Re: What the hell?

--- On Thu, 4/19/12, Susan <dragonmom7@onebox.com> wrote:

> Mal = Did you run out of trivia or sober brain cells?
> Ellen - a massively worthy accomplishment; you have every
> right to be proud of it.
>

Thanks! This July, I complete my 29th year of teaching. It's not grown easier over those years; teaching has become more and more challenging, and, as someone who's taught in the US and the UK, I have to say that it's harder in the UK. All of our students' achievement is measured by external examiners and exams; our curriculum is determined by these exam boards. Teachers merely organise, plan how to deliver it and deliver it. Oh, and mark what feels like a ton of coursework because it's cheaper for the exam boards to hire more external moderators than examiners. (Right now, we're drowning in coursework marking, internal coursework moderation and mock exam marking. I know that Jenny U understands. :)

At any rate, nowadays, my college's internal inspections are based more on the students do in class rather than what the teacher does or says -- that's how Ofsted handles it now. Another local college that was rated 'good' (a two) by Ofsted three years ago dropped to the lowest -- unsatisfactory (a four) this past autumn. Morale there is at an all-time low. Apparently, however, their senior management didn't deliver the change in observations to them -- it's how you show that the students progress in every single lesson, not just what you say or do. They're going to be checking exam results carefully -- and teachers with low resulst may be in trouble.

Our observations changed this year to reflect Ofsted and our worry that Ofsted will arrive this year (still) or next year at the very latest (we're overdue). We had an outstanding rating last time, and we want to keep it. Post-16 education is not compulsary, and colleges compete with one another for students. Parents look at those Ofsted ratings quite closely.

So, yeah, earning the one was a big deal. I was very depressed and stressed about it. I'm an old dog in education, and I had to learn new tricks. I have to make sure I call on every single student at least once, if not more often. I have to ensure that each and every student is well aware of his or her target grade and make sure that all my class actitivies are differentiated in that manner -- as are the questions I ask students orally. To earn a one, I have to show the evaluator that a good chunk of the class actually is *ahead* of where you'd normally expect such a class to be at this time of year.

You see, according to Ofsted, our evaluators have been rating lessons too high based on our results. Not everyone passes. Not everyone earns an A grade. But a lot of teachers get ones or twos on their observations. We're being told that past observations were too easy; it was too easy to earn a one or two, which is all I've earned in the past. Therefore, they made it harder and not as many ones are being awarded this year.

In other words, there's the general belief that students earn low grades because of poor teaching. Yeah, I know. You can lead the horse to water... But that's the government for you.

The class were absolutely brilliant, btw. I brought in some chocolate for them yesterday (I only see them three days a week) and have promised to bake them cookies soon. :)

I'm actually considering joining the internal inspections team. You need all ones and twos to do so, and I've got them. They're currently short team members. There are some team members who aren't that good at giving feedback -- and can be downright rude and hypercritical. I think that I could be empathetic instead. (One of my colleagues joined for that reason -- she'd had a horrible experience and wanted to help make it better for other teachers. Even if the teacher is weak, the idea is to help and not humiliate.) The only thing holding me back is that you're only given 20 hours to do the job. (We teach so many hours a year, so it would come out of my total teaching hours.) You observe ten hour-long classes. It can take an hour to give feedback to each person. That's 20 hours right there. Then, there are the hours for training each year and the hours it takes to type up the reports/evaluations. It's far more than 20 hours. I'm busy enough as it is.
Also, some observations are on different campuses, so it can mean a thirty-minute or longer drive.

Ellen

PS I should add that we don't know exactly when the observations will be. We're told what week it is and we have to choose three days. We could be seen in any lesson during those three days. For each lesson, we have to be prepared to hand the evaluator a packet including a detailed Ofsted-style lesson plan (including differentiation, target grades etc. -- these lesson plans tend to be three pages long -- and a scheme of work that includes Every Child Matters etc. -- the latter can be at least a dozen pages long). It's just like with Ofsted.