Latest / Teachers Talk Radio / Setting the Example - Teachers, Uniforms & Classroom Culture: The Twilight Show with Tony Harwood and Yannick Berland

Transcript

Setting the Example - Teachers, Uniforms & Classroom Culture: The Twilight Show with Tony Harwood and Yannick Berland · Teachers Talk Radio

• 0:00
  Welcome to TKO Talk Radio! Thank you for listening!
• 0:21
  Well good evening everyone and welcome to the Twilight Show on Teachers Talk Radio.
• 0:27
  Welcome on this sunny Wednesday and I hope that everyone is having a good holiday.
• 0:34
  And I was talking to Yannick just before we went
• 0:37
  on air about the fact that I know that people have had slightly different
• 0:40
  Easter holidays depending on maybe
• 0:43
  what part of the country they're in or what trust they work for
• 0:46
  or whoever makes these decisions and
• 0:50
  the fact that it's totally unfair that some people had an extra
• 0:53
  day and had good friday off but yeah
• 0:57
  this is i've been looking forward to this one guys and just it's
• 1:00
  coming up to a bit of a milestone for myself because
• 1:03
  it's been nearly a year now that i've been a
• 1:07
  host on teachers talk radio it's been a really great
• 1:09
  year I feel like I've connected with
• 1:12
  some really interesting people some very knowledgeable people
• 1:16
  some and some very passionate people through various
• 1:20
  events and through the the people
• 1:23
  who I've managed to convince to come on my shows been some really interesting
• 1:27
  guests that I've spoke to and another sort of interesting piece of news guys
• 1:33
  is that my guest has now turned co-host So I have Yannick Berlin with me once again,
• 1:43
  and Yannick, you'll be seeing us both together on this show more often, guys.
• 1:50
  I just want to say thank you to anybody who has joined us.
• 1:55
  I know that there's been quite a bit of interest in the things that we're going to get into.
• 2:01
  Because I've put some things out on socials, as I tend to do.
• 2:07
  And I've had some interesting responses back from people regarding the example that we set, really.
• 2:15
  And there was a few things that I know Yannick also had suggested,
• 2:19
  and I just thought, we'll tie a few things together and just see how we do.
• 2:23
  So a few things have come up, just to give you a flavor about
• 2:26
  what we're going to get into things like homework
• 2:30
  so you know some general feelings on
• 2:32
  homework but is it reasonable for us
• 2:35
  to set homework and expect students to do homework in
• 2:39
  their free time when we're raising workload
• 2:43
  and taking work home as a concern I
• 2:46
  mean people will say that those two things may not be connected but it's just
• 2:51
  some interesting things to get into homework has always been something that
• 2:56
  I'm not really convinced I've always got right and as a profession it's a bone
• 3:01
  of contention for some and it's one of those ones where you won't please everybody.
• 3:05
  We're going to get into things like the things that really interested people
• 3:10
  and something that people wanted to give their opinion on was dress code, teacher dress code.
• 3:18
  So set an example in terms of if you're telling students to take their nose
• 3:23
  studs out, if teachers are wearing them, is that reasonable?
• 3:27
  And then talking about the staff dress code, I had some conversations with people
• 3:32
  who talked about the gender.
• 3:35
  What's the way to put this diplomatically?
• 3:39
  The gender imbalance, perhaps, with the expectations of what men against women
• 3:46
  are expected to wear in the workplace.
• 3:49
  But just generally setting that example, isn't it? And one thing that again came through...
• 3:55
  Was just this feeling of negativity. So obviously, the thing about Teachers
• 4:01
  Talk Radio is we want to talk about things that worry us.
• 4:05
  And it isn't a great time for the profession at the moment, to be honest.
• 4:11
  Various influences we've talked about, the new Ofsted framework.
• 4:15
  And maybe from the outside, it may seem that teachers are quite,
• 4:19
  well, negative in highlighting these problems, in talking about these problems.
• 4:25
  We do spend a lot of time talking on TDRS Talk Radio perfectly legitimately
• 4:29
  about things like violence in schools, absolutely legitimately behaviour in
• 4:34
  schools, obviously the framework,
• 4:38
  the Ofsted framework, recruitment and retention and everything else,
• 4:41
  and just the issues in schools and
• 4:44
  the spiralling send needs and
• 4:49
  the different views on that so yeah it we're going to get into all
• 4:52
  of that but i'd like to sort of bring some
• 4:55
  positives in as well anyway so
• 4:59
  i just want to say hello to after my little rambling intro to yannick i know
• 5:05
  that yannick at the moment is over in france i believe the weather is similar
• 5:11
  as are the fuel prices we were just talking about that as well So,
• 5:15
  how are things for you, Yannick, what sort of a holiday have you had?
• 5:18
  Yannick Yeah, quite good. I think, you know, I just want to pick up on what
• 5:23
  you've just said because you want to bring some positivity.
• 5:27
  The first thing we systematically start with is a good rant,
• 5:31
  that's what you've just said.
• 5:33
  You know, it's interesting. I moan a lot. And I'm probably moaning more than anybody else I know.
• 5:39
  And sometimes when I say, right, you know, oh, I can't wait for tomorrow to
• 5:43
  see the kids. And then my wife says, why? You just kept moaning.
• 5:48
  We are a strange bunch, teachers, but I think, and I think, you know, when you say moan,
• 5:53
  it's also maybe vent, because if you think about it, five hours a day,
• 5:59
  we've got to be very careful about what we say,
• 6:03
  how we say, who, and we are talking about students, but also colleagues and also managers.
• 6:11
  You you can't help feel
• 6:14
  that after a day's work you must either
• 6:17
  be you know doing some sport or going a little cabin and shout or which is what
• 6:25
  i do rant on vant events and rant because because i think we don't have that
• 6:31
  outlet we do not have that outlet so yeah i think we come across and And yeah,
• 6:36
  people have commented on that and I do agree, we come across as very negative people,
• 6:41
  I do agree and I don't know what the answer is to that.
• 6:45
  It's awful if you spend an evening with a bunch of teachers,
• 6:49
  my friend called them, a bar of teachers is a name for a group of teachers.
• 6:54
  I can't disagree, you know, I can't disagree.
• 7:00
  That is very interesting. I think we do, yes, we do moan a lot because during
• 7:05
  the day, we can't. We've got to be professional.
• 7:09
  And, you know, any little thing that you do wrong will be picked up.
• 7:12
  And on top of that, so someday you can have a bad day, you say something wrong,
• 7:16
  you know, out of five hours, it's so easily done.
• 7:19
  You get cross, you have a bad day yourself. And then you do a little thing and
• 7:23
  then that just throws you, just puts you over the edge totally.
• 7:27
  And then you go home upset. I mean, you can't take a day off if you feel like
• 7:31
  that. But it is very interesting.
• 7:34
  So, yeah, I kind of agree that when people maybe read our stuff,
• 7:38
  yeah, we don't necessarily often appear to be the most positive people.
• 7:45
  It doesn't mean, though, that we hate our jobs. I don't think anybody does.
• 7:50
  And I think that's where you've got to be careful.
• 7:52
  But, yeah, it's like everything. You know, if it's good, then don't mention
• 7:56
  it. But I think it's human nature as well.
• 8:00
  If it's great, fine. If there's no problem, fine.
• 8:05
  I was reading something about, you know, we've got Norwegian guests,
• 8:08
  and she brought us a book about the cultural differences, and the Norwegians
• 8:12
  apparently are very much like that. If they don't say anything, it's great.
• 8:18
  And we are like that. I mean, that's why we always try, I think,
• 8:21
  in school as well, to emphasize the positive with the students,
• 8:23
  you know, the rewards assemblies and all this and all that.
• 8:26
  And people say, well, why? It's what is expected, isn't it? Like good behavior, respect.
• 8:34
  But then we try to emphasize the positive maybe because of that,
• 8:38
  because if not, we only focus on the, and we do as well, you know,
• 8:43
  as a teacher, I will focus on that two, three kids who ruined my lesson.
• 8:48
  You know, no doubt about that. And then sometimes I forget. I don't know.
