Teacher Training

[Lovebitesandeveryfing]

I've never taught in either primary or secondary schools. But having gone, decades back, to a teacher training college which also doubles as a degree college of London University (Goldsmiths), I knew a hell of a lot of teachers, and spent a hell of a lot of time talking with them about the experience of teaching, and ongoing training. I often got the distinct impression that they felt that they were having the latest (unproven) flavour of the month imposed on them by educational psychologists who had very little experience of actually being at the chalk face.
I cannot of course judge it either way.
By the way, sorry guys, but I'm not familiar with the terminology that seems to be so familiar to you (having lived outside UK for many years): what exactly are ‘Inset days’, and what exactly is ‘mindfulness’?

Oh and by the way, @ZenHalfTimeCrock, my sense of mirth came not from you working on the Tao Te Ching — at all — but the idea of a textbook specifically concerning it and aimed at the needs of International Baccalaureate students. It's the combination that amuses me.
By the way, also, my mother was a big fan of Christmas Humphreys’ stuff. I'm not religious, but I've often thought that if I was, it's Buddhism I would head towards. But then, I've had people explain to me that Buddhism is not a religion.

 

[BimboBob]

My missus runs 2 schools. Always working, even in her 'summer holiday' as kids in holiday clubs have parents who mither everyone plus safeguarding issues. It's quite amazing how many times she talks to police, social workers etc etc in holiday time.

Inset and training days are just that, new legislation, kid updates, new teacher introductions, safeguarding issues etc etc.

 

[Lovebitesandeveryfing]

In sleep, men's spirits go visiting;

That is excellent!
The whole extract is interesting.Some parts of it read eerily like a close description of certain Bluemoon threads.
Must look into it.

 

[Lovebitesandeveryfing]

My missus runs 2 schools. Always working, even in her 'summer holiday' as kids in holiday clubs have parents who mither everyone plus safeguarding issues. It's quite amazing how many times she talks to police, social workers etc etc in holiday time.

Inset and training days are just that, new legislation, kid updates, new teacher introductions, safeguarding issues etc etc.

Thanks. And what is ‘mindfulness’, exactly? I can guess that it's part of educational theory, but I'm hazy about it, other than in its general sense that everybody knows.
Oh, and what is ‘safeguarding’, exactly, in the educational context?
As you can see, I've not been anywhere near a British school for many decades.

 

[BimboBob]

Thanks. And what is ‘mindfulness’, exactly? I can guess that it's part of educational theory, but I'm hazy about it, other than in its general sense that everybody knows.
Oh, and what is ‘safeguarding’, exactly, in the educational context?
As you can see, I've not been anywhere near a British school for many decades.

Safeguarding.

Basically kids in dodgy households, bullying that sort of thing. It's all very school orientated. A kid says something, schools have to react. Investigate. Involve the police, social services, parents etc etc. Dot I's, cross T's, check and re-check. Because if they don't and something goes wrong they could be held accountable.

Mindfulness is trying to relax, take time for yourself. So in educational terms it's getting the kids and teachers to do the same.

 

[I'm With Stupid]

I've never taught in either primary or secondary schools. But having gone, decades back, to a teacher training college which also doubles as a degree college of London University (Goldsmiths), I knew a hell of a lot of teachers, and spent a hell of a lot of time talking with them about the experience of teaching, and ongoing training. I often got the distinct impression that they felt that they were having the latest (unproven) flavour of the month imposed on them by educational psychologists who had very little experience of actually being at the chalk face.
I cannot of course judge it either way.
By the way, sorry guys, but I'm not familiar with the terminology that seems to be so familiar to you (having lived outside UK for many years): what exactly are ‘Inset days’, and what exactly is ‘mindfulness’?

Oh and by the way, @ZenHalfTimeCrock, my sense of mirth came not from you working on the Tao Te Ching — at all — but the idea of a textbook specifically concerning it and aimed at the needs of International Baccalaureate students. It's the combination that amuses me.
By the way, also, my mother was a big fan of Christmas Humphreys’ stuff. I'm not religious, but I've often thought that if I was, it's Buddhism I would head towards. But then, I've had people explain to me that Buddhism is not a religion.

There's so much bullshit that gets a foothold in teaching. There was at least 2 decades of bullshit about 'learning styles' and some of it still clings on now. Neuro-linguistic programming has had a go. All sorts of 'brain based' interventions that are usually just a product someone's selling dressed up in academic-sounding language. There's nothing wrong with trying things out, but so much in teaching clings on for years after it's been comprehensively disproven.

There's also the issue in academia more generally of publish or perish. It's increasingly competitive to get full time positions with all of the benefits, so you have situations where young academics are pressured into publishing as much research as possible, as well as exaggerating the effects of that research, and you end up with quite a lot of not particularly well done research that ends up nevertheless being extrapolated out far beyond the context it was originally done in. There's also not a lot of incentive to do replication studies, so a lot of bad research never gets challenged.

I read one recently that was presented alongside a video with interviews with the participants. It was about the effects of putting a computer into a women's refuge in a poor village in India. They interviewed the women and they basically said it hadn't made much difference to their lives and was mostly used by just a couple of people, mostly to play games. But when I read the journal article about it, the intervention was an educational triumph that had transformed their lives.

 

[BimboBob]

Gone are the days that a school was just a place of learning. A lot of parents see it as an upbringing centre as they are far too lazy to do it themselves.

 

[denislawsbackheel]

Safeguarding.

Basically kids in dodgy households, bullying that sort of thing. It's all very school orientated. A kid says something, schools have to react. Investigate. Involve the police, social services, parents etc etc. Dot I's, cross T's, check and re-check. Because if they don't and something goes wrong they could be held accountable.

Mindfulness is trying to relax, take time for yourself. So in educational terms it's getting the kids and teachers to do the same.

“A kid says something…”
If it involved physical, emotional or sexual child abuse when I was teaching that was the point the appropriate authorities were brought in eg plod or social services. In Manchester the schools were strictly forbidden from carrying out any further investigations of their own.

 

[FantasyIreland]

Fair play to anyone who has the patience and the desire to teach the little cunts that are running riot in this country,genuinely deserve a medal.

 

[BimboBob]

“A kid says something…”
If it involved physical, emotional or sexual child abuse when I was teaching that was the point the appropriate authorities were brought in eg plod or social services. In Manchester the schools were strictly forbidden from carrying out any further investigations of their own.

I think where my missus is they are involved all the way through alongside the other agencies. She's the safeguarding lead and the go to person for other schools as well as the council/ police so that might explain her bigger involvement.

Twice last year that I can remember she was working into the night alongside the other agencies as a child had said a parent had beat up the other parent. In the past that would have been ignored but now it's the child's welfare, even out of school.