Tock Follows Tick

Two articles, same paper, same day. That one problem follows on from the other is fairly obvious, but Ed Balls is buggered if he can see it.

Teachers in England 'poorly trained'

Teachers are England are among the least-qualified in the developed world, according to research.

Not too surprising considering the fact that the pressures placed upon them, for a not too impressive wage, have increased with every target-driven, dogmatic diktat from Labour. As former inspector of schools, Chris Woodhead, confirms.

he said teachers were now expected to be more focused on "the challenges of social diversity than the excitement of teaching an academic subject".

"These days student teachers and aspirant headteachers are lobotomised into an unthinking acceptance of the Government's plans," he said. "Who would want to be a member of this non-profession?"

Zackerley. And as the lustre of the profession wanes, and teachers leave as a result, so must the entry criteria be lowered to fill the places required for a pupilship which is increasing.

Just a brief scan of some highlights (or lowlights) of the Puddlecote boy's 2008/9 experience can attest to the priorities Labour have placed in primary schools, for example.

- For Easter, a trip to the town centre, picking up litter to save the enironment.
- For Black History Month, an extended study of Nelson Mandela (the Celts and Romans followed 6 months later).
- For end of term concert, a song and lecture of how far Africans have to walk to get water.
- Walk to school week. Difficult when you live 2 miles away, the parents actually work, and the kid is 8.

Not the sort of thing that trainees dream of teaching, I suspect, and not representative of the recruitment ads for the teaching profession placed on TV, either.

Inspirational teachers, if utilised in imparting real education as opposed to PC bullshit, don't really have to work too hard in other areas. By engaging their charges, the subject matter becomes almost like playtime and knowledge is sucked in by osmosis rather than by process of rote.

Boring the fuck out of them by instructing purely for a regular series of game theory assessment tests, lobbing in the odd bit of lefty conditioning along the way, isn't very appealing to someone who dreamed of expanding knowledge at training school, one would assume.

It is also rather counter-productive to self-imposed discipline within the class, and with the deterrents to unruly kids being diluted to next to nothing by righteous nannies, the whole In Loco Parentis concept comes crashing down too.

As such, something has to be done. And as teachers have their hands tied with regard to discipline, the obvious answer to Labour, who caused the fucking problem in the first place, is to blame someone else.

All parents to sign 'behaviour contracts'

Pupils and their families will be required to agree to the deal - setting out minimum standards of behaviour and attendance - before the start of term. Contracts, known as Home School Agreements, will also establish parents' responsibilities for the first time.

All parents? Surely this should just be the troublemakers? Apparently not.

Ed Balls, the Schools Secretary, said the changes would help stop a single student disrupting the education of his or her classmates.

"If the large majority of parents are doing the right thing but a small minority do not engage you can have one lesson for 30 kids disrupted by one child," he said.

"Every parent will have to, as part of the admissions process, say they take on board the obligations in the Home School Agreement, and every parent will be expected to reaffirm that every year."

The usual Labour trick of collective punishment again. And, as usual, it is the many who are stuffed by the very few who Labour created with their blinkered, ideological defence of stunning ignorance.

Listen, Ed, you myopic fucktard, would it not be a good idea, instead of tying the hands of good teachers from the moment they leave teacher training school, to let them have some kind of autonomy in what they teach, how they teach it, and the discipline they are allowed to administer.

That way, perhaps the good ones wouldn't leave the profession and you wouldn't need to go through the effort of having a parental contract at all.

You'd have to stop being an empty-headed socialist cock first, but if you could just see your way clear to installing a course in personal responsibility, common sense, and the benefits of free-thinking, perhaps you could sit on one of those arse-busting small chairs yourself, be enthralled as the kids would, and see how advantageous it could be in the cause of tackling future anti-social behaviour.

Just a thought.