• 8:53
  I don't think it's specific to teachers, but,
• 8:57
  No, but I think what you say about the fact that we do have to be so positive.
• 9:02
  I mean, I'm sometimes careful because I share an office with this four of us
• 9:07
  in a sort of a relatively small office, but it's sufficient space.
• 9:12
  But there's two people who are quite experienced, myself and another person
• 9:18
  who I work with, my head of faculty.
• 9:20
  And then we have one younger member of the team. And sometimes I'm a little
• 9:25
  bit wary just lately that we do moan a lot and we do vent a lot.
• 9:29
  But it's very important, I think, to sort of remind new teachers that that's
• 9:35
  not what we're like in the classroom because I'm quite different in the classroom.
• 9:40
  I'm keeping all of my positivity for when I see the students because I know that that works.
• 9:45
  Well, it doesn't work every time, but it is quite powerful if you can sort of
• 9:51
  be positive and you can greet them and say, hello or you know what what's how's
• 9:54
  your you know and generally we do like working with.
• 9:58
  Students and that's the thing that doesn't always come
• 10:01
  across i think no i mean you're right
• 10:04
  we do like work i mean that's exactly why i'm in this
• 10:07
  job because i you know i like i like is they
• 10:09
  make me they make me you know i this is not what i bring back home but they
• 10:13
  do make me laugh they do make me laugh they make my day interesting they you
• 10:18
  know keeps me young as well and yeah of course but somehow this is not what
• 10:22
  i bring home what i bring home is oh god that little just ruined man Why is that? I don't know.
• 10:30
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• 11:44
  Yeah, well, it's just the human nature, isn't it? Like you say,
• 11:48
  yeah, but it is, I mean, I agree with you.
• 11:52
  I have, what I like about my subjects, and it's probably similar for a lot of
• 11:57
  subjects, to be fair, is I get asked questions that I've never even thought to ask from time to time.
• 12:02
  So actually, the innate curiosity that children have, and even when they do
• 12:09
  become teenagers, that does get lost a bit, but it is still in there somewhere.
• 12:13
  They still have a curiosity about the world around them.
• 12:15
  So actually, and like you say, they're funny.
• 12:18
  I mean, you can have a great time with students. They can be quite funny.
• 12:24
  But it's, yeah, it's up and down, isn't it?
• 12:29
  So, but what's interesting is one of the things I'm going to ask you in a minute,
• 12:33
  I'll just give you a little bit of thinking time, Yannick,
• 12:36
  is do we have a responsibility and are we meeting the responsibility to promote
• 12:43
  the profession in a positive way?
• 12:46
  So I just want you to sort of think about that while I mention a couple of things to everyone.
• 12:50
  And I just want to mention that our sponsors for this show, our AQA, our sponsors, our
• 12:58
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  So that's AQA and that is Hashette Learning, everyone.
• 14:49
  So do give those a look.
• 14:52
  So, yeah, there may be one or two sort of issues with Wi-Fi,
• 14:59
  as there sometimes is, guys. So bear with us.
• 15:02
  Which Wi-Fi there is just not up to scratch, is it?
• 15:07
  Yeah let's not yeah let's not go into comparing french
• 15:10
  and british wi-fi british and
• 15:13
  i have the best wi-fi over here that's clearly
• 15:17
  not true but yeah so bear with us
• 15:19
  guys so i asked a minute ago i don't know if
• 15:22
  you're ready yet yeah yeah but what is your
• 15:25
  feelings on that pete do you think we have a responsibility
• 15:28
  to promote the profession
• 15:31
  more positively maybe in terms of encouraging in
• 15:35
  recruitment and just to
• 15:38
  maybe alleviate some of
• 15:41
  the concerns about people from outside schools
• 15:44
  that may think we're always very negative what do you think
• 15:47
  are we meeting that responsibility yeah i
• 15:49
  think i think you know it ties in with the way we we
• 15:53
  moan about our jobs a lot so i mean you know i always feel like if some maybe
• 15:57
  wishy-washy answers because it's never it's never too controversial isn't it
• 16:02
  i think all things have things have to be balanced haven't they so you can't
• 16:07
  be but so i would say yes we do have a responsibility to um,
• 16:11
  represent our jobs positively. Do we do it? No, I don't think we do anything
• 16:15
  because you also have to be realistic.
• 16:18
  And actually, I must admit that a few weeks ago, I went to my brother-in-law
• 16:26
  and his daughter once was looking into teaching.
• 16:31
  And I did say, I'm not sure you should consider other things as well and and
• 16:39
  so i did i did when i came home i did feel bad about that thinking well why
• 16:44
  why would you not recommend someone to do a job that you're doing and that you actually like.
• 16:50
  I don't know i think and and is is some
• 16:53
  people have said the problem of recruitment is actually our
• 16:57
  own doing i don't i don't quite believe
• 17:00
  that because actually in a lot of
• 17:02
  cases there's there's there's a lot of people that you
• 17:05
  talk to and say oh my god i wouldn't want to do your
• 17:08
  job because they actually know from the other side
• 17:11
  how difficult it is because they've been they've been
• 17:14
  on the side of making teachers life difficult or known i mean everybody's been
• 17:20
  in school and everybody knows what it's like so it's it's tricky i mean now
• 17:26
  what what could we do to you know encourage people to to be teachers that's
• 17:31
  that's the interesting question. A lot of people have a lot of different ideas.
• 17:36
  But, you know, we...
• 17:38
  I'll go back to what I was saying. You know, we want teachers to be professionals.
• 17:44
  So you've got to wear a tie and suit, but we don't necessarily treat them as professionals.
• 17:50
  So, you know, wearing a tie and suit is not what makes you a teacher, really.
• 17:55
  And there's a lot of people who are frustrated. You know, you employ people
• 17:59
  who have degrees, who've got knowledge, but then you don't really let them teach
• 18:04
  and that they've got to struggle with behavior rather than teaching.
• 18:07
  Things have changed Maybe And some schools deal with that better than others
• 18:14
  Now they tend to be hammered By people Say that they are too strict But at the
• 18:20
  same time Are teachers happier in schools like that?
• 18:23
  Yes, in some way yes In another way are they also Also treated a little bit
• 18:29
  like the children They teach.
• 18:31
  That i i have heard that in some you know if she works for some of the big trusts
• 18:37
  well and and i have i didn't feel that i was particularly treated like an individual and,
• 18:45
  either you know some of the rules certainly
• 18:49
  did apply to me you know some some some i don't mind
• 18:52
  but others i thought that's interesting
• 18:55
  i mean they yeah they that's another
• 18:58
  thing and i i'm think in a future show I
• 19:02
  might be interested to get into these ideas
• 19:05
  of these binary ideas of
• 19:08
  should schools be more disciplinary
• 19:13
  I don't want to say zero tolerance because I don't think zero
• 19:16
  tolerance actually exists I think there's always yes
• 19:20
  because we know what's going to happen if we go on that
• 19:24
  route but that might be one for the future but let's just
• 19:27
  get into the you touched on the uniform there and the uniform as against the
• 19:32
  dress code because one of the things I put out there that some people did seem
• 19:36
  to agree with was this idea of setting an example if you're a teacher and there's
• 19:44
  a real difference in opinion out there because some people.
• 19:48
  Probably quite rightly say there's a different set of expectations and guidelines
• 19:53
  and rules when it comes to adult dress code and obviously student uniform rules and there's obviously,
• 20:02
  we can't be necessarily have the same rules
• 20:05
  although some people seem to be suggesting that maybe we should follow
• 20:09
  all the same rules because that would encourage buy-in
• 20:14
  and just set that example obviously with our
• 20:17
  behavior we set the example all the time but with
• 20:20
  you know what do you think about that do you think it's reasonable again if
• 20:25
  a teacher has bracelets and a
• 20:28
  teacher has lots of jewelry and nails or
• 20:32
  whatever and do you think that's reasonable to think that if you if you're a
• 20:38
  teacher and you've dyed your hair blue and then you're you're picking up people
• 20:45
  in your form for having inappropriate hair colors or styles or whatever.
• 20:50
  Do you think that is hypocrisy, Yannick? Or do you think that there's always
• 20:56
  going to be two sets of rules?
