 1px 0px 10px;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: medium;">This is reproduced from here: </span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: medium;">http://teacherblog.typepad.com/newteacher/2012/11/on-the-rise-of-pearson-oh-and-following-the-money.html</span></h3>
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<em style="color: #333333; font-size: small; line-height: 19.5px;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><strong><span style="background-color: white; color: #0000bf;">A long post that is worth a read here on the rise and influence of Pearson and corporate influence in education reform. Take pause, friends. Take pause but feel free to share and post comments here. Thoughts?</span></strong></span></em></h3>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>The Pearson Monopoly </strong></span>Jennifer Job, <em>UNC Chapel Hill</em></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">If you haven’t heard of Pearson, perhaps you have heard of one of the publishers they own, like Adobe, Scott Foresman, Penguin, Longman, <span style="color: #111111;">W</span>harton, Harcourt, Puffin, Prentice Hall, or Allyn & Bacon (among others). If you haven’t heard of Pearson, perhaps you have heard of one of their tests, like the National Assessment of Educational Progress, the Stanford Achievement Test, the Millar Analogy Test, or the G.E.D. Or their data systems, like PowerSchool and SASI. <a href="http://teacherblog.typepad.com/newteacher/2012/11/on-the-rise-of-pearson-oh-and-following-the-money.html#_ftn1" style="color: #003366;">[1]</a></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"> In a little over a decade, Pearson has practically taken over education as we know it. Currently, it is the largest educational assessment company in the U.S. Twenty-five states use them as their only source of large-scale testing, and they give and mark over a billion multiple choice<br />tests every year.<a href="http://teacherblog.typepad.com/newteacher/2012/11/on-the-rise-of-pearson-oh-and-following-the-money.html#_ftn2" style="color: #003366;">[2]</a> They are one of the largest suppliers of textbooks, especially as they look to acquire Random House this year. Their British imprint EdExcel is the largest examination board in the UK to be held in non-government hands.<a href="http://teacherblog.typepad.com/newteacher/2012/11/on-the-rise-of-pearson-oh-and-following-the-money.html#_ftn3" style="color: #003366;">[3]</a></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Pearson has realized that education is big business. Last year, they did 2.6 billion pounds of business, with a profit of 500 million pounds (close to a billion dollars).<a href="http://teacherblog.typepad.com/newteacher/2012/11/on-the-rise-of-pearson-oh-and-following-the-money.html#_ftn4" style="color: #003366;">[4]</a> And business is looking up, which I will return to in a minute. First, I want to talk about the vicious cycle that Pearson drives through education. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Pearson’s first big jump was acquiring Harcourt’s testing arm in 2008, taking Harcourt’s 40% market share and parlaying it into controlling more than half of all assessments taking place that year.<a href="http://teacherblog.typepad.com/newteacher/2012/11/on-the-rise-of-pearson-oh-and-following-the-money.html#_ftn5" style="color: #003366;">[5]</a> At this point, Pearson began to coordinate all of the textbook imprints it owns (as one of the three biggest textbook publishers in the U.S.) with its tests, completing its own equation of<br />curriculum and assessment. It was just a matter of locking down their territory and growing it. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">To grow into the multibillion-dollar corporation they are today, Pearson blurs every line among for profit, nonprofit, and government systems. They have prominently partnered with University of Phoenix, whose parent company’s CEO also sits on the board of Teach for America. They acquired<br />America’s Choice, which partners with the Lumina, Broad, and Walton Foundations. The Chief Education Advisor for Pearson is Sir Michael Barber, a lobbyist who pushes for free-market<br />reforms to education. And the list of executives and partnerships goes on.<a href="http://teacherblog.typepad.com/newteacher/2012/11/on-the-rise-of-pearson-oh-and-following-the-money.html#_ftn6" style="color: #003366;">[6]</a></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">What are some of the benefits of these partnerships? Pearson’s advocates for education reform were instrumental in the development of the Race to the Top initiative, from which they have benefitted<br />in numerous ways. For example, Race to the Top requires significant data accumulation, and thus Pearson partnered with the Gates Foundation to be the ones to store the data.<a href="http://teacherblog.typepad.com/newteacher/2012/11/on-the-rise-of-pearson-oh-and-following-the-money.html#_ftn7" style="color: #003366;">[7]</a> Pearson also is a key partner of the National Governors Association and Council of Chief State Schools Officers. When the plan for the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.corestandards.org/" rel="homepage" style="color: #003366;" target="_blank" title="Common Core Standards">Common Core Standards</a> was hatched, Pearson paid to fly the policymakers to Singapore for luxurious “education” trips to promote the educational methods they promote. <a href="http://teacherblog.typepad.com/newteacher/2012/11/on-the-rise-of-pearson-oh-and-following-the-money.html#_ftn8" style="color: #003366;">[8]</a></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">As a result of their work with the NGA, the Common Core Standards and Race to the Top assessment requirements for those standards work heavily in Pearson’s favor. It doesn’t matter that Stephen<br />Krashen found that 53% of educators oppose the Common Core—nearly every state has adopted it anyway, and they encourage a 20-fold increase in the number of tests given every age from preschool to grade 12. <a href="http://teacherblog.typepad.com/newteacher/2012/11/on-the-rise-of-pearson-oh-and-following-the-money.html#_ftn9" style="color: #003366;">[9]</a> Tests that will be administered by Pearson.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">And despite the emphasis of Race To the Top and Common Core on state-led education initiatives,<br />in reality, Pearson does not produce different texts and tests for different states. As Texas is one of its oldest and largest customers, and many of the states that are adopting Pearson materials are “red states,” they make sure that the materials they provide will pass muster with those particular school boards. Then they recycle the same material for other states. <a href="http://teacherblog.typepad.com/newteacher/2012/11/on-the-rise-of-pearson-oh-and-following-the-money.html#_ftn10" style="color: #003366;">[10]</a> This tilts curriculum in obviously ways, with US History coverage leaning decidedly right wing, but also in less obvious ways. Light was shed on these changes with a recent Pearson reading comprehension test administered to eighth graders. This was the first such test for several states that had recently adopted Pearson’s materials, including New York, which was previously known for its rigorous reading comprehension topic. This year, the passage was a story called “The Pineapple and the Hare,” which was an adaptation of another story that went so awry the original author disavowed the new version. Students complained that the story was childish and that it was confusing what the test makers were trying to convey<br />by using it. Parents in other states lodged the same complaints. But New York state doesn’t seem to care—not only will Pearson continue to provide a large portion of New York’s tests, but they are contracted to run New York’s teacher licensure process beginning in 2014.<a href="http://teacherblog.typepad.com/newteacher/2012/11/on-the-rise-of-pearson-oh-and-following-the-money.html#_ftn11" style="color: #003366;">[11]</a></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">How Pearson got into New York’s teacher licensure program can probably be attributed to another one of its higher-powered partners—Susan Fuhrman, president of Teachers College. Not only is Fuhrman the head of one of the most prestigious teacher education schools in America, but she now<br />holds the title of “Non-Executive Independent Director of <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.pearson.com/" rel="homepage" style="color: #003366;" target="_blank" title="Pearson PLC">Pearson PLC</a>” and has received almost one million dollars in stock and fees to date.<a href="http://teacherblog.typepad.com/newteacher/2012/11/on-the-rise-of-pearson-oh-and-following-the-money.html#_ftn12" style="color: #003366;">[12]</a> So it is really not surprising that Pearson has its foot in the door to make decisions about who will hold NY Teaching Licenses.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Stanford was responsible for designing the edTPA (Teacher Performance Assessment), but they did so with, quote, considerable seed money from Pearson from the beginning of the project. The edTPA<br />relies on evaluation of two ten-minute videos of the candidate’s teaching and the responses to a written examination. Supposedly, the scorers are retired teachers who receive $75 per evaluation (although, many of us applied to Pearson to be scorers, and not one person from UNC was chosen to my knowledge). And to prove validity of the edTPA, the Education Development Center, a non-profit in Waltham, Mass, performed a field test across five states. The Education Development Center is funded by Pearson.<a href="http://teacherblog.typepad.com/newteacher/2012/11/on-the-rise-of-pearson-oh-and-following-the-money.html#_ftn13" style="color: #003366;">[13]</a> </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">The insidiousness of Pearson’s tentacles’ reaching across education would be enough to set off alarms in the community. Huge corporations and conglomerates own stock in Pearson, including the Libyan<br />Investment Authority, owned by Gaddafi’s son Seif al-Islam, who owns 3% of the company. The Koch brothers have connection to Pearson, as does Teach For America. And the more Pearson acts, the fewer choices we have over education in our towns and cities. Pearson just bought a large online charter school consortium that opened across America, and they now own the G.E.D. for students who drop out altogether.<a href="http://teacherblog.typepad.com/newteacher/2012/11/on-the-rise-of-pearson-oh-and-following-the-money.html#_ftn14" style="color: #003366;">[14]</a> And when a company called Boundless Learning tried to offer free and alternative textbooks to create a choice for students, Pearson partnered with Cengage and MacMillan to not only sue the company out of existence, but also the venture capitalists that funded it.<a href="http://teacherblog.typepad.com/newteacher/2012/11/on-the-rise-of-pearson-oh-and-following-the-money.html#_ftn15" style="color: #003366;">[15]</a></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">States are beginning to rely on Pearson not only for materials, but also for the actual data that drives them to make crucial decisions in student learning and teacher retention. There is an assumed validity to these materials that is never proven and now, never challenged. Ironically, the free-market argument has paved the way for a system with no competition. Scores from Pearson tests are used in value-added measurements. Scores from the edTPA are used in hiring and firing decisions.<a href="http://teacherblog.typepad.com/newteacher/2012/11/on-the-rise-of-pearson-oh-and-following-the-money.html#_ftn16" style="color: #003366;">[16]</a> As Rob Lytle, an education consultant, said,“If new standards are as rigorous as advertised, a huge number of schools will suddenly look really bad…they’ll want help, quick. And private, for-profit vendors selling lesson plans, educational software, and student assessments will be right there<br />to provide it.”<a href="http://teacherblog.typepad.com/newteacher/2012/11/on-the-rise-of-pearson-oh-and-following-the-money.html#_ftn17" style="color: #003366;">[17]</a> It is no longer a piece of the puzzle we can afford to ignore.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 8pt;"><a href="http://teacherblog.typepad.com/newteacher/2012/11/on-the-rise-of-pearson-oh-and-following-the-money.html#_ftnref1" style="color: #003366;">[1]</a> <a href="http://www.pearson.com/" style="color: #003366;">www.pearson.com</a></span></h4>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: 8pt;"><a href="http://teacherblog.typepad.com/newteacher/2012/11/on-the-rise-of-pearson-oh-and-following-the-money.html#_ftnref2" style="color: #003366;">[2]</a> </span><span style="font-size: 8pt;">Ibid.