Children decide if teachers get promoted in UK

Oh, this is to rich!

Now school boards in the UK are allowing school kids to sit in on teacher's promotion boards, ask silly questions and even have a say on whether their teacher gets the promotion. This is causing teachers to bring silly props to promotion boards to prove how cool they are for the kids.

Latest Lunacy from Abroad: Children Firing Teachers

And, now, in a case of Lord of the Flies meets 1984, Britain’s Ofsted (Office for Standards in Education) is mandating that head teachers consult students on changes to school policy. In fact, children now have so much power in some British schools that they are allowed to sit on teacher interview panels, ask applicants ridiculous questions and destroy their chances for career advancement. Reporting on the story for the Daily Mail, Sarah Harris provides an example of just such a case, that of a teacher who was denied a position because the children felt he was “too strict.” Harris quotes the educator as saying, “I felt upset that two out of three of the adults liked me enough but that the pupils had that much sway.”

As for the questions some children would ask, Harris provides the following examples: “Can you sing your favourite song? What fancy dress character would you dress up in to go to school and why? What rewards/trips would you provide for pupils?”

More ridiculous still are the reasons why some children cast votes against teachers. As to this, Harris writes:

One teacher took a snowboard along to impress a group of five to seven-year-olds as part of the interview but failed to get the job.

The youngsters preferred two other applicants who brought in balloons and a didgeridoo.

Another teacher lost out for supposedly looking like "Humpty Dumpty"; another because he didn't allow the pupils to email him at home.


Yet, as with so many principles espoused by modern man, some exceptions may apply. That is to say, while leftists are zealous about thrusting children into adulthood when it can undermine tradition (e.g., granting them power over adults or exposing them to sexual material), they oppose allowing kids to use firearms, or buy alcohol or cigarettes. They also oppose the subjection of youth to adult punishment after criminal convictions, despite the fact that adult responsibilities go hand-in-hand with adult rights. For, if the former truly is truly inappropriate, then the latter is also. Just as responsibility comes with authority, authority comes with responsibility.

Read more: The New American

I just hope this insanity keeps itself on their side of the pond. I would much rather the teachers in the schools teaching my children were chosen for their professional accomplishments and not because the kids thought they were hip and cool.

Well, why not?

In the states we let the drug addicts, grade school dropouts and those who each paint chips for snacks decide how much property is stolen from who.

Seems logical then that we'd let kids decide the salary of a teacher based on how "cool" that teacher is.

Morons run our lives. There isnt anything we can do about it.

Gee, wouldn't it be nice if things were actually that way?!


It seems ridiculous to us but I ask is it really different than arbitrary standards and mandatory commercial assessments? Testing methods have the aura of authenticity and scholarly merit, but really is it any less valid to suggest that assessing the learning experience is more effective than assessing the teaching methods? For an education eye-opener, try the model where teacher and learner develop learning objectives and assessments together on an individual plan. Perhaps if children were perceived as thinking humans instead of intellectually inferior "kids". There's a lot of silliness and bias to overcome about ourselves before we can reasonably ask the children what works for them. Until everyone takes the question seriously, we might be surprised as to how much wiser our children are than we care to allow.

gj

edit spelling

[edit on 7-4-2010 by ganjoa]

The best teachers are the ones who can trick kids into learning stuff. But I would be VERY careful during the voting process, because even a HORRIFIC teacher can trick the kids into thinking they are cool during the voting "time window", then revert back to being a bad teacher after they get the raise.

Yeah, kids opinions should be considered, but a FAR MORE ACCURATE way to gauge teacher performance is the overall performance of the kids themselves, Because this system only rewards teachers who are well liked by their students, which is most easily achieved by being slack and letting the kids do whatever they want.

So they are reducing the profession to a popularity contest? tsk tsk.

This is like in divorce cases when the Judge lets the child decide who he wants to live with.

Child: My father (mother)

Judge: And why is that?

Child: Because he (she) lets me stay up as late as I want, doesn't make me do homework, and we eat pizzia six nights a week. And even though I'm only seven he (she) lets me drive the car.

Lol. Just joking, but it's not far off the mark.

I did notice they will only sit in as part of a committee, and children can actually be very level-headed in these type circumstances. They looove to feel important and included.