Diary of an NQT Tackling student apathy


IT’S ONLY a few weeks until the year 11s sit their exams. I’ve noticed that several teachers have begun the countdown until they get rid of their worst classes. However, I’m finding that I’ll miss one of my year 11 classes quite a bit. Overall, I’m fairly pleased, with


my teaching of my year 11 classes. I’ve covered everything that I need to with one of my classes who I’m solely responsible for and now it’s just revision, revision revision. The other class, who I


see once a week, may still be learning right up until the end even though they have been taught everything they need once already. But as the end of term,


and the promise of exam leave draws closer, I’ve noticed the attitude of the year 11s change. They’ve become hugely


polarised, there’s a small minority who are (to be fair they have been for weeks) revising like mad. They attend lunchtime and after-school catch- up sessions, ask for past papers, ask for more papers, ask to make notes, some have even asked me for more revision guides. However, the majority of the students


seem to have fallen into some sort of apathetic malaise of self-doubting, which means that they are collectively pulling one another down into a swamp of failure. These students are literally convincing themselves and everyone around them that they “know nothing”, and no matter how many times we go over something, they “just don’t get it, what’s the point”. They have “given up” and often refuse to do


Teach it like Torno! Bravehearts


“They may take our lives, but they’ll never take our freedom!” – Mel Gibson, Braveheart. What a mess! Is it just my perception or is this


a tough time to be a teacher? I started teaching in 1996 and caught the tail end of the Conservative administration. Throughout the early 1990s I recall figures such as Chris Woodhead stating there were 15,000 incompetent teachers. Teachers seemed to be getting a kicking on a weekly basis. Labour then got elected in 1997 and I think they actually liked teachers. The threshold was introduced,


money was invested, specialist status became available and the Teaching Awards were introduced among many other things. The concerns of teachers were actually listened to and even bodies like Ofsted reported increasing standards in achievement, particularly in London. Now there seems to be massive


distrust of schools and teachers once again. Michael Gove, who should be championing the cause of teachers and teaching, is at the heart of it. The announcement of the expansion of Teach First supposes that our current practitioners are simply not up to it. All schools are virtually being forced to become academies to survive financially. On top of this we are being told the curriculum does not serve our students well and we need to re-teach subjects such as history. As teachers, the message is, that we are enormous failures. What a disgusting way to treat a


profession in which people dedicate their lives to serve the next generation. The world has been brought to its knees by the recklessness of greedy bankers and still they reap unspeakable bonuses despite the promises of “call me Dave” to put an end to this culture. Public servants are being told they have to pay more towards their pensions and work longer before they can retire. All because we work in professions which don’t make money. And this is precisely my point. We deliberately


chose to add value to society, to shape the hearts and minds of the next generation. We deliberately chose to turn our backs on the world of industry because we are not self-serving and have no desire to be rich. There is more to life than making profits. Creating a


caring, decent society in which people look out for one another is much more valuable than pound signs. And why shouldn’t people be able to retire that bit earlier with a good pension if they have spent their career committed to public service. Isn’t this a good thing, something to be commended? We are now entering a dark phase in the history of


education. A time when schools will be judged even more by their results, without any concern to the pastoral work they may do. External influences such as family breakdown, poverty, and even student lethargy will not be taken into account and teacher stress will go through the roof as the business ethos takes hold. This government has shown a contempt


towards teachers that I did not think possible. They have already made it clear that they do not believe


that university education should be available to all and have completely misunderstood the needs of the students we teach. The “English Baccalaurate” is not the appropriate curriculum for every student and I am amazed at the level of ignorance displayed by the


current administration. When I entered the profession I believed that I was going into a profession that would be highly valued by society and recognised for the levels of dedication shown by teachers day-in, day-out. I now feel betrayed by a government that has absolutely no regard for teachers. I have stated before that good teachers light candles in dark places and this means much more than churning out a string


of A* students. I will leave the final words to American businessman Lee Iacocca: “In a completely


rational society, the best of us would aspire to be teachers and the rest of us would have to settle for less, because passing civilization from one generation to the next ought to be the highest honour and highest responsibility anyone could have.”