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 8pt;"><a href="http://teacherblog.typepad.com/newteacher/2012/11/on-the-rise-of-pearson-oh-and-following-the-money.html#_ftnref3" style="color: #003366;">[3]</a> <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/02/usa-education-investment-idUSL2E8J15FR20120802" style="color: #003366;">www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/02/usa-education-investment-idUSL2E8J15FR20120802</a></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 8pt;"><a href="http://teacherblog.typepad.com/newteacher/2012/11/on-the-rise-of-pearson-oh-and-following-the-money.html#_ftnref4" style="color: #003366;">[4]</a> <a href="http://www.pearson.com/" style="color: #003366;">www.pearson.com</a></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 8pt;"><a href="http://teacherblog.typepad.com/newteacher/2012/11/on-the-rise-of-pearson-oh-and-following-the-money.html#_ftnref5" style="color: #003366;">[5]</a> <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/schools/testing/companies.html" style="color: #003366;">www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/schools/testing/companies.html</a></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: 8pt;"><a href="http://teacherblog.typepad.com/newteacher/2012/11/on-the-rise-of-pearson-oh-and-following-the-money.html#_ftnref6" style="color: #003366;">[6]</a> <a href="http://www.unitedoptout.com/boycott-pearson-now" style="color: #003366;">www.</a></span><span style="font-size: 8pt;">unitedoptout.com/boycott-pearson-now</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: 8pt;"><a href="http://teacherblog.typepad.com/newteacher/2012/11/on-the-rise-of-pearson-oh-and-following-the-money.html#_ftnref7" style="color: #003366;">[7]</a> </span><span style="font-size: 8pt;">dianeravitch.net/2012/05/07/the-united-states-of-pearson-2/</span></span></div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 8pt;"><a href="http://teacherblog.typepad.com/newteacher/2012/11/on-the-rise-of-pearson-oh-and-following-the-money.html#_ftnref8" style="color: #003366;">[8]</a> <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alan-singer/hacking-away-at-the-pears_b_1464134.html" style="color: #003366;">www.huffingtonpost.com/alan-singer/hacking-away-at-the-pears_b_1464134.html</a></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: 8pt;"><a href="http://teacherblog.typepad.com/newteacher/2012/11/on-the-rise-of-pearson-oh-and-following-the-money.html#_ftnref9" style="color: #003366;">[9]</a> </span><span style="font-size: 8pt;">blogs.edweek.org/teachers/living-in-dialogue/2012/04/Stephen_krashen_testing_and_te.html</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 8pt;"><a href="http://teacherblog.typepad.com/newteacher/2012/11/on-the-rise-of-pearson-oh-and-following-the-money.html#_ftnref10" style="color: #003366;">[10]</a> <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alan-singer/pearson-education-new-york-testing-_b_1850169.html" style="color: #003366;">www.huffingtonpost.com/alan-singer/pearson-education-new-york-testing-_b_1850169.html</a></span></div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 8pt;"><a href="http://teacherblog.typepad.com/newteacher/2012/11/on-the-rise-of-pearson-oh-and-following-the-money.html#_ftnref11" style="color: #003366;">[11]</a> <a href="http://www.schoolbook.org/2012/05/04/pearson-says-its-tests-are-valid-and-reliable" style="color: #003366;">www.schoolbook.org/2012/05/04/pearson-says-its-tests-are-valid-and-reliable</a></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 8pt;"><a href="http://teacherblog.typepad.com/newteacher/2012/11/on-the-rise-of-pearson-oh-and-following-the-money.html#_ftnref12" style="color: #003366;">[12]</a> <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alan-singer/pearson-education-new-york-testing-_b_1850169.html" style="color: #003366;">www.huffingtonpost.com/alan-singer/pearson-education-new-york-testing-_b_1850169.html</a></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 8pt;"><a href="http://teacherblog.typepad.com/newteacher/2012/11/on-the-rise-of-pearson-oh-and-following-the-money.html#_ftnref13" style="color: #003366;">[13]</a> <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alan-singer/hacking-away-at-the-pears_b_1464134.html" style="color: #003366;">www.huffingtonpost.com/alan-singer/hacking-away-at-the-pears_b_1464134.html</a></span></div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: 8pt;"><a href="http://teacherblog.typepad.com/newteacher/2012/11/on-the-rise-of-pearson-oh-and-following-the-money.html#_ftnref14" style="color: #003366;">[14]</a> </span><span style="font-size: 8pt;">Ibid.</span></span></div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 8pt;"><a href="http://teacherblog.typepad.com/newteacher/2012/11/on-the-rise-of-pearson-oh-and-following-the-money.html#_ftnref15" style="color: #003366;">[15]</a> <a href="http://www.osnews.com/story/25774/Major_textbook_publishers_sue_open-education_texbook_start-up" style="color: #003366;">www.osnews.com/story/25774/Major_textbook_publishers_sue_open-education_texbook_start-up</a></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><a href="http://teacherblog.typepad.com/newteacher/2012/11/on-the-rise-of-pearson-oh-and-following-the-money.html#_ftnref16" style="color: #003366;">[16]</a> <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alan-singer/hacking-away-at-the-pears_b_1464134.html" style="color: #003366;">www.huffingtonpost.com/alan-singer/hacking-away-at-the-pears_b_1464134.html</a></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><a href="http://teacherblog.typepad.com/newteacher/2012/11/on-the-rise-of-pearson-oh-and-following-the-money.html#_ftnref17" style="color: #003366;">[17]</a> <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/02/usa-education-investment-idUSL2E8J15FR20120802" style="color: #003366;">www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/02/usa-education-investment-idUSL2E8J15FR20120802</a></span></h4>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03243253508552676086noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2437404988487194198.post-48158122740647964082014-03-19T15:03:00.000-07:002014-03-19T15:03:00.461-07:00Why I Am StrikingA guest post by @MrDuttonPeabody<br />
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<a href="http://thoughtsfromtheline.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/march26.jpg" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank"><img alt="Hitting the streets" height="225" src="https://ci6.googleusercontent.com/proxy/NCvQy4keGF7HNOQs36x5Hf-nW9zgnIy8LRf77zbBO5gqqYpMc-nJFYwx3RL6VL-B50CpVtNHmCev4pzY-PwP4JhiSz3oEoSkGQR2ArwW2bRXZbPgKls84mQBYzn0Vw=s0-d-e1-ft#http://thoughtsfromtheline.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/march26.jpg?w=300" style="border: 0px; display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="300" /></a></div>
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A little over two years ago in November 2011, my second year as a Primary School teacher, I went on strike for the first time. Back then, I wrote a <a href="http://shinbonestar.org/2011/11/28/strike-wednesday-30th-november/" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">short blog</a> about it. And looking back at it, I didn't realise how much could change in such a short space of time or how damaging it could be to teaching as a profession and education in the UK. From the rapid Academisation of schools in the UK, to the demographically ignorant spread of Free Schools, unqualified teachers, a curriculum that’s been roundly criticised by those who were consulted on its creation, OFSTED first being used as tool for failing schools and then coming under attack itself, performance related pay breaking the national pay spine, assessments for four year olds, statutory Year 1 phonics assessments that are nothing to do with reading, 60 hour workloads, PISA panic, not to mention Marxist Enemies of Promise and the mythical terror of ‘The Blob’.</div>
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<dt><a href="http://thoughtsfromtheline.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/michael-gove-listens-to-a-006.jpg" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank"><img alt="Not to mention Gove's come to bed eyes." height="180" src="https://ci5.googleusercontent.com/proxy/TZXKdmPMPcOSo3kyMHkO0ABrypEXvGtkU1QNpwt46AJW0UfT_1Fs0TN9vFqN8Tx9VEBerZkqgmbYjNaSflWYNIzAHl2ZUyfy603PQDxZnrnFp2U5pbtsVkg14FPItIEA3BTKwK96G8Lsi3Wv8_Q=s0-d-e1-ft#http://thoughtsfromtheline.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/michael-gove-listens-to-a-006.jpg" style="border: 0px none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" width="300" /></a></dt>
<dd style="font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 4px 5px;">Not to mention Gove's come to bed eyes.</dd></dl>
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Teaching and education hasn't undergone a revolution in the UK, regardless of what Gove says. It’s taken a battering, a kicking from which it’s touch and go whether it will recover at all. And it’s all clinically intentional. Take <a href="http://news.tes.co.uk/b/news/2014/02/13/strb-report-a-quot-huge-blow-quot-to-gove-unions-claim.aspx" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">Gove’s recommendations to the STRB</a>, which were dismissed summarily in February, regarding extending the school year, removing limits on hours teachers work in a year and removing the guarantee of 10% of the week for planning, preparation and assessment time. All of these would have made the job more difficult for teachers, while doing almost nothing for children. An already overloaded teacher, given less preparation time and more hours to need to prepare for, is not going to deliver improvements.</div>
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<dt><a href="http://thoughtsfromtheline.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/classic_facepalm.jpg" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank"><img alt="I know statue, I know." height="200" src="https://ci4.googleusercontent.com/proxy/NGNCSzlcUuHhCP1tHwpRt3qYJv7yw-ILeKNlZRVdQp6OX-1_Nt1sx_6fBJ2o1WWBPbzlM7DvaQuyu_wqpOZAdxXae8Nl27c3FQHF8IeP7xDBBQtggc3S-zlYkNfAlsEYD1XUZtY_VA=s0-d-e1-ft#http://thoughtsfromtheline.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/classic_facepalm.jpg?w=300" style="border: 0px none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" width="300" /></a></dt>
<dd style="font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 4px 5px;">I know statue, I know.</dd></dl>
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I’m striking on <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_994259591" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">Wednesday, March 26th</span></span> because there is literally no other recourse to action to indicate just how desperate the situation is for the concept of an equal, universal education in this country. With the <a href="http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20130904084116/https://www.education.gov.uk/schools/teachingandlearning/curriculum/nationalcurriculum2014/a00225864/assessing-without-levels" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">September 2014 abolition of National Curriculum Levels,</a> each school will become a lonely outpost working on its own way of assessing children. In effect, the guaranteed equality of the national expected progress for each year group will vanish, which will lead to a patchwork of ideas which may bear little resemblance to the school a half mile away. Education is becoming a centralised set of rigid exam barriers for children to overcome, while simultaneously the state provision of education is being dissolved.</div>
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<dt><a href="http://thoughtsfromtheline.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/image-indecisive.jpg" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank"><img alt="Wait. What?" height="199" src="https://ci4.googleusercontent.com/proxy/TFwIEI7GeKz92Xa9NMx7Nnqh8FWnOzZNVDakRGFLRnDXdz9ijYT5axGI9-eqgwkZ6CoYUkumUw3Fl7R7LeFNXgrnFal-iKT7aX-ZICGeZfAUmGbxx0UvBGsPnaENA2lTEC0OFdn1-Q=s0-d-e1-ft#http://thoughtsfromtheline.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/image-indecisive.jpg?w=300" style="border: 0px none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" width="300" /></a></dt>
<dd style="font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 4px 5px;">What?</dd></dl>
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But I’m also striking for my profession. Because teaching is a profession which ensures more future profit for everybody than any private company. In Primary, we are giving children the tools they need to be able to explore and wonder at their world, developing passions in science, maths, sport, art, technology. The five and six year olds in my classroom are more important than HS2 or a third runway at Heathrow. And they deserve qualified, experienced teachers, or enthusiastic newly qualified teachers.</div>
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Because they need to be qualified, aware not only of classroom practice but steeped in effective pedagogy. They need to be taught about teaching before they learn how to teach. And they must be given time to develop as teachers. The forced grow tank of SchoolsDirect does little more than teach them how to act like teachers, without developing the depth of knowledge to become effective practitioners. The 40% drop out rate says far more about the strain of the profession than any weakness of the individual.</div>
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<dt><a href="http://thoughtsfromtheline.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/sleepless-night.jpg" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank"><img alt="Sleepless nights as standard." height="199" src="https://ci3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/G4gf_vI2IpyGxasHDVg73fBd55pgpVmvakJ9HUAi0YiWCIEIGnTQVMgH9xfaVplJqC9uLgflTee6rgSRpQjyL7YgOYybd3oZI6kXUGyFRqBT2muiG3ibjwlP-MzyzS6IIMp5g8xb=s0-d-e1-ft#http://thoughtsfromtheline.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/sleepless-night.jpg?w=300" style="border: 0px none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" width="300" /></a></dt>