• 20:59
  Yeah, I mean, I do think that if you do expect students to wear a uniform,
• 21:04
  we should set an example.
• 21:05
  Yeah, I mean, probably the same for the hair color. I don't see,
• 21:10
  because these rules are really imposed on the students without any.
• 21:16
  Justification other than it's the rules so i think yes some some of the rules
• 21:21
  should apply like like the phones for example i agree that if um if i expect
• 21:28
  students not to have their phone during the day well i shouldn't be using mine
• 21:32
  maybe other than at lunchtime,
• 21:35
  i'm wondering if um if my wi-fi is breaking up
• 21:38
  a little bit yeah maybe yeah but
• 21:41
  you've made i'll just pick up on what you were saying there with the with
• 21:44
  the mobile phones because obviously I mean I have seen this I have walked
• 21:47
  past classes looked through the window and looked through the door and the teachers
• 21:52
  got their mobile phone in their hand and and it it does actually make you think
• 21:57
  sometimes yeah that's not really setting the right example looks like Yannick
• 22:03
  is having some issues there guys so I might just.
• 22:07
  Um just for now wait to see
• 22:10
  how yannick gets on with correcting that
• 22:13
  so yeah this idea i've had
• 22:16
  quite a bit of comeback on
• 22:19
  this feedback on this from people because and
• 22:23
  i'll probably get into some of these now what i was
• 22:26
  going to do oh by the way if you are watching this and you would like to comment
• 22:29
  please do you will find a comment box somewhere
• 22:32
  underneath the screen on whatever a platform that you're
• 22:35
  watching please put a comment in if it's
• 22:38
  something that we can address during the live show
• 22:41
  that we will but obviously you can find me
• 22:44
  on socials and you can find ttr if
• 22:48
  you want to get involved in any way with teachers talk radio
• 22:51
  it's a great organization i'd thoroughly recommend
• 22:54
  getting involved getting in touch and seeing
• 22:57
  if seeing if you've got something you'd
• 23:01
  like to share and it's easy to think I mean even me on
• 23:04
  occasions I think have I really got something
• 23:07
  that's worth saying on this topic but we all
• 23:10
  do our voice is important if you're you know
• 23:13
  a classroom teacher we you are the people we need
• 23:16
  to hear from you are the people who have who have
• 23:19
  that experience on a day-to-day basis you have
• 23:22
  four or five or more lessons a day
• 23:25
  you have full days of teaching and it's.
• 23:28
  Very I think it is very quickly
• 23:31
  people do forget what that's like so if you'd like to comment if you've got
• 23:36
  anything to say based on what we've been talking about in terms of setting those
• 23:42
  standards then yeah do get involved are we are we setting the good example?
• 23:50
  Are we presenting that professional example to people outside the profession,
• 23:57
  to students in the classes, to parents, and to the wider society generally?
• 24:05
  So, it's an interesting point. So, yeah, what I might do in a little while perhaps
• 24:11
  is, like I said, I've put together a load of things that people have come back
• 24:15
  and said on socials and through ex-Twitter.
• 24:20
  And there's some quite interesting comments in there. They're in no particular
• 24:23
  order, but I think I'll talk about those in a bit.
• 24:26
  So, this idea of uniform, the other one that, again, Again, diplomacy is needed
• 24:33
  here, but it has been mentioned, and I have just had a comment come through,
• 24:38
  which I'll have a look at in a minute, and thank you for that one.
• 24:41
  It did come through about the difference between the expectations with male
• 24:45
  teachers and female teachers, particularly in terms of wearing a tie.
• 24:49
  I remember one time, just a little quick story,
• 24:52
  a deputy head teacher came to me at a previous school and just said,
• 24:57
  I've got a message from the boss and i thought oh brilliant what is what has
• 25:01
  he got for me what has he lined up for me and he was a brilliant head teacher
• 25:04
  i had a lot of time for him but it was like oh i've just been told asked to
• 25:09
  tell you could you just do your top button up please i'm like.
• 25:14
  My heart sunk into my shoes it's like really and you know the reality of it was you know,
• 25:22
  I'd probably put on some weight it didn't my
• 25:26
  top button might not fit it may not be comfortable
• 25:29
  at all to wear and again it goes back to that idea if it's not comfortable for
• 25:33
  me you know if you're a student and you're growing which you no doubt are at
• 25:37
  the ages that students that we teach and And if there's an issue with money
• 25:44
  and with poverty and so on, oh, I don't know.
• 25:49
  It will just rumble on and on and on, this debate. Do you think there's anything,
• 25:54
  and we'll be careful here, Yannick, do you think there's anything in what people
• 25:58
  say and the difference between males and females?
• 26:01
  What do you think about that? Or would you rather not go there?
• 26:04
  Well, no, I can't go there.
• 26:06
  And I'll tell you a funny story, actually, because the other day,
• 26:09
  so you know as a form tutor in the morning you check your students uniforms
• 26:13
  and I so you're checking everything and systematically I ask the boys to tuck their shirts in,
• 26:22
  systematically always the boys and but
• 26:26
  something i never check for example because i'm i'm i'm rubbish at it and it's
• 26:29
  not so that's quite interesting for example i never i never check the the girls
• 26:34
  skirts length or i never particularly check makeup or things like that right
• 26:39
  and probably because as as a male you know you you're you're a little bit uncomfortable with it and.
• 26:46
  And and maybe because you don't necessarily pay attention to things like that
• 26:49
  quite rightly because who cares, you know, who cares really deep down,
• 26:54
  you know, these are a set of rules that are totally,
• 26:57
  you know, not justifiable in it.
• 27:00
  So I was, I was with my farm and I was having a rant, yeah, as usual.
• 27:06
  And I think it was a morning where maybe I had to tell the boys to tuck their
• 27:11
  shirts in and I was having a bit of a go at them.
• 27:13
  So, right, you know, you know, boys, what is that? you know,
• 27:15
  every single morning, your shirt's in and so on.
• 27:18
  The girls, always perfect, never have to say anything.
• 27:21
  And whoa, well, they get away, they get away with everything, the girls in this group.
• 27:26
  And I thought, well, actually, it's quite true.
• 27:32
  And another thing which really made me laugh, I see I never,
• 27:34
  I never checked the girls, the girls' Kurt's length. And it's hilarious.
• 27:38
  I was walking behind, so dismissed my form and I was walking behind three girls in my form.
• 27:45
  And I did see how the skirt's length was so different and I did actually stop
• 27:51
  and I said, right girls, I'm not normally looking at that, but,
• 27:55
  I put them against them. I said, look at the three of you. He said, what is different?
• 28:00
  And we had to laugh about it. So again, you know, you can turn anything into
• 28:05
  a bit of fun, really. And I said, right.
• 28:08
  And I said, this is really taking the mick a little bit, isn't it?
• 28:13
  And I said, why? I said, look at how the three of you have got three different skirts.
• 28:18
  And then he didn't even understand that at first. And then once he said,
• 28:21
  oh, that's your skirt. Why do you get your skirt so short?
• 28:25
  And, you know, it was, yeah, it's a little bit too short, to be fair,
• 28:28
  you know. So, and, you know, they kind of sorted themselves and went.
• 28:31
  Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I think, well, I think we're not, we're a bit more careful with the girls.
• 28:40
  Because anything you say can be construed as being a perv or being, picking on girls.
• 28:47
  So, whereas with boys, it's not the same, I think.
• 28:51
  Yeah it's yeah it's it's again and then it's very easy to get into a situation
• 28:57
  where somebody might accuse you of treating people differently which which may
• 29:01
  be something that we have to reflect on and again this is another conversation i had.
• 29:07
  I won't mention the name, but with the same person talked about the difference
• 29:11
  between male and females, I think because he's got a son, an 11-year-old son
• 29:17
  who's recently started school.
• 29:18
  And just this bias that teachers sometimes have without really thinking about
• 29:25
  it, subconscious bias perhaps,
• 29:27
  about how they talk about the fact that girls might be more willing to engage
• 29:34
  in the right way or be more studious, conscientious.
• 29:40
  And again, sometimes there's some truth and sometimes it's an unhelpful generalization.
