Shocked, I am,
shocked…
A school which told pupils not to worry about exams has been given the lowest possible Ofsted rating after pupils told inspectors ‘No one minds if we don't do our best work’.
When headteacher Rachel Tomlinson took over Barrowford School, in Lancashire, seven years ago, the school was given a new motto - "learn to love, love to learn" - which she says represents their emphasis on learning to be a rounded person as well as following the national curriculum.
School policy states that 'a child is not to be defined as naughty. It should be explained to the child that they have made a wrong choice.'
*chuckles quietly*
Chris McGovern, himself a former head and chairman of the Campaign for Real Education, said "This school has used its pupils for an experiment and should hang its head in shame.
"Children and their parents have been led to believe that these child-centred teaching methods are the way forward but the fact is they are creating a generation of school leavers who are unemployable."
Well, agreed, but then, it’s not like top Ofsted-rated comps are doing all that much better in that regard, really…
When headteacher Rachel Tomlinson
ReplyDeleteI'm going to say nothing on another blogger's site. Plenty on my own.
The tragedy in this story is that there are now literally hundreds of children who have had thier educations and life chances completely f**ked up by this idiot.
ReplyDeleteFrankly the Government should not only reschool them, but also pay them compensation for allowing such piss poor teaching to take place.
"learn to love, love to learn" is also the motto of the school I work in (not as a teacher) And the school strives for the best for the pupils, none of this mumbo-jumbo carp
ReplyDeleteI read (in an earlier article on the school) that raised voices were not permitted; instead, the approved course of action is to use the phrase ‘you have emptied my resilience bucket’, which, coincidentally, has filled my vomit bucket.
ReplyDeleteThe accompanying images show a woman who has clearly not reached the mature years once expected of a head teacher; once again, it seems governors have fallen for the idea of fast-tracking dynamic (and relatively inexperienced) young teachers to management positions - a practice which, I suspect, lies at the root of many recent tabloid headlines.
It's all part of the new orthodoxy that theory is all and experience counts for very little, especially when set against the IT-literacy of the younger generation. Such an approach may work very well for MacDonalds or TopShop, or perhaps even in a manufacturing setting, but, given how much of education depends on understanding and predicting child behaviour, there is no substitute for wisdom gained over decades of experience at the chalkface.
"I'm going to say nothing on another blogger's site. Plenty on my own."
ReplyDeleteIt's (sadly) a target rich opportunity now.
"The tragedy in this story is that there are now literally hundreds of children who have had thier educations and life chances completely f**ked up by this idiot."
Yup.
"...which, coincidentally, has filled my vomit bucket."
Ditto! Though expecting a child to understand the term 'resilience' its itself quite ambitious. I suppose they could always Google it...
"...once again, it seems governors have fallen for the idea of fast-tracking dynamic (and relatively inexperienced) young teachers to management positions.."
See also: police, NHS, etc