<dd style="font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 4px 5px;">Sleepless nights as standard.</dd></dl>
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<div dir="ltr" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 1.3em;">
Nobody gets into teaching because it is easy. And when teachers complain of increased workload, they realise that despite working until <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_994259592" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">midnight</span></span> and weekends, there will come a point where the quality of education delivered in the classroom will suffer as a result of the administrative constraints of Gove’s ‘reforms’. My colleagues and I have a shared guilt, that on weekends and evenings and half terms we should be using the time remaining after we have finished our marking and assessing and planning to do that little bit more, just a few hours. And that is after our 60 hour week, an equivalent to working 8 hours a day, 7 days a week.</div>
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On <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_994259593" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">Wednesday 26th March</span></span> I will be called outmoded, dangerous, irresponsible and lazy for taking action based on the concerns I have expressed above, which form only part of my overall reasons for striking. On <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_994259594" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">Thursday 27th March</span></span> I will return to ensuring that I provide my pupils with the highest quality of education that my qualifications and experience allow me to. And I will do so in spite of Michael Gove, not because of him.</div>
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<dt><a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ABroken_window%2C_Strabane%2C_January_2010.JPG" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank" title="By Ardfern (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons"><img alt="Broken window, Strabane, January 2010" height="269" src="https://ci5.googleusercontent.com/proxy/dDOB3n9IF8w2HaefSNQ-gXGddxEP6rMkUYMMXq4yFt885oBTaPd99Bzi7LNj6Ia4VwV0YPFdYUlGV8cRNPtSGeYRknztd_ittGoU53MV-jW9mU-i5gCuGHmeE-dpeBKp0SwZMswV45BrqNIiXHtbYdjI4zj0FPEBj833dHWrDVXSz57v9zDt9s_dKyOoCpkP6Js9HYNUl2IdgvPUP7ccXy-U22TkRpW1ZZcJ_5EpvF2c=s0-d-e1-ft#http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/09/Broken_window%2C_Strabane%2C_January_2010.JPG/256px-Broken_window%2C_Strabane%2C_January_2010.JPG" style="border: 0px none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" width="179" /></a></dt>
<dd style="font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 4px 5px;">Analogy time.</dd></dl>
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If UK education was a window, then every single Education Secretary in history has complained that it is dirty. And they have all attempted to clean it, through one method or another. National Curriculum ‘89 and ‘99, National Strategies, Literacy and Numeracy Hours, Synthetic Phonics, Creative Curriculum. Gove is the first to smash the window, pay people to take away the shards without knowing if they even know how to clean and then has the audacity to tell us he’s the greatest window cleaner in history.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03243253508552676086noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2437404988487194198.post-22654988133410773322014-02-04T09:06:00.003-08:002014-02-04T09:06:29.998-08:00STEM 6 free school renege on commitment to recognise teachers’ union. Strike action back on this week.<div class="yiv5936360625MsoNormal" id="yui_3_13_0_ym1_1_1391463727606_23342" style="background-color: white; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px; line-height: 13pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; padding: 0px;">
<span id="yui_3_13_0_ym1_1_1391463727606_23341" style="font-size: 11pt;">Following a meeting last night where STEM 6 Principal, John O’Shea reneged on written commitments to recognise the NUT – to which most teachers at the newly opened free school belong – and to enter in to “meaningful negotiations” about staff terms and conditions, strike action previously called for tomorrow and Thursday this week is to go ahead.</span></div>
<div class="yiv5936360625MsoNormal" id="yui_3_13_0_ym1_1_1391463727606_23347" style="background-color: white; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px; line-height: 13pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; padding: 0px;">
<span id="yui_3_13_0_ym1_1_1391463727606_23348" style="font-size: 11pt;">Last Wednesday, the day before teachers were to begin strike action in support of union recognition, John O’Shea wrote to the NUT:</span></div>
<div class="yiv5936360625MsoNormal" id="yui_3_13_0_ym1_1_1391463727606_23207" style="background-color: white; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px; line-height: 13pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt 36pt; padding: 0px;">
<span id="yui_3_13_0_ym1_1_1391463727606_23206" style="font-size: 11pt;">Just to confirm that we are willing to recognise the NUT and a commitment to enter into meaningful negotiations about the terms and conditions about the contract and to install a local and national representative within the Academy.<br />We would be willing to sign a formal recognition agreement</span></div>
<div class="yiv5936360625MsoNormal" id="yui_3_13_0_ym1_1_1391463727606_23350" style="background-color: white; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px; line-height: 13pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt 36pt; padding: 0px;">
<span id="yui_3_13_0_ym1_1_1391463727606_23349" style="font-size: 11pt;">Please let me know some dates/times when you are free so we could meet next week</span></div>
<div class="yiv5936360625MsoNormal" id="yui_3_13_0_ym1_1_1391463727606_23351" style="background-color: white; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px; line-height: 13pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt 36pt; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">John O’Shea</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;">Principal</span></div>
<div class="yiv5936360625MsoNormal" id="yui_3_13_0_ym1_1_1391463727606_23352" style="background-color: white; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px; line-height: 13pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt 36pt; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">STEM Academy Tech City</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;">After receiving this firm written commitment, the NUT and its members at STEM 6 suspended last Thursday’s action to allow the agreed negotiations to take place.</span></div>
<div class="yiv5936360625MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px; line-height: 13pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">We were hopeful, especially after Tony Sewell, Chair of STEM 6 governors, had apologised to teachers on Thursday for failing to listen to their concerns and removing some of the most objectionable terms in the contracts they had been forced to sign under duress – such as a zero hours clause – that a line could be drawn under STEM 6’s previously dismissive and intimidating attitude to its teachers and that, once a recognition agreement had been signed, constructive negotiations could begin that would bring the terms and conditions in to line with those enjoyed by teachers in maintained schools.</span></div>
<div class="yiv5936360625MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px; line-height: 13pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">So we were shocked yesterday afternoon first to receive a message from John O’Shea that he had decided to “postpone” the meeting which had been agreed for 5pm last night because “The NUT has not sought recognition rights with the CAC [Central Arbitration] so I cannot negotiate with you”.</span></div>
<div class="yiv5936360625MsoNormal" id="yui_3_13_0_ym1_1_1391463727606_23356" style="background-color: white; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px; line-height: 13pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; padding: 0px;">
<span id="yui_3_13_0_ym1_1_1391463727606_23355" style="font-size: 11pt;">This blatant demonstration of bad faith was either completely disingenuous, badly informed – or both. The NUT has never sought “statutory recognition,” both because we think that it is inappropriate and unnecessary (recognition which has to be enforced by law is unlikely to be genuine) and, as John O’Shea had previously stressed to us in writing before his commitments last week, as a pretext for refusing to recognise us at all, statutory recognition can only apply to 21 or more employees, a stipulation which the NUT is, of course, fully aware.</span></div>
<div class="yiv5936360625MsoNormal" id="yui_3_13_0_ym1_1_1391463727606_23353" style="background-color: white; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px; line-height: 13pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; padding: 0px;">
<span id="yui_3_13_0_ym1_1_1391463727606_23354" style="font-size: 11pt;">John O’Shea’s game-playing last night has made it even more difficult to resolve this dispute –and the real losers are going to be the STEM 6 students, many of who have made it manifestly clear that they support their teachers’ right to have their trade union recognised and to be treated in a civilised way.</span></div>
<div class="yiv5936360625MsoNormal" id="yui_3_13_0_ym1_1_1391463727606_23357" style="background-color: white; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px; line-height: 13pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; padding: 0px;">
<span id="yui_3_13_0_ym1_1_1391463727606_23358" style="font-size: 11pt;">The strike action (two days this week, to be followed by another three days next week) will now go ahead because STEM 6 teachers have lost all trust in their Principal and governors to keep their promises.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;">This morning we learned that John O’Shea has told his staff that the school will be closed tomorrow “because of the tube strike”.</span></div>
<div class="yiv5936360625MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px; line-height: 13pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">Ken Muller, Assistant Secretary of Islington NUT commented:</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;">This game playing must stop if we are going to return to where we were after STEM 6 agreed last week to recognise the NUT and enter in to meaningful negotiations with us about teachers’ terms and conditions.</span></div>
<div class="yiv5936360625MsoNormal" id="yui_3_13_0_ym1_1_1391463727606_23367" style="background-color: white; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px; line-height: 13pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt 36pt; padding: 0px;">
<span id="yui_3_13_0_ym1_1_1391463727606_23366" style="font-size: 11pt;">Closing STEM 6 “because of the tube strike” is yet another act of dishonesty aimed at denying the demonstrably obvious reality that teachers at the school are angry at the disgraceful way in which they are being treated and are prepared to take the action necessary to rectify the situation.</span></div>
<div class="yiv5936360625MsoNormal" id="yui_3_13_0_ym1_1_1391463727606_23364" style="background-color: white; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px; line-height: 13pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt 36pt; padding: 0px;">
<span id="yui_3_13_0_ym1_1_1391463727606_23365" style="font-size: 11pt;">Other schools in Islington, such as the Islington Sixth Form College just up the road from STEM 6, are open, despite the strike.</span></div>
<div class="yiv5936360625MsoNormal" id="yui_3_13_0_ym1_1_1391463727606_23363" style="background-color: white; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px; line-height: 13pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt 36pt; padding: 0px;">
<span id="yui_3_13_0_ym1_1_1391463727606_23362" style="font-size: 11pt;">The sooner John O’Shea and the STEM 6 governors honour their promises, respect their teachers and sign a standard TUC drafted union recognition agreement the sooner we can enter in to constructive negotiations about staff terms and conditions of employment and the sooner the school can focus on what it is meant to be doing: providing students with the high quality of education to which they are entitled.</span></div>
<div class="yiv5936360625MsoNormal" id="yui_3_13_0_ym1_1_1391463727606_23360" style="background-color: white; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px; line-height: 13pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; padding: 0px;">
<span id="yui_3_13_0_ym1_1_1391463727606_23361" style="font-size: 11pt;">Unfortunately, because they have not been able to do this, teachers at STEM 6 will be striking tomorrow and Thursday and picketing from 7.30 am onwards.</span></div>
