To frown

Out to dinner with a black friend of mine in his forties, we stray off the usual topics of politics, education and religion, and I ask him about his daughter.

'Where does your daughter go to school again?'

'Sunnyside Up'

'Oh. So what's it like?'

I'm expecting him to give me some stats, percentages of pass rates at GCSE etc., but instead my friend looks to the floor. He's embarrassed.

'Well, well, you know... well, it's private.'

'Oh.' I pause. 'Yes, I mean, yes, of course.' I smile, remembering that my friend used to be a teacher. He knows the drill. Of course his child is at a private school. He continues, looking up from the floor.

'The thing is, well, it is basically my local school.' He smiles nervously. 'There aren't any closer schools really. I mean, this school is...'

I hold my hand up.' Whoah... what's up? Why so defensive? You don't have to defend yourself to ME... I get it, remember?'

My friend laughs. 'Yeah, yeah, yeah, of course you do.' He then goes on to explain some of his daughter's achievements this year and how proud he is of her.

I start to wonder more about the school. 'So what's the percentage of black kids at the school?'

My friend's eyes open wide. 'Well, there is a huge number of Asian children at the school!'

I wince. 'What the hell is wrong with you? Why are you so defensive?? I didn't ask how many Asian kids there are. I asked how many black kids there are.'

I'm guessing there can't be many. What's weird is his reaction: just like his reaction to sending her to a private school. He feels bad. And he feels so bad that his instinctive reaction is to defend his decision to send his daughter there, or to tell me that there are lots of Asian children at the school. I never criticised him. Yet, he is defensive.

Is this because other people have criticised him in the past? Or is this because it is not socially acceptable to send one's child to a private school? Anywhere in the developing world, people would never be ashamed to admit their child was at a private school. They would be proud. They would be admired. In some countries, putting one's child first isn't frowned upon.

So why do we frown on it here?

The importance of language

When politicians speak, listen to the language they use. Their language tells us how they think. My quotes are taken from a Polly Curtis article in the Guardian last week on the new White Paper published by Ed Balls.

Ed Balls, the schools secretary, said: "It may be that we will discover some teachers who don't make the grade ... We want this to be a profession which is continually learning and developing, and that will be central to the licence.”

Erm… yes, ok, teachers should be of a certain standard. I have no problem with that. Heads should be able to fire underperforming teachers. But isn’t it interesting that pupils don’t have to reach certain standards too…?

What else does The White Paper say?

• It sets out plans for a new report card judging every school on six factors: pupil progress, attainment and wellbeing, parental and pupil perceptions of the school, and how well schools are narrowing the achievement gap between rich and poor. Balls said he was "convinced" that the report card should include a single-grade verdict for every school.

Funny, isn’t it, that pupils are not required to meet certain standards to be able to attend these schools? Funny isn’t it that pupil perceptions of the school contribute to this single-grade verdict whereas teacher perceptions don’t even make it onto the list? Funny, isn’t it that ‘narrowing the achievement gap between rich and poor’ is the ultimate goal for schools? Why hasn’t Balls said, ‘Ensuring all children achieve their potential’? Under such direction, schools would be better off giving their rich kids no support at all so that their performance drops, thereby closing that achievement gap and ticking Balls’ all-important and frankly racist target.

The White Paper makes various promises to families and children about what schools will provide. If schools fail to meet the guarantees to families, parents can complain first to the school, then to the local authority, and ultimately to the local government ombudsman, says the document, Your Child, Your Schools, Our Future.

I can’t wait for the day when a parent takes a school to court because their child is unable to learn, because the teacher is unable to control the other children because, well, the schools don’t have any powers to do something about those children. And why don’t they have any power? Because The White Paper didn’t give it to them! Is Balls stupid or does he just not know what makes children tick?

To be fair to Balls, The White Paper does lay out some obligations parents have and lays out fines if they don’t meet them. But the over-arching feel of the paper is that the pupil is the customer and the school is the provider. And that’s no the way to improve schools for children. Children must be given reason and motivation to improve themselves. If we constantly put the onus on schools, children will never take responsibility for their actions and our current situation will just get worse.

