Awesome Teachers and Excessive Britishness

           AWESOME TEACHERS AND EXCESSIVE  BRITISHNESS

One of the most trusted professions being told what to do by one of the least trusted.

The author, John Connolly, has me pondering my place in his four   stages of adulthood: confusion, anger, complacency and grumpiness Unsure where to stick, I have come across a general election. Although an act of parliament stated that we can't have one for another 3 years and the incumbent prime minister repeatedly said that there wouldn't be one, here we jolly well go.

I intend to write in praise and awe of the teachers I meet every day in my state comprehensive school in Ware. I am hopeful that they are typical of the wonders teachers do around the country, although, perhaps,  my lot are particularly talented, committed and worthy.

Whatever successive, careerist secretaries of state throw at us, many, many teachers will combat government indifference to helping children be safe, happy and successful. The teachers will continue to inspire excitement in learning, inquisitiveness and a love of books and music, engender friendships that will last a lifetime, help plant ambition and nurture greatness. Our teachers will be remembered long after hedge fund managers, lawyers and newspaper editors.

I have no need to re-tread the funding crisis in schools, the perilous state of teacher recruitment, the mad impulsive curriculum, 10 year olds with exam stress or any other educational issues. No-one mentions these in May 2017.

Most football clubs now have a chant that, at Spurs goes, “We’ve got Ali, Dele Alli. I just don’t think you understand…” Well, as a nation, we’ve got Teresa May and I could make it scan if there weren’t more important considerations.

It’s Tuesday evening. I'm not sure but I think our PM just declared war. In Churchillian tones, she broadcast to the nation. Foreign politicians are out to destroy the livelihoods of ordinary British working families. If we don't vote for her in the general election the foreign governments will act as if there are 27 of them and one of us. If we do vote for her then her strong and stable leadership will force the 27 into some sort of cowardly retreat and we will be safe. I wonder if she hummed The Damnbusters theme when the microphone turned off.

Its only right than in times of attack by foreign powers that we stop objecting to the £3billion of cuts in state education over the next 5 years and the parliamentary, Cross Party Education Committee should rescind its statement that government thinking on school finances is “delusional.” Now is the time for increased hate attacks and excessive britishness.

Parliament has been suspended so that we can vote for strong and stable leadership, also giving us the opportunity to address  the teacher shortage.

Gideon Oliver Osborne, heir to his family's Baronetry of Ballentaylor and Ballylemon, better known as Former Chancellor George Osborne is to be paid £650,000 a year to advise the US fund manager, Blackrock. In the Commons register of interests, he disclosed that he would work 48 days a year, whilst being an elected MP.

He has already earned close to £800,000 for speeches made to banks and other firms since leaving office in July, but still serving as an MP

He has now taken on the job as part time editor of the London Evening Standard on a secret salary “up to £400,000” according to The Daily Mail on 6^th May, still taking his MP’s £70,000.

Can he fit in a bit of teaching?

As our government acts on “The British people have spoken!” and possibly, “Two world wars and one World Cup!” it fell to a Finnish  Finance Minister to speak britishness and sense. Alec Stubb quoted Millwall FC supporters, “Everyone hates us and we don’t care,” as a poor opening salvo for Theresa May to use in EU exit negotiations.

Conservative estimates are that the UK will pay a divorce settlement of at least  £50 billion.  However Boris and Nigel promised we will be saving £350 million a week when we leave. I know this is all on its way to the NHS because I saw Boris standing alongside the sloganized bus. When George gets his job teaching Maths to 12 year olds he can do the real life sums. We could use the weekly saving to pay off the settlement by Thursday afternoon of the 142^nd week.

Forget the NHS for a bit longer.

Back to admiring teaches with an attack of the memories, courtesy of ASCL General Secretary, Geoff Barton and his former school.

                                                King Edward VI School

Rules for staff in 1550

• They shall abstain from dicing, gaming and tippling. They must not keep their family on the premises. Women like deadly plagues shall be kept at a distance. The masters shall not be excessively harsh or severe or weakly prone to indulgence.
• They shall teach a little at a time, with plenty of examples. They shall never advance to fresh subjects ... until the earlier ones are thoroughly understood.
• The teachers shall appoint two boys called censors to note offences. The teachers shall secretly appoint a third boy to watch the other two and report to the master any offences overlooked or not noticed.