<div class="yiv5936360625MsoNormal" id="yui_3_13_0_ym1_1_1391463727606_23359" style="background-color: white; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px; line-height: 13pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"></span> <b style="line-height: 13pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">For further information, call Ken Muller on 07950075088</span></b></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03243253508552676086noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2437404988487194198.post-54951406839479389992014-02-03T12:32:00.002-08:002014-02-03T12:32:39.597-08:00Briefing: National Autistic Society Schools on Strike<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">There
are 5 N.A.S. schools currently taking industrial action due to the attempted imposition of new contracts. All 5 schools have so far taken 6 days of strike action. The N.A.S. recently cancelled a planned meeting with the NUT & NASUWT about the new imposed contracts at very
short notice. Teachers have been repeatedly threatened with dismissal if they
do not sign. The N.A.S. refuse to recognise trade unions.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">The
N.A.S. claim they do not have any money and yet their Trustee’s Annual Report
for March 2013 reports reserves of £27.9 million and an ongoing operating
surplus of over £1 million.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Teachers
rarely strike in special schools due to their special commitment to the
students. These teachers risk, on a daily basis, being spat, pinched, punched
and worse due to the challenging and complex needs of the students. The
teachers are highly skilled and dedicated.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">The
N.A.S. want to:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<ul style="margin-top: 0cm;" type="disc">
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Reduce paid holiday leave by 5
days.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Reduce industrial injury from
200 to 66 working days – remember these teachers are far more often
injured at work.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">New contracts that allow
management to further worsen their pay & conditions by simply giving
30 days’ notice.</span><span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></li>
</ul>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Teachers
in N.A.S. schools already have worse pay and conditions compared to maintained
schools. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">The
N.A.S. have tried to bully, lie and emotional blackmail members into not
striking. They put their profits before the students and teachers alike.
Parents support the teachers. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">If
these dispute is lost teachers and support staff alike will simply and with
regret leave. The students will take 9 to 12 months readjusting to new less
qualified staff. The students will suffer badly. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">If
the N.A.S. still refuse to negotiate with the NUT & NASUWT more strikes are
planned.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><i>This briefing is reproduced with permission of Ealing NUT</i></span></div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03243253508552676086noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2437404988487194198.post-22786550417847430742013-11-30T07:04:00.004-08:002013-11-30T15:13:08.404-08:00Can Tribal Inspections be Trusted?<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Did you know that Ofsted, like many other public services, have been privatised? Did you know that companies like Serco - who run prisons and who are currently being investigated for <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/law/2013/nov/04/serious-fraud-office-inquiry-g4s-serco-overcharging"><span style="color: magenta;">fraud</span></a> - have contracts to run <a href="http://www.serco.com/markets/education/ofsted/" style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: magenta;">Ofsted inspections</span></a>? So when 'Ofsted' go into a school it's often a private, profit-making company that performs the inspection.</span><br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One of the private companies with a contract to run Ofsted inspections is <a href="http://www.services.tribalgroup.com/content.jsp?page=119"><span style="color: magenta;">Tribal </span></a>who have come to our attention several times over the past few months.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In May this year Tribal carried out an inspection of the London Nautical School, giving it a 'requires improvement' grading. In a clear conflict of interests one of the inspectors was Daniel Moynihan the CEO of Harris Academies. Harris Academies are a London-based academy chain that would be in a position to take over the London Nautical School were academisation to be considered. Private Eye picked up on this story in August and it is reproduced on the Anti-Academies Alliance website <a href="http://antiacademies.org.uk/2013/08/harris-feed/"><span style="color: magenta;">here</span></a>.</span><br />
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<i>"<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;">When the </span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;">Eye</span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;"> asked in 2011 how independent “additional” inspectors working for private firms would be, given the involvement of firms like Tribal in opening new free schools themselves, Ofsted said it would regard any situation where inspectors and their employers were “involved in an organisation in competition” with the school under inspection as a conflict of interests to be avoided (</span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;">Eye</span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;"> 1286)."</span></i></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;">Then, in November, Private Eye covered the story of the inspection of Wanstead High School (<a href="http://www.localschoolsnetwork.org.uk/2013/11/private-eye-queries-conflict-of-interest-in-ofsted-inspections-answer-came-there-none/"><span style="color: magenta;">here</span></a>) where one of the inspection team was head of a neighbouring school - another conflict of interests. Like London Nautical, Wanstead High was also given a requires improvement grade. The inspection was carried out by Tribal.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;">Within the past month we noticed that Battersea Park School had complained about their inspection by Tribal which happened back in June. The complaint is on the schools website <a href="http://www.batterseaparkschool.org/files/OFSTED%20Complaints%20form%20KM%20July%202nd%202013.pdf"><span style="color: magenta;">here</span></a>, runs to 11 pages, and contains some very serious allegations about the conduct of the inspectors including a suggestion that they made up evidence. We suggest you read the full complaint for yourself as it is pretty damning. The school received an inadequate grading and is now due to be handed over to the Harris Academy chain.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;">Finally Longhill School near Brighton was inspected by Tribal in October. The school have complained about the report which rates the school as requiring improvement, a judgement they say "contradicts the views shared with us by the Inspection Team during the course of their visit." The school's letter to parents can be seen <a href="http://www.longhill.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Longhill-Ofsted-Report-Oct-2013-School-Response.pdf"><span style="color: magenta;">here</span></a> and a report in the local paper is <a href="http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/10812212.Inspection_fury_leads_to_complaint_by_Longhill_School_in_Rottingdean/"><span style="color: magenta;">here</span></a>. </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;">As a footnote we noticed that Andrew Barker, former head of Bishopsford Arts College, which was failed by Ofsted in 2012 and placed in special measures, is listed as an additional inspector on Tribal's website <a href="https://www.tribalinspections.co.uk/PublicDocs/PenPortraits.pdf"><span style="color: magenta;">here</span></a>. That school has now been reopened as a Harris Academy.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;">Edited to add: </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;">Our attention was just drawn to <a href="http://www.torquayheraldexpress.co.uk/Torquay-s-special-measures-Westlands-School/story-19940906-detail/story.html"><span style="color: magenta;">this article</span></a> about Westlands School in Torquay who are appealing against their inspection in June by Tribal which downgraded them from a previous grading of good to inadequate.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;">We've also been alerted to the fact that the disputed inspection of Kings' Stanley Primary School in Gloucestershire, which took place in May, was also by Tribal. Read <a href="http://www.thisisgloucestershire.co.uk/King-s-Stanley-parents-governors-fight/story-19541582-detail/story.html#axzz2m9eiyjTh"><span style="color: magenta;">this local news report</span></a> which says "</span><span style="background-color: white;"><i>Parents and governors of the school near Stonehouse say the inspection conducted by Tribal on behalf of Ofsted was unfair and feel they are being driven towards applying for academy status. Tribal used to help schools convert to academy status</i>." <span style="color: magenta;"><a href="http://www.stroudnewsandjournal.co.uk/news/10531409.King___s_Stanley_Primary_School_appealing_Ofsted_report_after_inspectors_place_school_in_special_measures/"><span style="color: magenta;">This report</span></a> </span>says the school is appealing the decision to demote it from outstanding to inadequate.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">This <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/sep/16/ofsted-lashing-out-against-primary-schools"><span style="color: magenta;">Guardian article</span></a> examines in more detail what the motives for private companies giving schools poor Ofsted reports could be. </span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03243253508552676086noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2437404988487194198.post-88798553838241206992013-11-28T09:52:00.002-08:002013-11-28T09:52:26.683-08:00#loveTAs Twitter Storm TONIGHT<div class="yiv8808775251MsoNormal" id="yui_3_13_0_ym1_1_1385296920706_239110" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt;">Tomorrow, Friday 29 November, UNISON has announced ‘Speaking Up for Teaching Assistants’, a day in which the valuable work of teaching assistants will be highlighted and celebrated. This is a particularly important message at the moment as it’s been reported that some in government want to cut teaching assistants’ jobs.</span></div>
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<div class="yiv8808775251MsoNormal" id="yui_3_13_0_ym1_1_1385296920706_239097" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px;">
<span id="yui_3_13_0_ym1_1_1385296920706_239096" style="font-size: 10pt;">We are intending to support this by creating a Twitter Storm tonight to create awareness, and we have chosen to do this between 2235 and 2335 when BBC Question Time is on. <br clear="none" /><br clear="none" />If you use Twitter then we need you to be online when BBC Question Time starts at 2235. The minute the programme starts we need you to start tweeting. All messages should have two hashtags in them: #loveTAs & #BBCQT<br clear="none" /><br clear="none" />Each tweet should contain a brief message that should highlight or celebrate the work of teaching assistants. We should also be looking to educate the Question Time/Twitter audience about just how valuable teaching assistants are to teachers, head teachers, parents and students, to counteract the negative press they have received in recent months. E.g.</span></div>
<ul style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; margin: 1em 0px 0cm; padding: 0px 0px 0px 40px;" type="disc">
<li class="yiv8808775251MsoNormal" style="font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Without a TA, my son/daughter would not be able to X/Y/Z #loveTAs #BBCQT</span></li>
<li class="yiv8808775251MsoNormal" style="font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">The work that teaching assistants do is vital. We must speak up for them! #loveTAs #BBCQT</span></li>
<li class="yiv8808775251MsoNormal" style="font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">I’m a teacher and I value the work of teaching assistants. They are completely invaluable! #loveTAs #BBCQT</span></li>
<li class="yiv8808775251MsoNormal" style="font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">As a parent I know the difference teaching assistants make. We must make sure they are valued! #loveTAs #BBCQT</span></li>
<li class="yiv8808775251MsoNormal" style="font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Teaching assistants are edu-heroes! We will continue to promote the positive impact they have! #loveTAs #BBCQT</span></li>
<li class="yiv8808775251MsoNormal" style="font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Teaching assistants enable children to thrive at school. Give them medals, don’t undermine them! #loveTAs #BBCQT</span></li>
