The teachers' strike ... what do they actually do anyway??

Across the UK teachers will be striking this Wednesday.... not all, but some. The NUT are striking for one day in protest over working conditions, pay and pensions.

I read an interesting comment on a Facebook wall today, stating that teachers were lazy and asking "What do they actually do?" Well what do teachers do? After all they have weeks and weeks of holidays each year don't they? And they only work from 8.45 until 3.15 ... All they are interested in is getting as much money for as little work as possible... Isn't that the case?

Well, no, actually.

My sister in law is a teacher in a secondary school and I have never seen anyone work with such care and dedication. She is in school by 8 a.m at the very latest and doesn't leave until about 6pm. Having sorted out tea for her children she continues to work until late. At the weekend she often works past midnight on a Sunday evening.

Her days are filled with teaching, assessments, form filling .... Her head is filled with facts on who is achieving, who is under achieving, who is struggling ...  what are their grades, their predicted grades? Teaching is a never ending roller coaster of work. It is a personal mission to teach and support children while at the same time being swamped with paperwork, being judged and assessed constantly.

I am not a teacher, but colleagues with whom I work are and they work, work, work. They are constantly required to do more and more while coping with difficult behaviour including, sometimes, physical attacks.

It makes me so cross when I read comments asking what do they do. The norm at my school is that teachers grab a 15 minute lunch break where they can go to the loo and shove a sandwich down their throat. Some never get as far as the staff room, eating as they work in their class room.

Teachers have chosen this job, this vocation and they accept that they have to work long, hard hours. If you think that's not true then you need to think and check your facts. They did not come into the profession, however, to be worked like pack mules with ever increasing workloads and ever increasing pressure of scrutiny. They are constantly judged and constantly criticised. Of course all of us want the best for our children, but before you go charging into the school complaining about one thing or another please wait a moment. Think about the role of teacher and the workload involved.

Teaching can be the most rewarding job in the world, but it is also tiring, stressful and frustrating. The people I know who are teachers, with the very rare exception, teach because they love teaching. They do not love the admin and the constant form filling. They don't decide not to change reading books or give out medicines because they can't be bothered, they just can't fit it all into their day. You have to prioritize and from time to time things happen so you just cannot do all the things you wish you could. None of them, in my experience, are sitting about in hot tubs quaffing champagne at lunchtime.

In an ideal world teachers would not strike. Most teachers would not choose to strike unless they had very real concerns about the future of the profession. So surely we need to think about why they are striking and consider that maybe they are right? Yes, its annoying for many reasons, but it is their right to strike and it is for one day, without pay.

 Maybe they are highlighting the state of the education system and maybe we as parents should sit up and listen? Things are not rosy in schools. Teachers are expected to adapt to new directives without question and accept that they should work hugely long hours with little support.  Teachers are becoming ill through stress related illness.In 2012 Rebecca Radcliffe wrote in the Guardian that:
The number of teachers taking stress leave has increased by 10% over the past four years, with 15 local authorities seeing a 50% rise in stress-related absences, according to statistics released under the Freedom of Information Act.


Teachers are not asking for an easy life, but they are asking for fair working conditions. They are asking that they not be ruled over with a rod of iron, an old school cane - that they be listened to and not patronized.

Celebrate Teaching Assistants ... we might not be here for much longer.

I received an email yesterday from my union. I am a member of Unison and the email was to tell me about a day - 29th November 2013 - a day to celebrate Teaching Assistants. Now why would they be wanting to do that? Why celebrate Teaching Assistants? Well, the reason is because if the UK Government has its way there might not be any Teaching Assistants in schools in the future.

Unison is fighting to save Teaching Assistants. The Government has decided that Teachers can do the job of Teaching Assistants. We are an expensive luxury.

So, let me tell you a little bit about my day and you can decide whether I am an expensive luxury and whether my Teachers can do my duties instead.

I am paid, as are my colleagues, from 8.50 am. I actually arrive each day at 8.25 am and start to prepare for my day. I help my Teacher welcome the Year 1 children and look after any of them who are upset or wobbly that day. I am there for any parent who wants to chat. If a parent needs to chat to my Teacher, I take the children in so they don't have to stand in the cold.

