Stella Cattini-Muller

Hi Andy, I have tried several times and it seems impossible to unsubscribe to the e-mail option by going into my controls. There is a message which says something about autopruning not being in action? Does that have anything to do with it? many wishes Stella

I left full time education after 30 years of wide ranging primary teaching which included specialism in art, various co-ordination responsibilities, among them, curriculum development, community liaison, RE, literacy, the Humanities, whole school projects, induction and team leadership of ESL teachers. I also trained and practised as a counsellor. I accidently became involved in supply teaching in special schools, loved the work, and have been doing it ever since on a part time basis. It was the focus of an MA study I completed in 2002 (www.mirandanet.ac.uk/ftp/differentwayofbeing.pdf). I also recently taught primary Art, and Design & Technology to trainee teachers on a PGCE course. I am currently developing e-facilitation and ICT skills and engage in forum discussions with supply teachers. Since 1998 I have been raising funds to develop and support the education of children in a remote mountain area of NE Nigeria (www.mandaras.info/Information To Share.html).

That's it, David, They're all in denial! I agree with what you say - a very expensive and elaborate way to pretend everything's fine. First of all, just as things were taking shape and developing constructively, a new governement came to power and destroyed everything, literally. Then, we(I) had such hopes when finally New Labour came to power... I too taught through some crazy times, and could tell some tales of horror, but for every one of those I can tell of many more magic moments, and successes - I still meet kids I taught years ago and some of those were ones you thought could never make it out in the world - there are many surprises.

Hello there, I think the list of issues relating to obstacles in the learning process is dauntingly accurate and yet another frightening illustration of the decline of an education system which claims to give 'entitlement for all' and to deliver'excellence in our schools'. We clearly are not delivering to the huge number of pupils with challenging behaviour. The influences of outside stimuli apart, there is no time or space to create the kind of inclusive atmosphere of learning which will encourage self-esteem and responsibilty. I think Derek is right that the supposed decline in behaviour should be measured against the pressures imposed. On the other hand, I resent precious money being spent on endless research, maybe some more positive uses would be to create some pilot projects using the resources to test out the differences in class size/ behaviour by extra staffing and space and also providing some sort of therapeutic help, art therapy, etc Those who claim that teaching 30+ is no different from teaching 20 or less may not have had the inner city experiences some of us have worked through. It's true that there always were behavioural problems, for all sorts of reasons but with a class of 20 there is physically and emotionally much more 'space' to work with. Another pressure on time which takes the teacher away from being able to focus on individual pupils is that success is measured by competitive tests, fatuous statistics and meaningless checklists. Who wants to be a failure? Neither pupils, teacher, Head or school, or parents? The success I keep hearing about is at the expense of a lot of failure... ...are we going back to days when I sat at primary school class of about 45+ in a separate row from all my friends....because I could read and write better than them? On the far side in a row were the kids who couldn't write at all. Or can we move towards/maintain a scaffolded approach to learning where we can build on each others' strengths and share our skills and talents? High on my obstacle list is: curriculum content. class sizes, lack of support, time, freedom, constant changes/ inconsistency in policy...and much more. I'm tired just thinking about it! I hope the Government take note of the suggestion...so long as they don't pay a team millions of pounds to work out how to do it....

Hello, I'm a newcomer to this forum and must admit that I have been 'lurking' around the site with great interest. At the risk of sounding cynical and harping on about the good old days I feel, like you Jay, that just as learning should be child-centred (and I don't think that's what David M. understands it to be) similarly teaching should be teacher-centred and of course, no-one has been listening to them. Meaningless jargon and wonderfully caring sounding phrases, (platitudes, as you say, John) do not wash with anyone seriously involved in the mammoth task of sorting out the dreadful mess that has been made of education. I have seen this from several sides, as a creative and fulfilled primary teacher for 30 years, a firm believer in drawing out a child's strengths and talents, being flexible and giving children truly memorable learning experiences, as a teacher now in special education, partly and also a tutor in a college. The constraints of the tightened curriculum and standardised tests began to make that impossibly difficult even for the most rebellious among us. Does David M. want us to go full circle and resume where we left off? Would we be trusted?That makes me very sad because so many resources have been wasted along the way, human ones too. At the other end of the spectrum I have been teaching Art and D&T to PGCE students who constantly ask me about the good old days and how great it must have been to be able to pursue a creative arts project for a week etc. Many of them have been very disheartened on TP when they've realised there is no place on the timetable for them to integrate the foundation subjects they had so carefully and creatively woven into their planning. I am pleased to say that there has been some encouragement on these courses and some moves towards topic based cross-curricula ways of working but still within the narrow confines of the prescriptive NC. Don't think I am against teachers being utterly accountable and thoroughly prepared - but yes, they have to be given space and time to re-develop what was once beginning to become a workable system. I would like to ask David M. how he perceives 'personalised learning' running alongside the sort of testing which turns Heads, staff and now, children and parents, too, into competing factions and which denies opportunities to so many. There's nothing worse than sitting on wonderful ideas and watching as dreary repetitive programmes are enforced. He mentions 'curriculum choice', a 'school ethos focussed on student need,' etc, etc. Am I going to see a new cycle of positive change in my lifetime? I am sad for the younger teachers now and for the kids who miss out. I hope for change but I weep for the waste.