tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3171279347110592475.post1743628588818034004..comments2023-11-05T00:12:24.565-07:00Comments on HEADLINES: THE DENNIS O'SULLIVAN BLOG: CHILD CARE, EXAM FACTORIES AND EDUCATIONDennis O'Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12483646843932840272noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3171279347110592475.post-39344361266619686402020-04-19T03:29:29.366-07:002020-04-19T03:29:29.366-07:00Yes, Andrea, wouldn’t it be wonderful if all the e...Yes, Andrea, wouldn’t it be wonderful if all the experts came into schools and watched, listened and joined in. There can’t be any need for new policy, performance measures, idle boasting by politicians or meddling.<br />The new agenda will need to be practical, hands on and totally about the children.<br />And, at all costs, keep the perfidious Gove away from education .Dennis O'Sullivanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12483646843932840272noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3171279347110592475.post-89584706904417910822020-04-19T01:08:29.774-07:002020-04-19T01:08:29.774-07:00Excellent blog what made me think was the statemen...Excellent blog what made me think was the statement about dfe staff going into schools to find out what is happening . In my school we have around 10 children use the hall so we can maintain social distancing , have fresh air circulating and a clearly defined area to be cleaned much more thoroughly every day. Someone from the dfe should come in and show me how to do this for 240 children especially as budget means I had to make some staff redundant last year so already run with fewer than I would like given my levels of SEN children. Andreanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3171279347110592475.post-17230588814543349852020-04-17T09:50:21.308-07:002020-04-17T09:50:21.308-07:00Hi, I didn't read it as derogatory to childmin...Hi, I didn't read it as derogatory to childminders. I read it as babysitters as some parents do nothing with children at home. Some just put kids in front of tv or tablets and then send kids to school. When my child was 3, I saw a parent take a nappy off their child and remove their dummy, drop into nursery and reverse at 3pm when picked up. <br />My child could read and write before 3years. That mother used the nursery as a sitting service and hoped the child was potty trained in the 3 hours away from them. As like the CV flount minority they seem to label the 99% hard workers. To wendy, the word childminders didn't mean you personally, it's for the ones who use the school system and not accept the wonderful work our teachers and ALL the hard workers do for our children. I was able to teach my 4 kids the basic reading and adding but the school system taught them so much more than I could do. THANK YOU TEACHERS.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09475914596812786552noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3171279347110592475.post-56936939585145270142020-04-17T01:33:03.899-07:002020-04-17T01:33:03.899-07:00Oops. Well spotted, good to know you read it so cl...Oops. Well spotted, good to know you read it so closely. Amazingly, a blog usually read by 1,000 has just passed 13,000, maybe because I didn’t insult child minders or anyone else working by hand or by brain to earn their pay.Dennis O'Sullivanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12483646843932840272noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3171279347110592475.post-48671636001941578662020-04-17T00:11:14.121-07:002020-04-17T00:11:14.121-07:004th paragraph after ‘is a dead teacher expendable?...4th paragraph after ‘is a dead teacher expendable?’Katiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05493060436889051288noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3171279347110592475.post-89956026179034557982020-04-16T12:20:47.689-07:002020-04-16T12:20:47.689-07:00I agree with everything said in this blog. I'm...I agree with everything said in this blog. I'm an ex teacher. Nuff said! Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3171279347110592475.post-85219118938268712342020-04-16T03:11:20.181-07:002020-04-16T03:11:20.181-07:00Thanks, Tony. The political system seems to be led...Thanks, Tony. The political system seems to be led by people that don’t realise that we are not in the 1950s, that now, when they make mistakes we at least hear about them. Proper apologies really are necessary from Johnson, Hancock and Patel.Dennis O'Sullivanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12483646843932840272noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3171279347110592475.post-80321591974329719222020-04-16T03:07:09.038-07:002020-04-16T03:07:09.038-07:00Alison, KS3 English is going to be more important ...Alison, KS3 English is going to be more important than ever after the lockdown as many kids have not been reading, have hardly written and certainly have not been engaged in teacher-led analysis of non fiction texts.<br />We could be facing standards of literacy unseen since the 1980s.<br />If teachers like you pack it in early we are going to really struggle to get English specialists in front of the kids.<br />The idea of opening in the summer, offered by the Children’s Commissioner, has not been thought out. Of course we can’t do a 19 week autumn term.