School rules for the boys in 1550

• Those who cannot read and write shall be excluded. They must learn elsewhere the arts of reading and writing.
• No boy shall come to school with unkempt hair, unwashed hands or dirty shoes or boots, torn or untidy clothes. Any boy misbehaving himself either in Church or any other public place shall be flogged.
• They shall speak Latin in school. Truants, idlers and dullards shall be expelled by the High Master after a year's trial. Every boy shall have at hand, ink, paper, knife (used to sharpen a quill pen), pens and books. When they have need to write the boys shall use their knees as a table.
• The whole of the scholars (100) shall be assembled in the morning at 6 o'clock and at 1 o'clock. They shall go home to dinner at eleven and to supper at five. There shall be five classes, under two masters in two rooms, the older boys looking after classes when the masters were not teaching them. School shall finish at 3pm on Saturdays and half holydays.

Some walk among us who would celebrate such a forward to the past scenario.

An OECD annual report has revealed that teachers in England and Scotland typically work longer hours teaching more pupils than teachers in most other developed countries and have experienced an above-average decline in pay since 2005.

The report also revealed that teachers' pay in England has experienced an above average decline since 2005 while teachers in other OECD countries who also witnessed a recession (Poland, Germany, the United States and Australia) saw their pay increase.

Teachers' unions have complained that an excessive workload is deterring people from staying in teaching – while uncompetitive salaries make recruitment to the profession a challenge.

A spokesman for the DfE commented: "Great teachers are at the heart of this government's commitment to delivering educational excellence everywhere.

"This is why we are not only tackling excessive teacher workload but have also given head teachers the freedom to pay good teachers more, meaning the best teachers can access greater rewards earlier in their careers."

It’s my fault, then.y don't worry about impartiality when reporting on Nationalist's demo's twnright hostile to patriots and the true Brit's.
Except when the awful Katy Hopkins is provoking outrage, I quite like LBC. Whenever teacher pay is mentioned someone always phones to claim that they are self- employed, work 18 hour days, 7 days a week, have no holidays and no pension…..

And seem to suggest that teachers should aspire to such conditions.

Teachers either do badly or well in pay comparisons depending on your admiration of crane drivers.

42. Rail construction and maintenance operatives - £35,781

43. Business, research and administrative professionals - £35,545

44. Crane drivers - £35,458

45. Journalists, newspaper and periodical editors - £34,639

46. Engineering technicians - £34,355

47. Chartered architectural technologists - £33,651

48. Business sales executives- £33,432

49. Secondary education teaching professionals - £32,524

(Cosmopolitan 16^th March 2017)

Teachers do have a contributory pension scheme. Their contributions have been increased, benefits reduced.

The Retail Price Index is the measure of cost-of-living and I hope the table shows that it has risen by 9.6% between 2011 and 2016

Year	Annual %	Index
2016	2.5	260.6
2014	1.6	257.5
2013	2.7	253.5
2012	3.1	246.8
2011	4.8	239.4

 

JC has been a Head of Department for 15 years.  Here are her pay details.

	August 2011	August 2016
Gross pay	£3392.50	£3507.50
Deductions
NI	£288.54	£340.26
Tax	£510.40	£446.40
Pension	£217.12	£357.76
Deductions        1016.06	£1016.06	£1144.42
Net Pay	£2376.44	£2363.08

 

Whilst the rpi shows a 9.6% increase in prices JC’s take home pay has gone down.

So, to be sorrowful, anguished  or agonised as we stumble into a politically backward, anglocentric isolationism of excessive britishness?  Searching for the soul of our peoples, I look at our teachers and their work with our future and I am comforted and inspired.

Thanks

Dennis O’Sullivan

6^th May 2017

 

British Values - I'll Call You What I Like

As 500,000 upright British people sign a petition to prevent the madly powerful Trump from visiting the UK we trumpet the great British Value of Free Speech.


Our Prime Minister has his own take on this. If you do not unequivocally support his war, and he has tried four times in as many years, then you are a terrorist sympathiser. My free speech bit goes like this: Islamic State commit atrocities so publicly in order that the west responds by bombing Syrian towns and villages. Syrian Muslims will then see how the evil western powers are killing men, women and children and they will join the war against the west. Mr Cameron is pimping for Islamic State.


Then Mr Cameron, perhaps seeking his own decisive weapons of mass destruction, invents 70,000 soldiers from the numerous Syrian factions who are apparently ready to join us in anti ISIS action. No other source has seen these people but no-one would accuse a British Prime Minister to twist the truth in order to bomb the Middle East.


Our Chancellor joined the fun by declaring, “Britain has got its mojo back,” now that we are bombing people. A mojo used to be some sort of charm or spell and now usually means stuff to do with sex, in Osborne’s case seeing war as a test of male virility and the dimensions of his cojones.


The BBC has been calling the ISIS terrorists “militants.” I know I shouldn’t trawl the press on such matters but I came across some criticism of this in the comments page of the Daily Express.


“Time to get rid of the British Bolshevik Corporation, It’s a hotbed of pinkoes who love anything except their own country. It needs a Stalinist purge.” And “…the Biased Brainwashing Club – it is run by foreigners anyway.” I have corrected the punctuation and spelling and removed the angry capitals because freedom of speech surely involves correct use of the language.


