I received an email from an exam board today which said:

Once again politics and Westminster teacher bashing takes precedent over the opinions and advice given by the teaching professionals who actually work with our children.  Apparently our exams are too easy and we have to do something to make sure they aren’t.  Of course these changes have far-reaching implications for our students, big ones for some.

My children are low attainers as you might expect (they attend a special school).   About half do entry level qualifications and the rest work at GCSE level.  There are children like mine in every mainstream school across the country – they aren’t that unusual.  These are children that have to be reminded what they did last week (sometimes they forget what they did earlier in the day).  These students will now have to remember what they learned up to two years ago.  Whilst it is possible to build in revision sessions (after all how can students with low literacy levels reasonably revise at home?), it isn’t possible to revise everything in sufficient depth for the students to do themselves justice.  I struggled getting enough revision in when we did modular exams.

So what is the answer?  Not only are the exams being made harder but at the same time pressure is put on schools to achieve better and better results.  The only conceivable way my students can achieve a GCSE-equivalent qualification that reflects their ability is to do a vocational qualification like BTEC where the assessment is portfolio based (although even this is being changed – more about BTEC changes here).

Of course none of these changes are pupil centred or put the student first.  Mr Gove hasn’t considered how my students will feel if I enter them for a qualification they are doomed to fail.   After the media and political attention drawn to the disaffected youth following the recent riots I thought the Government might have started to change its approach.

For now I’ll be plodding along following BTEC science with my students and trying to convince them as we go that they aren’t failures and that they have a place in society.  Let’s hope I am right!

Free plans for every lesson.  Yes, FREE PLANS FOR EVERY LESSON.  Whilst I can see that this could be a godsend for the busy teacher, I can’t help but feel that this is a bad move for the quality of science education as a whole.

When the QCA published schemes of work years ago, departments followed them for a variety of reasons.  Common reasons for following the centrally produced schemes included saving time, schemes safe from criticism from Ofsted, and having an inexperienced department.  Few schools followed them because they liked them.  Their main effect was to stifle creativity and push teachers towards delivering identical lessons regardless of area, school or setting.

My concern is that by publishing GCSE lesson plans examination companies are appealing to the same inexperienced, time pressed departments who want to play safe.  I worry that this will snuff out what little spark of creativity we have left in science education and mark a return in teaching centrally produced lesson plans (except this time they will be from the examination board rather than the QCA).

I hope that schools will take the opportunity to flick through the lesson plans and steal all the best bits for their own lessons, but will continue to embrace the opportunities for creative and individual teaching that our science education community badly needs.

I’d be interested to hear views from current science teachers, either for or against.  Please leave a comment below (no registration required) with your opinions.

More and more teachers are hearing about Filmclub now they have been distributing promotional material in the TES and Teachers magazine.  I found out about it by chance and can thoroughly recommend it to others.

As part of the sign-up process you are asked to attend a short induction session.  Whilst the content of this session could easily be distributed on a DVD, I came away from the session feeling enthused and motivated to introduce Filmclub in my own school and make it work.  As well as discussing the technical details of the club (ordering films, registering on the website etc.) we discussed our favourite films and the effects they have had on our lives.  Whilst I didn’t appreciate the importance of this session straight away, it soon became apparent when Filmclub was up and running in my school and students were being asked to review movies they had seen.

So what does being a member of Filmclub involve?

• Filmclub cover the cost of licensing movies to show in your school, and also provide you with a selection of films that you can order into school (distributed through Lovefilm).
• You are expected to show a film a week out of school hours (evenings work best, lunchtimes aren’t long enough)
• Students are asked to reflect on the film and write a short review (with a star rating) which appears on their website (see below)
• Filmclub provide an excellent and pupil/school friendly website which both leaders and students can use.  Leaders order films through the sites, can see movie requests and reviews from their students, and can put up announcements about upcoming films.  Students can read about upcoming screenings at the school, they can leave reviews (either just a star rating or a full review) and can request movies they would like to see (although the requests tend to be movies that they have seen before rather than something different).

• Filmclub provide promotional materials (wipe-clean advertising posters, lanyards and ID tags) to use in your own school.
• The possibility of receiving funding to support your film club, and possible speakers/visitors into your school.

My experience to date.

I initially launched film club through a school assembly and instantly grabbed the attention of both staff and students, all of whom were eager to share their favourite movies together with a reason.  The Filmclub-supplied “Power of Film” montage was enjoyed by all, and many students were eager to participate.