<br />However, we could pay people to do some summer school work like we have done for years. I would love to get our new year 7s in for a few days so we can teach them what secondary school is like.<br />Headteachers will have to decide to open their schools and if the deaths and infection dangers continue as predicted, I will not open the school.<br />We are open for small numbers of key workers’ children, we have hand delivered free school meal vouchers - as the govt scheme is atrocious - we are making visors for workers at risk, we’ve offered our minibuses and drivers and are hoping to host a key workers food pickup service. And we are trying to teach kids at home.<br />We will do all we can, but teachers like you cannot be sacrificed to short term economic recovery.<br />I’m staying unless the perfidious Gove is given the chance to further damage education.<br />Do think about carrying on, Alison, and thanks for your approval of my blog - it’s reached thousands more people than any if my previous 60.<br />Dennis<br />Dennis O'Sullivanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12483646843932840272noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3171279347110592475.post-90587041508296987782020-04-16T03:01:31.462-07:002020-04-16T03:01:31.462-07:00It is awesome that you are getting a much needed a...It is awesome that you are getting a much needed and undervalued message out there. Keep it up and hopefully the drip drip drip of these valuable messages might make the tsunami that is needed to cleanse the political system.Tonyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15307854854463852543noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3171279347110592475.post-58379098537974055342020-04-16T01:54:14.224-07:002020-04-16T01:54:14.224-07:00A colleague sent me your blog, knowing that you ha...A colleague sent me your blog, knowing that you have perfectly expressed everything in the heart & mind of this ‘older’ teacher. Thank you for your clarity and eloquence. With responsibility for KS3 English, my thoughts and planning over the past month have all been about how we- both students and staff- can recover (our motivation, our mental wellbeing as well as our curriculum) . Only one year off retirement, I never considered leaving early, not that is until Anne Longfield suggested that schools open during the summer holiday in order to ‘provide childcare for families’ (Guardian,11/04/2020). She obviously has no concept of either what working from home as a teacher entails (7am- 7pm most days) or what working as a teacher in the ‘recovery’ phase will mean. I want to be a part of the educational solution, not a stop-gap. Wishing you health and strength.Alison Afsharinoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3171279347110592475.post-37793909214991133142020-04-15T10:57:39.069-07:002020-04-15T10:57:39.069-07:00What an excellent blog - I am a primary Inco and e...What an excellent blog - I am a primary Inco and everything you say resonates with me as an experienced teacher and parent . Will be sharing with my colleagues - Thankyou for saying what few will say nowadays! Lucyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17676726960843107360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3171279347110592475.post-54828789500189455302020-04-15T06:37:22.368-07:002020-04-15T06:37:22.368-07:00Thanks for the response.
I want to mention that I ...Thanks for the response.<br />I want to mention that I never used the words ”childminder, just childminders or babysitting”anywhere in the 2,000 words of this blog.<br />Dennis O'Sullivanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12483646843932840272noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3171279347110592475.post-47965818846762591042020-04-15T06:12:37.167-07:002020-04-15T06:12:37.167-07:00I have in no way said teachers don’t do an amazing...I have in no way said teachers don’t do an amazing job, I have also not said childminders are better. My partner is a teacher. My point is we are both professionals in our own right. We both have skills that are very different in their own right. I mind many teachers children who often say I couldn’t do your job and likewise I haven’t claimed I could do theirs. What I meant when I said I do all a teacher does and more is that we do still have to do all the PPA a teacher does but also be cook, caretaker and admin. Often with between 3 and 10 mixed age group children. Not on the same scale as your staff but nonetheless we do and for many of us for 12 hours a day. However your blog implies, correct me if I am wrong, that you don’t want your teachers to just become “babysitters” and I have no problem with that and fully agree with you 💯 . However there is a big difference between a childminder and a babysitter. I am defensive because I am sick of people, including politicians not understanding our role. I agree many many years ago there was very little between the two jobs however now they are miles apart. It’s time our profession had a name change and we are pushing for that. I attend courses with teachers and indeed Heads who are frustrated that their profession is not recognised for the work it does and I agree so imagine how it feels