NationStates Jolt Archive

Here's something interesting:
The school where pupils rate their teachers
At George Mitchell, pupils have been given "ownership" of their schooling. They observe and criticise lessons, make suggestions to teachers about how they could teach better, and interview candidates for teaching posts.
http://education.independent.co.uk/schools/article345645.ece

What do you think about it? Given the number of students (and a few teachers) here, do you think it could work in your school? Why/why not?

For me personally, I'd be against it, as it looks like too much hard work! Man, I'd have to actually do some preparation for my lessons! ;)

I'd be all for it. I'm a big believer in getting feedback from my kids when I can. The only bit I'd have a word of caution is setting up the system so that the school doesn't lose control over the students suddenly.

Sounds like a popularity contest to me.
I bet the teachers who offer to pass everyone win.
*thumbs down*

Definitely giving empowerment (as much as I hate that over-used word) is a really good idea.
But I'm always a bit wary of success stories that come from obvious totally dysfunctional and poorly performing schools.
A lot of time, the success is placebic, in that just the recognition of the problem and a bit of energy from a new dedicated principal is sometimes all it needs.

School like this invariably have two types of teachers - extremely dedicated ones and extremely crap ones who can't get a job anywhere else but know that no-one wants their job so they can be as lousy and as lazy as they want. They'd have been the first ones to have left once their teaching came under consideration. That in itself would have been enough to raise student's standards.

Eh, I think it's a mix of alot of things. Students who are failing will give bad reviews, while students who are passing will give good review. Also, the teacher's personality comes into play. If most of the students like him, then he'll get good ratings, and if his class are intresting, he'll get good ratings etc.

When I first saw this and read the strap line I thought 'thats a crappy idea'
But then I read the article and d'you know what...it seems like a bloody sensible idea. Two of my children are in High School, (Year 13, Year 10) and both have made comments along the lines of 'the teacher is rubbish, they dont explain anything' 'they let everyone mess about and no work gets done' etc...At one point the oldest one had other students in her lesson smoking pot in the classroom, the teacher was SO lame that they did nothing to stop them, (this was 14 year olds) On the whole, from what I remember at school, we all had teachers who were strict but crap, and teachers who were not able to manage a class at all and so it fell apart (we could always pick up on a teacher who couldnt cope and took advantage, even the kids who would normally behave would play up in such a class) Then there were the GOOD teachers, you must all have had at least one good teacher? Mine was this great English teacher, she was comited and interested, funny but also took no sh*t, we ALL knew just were we stood and we ALL felt way better for it, everybody learned stuff from her, and thats more than many of my teachers could claim. So all in all, this looks to me like a damn fine idea, and I wish my three had an opportunity to go to this school, instead of the bear pit they face every day.....

:D

Sounds like a popularity contest to me.
I bet the teachers who offer to pass everyone win.
*thumbs down*
Or something else ... something you can polish apples with ...

http://www.tabloidcolumn.com/debbie-lafave.html

Signs of the end of the world as we know it near, as dogs and cats start living together and students rate their teachers, film at 8:30.

Here's something interesting:

http://education.independent.co.uk/schools/article345645.ece

What do you think about it? Given the number of students (and a few teachers) here, do you think it could work in your school? Why/why not?

For me personally, I'd be against it, as it looks like too much hard work! Man, I'd have to actually do some preparation for my lessons! ;)
Sounds like a lesson through wiki.

Or something else ... something you can polish apples with ...

http://www.tabloidcolumn.com/debbie-lafave.html
I've got a couple of 'apples' I'd be happy to let her polish.

I've got a couple of 'apples' I'd be happy to let her polish.
WooT!!!!
Ah-men to that!
She, this is the kind of America that i'm wistful about (me and THOUSANDS of other pubes) ....
Just, I'm a little afraid that she isn't capable of registering just how much trouble she's in ... did you see her registration photo?

oh so its OK for good looking people to be paedophilles? Whilst she is a very attractive woman..whats up with her that she wants sex with kids? if this was a good looking guy who had sex with a little girl would you all think it was so great? think about the implications...good looking perverts are still perverts guys, wake up and stop with the fantasies.

