Normal service will be resumed

I haven't written a blog post for nearly a month. The reason was that I was so utterly depressed by the General Election result that I couldn't think of anything optimistic to write.

I still feel the same actually.I am incredibly concerned about the state of education in our country. I wonder what will happen when all the academies fail to get good results, when they've sacked all the teachers, appointed new young blood that can't hack it and quits within the first few years. Where will all the new teachers come from then?

The army, was that the latest plan? Qualified teachers aren't really necessary.  Has it occurred to them that former army officers might not be any better than us in the classroom? I don't have behavioural issues in my class because I can't shout loudly enough, perhaps the army succeed because it can and does administer punishment and consistently.  In my first school all the kids got the bus home or walked.They weren't school buses, they were public buses, so if they missed the 3:45 one there was another one soon. We were allowed to keep the students for up to ten minutes at the end of the day. And they all came to their tutors at the end of the day. Feedback was instant.Justice was instant.Very few issues went unresolved at the end of the day.  Students didn't necessarily need detentions, unless they had work to catch up on but to know that they had to face consequences, to address the teacher they had tried to escape from was very effective.

This doesn't always happen, even in my school now. I have also heard of schools where students tell the teachers that there is no point threatening detention for missed homework, swearing at another student, sitting there and doing absolutely nothing for an hour as they "don't do detentions" and their "mum will phone the head". And they do. And the heads don't always back up the teachers.

There is nothing magic about army officers or unqualified science specialists. Look at the problems David Starkey had in that Jamie Oliver programme. Teachers are a very special blend when they're good or outstanding. I don't have it yet.at least not all the time. Not at the moment. A few of my colleagues do.

So I'm still grumpy. This is made slightly worse by worrying about a lazy year 12 and 300 exam papers I need to mark if I'm going to get the car fixed to drive to France this summer. Dan wants to leave the country. He did anyway, but the election result certainly hadn't helped. I'm dealing (or not dealing) with the most corrupt governing body of a school I've ever come across who seem to think they can convert to an academy after speaking to some bloke the chair (man) met at the golf course and the worst HR who seem to be advising schools to take no care of their staff whatsoever. But this is a blip. I know life isn't like this.it's been worse and it will get better. Normal service will be resumed.