to be a childminder. As educators, which we all are, we should work together. Your article implies, even if this was not intended, that your teachers are not just childminders. With the exception of this I totally agree with everything else you say and I for one do not want schools to reopen until we are through this nightmare and we know we can send our teachers and children back to a safe environment. I cannot offer you any suggestions as I for one am in no rush to be reintroduced to crowd gatherings, social distancing in any education setting is impossible. In my world keeping everyone safe and alive is a priority even though I am financially anything but. I hope your voice is heard to the powers that be. Wendyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07194581050048493781noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3171279347110592475.post-63354781779168782952020-04-15T05:29:14.992-07:002020-04-15T05:29:14.992-07:00I intended no disrespect to childminders. Both my ...I intended no disrespect to childminders. Both my daughters had great childminders but I doubt either could have maintained 2 metres social distancing.<br />Your work is different, not better and childminding is different to teaching.<br />Childminding is not a derogatory term.<br />Teachers are not childminders - nor are they surgeons or bakers.<br />We will be asked to work with 600 kids on return - it’s normally 1140.<br />Different to your cohort but we are open to suggestions as to how to do it. <br />Yours is a different job and I guess you are allowed to say whatever you wish But there’s no need to be defensive and say that you “do all that your teachers do and more.” You do different things not all the things: you don’t look after large numbers, you don’t teach classes of 30 kids at a time and 4 or 5 different groups a day. You almost certainly do not teach them chemistry; it’s unlikely that you get your children to work with lambs’ hearts, it is unlikely that you get 25 kids to prepare and cook a meal in one room in an hour; your French teaching may be as good as your Spanish and I wonder how you are with a lathe and digital cutter.<br />Your work is different, not better, not worse, but just not the same.Dennis O'Sullivanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12483646843932840272noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3171279347110592475.post-37289000292922772032020-04-15T05:07:10.368-07:002020-04-15T05:07:10.368-07:00That's great stuff, Dennis. When the world get...That's great stuff, Dennis. When the world gets back to something approaching normal, we'll have the opportunity to reopen the debate about the nature of the curriculum and what education should be for in the third decade of the 21st century. In my own blog at present, I'm arguing along the line of 'let's not aim to get back to normal - normal simply hasn't been good enough.' (I don't want to hijack your blog by linking to it, so if you fancy a squint, mail me.) This will require activism from teachers and their unions and the voices of headteachers - or at last those who can lift thei head from the treadmill of the assessment machine. Jon BerryJon Berryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08316762448298365553noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3171279347110592475.post-50620363599206397392020-04-15T03:32:35.256-07:002020-04-15T03:32:35.256-07:00I read your blog and was totally in support of you...I read your blog and was totally in support of you until your derogatory use of the word childminder. Maybe like you suggest that a politician should work in a school for a few weeks maybe you should work with a childminder. Believe me I do all that your teachers do and more; as Childminders we follow the EYFS just as your nursery and reception teachers do, we plan, prepare, teach, observe, evaluate and assess each child. We are business managers, we risk assess, write policies, maintain essential paperwork, order resources, keep accounts, maintain our settings not to mention cook, clean, change nappies and care for the children in our care. Now please tell me one member of staff in your school that does all that? I hold regular parents evening so parents know how their children are both progressing and behaving. I keep my CPD current and up to date. I am an Ofsted registered Outstanding Childminder - I endure the Ofsted inspections alone and without any support from Governors and Teachers. I am proud of what I do but also feel constantly knocked and undermined by professionals who should know better. I hope you manage to succeed in keeping your children safe just as I will be doing. Please use your words carefully and find out about the other professions who work both with and alongside you. Stay safe. Wendyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07194581050048493781noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3171279347110592475.post-71320442534423923212020-04-15T01:55:00.571-07:002020-04-15T01:55:00.571-07:00Once again, I read your blog and find myself want...Once again, I read your blog and find myself wanting to shout it from the rooftops. So much sense, compassion and reality. Thank you Dennis. 🙏Lucyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00036609156598747093noreply@blogger.com