Diary of an NQT Football’s coming home


DESPITE NOT having a glamorous, Charlize Theron-shaped assistant to help me draw those all-important tickets, the draw for my world cup sweepstake with year 9 boys was greeted by huge enthusiasm this week. The last five minutes of the lesson


saw each student tentatively draw a folded square of paper from the bag. Ghostly silence greeted the unfolding before each boy revealed his team and ultimately, his fortunes. Huge barrages of jeering and laughter followed the revelations of Honduras and Korea understandably, but the biggest response of the lot was the booing following the drawing of tournament hotshots Spain. I consider myself quite


lucky that I’m up there among the contenders with Germany, and prudent to have decided upon another prize for the team who scores the tournament’s quickest goal – thus keeping poor Honduras and Korea- burdened students interested! In this, the first week back after


half-term, I’m enjoying the relative calm of a new, lighter timetable. With year 11 and 13 now on exam leave, classes and timetables have been swapped slightly to give all teachers the same working hours. In this respect I have handed over one


class to a colleague. This lightening of my teaching hours has meant that I actually now have time to get completely on top of my marking and can catch up with all that paperwork I wrote last week’s article from under. What with the trainee still taking my GCSE class for a considerable amount of timetabled time, I have


Teach it like Torno! The final countdown


“Patience is the ability to count down before you blast off.” Anonymous. I know what you’re thinking. Only a few weeks


left before the summer holidays. Only a few weeks left of the dreaded 9X or 8Y and then I will be shot of them. Well you would be wrong! You see, people often


mistake the final half of the summer term with a winding down of school life. No year 11 or 13 to teach, sports day to look forward to at the end of term, and a chance to leave school that little bit earlier to enjoy those lazy, hazy summer evenings in the garden. Coming back to school after


any half-term is not so bad. In many ways it is the best situation to be in. I don’t know about you, but any holiday more than a week gives me a false sense of security. You have good intentions at the beginning, but then the rot sets in. You find that you get stuck into habits that you cannot get out of. This is particularly true of the


summer holidays. It is fantastic to have six weeks off, but then the reality of returning is all too much. One week is short enough to have a good break, but not get too used to being away. The recent half-term was really


about getting as much done as you can before September. The year 12 students will return and the wise move is to begin the year 13 topics so you will have some time to revise next year. The secret here is to motivate


the year 12 students into doing as much work as possible so that those that do continue with your subject are in a strong position before September. Having said that, it is sometimes easier said than done in that they will be just be returning from exams and will want to have what they perceive as “fun” lessons. Enough of this trendy stuff I say, make them get


on with the hard slog as early as possible. They do not realise it yet, but now my lot have returned, I will be preparing them for a lovely summer – completing a first draft of a 2,000-word piece of history coursework. Bitter experience tells me that even then some of the little darlings will return in September offering excuses of not being able to get started or even enjoying a family holiday! The cheek of it!


The other consideration for this term is completing


schemes of work for new specifications that will be taught in September. Again this requires patience and imagination. Finding new ways to teach old content is always a challenge, though it does re-invigorate the thinking process. Then there are the NQTs that start in many schools at the beginning of July. Spare a thought for them. They will not be thinking


of winding down, but instead looking towards the preparation they will have over the summer. This takes me back to my induction in


the days before rarely cover. Fourteen years ago to be precise. I had previously enjoyed Euro ’96 and secured a job at my current school. The induction was four weeks of six lessons cover every day! Imagine that happening now. There would be outrage. The “rarely cover”


brigade would be doing somersaults in protest at such injustice! I knew no different and have to say in many ways it prepared me very well for the following September. I better not suggest this, however, as “they” will have my guts for garters. (By the way, if you find out who “they” are let me know. In most conversations people tell me that “they” will not be happy, but I am


yet to discover who they are). Finally, take a moment to consider the year 6s, and the anxiety of induction that they will face. Coming to “big” school for the first time before they begin in earnest in


September. I don’t know if you remember how this felt. I certainly do! Goodbye to being the big fish and hello to the new world of rumours about flushing heads down toilets, scary teachers and


lots of homework – at least some are rumours! So let go of the idea of “winding down”. It simply does not exist. Get ready for a final period


of blood, toil, tears and sweat. With this in mind I’m off to watch the England match – see you in two weeks.


• David Torn is professional tutor and advanced skills teacher at St Edward’s Comprehensive School in Essex. He is the London Secondary School Teacher of the Year 2007 and is passionate that the purpose of education is to change lives. He returns in two weeks.


been left with a lot of free time on my hands! A teacher’s time is never free however, and I am quite relieved that I will be able to use it to swot up on our new GCSE syllabus, as well as the A level course I will be moving on to teach next year. I’m looking forward to the new


challenge of extending my teaching experience into A level, although am apprehensive following the warnings of colleagues who proclaim 6th-formers’ sloth-like lethargy as infuriating. I wait enthusiastically, but with baited breath. A fellow NQT explained to me


this week that it feels like the final straight now, and that having made it to the final half-term of this, our NQT year, we can almost see the


finish line. I agree and am thinking about how quickly a long time passes. In just six weeks we will have finished, and hopefully passed, our NQT year and will


be released as fully qualified teachers. I can only admit that I am looking


forward to the bliss of six (hopefully) sun-filled weeks of summer away from school, but am determined to finish on a real high. I will be using the planning time now available to put together some


fun and interesting lessons. Hopefully the result will be threefold; first great learning will occur, this will also be accompanied by high levels of fun for both me and the kids, and lastly that I will be


laden with great stories to relate back to friends, family and no doubt through this NQT column, dear reader!