• 29:45
  Yeah, like everything. like everything yeah and you you tend to you tend to
• 29:50
  make your own case as a as a as a general case when it's not all necessarily
• 29:54
  the truth you know we all do that you know like oh but my you know,
• 29:59
  but you know yes i mean the boys what do they do yeah they untuck their shirt
• 30:03
  in and again you know i've worked in a school where that was a detention straight away and i'm like.
• 30:11
  And detention and a confrontation and shouting and then inevitably to talk to F off by the kids.
• 30:18
  You know, whereas all you can do is point it out.
• 30:22
  I usually do this, you know, I'm a little bit plump.
• 30:25
  So I go around and I show them how mine is tucked at the back as well.
• 30:29
  And I say, if I can do that, you can do it. I can do it, you can do it.
• 30:33
  Yeah, well, again, you're absolutely right. So you can get the same result,
• 30:37
  but without that confrontation,
• 30:39
  without that conflict and so yeah it just comes
• 30:42
  down to a little bit of common sense and if it's a rule I mean I agree
• 30:45
  with you if it's uh some rules I think make
• 30:48
  sense other rules I don't really understand so the one while we're on uniform
• 30:54
  I suppose you know sock colors is you know but then the thing about an argument
• 31:00
  like this is it does cut both ways because if it's not a big deal you might as well do it.
• 31:06
  Don't you think i mean because because there is that so there's
• 31:09
  two ways you could like if you're saying something's not a big deal i always
• 31:12
  think well we might as well do it then so but
• 31:15
  anyway that that's something if anybody is listening and
• 31:18
  wants to comment on that but i can see both sides
• 31:21
  of it if someone's saying you're gonna have a detention because you've
• 31:24
  got the wrong colored socks i'd be like
• 31:27
  well really but yeah as
• 31:30
  a parent you'd be annoyed when you and i understand that you
• 31:33
  know what's more important there but then yeah the other argument
• 31:36
  that says well if then nothing is important then and i
• 31:39
  get that as well but and i i think mainly the
• 31:42
  usual is just finding that balance which people never seem to
• 31:45
  find so you're either mega strict or there's the
• 31:48
  assumption that if you're not then things fall apart and
• 31:51
  i i don't know i don't know yeah again
• 31:55
  like you say it's balance isn't it it's just a sensible balance
• 31:58
  you know if it if it's a direct implication
• 32:01
  having lots of earrings in is an implication for safety
• 32:05
  if there's lots of people in the corridor or if you're going
• 32:07
  into a PE lesson or whatever it is drama and
• 32:10
  you're moving around then it's a reasonable rule in one of the schools we had
• 32:16
  the rule no coats inside so any anybody caught with a coat inside on top of
• 32:21
  the blazer was an instant intention so I thought that was a real pain because
• 32:25
  then you went out, do the line-up, come back.
• 32:27
  So obviously, I took my coat off.
• 32:31
  Not every teacher did it, but I think if we've got that stupid rule,
• 32:34
  I've got to follow that stupid rule. That's a really good example.
• 32:38
  And I did go and I said, right, can we change that stupid rule,
• 32:41
  please? That's my voice as a teacher. This is stupid.
• 32:44
  This is causing a lot of problem, not helping anybody.
• 32:48
  Just say, no coats in the classroom. When they come in your classroom,
• 32:52
  you decide. and nobody and you know but in as soon as you come in so hmm yeah
• 33:00
  I mean life difficult why why.
• 33:04
  It's common sense, and I'm totally with you, because we've got the same rule.
• 33:08
  Once you come in from outside, which I understand, I think the reason for it
• 33:12
  is to avoid conflict with the teacher at the classroom door.
• 33:15
  But I'm with you, because the problem is, think about it, if you've got a coat
• 33:19
  and a bag, because we insist on a bag.
• 33:22
  I mean, because some students try to get away with not having a bag,
• 33:26
  because we were, we had, last year, our place, we were keeping the books in school.
• 33:31
  Now we insist the students take them home because we want
• 33:34
  for obvious reasons so some students didn't have
• 33:36
  a bag but if we insist on them having a rucksack which
• 33:39
  they've got over both shoulders a coat rucksack you come
• 33:42
  in from the cold so what what do
• 33:45
  you just stand to the side take your bag or take your coat off at
• 33:48
  what point does the bag and the coat come off do
• 33:51
  you try and do it as you're walking i
• 33:54
  suppose you could but but like you say if
• 33:57
  i'm on duty and i've got my coat on and i
• 34:00
  go through the door and I've got in my hand my walkie
• 34:03
  talkie because we need the radios to communicate while we're on duty so I've
• 34:07
  got I've usually got my flask of my coffee in it if I'm honest so I've got and
• 34:12
  then I've got a fluorescent because we wear a fluorescent jacket so that we're
• 34:16
  easily seen while we're on duty so we've got all the gear right.
• 34:21
  That has been coming on that as well hasn't it so what have I got to take my
• 34:25
  fluoro off my coat off over my arm and then it's like if So I'm not going to
• 34:31
  do it, so the teacher's not going to do it.
• 34:33
  I did once hear a kid, it was brilliant, just I think a teacher had told them
• 34:39
  to take their coat off because they were indoors, and then they pointed at quite
• 34:42
  a senior member of the teaching staff and said, when they take their coat off, I'll take mine off.
• 34:47
  And I'm thinking, fair enough.
• 34:50
  Well, yeah, I mean... I mean, you could... Yeah, sorry. They're good at that, the students.
• 34:56
  They're also very good at...
• 34:58
  Pointing out what seems unfair or ridiculous of
• 35:01
  course you know and and i think sometimes you go
• 35:04
  to listen to them thinking well you know i'm not saying
• 35:07
  of course you know nowhere near saying they should be making the
• 35:10
  rules as some people suggested but i think
• 35:13
  that that is where the student voice is useful because they
• 35:17
  will come up with stuff you know some things you you know
• 35:19
  some things you explain and they will understand like we are the adults we're
• 35:24
  in charge i think they don't have a problem with that you know yes sir but some
• 35:28
  of the things you do really is stupid oh yeah like what like this yeah fair
• 35:33
  enough okay i'll change that and you know it doesn't mean,
• 35:38
  relinquishing your authority or anything like that it just no like you say just
• 35:42
  rules if if a rule just makes life more difficult then you do have to look at
• 35:46
  it if it's not and you know it's if It's not reasonable.
• 35:50
  We do want young people to question things to some extent in the right way, in a diplomatic way.
• 35:57
  So I've got a comment here from Paul Foss.
• 36:02
  Thank you for commenting, Paul. I know that you've been kind enough to get involved
• 36:07
  and comment previously.
• 36:09
  Yes, Paul, you're just great.
• 36:10
  Wearing a tie. So a teacher many years ago when I started at Mancha,
• 36:16
  always wearing a tie. I still wear trousers and a shirt.
• 36:19
  But rarely worn a tie. Maybe I've dropped my standards.
• 36:22
  So, I mean, that's a great point.
• 36:27
  So the tie, what do we feel about people wearing?
• 36:34
  I mean, to be honest, I quite like a tie and I do think it looks smart.
• 36:38
  But should we be mandating a tie as part of the teachers or the male teachers' dress code?
• 36:49
  What do you think? Is that something we should be mandating? Is that reasonable?
• 36:53
  Some of my feminist friends have got a theory about the tie that I'm not even
• 36:59
  sure is acceptable to say on here, but that is basically an apparatus pointing
• 37:06
  at something which you have.
• 37:09
  And I thought, all right. I've heard that as well. I have heard that theory.
• 37:14
  But I mean, I don't know. It is a good question, isn't it?
• 37:18
  Is there situations, and we say that we prepare students for everyday life,
• 37:23
  is it possible to still be smart without a tie, without maybe leather shoes?
• 37:30
  I mean, if you watch a classic example that a lot of students will see is the
• 37:34
  pundits at the end of the football match. Look at what they're wearing. They're smart.
• 37:39
  They haven't got suits and ties. Sometimes they might, but generally not.
• 37:43
  They generally have got some kind of comfortable shoe, I would say,
• 37:48
  trainer-type shoe, which, again, doesn't necessarily look untidy.
