Diary of an NQT
CAPITAL PUNISHMENT CAPITAL PUNISHMENT
Stand and deliver!
WITH THE snow in decline and the thaw in full little too fervently. They enjoyed it however and
swing, I returned to a full working timetable this she did eventually get back her “stolen goods”
week. The insolence! Wading through the slush, – mainly because I was so impressed with her
I’ve been running around the school like for pointing out that I should be hung for my
never before. I think the Christmas break crimes just like Turpin! Perhaps the lesson
worked wonders for relaxing me, but worked.
getting back up to speed has been I approached Shakespeare with some
trying. anticipation this term and, as promised, I
It’s intriguing how the break have already a few tales to tell.
caused a significant memory First, The Tempest is going
wipe regarding behaviour, and reasonably well, with my year 9s
with some lower ability groups quite happily creating their own
it has felt like starting again; monsters, some of which rivalled
laying down rules and dealing Caliban for monstrosity (especially
with issues that I had managed to one boy’s Killer Nan)!
eradicate last year. However, my year 10s do not
It could well take a few weeks wish to play ball this year and the
to regain the working environment amount of time I am spending creating
that I enjoyed towards the end of interesting lessons for them is going to
last year. Maybe this is how every complete waste.
term begins? Perhaps it is time for me to cease my
A unit I have long been looking earnest endeavours with them and give up;
forward to teaching is the poetry after all I could really do with the time I’m
scheme and I found myself getting wasting. I am quickly moving into the
into full swing with it this week. realms of sainthood with the amount of
I have been greeted with amazing patience I show them.
enthusiasm and I think my personal I seem to be making a little progress
interest and enjoyment of poetry so far in my NQT year and this is what
could be rubbing off a little on my is making it all worthwhile. A recent
classes. observation saw me attain a “good” grading
This week I have had to tame a near- and the feedback was really encouraging. I
riot when asking who would like to read think I was perhaps a little fortunate that the
their haikus out at the end of one lesson. observation was of a hard-working class: it does
Following on from this, we tackled ballads make it easier! It’s very reassuring for someone
and the example of Dick Turpin. as inexperienced as me to be told that they are
To one girl’s horror, after reading the doing okay though. Despite the impossibilities of
poem, I had approached her, gun in hand (finger the few – onwards and upwards!
imitation), and requested her to “stand and deliver”!
Upon leaving the room backwards with her • Matt Connett is a newly qualified teacher of English
blazer and dinner money, I realised that I was at Shenfield High, a training school in Brentwood in
perhaps getting into the role of the highwayman a Essex. He returns next week.
Moral support
Exclusions and wellbeing
EARLIER THIS week, I spoke to a secondary school of her pupils. The return of the injured pupil to class
teacher – let’s call her Sarah – who had been off work provoked a second wind of anxiety.
The death
classroom can be an excellent forum for discussion of
what is still a keenly debated topic.
for over a month because of stress and depression. A few weeks later, and Sarah was describing
There were many causes for her emotional problems, herself as “a nervous wreck”. Shortly afterwards, penalty is
Amnesty has developed a range of curriculum-
linked resources which enable students to explore the
some personal, others professional, but it was one she was signed off work because of the emotional variety of responses to this controversial issue.
incident in particular that had caused Sarah to reach turmoil the incident had provoked.
a sensitive
A Matter of Life and Death provides guidance and
tipping point. Stories such as Jamie’s are often in the news. materials for running a model UN debate on the issue,
At the beginning of the year, she’d been warned Exclusions, particularly caused by violent behaviour,
specifically about one pupil – let’s call him Jamie are often used by commentators to paint a picture of
and emotive
enabling students to explore a range of religious and
moral arguments for and against capital punishment.
– who would be joining her class. The school had the failing nature of our schools and their inability to
been aware of significant problems with Jamie’s control their pupils.
subject but which can lead
Letters to Death Row, a lesson plan from Amnesty
that accompanies a free film produced by Teachers TV,
domestic life for some time but his situation Unfortunately, Sarah’s side of the
seemed to have taken a turn for the worse story is frequently untold. Exclusions to engaging classroom
encourages students to consider the impact of the death
penalty on both the accused and the victims of crime.
the previous year. are not reflective of poor standards, While these lessons find a natural home in subjects
Jamie was deliberately isolating but of social problems way beyond
discussions. Amnesty’s
such as citizenship, PSHE and religious education,
himself from both teachers and the control of individual teachers. Amnesty has also developed a lesson plan for
other pupils through aggressive and They are a terrible but sometimes mathematics, The Death Penalty and China, to enable
occasionally violent behaviour, as unavoidable measure to protect
Laura Jayatillake explains
students to explore the statistics around the use of
well as by refusing to engage in the wellbeing of both pupils and the death penalty in the country that carries out more
any conversation or activities in or teachers and the education of executions than any other each year.
outside the classroom. The message other children, but can also have HE SISTER and niece of Troy Davis, While it is nearly half a century since prisoners were
being passed to Sarah was clear: a damaging effect not only on the hanged in Britain – few teachers never mind students
expect serious trouble. future of the pupil him or herself, will actually recall hearing of the official executioner
Like many of those we speak to, but – as Sarah’s story illustrates going about his work – debate over the rights and
Sarah viewed Jamie’s entry to her class – on the emotional health of others wrongs of the penalty has rumbled on.
as an opportunity to undertake precisely in the school community – friends, A recent high profile Channel 4 drama, The
the kind of work for which she had classmates, parents and teachers. T
a man on death row in Georgia in the
United States, recently went to an east
London school to give a talk about
capital punishment. It went down a
storm.