oh so its OK for good looking people to be paedophilles? Whilst she is a very attractive woman..whats up with her that she wants sex with kids? if this was a good looking guy who had sex with a little girl would you all think it was so great? think about the implications...good looking perverts are still perverts guys, wake up and stop with the fantasies.
At *NO* point did i say it was okay. I have some standards! ;)
Seriously, though, i can't see why the guy blabbed. AT THAT AGE, i wouldn't have minded a turn at all with that. I lost my virginity young so i can ACTUALLY RELATE to issues that come up along these lines somewhat. And, i can tell you, although a lot of boys wouldn't know what to do about the situation, A LOT MORE OF THEM WISH IT WAS HAPPENING TO THEM.
To answer your other questions, yes there's probably something mentally off-kilter .. i noted as much about her photo.
And strangely enough, there is a particular sex bias in our culture. I don't need to go into it in detail as it's been done & gone already, but of course there's a different angle per gender.
And i'm not particularly fantasizing about it ... and, you should probably know, there's in all likelihood MYRIAD perverts online. Ones you might even have talked to today and never suspected ....

At *NO* point did i say it was okay. I have some standards! ;)
Seriously, though, i can't see why the guy blabbed. AT THAT AGE, i wouldn't have minded a turn at all with that. I lost my virginity young so i can ACTUALLY RELATE to issues that come up along these lines somewhat. And, i can tell you, although a lot of boys wouldn't know what to do about the situation, A LOT MORE OF THEM WISH IT WAS HAPPENING TO THEM.
To answer your other questions, yes there's probably something mentally off-kilter .. i noted as much about her photo.
And strangely enough, there is a particular sex bias in our culture. I don't need to go into it in detail as it's been done & gone already, but of course there's a different angle per gender.
And i'm not particularly fantasizing about it ... and, you should probably know, there's in all likelihood MYRIAD perverts online. Ones you might even have talked to today and never suspected ....
Like Eutrusca...

snip ....


I have to admit to a sensitivity, having been raped aged nine...I have to add though that I would be out with a baseball bat after a teacher (however hot she might be) who wanted to take advantage of my sons hormones to get her sad self off...

Like Eutrusca...
Yes, but he apparently wears Speedos well .... :D

I have to admit to a sensitivity, having been raped aged nine...I have to add though that I would be out with a baseball bat after a teacher (however hot she might be) who wanted to take advantage of my sons hormones to get her sad self off...
Rape is never okay. Ever.
I'm sorry you had to endure that.
I think, as a parent and from your personal experience, it's perfectly understandable to feel that way.

if I knew how to do the fluffle I would send you one, so instead ... *big hug*

thank you for being nice, the world is a dark and scary place until you get to know the people in it, and then you see that its not so bad after all! :D

if I knew how to do the fluffle I would send you one, so instead ... *big hug*

thank you for being nice, the world is a dark and scary place until you get to know the people in it, and then you see that its not so bad after all! :D
Thank you. :fluffle:
It is still a scary world, and scary things still happen. I just possess a few convictions, and absolutely, rape is wrong. Remember, also .... everyone is lonely sometimes, and everyone needs someone else to know that sometimes too, and that can make them listen, and even care sometimes.

For emoticons ...
type
:
then some word, like fluffle, gundge, sniper, or rolleyes (with no space before or after)
and then type
: again

Make sure it's a space or two away from any regular text.
There's other ones but i don't remember them.
It's good to use the quote function on posts where you see curious emoticons, that way it'll give you the text version of it. *nods*

And don't despair too much.

A school in EAST London is doing well? Oh... right, massively improving. 24% to 33% in regards to gov targets is pretty good. I suppose this will also improve year on year for a couple of years.

Heh, the school's got one thing going for it, that it's not being (mis)managed by the worst LEA in the country - Hackney's.

The whole thing sounds like a great idea, so long as it's vetted against the few students who would muck about.

To the person who said that the students would only pick teachers who gave interesting lessons. Has it ever occured to you that students might actually learn better if they're interested in what the teacher is trying to teach them.

Also, from experience, I find that giving teenagers choice significantly improves their outlook on life, and their ability to cope with life. I find it perplexing that we expect teenagers to have a complete inability to look after themselves and can't be allowed to make their own choices, but once their out of school they're should suddenly be able to complete and functioning member of society.