• 37:53
  I suppose the problem is if you've got – I mean, it's a horrible look,
• 37:58
  when the students come in with the hoodie, the school trousers,
• 38:02
  and the white trainers. It's the worst.
• 38:05
  It is the worst look, honestly. Yeah, you look at it.
• 38:09
  And yeah but um they have at the weekend
• 38:12
  so it's all right yeah yeah so
• 38:16
  i don't know i mean it's and people will say it
• 38:19
  doesn't affect their learning but then the thing is it
• 38:22
  does though to some extent because you and that's the thing it's really hard
• 38:27
  to have this conversation with students especially because every now and again
• 38:30
  a student when they're not really in the mood for doing some work one afternoon
• 38:34
  is they'll they'll they'll throw that one at you they'll say sir how is this
• 38:39
  really affecting our learning?
• 38:40
  And then we've got to decide whether to accept that invitation. Yeah.
• 38:47
  Friday afternoon, listen, four and five. Friday afternoon. Yeah, yeah.
• 38:51
  Because it's, yeah, because that's a double win for them because they're getting
• 38:55
  to put you on the spot and also they're avoiding learning for five or ten minutes
• 39:00
  while you, which is, again, I don't mind having that conversation sometimes.
• 39:05
  But, yeah, because like we say, students have that curiosity.
• 39:09
  They do want to ask questions. They do want justifications.
• 39:14
  And, again, it's understandable. So, you know, we're not going to solve any
• 39:19
  of these problems this evening, are we?
• 39:21
  No, I mean, for women, it's the open-toe shoe that is strictly forbidden.
• 39:27
  So that is something they have got to watch properly.
• 39:30
  Yeah, and to be fair, that is something that, again, will be mentioned,
• 39:34
  the open-toed shoe, health and safety, perhaps, to some extent.
• 39:39
  Yeah, if a student is swinging on their chair and it comes down on your toe,
• 39:44
  it's not going to be pleasant.
• 39:47
  Interestingly, some female colleagues I've worked with have been told about
• 39:52
  what they were wearing, where I didn't see any problem.
• 39:56
  I thought it was rather smart and they were told they were a bit too you know revealing or.
• 40:01
  Which i didn't think was really the case you know
• 40:04
  i thought that was quite smart what they were wearing and and
• 40:08
  so there again i'm thinking sometimes you
• 40:11
  know what's your interpretation of the you know
• 40:14
  and i really i really mean it you know it was nowhere near
• 40:17
  any near provocative or anything i mean in a way in a way i quite like you know
• 40:24
  being a man and and it being a little bit more obvious what i should wear my
• 40:28
  you know my work attire is fairly straightforward it's always going to be a
• 40:32
  shirt tie trousers and shoes whereas if you're a woman i suppose it's a little bit,
• 40:37
  oh yeah if it's maybe a bit less straightforward in terms of what you might
• 40:42
  want to wear so yeah that makes me realize actually why uniform is a good thing
• 40:47
  because a little bit of standardisation.
• 40:49
  I know that some schools, I don't want to make this show all about uniform,
• 40:53
  but again, it's something that just rumbles on and on.
• 40:56
  But the other one, which we'll get to maybe probably in another show,
• 40:59
  Yannick, but if anyone's interested in coming in the future to talk about this,
• 41:02
  it's these schools that have relaxed their uniform.
• 41:04
  So they've got a less formal, still a uniform,
• 41:09
  but maybe more of a polo shirt or maybe like a zip-up sort of jacket with the
• 41:16
  logo or maybe not even with the logo because obviously then you get the issue
• 41:19
  with the extra expense of having a logo.
• 41:24
  So it's again yeah it's it's a it's a minefield but yeah.
• 41:32
  Whatever you decide someone will not be
• 41:35
  happy someone will complain someone will maybe go
• 41:38
  to the press someone will yeah it's hard
• 41:42
  isn't it for head teachers i think to make these
• 41:45
  decisions in in in the previous school i worked at
• 41:48
  they they banned skirts I thought that was
• 41:51
  the other extreme so no girls were allowed to wear skirts because
• 41:55
  of some incidence of upskirting or things
• 41:58
  like that but I thought wow okay so that so
• 42:00
  if you're a girl you can't wear a skirt well that's it's
• 42:04
  the other extreme isn't it so yeah yeah yeah you can sort of see you know the
• 42:11
  the the reason for that but obviously like you say a skirt a skirt I've just
• 42:19
  made up a scarf. What's a scarf?
• 42:21
  It's a picture of a scarf and a shirt, a skirt. Yeah.
• 42:24
  A scarf that turns into a scarf.
• 42:28
  Yeah. That's your uniform in September.
• 42:32
  That is. That's what I'll be wearing. That's what we'll be wearing in September.
• 42:37
  I just want to mention before we move on, and by the way, you mentioned earlier
• 42:42
  about why, you know, reasons why we teach and our feelings about teaching.
• 42:46
  I noticed that Darren Lester is doing a show,
• 42:48
  on the 11th and he's talking
• 42:52
  about why we teach which i think is quite an interesting
• 42:55
  one because maybe that has got
• 42:57
  a little bit lost and across social media and and you know in recent years maybe
• 43:03
  we've lost i don't know lost our way a little bit with what teaching actually
• 43:10
  should be and what the expectations of it should be i just want to mention sorry
• 43:14
  yeah i believe he's starting with that song from The Smith.
• 43:18
  What's that? That song from The Smith. And I found a job.
• 43:25
  Oh, that one. Oh, yeah, yeah. There was a pun on that, which I thought was quite funny.
• 43:31
  I don't know if I did get that. I mean, I do like The Smiths,
• 43:35
  though, but my knowledge isn't that extensive.
• 43:39
  But yeah, I think that one might have gone over my head. But yeah,
• 43:41
  I do know what you're talking about.
• 43:42
  You did that song where he asked, you know, I was looking for a job and I found
• 43:45
  a job and God, I'm miserable now.
• 43:48
  So we said, I am not miserable now.
• 43:50
  Oh, right. I get it. Okay. I've got it now. Thank you.
• 43:55
  It should be interesting.
• 43:59
  So yeah i just wanted to mention paul has come
• 44:02
  back with another comment i just thought i'd put that there sometimes i've
• 44:05
  sometimes taken liberties with the rule of its
• 44:08
  pe day so i can wear my track suit i mean that's
• 44:11
  a great one if you're covering and you've got a pe lesson that's
• 44:16
  that's uh yeah that's a loophole guys absolutely
• 44:19
  from thank you for that one
• 44:22
  in one of my previous school i was having one lesson of pee
• 44:24
  and i can tell you that on that day i came in my shorts and
• 44:28
  people knew you knew they're saying oh it's your
• 44:31
  pee day today yeah yes yes
• 44:34
  absolutely definitely would you've got on that
• 44:37
  day though on that day and and paul needs to know
• 44:40
  that i was a very poor teacher because i was an.
• 44:43
  Academic subject really did
• 44:47
  affect your it did yeah it affect my teaching every
• 44:50
  single day of course it did absolutely yeah i
• 44:53
  just want to mention guys hashette learning again because
• 44:57
  hashette are are excellent long-term sponsors
• 45:00
  of the show and they are publishers of
• 45:03
  professional development books and resources that support
• 45:07
  great teaching and learning in schools around the world so if
• 45:10
  you'd like to level up your professional development today you
• 45:13
  can visit www.hasettelearning.com to
• 45:17
  explore the full range of titles so hashet learning
• 45:21
  everyone so yeah what i had yannick is just a few comments which i've had now
• 45:28
  these are comments that i've had on x and some of them are quite interesting
• 45:32
  i'm just going to read through some of them if you want to pick up on anything as i go through,
• 45:38
  they're in no particular order but it's just in response to what i've been putting up in terms of.
• 45:44
  When I was promoting the show, in terms of whether we're setting a good example, and so on.
• 45:51
  So first of all, Jenny Hartman, teachers shouldn't be expected to work in their
• 45:56
  free time, and students also shouldn't be expected to do work in their free time.
• 46:01
  Adults should not hold children to standards that they are not willing to hold themselves to.