I have organised a rota for myself, (in my own time,) so that I can fit in all the children who need extra help. Working from information collated by my Teacher I have organised the children so that all of of them can reach their potential. By 8.50 I have started 1 to 1 work on phonics, handwriting, reading, number work.At 9.05 I bring out my 2nd group for 15 minutes, catching up on phonics, High Frequency Words. During this time the Teacher has taken Register and is into the Phonics session.

All the time I am listening to the lesson in the classroom, ready to go in if needed, because there are children who have Special Needs and I might be needed to sit with them. In Year 1 children very rarely have been statemented yet so there is no funding for 1 to 1 support. Therefore the General T.A (me) has to be there for them.

By 9.15 the Literacy Lesson starts and I either sit on the carpet with particular children to support them or spend time writing up my interventions so far that morning ( because I have to provide evidence of the work done with the children). Then I start checking reading books. I either change them or initial that the record has been checked. When the children go to their tables to work I go with them. I know which table because I have spent time (my own time) reading the Teacher's detailed plans, emailed to me each week.

Most of the time I work with the children who find school tricky. The Teacher and I alternate daily with the groups so that she spends time with all the children. There are children who find it so hard to sit still, concentrate, form letters. I am there to encourage, push, support, explain.

Its amazing the number of ways you can find to explain a single thing! And its amazing how many children find the simplest thing (to you and me) impossible to grasp. If I or the Teacher wasn't sitting with them they would not know what to do, how to start. One of my greatest skills is patience. To find yet another way to explain something, but to do it with kindness and humour is what I love to do. And at the same time as I am helping this child there are another 5 on the table who need me too.

Of course the Teacher could sit with them ... but what about the other 25 five year olds?

By 10 am its time for Assembly and I keep a group back to read with. I read with every child in the class at least once a week, assessing their skills and giving them tips and encouragement as we go along. Whether that child gets lots of support at home and loves to read or receives minimum support and finds reading hard, hard, hard -  I find the way to help them achieve their best, help them enjoy reading. The joy of seeing a child move up a level or get excited about a book is just wonderful.

After break (10 minutes) I read the story while the Teacher reads with another group (they try to read with every child once a week too).

Then its Maths and the same sort of support as I have given in Literacy. My last group goes out with me at 11.50 for a quick recap on numbers - formation, number lines, counting. Then at 12 its time for home ...

But we don't go home do we? Most T.As in my school stay and get the jobs done that they couldn't do in the morning...like changing reading books, putting up displays, changing the roleplay area, filing ... Its a rare day that I go home before 12.35 and some days I stay until 1pm, an hour over my paid time. Obviously this is up to me. Its my choice that I stay, but then that's the sort of people T.As tend to be. We don't do our job for the money, we do it because we love it, love the children.

An ordinary morning is what I have described above. I haven't told you about my playground duties, my chats with children whose parents are breaking up, whose granny has died, who have seen their dad beating up their mum... I haven't told you about the chats with parents who are worried or don't "get" phonics. I haven't mentioned helping children who have wet themselves or been sick everywhere or had a massive nose bleed.

Of course the Teacher could do all these things too. She gets into work at 7.30 and stops for lunch at 12.55 ( 15 minutes break ... soooo lazy!!) then works through until 5.30 when she goes home sorts life out for her own children and then carries on with school work. The thing is though that if she did my job, the things I do, then when would she actually be teaching? Or maybe we should just forget about all the small groups I take out, forget about reading with the children?

There are Teaching Assistants in my school who work 1 to 1 with children who are autistic or have long term illness, children with behavioural problems who, if left to their own devices could be dangerous both to themselves and other children. Without their T.As these children would be lost. As it is, their parents have to fight for help. How could they access education without the care and 1 to 1 support of a Teaching Assistant? T.As deliver physiotherapy programmes, Speech and Language interventions, administer medication...

Teaching Assistants are the unsung backbone of the education system. We work for just over minimum wage and we work because we choose to give our best for the children in our care. In my school the T.As are hard working, intelligent (many are Graduates) and very caring. Often it is the T.A who has the time to sit and listen to a child, who picks up on the underlying problems a child faces. We are part of a team, with our Teachers, trying to create an environment where children can learn and enjoy learning.

