Comments

1. At 07:39 AM on 16 Oct 2007, Paul wrote:

   Nicky had to apoligise to us listeners for the use by a guest of a particular word used in criticisng those seen as responsible for the departure of Sir Ming Campbell.

   But I thought it could perhaps be the policies of the Lib Dems are a big pile of that same substance sitting in the Lib Dem's window and it may be perhaps thought a different salesman/woman, or leader can sell it as otherwise.

   I keep saying it but leadership isn't saying "where are my people going - I must find out - so I can lead them".

   So The Candidate film came to mind and the fateful words by a man who could sell it in his younger days, Robert Redford - "Well we (the rebels) have won. Now what do we do?"

   So Simon Hughes, Nicholas Cable and everyone else left looking at the window display - we await to see.

   And tremendous respect for Sir Ming's behaviour and silence. Age discrimination laws? Do not make me laugh. I may fall off my zimmer frame.

   I cannot believe I would have been that gracious to the "shower"

2. At 02:53 PM on 16 Oct 2007, Stuart Robertson wrote:

   I listened to the interview with Ed Balls this morning and I was shaken by a couple of things he said. He mentioned that school was about preparing young people for adult life. I agree with him but unfortunately most teachers have little or no experience of life outside of education. I entered the teaching profession at 40 years old. I had to make a significant finanacial sacrifice to do that but I do not regret it. If we are going to help young people prepare for adult life we need more people with real life experience in the profession. Ed Balls and his ministers need to look at rewarding teachers financially who enter the system with real life experience. At present that does not happen and many in jobs are not prepared to make the financial sacrifice to complete the training.

   As for schools. I do not believe they have improved significantly because we have not addressed the root problem of poor parenting that rots the base of decent society. We need to sort that out first before we try to poor money into schools with antisocial kids brought up by inept parents.

3. At 03:50 PM on 16 Oct 2007, Ms Brown wrote:

   I am a teacher in an Independent School in Bath.
   I have had previous experience of State schools and I can honestly say I would never go back. I was educated in a State system and believe in the State system. However, I got so low and so unmotivated in my previous job that I was on the brink of leaving teaching all together. You cannot live your life feeling under valued and depressed - life is too short. My husband suggested teaching in the Independent Sector; I really didn't want to. I had preconceptions that the children would be stuck up and over privileged.
   I have been in my current job for 6 years now and I honestly love it. I want to come to work and I enjoy the working atmosphere. The difference is fundamental. Out of 45 periods a week I have 30 teaching periods and 5 cover periods. I will not be needed in the 10 periods of free time I have, leaving me opportunities to plan my lessons, mark my books, chat to colleagues and chase up students etc etc. You just don't get this in the State system leaving you many hours of work to do at home. This gives you no time for recuperation and so leaves you feeling exhausted.
   Also the support here is second to none. I very rarely have discipline problems, but there is a very clear structure in place. Not all the discipline would fall on me.
   Then the structure of the day is the final benefit. We have a long lunch time, nearly 2 hours long. This gives us time to eat and run clubs. This in turn gives the students a break from lessons and allows them to build relationships with you that are outside of the class room. The teaching day finishes at 4.20 but the students are expected to stay until 5.30pm doing either homework or more activities. The benefit of this is longer holidays. I prefer it this way around.
   I do not think things will change in the State system until the rich can no longer buy themselves out of it. There needs to be an en-mass concern which you just are not going to get with the two tier system. There is so much that needs changing, I'm not sure they're ever going to manage it.

4. At 04:03 PM on 16 Oct 2007, Greenman wrote:

   Lying for your country whilst abroad - was one description of a diplomat wasn't it?

   But lying for your country whilst at home - that is a Member of Parliament perhaps? So much waffle about how Sir Ming went off on his own accord. If they are being pushed towards the exit door someone gets the message eventually. You start to walk towards it with your friends asking all concerned "But Sir Ming, where are you going?" and then in very very soft voices "Come back, Ming, Come back! Oops - he has gone. I do not think he heard us. It's his age you know?"

   Bill Clinton's "I did NOT have sexual relations with that woman" I am told is factually acceptable as not a lie by some. Right!

   And I thought his second language was English?

5. At 03:21 PM on 17 Oct 2007, Darren Reynolds wrote:

   I listened to Ed Balls comments on 5 Live recently and, as a Deputy Headteacher of a rural secondary school in Worcestershire, I am left wondering, who it is that is feeding him such nonsense and spin. Our teachers work extremely hard, love their job and act extremely professionally, only to be told by a string of 'Educational Experts' and Ofsted that it still isn't enough. When are they going to learn to leave thos of us who know what we are doing to get on with it. Here in Worcestershire our schools re very poorly funded yet produce some of the best results in the country because we get on with the job of learning. Ed Balls and his colleagues keep banging on about teaching and completely miss the point of education. In our school, a successful 11 - 16 co-ed secondary, we have recently abolished our Year 7 homework policy and replaced it with Extended Learning Opportunities which encourage independance within our students. We do not need faceless grey suits imposing their ideals on the overworked and overstretched system. If they spent 10% of the Iraq war effort on education and left teachers to get on without initiative overburdens we would have a system to be proud of, not one that is seeing a recruitment and retention problem.

6. At 07:38 PM on 17 Oct 2007, Rob Robson wrote:

   I am a headteacher in a very large rural comprehensive school and this is my second headship. I love my job because it allows me to lead a community of people that are focussed on children and their potential and there is nothing more exciting than that. I don’t complain about being a head (in public – my wife sometimes gets an ear bashing!) because I could have chosen to stay in the classroom and teach which is something I have always loved. I think sometimes we lose sight of why we came into the job and we give attention to people carping on about how much holiday time we get and that we go home at 3.00pm. We all know that this is nonsense and so do the vast majority of parents. If I ever meet someone who tells me that I’m not working a hard as they do, I explain that I will happily send them an application form for teaching because it is a great job. Oddly, no one has ever taken me up on this!
   Children are hard work and teaching them is simultaneously exhausting and incredibly rewarding. A small research study a few years ago looked at the number of interpersonal actions in a classroom compared to the office and reported that the average office worker makes 6-10 interpersonal actions in an hour whereas most teachers make 300 in the same time. Children’s minds are immature and they are only at the beginning of a lifetime of learning. Sometimes adults judge children by their standards and forget that young minds are not fully developed. If we want respect, we must teach respect. This is different to fear when learning becomes very difficult. I feared some teachers when I was at school and I didn’t learn very much from them. I like to think that the students in my school respect me but I would not expect them to stand up because I walk into the room. If I do walk in, I want to keep out of the way of the teacher who has planned a lesson and is getting on with delivering it. I want to talk with students and understand how their learning is progressing. I am not sure that I achieve that by insisting that learning stops when I walk into the room.
   The development of children is why schools exist and one day we will wake up and realise that the irrelevant argument about whether things were ‘easier in my day’ is like comparing cucumbers with bananas. Same approximate shape but completely different purpose and flavour. Exams in “my day” were designed for a different purpose than those today. The knowledge that exams are testing has moved on. I used a computer once at school. Now, virtually very student comes into our school with a fine working knowledge of the Internet, e-mail and blogs! An exam that tests knowledge about electronic communication cannot be compared with an exam about English Literature from thirty years ago. Exams are not easier, they are different. Please could we get to a system where we congratulate our young people for what they do know and not castigate them for not having the same knowledge as us?
   Teaching is a great job and schools are wonderful places to be. If you don’t believe it, come and join us.
   

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