<li class="yiv8808775251MsoNormal" style="font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Did you know it’s been reported that some in government want to cut teaching assistant jobs? What a false economy #loveTAs #BBCQT</span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-size: 10pt;">You get the general idea right? Make up your own or use the examples above. It's worth preparing a few tweets and saving them as drafts on your phone or computer so you can whack them out one after the other. Retweets don't count. But this is an occasion where it's perfectly acceptable to cut and paste others' tweets without crediting them. It's the number of original tweets that counts towards creating a Twitter storm and getting #loveTAs trending.<br clear="none" /><br clear="none" />Please alert others on Twitter who might want to join in.<br clear="none" /><br clear="none" /><u>How can you help if you don't have Twitter?</u></span></div>
<ol id="yui_3_13_0_ym1_1_1385296920706_239148" start="1" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; margin: 1em 0px 0cm; padding: 0px 0px 0px 40px;" type="1">
<li class="yiv8808775251MsoNormal" id="yui_3_13_0_ym1_1_1385296920706_239150" style="font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 12pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">If you have Facebook you can post your messages about why you're striking, or why you support the teachers on the BBC Question Time Facebook page <a href="https://www.facebook.com/bbcquestiontime?fref=ts" rel="nofollow" shape="rect" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); color: purple; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;" target="_blank" title="">here</a></span></li>
<li class="yiv8808775251MsoNormal" id="yui_3_13_0_ym1_1_1385296920706_239147" style="font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span id="yui_3_13_0_ym1_1_1385296920706_239146" style="font-size: 10pt;">Don't have a smartphone? You can still use your mobile to text Question Time. Details on how to are <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006t1q9/features/text-or-tweet" rel="nofollow" shape="rect" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); color: purple; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;" target="_blank" title="">here</a></span></li>
</ol>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03243253508552676086noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2437404988487194198.post-2598133623068191162013-11-27T09:18:00.000-08:002013-11-27T09:18:02.128-08:00Secondary English teacher Miss M has "nothing but admiration and respect" for teaching assistants<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As a Teacher of English in a UK Secondary School, I would
struggle to do my job as effectively, without the help of teaching assistants. </span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">They provide vital support in a number of ways: mixed
ability classes which have children with a variety of Special Education
Needs can be difficult to manage, without the support of a TA. Lower level students,
who have the help of the TA, know that they can rely on them. This has a
beneficial effect on their behaviour which helps to foster a more positive
learning environment for the rest of the students. When they have TA support,
students are calmer and display fewer behavioural issues – the TA forms strong
bonds with the student that helps the pupil feel secure. Often school is
the only place that some students can feel safe and are encouraged to adhere to
a routine - TAs play an important role in this. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The TAs at my school get heavily
involved in raising achievement. Two of them co-ordinate the Nessie Reading
programme and they <a href="" name="_GoBack"></a>have also piloted the Paired Reading
Programme where KS3 students, whose reading age is below the national average, are
paired with KS4 reading mentors, twice a week, to engage and improve their
reading skills. Both of these programmes are very successful. The TAs undertake
all the pre-testing and copious administration that is required before the
reading schemes can commence. </span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have nothing but admiration and respect for teaching assistants and the crucial role that they play in
today’s education system.</span><span style="font-size: 16pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03243253508552676086noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2437404988487194198.post-68383442042933679072013-11-26T11:17:00.001-08:002013-11-26T11:17:28.250-08:00Teacher Emma explains hows a reduction in teaching assistants has affected her school<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Back one May evening last year an email went out to all staff announcing an 'emergency briefing' the following morning. Rumours were rife: was the head retiring, had an ex pupil committed some heinous crime, were Ofsted descending?</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">None of the above proved to be true. In fact, we were told that due to national budget cuts all TAs would have to reapply for their jobs and three would be unsuccessful. In addition to this, the remaining TAs would have their hours cut and so they would now only be paid to work from 9.10</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> (when lessons begin) to 3.15 (when lessons end).</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">We have been working under this new system since September, and it is not pretty. The reduction in hours has left one of my form members, who is physically disabled, to lug her heavy equipment from the form room to lessons on her own, as nobody is in to help her with it until she should already be in her first lesson. It also means the invaluable discussions I could have with this girl's TA during form time no longer happen, and so I am somewhat out of the loop with regards to the issues she faces.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Worse though, is the effect the loss of four TAs has had on the support available to statemented pupils. It is now quite common for a TA to be assigned to three or four pupils during a one hour slot. "Well that could be worse" I initially thought to myself "a TA helping four pupils in a class is hardly a problem." What I hadn't realised was that the TAs were scheduled to be with four different pupils in different classes during that one hour.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">What this means, then, is that a TA will arrive for a 15 minute slot at any given time in your lesson. I never know when this slot will be, and so planning to use them effectively is nigh-on impossible. It's also hardly helpful for those pupils with difficulties that mean they desire routine, as I'm sure you can imagine.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">The TAs feel terrible about it. Three months into this new system and they still apologise to me for arriving late or leaving early. The overriding sense I get from them is that they desperately want to be able to do their jobs and help the pupils they're employed to help. But they can't.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">I suppose if one positive thing has come out of this, it's renewed appreciation for the job a TA does across our school. Unfortunately though, I fear this appreciation is too little, too late and that these are only signs of worse things to come for SEN provision.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03243253508552676086noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2437404988487194198.post-76162929222396342772013-11-25T13:11:00.001-08:002013-11-25T13:11:12.563-08:00Teacher Stephen says teaching assistants "complete small miracles every day"<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Teaching assistants. I've known many. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">There wass the Liverpudlian woman who came in especially to coach students in the accent for Blood Brothers. This was in her own time. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">The one who identified the difficulties one boy in my English class was having, difficulties I hadn't noticed because he was so articulate and lovely and would never have told me out of shyness. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Most recently the wonderful TA who coached an 18 year-old with Aspergers through his A levels ( including Drama ) and is still in contact with his family now he's at university living independently in ways we'd never expected could happen. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Some children at secondary level relate so much better to a TA, perhaps because they get the consistency of a "parental figure" which it is hard to replicate when as a 11,12,13 year-old you are going from lesson to lesson, struggling with the tasks but also with your peers and simply growing up. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">I see students every day engaging with TAs in a much more meaningful way because they are getting one-to-one attention, attention that cannot be given so easily by the teacher when there are 32 in a class. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">I have welcomed at least three ex students back as TAs who have gone onto train to be teachers. In fact it has seemed that the only way to get on some PGCE courses is to have had experience as a TA. Where does that leave future teachers in terms of recruitment onto courses if they have been denied that opportunity? </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Every day I watch in wonder as TAs do a low paid job with the same commitment as teachers. Fair enough they don't have to plan lessons, write reports, mark work or be accountable for exam results, but they do complete small miracles every day with some students who would be lost without them - as would many teaching staff.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03243253508552676086noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2437404988487194198.post-1561923976149441482013-11-24T09:34:00.002-08:002013-11-24T09:34:45.147-08:00Sarah explains why we should celebrate and defend teaching assistants<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><b>Today we're delighted to be hosting a blog post by Sarah, a teaching assistant who normally blogs <a href="http://secretworldofahousewife.blogspot.co.uk/">here</a>. She outlines a typical day for us - imagine what a loss of wonderful experience it would be if she, and others like her, were no longer there to support children.</b></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">I received an email yesterday from my union. I am a member of Unison and the email was to tell me about a day - 29th November 2013 - a day to celebrate Teaching Assistants. Now why would they be wanting to do that? Why celebrate Teaching Assistants? Well, the reason is because if the UK Government has its way there might not be any Teaching Assistants in schools in the future.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Unison is fighting to save Teaching Assistants. The Government has decided that Teachers can do the job of Teaching Assistants. We are an expensive luxury.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">So, let me tell you a little bit about my day and you can decide whether I am an expensive luxury and whether my Teachers can do my duties instead.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">I am paid, as are my colleagues, from 8.50 am. I actually arrive each day at 8.25 am and start to prepare for my day. I help my Teacher welcome the Year 1 children and look after any of them who are upset or wobbly that day. I am there for any parent who wants to chat. If a parent needs to chat to my Teacher, I take the children in so they don't have to stand in the cold.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">I have organised a rota for myself, (in my own time,) so that I can fit in all the children who need extra help. Working from information collated by my Teacher I have organised the children so that all of of them can reach their potential. By 8.50 I have started 1 to 1 work on phonics, handwriting, reading, number work.At 9.05 I bring out my 2nd group for 15 minutes, catching up on phonics, High Frequency Words. During this time the Teacher has taken Register and is into the Phonics session.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">All the time I am listening to the lesson in the classroom, ready to go in if needed, because there are children who have Special Needs and I might be needed to sit with them. In Year 1 children very rarely have been statemented yet so there is no funding for 1 to 1 support. Therefore the General T.A (me) has to be there for them.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">By 9.15 the Literacy Lesson starts and I either sit on the carpet with particular children to support them or spend time writing up my interventions so far that morning ( because I have to provide evidence of the work done with the children). Then I start checking reading books. I either change them or initial that the record has been checked. When the children go to their tables to work I go with them. I know which table because I have spent time (my own time) reading the Teacher's detailed plans, emailed to me each week.