Teachers work incredibly hard already. If we were not there to do the things we do then I really hate to think what would happen to the children who need us. Teachers cannot physically do their own jobs and ours. Its impossible. I despair at the short sightedness of the UK Government and their plans.

If you have a child in school then please celebrate how fortunate they are, not only to have Teachers who work their socks off, but also Teaching Assistants who do their best to support, care and guide. It has been a long time since all we did was wash up paint pots.

To Teach or not to Teach ...

Having gained my Degree via the Open University I now find myself with another decision to make. Should I train as a teacher?

I have toyed with the idea for years now and had decided against it for various reasons which I have listed below. However, now that I have got a First I rather think it would be a waste to do nothing with it. I have worked in a Primary school for 9 years now and am an experienced Teaching Assistant. I also teach twice a week. Lots of people have told me that I ought to go into teaching and that they thought I would be good at it ...but ... I don't know if I should or could do it. There are obstacles in my way, reasons not to do it.

Reasons Against

• I don't have good enough maths or Science O levels so would have to get a tutor, study & retake those GCSEs.
• It would mean working full time for a year of my study & possibly for a year as NQT ( newly qualified teacher). This would make family life difficult & would mean I couldn't support my children as much as if I was working part time.
• Would I be able to work part time when I qualified?
• I would be 52 before I qualified.
• Teaching involves a huge amount of planning, preparation, time.
• I don't need the pressure, stress or money.
• I don't think I would be good enough.
• I like my life at the moment and I like spending time with my family.

Reasons For

• I enjoy teaching.
• I would like to feel I had achieved a proper career in my life.
• It would be a good use of my degree.
• It would be a source of income that I could access forever - supply, tutoring.
• If I was left without my husband in the future I would have a reliable income ( sorry to be morbid, but its a thought)
• I can't see me being a T.A for the rest of my life.
• I don't know what else to do as a job.

So ... that's my dilemma. What do you think? The GCSE thing is a massive obstacle and a pain in the neck and delays everything by a year. I know I can teach but do I really want to do it full time? I just don't know what to do. My friend suggested doing my maths first, as it would be useful/interesting to do, and then reconsidering.

I don't know ... I would be grateful for your input!!

Presents for teachers - salt dough or Swarovski??

I have a rather sore neck from packing gift bags. 30 gift bags for the children in the class I teach once a week. I hope they like them - its probably not what they imagine in their wildest dreams, but I wanted to get them a token of my affection after the year we have spent toether.

I tend to try and make something for the children - gingerbread glittery Christmas trees for Christmas, shredded wheat Easter egg nests at ... Easter and last Summer I watercoloured portraits on book marks which I laminated.

Apologies for the awful photo.

I don't spend lots of money on these things, but I do take time and care. It made my day today to see one of last year's boys using the bookmark I made him a year on.

I am so fortunate each year that children and parents give me gifts too. Part of me feels very embarrassed to receive them, after all - how many people are given gifts for just doing their job? Another part of me, and this is the larger part, feels very grateful and incredibly touched that people take the time and effort to think of me and give me a gift. I am not the teacher after all, but the T.A and although I think I do a decent job I am definitely the oily rag as opposed to the mechanic!!

I certainly don't expect it and am usually pretty gobsmacked to be given anything. I feel bad that parents these days sometimes feel that they have to give. Its certainly not the case for me and I would rather people didn't spend money on gifts - although who would say its not lovely to receive them?

To be honest I appreciate the small things more than the extravagant. I am so touched to be given a hand made card by a child, a Christmas decoration made from salt dough - something that will always remind me of that particular child. Something that I know they have spent time on for me. I have a special box filled with cards and drawings from over the years and I could tell you who gave me every little ornament or picture.

I know some people get quite cross at the thought that they are expected to give presents to teachers and teaching assistants. I would feel cross too if I felt it was expected. I would hate anyone to feel that way and my advice to any parent would be that you shouldn't feel that way. No teacher or T.A I work with expects anything. Why should we be bought gifts or vouchers?

