tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8888848804347928571.post5082532313848397301..comments2024-02-25T06:41:19.588+00:00Comments on Conor's Commentary: Back to the Eighties, NUT styleConor Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457628816008082005noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8888848804347928571.post-80718094562365612632008-04-22T21:31:00.000+01:002008-04-22T21:31:00.000+01:00Oh, where to start?People like myself who voted to...Oh, where to start?<BR/><BR/>People like myself who voted to strike (75% of those who voted) didn't do so because we were militant revolutionaries. We didn't do so because we were on the breadline. We didn't do so on a whim.<BR/><BR/>We did so because of genuine discontent. Telling us we have less workload (as if), telling us we are doing well financially (I've lost count of the number of maths teachers I've know who are now accountants or working for banks), telling us we are gaining doesn't help. It just makes it even clearer that those with access to government are out of touch with what is happening in the classrooms. One daft initiative after another; hour after hour wasted with bureaucracy; blindness to the violence and abuse we face, and a pay system based on patronage are what we have been lumped with by the Government. And that's without mentioning the really disturbing thing: the way our students are short-changed by the dumbed down qualifications they are doing and the relentless pressure for teachers to ignore all but the target kids.<BR/><BR/>We are discontented and if you really think we have a lot to be thankful for, then I look forward to seeing you in the classroom.<BR/><BR/>And please bear in mind that I have no ideological axe to grind here. I'm a Labour Party member who always backed Blair on education until I entered the classroom.<BR/><BR/>If John Reid could admit the home office was not fit for purpose it's about time the same was acknowledged about an education system that on the whole, systematically fails to educate children to their potential. The alternative, of being surprised that the people who watch it happen every day are unhappy, is what we have come to expect.oldandrewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10754487569367573087noreply@blogger.com