• Matt Connett is a newly qualified teacher of English at Shenfield High, a training school in Brentwood in Essex. He returns next week.


FORCED MARRIAGE


Olaf Henricson- Bell, joint head of the Forced Marriage


Unit, discusses the increasing problem of forced marriage, what implications it has for schools, and new training that is available


police, the Foreign Office team was able to get Rumi out of the situation and back to the UK. This story began not overseas but in Staffordshire where John, who worked at Rumi’s school, became worried when she failed to come back from a family holiday and he overheard some friends talking about a marriage. The actions that John took may well have saved Rumi’s life. Every year hundreds of people are less fortunate and do not receive the help that they need. John got in touch with the Forced Marriage Unit


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(FMU), a joint unit of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Home Office, with his concerns about Rumi. They worked with staff overseas to organise her rescue. The FMU is the government’s “one-stop-shop” for forced marriage. In addition to policy and outreach work, the FMU


helps people in the UK and British nationals overseas. To help professionals identify and provide appropriate support to potential victims of forced marriage, the FMU has now launched an e-learning tool (see further information) that uses real-life examples from the unit’s work to guide practitioners through the process of offering support – from responding to a request for help right through to reaching a successful conclusion.


What is forced marriage?


Forced marriage is not to be confused with arranged marriage. The latter involves the parents or community taking a leading role in identifying a spouse, but leaves the choice of whether to accept the match to the two individuals concerned. In a forced marriage this is not the case – one or


both of the spouses does not consent to the marriage and duress is involved. Sometimes this takes the form of physical violence, while in other cases it is predominantly emotional pressure such as threats of suicide by family members if the marriage is not concluded. Forced marriage is a form of human rights abuse


and when it happens to minors is child abuse. It ruins lives. In many cases, forced marriage involves rape and other forms of sexual assault. The marriages often continue to be abusive and victims have been killed for trying to escape the situation. Even where such extreme violence does not take place, the impact of a forced marriage is shocking. The victims are usually not allowed to return to


education or to work and may be locked in the family home to prevent them from seeking help. They lose the chance to choose how their life is going to be lived, and who they will share it with.


Why does it happen and who does it


happen to? In 2009, the FMU provided advice and support in 1,682 reportings of possible forced marriage. The full scale of forced marriage is likely to be much higher given the underground nature of the practice. There is no typical victim. While the majority of the


FMU’s cases are linked to Southern Asia, the unit also works on cases related to the Middle East, North and Sub-Saharan Africa and Eastern Europe. Many victims are aged between 15 and 24, but some are as young as nine and others have been over 50. Within the UK, most, though not all, cases occur in urban areas. The motivations for perpetrators of forced marriage


are as various as their victims. Often the key factor will be control; this may involve controlling behaviour or dress that is seen to be unacceptable or controlling perceived expressions of sexuality including homosexuality. In other cases financial considerations loom large, including the retention of land within the family or the securing of a visa for a family member (often a cousin). In many cases, honour is an underlying factor; the marriage may be seen as a way to restore lost honour


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or be pushed for against the wishes of a young person because of an agreement made between parents years or even decades before. A small number of cases involve people with learning disabilities or other support needs who may be married because parents want to find a carer for their son or daughter, or because they want to remove the stigma of disability.


Noticing the warning signs


Many victims or potential victims of forced marriage will not seek help. They may be too afraid of the potential consequences, or, tragically, not realise that they have any other option but to go through with the marriage. Many of those that do come forward will reach out to teachers, school nurses or other professionals working in schools or colleges rather than to police or social services. Doing so will often require huge courage and, if that


one chance to provide support is not taken, they may not seek it again. Indeed, it may already be too late if that first opportunity is missed. This makes it essential that all cases are taken seriously and responded to appropriately. Those that do not come forward may come to the


attention of professionals in other ways, often through friends who are concerned about a fellow student. More generally, warning signs include: sudden withdrawal from education, absences, self-harm, a prior history of forced marriage in the family, depression, not being allowed to take part in extra-curricular activities, or being accompanied to and from school. Among female students, there may also be a sudden decline in educational motivation and aspirations as


Maryam’s Story Maryam had been an attentive school pupil, but her attendance and motivation started declining in year 11, as it got closer to her GCSEs. Over the summer she called her form tutor, Paul. Clearly distressed, she told him that she had been taken to India and forced to marry her cousin. He had raped her and she was pregnant. She had only just managed to sneak out of the house to buy a mobile phone. Paul got in touch with the Forced Marriage Unit and Foreign Office consular staff in India helped Maryam to escape the situation and return to the UK. With the help of friends, teachers and support workers, Maryam has started the difficult task of rebuilding her life. She will be taking her A levels in June.


T’S 6AM and British diplomats are driving down dusty roads in Azad Kashmir in Pakistan. They have been alerted that a young British girl, Rumi, is being held captive, beaten and raped by her husband. She was forced into the marriage by her father the previous week. She is only 15.


Fortunately, with the support of the local Pakistani


Forced what c


SecEd • June 17 2010


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