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Most of the time I work with the children who find school tricky. The Teacher and I alternate daily with the groups so that she spends time with all the children. There are children who find it so hard to sit still, concentrate, form letters. I am there to encourage, push, support, explain.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Its amazing the number of ways you can find to explain a single thing! And its amazing how many children find the simplest thing (to you and me) impossible to grasp. If I or the Teacher wasn't sitting with them they would not know what to do, how to start. One of my greatest skills is patience. To find yet another way to explain something, but to do it with kindness and humour is what I love to do. And at the same time as I am helping this child there are another 5 on the table who need me too.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Of course the Teacher could sit with them ... but what about the other 25 five year olds?</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">By 10 am its time for Assembly and I keep a group back to read with. I read with every child in the class at least once a week, assessing their skills and giving them tips and encouragement as we go along. Whether that child gets lots of support at home and loves to read or receives minimum support and finds reading hard, hard, hard - I find the way to help them achieve their best, help them enjoy reading. The joy of seeing a child move up a level or get excited about a book is just wonderful.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">After break (10 minutes) I read the story while the Teacher reads with another group (they try to read with every child once a week too).</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Then its Maths and the same sort of support as I have given in Literacy. My last group goes out with me at 11.50 for a quick recap on numbers - formation, number lines, counting. Then at 12 its time for home ...</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">But we don't go home do we? Most T.As in my school stay and get the jobs done that they couldn't do in the morning...like changing reading books, putting up displays, changing the roleplay area, filing ... Its a rare day that I go home before 12.35 and some days I stay until 1pm, an hour over my paid time. Obviously this is up to me. Its my choice that I stay, but then that's the sort of people T.As tend to be. We don't do our job for the money, we do it because we love it, love the children.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">An ordinary morning is what I have described above. I haven't told you about my playground duties, my chats with children whose parents are breaking up, whose granny has died, who have seen their dad beating up their mum... I haven't told you about the chats with parents who are worried or don't "get" phonics. I haven't mentioned helping children who have wet themselves or been sick everywhere or had a massive nose bleed.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Of course the Teacher could do all these things too. She gets into work at 7.30 and stops for lunch at 12.55 ( 15 minutes break ... soooo lazy!!) then works through until 5.30 when she goes home sorts life out for her own children and then carries on with school work. The thing is though that if she did my job, the things I do, then when would she actually be teaching? Or maybe we should just forget about all the small groups I take out, forget about reading with the children?</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">There are Teaching Assistants in my school who work 1 to 1 with children who are autistic or have long term illness, children with behavioural problems who, if left to their own devices could be dangerous both to themselves and other children. Without their T.As these children would be lost. As it is, their parents have to fight for help. How could they access education without the care and 1 to 1 support of a Teaching Assistant? T.As deliver physiotherapy programmes, Speech and Language interventions, administer medication...</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Teaching Assistants are the unsung backbone of the education system. We work for just over minimum wage and we work because we choose to give our best for the children in our care. In my school the T.As are hard working, intelligent (many are Graduates) and very caring. Often it is the T.A who has the time to sit and listen to a child, who picks up on the underlying problems a child faces. We are part of a team, with our Teachers, trying to create an environment where children can learn and enjoy learning.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Teachers work incredibly hard already. If we were not there to do the things we do then I really hate to think what would happen to the children who need us. Teachers cannot physically do their own jobs and ours. Its impossible. I despair at the short sightedness of the UK Government and their plans.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">If you have a child in school then please celebrate how fortunate they are, not only to have Teachers who work their socks off, but also Teaching Assistants who do their best to support, care and guide. It has been a long time since all we did was wash up paint pots.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03243253508552676086noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2437404988487194198.post-54448683317930015002013-11-22T10:39:00.000-08:002013-11-22T10:39:15.345-08:00PRU teacher Neil Finbow is ROARing his support for teaching assistants<br />
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Mr Gove appears to believe that the halcyon days of education lie well in the past. The 50s and 60s, when learning was by rote, GCEs were rigorous and behaviour good.</div>
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I am one who had that education.</div>
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I can clearly remember this 7 year old walking home from Old Heath Primary School in 1961 chanting to myself ‘nature abhors a vacuum, nature abhors a vacuum’, with no real idea of what a vacuum was and even less idea of the meaning of ‘abhors’. Still I learnt it and remember it to this day.</div>
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I can also remember that, when I was in what would be now Year 5, two new young children arrived in our class. They were brothers, a year apart in age, but put into the same class because they had the same ‘problem’. They were illiterate.</div>
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I have no idea of any of the circumstances behind why they had never been taught to read and write, all I can remember is that they were good at football.</div>
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They were placed at the back of the class, given a copious amount of blank paper and crayons and left to colour-in and draw all day. Yes they did join in with the bits that they could. like games, listening to stories and, of course, art. But otherwise they were left to their own devices. You see there was just nothing to be done for them. It was a class of 34 now and there was nobody or no time to give them any extra help.</div>
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It is, however, very ironic that in the following year when six of us who were deemed 11+ material were hived off to the headmaster’s room every morning for a term for extra tuition to help us pass.</div>
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I have no idea what happened to these brothers, perhaps they became prolific artists, but I went to the local grammar school.</div>
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Today we have our wonderful TAs.</div>
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I am convinced that, because of the introduction into the Teacher’s Pay and Conditions document of the ’25 tasks’ that teachers are not supposed to do, Mr Gove, Mr Osborne, et al, think that all TAs do is photocopying, data entry and classroom displays. The things that teachers should still be doing. How wrong could they be?</div>
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I feel no need to list all the wonderful things that TAs do here as every head teacher, teacher, governor and parent will know from experience what a difference they have made to the education of their children. It appears to only be the ‘usual culprits’ who have no idea whatsoever what happens in a school or the problems that we have to deal with in real life, that think they could be dispensable.</div>
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When I first started teaching I was told to make friends with and be nice to the caretaker as he really ran the school. Now that advice must include the TAs as well.</div>
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In fact I would go one step further than just calling for the retention of TAs. I think we should be calling for an increase in their very meagre pay and a change to their contracts that makes them so vulnerable.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03243253508552676086noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2437404988487194198.post-8642446850442316852013-11-21T11:48:00.002-08:002013-11-21T11:48:57.263-08:00Secondary teacher Vicki is ROARing her support for TAs<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">I have been teaching for 13 years. When I first started teaching classroom support was a rare sight - the school I started teaching in had four learning support assistants (the preferred term then) and none of them worked full-time. I remember as a brand new teacher, just a month after my 22nd birthday, feeling on the spot with support in the classroom - that I was being judged by them and that they probably thought I was a bit crap. I soon realised that they are invaluable - even in my first school where we had relatively few students on the SEN register.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">I now work in a 'proper' comprehensive, in rural Suffolk. Whilst behaviour is very good within school we have a higher than average number of students on the SEN register, and are lucky enough to have a team of around 10 teaching assistants, who are excellent. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Over the years I have worked closely with many of them, particularly in the last year when I have taken on the role of teaching Entry Level English, on top of my Geography Subject Leader role. My Year 11 group are great - but it has taken me months to get them where I wanted them due to the nature of their needs (both learning and socially) and I would have never been able to do this without the support of the teaching assistants timetabled with this class.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">However they are probably even more valuable to me in my mainstream classes. Two of my Year 11 Entry Level English group also take GCSE Geography - they are in a class where nearly all of the other students will achieve a C or above, with many aiming for A and A*. Despite the demands of the course they manage to keep up in lessons and enjoy the lessons as they have the support of another adult in the room - a level of support that I physically can't give when I am teaching a class of 25 students. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">In our lower school we have many students with very specific needs who are taught in mostly mixed ability classes. In one of my Year 8 classes I have a boy with severe autism who loves the subject and has fantastic knowledge, however he struggles to get anything written down and over feels totally overwhelmed by the amount of knowledge he has. This leads to episodes where he goes into meltdown - but he has the support of a brilliant teaching assistant who can recognise the triggers much more quickly than I can as I am teaching the whole class, and therefore can intervene and stop things from escalating. The same teaching assistant (who wants to become a teacher) also supports me with a Year 7 class. Within this class I have a student with Down's Syndrome who is functioning many years below her classmates, two other statemented students, and four more on School Action Plus. This is a class that I love teaching, however due to their needs I am exhausted after 100 minutes with them. I simply could not teach this class without his support.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">In my school teaching assistants go above and beyond their duties for very little re-numeration. They mentor students in their lunch hour, run after-school clubs, prepare resources, run withdrawal groups, lead enrichment activities, ferry students around who go to college on specific days, run some detentions, and feed and toilet those that can't do it themselves. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">In my school teaching assistants are loved by students and are often the only source of stability for these youngsters. If Mr Gove doesn't understand this then perhaps he shouldn't be in his current position. Oh on second thoughts....</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03243253508552676086noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2437404988487194198.post-53922033242818432582013-11-20T04:13:00.003-08:002013-11-20T05:36:27.294-08:00Specialist teacher Diane Girard is ROARing her support for teaching assistantsI am shocked by the the Department of Education even considering getting rid of teaching assistants as a cost cutting exercise.<br />
