In this article from the 11 September issue of SecEd, NAHT General Secretary Mick Brookes discusses the new challenges teachers have been set in the new academic year.
Another new academic year and another set of challenges from a government determined to forge on with “transforming” the system while perpetuating some of the relics of the past. We return to:
• A duty to co-operate.
• The first wave of Diplomas.
• Current year 7s staying in education or training until they are 17-years-old.
• Computer-based school meal nutritional standards.
• And of course – the students!
We share, across key stages, the backwash of the assessment debacle that has thankfully resulted in the departure of ETS and an interesting void where none of the current providers seem keen to step up to the ETS plate – and the clock is ticking.
I believe that there is no chance of getting a robust system in place to maintain the current bureaucratic monolith; something has to give.
At the NAHT, we have provided a solution for the government that involves sending the tests (key stage 2 and 3) to schools in May; allowing schools themselves to decide when to administrate (surely not in early May!), and have them locally marked so that they can inform teacher assessment.
We have a professional workforce of more than 400,000 teachers and as many classroom assistants who are experts in assessing pupil progress. You should be trusted to undertake the task of assessment in order to effect a smooth transfer between key stages so that the skills children bring with them to year 7 and year 10 can be properly taken into account.
How much better to have, for instance, close collaboration between year 6 and 7 staff in July, with a transfer project so that receiving teachers have actual examples of work, rather than a set of numbers that are to some extent arbitrary and lead to year 7 teachers feeling that they have to re-test their new cohort.
We have been in the forefront of taking this issue forward and we are strengthened by the support of parents, governors and the independent sector.
It is time the profession stood up to oppose this nonsense and reclaim the agenda, our professional pride, and a better guarantee that children will transfer from key stage to key stage with a lust for learning. If we fail at this, and students are not engaged by the Diploma agenda, we will have a real problem in 2011 when the current year 7 cohort is expected to keep learning.
The duty to co-operate is an interesting concept, the fact that it has to be regulated I find somewhat depressing. Certainly one of the great failings of the past decade is that the reform of the old local education authority has not resulted in that close co-operation between services that was part of the design. How many of you have tried desperately to involve social services in the lives of at risk children only to find that no help is available?
The computer programme for nutritional value of school meals is an interesting use of technology, but unless the fayre provided at lunchtime is attractive, we will see a further proliferation of lunch-box toxic additives and pork pies smuggled through the school fence.
The first five Diplomas are up and running. We wish them well and must ensure that the logistical challenges between now and 2011 are met, resourced and embedded – 51 new courses alongside the current GCSE and A level programmes of study is a very big ask, the danger of it “all going horribly wrong” (Alan Johnson, 2007) is an ever present reality.
The role of the employer in this is crucial, meaningful work experiences are key. The Institute of Directors and the Confederation of British Industry have consistently carped about the quality of school leavers entering the world of work. It is time for them to stop moaning and start collaborating.
The sense of perspective for me was always in the interaction with the children/young people. You will all remember the teachers that filled you with hope and filled you with despair, no matter what externally imposed burdens there are, the reason for being is all around you. You are the constant in their lives, not politicians, school improvement officials or any of the army of “accountants” that individually add to the bureaucracy of control.
Sometimes you are the only constant in their lives. That is a startling responsibility but is also our raison d’etre.
To find out more about SecEd, follow the link below.
http://www.naht.org.uk/welcome/about-naht/members-benefits/education-services/seced/
