A Broken System

I was brought up to believe that individuals like me cannot change the world:  I no longer believe that.  I have been working in education for over 20 years and have seen many changes, but over the last 10 years of so most of the changes have not been for the better.  The current government talk about 'levelling up', but they don't see what I see every day; children from disadvantaged backgrounds thinking that their fate is sealed, feeling angry, not being able to see how the current curriculum applies to them.

In many ways I am lucky in my role teaching languages in primary schools that I can stand back and observe from the back.  I can't imagine a single teacher who wouldn't say they went into teaching in order to make a difference to children's lives, but it doesn't take long before they are sucked into the Ofsted cess pit and ticking boxes rather than making that difference.

A colleague recently said to me that nobody is brave enough to stand up and say enough!  Let's press the reset button and give these children their futures back.

This current obsession with results in maths and English is doing nothing but damaging young people.  The curriculum is being narrowed and those who do not find academia easy are being pulled out of the arts, languages, and often PE for more interventions.  I question what use another intervention is when in primary schools 7.5 hours a week are dedicated to English, with topic work also being used to develop English skills, and young people are still not able to read and / or write properly.  They are taken out of subjects that they could excel at, but they will probably never know if they are not given those opportunities.  They say that mental health is worse in children now than ever before, with constant testing that is there to test their teachers rather than them.

Yes, I am angry that it has come to this, and someone needs to stand up and say ENOUGH!  I am ready to do that and step up into the world of politics to represent young people who do not have a vote themselves.