At the chalkface Bribery and corruption
RECENT REVELATIONS accuse us of putting on a bit of a show for Ofsted visits, of conning them. Not half. Too right we did. We had wives, lovers, children, wine habits and QPR season tickets to support. We gave Ofsted what they wanted, the whole tedious palaver – the blizzards of circumlocution complete with the Ofsted Four Parter With Plenary. Never failed. And I’m talking the old Ofsted inspection here – the full Monty, the full two- week assault. But we never
did what these recent whistleblowers suggest. Bribery and corruption. Heaven forfend! We never bribed nutters to bunk or rubbish teachers to take sickies. But of course we put on a bit of a show, of course we changed normal lessons. Why? To meet Ofsted’s killjoy targets. I still get angry that we could ever have allowed these traitors and traders in mediocrity to scare us thus. It could ruin the school year. The sheer, pointless drudgery – the zillion lesson plans, the mission statements, the pedagogical apologias – all, like most Things Educational, the Obfuscation of the Obvious. Dear me. Then, knackered and
insomniac, you’re in by dawn with all gubbins for a terrifically interactive, fabulously differentiating, whizzo behaviour managing, edge cutting pedagogic sideshow. Six times a day. And you wait. Interminably.
You remind class that you have a family to support and any larking frolics will ruin their life chances. “And yours, sir!” You promise chocolates for
good behaviour. Then you wait. And wait. And
wait. Then... yerks! The door creaks open and Mr or Mrs Ofsted crawl into the classroom with that carry-on-don’t-mind-me grimace and perch like a vulture in the cheap seats with a big, thick clipboard. “Who she, sir – the
old Bill?” The lesson is
conducted in parched shriek. Some tots go
into that goody two shoes mode, derived from the Beano. A pantomime of
Total Silence. It could be worse, but it rather buggers up the interactivity. The lesson descends into dull robotic trawl through the
Ofsted hoops – with Plenary. “What, my little flock, have
we finally learned?” “You can’t teach, sir!” say class. Of course they didn’t – they
never let me down. Then I’m carted off to a
windowless room for a debriefing, for some condescending waffle about inner city teaching from an octogenarian from the Tory shires. Oh, all right, a few inspectors were okay. I am pronounced “good”. Yippee! Job done! Rent paid. Shoes for my children. Smarties for my class. Bribery? Not really. Survival. What else can you do?
• Ian Whitwham is a former secondary school teacher.
Pupil’s project helps hospital patients by Emma Lee-Potter
It’s not every day that a school project makes a difference to the lives of hospital patients. But that’s what happened when
year 9 pupil Georgina Cook was set an assignment to produce a booklet on any aspect of technology. While fellow students at Saint
Paul’s Catholic High School in Wythenshawe chose subjects like light bulbs and microwaves, Georgina decided to look at MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scan- ners. She was keen to find out how the scanners use magnetic and radio
waves to provide detailed pictures of the insides of patients’ bodies. Georgina began her project by
visiting Salford Royal Hospital and talking to the radiography team about how MRI scanners work. After com- pleting her project, she then used the information she had gathered to produce an electronic sensor. When staff at Salford Royal saw
Georgina’s project they were so impressed that they asked if they could display copies of it in their waiting rooms. They realised that her booklet
would be a helpful way to explain to patients and students how MRI scanners work and what they do.
“Georgina was delighted and
excited when the hospital wrote to congratulate her on her project,” said Danny Corrigan, head of tech- nology at Saint Paul’s. “They said that it was so out-
standing and conveyed the informa- tion so clearly and well that they wanted to put copies out for patients waiting for their scans to look at. “The school is very proud of
Georgina. She put a great deal of effort into the research and produc- tion of her project. She took very technical information and trans- formed it into a very easy to under- stand format. This is an extremely valuable skill.”
Saint Paul’s, the first school in
Manchester to be awarded specialist status for engineering, prides itself on inspiring and engaging pupils in engineering and technology and in finding ways to bring these subjects alive in the classroom. “This is a great accolade for
Georgina – an acknowledgement of the amount of time and effort she puts into her work,” said Wiktor Daron, headteacher at Saint Paul’s. “The project highlights the
school’s strong focus on ‘making design real’, which gives students the opportunities to extend their learning outside of the school setting.”
Helping hand: Georgina Cook with teacher Danny Corrigan. Her MRI project is now being used to help patients in Salford
News
Introducing the Lightspeed Suite
The safe online learning environment for schools
The Lightspeed Suite
The ten components of the Lightspeed Suite are designed to enhance your school’s internet learning experience. Protecting students from inappropriate content is at its heart so with the Lightspeed Suite you can safely unlock the power of the internet for education. Choose an all-in-one solution or mix and match to get just what you need.
• Web Filter • Mobile Filter • My Big Campus
• Educational Resource Library
• Campus Mail • Email Archiving • Spam Filter • Antivirus • Power Management
• Advanced Web Traffi c Reporting
Collaborate, communicate and learn safely
Your students are children of the 21st centry so it’s no wonder that they fi nd 19th century classrooms uninspiring. They live in a world of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google . . instant global communication and unlimited information. Ever wonder what would happen if you could harness the latest technology for teaching – the immediacy of Facebook, the simplicity of Twitter, the excitement of YouTube – and all designed for education and delivered to any student on any device 24/7/365.
My Big Campus is a global online community of teachers and students built with e-safety at its heart. Teachers can unlock the internet for learning, giving students safe access to online resources which would normally be blocked. Students can work together wherever they are, teachers can set up shared collaboration between classes next door or even schools around the world. Don’t block learning, unlock the power of the internet for education.
Sign up for a personalised demonstration:
www.lseurope.com/demo or phone 01277 240630
Europe 16 SecEd • January 19 2012
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16