• 46:06
  Now that just reminds me actually that homework was the other thing I wanted to get into in a bit,
• 46:11
  because one of the things that was mentioned was what you know we often talk
• 46:16
  about our workload taking work home and this idea that if we're complaining
• 46:22
  about taking work home if we are doing that,
• 46:26
  then does it set the right example if we're expecting students to then do a
• 46:31
  significant amount of homework in their evenings,
• 46:34
  and during their family time or during their Xbox time, depending on what their
• 46:40
  evening is like. But, I mean, I think it's reasonable.
• 46:43
  Yeah, I'm being, sorry, I'm being a little bit, yeah, there,
• 46:47
  a little bit provocative there. But I think the point is, it is a good point.
• 46:51
  And the same, I often think the same with holidays. I think family time is really important.
• 46:55
  And we can't talk about how important family time is.
• 46:59
  Spending time with your children, reading to them, particularly when they're
• 47:02
  young, encouraging them to read and so on, and then turn around and say,
• 47:07
  oh, yeah, but here's two hours worth of work you've got to do every night.
• 47:11
  So, yeah, it's an interesting one.
• 47:15
  Yeah, we can get – what do you think about that while we're on it, Yannick?
• 47:19
  What's your feeling on homework? Should we, is it something we should expect students to be doing?
• 47:26
  I agree. I agree in principle and in an ideal life.
• 47:31
  But, I mean, one, we do, so we do have a duty.
• 47:36
  So, I mean, we all prepare lessons. Well, we've got to do that outside of our lessons.
• 47:41
  And I do spend too much, we all do. I mean, I think most teachers spend too
• 47:46
  much time indeed planning, but there's no way I go to school without having
• 47:51
  planned my five or four lessons.
• 47:53
  Now you get faster with time, but then as you know.
• 47:57
  Things change as well so it's not like you know
• 48:00
  the other saying for god's sake i'm like 25 years
• 48:03
  in teaching and i'm still preparing my lessons like a like a young
• 48:06
  teacher yeah i'm a bit sick of that to be honest but
• 48:10
  at the same time well that's that's kind of my job so i kind of accept that
• 48:14
  then there's those crush times where you've got to mark the assessments well
• 48:18
  if if there's only if you only mark assessments that would still be quite a
• 48:22
  bit of work because of all the classes you have, so you try,
• 48:25
  you plan to do them at the same time.
• 48:27
  Mock exams that take forever, and all schools now do at least,
• 48:30
  you know, one in year 10, one in year 11, two in year 11.
• 48:33
  So you've probably met maybe three, minimum three, sets of mock exams to mark with feedback.
• 48:39
  So we do do a lot of work now in terms of setting homework.
• 48:45
  I think students should be in the habit of, because I think any job,
• 48:49
  I mean, very few jobs don't have anything to take home.
• 48:55
  Now, I think where we've got to be careful is, and I think it's quite right, is setting homework.
• 49:00
  That is, I set homework, but the homework I set tend to be very, very short.
• 49:05
  And there's a point to it. So, you know, I teach languages, so of course it's easy for me.
• 49:09
  Learn your vocab. And if you don't learn your vocab, I guarantee you that you
• 49:14
  will not get a good grade.
• 49:16
  Now, the other thing with homework, and that's, you know, it's all good for
• 49:20
  the people to say, our kids shouldn't have homework.
• 49:21
  But I know, and you will know that as well, is that the students who do homework,
• 49:28
  more homework than others, will get better grades.
• 49:31
  There is absolutely no doubt about this. And this is, again,
• 49:35
  where there's a difference between people who have money and care about education,
• 49:40
  they'll have private tutors.
• 49:42
  Now, you don't call that homework, but it's still extra opportunities to learn
• 49:46
  and remember things which the kids in deprived areas won't have.
• 49:50
  They go home, they do nothing. And, of course, we have to fight against that
• 49:54
  when you teach in a deprived school, to have better systems,
• 49:57
  to make sure that the students learn and retain things.
• 50:01
  Because if you don't do anything at home, you just don't remember as much.
• 50:07
  Well, definitely the consolidation is something I remember from my,
• 50:11
  you know, I'm a science teacher, but I remember being in a science lesson and
• 50:14
  not getting something during the lesson.
• 50:16
  But then it kind of dropping into place a bit later on once I'd done a little
• 50:22
  bit of revision and looking at it again. And so that consolidation,
• 50:25
  I think the other thing that I've found is some students actually,
• 50:29
  interestingly, work better at home.
• 50:31
  I actually had a year 11 say to me the other day, sir, when I'm at home,
• 50:35
  I get loads done. If I'm in school, forget it. Because...
• 50:39
  And that's to some extent their social time as well. And I thought that was quite interesting.
• 50:44
  So actually, if there is no homework, maybe I'm doing a disservice to those
• 50:49
  students who do want to make sure that they're pulling all the stops out at home.
• 50:55
  I mean, I think maybe the other way is like you have to set it.
• 50:58
  But then if the students don't do it, is what do you do about that? That's it.
• 51:04
  I'll ask you a question there and see if the answer is the same for me.
• 51:08
  Who the students in your school who get detentions for for homework not done
• 51:13
  what is the subject who sets the most detention in your school for homework
• 51:17
  not done oh i don't know it might be it might be mfl actually now you've mentioned
• 51:23
  it um no no no think again think again.
• 51:28
  Oh for for homework not done i don't
• 51:31
  know i don't i'm not sure i wouldn't like to guess maths it
• 51:34
  is math oh there we go that's my second guess because
• 51:38
  math math have got it sorted they all i mean tell tell
• 51:41
  me that you don't have sparks math in your school yeah we
• 51:45
  have yeah every school now has sparks math homework
• 51:48
  is easily set easily checked other subjects do not have that luxury and i'm
• 51:56
  i am longing for something where when we've got something a bit similar now
• 52:01
  starting in languages you know we sentence builders you set homework five ten
• 52:05
  minutes and you can check if it's done or not that's easy,
• 52:08
  but still in math that's where
• 52:11
  i see the most detentions in my school and in all the schools i've
• 52:14
  worked in which is interesting isn't it i mean i
• 52:16
  don't know it would be it would be interesting to i say that and maybe
• 52:19
  again i don't have sorry i do not have my research on
• 52:23
  there so maybe i'm totally wrong but i've
• 52:27
  always noticed that the the homework is always set
• 52:30
  in math and it's always purposeful and students
• 52:34
  still don't do it though because that's where they get the most detentions for
• 52:37
  and you know when i when i read the list of the of the students i i teach some
• 52:43
  some you know some of the students and i read their names on the detention you
• 52:47
  know and when i know when they're good students i say oh let me guess sparks
• 52:51
  homework not done it so yes.
• 52:54
  Yeah yeah yeah i mean that doesn't that doesn't
• 52:57
  surprise me but like you say it's probably all going to be ai
• 53:00
  eventually isn't it where it will be self-marketing and
• 53:03
  so on but yeah that that is the issue i've spoke to parents in parents evenings
• 53:07
  who want there to be punishment for homework not being done because they know
• 53:11
  without that punishment their children aren't going to do it so they need that
• 53:16
  pressure and i can sort of it'd be easy to say it's the parent's responsibility,
• 53:21
  but i've got to be honest when i was at school if i knew i wouldn't get punished
• 53:25
  for doing homework i wouldn't have done it 100 and it and it was unheard of
• 53:31
  to think that you could just get away with not doing homework when I was at school.
• 53:35
  It wasn't even considered that you'd try not to, you'd had to do it.
• 53:39
  You know, you do it on the bus on the way to school.
• 53:42
  I know. So, yeah, but... We struggle with that as teachers, exactly what you've said.
• 53:49
  We can't understand that.
• 53:52
  That attitude that, wow, you can't get away with not doing homework.
• 53:55
  And parents can complain because you've given a detention for a student for
• 53:58
  not having done homework.
• 54:00
  And yes, they'll come up with, yeah, their life is more important than that.
• 54:04
  But, you know, we're not talking about three hours of homework a night.
• 54:07
  We're talking about, we really.
