Attendance certificates often penalise children who have absolutely no control over whether they can attain the required standard, and perpetuate a gung-ho culture, argues Annette Jenkins.

I asked my daughter’s friend when she came round for tea what she’d done at school that day. The almost inevitable “Nothing much” was the reply!

With a little coaxing, however, she revealed that attendance certificates had been given out, but reported that she hadn’t received one.

What had prevented her attending, I asked. It seems her family had taken some extra holiday, so of course her attendance record had not been up to par.

Unnecessarily penalising children

Now most of the school children I know have little or no say about when their parents or carers choose to book their holidays, and many families need to take some of their holidays outside of usual school vacation periods to be able to afford one at all.

Likewise, children don’t have much input over when they fall ill, and have to remain at home or even in hospital, and therefore have no opportunity to win the dangled carrot. To lump a child who breaks a limb – or indeed has had to take time out for any other illness – with the kids who skive, is unnecessarily penalising them.

But the premise of attendance certificates, which is presumably that the more children go to school the more they will ‘achieve’, is questionable. (Others would go further, and suggest that the ‘reward culture’ of certificates, stickers and charts, and even positive reinforcement, is generally detrimental to development.)

Gung-ho attitude

Attendance certificate culture also perpetuates the gung-ho attitude that people should struggle in to school or work, no matter how terrible they’re feeling, dosed up to the eyeballs on Lemsip or other drugs and ready to knock out their peers by spreading their lurgy to all and sundry; how that might affect overall attendance isn’t widely mentioned.

One website reported that when a school sent a child home for looking ill, it then said she’d missed a day and couldn’t have her certificate! There are other extreme reports of children prevented from attending an awards disco with their peers because they’d had time off – because a parent had died.

The small proportion of people that this system is presumably designed to motivate – the malingerers, no-shows, runaways, shirkers, skivers and their families – probably couldn’t give a fig about Gold, Silver or even Bronze attendance certificates. 

It’s true that in life not everyone can win every prize, but to create a system of prizes that many children have no hope of winning through no fault of their own seems particularly pernicious.

What are the hot topics in the world of education at the moment? Here we take our regular flick through the papers, to see what’s got people talking. From one school where dancing is seen as the best start to the day, to teachers in trouble over the use of music videos and controversial calls for climate change to be taken out of the curriculum – join us and have your say.

Climate change off the curriculum

A top government adviser, charged with an overhaul of the school syllabus in England, has said climate change should not be included in the national curriculum.

In an interview with The Guardian, Tim Oates said there is a need to get back to teaching the ‘science in science’, and that it should be up to schools to decide how they engage pupils on issues of climate change – and whether to do so at all.

Climate change has featured in the national curriculum since 1995. Those opposing to its removal from the classroom have warned it may make science less interesting for pupils and allow sceptical teachers to abandon teaching the subject altogether.

Oates is also calling for algebra to be taught from a younger age. His full review of the curriculum for five- to 16-year-olds will be published later this year.

Best way to start the day…get dancing!

For one infant school in Hampshire, dancing is the only way to start the day, reports the BBC. Pupils at Liss Infant School are treated to a short song and dance session each morning, before they start their first lesson – and it’s working wonders for their learning, according to teachers.

Around 180 five to seven-year-olds brave all weathers to take part in the motivational dance routine, performed each morning in the school playground.

US teacher in trouble over playlist

Meanwhile across the pond, a teacher from the Amercian state of Massachusetts has landed in hot water after showing pupils risqué music videos, as part of a lesson on media analysis. Parents reacted strongly to Eminems’s ‘Superman’, and Jessy J’s ‘Do it like a dude’ videos being played to pupils.

One enraged parent went straight to the police, who confirmed the versions used were edited and not ‘obscene’. Yet many parents remain unhappy and an investigation is underway, reports the Metro West Daily News. 

Failing schools to become academies

Education Secretary Michael Gove has announced that hundreds of failing primary schools could be removed from local authority control and converted into academies under new government plans, reports the Daily Telegraph.

While addressing head teachers in Birmingham, Mr Gove warned that Britain risks falling behind developing economies unless the pace of improvement in the education system is accelerated.

Plans to ‘clamp down’ on the worst performing schools in the country could see hundreds become academies and placed under the control of a third party sponsor, who will have more powers over management, including admissions and pay.

