England trails in Maths & English International league table.

[truman]

You are reading what you want to read, but it's not what I said.

 

Clearly it should be a partnership. Most teachers do a an impressive job in difficult circumstances. Most parents, if questioned, would say they think education is important, but they expect teachers to perform miracles and they don't always support them in that task, or even their own kids.

 

The British kids who do meet the standards of the average S Korean child have parents who put education first and who accept their own responsibility for teaching their children communication and social skills (at the very least). They read to their kids; they switch the TV/computer off and talk to them. They actively take an interest in them and take them out to places of interest. They don't walk along glued to their mobile phones, ignoring their child. They don't expect teachers to do everything for them.

 

You had no criticism of teachers in the post I quoted...you have none in this one so you appear to lay no blame at the feet of our teachers...do you think they are at least partly responsible for the poor performance of some of our kids?

[Jeffrey Shaw]

Grammer Schools were fine

Oh dear, oh dear- notice what you've done there?

[poppet2]

Oh dear, oh dear- notice what you've done there?

 

Hence the poster's forum name.

[WeX]

Makes you wonder if our national decline in numeracy has helped the meteoric rise in payday lenders????

 

I dare say you probably can. I hear time after time when they interview someone who has got themselves into trouble with these kinds of loans that they didn't understand the apr.

 

If people are so thick they can't do basic maths, they should be considered disabled and prevented from apply for credit in the first place.

[SpikeMac]

If people are so thick they can't do basic maths, they should be considered disabled and prevented from apply for credit in the first place.

 

What about those who are so thick that they can't write in basic Englandish?

[bazza80]

there was a saying back in the 70s "struggling like a geordie in a maths lesson"

 

problem is is that its the rest of the country thats struggling two

[SpikeMac]

there was a saying back in the 70s "struggling like a geordie in a maths lesson"

 

problem is is that its the rest of the country thats struggling two

 

Maybe the survey was correct.

[aliceBB]

You had no criticism of teachers in the post I quoted...you have none in this one so you appear to lay no blame at the feet of our teachers...do you think they are at least partly responsible for the poor performance of some of our kids?

 

I have thought about this a lot over the years (including thirty years as a secondary teacher). It seems to me that although individual teachers do make a difference (for better or worse), most teachers nowadays work very hard and go the extra mile virtually every day, to try to get pupils up to the standard being demanded by their Headteachers, parents, the government, OFSTED and the league tables. They work a sight harder than most of the teachers at my grammar school in the 70s, most of whom would be deemed 'unsatisfactory' by today's standards. If we did well in those days, it was generally because we were self-motivated to do so. Our parents expected us to work hard and they made it possible for us to study, but the assumption was that we would want to learn. Teachers now spend a lot of time trying to convince pupils that learning is worthwhile.

[Anna B]

I have thought about this a lot over the years (including thirty years as a secondary teacher). It seems to me that although individual teachers do make a difference (for better or worse), most teachers nowadays work very hard and go the extra mile virtually every day, to try to get pupils up to the standard being demanded by their Headteachers, parents, the government, OFSTED and the league tables. They work a sight harder than most of the teachers at my grammar school in the 70s, most of whom would be deemed 'unsatisfactory' by today's standards. If we did well in those days, it was generally because we were self-motivated to do so. Our parents expected us to work hard and they made it possible for us to study, but the assumption was that we would want to learn. Teachers now spend a lot of time trying to convince pupils that learning is worthwhile.

 

I couldn't agree more.

 

Trying to motivate some kids is like pushing a steamroller uphill. Teachers bend over backwards trying to make lessons interesting and relevant but if the kids don't want to learn, they won't.

[Vague_Boy]

What do we have to do to achieve better exam results for the country as a whole?

 

The newspapers need to publish more pictures of teenage girls smiling, hugging each other and laughing as they read their exam results.

 

Those pictures say more about the state of education in this country than real facts ever could.

 

A good business opportunity for one of those girls in the future would be to start selling shoeshine kits. With the way the UK is going, they'll be needed.

 

(The Chinese are very fond of shiny shoes.)