Comments on: Daily Buzz: Teachers, it’s time to mark you (more).

By: Fiona

Fiona — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 12:06:50 +0000

As a teacher I constantly need to prioritise…I could work 24/7 and still feel that there was something to be done to better prepare or assess.

By: Another Teacher

Another Teacher — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 13:00:57 +0000

You’re right – there are sub-standard practitioners in all professions and we shouldn’t all be tarred with the same brush because of the bad ones.
My school bends over backwards to cater for parent requests (which I don’t always agree with) but I think if someone had a reasonable plea for changing teachers, most schools would listen and attempt some kind of solution.

By: Carly

Carly — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 10:54:33 +0000

My mistake….sorry Kate. Should have directed this to the first comment. Was feeling a little hot headed at the time.

By: Ram

Ram — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 02:24:05 +0000

In Australia teachers are lucky because in the UK controversy surrounds the fact that pupils are recruited to spy on teachers during lessons and are being ‘run like totalitarian regimes’. The best case scenario is to avoid in class surveillance on teachers and have questionnaires distributed after each term and all feedback should be discussed with the principal on a one to one basis. In
many Australian universities this is the case and can lead to either promotion or demotion or in the best case scenario lecturers can fix their problems on how they communication with their students and fix their flaws. Although teachers are not perfect parents pay alot of money (even thousands of dollars) out of their pockets to educate their children so they have a future rather than no future at all in the workplace. One could say teachers are surrogate guardians who will always receive the blame from parents if their children do not perform at their peak. Thus education relies on 4 pillers of hope
firstly government need to fund more programs to assist students that lack the skills that other students have at their age. Secondly parents need to relieze their kids have a limit in this Facebook and twitter generation where education is second only to socializing with friends in both the online and offline environment. Thirdly parents cannot always blame teachers some kids take time to process information where information overload is the norm. Lastly the pressures of school is too much to bear for most students what parents should understand only year 12 is the most important year the rest is the internship to achieving your goal which is either completing further tertiary studies or finding that dream job.We are all products of the education system no matter how old we are today but are the services
offered robust enough to continue or as always education cracks will appear and we have no tech support to fix it.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2127076/Pupils-recruited-spy-lessons-say-teachers.html

By: Meg

Meg — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 14:49:20 +0000

Not only is annual leave included in holidays, but sick leave still requires approval, and creates more work for teachers, ensuring most wOnt take it unless they literally cannot get out of bed. I don’t know many other professions where having a day off requires more work than showing up.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 10:32:32 +0000

NAPLAN is the biggest load of crap. My daughters school spends the first term practising for the tests. How can the test be a true indicator if all this time is spent teaching to the test?
My best friend had her daughter in tears last year on test day, so much time had been spent drilling them on it and focusing on the importance of the test that the poor kid fell apart eating her breakfast, and that is a well adjusted, high acheiving child. I dread to think how much pressure is put on other children who do not find school easy.

By: amd

amd — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 07:43:16 +0000

A friend and I were discussing this on FB just the other day. I believe that Naplan is largely to blame for this horrendous idea. This was my comment:

I didn’t mind Naplan to start with, I liked the idea of a safety net to catch struggling kids who might have academic talents but have somehow slipped through the net. Not that academics are the be all and end all of course (and I speak as a parent whose kids always do really well in Naplan, so this is not sour grapes). But then it turned into “drag them over the Naplan line no matter what”, inter-school competition over whose school is the “best”. Best at what? Passing tests, apparently.

I am sure Naplan is at least partially to blame for this nonsense about paying teachers based on performance. Which will lead, inevitably, to many teachers not wanting non-academic kids in their class – and who can truly blame them if they are going to have their pay reduced for helping children with learning or behavioural difficulties, or those who are simply non-academic? One of the boys I worked with when I was at (a private Anglican school) as a TA made massive progress, he was able to sit down at his desk and write a paragraph by year 6, was socially quite well adjusted by then and had friends and could have a decent conversation with me. His teachers should all have been commended, in year 2 he was leaping around the room, banging his head on the desk and wouldn’t even pick up a pencil, was aggro and angry and socially isolated. He had come on in leaps and bounds – but will those teachers get paid more for performance? Not a chance, he will never even pass a Naplan test, assuming he is forced to sit one. How do you rate performance in each individual child?

And who gets to rate this performance? The Deans/Heads? Who spend 5 mins a week in each class, if they are really trying – and of course they are always fair and impartial and never have favourite staff members(!). The parents? So wrong on so many levels. So much for teachers helping each other and being there to help each child do the best THEY can do – let’s make schools into blood-thirsty training grounds for passing tests, pit teachers against each other, all vying for the biggest pay cheque and desperately trying to shove the children who won’t do well on the Naplan into the next door classroom.

By: Christine

Christine — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 06:15:46 +0000

Kathy, I agree with everything you said! I’m not a teacher but I’m a speech pathologist working at a specialist school and I’ve witnessed all the effort my work colleagues put in to maximise each student’s learning. Early starts, late finishes and planning on weekends appear to be common!

By: Kate O

Kate O — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 00:53:52 +0000

thanks for clarifying Kris!

By: Anon

Anon — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 00:10:28 +0000

Thank you! I am enjoying it, but there’s many times I want to crawl into bed and not move, haha.
It’s the stress that gets me. I want my students to do the best they can, so I find myself stressing over their assignments as much as I stressed over my own at school (I have to learn to stress less, obviously).