10 Wishes for Education in 2017


Reading time: < 1

@TeacherToolkit

Ross Morrison McGill founded @TeacherToolkit in 2010, and today, he is one of the 'most followed educators'on social media in the world. In 2015, he was nominated as one of the '500 Most Influential People in Britain' by The Sunday Times as a result of...
Read more about @TeacherToolkit

What would you wish for in education?

Happy New Year readers!

It’s a been a crazy year for politics, which has resulted in a change of hands at education HQ here in England. We are up against political ideology from a group of people who have no idea what real education looks like, fiddling and faffing around with ideas, cherry-picking research to suit their beliefs about what an inclusive education system entails. nor have any clue what goes on at the chalk-face.

If you can muster the energy after any late-night celebrations, then watch this video which outlines my wishes for 2017.

Wish-list for 2017:

  1. All teachers to have more time to mark and plan lessons.
  2. School inspections to be less high-stakes; and for the four-scale measurement to reduce from outstanding, good requires improvement and special measures to simply ‘good’ or ‘not yet good’.
  3. For any future, elected, Secretary of State for Education, to be an ex-classroom practitioner.
  4. To stop the EBacc nonsense immediately.
  5. For the DfE to recognise that university is not the only option for a child.
  6. To leave curriculum and examinations alone for a period (at least!) and re-introduce modular components into courses.
  7. To review routes into teaching. Schools need more flexibility to recruit teachers …
  8. To celebrate, share and promote the success of teachers all over the UK. We need more positive media stories. Let’s focus on success on our own doorstep!
  9. As part of our drive to improve well-being, as they do with teachers in New Zealand, offer one-week sabbaticals, accruing year on year for each year in service.
  10. Finally, ensure the College of Teaching is funded beyond 2020 and let us claim back what is ours! Imagine that? Teachers holding themselves to account …

shutterstock_169275641 Closeup portrait of a young handsome man crossing fingers wishing and praying for miracle, hoping for the best, isolated on white background. Positive human emotion facial expression feelings attitude

 

Image: Shutterstock

TT.


2 thoughts on “10 Wishes for Education in 2017

  1. Brilliant post. Particularly like to have a sebatical mentality in education. Perhaps that would secure retention of teachers and heads? Also….high stakes though Ofsted inspection. This is so concerning. Looking at regional inspection results (outcomes), Out of about 40 inspections in the SW , 50% are good, 50% RI. I wish for all heads in difficulty to stop being named and shamed. Accountability yes, shaming no!

  2. Great read 🙂 I would put my vote for number 3, a bit more of understanding and insights from real world of teaching would definitely be beneficial. Thanks again

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.