Students were keen to be part of the Filmclub and the website helps keep the interest between sessions (login reminders are written on member’s ID cards and clipped onto their lanyards).  Students have watched two films after school so far and interest keeps growing as word gets around.  After each film we have a discussion about the film, what we liked about it and why.  We also meet one lunchtime a week where we can watch the ends of films (when we ran out of time) and also review films shown (and upload some of these onto the website).

Less able students enjoy filming video reviews (using flip video cameras or similar), recording audio reviews (using TTS Easi-speak recorders) or simply photographing each other holding up comment cards.  These are shown on our school-wide TV system.

I’ve tried to choose movies that students wouldn’t have seen before, and have let myself be guided by the “Filmclub recommends” section on the website.  It is also possible to search for films by theme (e.g. bullying), by age range or by other criteria.

Students have been very positive about our film club and I get asked questions about upcoming films several times a week.  There are films suitable for all ages (even some with a 15 certificate) and I would imagine students from primary, secondary and special education being equally enthused by this scheme.

What next?

As well as showing movies to students, we have a few ideas of what else we can do with our film club.

• Joint parent/student screenings – to get parents into school and talking to staff
• Induction of new students – getting year 6 students in from our feeder school for a shared screening, helping familiarise them with some of students and premises.
• Oscars event – complete with red carpet and paparazzi outside, as part of an awards or celebration event.
• Linking films to special events at school – e.g. book day, poetry day, anti-bullying week

Do you run a film club at your school?  Do you have any ideas of how we can expand film club to a wider audience or involve parents?

This is what was inside the box (as well as brown paper packaging).

And this is what was inside the white plastic container.

Perhaps a padded envelope would have been a better way of shipping it! Packaging #fail

These are some of the pearls of wisdom offered to site managers and heads:

• Details should be drawn to the attention of all employees working on the premises so they are aware of the safest ways of entering and leaving the premises.
• Arrangements should be made for access routes to be inspected regularly following the salting and gritting to monitor its effectiveness. It is recommended that this is done before the end of each session. PLEASE NOTE: TEMPORARY SIGNS DENOTING SAFE ROUTES MAY BE NECESSARY.
• All staff should be reminded of the need to wear appropriate footwear when coming to work in severe weather conditions as it will seldom be possible to clear all snow and ice from a site. In particular, walking from a parked car to the nearest access path may be hazardous.
• In the past, there has been at least one instance of pupils in a first school picking some crystalline salt granules off the playground and tasting them, thinking they were snow or ice particles. Heads of Establishments with young children are therefore advised to purchase salt/grit mixture rather than pure crystalline salt for treating icy surfaces. Children should be warned accordingly.
• Suitable clothing, particularly for caretakers who will be working outside, should be used
• Ensure that there is a suitable and sufficient risk assessment for snow and ice clearing activities

Do we live in a society where individuals have no common sense?  Do we live in a society where we want to remove each and every risk, no matter how small?  Do we live in a society where school managers (and the LA) are frightened of being sued?  I suspect the answer to all these questions is yes – and until there is a change of culture we will continue to be treated like a nation of children.

Image © Rob Gould @ Flickr CC BY-NC 2.0

As snow falls across the country, schools have closed for a variety of reasons.  Frustrated parents are quick to blame the teachers (we all need a scapegoat) and discussion forums fill up with comments about lazy teachers.  Too soon the conversation changes from “why can’t they get to school?” to don’t they have enough holidays already.  I’ve even seen suggestions about teachers having inset days in their holidays (which is ironic since inset days did originally come out of teachers holidays).

The press feel the need to join in with this teacher bashing, after all appealing to the public sentiment is what sells papers.  As I sat reading the Times today I read an article that made the hairs on the back of my neck bristle.  Not because of the subject of the article but the tone, and the glaring inaccuracies in the article that the times included.

The article in question was a small ‘filler’ by their education correspondent Nicola Woolcock.  I managed to track down an online copy of the article here.  Apparently it is far too hard to dismiss incompetent teachers and so-called experts suggest that there could be 24,000 inadequate teachers, although Ms Woolcock declines to say which hat she pulled these figures out of.

