Professionals fast tracked into teaching.

Caz · 10-03-2009, 12:35

Gordon Brown promises new deal for credit crunch victims - Times Online

I always thought of teaching as something people went into as a vocation.

They may recruit people who are genius in their subject, but being able to teach it in a school environment I would have thought is another matter.

Margaret Pilkington · 10-03-2009, 13:36

Teaching is an art.
You can know a subject inside out, but not have the ability to teach it.
This is another government gimmick....like the one supposed to address domestic violence.
I will be surprised if either of these iniatives work.

cashman · 10-03-2009, 14:29

maybe its the thin end of the wedge? whats next? out of work page3 girls fast tracked into prostitution, when of coarse he has legalised that profession.

Morecambe Ex Pat · 10-03-2009, 14:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington

Teaching is an art.

You either can or can't pass on information in a way that others can understand and learn. Many people don't aquire that skill in a lifetime so 6 months is not going to give them the right skills.

Once again, the decision makers have proved how out of touch with reality, they really are. They have realised that a large number of excellent quality teachers have left the profession. These teachers have experience of life, relationships and are good role models for our young people to follow. To replace them with a bunch of wet behind the ears, undertrained academics with the common sense of a coat peg is just plain stupid.

.......... and why are so many teachers leaving the profession they so dearly love?

One word - Frustration.

We once had a system which taught classes of similar ability kids, anyone who was left behind was transferred to a group which better suited their ability.

Some numpty thought it would be a good idea to lump all abilities together and look what we have got now. The 'clever' kids are held back, the average kids are unable to learn because whole classes are disrupted by a small minority of kids who are unable to understand the lesson.

Most of the disruptive kids are not bad, they need to be taught at a slower pace.

It is not politically correct to segregate kids according to their abilities so all this political correctness is harming our kids education.

........... and to end on an example of education gone mad, my Daughter who has severe learning difficulties and has only a basic grasp of written English, was forced to learn French, Geography and History when it would have been more beneficial to her to spend that time with a speech therapist.

Lilly · 10-03-2009, 16:20

I find it quite alarming that these proposals would mean that someone can be a teacher after only 6 months training.

jaysay · 10-03-2009, 17:08

Nothing that this inept clown does surprises me any more.

Margaret Pilkington · 10-03-2009, 17:53

I did a City and Guilds Adult Teaching qualification - that took an academic year and there were 30 Hours teaching involved.....10 of which had to be observed and assessed.

katex · 10-03-2009, 18:09

I don't see any particular reason why this could not work myself, after all, as pointed out imparting knowledge to others is a talent and an art.

With the 1 year training at the moment, whose to say these present students are ever going to 'grasp' it at the end of the day. No amount of training can bring this out in some people.

Many of these candidates will probably have some knowledge of training people in their work situation.

lancsdave · 10-03-2009, 18:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by Morecambe Ex Pat

To replace them with a bunch of wet behind the ears, undertrained academics with the common sense of a coat peg is just plain stupid.

A new teacher throughout the years must have been a wet behind the ears academic. They may have been trained to be a teacher but how many actually lived in the real world before becoming teachers ?

Quote:

Originally Posted by katex

I don't see any particular reason why this could not work myself, after all, as pointed out imparting knowledge to others is a talent and an art.

With the 1 year training at the moment, whose to say these present students are ever going to 'grasp' it at the end of the day. No amount of training can bring this out in some people.

Many of these candidates will probably have some knowledge of training people in their work situation.

I agree with Katex to a certain degree. It may also help to pass some real business sense on to school leavers before they start work rather than leaving with no idea.

Margaret Pilkington · 10-03-2009, 18:28

I am not so sure. The course that I did was very intense...it was aimed at Adults, who are by nature much easier to teach because they actually want to learn.......I loved teaching, but wouldn't be wanting to teach some of the youngsters in schools today.
They really don't want to be there, let alone learning under the auspices of someone with only six months training.

Margaret Pilkington · 10-03-2009, 18:33

Kate, I also think that there is a vital difference between giving someone some 'training' and actually teaching.
These young folk that we are putting into the hands of teachers with only six months training are the seed corn of our future...in industry(or what is left of it) engineering(what is left of it)Information technology....etc.

katex · 10-03-2009, 18:34

Think this course will be extremely arduous too Margaret, and linked with heavy interviews to syphon out the potential students to qualify for these courses. More so, I suspect, from graduate > teaching training.

Margaret Pilkington · 10-03-2009, 18:38

It will certainly need to be.....if it is to have any integrity.
My fear is that the teachers who qualified in the conventional sense will see these newly trained teachers as 'plastic teachers'...much as the Blunkett Bobbies were ridiculed(and still are to a degree).

I certainly wouldn't fancy doing it....not that there is much chance now anyway.

Eric · 10-03-2009, 18:49

Maybe I'm wrong, or memory does not serve me as it should, but when I attended Accy Grammar, I was taught by people whose only qualification for teaching was a degree of some sort. Any teaching skills that any of them had, must have been aquired as they went on. Some of them had the knack (I wouldn't call it an art), and some of them didn't. How do you teach someone to teach? Does the aquisition of a B.Ed. make someone into a teacher in an Ozian way?

Margaret Pilkington · 10-03-2009, 20:13

I know that today you have to have a degree to teach Nurses.......and most nurses now qualify to degree standards(though I have to say that it doesn't make them better at the task of nursing patients).
I would have loved to have gone into teaching student nurses full time, but it meant doing a degree and I was already at the end of a long nursing career. I could not get secondment, because the powers that be felt that my career had not got long enough to run before I retired.

I certainly remember the good tutors that I had, and remember the lessons they taught me.......I remember the bad teachers too, thought not what they taught....there must be a lesson in there somewhere.