• 54:09
  So that's where the balance comes in. I mean, one parent who replied to me said
• 54:14
  that his son or daughter, I can't remember, was doing like, you know,
• 54:18
  work until 10 o'clock at night on homework. And I just literally said,
• 54:21
  well, that's clearly too much.
• 54:23
  What you probably need to do is contact the school and say, my son or daughter
• 54:27
  has done two hours of homework. I feel that's sufficient.
• 54:30
  It's not complete, but I feel like there's been enough effort put in.
• 54:35
  And I think most teachers or schools probably wouldn't have a problem with that.
• 54:40
  I mean, again, I'd like to know when people say that, it seems to be,
• 54:44
  you know, have they checked what they're doing?
• 54:47
  Because if my son did that I'd say right okay what are you doing what have you got.
• 54:52
  Hmm and and
• 54:55
  that's yes i think homework is i think
• 54:58
  homework is worth it because it does make
• 55:01
  a difference i i i am
• 55:04
  i am sure of this it's it's it's about making sure that it's short and that
• 55:12
  students can cope with it you know you see homework as a little bit of retrieval
• 55:16
  and making things stick and that's all it should be it shouldn't be anything like write an essay hey,
• 55:23
  build a fake volcano or build your own science. It shouldn't be anything like that.
• 55:29
  And it shouldn't take students, you know, like hours to do. If that's the case,
• 55:35
  yeah, no, it's not worth it.
• 55:37
  But, I mean, and you will, I know that.
• 55:41
  And, you know, I think every year I try to take on some courses to be myself a student.
• 55:49
  And a couple of years ago I did a
• 55:51
  horticulture course and and yes indeed so I
• 55:55
  went to lessons but I tell you what and you know I've been
• 55:58
  a typical student for half the course I didn't do much I came you know just
• 56:01
  about on time not knowing what I was doing that was fine I survived until we
• 56:05
  had exams of course and then as a big and then I realized well actually I need
• 56:10
  to do something between lessons because I can't remember what's being said I forget I forget.
• 56:17
  What's what's what's the comment saying finish something we've started in class
• 56:23
  okay yeah so just to finish something in class,
• 56:26
  posters and stuff so yeah i think posters are specifically a cover lesson.
• 56:38
  Love it love it,
• 56:43
  well not let's not get started on what history teachers get up to there's all
• 56:47
  sorts of yeah things we could say isn't there that get us into trouble and i'm
• 56:52
  not even i can't even yeah bring myself to say it.
• 56:58
  That's the problem as well. We can't get into trouble. Let us not forget this.
• 57:04
  Our light behood is on the line. We're taking risks.
• 57:09
  Uh yeah okay i think we probably need to stop
• 57:12
  now before we we create we create a
• 57:15
  near problem for ourselves here talking of people's
• 57:20
  opinions though i do want to read some of these comments
• 57:23
  mainly because i really like some of the the
• 57:26
  names that people have got for their accounts so william
• 57:30
  peters he's mr peters he says
• 57:33
  teachers not following the same rules is the
• 57:35
  and the attitude towards that is the reason so many
• 57:38
  kids feel entitled teachers and students are not the
• 57:41
  same nor should they be treated as such teachers are
• 57:44
  in the position of making the rules students are not teachers
• 57:47
  are productive members of society trying to get students
• 57:51
  ready to be so what he's saying is
• 57:53
  he doesn't like this idea of expecting that
• 57:56
  we'll always follow the same rules yeah same here
• 57:59
  smuck a doodle says i can't understand
• 58:02
  this argument from any angle teachers and students are embodying entirely
• 58:05
  different roles even if they are in the same building they are
• 58:09
  there for different reasons and with and with different purposes
• 58:12
  their expectations cannot be the same it
• 58:16
  here's another one and there's some here john jahas maybe if some of you did
• 58:21
  something other than complain about your pay while you work eight months out
• 58:25
  of the year maybe if you stop lecturing welders and construction workers and
• 58:29
  factory assembly line workers about how yours is the hardest job in the world.
• 58:35
  I didn't see that one. No, I don't know when that one came in,
• 58:39
  but it's not an uncommon one.
• 58:41
  And sometimes we've got, it's very easy to bite back on that, isn't it?
• 58:47
  But actually maybe we should also think, I mean, that's not very constructively worded, obviously.
• 58:53
  But again, people obviously have this view of teachers. This one here,
• 59:00
  Rachel, when children are being told to be more resilient and teachers are constantly
• 59:04
  complaining about their job as adults, homework set up an after-school club
• 59:10
  with send help, which I actually agree with that idea. Yeah, I do as well.
• 59:14
  Works in my child's school. Primary homework, no thanks, especially the build a castle.
• 59:21
  Yeah, I agree. I mean, with primary, I agree.
• 59:25
  I agree. However, you know, again, I will say something and correct me if I'm wrong.
• 59:30
  But in secondary school, it's incredibly obvious which students have been read
• 59:37
  to and which students haven't.
• 59:39
  You can see that straight away. And...
• 59:43
  You know, but I mean, I agree with, I mean, you know, all points are valid.
• 59:47
  That's the, that's, it's the problem, isn't it?
• 59:49
  I think, yeah, homework in primary school, yeah, not great. You know,
• 59:53
  however, again, you know, you know, how, how does learning stick?
• 59:57
  You know, we, we remember of things from our primary school,
• 1:00:00
  you know, you know, I, I, stuff we do in primary school was so exciting.
• 1:00:05
  That's where you learn about all the, you know, all the Egyptians and the Romans
• 1:00:08
  and all the stuff like this.
• 1:00:10
  That was so exciting. And I mean, I think, again, primary school when I was
• 1:00:14
  there was more fun than what it seems to be now.
• 1:00:17
  In some of the primary schools I know, they've taken all the fun away,
• 1:00:20
  you know, like the creative weeks, the stuff where, you know,
• 1:00:24
  ah, come on, you know, not every
• 1:00:26
  second is about learning from someone talking to you, you know, yeah.
• 1:00:33
  And have we got, you know, things like trips and residentials?
• 1:00:37
  I mean, I don't know if we've got back into those. I mean, and just on the topic
• 1:00:41
  there, that, you know, I did, Rachel, she did make some good points.
• 1:00:45
  I did politely challenge on the teachers constantly complaining about their jobs bit.
• 1:00:50
  And to be fair, she did sort of seem to take that on board that actually,
• 1:00:53
  although it seems we're complaining, we do enjoy our jobs. This is a thing. People do need to know.
• 1:00:58
  And I just want to say thank you so much, Paul, for your comment here.
• 1:01:02
  And thank you so much for your support of Teachers Talk Radio.
• 1:01:05
  And if anybody wants to come on.
• 1:01:08
  Join us, join Yannick and myself to chat about these things.
• 1:01:11
  You are more than welcome. Please get in touch with us on the socials,
• 1:01:15
  go to the TTR website, Teachers Talk Radio website, get involved.
• 1:01:22
  Yeah. And we'd be more than happy to have people on.
• 1:01:25
  Obviously we're talking about, we could get into some interesting topics.
• 1:01:29
  I really want to get into this. I've got some ideas, which I'll mention to you in a minute, Yannick.
• 1:01:34
  But again, I just want to read a few more comments because some of them are quite
• 1:01:37
  good some of them are quite interesting and some of them yeah paul
• 1:01:41
  bushin i've had a few interactions with paul seems to be no know what he's talking
• 1:01:47
  about if the homework is a few minutes eg 15 per subject fine but after a solid
• 1:01:51
  day nine to half five expecting another two to three hours work for free is exploitation he oh yeah
• 1:01:59
  Next, Paul Watson, I think the UK in general is leaning into the negative far
• 1:02:04
  too much. So he doesn't even mean teaching.
• 1:02:07
  Broken Britain is a phrase that our privileged population actually believes.
• 1:02:11
  While the vast majority live comfortably, schools are the same.
• 1:02:15
  So what he's saying is schools reflect society and we're all a little bit too negative.
