Think of the children!
This week’s conversation has been dominated by politics, led by the unprecedented joint appearance of all four teaching unions in a press conference. The show of unity was intended to send a clear signal to the government that while Gillian Keegan might be intent on ignoring them, the unions’ fight is far from over. Indeed, teachers and school leaders are increasingly pushing back against the government line that they should be putting children first by remaining in the classroom.
Though she’d previously stated that she would now be awaiting for the School Teachers’ Review Body pay recommendations to arrive at a pay deal, many had hoped the latest round of walk-outs would be the ideal opportunity for Ms Keegan to make her way back to the negotiating table. Instead, she appears to have been far too busy tweeting about the upcoming coronation (more on that later).
We are all aware of the King’s love of nature, and the gift of wildflower seeds might have been better received but for its timing. At a cost of £350,000 to the department for education, it all feels not only very last minute but also completely tone deaf. If you aren’t lucky enough to have green space at your school, you will now be frantically trying to find the money or local sponsors to provide soil and pots so that your children don’t miss out on the experience of planting these seeds. More evidence of the growing ‘green gap’ at the heart of the department’s climate change policy. So much for thinking of the children.
One nation coronation?
I’m not sure whether it’s because the late Queen was so admired, because of the current state of the economy or even just a question of poor timing (No, not Archie’s birthday but the additional bank holiday at the start of SATs week!), but whatever the reason it just seems as if the energy level for coronation celebrations is nowhere near the level of the Platinum Jubilee.
Resources are being shared with schools as expected, with many commercial companies producing them. Buckingham Palace-approved lessons are being sent out to schools, but if the intent was to create more traction for the event or even ensuring a level of uniformity, the plan appears to be backfiring in Scotland. The DfE has opted to send the resources directly to Scottish councils, despite education being a devolved matter to Holyrood. A right royal faux pas.
Bring your own SLANT
But don’t be fooled by unity over pay and the low-energy response to the coronation. Edu-Twitter is proving that teachers are as invested in high-octane disagreements as ever. The latest falling out started with a very strongly worded blog by author, Phil Beadle about the controversial technique SLANT from Doug Lemov’s Teach Like a Champion.
It’s not a particularly new technique, or even a particularly new dispute, but it seems calling the teaching strategy an act of “symbolic violence being perpetrated on some of our nation’s […] children” was too much for some. To little avail, Ben Newmark tried to give the long view of the argument.
And I tend to agree. I have seen SLANT used when visiting secondary schools and what I would describe as a watered down version of it in a few primary schools, and I have never really had very strong feelings about it. It seems fairly similar to the ‘good sitting’ mantra that was popular when I was a class teacher and that I still use as a headteacher.
Having said that, that was quite a long time ago. Considering the level of differing and more complex needs that we now see in our schools, I can also see why its use is more questionable now.
The row goes on, with Phil Beadle appearing this Tuesday on the Teacher Talk Radio podcast and spectacularly storming off after calling SLANT “fascistic”. But that’s for next week’s Conversation, I’m sure!
Your thoughts