Whew the girls exams are over. The bits of paper scattered all around the house can be peeled off the walls, doors and ceiling. ( Daughter number four, has an important history diagram situated conveniently above her bed.) I am just hoping that it does not peel off the paint as well!
Exams, for most kids are very stressful and yet as someone who went through this "in the olden days" , I don't remember the pressure being as bad as it has become now. Nor the constant comment that the exams are getting easier. Which I guess will be the next predictable news item on education in August, when the exam results are out.
It seems like every year this criticism is levelled. It certainly was when my two eldest children took their GCSE's and A levels some years ago. The charge is always the same. The exams are getting easier and standards are declining.
As a parent, and someone who is lucky enough to know a few teachers I really do not believe this to be the case. (Certainly the exam papers I have seen baffle me - and I would like to think I received quite a good education as I attended a local grammar school.) Certainly the teachers work a lot harder and are monitored a lot more closely. I also have a strong recollection when I took my exams that there was less parity between the exam Boards.
Maybe the teachers coach the children specifically to pass the exams. But who can blame them for doing that, with schools performance being so closely monitored. Anyway, in my opinion, any good teacher or private tutor will always have done that.
What I do know is that they are now taught how to revise. Something I never remember being "coached" in. Hence all the signs round the house.
My theory is that there is so much more for us to have to get to grips with these days. Not only do we have all the old traditional subjects but some new subjects including IT, graphic design and technology. Schools are expected to fit a lot more into the day - and that must be tough to do when the school days is the same length (maybe even a little shorter) than it used to be.
More importantly there are also many more distractions inside even in the best run homes, which makes less likely for kids to settle down and read a good book. They are more likely to be talking on MSN, watching a DVD, playing a computer game or listening to their Ipod.
None of this entertainment was available thirty years ago. And if you are a Mum like me who is constantly trying to encourage hobbies, this can shoot you in the foot too. Daughter number four, who is a keen army cadet, struggles to fit in her homework.
What is the answer - I really don't know, but generally in life positive affirmation produces better results than constant criticism. And I am sure that must go for teachers as well as kids.
Labels: GCSE exams, happy kids, school holidays parents, school league tables
Now its a School Lottery?
Today the Busy-Mums Blog talks about the School Lottery.Visit http://www.helpforbusymums.com the website resource to help busy mums.
I feel really sorry for those parents in Brighton and Hove, who have suddenly found that the goal posts have changed. From next year (2008), the eligibility of the school they would prefer to send their children to is not the same as it was last week.
The sad thing is that although a computer may now be randomly selecting where a child attends school, there always has been clamor for children to get into the best schools. So its just the same war on a different battlefield.
Wouldn't it be nice if all the schools were "good". Then there would not be so much of a problem ....maybe. But what is the definition of a good school? for most of us it is the school which is top in the league tables. But is that really a true reflection of the success of a school or its pupils?
I am really lucky with the school that my girls attend in
Ringwood, which is just on the Dorset Hampshire border. It has a good name. However parents who are just outside of
Ringwood do struggle to get into the school.
Ringwood is a comprehensive. Dorset still has the old grammar school system, so it makes sense for those children who miss out on the grammar school to try and attend
Ringwood. However it is a real shame they are not confident enough in their local schools.
Of course
Ringwood Comprehensive does not have any where such good results as the Bournemouth Grammar Schools which has a strict selection process.
The selection process also happens on a less transparent basis in some parts of the country where the
SATS become a "tool" in the process of selection, within some supposedly non selective schools. Guess what their results in the League Tables are also going to be good.
To me this is
divisive. Any school which is taking children of lower academic ability, is not going to do so well in the league tables. Yet the child may have made significantly more progress than their opposite number in a selective school where the children have a higher academic ability.
Now I know of one school, which a friend of mine started teaching at a couple of years ago. She joined this school which is highly regarded, from having taught at quite a tough co ed school in a neighbouring town.
She was delighted to be moving to a single sex school which parents fought to get their children into. However her delight turned very quickly to horror. The lesson plans were non existent, the staff room moral was very low.
Absence among teachers was high.
When my friend compared the two schools - the better school in terms of commitment to the children, positive ethos and quality of teaching was undoubtedly the tough co ed school. Of course its results were no where as good as the single sex school, which has been languishing on its laurels and past reputation.
As a school it may well be delivering beyond the expected standards set by the government - but that school maybe well be failing based on the progress of each child.
And lets face it , given the demographics of the school, it is likely the pupils which are attending are probably more academic and have more proactive parents in the first place.
All I can say is that I am really glad that my kids do not go there..
We should take far more interest how the children have developed throughout their school career. Lets face it, if you have a child who has always had a natural academic
ability - of course you want that to be invested in. But equally if your child has been a slow starter - the teaching and school experience is almost more vital.
Kids being in a happy, enthusiastic environment is the one thing which will empower children to learn and enjoy school. To me that is far more important than basing how good a school is purely on the League Tables.
So lets start working hard to make all schools good and particular recognition for the schools where children are seem to improve the most because that is what makes difference between success and failure.
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Labels: best schools, children, school holidays parents, school league tables, selection