Secondary schools will also be ordered to ensure that at least half of pupils leave with five good GCSEs, including English and maths, by 2015.

From Radio 2 to the classroom

Radio 2 breakfast show host, Chris Evans, is waving goodbye to his long-time sidekick Jonny Saunders, as he quits the popular show to become a teacher.

Sports reporter Jonny, 36, has completed an Open University teaching degree and now plans to give lessons in English and games at a secondary school.

Speaking about his decision, Jonny explained that teaching is something he has always been passionate about. The married dad-of-two told the Daily Mirror that working on the radio show had been ‘an absolute joy… but there’s only so long one can cope with the 3.50am alarm calls.’

Seeing double at one school

A primary school in Stockport is facing an unusual challenge, as it welcomes a multitude of twins into its classrooms.

St John’s Primary in Heaton Mersey now has six sets of twins – three of which are identical, and all aged between four and 10, reports the BBC (link launches video and report).

And finally….

New comedy ‘doesn’t send good message about teachers’

Finding that Cameron Diaz and Justin Timberlake have joined the teaching staff at your school must be a dream for many pupils – and teaching staff alike! Sadly, it’s only a reality in the latest Hollywood film to delve into the teaching profession, ‘Bad Teacher’.

The film comedy centres on a teacher with her sights set on bagging a rich man. It sees some major misbehaving in the classroom and ‘doesn’t exactly send out a good message about teachers,’ concludes a review by Ok! Magazine.

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Following on from our recent blog about whether teachers are given  enough support against violent pupils, a survey by the NAHT school leaders’ union has suggested that as many as one in 10 head teachers have been physically assaulted by a pupil’s parent or carer.

The 1,000 head teachers across England, Wales and Northern Ireland who were surveyed said that they have been punched, spat on, kicked, head butted, bitten or sexually assaulted by angry parents.

Russell Hobby, General Secretary at NAHT, has said that it is likely that this behavior stems from the fact that school leaders often have to make difficult decisions about discipline, exclusions, holidays and the distribution of limited budgets. Unsurprisingly, this puts them in the firing line and they become prime targets when a student’s legal guardian disagrees with a decision that has been made.

The survey also revealed that almost 75% of respondents have suffered verbal abuse  or threats from parents in the past five years and 86% think that parents’ behavior towards teachers has worsened.

Although these figures are worryingly high, Mr Hobby has said that the vast majority of families are a pleasure to work for, most people are aware that physical assault against a teacher is a criminal offence and action is taken when needed.

As a teacher, have you ever had to deal with an angry parent or carer? How did you deal with the situation and how does your school take action if needed?

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Eteach attended the 30^th annual Council of British International Schools’ (COBIS) Conference in May. Continuing her earlier piece, Gerry Manolas reports on a programme to raise self-esteem through rugby, on moves to develop children’s safety awareness when using social network sites and on the ‘My World’ network and learning models for international collaboration. She also links to video interviews recorded around the conference by international students.

As I mentioned at the end of the last piece, one of my personal highlights of the conference was meeting England Rugby player Andy Gomarsall and finding out more about his programme to raise self-esteem and develop leadership skills through sport, and especially rugby.

“Sport can certainly play an important part in triggering increased focus, learning, and in some cases improved behaviour, organisation and attitude in the classroom,” says Andy.

Through his work with children he has created a Visual Success Map which promotes the use of parents and coaches as mentors, allows a visual representation of an individual’s progress and illustrates the steps towards achieving their goals in all areas of life.

This would be of real relevance to any school looking for new and innovative methods to develop leadership, communication, organisation, focus and self-belief.

E-safety – making informed choices

An area for concern in all schools these days is that of e-safety – not only for students, but also for staff. This issue has been right at the forefront of discussions in education recently (see previous Eteach blog here).

Kate Valentine’s seminar introduced us to a scheme that is being promoted across the UK called ‘Safe’. Safe has been developed by DigitalMe with support from Childnet International, the I in Online and Radiowaves. Safe is a new programme of practical activities to develop primary children’s skills, self-confidence and safety awareness when using social network sites.

Social networking and sharing content online has become an integral part of young people’s lives. It provides many opportunities to develop creative and communication skills in ways that are relevant to them, in school and at home.

