Groves School to Art Centre?
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@wxm 4882 wrote:
Piece on the Welsh news tonight saying problems across Wales with education, and a number of schools & authorities going into “special measures”. Education Minister says authorities are to small to have specialist capabilities and we need fewer education authorities that are better concentrated. Clwyd & Gwynedd back? Or one for North Wales? But coming back to standards, if tomorrows generation are going to have a chance in Wrexham, we need to deal with standards in Wrexham now. The piece on the TV interviewing a Council Leader in south Wales, he said that they were going out to seek good practice, and bring in specialists. Seeking out good practice is becoming the mantra of decades gone by …it has become failings copying failings …hard work and people with a strong track record in specialisms and leadership are needed to turn this around …we as a community need to understand what is being done now …
Interesting
It’s amazing what they churn out as an excuse. Somewhere it’ll be David Cameron’s fault OR poor management OR small authorities OR big authorities (oh that’s such a 90’s comment), OR lack of funds, OR middle class parents exercising choice OR OR OR. Crazy. The Butler Act had many flaws but at least it put people broadly into schools that matched their needs and abilities. If it didn’t (which I have no doubt that often it didn’t) improve it, reform it, change it. But don’t just throw it away and parachute in something that will never work
I was told over the weekend that this is the second time Clwyedog has failed. The first time a team was put in to turn it around, and they failed. Bryn Offa was 1500 pupils at its peak, and turned out some excellent results. If we do not face the issues of Wrexham today, we will not have a tomorrow. An earlier commentator said that parents shy away from Wrexham schools, its up to the education authority to explain whats going wrong, and turn this around …
We should not have to send our children to out of town schools to get a decent education & a safe environment in which to learn. Throwing money at them is not always the answer. I believe that discipline is a problem also. They need to look back to when the schools were thriving & see what has changed.
I left school in the early 70’s and standards where so much higher then. The Head Teacher was a deterrent and woe betide anyone who was called before them. The lads were caned the girls were controlled through verbal means (never fought for equality on that score). Corporal punishment never did me any harm when metered out by my parents and I don’t love them less because they used it. The youngsters today lack discipline and guidance. As so many parents now work they don’t want to spend their free time disciplining their childrens, they want to be the good guys. The teachers are bound by legislation so are unable to discipline. I am not advocating that children are beaten into submission but when it was needed I smacked my son. Mothers have the a knack of smacking for maximum noise and minimum pain. Who takes the final responsibility for producing decent adults out of the potential all children hold? It seems to me that no one does anymore. It’s a sad state of affairs.
@zinger 5072 wrote:
We should not have to send our children to out of town schools to get a decent education & a safe environment in which to learn. Throwing money at them is not always the answer. I believe that discipline is a problem also. They need to look back to when the schools were thriving & see what has changed.
You don’t it is just snobbery that causes this.
@Alunh 4922 wrote:
Interesting
It’s amazing what they churn out as an excuse. Somewhere it’ll be David Cameron’s fault OR poor management OR small authorities OR big authorities (oh that’s such a 90’s comment), OR lack of funds, OR middle class parents exercising choice OR OR OR. Crazy. The Butler Act had many flaws but at least it put people broadly into schools that matched their needs and abilities. If it didn’t (which I have no doubt that often it didn’t) improve it, reform it, change it. But don’t just throw it away and parachute in something that will never work
Larger authorities would not be a good thing but sharing education services might and would save money. However choice has probably focused kids from poorer areas into the schools that already had a high proportion. Hard to pay to ship your kids out of the county if finances are already tight.
I started school at 5 & left at 15. Average intelligence. No college due to being youngest of large family & my sick mother died just after I left school. I had brilliant teachers who cared about the children they taught, capital punishment was rare but well deserved, if used & then only the slipper across the bum. Apart from technology & science, my education was far superior to that of my children & grandchildren. I learned the basics at infant & junior schools & the more academic stuff at senior school. I can add up faster without a calculator than with one. My peers appeared to be the same when I looked at them on ‘friends reunited’. Something has changed drastically from those days until now. What is it?
@zinger 5083 wrote:
I started school at 5 & left at 15. Average intelligence. No college due to being youngest of large family & my sick mother died just after I left school. I had brilliant teachers who cared about the children they taught, capital punishment was rare but well deserved, if used & then only the slipper across the bum. Apart from technology & science, my education was far superior to that of my children & grandchildren. I learned the basics at infant & junior schools & the more academic stuff at senior school. I can add up faster without a calculator than with one. My peers appeared to be the same when I looked at them on ‘friends reunited’. Something has changed drastically from those days until now. What is it?
You were taught in what they nowadays call a Teacher centred environment. The Teacher stood at the front of the classroom and taught the class. You may have learnt some of your lessons by rote (Maths, Spelling, etc) and despite the routine involved, the stuff stuck. As you got older, more and more subjects would have been introduced to you and, according to your revealed ability, you would have studied those you opted for at the level which you could cope with.
Todays Secondary classroom, at least in Wrexham, is a radically different place to learn. Where possible the emphasis is on equality and students are taught in a Mixed ability setting so that all are exposed to a ‘common’ experience. Usually some lessons are set according to ability and in St Josephs setting is the norm; in Clywedog Mixed ability is more frequent. The objective of the school is to foster child centred learning where the student takes responsibility for his/her own learning. This HAS to be the case because a Teacher cannot teach from the front in a Mixed ability lesson. The Teacher sets out his/her aims on the board may give a brief chat and then the class work at their own pace through material (prepared by the Teacher).
Mixed ability makes it a taboo for the Teacher to do what I call teach (from the front). The assumption is that the student body has radically different coping skills and certainly will have radically different understanding of English. If the Teacher talks from the front, either the slower learners will be hopelessly lost or the quicker learners will be bored out of their brains, depending on how the Teacher pitches the lesson. Perversely, though Teachers know that they are not supposed to talk from the front, they often do. Bad habits!!
To actually answer your question. You have to witness this farce first hand to appreciate why no one is learning anything. The Teacher teaching a set of students with broadly comparable abilities can create a dynamic and teach from the front, employing language to fit the abilities of the class. Education moves at tempo. Mixed ability is like a garden full of slugs all chugging along but getting nowhere. Bright kids distracted by slower kids, slower kids distracted by (bored) bright kids. Teachers unable to teach (from the front) and shuffling around as kids try to learn from a child centred perspective. Students not sure what they are doing, often writing chunks from books……..
Farce
This smacks of the Emperor with no clothes … Best practice and models are recommended, and have been accepted on face value. If Clwydeog has been in special measures twice, and more importantly parents do not readily send their children there and/or feel confident with the school … this is not acceptable, but critically is depriving the next generation of the best start … Wrexham needs strong leadership to face up to, and change this
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