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The New Strict in our schools is far from family friendly The New Strict in our schools is far from family friendly
(5 months later)
Overheard on my train this morning was a mother calling her Overheard on my train this morning was a mother calling her daughter’s school. She explained the family had friends who were over from Australia and would be in London for just the one day. As they hadn’t seen each other for three years, they were all going off to the Natural History Museum together and she apologised for the girl's absence from class that day.
daughter’s school. She explained the family had friends who were over “Yes, I do understand there might be a fine,” said the mum, and she ended the call upset and distracted after what had been a clearly terse exchange. “Why didn’t you just lie?” asked the grandfather. “Why should I lie?” she answered, pointing out that it wasn’t the best thing for her little girl to hear. The child - not yet five - was spending the day with family and friends, if she’d been an adult she would probably have booked a day off work.
from Australia and would be in London for just the one day. As they There has been much debate around the unfairness of families not being able to take holidays in term time - the cost as well as the difficulties for people who have jobs where taking time off during the summer school holidays is a problem. Ok, so there are parents who take their kids off skiing when they should be studying for exams, not over-worried because they can pay for extra tuition, and parents who suffer the kind of problems that mean they aren’t getting their kids to school at all.
hadn’t seen each other for three years, they were all going off to the But for the majority, its not just about a holiday, its about an inflexibility that is causing rifts between parents and school - a relationship that’s more essential to the success of teaching and of pupils than any of the almost daily missives that fly out of the department of education under this - the New Strict - regime. On a secondary note (pun intended) - the New Strict being imposed in schools is reflected too in today’s announcement that there will be - again - a toughening of GCSE marking. At least they are proclaiming it loudly this time and not bringing it in by stealth, leaving teachers and pupils stunned by lower than expected grades, as has been happening over the past two years in certain subjects. But ongoing favouring of children who are academic and cope well with exams is exacerbating the gap that is pushing many intelligent children who are not great at exams down into a restricted area of fewer and fewer options.
Natural History Museum together and she apologised for the girl's absence from class Once again, political tinkering may address one issue but simply allows another to push its way up. Isn't it time there was a fair and holistic look at what we want from our education system instead of the constant stream of inflexible edicts?
that day.
“Yes, I do understand there might be a fine,” said the mum, and she
ended the call upset and distracted after what had been a clearly terse exchange. “Why didn’t you just lie?” asked the grandfather. “Why
should I lie?” she answered, pointing out that it wasn’t the best thing
for her little girl to hear. The child - not yet five - was spending
the day with family and friends, if she’d been an adult she would
probably have booked a day off work.
There has been much debate around the unfairness of families not being
able to take holidays in term time - the cost as well as the difficulties for people who have jobs where taking time
off during the summer school holidays is a problem.
Ok, so there are parents who take their kids off skiing when they should
be studying for exams, not over-worried because they can pay for extra
tuition, and parents who suffer the kind of problems that mean they
aren’t getting their kids to school at all.
But for the majority, its not just about a holiday, its about an inflexibility that is causing rifts between parents and school - a
relationship that’s more essential to the success of teaching and of pupils
than any of the almost daily missives that fly out of the department of
education under this - the New Strict - regime.
On a secondary note (pun intended) - the New Strict being imposed in schools is
reflected too in today’s announcement that there will be - again - a
toughening of GCSE marking. At least they are proclaiming it
loudly this time and not bringing it in by stealth, leaving teachers and
pupils stunned by lower than expected grades, as has been happening
over the past two years in certain subjects. But ongoing favouring of
children who are academic and cope well with exams is exacerbating the
gap that is pushing many intelligent children who are not great at exams
down into a restricted area of fewer and fewer options.
Once again, political tinkering may address one issue but simply allows
another to push its way up. Isn't it time there was a fair and holistic look at what we want from our education system instead of the constant stream of inflexible edicts?
@tracymcveigh@tracymcveigh