Soaring numbers of trainee teachers are using unlimited resits to get through a basic numeracy test, figures show.
Up to 56 per cent now need multiple attempts before they pass, the statistics suggest.
Sure about that figure? You didn’t get a trainee teacher to work it out, did you?
One student reportedly made 27 attempts. Meanwhile, up to a third of trainees need two attempts or more at a similar test in literacy.
So, why do they think they deserve to be teachers in the first place? I’m hopeless at parallel parking, so I’m hardly likely to say ‘Hmm, I fancy a career as a driving instructor’. What’s attracting such dummies?
The figures appear to show that although a multi-million-pound recruitment campaign has boosted trainee numbers it has struggled to attract substantial numbers of top graduates and that the quality of trainees has deteriorated.
Ah, of course. The sweet, sweet smell of government moolah.
A spokesman for the Department for Children, Schools and Families said trainees on some routes into teaching – such as on-the-job training programmes – were exempt from taking the skills tests.
Imagine what
their literacy and numeracy might be like…
However, they are a requirement for all those undertaking 'initial teacher training' – the vast majority.
'Ofsted tell us that the standard of teaching training has never been higher and big rises in results show that quality of teaching is improving massively year-in, year-out,' he said.
And we all believe Ofsted, don’t we….?
A few years ago I was in the industrial museum in Bristol. There were a group of schoolchildren visiting.
ReplyDeleteI gradually became aware of a woman following them around. She had tattoos up her arms, a face full of piercings, hollow eyes, pale skin, tie-dyed hair and ragged clothes.
I looked around to find the teacher to alert them to this woman. But nobody could be seen. Alarmingly, the woman started talking to some of the children.
Then it dawned on me...
A close friend of mine recently graduated with a degree in English. She is now on a PGCE (for becoming a primary school teacher). She still can't spell basic four letter words (e.g. "I nead some money" and still gets to, two and too confused). Unsurprisingly she doesn't know her tables and will, I fear, be absolutely awful.
ReplyDeleteThe sad thing is your post is completely unsurprising
Nobody with any sense would become a teacher. It's not the money, it's the lunatic rules and the complete absence of discipline. There's also the small detail that a teacher can be fired and their career ruined at the drop of a hat - by one accusation from one vengeful child.
ReplyDeleteSo, anyone with good numeracy or literacy skills is going to find a much, much safer profession these days.
You certainly wouldn't get me into a classroom, no matter what the pay.
If illiterates and innumerates want to work in schools they should stick to being PE teachers.*
ReplyDelete*
I'm sure that 90% of posts mocking illiteracy contain at least one spelling mistake so apologies in advance.
"Then it dawned on me..."
ReplyDeleteYikes!
"The sad thing is your post is completely unsurprising"
I have to admit, i wasn't that surprised myself. My father gives some spare time as a classroom assistant at the school where my mother used to sit as a governor, before she got fed up with the way it was run. He often has to correct the teacher's spelling or grammar.
"Nobody with any sense would become a teacher. It's not the money, it's the lunatic rules and the complete absence of discipline."
Indeed. Even I can still be surprised by some of the posts on discipline over at 'To Miss With Love'...
"I'm sure that 90% of posts mocking illiteracy contain at least one spelling mistake"
Gold star for you! Hope it doesn't stifle the other commenters...
That comment from Ofsted.
ReplyDeletePure tractor production statistics...