I remember feeling quite stressed out when my boys were little. I had no money and coming up to Christmas the last thing I needed was to have to fork out for yet more presents. Some of the mums in the playground who obviously had more money than me seemed to think that putting £5 in the collection was reasonable. For me it was a point of extreme embarrassment as I couldn't afford it. I remember instead making a box which my son decorated and which I filled with homemade chocolates. I so wanted to show my appreciation for my sons' teachers and teaching assistants and I think that my gift ended up meaning a lot more than a fiver thrown in a collection.

Of course I might be wrong! It may well be that they preferred the John Lewis vouchers!! But I was always brought up to believe that its the thought and care that counts - not how much something cost.

Please don't feel you have to buy presents for school staff. Its a really lovely thing to do, but you will not be thought of badly if you don't. There should be no pressure. 

Phonics and what works best when teaching children to read.

For the last 8 years I have worked in Year 1 of a Primary school. One of the best bits of my job is helping children learn to read and I have watched with interest the debate on whether phonics are the best way to achieve this. Today I read an article on Mumsnet which put both sides of the argument, but I thought, as someone who works every day with children, I would put my two pen'orth in as well!

In the U.K the government want schools to use phonics to teach children to read. They want them to be tested at the end of Year 1 when they are 6 and if they have not achieved a certain level their parents will be informed.

Other parties such as the writer Michael Rosen argue that phonics should be only part of the regime to teach reading and that:

  What really matters is what produces young readers who read for meaning and want to read more and more and more, now and for the rest of their lives. 

As someone who thinks phonics are an essential part of learning to read I was ready to disagree with Michael Rosen as he seemed to be condemning their use. However, as I read more of what he had to say and thought more about what I actually do at work, I found myself agreeing with him. To be honest, although the government might lay down rules, what actually happens is that the staff working day by day with children use all sorts of ways to encourage their reading skills and ability.

Reading is not something that happens magically when you start school. A love of reading starts when you snuggle up with your child way before they are school or even nursery age. Having books around the house, reading bedtime stories, looking at books together on a rainy day ... or a sunny day if we ever get one, that's where it starts.

Its about learning to turn pages, following the words with your finger so your child begins to learn that the story begins here and finishes here, talking about what's happening in the pictures ... Its knowing that your love of books as a parent is absorbed by your children. Its about sharing books together, asking your child's opinion on what's happening, what might happen, how are the characters feeling ... 

Year after year the children who read well are the children who have support and input from home so that by the time they reach school they are already on their way to enjoying books - whether they be story books or non-fiction.

Phonics are the building blocks of reading, but they are not the only tool in the teacher's box. For me, phonics are essential for children to be able to build words, decode words and the correct pronunciation of them is essential too. But the language surrounding them scares people ... What are phonemes, synthetic phonemes,  graphemes,digraphs, split digraphs?? I know because I work in school and I work in Year 1, but how many people outside of that sphere could say? The language alienates parents and makes it all sound like something scary and scientific. All it is really is the basic sounds - not ABC, but a as in at, b as in bob and c as in cat.

Phonemes are the sounds in our words. Graphemes are the way they are written. Digraphs are 2 letters put together to make a sound - like ch or sh. A split digraph is where 2 letters are split to make a sound - like     a-e, so rat becomes rate. The split digraph or 'magic e' changes the vowel from its short sound  to its name in the alphabet ... bit - bite, con - cone, cut - cute ...

Where I work we know our way round the library - which books work for which problems - which books are fun, which ones suit particular needs. That's how it should be. Its about encouragement and enjoyment.

What really helps is support at home - reading each evening. Yet so often children don't get that support - maybe they do their reading in the back of the car on the way to school with their grown up unaware of whether they are actually reading or just making up words, or there's 'not enough time', sometimes reading at home is a battle. Sometimes, in fact very often, reading becomes a competition. Parents want their children to shoot up the reading levels as quickly as possible, writing notes like "too easy!" or "next book!!". Its not a competition!!! Sometimes its lovely to have a book that you can read easily and enjoy - don't you think? Reading shouldn't be like training for a triathlon ... full of sweat, frustration and hurt.

In our classroom we have a reading corner full of pluffy cushions and gorgeous books that children can curl up and read or 'read' for pleasure and I love seeing them do so, maybe reading to each other.