According to Roger Silverman, the Execution Of Gary Glitter, imagined an alternative
entered the profession: to help children, Sarah describes herself as “on English teacher who arranged it, he had rarely known Britain where capital punishment was reintroduced.
particularly those from challenging the mend” now and our counsellors the 100 year 9 to 11 students to be so engaged. Though it was rather far-fetched, it was still a powerful
backgrounds, achieve their aspirations; are helping her recovery. She is still They were “totally rapt”, he says, buzzing with the piece of television that tapped into this slumbering
not merely as a problem to deal with committed to teaching, although is excitement of hearing about a potentially forbidding debate. Listeners to radio phone-ins and readers of the
or avoid. unsure whether she will be able to issue in such a dynamic fashion. They came away brim- popular press will know that calls for the “return of the
However, as is sometimes the case, return to the school. Hearing her full of plans to set up an Amnesty youth activist group death penalty” are a regular feature of British life.
Sarah’s widely acknowledged abilities story, it seems clear that a better in the school. Naturally then, students learning about human rights
as a teacher and her commitment to her appreciation of her wellbeing at the Amnesty has been taking the issue of the death and social history typically find the death penalty a
pupils were not enough to prevent a serious time of the expulsion could have played penalty into schools for years, arranging for volunteer fascinating topic. There is no shortage of powerful
incident taking place. Driven to distraction by a vital role in preventing her emotional speakers to deliver talks or workshops explaining cases around the world.
events at home, Jamie acted inexcusably by difficulties become so pronounced. Amnesty’s campaigning work on this issue. For example, in Japan a man called Hakamada
attacking and hospitalising a fellow pupil. The However clear her school’s policy on Our stance is unequivocal: we oppose the use of Iwao, a former boxer, has been on death row in the
school policy was clear, and he soon found himself expulsions, an equally sound strategy for capital punishment in all circumstances. Whether the Tokyo Detention House since 1968. To the best of
expelled. helping teachers cope with traumatic episodes is context is the trial of someone like Saddam Hussein Amnesty’s knowledge this is the longest period on
Sarah had been powerless to prevent the incident, just as vital to both the education of pupils and the or a little-known mentally-ill man in China, Amnesty’s death row served by any existing prisoner anywhere.
occurring as it did without any provocation or previous wellbeing of teachers. opposition is the same. As an organisation striving to Under Japan’s legal system, criminal suspects may
escalation. Nevertheless, she was overwhelmed with It’s a lesson that needs to be learnt across defend basic human rights around the world, we see be held without legal representation in police detention
feelings of guilt and a sense of failure. She had not the country. By addressing emotional need as it the arbitrariness and cruelty of the death penalty as a (known as “daiyo kangoku”) for up to 23 days.
been able to prevent Jamie’s future becoming even arises and anticipating the possible consequences serious human rights abuse. Hakamada Iwao was arrested and questioned for 20
bleaker and no longer had the opportunity to try and of difficult episodes on individuals, schools can The international campaign to abolish the death days without a lawyer and subsequently found guilty of
play a positive role in his life. help reduce sickness absence, improve the lives of penalty has many supporters. The United Nations murder based partly on allegedly coerced confessions
These feelings were compounded by repeated teachers and help ensure they can teach – and help General Assembly has voted by a big margin for a made during this lengthy police detention.
questioning by senior staff members about the improve the futures – of their pupils. moratorium on all further executions; faith groups Japan is probably unique in the world for having a
incident, a reminder of the warnings they had given and professional bodies of lawyers and health workers system where death row prisoners are not told the date
her, and a sensation – however imagined – that they • Julian Stanley is chief executive of the Teacher urge abolition; the declared position of the European of their execution until the last moment. They only
were in some way trying to blame her. For the first Support Network. Visit www.teachersupport.info or Union and indeed the UK government is to seek an find out on the actual morning that their hanging is to
time, she was worried about her own physical safety call 08000 562 261 (England), 08000 855088 (Wales). end to its use. take place.
at school as well as her responsibilities towards those Moral support returns in two weeks. But like any issue of crime and punishment, the One of the things Amnesty has pointed out is that
death penalty prompts a range of views and the this cruel approach has led to mental breakdown among
8 SecEd • January 21 2010
08-09 Confis.indd 8 18/1/10 11:02:22
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