Michael Gove, the shadow schools secretary, said: "Ed Balls has refused to give teachers the powers they need to deal with violence and disruption, such as removing the restrictions on teachers removing disruptive pupils. He rejected our plan to give teachers the power to search for banned items. He rejected our plan to let schools make parent contracts compulsory. His new gimmicks will not solve the deep problems we have with bad behaviour in schools."

Listen to the language that Gove uses. The feel of what he says is very different to Balls. Of course it is much easier to criticise from the other side. But the Conservatives will soon get the opportunity to shine... Let’s hope they make the situation brighter.

To make school better

Surrounded by our best pupils, not necessarily the brightest, but the most loyal, the most interested in making something of themselves, the most driven, I ask them what they think is the number one thing that would make them happier at school. There are about 15 of them, all between 12 and 14 years-old, boys and girls, some black, some white, Indian, Chinese: a real motley crew.

Would you learn more if you had ‘better’ teachers? I ask. Or what if you had bigger classrooms? Better textbooks? Better food at lunchtime? What about smaller classes, would that help? Perhaps learning would improve if we used computers more? What if we played more games in lessons? Perhaps if we set you more homework?

One of the smaller boys leans forward. ‘No Miss, none of that stuff is important. Well, I mean, it’s important, but we’d learn so much more if everyone in the class just listened to the teacher.’

I nod. ‘Ah, so the behaviour of other pupils in your lessons is the thing that stops you the most from learning?’

All of the children around me nod vigorously. They say nothing at all.

I grin. ‘That’s interesting. I’m guessing that you find that pretty irritating, do you? I mean, you must get very annoyed that there are these other pupils who are preventing the teacher from teaching and you from learning, right?’

Again, they nod in unison as if I had pushed an electronic button that makes their heads suddenly bop up and down.

‘So what could we do to make school better for you?’

A black boy with a bit of a stammer pulls his chair up. ‘Make them stop talking Miss, stop them interrupting, make them listen to the teacher.’

I look around at these keen, eager-to-learn children, who are staring at me, their eyes wide-open, wanting me to fix it for them, wanting so badly to simply go to school and learn, and a feeling of depression sweeps over me. All these poor kids want to do is to go to school and learn without disruption.

But in 21st century inner-city London schools, that notion is simply absurd. Go to school and learn? Pah! What nonsense. What are these children thinking? That’s so 19th century. Ed Balls would never have it. Children to take responsibility for themselves? Children having to meet certain standards or face consequences? Of course not. That would mean creating the kind of environment that my 15 pupils want: where schools would be places of learning instead of chaos.

And we don’t want that, do we? I wonder why…?

Ode to Nightjack

What dreadful news. How dare The Times. How dare the courts. I wish I had an address so that I could write to him...

What has happened to Nightjack is a lesson to us all, and a lesson in particular for me. I'm not sure I will return. How can I? How can any of us?

Dearest Nightjack, know that I am thinking of you, wherever you may be. Know that I admire your bravery and your determination. Know that I will never forget you, even though we have never met.

When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.

Then they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.

Then they came for the trade unionists,
I did not protest;
I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews,
I did not speak out;
I was not a Jew.

When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out for me.

Nightjack, you will be missed.

With love,
Snuffy x

Spring Break

To my neighbours in Blogsville,

You may have noticed that I have been a little silent recently. School and life have been hectic. Normally I would have written posts on the recent public attack on teachers for being lazy. But I haven't been able to find the time or the head space. And I do feel as if I am somehow 'letting the side down' in Blogsville.

My current 'busier than usual situation' will continue for a couple of months. And so, it is with regret that I say that Snuffy is going to hibernate for that time.

Snuffy isn't dead. She is merely sleeping. So pop in from time to time, to take a look. Maybe Snuffy will leave the occasional post in her absence. Certainly she will return to normal in due course.

In the meantime, I wish you all a very happy Spring. (I do hope Spring will come.) And I look forward to chatting with you all when the weather is warmer.

With my very best wishes,

Snuffy x