According to the article heads must give notice before entering the classroom for a formal observation, and can only do so for three times a year.  Of course Ms Woolcock is reporting the current agreed arrangements for performance management, many observations for which are not actually carried out by head teachers.  There is no limit on quality assurance observations which I am aware of, and I know of many heads who walk around schools and pop into lessons to see what is going on without giving notice.

Of course there are teachers who experience difficulties.  One of my roles as an AST is to work with some of these teachers in my local authority.  It could be argued that it is difficult to sack incompetent teachers, although I suggest the true story should read it is far too hard to dismiss any incompetent public sector worker.

However when I read I was struck by the lack of balance, and the emphasis on bashing teachers rather than on a balance discussion, but a balanced discussion doesn’t sell newspapers does it?

Whilst tidying out my cupboards I found a copy of Warcraft 3 (and accompanying expansion the Frozen Throne).  Most games of this era had not survived my clearing culls, but this game has a soft spot in my heart.  Not only was it one of the best games I played with an excellent story line, but I revisited all the places in the game when I played World of Warcraft for four years.

Completing the game again was like taking a trip down memory lane.  I revisited all the places I had been to in World of Warcraft, many of which held fond memories (in the same way that childhood memories are fond memories). 

So was I prepared to rejoin World of Warcraft after a year of not playing?  Blizzard gave me a free week to entice me back.  Unfortunately as a level 80 character who has completed most of the game, there isn’t much left to do.  Player vs Player action isn’t balanced and isn’t much fun for my hybrid class.  I don’t have the time or inclination to level up my cooking/fishing skills or to go around doing the same kind of things over and over again – too much repetition.
I couldn’t be bothered to level my level 60 and level 70 characters, which would take many times longer than it took to complete Warcraft 3.  Another reason for not completing these tasks is that there is very little story line linking the quests together.  Not like the story arc that runs through the Warcraft3 game.

So what made Warcraft 3 a good game for me?

• A good story arc to give me a reason to keep playing (it held my interest)
• A different experience every time you play – not the same one time after time
• Something that doesn’t take forever to see any progress.

As a teacher I see that these are some of the requirements of a good lesson?  I’m not sure this means I have a future in game design, but perhaps there are still more lessons to be learnt from the computer games industry…

Some things that probably should have changed haven’t. I still aspire to lose some weight (I manage it, then put it back on).  I still don’t read enough books, I watch too much television, I spend too long on the Internet, although it’s hard to believe my internet bill 10 years ago was around £70 a month!

I still work in the same school (although at more than double the salary I started there on) and am still doing a job I love, with a very special and unique group of people.  I’ve rediscovered a love of science teaching since becoming an AST, and this role has allowed me to work with a wide range of professionals from schools across my local authority (and beyond).

What for the next 10 years?

I don’t want to think about the end of the next decade – I’ll be 48 which seems so scary now! Hopefully I’ll be mortgage free, but will I be working full time or part time? That depends on the current educational climate, but with teacher bashing and identical educational policies on both sides of the political fence, the future doesn’t look rosy for teachers!

I know I should move on professionally, but I don’t need more money and there’s a lot to be said for doing a job you like.  I work in a fantastic school with an excellent head who trusts his staff to do the job he asks of them.  Staff have a lot of freedom to get on with their job and innovate, and yet we are a good school with outstanding aspects.  Working in this kind of environment combined with weekly visits into other (usually mainstream) schools puts me off a change in workplace.  I also know that a move up would mean a change in my educational priorities and I wouldn’t be able to focus as much on teaching science, which is the reason I love my job.  I suspect I wouldn’t have as much time to share my ideas and resources with science educators around the world.

Maybe I’ll dust off my NPQH and rejoin the school leadership game, but that would require a change in education culture and I don’t see that happening in the next 10 years.

As for myself, I’d like to see more of the world, but the most important things are to have my health, my friends, my family. I’m ready whatever the next decade brings, your life is what you make it.

Happy New Year everyone!

(Originally posted on Tumblr)

The author makes some excellent points and you begin to wonder who designed these products and for what purpose (to look pretty or to be functional?).  I’d agree that presenting positive imagery of successful (and everyday) female scientists is more likely to encourage women into science careers.

Perhaps we are looking too deep.  At the end of the day the makers of pink products want to sell units, that is their driver rather than encouraging women into science.

(And I wouldn’t mind a pink microscope, mine are all a boring grey colour.  I kitted out my lab with pink headphones and they boys all use them too – we don’t believe in gender stereotypes at my school!).

(Originally posted on Tumblr).