Of course we have to assess them, but this is done continuously - not in some government test, but individually, with praise and encouragement. Some children take longer than others to learn - perhaps literacy is not a strong point at home or perhaps they have a particular problem, but with care and dedication they get there. If they don't get support from home they get extra support at school. I love it when a child with whom I have worked in Year 1 comes to me when they are in Year 2 or 3 and proudly says "Can I read with you?". To sit down and listen to them reading is a joy. Spending time together with a book can be time spent sharing more than the book - thoughts, fears, hopes.

Michael Rosen is right when he says that phonics shouldn't be the only tool used, but it has, in my opinion, to be the starting point in school. Our language is hard and there are tricky words where phonics don't work, but you have to start somewhere and by having the building blocks of sound as a tool you are given a method of accessing books. Its our job as grown ups and school staff to add to this by encouraging children to enjoy books and understand their meaning - after all there's no point being able to read if you have no idea what the words mean.

As someone who loves reading I love sharing my enjoyment with others and really what matters most to me is that the children in my care are helped in every way to learn the skill of reading which they can carry with them through life. 

Normal service resumed ... no politics!

I am getting closer and closer to the end of my B.A course with the O.U. I have 3 more essays to write and then that's it ... job done. At the moment its a struggle. Not because of the course itself, but because of other factors. Work is very stressful at the moment and I seem to have lots of things on my mind.

For the first time this year studying EA300 Children's Literature I have had to ask for an extension. I just couldn't face writing it this week as I have been just too on edge. Luckily my tutor is fantastic and very understanding so I have an extra few days.

I am so looking forward to having nothing on my plate other than running my house and allotment. My thoughts of training to be a teacher are disappearing fast as I head towards the age of 50. Do I really want to be working full time, under masses of stress? I am in the fortunate position where I don't have to work full time. I think I would rather spend my afternoons digging my vegetables, going for runs, meeting friends.

I think I would be a good teacher, but I'm not sure I want to be one. Part of me thinks that maybe its my pride that is suggesting being a teacher. The pride in being able to say "Oh yes ... I'm a teacher" instead of doing a job where people look down on you, consider you just a gluer and sticker.

Its crazy isn't it? I am a bright girl, heading at last towards a B.A with Honours, either a 2:1 or possibly a 1st and yet I will probably do nothing with it. Part of me wonders why I threw away my degree all those years ago. Part of me is so proud that I am finally finishing it after a gap of 25 years.

Not long now and I will have my graduation ceremony, get my certificate and then lie by a pool in Turkey with a beer, a smile and no essays in sight!

And now I need GCSEs .... my life is full of hurdles to jump and I'm only little.

I am writing this in the small space I have between study and getting tea ready. My chicken is in the oven, as are my roast potatoes, but soon will come the moment when I have to get busy with vegetables and gravy! So, off we go quickly now!

I am planning, as some of you know, to train to become a Primary School teacher.Once I have completed my Degree I will get myself on GTP ( that's a Graduate Teacher Programme ) This means I can train and get paid for it. Hurrah!! As an experienced Teaching Assistant I was hoping it would be pretty easy to get on a course ... well, when I say easy... these things are never easy and I know that they only take the best candidates. However, I thought with my experience and qualifications I would stand a better chance than many.

Now I discover that I need GCSE level maths and Science. Bugger.I have 'o' level maths at a grade D and Biology at a grade E I think. That is not good enough. I am going to check with the local university tomorrow, but I am pretty sure I will have to pay for 2 GCSE courses. For those of you who don't know this is the most basic level that kids take at age 16.

I am happy to do them if that's what it takes, but Holy Moly... they are going to cost me over £800. I understand that you have to be of a level to teach, but I am doing an Honours Degree in Literature and I am fully numerate in everything Primary School aged children require. I may not be hot hot hot on logarithms and quadrilateral equations, but really... Primary school aged children don't do that sort of maths!

I can work out the internal angles of any polygon... would that help??

Ah well, another frustration, but one that will eventually get resolved.How come they let practically illiterate people into schools to teach and yet its so hard for me?? Right... on with the chicken now... rant over.