Britain has been keen on getting involved in Libya,Kuwait, Iraq and Syria, nobly to protect the innocent. I am at a loss as to what the Yemeni people have done to be ignored in our attempts to spread peace even though they do have some oil. Saudi Arabia bombs, ISIS blows things up and the USA drone bombs terrorist suspects in the The Yemen. Oxfam states that more than 10 million Yemenis did not have enough food to eat, in addition to 850,000 half-starved children. Come on Cameron and your mojo boys, go sort that out.


Whilst changing boats in midstream, spare some sympathy for the free speech of our new Heavyweight Boxing Champion of the World, Tyson Furey. Rapidly nominated for BBC Sports Personality of The Year until he aired his views on women’s place in the kitchen and “on their back,” abortion and homosexuality at which point the clamour for him to be banned almost deafened those praising free speech in Britain.


On a parochial note, I recently put myself on the butcher’s block of a town planning meeting. The elderly and their parents greeted my standing to speak with howls of, “Liar” and, “Why do we have to listen to him!” If they had been given knives and forks they would have eaten me. However, in these times of old people being hoaxed by conmen I would advise them to be wary of saviours calling themselves Dazzer and Supergazza. Don’t trust them to change your world by inclusion on Facebook “Spotted In” sites , the modern day stocks. It is a universal value that we respect the elderly and it is a British Value that we do this no matter how badly behaved they may be.


Our schools have now to encourage or inculcate, inject or demand adherence to British Values. Some British Values seem to be rather stereotyped: we drink tea, have a stiff upper lip, are rarely roused to passion and like queueing and then complaining about the queue. Others, less kindly, add that the British value class, snobbery, elitism and emotional retardation. Many universal, common and British Values can be summed up as doing the right thing, contributing to society, paying one’s taxes, picking up litter and working hard for example.


In Northern Ireland every year British values are shown by burning flags, building massive bonfires, singing sectarian songs and throwing bricks at policemen. Until recently it involved bombing or executing one’s religious enemies – both lots being devout Christians.


As a Spurs supporter I cheerily hummed along to La Marseillaise in international solidarity . If only I had known the words (translated, of course, as it is a British Value that we do not learn other languages)


Arise, children of the Fatherland
The day of glory has arrived
Against us tyranny's
Bloody banner is raised
Do you hear, in the countryside
The roar of those ferocious soldiers?
They're coming right into your arms
To cut the throats of your sons, your women!


No wonder that the French liberals had our admiration, until many then voted fascist in their elections.


To schools and schooling: where does our free speech thrive. In our faith schools perhaps? Trinity Christian School, “will seek to view everything , in every area of the curriculum, from a biblical worldview,” and would not be, “driven or constrained by secular values in society.” I think this could have easily come from an ISIS website, if you substitute “Quranic” for “Biblical.”


This brings me to some biblical instructions, from which we can pick and choose, or simply obey.


Dr. Laura Schlessinger an American dispensing radio advice said that, as an observant Orthodox Jew, homosexuality is an abomination according to Leviticus 18:22 and cannot be condoned under any circumstance. End of debate.


But what of these?


I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7 and I wonder what would be a fair price for her?


I know that I am allowed no contact with a woman while she is in her period of menstrual uncleanliness - Leviticus.15:19- 24. The problem is, how do I tell? I have tried asking, but most women take offence.


Most of our teachers seem to be working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2 states they should be put to death.


Leviticus has a lot of advice:


Eating shellfish is an abomination. I may not approach the altar of God if I have a defect in my sight. A farmer must not plant two different crops in a field nor can a woman wear garments made of a cotton/polyester blend.


Is it really necessary that we go to all the trouble of getting the town together to stone the miscreants? Couldn't we just burn them to death at a private family affair like we do with people who sleep with their in-laws?


Today in Bejing blogger, Pu Zhiqiang, is on trial accused of "inciting ethnic hatred" and "picking quarrels and provoking trouble," having been in prison for 18 months. Mr Pu posted comments mocking the ruling Communist Party and questioning policies towards the country's minorities.


An Egyptian military court has reduced the jail term of Maikel Nabil a hunger-striking blogger imprisoned for two years on charges of criticising the military.


In Saudi Arabia blogger, Raif Badawi got 10 years in prison for "insulting Islam" and setting up a liberal web forum. He was also sentenced to 1,000 lashes.


Amnesty International has recorded a growing number of cases of people detained or imprisoned for disseminating their beliefs or information through the internet, in countries such as China, Syria, Vietnam, the Maldives, Cuba, Iran and Zimbabwe.


I guess it’s good I live in Britain.


Dennis O'Sullivan (Headteacher)