| Topic: | Re:Re:Re:Bijou School set for White City location....... | |
| Posted by: | Andy Magee | |
| Date/Time: | 26/01/11 16:13:00 |
| Maire, I am an Acton resident, a parent and a teacher working in an inner-London secondary school. I am a member of the NUT but do not consider myself to be a particularly active member. In fact, in over ten years of membership the only action I have ever taken was against is the 2010 Academies Bill when I marched and lobbied my MP against it. My views are very much my own. I am very much opposed to the introduction of free schools for a number of educational and utilitarian reasons. I don’t think they will work and I don’t think that provision should be cut from other areas of education to fund them. I also very much resent the right-wing press’s reporting of educational issues. I think it is nasty and slanted and it does not give schools, teachers or others involved in education the right to reply. Sarah, You may not agree with the job security that public sector workers get. However, I don’t agree with bankers being paid massive bonuses or football players being paid £250,000 and upwards a week. The point I was making is that the teachers in the Acton school were vilified by the right wing press because they did not want to agree to a change to their contract which would probably have resulted in them working longer hours and may well have led to them earning less money. I also understand that small schools will actually end up in a worse financial position if they decide to become an academy. Are the staff and the union that represents them not right to try and prevent a change that would have squeezed tight financial resources even further. I have never met the teachers involved and know nothing of the disagreement other than what has been reported in the press. However, I assume the school involved was Berrymead Juniors as this is the only one that fits the profile described in Toby’s article. If you read their most recent OFSTED report it is massively complimentary about the teaching and the teachers. Therefore, I think it is highly unlikely that the school has any ‘useless’ or ‘rubbish’ teachers. Michael Gove certainly didn’t mention it when he praised the school on Question Time last week. One of the biggest frustrations in the profession is what to do about colleagues that are unsatisfactory and I absolutely agree that the teaching unions are partly responsible for this. I don't condone children being taught by unsatisfactory teachers. Unfortunately, I don’t think the solution is as simple as branding them ‘useless’ or ‘rubbish’ and demanding that they should be sacked. |