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Although I have now retired as a specialist teacher I greatly valued the
work of TAs . They are crucial for supporting children in school. I
have worked with and given training to a number of TAs. Their dedication
and interest was always inspiring despite low pay.<br />
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I am deeply concerned that without TA support many children will not be
able to reach their potential or even cope at all. For all kinds of
reasons not all children are able to access the curriculum or manage
socially. I have been involved with children on the autism spectrum and
children with dyslexia. These children were able to remain in mainstream
education because of support.<br />
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The loss of TAs is extremely worrying. Michael Gove's department need to ditch this idea once and for all.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03243253508552676086noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2437404988487194198.post-26198574465330625692013-11-19T09:09:00.001-08:002013-11-19T09:09:35.110-08:00Deputy head teacher and SENCO Mary Vince is ROARing her support for teaching assistants<div class="MsoNormal">
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I started infant teaching in 1976 and
didn’t have a teaching assistant. I have strong memories of trying to meet the
needs of all the children in big classes of over 30, feeling really restricted
in what I was able to offer the children as the only adult in the room.</div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Great improvements came to both my teaching and to the pastoral care
the children received after the introduction of teaching assistants. I was now able to differentiate work and
activities better to meet the needs of individuals and groups. The curriculum
could be more hands on, practical and exploratory with another adult in the
classroom. The children received more care and attention and thrived as a
result.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">By the time I became Special Needs
Coordinator (SENCO) later in my career, TAs had become indispensible in
supporting children with Special Educational Needs. Their enthusiasm and
commitment to the children they work
with has never been reflected in their pay and conditions. They are always keen
to attend training to enhance their knowledge and strategies for supporting
children with learning, behaviour and emotional needs. Many children would not
thrive, or indeed survive, in the school system without the dedication of a TA.
Over the years more and more responsibilities have been given to TAs eg.
contributing to Individual Education Plans (IEPs) and progress review meetings,
and meeting with professionals from support agencies as they worked tirelessly
to help children with the most challenging needs.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">TAs are always around in the classrooms,
playgrounds, corridors and dinner halls caring for the children and encouraging
them to reach their full potential. Their importance to school life should not
be under estimated.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03243253508552676086noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2437404988487194198.post-41286459432455559642013-11-18T12:18:00.001-08:002013-11-18T12:18:29.890-08:00Class teacher Polly Donnison is ROARing her support for teaching assistants <div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">When I started my first job in 1983 in a
deprived infant school in Hackney I had a class of thirty 5 year olds. It was
common practice then to work on your own. Support teachers were unheard of and
the only help I got was on Thursday afternoons when an elderly woman would come
to take away my paint pots for washing . Her other jobs around the school were
dinner and playground duty. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">During the last 30 years I have seen
classroom support develop and expand enormously from this limited, though still
vital role, to one, which has a central place in the classroom alongside the
teacher. The names these workers have been given indicate that change, from
dinner lady, helper, classroom assistant to teaching assistant and learning mentor.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">The job of teaching assistant still entails
doing the basic tasks that keep the classroom going, but also requires them to
take on a teaching role. TAs have, for a long time now, supported small groups
of children in a wide range of activities and tasks across the curriculum, and
helped individual children with learning, behaviour or physical difficulties. The
job titles may have changed but the rates of pay for these workers have
remained low and do not reflect the range of skills and expertise they are
expected to have.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Over the years I have worked with excellent
TAs and we have developed real working partnerships. TAs have enabled me to
increase what I can achieve with the children far beyond what was possible in
1983. They give me valuable insights
both into my teaching methods and the children’s’ responses and progress. TAs
have an essential role in dealing with minor or major crises that occur in your
classroom. They nurture the children in
general, and provide continuity of care in the class when teachers are called
away. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">But their importance goes beyond the
classroom. TAs are usually recruited from the school community, most often
being parents or grandparents of the children. This provides valuable links
with the local area. Bridges have been built between school and home,
differences in language and culture have been understood or overcome by these
connections, and the benefits to the school, and especially the children, have
been enormous.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03243253508552676086noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2437404988487194198.post-88509484085735925122013-11-17T15:23:00.000-08:002013-11-17T15:24:08.903-08:00Speaking Up for Teaching Assistants<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On 29 November Unison is holding a 'Speaking Up for Teaching Assistants Day' which is to celebrate TAs and all the incredible work they do.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the 12 days leading up to that we want to share some of your thoughts on this.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On Twitter teacher @Organic_Jane told us,</span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"<span style="line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Without our Teaching Assistants children will not be able to access the curriculum. Vital part of our school."</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And via email former head teacher Pat Wills said,</span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"</span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">As HT of a large primary school in one of the most disadvantaged wards in the country it was obvious that teachers needed to be enabled to teach. </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">By building teams of teaching assistants this could happen. Learning mentors, family support workers, inclusion team and QuietPlace workers provided the structure. The SEN team gained knowledge re specific learning needs so children could access the curriculum."</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">Another email contributor said,</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">"In my school they have already started to reduce the number of teaching assistants and it's obvious that the students they supported (often the most vulnerable in the school) are finding it difficult without that extra layer of support. We shouldn't be reducing the numbers of teaching assistants, we need more of them. They are absolutely invaluable!"</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">Can you add your testimony? Let us know what what difference teaching assistants make and we'll post it up on the site. Let's ROAR for our TAs.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: whitesmoke; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03243253508552676086noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2437404988487194198.post-84754916755984587522013-11-10T11:25:00.003-08:002013-11-14T03:24:08.747-08:00Who is ROARing for education on Twitter?<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We thought it might be useful for us to list just some of the people who we think are are using Twitter effectively to ROAR for education and who we would recommend giving a follow.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Please note that this is by no means comprehensive, is definitely in no particular order, and will certainly be updated from time-to-time (as new campaign groups appear for instance). </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you think we've missed off someone who really should be on the list please email us at teacherroar@gmail.com and tell us why you think they need to be on the list. We're very happy to hear your suggestions.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<u><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Teachers</span></u></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://twitter.com/HeyMissSmith">@heymisssmith</a> writes great blog posts defending education </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;"><a href="https://twitter.com/bed_by_ten">@bed_by_ten</a> is an activist who was key player in setting up the Primary Charter (see below)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;"><a href="https://twitter.com/Sue_Cowley">@Sue_Cowley</a> is an early years expert and all round defender of education </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;"><a href="https://twitter.com/debrakidd">@debrakidd</a> is THE BLOB incarnate</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;"><a href="https://twitter.com/emmaannhardy">@emmaannhardy</a> is a Labour activist and campaigning teacher</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <a href="https://twitter.com/LolaOkolosie">@LolaOkolosie</a> is a teacher and journalist who wrote in defence of our last strike action</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;"><a href="https://twitter.com/jamesdhobson">@jamesdhobson</a> believes in high standards *and* trade unionism (seems the two aren't mutally exclusive!)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <a href="https://twitter.com/SDupp">@sdupp</a> is the teacherROAR in-house cartoonist</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;"><a href="https://twitter.com/cazzypot">@cazzypot</a> writes another great blog, particularly good recently on Ofsted's damaging effects on education</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;"><a href="https://twitter.com/angryexteacher">@angryexteacher</a> has written really well about how PRP will not work and will damage collaboration</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="text-indent: -18pt;"><a href="https://twitter.com/UnbiasedHistory">@UnbiasedHistory</a> fought against Gove's proposed History curriculum, and won!</span></span></div>
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<div style="text-indent: -24px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <a href="https://twitter.com/elly_barnes">@elly_barnes</a> works to make schools more LGBT friendly</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;"><a href="https://twitter.com/drursy">@drursy</a> is a music teacher fighting hard for her subject and for education</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;"><a href="https://twitter.com/Brixtonite">@Brixtonite</a> campaigns against the privatisation of education</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;"><a href="https://twitter.com/secretteacher6">@secretteacher6</a> writes an excellent blog about the life of the ordinary classroom teacher</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;"><a href="https://twitter.com/bristol_teacher">@bristol_teacher</a> is a really hard-working activist fighting for hard for a better education system</span></div>
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<div style="text-indent: -24px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <a href="https://twitter.com/teachertomo">@teachertomo</a> is an activist who fights against privatisation. Consistently tweets interesting education stories</span><br />
<a href="https://twitter.com/LGBTEXEC" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">@LGBTEXEC</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> is Annette Pryce, teacher, trade unionist and LGBT campaigner</span><br />
<a href="https://twitter.com/ELNUT2606" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">@ELTNUT2606</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> is Alex Kenny who represents 2000 teachers in east London</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://twitter.com/MerthyrNASUWT">@MerthyrNASUWT</a> ROARS from South Wales </span><br />