• David Torn is a professional tutor at St Edward’s School in Essex. He is a former Teacher of the Year for London and co-author of Brilliant Secondary School Teacher. He is passionate that the purpose of education is to change lives. He returns after Easter.


improve their communication skills. Where inspectors did observe students speaking, their words had often been scripted in advance. “Too much speaking still relied on writing, thus hindering the development of spontaneous talk,” it concluded. That view is echoed by Rachel Hawkes, assistant


I


principal and director of language college at Comberton Village College in Cambridgeshire. Ms Hawkes has been exploring ways of encouraging spontaneous talk for many years and has just concluded a LinkedUp project embracing seven local schools called Talking to Learn. Underpinning the project is the need for teachers to


appreciate the difference between planned speaking, where students have time and resources to prepare a presentation on a given topic, and spontaneous talk, where they have to think on their feet. She explained: “The former is a careful, thoughtful,


practised approach, which has more to do with fluent delivery than interaction. The latter has a listening element and requires students to use language creatively, drawing on everything they have ever been taught. Both approaches have their place but they develop completely different skillsets.” A student questionnaire issued at the start revealed


that they clearly understood the importance of spontaneous talk. “In a real-life situation you don’t know what’s coming next, you just have to respond,” was a typical comment. Many also believed that their ability to hold a conversation was the only true measure of their competence. They might get a sense of achievement from learning things off by heart, but what they could say without notes was what they “really knew”. Ms Hawkes continued: “If the students themselves


equate speaking spontaneously with success, then we are missing out on a major source of motivation if we don’t give them the opportunity to get better at it.” The groundwork is laid on the first day of year 7


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Inspectors have highlighted a lack of speaking skills in modern foreign languages. Alison Thomas looks at the issue and examples of best practice


N ITS latest report on modern languages, Achievement and Challenge 2007-10, Ofsted identifies a widespread lack of oral proficiency as an issue of major concern. Too few teachers were using target language for everyday classroom management, it noted, thereby depriving students of multiple opportunities to


with an entire lesson devoted to phonics, an area of learning that is revisited over and over again. This paves the way for successful group work and pair work, as students can be issued with written prompts and trusted not to mangle the pronunciation. It also boosts their confidence when speaking and reading aloud and helps them become more autonomous learners. The second fundamental is grammar, a vital


prerequisite to the creative transfer and manipulation of language. Here too the foundations are laid from the very beginning with the introduction of key structures that unlock all sorts of possibilities, such as modal verbs. I can … I want to … I must … I’m going to … followed by the infinitive. What could be simpler? Yet most textbooks save structures of that kind for another day. Grammatical knowledge is reinforced and extended


with each new topic and vocabulary is slotted in around it, an approach that contrasts starkly with the conventional text book, where every time you turn a page you start all over again with a matching exercise that merits only Level 2. One way of encouraging experimentation is to give


each pupil an envelope containing strips of card with key expressions, which they lay out on their tables. Each time they manage to use one spontaneously, they return it to the envelope and at the end of the lesson they are rewarded for the number they have used. This is just one of many strategies designed to


loosen tongues and encourage creativity. Another is to appoint a target language monitor, whose role is to note down the things people say in the course of a lesson. The very process of discussing spontaneous talk with


a class can make a difference, by raising awareness that the teacher is keen to receive contributions throughout the whole lesson, not just at those moments when a direct question has been posed. The ultimate goal may be student spontaneity, but


there is nothing spontaneous about the teacher’s role. On the contrary. A lot of thought and careful planning goes into devising and preparing appropriate activities and finding ways of introducing them in the target language. Ms Hawkes believes that one of the beneficial side


effects is the eradication of vague and long-winded teacher talk, which merely confuses pupils, especially those of middle to low ability.


SecEd • April 14 2011


anything other than moan. As soon as one person in a class starts to express these doubts others are affected by it, as it spreads out like a ripple until the entire class is convinced of failure. During the recent mocks, one class actually rioted. The head had to come down to sort it out and calm the students down. The students claimed that they had no idea what half the words in the mock meant, let alone how to answer the paper; they had simply never done “anything like it before”. (What, work?) I saw a lot of the students


involved in the period after this disastrous mock, and had to deal with the fallout for most of my lesson. I just about managed to counter the ripples of apathy, but it


was hard going. Apparently this happens to every year 11 cohort, but this year the effect seems to be considerably worse. I’ve no idea why, but I was interested to hear a recent report on the radio saying that the majority of young people felt that they were unlikely to be able to


fulfil their ambitions or dreams. The report went on to link to this to the current “economic climate”. Perhaps a general air of disappointment among the “youth” is promoting this wave of mass depression and apathy with all year 11s? I just


hope that a nice sunny Easter holiday can cheer them up enough to do a bit of revision next term before their GCSEs.


• Our NQT diarist this year writes anonymously and is a teacher of science from a secondary school in the East of England. He returns after Easter.


Speak


LANGUAGES


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