However, with these new opportunities come new choices, and Safe can help children make positive and informed choices when creating and sharing online.

By completing the Safe programme, which consists of easy to deliver, practical activities to develop pupils’ safety awareness and digital literacy skills, pupils will gain a Safe certificate as evidence of their learning. They also get access to Radiowaves, the free child-friendly social network for schools. There’s more about Radiowaves below.

Supporting materials and teacher guides are available to download and the programme gives primary schools a framework to help pupils develop as active and ‘Safe’ digital citizens. Safe is free to use in schools and easy to join.

To sign up to Safe, click here and follow the link ‘sign up’. Email for further information or ring 0113 2469989.

Radiowaves develops digital skills

Radiowaves is the leading online community for young people aged 5-19, enabling them to publish their videos, podcasts and blogs safely and easily. It also allows schools and groups working with young people to get all the creative and learning benefits of social media in a simple and safe way. With their own Radiowaves website, schools can create multi-media stories, join national campaigns and easily develop pupils’ digital literacy skills.

Radiowaves has a good track record in innovation, having won a BETT award in 2004. Since then, the community has grown to over 40,000 members in 30 countries. Partnerships with Parliament’s Education Service, Imperial War Museum and British Council have helped grow the community and provide unique opportunities for members.

With 50,000+ stories already online, Radiowaves is the place to hear what young people are saying. To join this safe, child-friendly social networking site for young people go to www.radiowaves.co.uk/join for your free school networking site.

Radiowaves has been working closely with DigitalMe to develop the My World network and learning models for international collaboration, funded by the British Council’s Youth in Action fund. These projects allow young people to safely use social media to connect and collaborate, to share stories about their lives and to debate the issues facing all young people today, no matter where they are.

View online interviews from COBIS

You can take a look at the Radiowaves network here – it’s bursting with international news and activities. You’ll find student blogs, and audio and video interviews filed from the COBIS conference by students from the British School of Paris from this link, including interviews with Andy Gomarsall MBE, Nick Gibb MP, COBIS Chairman Dr Roger Fry and others.

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Teaching unions have announced their intention to strike later in the month in defence of members’ pensions – a move that could close thousands of schools and which has been described as ‘irresponsible and wrong’ by Cabinet Minister Francis Maude.

The National Union of Teachers (NUT) has announced ‘overwhelming endorsement for strike action by its members to defend teachers’ pensions’. The union will be campaigning alongside the Association of Teachers and Lecturers – traditionally the most moderate of the teaching unions.

‘Pay more, work longer and get less’
The NUT believes that teachers’ pensions are fair and affordable. It says the Government wants teachers to ‘pay more, work longer and get less’. It accuses the government of ‘pressing ahead with unnecessary reforms despite the changes already made to the Teachers’ Pension Scheme in 2007’.

NUT General Secretary Christine Blower said, ‘The Government’s unnecessary attack on public sector pensions has convinced NUT members that there is no alternative but to support strike action’.

‘It is disgraceful that the Government is pressing ahead with its reforms which will affect teachers’ pensions. The Government knows that they are affordable. This is a policy which has nothing to do with economics and everything to do with politics.’

‘The NUT is party to the TUC negotiations with Government to protect public sector pensions. It is not too late for common sense to prevail and for these unnecessary changes to be stopped. It is in no one’s interest to create a whole new swathe of people who are a burden on the taxpayer in old age.’

‘Irresponsible and wrong…’
However, cabinet office minister Francis Maude has appealed to those planning to strike to reconsider, calling the move ‘irresponsible and wrong.’

A spokesperson for the Department for Education (DfE) said; ‘The Government is committed to working openly and constructively with unions to ensure that teachers continue to receive high quality pensions and that the interests of all professionals are represented fully as pension reform is taken forward.’

‘Lord Hutton has made it clear that there needs to be a balance between a common framework for all schemes and the need for flexibility to take account of specific workforce circumstances, such as those of the teaching workforce.’

‘We are clear that a strike by teachers will only damage pupils’ learning and inconvenience their busy working parents. The wellbeing and safety of pupils must remain paramount.’

What are your thoughts about the upcoming teacher strike? Will you be taking part in it or do you think it will do more harm than good?

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