Fed up being the scape-goat

I’ve been in work for 14 1/2 hrs preparing for an Ofsted visit to check how well our Academy is serving the needs of our students. I usually start work at 6.30am and leave school at 6pm each day to try and make sure I do my absolute best for my students. I also give up some of my weekend to the detriment of my young children.

I appreciate that I am not the only teacher who does this, and there are those who even do more. I know that I have a serious responsibilty in preparing my students to be productive members of our societies and community, and to help them achieve their aspirations. I do this gladly as I chose to be a teacher.

However, I object to the fact that education is used as the scape goat for all of society’s ills. I am annoyed when they announce on the news that apparently schools are “now going to teach …..” when we’ve already been doing that. Where are the responsibilities of the Parent’s and local communities to also teach their youth how to be good citizens. There needs to be a triangulation of support for young people so that we can support the Parents , and they can support us.

However my biggest objection is when Mr Michael Gove, our current edication secretary, dares to claim that

1. I am a danger to the educational well-being of ict students as I only teach them the national curriculum and not how to programme a computer. This is when we don’t even have enough money to buy new ict resources so we can deliver the exciting and progressive topics that I would love to deliver.

2. Apparently I only work 32 1/2 hrs a week and have long holidays. Gove thinks I should actually work long enough to get the job done. Dear Mr Gove, please could you give my academy some more money so we can afford to employmore people and I don’t have to do 3 people’s jobs so I can ensure the student’s don’t suffer.

Thank you for giving me this opportunity to Blog. I hope I can now persuade our local LEA to release the block on Blogs so that I can demonstrate this in school.