Moderators: Aladinsaneuk, MartDude, D-Rider, Moderators
Wellington beat Napoleon with an army of convicts, pressed men, thugs, louts etc all led by the upper class very dim Ruperts of the era. Maybe thats where we are going wrong these days - you're all too well educated, intelligent and high tech these days Kwaks. You need some old fashioned grunts.Kwackerz wrote:Dont want them. Please send them to Portsmouth.
The Navy can have them.
We'd just like people who want to be part of the service, please.
Cheers,
The Army and RAF. xxx
Hear, hear.moletrap wrote:Whilst (well-directed) education is a good thing, I'd much rather the Department for Education be taking this initiative up rather than the DoT pushing it for its own motives. I also can't see anything in the extract that refers to motorbikes other than the bits the MCI have added in, so would it include biking? Finally, as has been mentioned there's plenty of older drivers on the road who need training & education, so why not a compulsory training course every, say, 10 years? You wouldn't expect lorry drivers, train drivers, pilots etc to work from a test gained many years ago, so why shouldn't drivers need to improve their standards?
Time they took a page out of private schools book thenyello wrote:The school day will have to be longer as there's already one helluva lot of stuff in the national curriculum. We're going to get to the point where kids are doing numeracy (or 'maths' in old money) for 1/2 hour on alternate Tuesdays!
If only they were allowed to! Unfortunately, state schools have to toe the government line when it comes to the National curriculum where as private schools have a much freer hand. State schools are already overburdened with 'Initiatives' that teachers have to follow as each successive government does it's best to make it's mark on the education system. In their desperate rush to 'Improve' pupils education, the basics are pushed ever further into the background. Blairs much publicised "Education, Education, Education" seems to have fallen by the wayside, to be replaced with Interference, Interference, Interference - much like his foreign policy.Time they took a page out of private schools book then
The school day gets ever shorter. The school near my last house finished the day at 3pm and judging by the pupils wandering about town, lunch was `1230 to 2pm. So a day of 4.5 hrs less breaks and gaps between lessons.yello wrote:The school day will have to be longer as there's already one helluva lot of stuff in the national curriculum. We're going to get to the point where kids are doing numeracy (or 'maths' in old money) for 1/2 hour on alternate Tuesdays!
Bloody hell, you part timer.lazarus wrote:My school day finished at 4:15 with 3 hours homework per day (inc Sat and Sun) and Sat morning school.
.... and you gotta be the best ever reason for changing that system.Gio wrote:
2 schools I went to started at 0815, 1st break was at 10.15 for 15 mins, lunch was 45 mins (12.30 to 13.15) then last break 14.45 to 14.55, school ended at 16.30.
Dinner at 17.00
Homework was 18.00 to 21.00 and no you couldn't leave if you'd finished.
Saturday was 08.00 to 13.00, no homework at the weekends tho
A number of my friends are - or were - teachers and I agree with what you say. It got to such an extrememat one point there was a suggestion (wrapped up in government-speak of course) that they employ more teaching assistants to do the teaching so the teachers could keep up with the paperwork!Tweaker wrote:State schools are already overburdened with 'Initiatives' that teachers have to follow as each successive government does it's best to make it's mark on the education system. In their desperate rush to 'Improve' pupils education, the basics are pushed ever further into the background. Blairs much publicised "Education, Education, Education" seems to have fallen by the wayside, to be replaced with Interference, Interference, Interference
I'm on the verge of packing in my PGCE for this very reason.fed up with all her time being taken with crowd control and paperwork
I'd heard that suggested too! And I wasn't sure whether it was a joke or not! TA's do a great deal in the classroom, many teachers couldn't function without them, and I was told that teachers aren't the kids friend, the TA is. The teacher, I think, is supposed to stay detached.they employ more teaching assistants to do the teaching so the teachers could keep up with the paperwork!
Yes, thats the public sector at work! Productivity declines every year.yello wrote: I'd heard that suggested too! And I wasn't sure whether it was a joke or not! TA's do a great deal in the classroom, many teachers couldn't function without them, and I was told that teachers aren't the kids friend, the TA is. The teacher, I think, is supposed to stay detached.
Teachers are increasingly becoming managers and resource allocation is part of the job. Lesson planning takes an age and teachers get time allocated, preparation and assessment time (PPA) to do it. They are increasingly out of the classroom, whether it be for PPA, or courses, or other duties. So I can see a day when the teacher doesn't teach at all - just manages it.
I can remember on my youngest sons last day of school asking a teacher why they didn't teach the old fashioned way (by rote), she said if you want that sort of education then you send them to private school.Kwackerz wrote:lazarus wrote: Not a teachers assistant in sight and classes of 30 / 35. So why is it any different now?
That puzzles me too. You think, if anything, it'd be a bit easier maybe. Technology all over the place and all that!