<a href="https://twitter.com/tweetingteach" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">@tweetingteach</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;"> is a teacher turned union organiser who recently organised #seyt13</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;"><a href="https://twitter.com/NUTnorthern">@NUTNorthern</a> is Mike McDonald, regional secretary of NUT's Northern Region</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;"><a href="https://twitter.com/vinwynne">@vinwynne</a> is a union organiser working with teachers in north east England</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;"><a href="https://twitter.com/jackieschneider">@jackieschneider</a> is a music teacher and campaigner for school food and social justice</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;"><a href="https://twitter.com/kiritunks">@kiritunks</a> is more Sylvia than Emmeline</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;"><a href="https://twitter.com/RoyNUT">@RoyNUT</a> tweets about education issues</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;"><a href="https://twitter.com/cyclingkev">@cyclingkev</a> is a trade union activist who tweets about education (and also happens to be DGS of the NUT) </span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;"><a href="https://twitter.com/blamehound">@blamehound</a> is an early years expert and union activist</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;"><a href="https://twitter.com/truan_steve">@truan_steve</a> is fighting against the academic snobbery that labels some subjects 'soft'</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;"><a href="https://twitter.com/annie80778">@annie80778</a> is the woman behind the #savepeandthearts hashtag and blog</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;"><a href="https://twitter.com/GorillaWitch">@gorillawitch</a> is a fully paid up enemy of promise</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;"><a href="https://twitter.com/geordiepolyglot">@geordiepolyglot</a> is a big fan of Gove, and a heavy user of irony</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://twitter.com/MPDNUT">@MPDNUT</a> is a trade unionist and campaigner </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://twitter.com/justified_left">@justified_left </a>is a Suffolk based teacher and a very loud ROARer for education and teachers</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://twitter.com/sianbloor">@sianbloor</a> is a primary teacher and an ICT specialist interested in education policy</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://twitter.com/TonyDowling">@tonydowling</a> ROARs from Gateshead where he is a teacher and union activist</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://twitter.com/68ron">@66ron</a> is a union activist and teacher based in Brighton</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://twitter.com/gapboy">@gapboy</a> is Daniel, a Liverpool based teacher and education activist</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://twitter.com/g56g">@g56g</a> is a retired primary head, school governor and former NUT president based in Huddersfield</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://twitter.com/BedfordBurrow">@bedfordburrow</a> is a Green activist and blogger who loves afternoon tea and is less enthusiastic about Gove and Wilshaw</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://twitter.com/ian_bec">@ian_bec</a> is Head of History at a large comprehensive in Wales </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><u>Further Education</u></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://twitter.com/TracieFK">@TracieFK</a> is a freelance lecturer and trainer in all things children/parenting</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://twitter.com/MahmoonaShah">@MahmoonaShah</a> works in FE in Bradford. She has a locked account but ask nicely and she may let you follow</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://twitter.com/yokelbear">@yokelbear</a> is a trade unionist and lecturer </span><br />
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<u><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Campaigners</span></u></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://twitter.com/WembleyMatters">@WembleyMatters</a> is a Green Party activist with a particular interest in education</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://twitter.com/Melissa_Benn">@Melissa_Benn</a> is a journalist and author specialising in education</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://twitter.com/schooltruth">@schooltruth</a> is Fiona Miller who, along with Melissa Benn, set up the Local Schools Network campaign to promote the work of community schools</span></div>
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<u><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Campaign Groups</span></u></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://twitter.com/PrimaryCharter">@primarycharter</a> campaigns for child-centred learning</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://twitter.com/Save_Downhills">@save_downhills</a> inspired all the anti-forced academy campaigns that followed</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://twitter.com/SaveSnaresbrook">@saveSnaresbrook</a> recently won their campaign against forced academy status</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://twitter.com/SaveOurSulivan">@saveoursullivan</a> are currently campaigning to stop their school being closed to make way for a free school</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://twitter.com/antiacademies">@antiacademies</a> campaign against the privatisation and marketisation of education</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://twitter.com/comp_future">@comp_future</a> campaigns for fair school admissions</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://twitter.com/OurSchoolsE17">@ourschoolsE17</a> are a group of parents, teachers and residents who love their local community schools</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://twitter.com/parentseduforum">@parentseduforum</a> have been set up to promote parents' voice in education</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://twitter.com/ParentROAR">@parentROAR</a> are parents ROARing support for teachers</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://twitter.com/Educ_Reform">@edu_reform</a> campaigns against the <span style="background-color: white;">overly-prescriptive, league-table-obsessed</span><span style="background-color: white;"> nature education </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://twitter.com/SocEduAss">@soceduass</a> is Labour's only affiliated education group</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://twitter.com/BadassTeachersA">@BadassTeachersA</a> are a group US teachers fighting back against marketisation of education</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://twitter.com/localschools_uk">@localschools_uk</a> celebrate local schools and run a series of great education stories</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://twitter.com/govewatch">@govewatch</a> does what it says on the tin and keeps track of Gove's latest idiotic plans and cockups</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://twitter.com/LNWN_NUT">@LNWN_NUT</a> is the London NUT's Women's Network </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://twitter.com/TheDramaArmy">@TheDramaArmy</a> are champions of the expressive arts and other subjects deemed (mistakenly) to be 'soft' </span></div>
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<u><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Generally Gobby People and Teacher Allies</span></u></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://twitter.com/MichaelRosenYes">@MichaelRosenYes</a> is a professor of children's literature and defender of education</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://twitter.com/jennylandreth">@jennylandreth</a> has written in defence of teachers and strike action</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://twitter.com/realmissfiona">@realmissfiona</a> is a TV presenter and Mirror columnist who has supported teachers against Gove</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://twitter.com/DearDaveandNick">@DearDaveandNick</a> is an artist-educator and political campaigner who has always been a firm supporter of teachers</span><br />
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<u><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">International</span></u><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://twitter.com/drloisweiner">@DrLoisWeiner</a> is a US professor of education and union activist</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://twitter.com/DianeRavitch">@DianeRavitch</a> is a leading US campaigner for education</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://twitter.com/TeachSolidarity">@teachsolidarity</a> has global news of of teachers' struggles and the fight against education reform</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://twitter.com/teach_talk_back">@teach_talk_back</a> is a Dublin based forum for teachers to discuss education and union matters</span><br />
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<u><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Education Policy and Law</span></u><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://twitter.com/pasi_sahlberg">@pasi_sahlberg</a> is the international ambassador for Finnish education (no testing til 18, no Ofsted, world-class)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="https://twitter.com/tothechalkface">@tothechalkface</a> is a senior lecturer in education</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="https://twitter.com/Education_LDay">@Education_LDay</a> is the education department of the human rights law firm Leigh Day</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="https://twitter.com/acanofworms">@canofworms</a> is the barrister David Wolfe who works for those concerned about academies, free schools and the law </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="https://twitter.com/dylanwiliam">@dylanwiliam</a> is a professor of education and interested in the power of education to transform lives </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="https://twitter.com/hstevenson10">@hstevenson10</a> is Howard Stevenson who writes about teaching, teachers and schools</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="https://twitter.com/RichardEvans36">@RichardEvans36</a> is a Cambridge Professor and defender of the History curriculum </span><br />
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<u><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Satirical Accounts (at least we think they're satirical...) </span></u></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://twitter.com/Toryedumacation">@Toryedumacation</a> exists to poke fun at a similarly named vitriolic twitter account allegedly run from the DfE</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://twitter.com/Badheadteacher">@Badheadteacher</a> <span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;">says there's been no dissent in his school since he got rid of the staff room, the union reps, the doors to every classroom and the Head of History</span></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03243253508552676086noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2437404988487194198.post-42734488554297427102013-11-07T05:15:00.003-08:002013-11-10T03:19:48.021-08:00Help us Defend and Celebrate Teaching AssistantsHere at #teacherROAR we're huge fans of the teaching assistants we work with - who are often the unsung heroes of education. So we were disgusted to find out that Gove had been secretly plotting to axe <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/teacher-blog/2013/jun/07/phasing-out-teaching-assistants-schools">230,000</a>* of them.<br />
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That's why we're proud to support Unison's day of action 'Speaking Up for Teaching Assistants' on 29 November. There's lots you can do to show your support for teaching assistants including writing to your MP to let them know how strongly you feel about this. It's easy to do using the Write to Them website <a href="https://www.writetothem.com/">here</a>.<br />
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<b>What we'd like to do is to have a '12 Days celebrating Teaching Assistants' starting 17 November and building up to the Unison action on the 29th. What we'd like <u>you</u> to do is to share your stories about what heroes teaching assistants are. Perhaps you're a parent who wants to explain the difference a teaching assistant has made to your child? Or perhaps you're a teacher who wants to share the way a teaching assistant has had an impact in the classroom? Email us at teacherroar@gmail.com and we'll publish them on this blog. </b><br />
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If you want more information about how important teaching assistants are there's a great page of useful facts on the Unison website <a href="http://www.unison.org.uk/at-work/education-services/key-issues/speaking-up-for-teaching-assistants/the-facts/">here</a>.<br />
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*Unison think this figure could be as high as 300,000!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03243253508552676086noreply@blogger.com3