• 1:02:21
  Jocco d jocco jocco d has said
• 1:02:25
  we should accept comfy walking shoes for shoes for everybody
• 1:02:28
  ties are purposeless dangerous and a
• 1:02:31
  waste of money in my honest opinion we mark all
• 1:02:34
  tests assessments exams at home or we stay until school
• 1:02:37
  closure to finish marking them homework for students
• 1:02:40
  is important part of the learning revision and
• 1:02:43
  retrieval process yeah some really good
• 1:02:46
  points there from jockey yeah george hastings
• 1:02:50
  life isn't fair teachers have earned the right to not have
• 1:02:53
  a dress code kevin at
• 1:02:57
  the doctor magic of course teachers have to work
• 1:03:00
  outside lessons i hardly ever took work home but tried to
• 1:03:03
  do all the extra work between 3 30 and 5 30 after students have gone teachers
• 1:03:07
  should have a dress code and it should be as strict for women as men which it
• 1:03:11
  hasn't been in my experience just a couple more sorry i've probably read in
• 1:03:17
  a few too many but some are quite interesting it says here is a good one josh
• 1:03:20
  john sharp nice simple one,
• 1:03:23
  so sharp by name sharp by nature thank you
• 1:03:26
  john it would be nice to see more about the
• 1:03:29
  privilege it is to work with children absolutely right more
• 1:03:33
  positive i don't think we could manage to do a whole program on that positives
• 1:03:37
  of being a teacher that's that's gonna only take 15 minutes or so yes join us
• 1:03:45
  for our 15 minute show on the positives of being a teacher.
• 1:03:51
  Oh dear right oh yeah
• 1:03:54
  but it is a really good point and and
• 1:03:57
  i just yeah i want to just sort of reiterate that really teachers
• 1:04:02
  are getting a lot out of what they do they we
• 1:04:07
  we have good days and bad days i can i can
• 1:04:10
  you have a job i'm sure but when it is good when it does go
• 1:04:13
  well it's the best thing it's the best thing in
• 1:04:16
  the world and we take the rough with the smooth we have to
• 1:04:18
  be resilient and that was another point that people made if we're asking students
• 1:04:23
  to be resilient we need to model that resilience i think that's another point
• 1:04:27
  that if we're on social media complaining a lot that is our outlet but yeah
• 1:04:33
  we do need to be careful i think there is a balance.
• 1:04:36
  Someone's come in with another sort of comment there
• 1:04:40
  what's this simulation where students run
• 1:04:42
  their own company for 60 minutes competing on real
• 1:04:45
  time with each other pricing tax loans a crisis
• 1:04:48
  or two would this actually work in a classroom pros and
• 1:04:51
  cons wow really good business studies
• 1:04:55
  really good idea yeah i mean it's possibly
• 1:04:58
  something they do already in business studies the what was interesting actually
• 1:05:02
  is i went on a trip recently we have gone over the hour now yannick so i suppose
• 1:05:06
  we'd better wrap up fairly soon i just want to thank everybody who's joined
• 1:05:11
  us to support the show but yeah i just wanted to mention i did I went on a trip to a university,
• 1:05:18
  took about 30 students with us from year nine.
• 1:05:22
  And one of the things that one of the young ladies was talking about was how to budget.
• 1:05:27
  So what she did that was quite interesting is she put pictures of, she did a higher or lower.
• 1:05:33
  Higher or lower games to basically she put two pints
• 1:05:36
  of milk and then it was like a block of 200 grams of
• 1:05:39
  cheese is it higher or lower or whatever and it was interesting and most of
• 1:05:42
  the students did got it right as well but then she'd she she made them budget
• 1:05:46
  so she said she gave them a certain amount of money per month and she said right
• 1:05:51
  you've got to put it on certain areas on certain things and you've got to budget
• 1:05:54
  but then she threw in sort of a couple of difficulties as well.
• 1:05:59
  So yeah, I think that sort of thing is an excellent idea.
• 1:06:02
  Yeah, I do think that would be a really good idea.
• 1:06:06
  And it probably goes back to what you said earlier, Yannick,
• 1:06:08
  about to some extent taking the fun away if we're being more regimented with
• 1:06:14
  how we do things in school.
• 1:06:16
  And I've said it loads of times on here, the teach to the bell.
• 1:06:21
  Yeah, I've just never been a fan of this every second counts sort of high-pressure
• 1:06:27
  cooker, high-pressure way of teaching.
• 1:06:31
  But again possibly something for
• 1:06:34
  for another day yeah so we're nearly
• 1:06:37
  done with those comments this is susan strachan
• 1:06:40
  some people really have an axe to grind and are relentlessly negative needs
• 1:06:44
  balance there are so many positives mainly the young people we work with who
• 1:06:49
  98 percent of the time are good eggs who want to learn and appreciate being
• 1:06:54
  supported good eggs so yeah I'm going to, yeah,
• 1:06:58
  there's a few more, but I'm going to leave it on that one because it really is a good point.
• 1:07:02
  Um, most students are brilliant and, you know, excellent to work with and a joy to work with.
• 1:07:09
  I mean, I will, I will say to you that I'm highly suspicious of people and I've
• 1:07:14
  seen the past of colleagues who are always so positive about everything.
• 1:07:19
  And I have seen these people somehow disappear because because
• 1:07:24
  because you've got to be honest as well that's the balance again
• 1:07:27
  you know people who are you know kind i'm kind and positive all the time yeah
• 1:07:32
  that is yeah yeah and i think i think uh tom's with you on that one suspicious
• 1:07:41
  of toxic positivity yes yeah.
• 1:07:49
  And so, yeah. And I mean, yeah, that's not me.
• 1:07:54
  Yeah. Again, Tom is being provocative there, but he's not wrong.
• 1:07:59
  Because it goes back to what I said earlier. I think it is, people are quite
• 1:08:03
  quick to forget the challenge of having those days where you don't get any time. True.
• 1:08:10
  So anyway. Yeah. So I think we should probably wrap up.
• 1:08:15
  We've gone a little bit over time i just want to thank everyone again for
• 1:08:19
  supporting the show and i'm hoping that
• 1:08:21
  people will get in touch and want to come on and talk about some of these things
• 1:08:26
  what i really would like to get into at some point yannick is some of these
• 1:08:31
  binaries that we have so a really good example is direct instruction versus
• 1:08:38
  well what's the opposite to that discover Well,
• 1:08:42
  discovery-based is the complete opposite end of the spectrum, isn't it?
• 1:08:45
  But this idea of direct instruction, which I'm not anti, by the way, in any way, showbuckle.
• 1:08:53
  And then the other binary is the highly disciplined and the slant with the restorative
• 1:09:02
  justice on the other end.
• 1:09:04
  And obviously the sensible answer is it's a balance, isn't it?
• 1:09:07
  But that's something I'd like to get into. So if anyone out there is thinking
• 1:09:10
  I'd really like to come on and give my opinions on direct instruction and give
• 1:09:15
  my opinions on the issues of.
• 1:09:18
  Restorative justice is against clear rules
• 1:09:21
  with consequences then please come on please get in touch we'd really like to
• 1:09:26
  hear from you particularly if you're a classroom teacher and you're at the chalk
• 1:09:30
  face so that's about it from us guys thanks Yannick for coming along you are now,
• 1:09:39
  officially a co-host so thank you so much for your support over this last year
• 1:09:45
  it's almost been a year that I've been involved with Teachers Talk Radio.
• 1:09:49
  And like I said, do get involved if it's something that you're interested in
• 1:09:55
  doing, getting your voice out there. And that's what it's all about.
• 1:09:58
  I just wish everyone a good rest of the Easter, unless you're off next week,
• 1:10:03
  in which case I don't want to talk to you. Exactly.
• 1:10:07
  Because some of us are back on Monday. But, yeah,
• 1:10:11
  it's – I mean, we were talking earlier, weren't we,
• 1:10:13
  about that and i was saying that it for me it's the easiest term and then you
• 1:10:19
  had to remind me that as a modern foreign languages teacher you have exams and
• 1:10:24
  what speaking exams and so on to do so,
• 1:10:28
  maybe a little bit different from from what i've got coming up in my last term right so,
• 1:10:37
  thanks everyone that is it from us on the twilight show for today thank you
• 1:10:42
  so much for joining us and we'll see you all again in the next week.