The name 'Headucate' comes from the encouragement of educational professionals to think through and reason on educationally related issues and consider ideas and theories from the head rather than simply as emotional 'heart tuggers' or political 'vote winners'. In other words, I wish to post ideas, thoughts and opinions which aim to promote thinking, discussion and reply by dedicated educational professionals, (or related professionals,) who genuinely have the best interest of the education of young people at heart.
Discussions this evening on 'The One Show' turned my thoughts to the topics of, 'who rules the classrooms these days?', 'should parents be held responsible for their chidren's actions?' and 'why is there so much youth crime?'
I have written to Ed Balls with the following:
Firstly may I congratulate you on the recent excellent 1:1 tuition programme proposals. It is lovely to see children’s learning genuinely being put at the heart of policy even though the results may not be instant enough politically!
May I be so bold as to make a suggestion. With so much talk in the media and well documented press regarding youth crime and discipline within schools, coupled with the perspective of the loss of teaching as a valued 'profession' I have a suggestion which would 'tick all the boxes' and link your policy of extended schools and the engagement of parents within their children's education. Below is a suggestion of a post I recently submitted to the BBC on one of their discussion blogs which related to parental responsibility, classroom discipline and youth crime.
Teachers are stressed predominantly because the parents who have no idea how to parent and have had no training whatsoever attempt to tell professional and highly trained teachers how to do their job, whilst young children learn from their parents that responsibility is irrelevant. Even signing up to a BBC discussion blog I had to agree to my 'rights and responsibilities' and yet parents increasingly have lots of rights but society shuns the fact that they have responsibilities as 'politically incorrect' – a lesson inadvertently being passed on to our young people and children.
The solution?
In a nutshell find the best performing teachers who have the ability to get 35+ 11 year olds eating out of the palm of their hands whilst commanding respect and engaging them in their learning and who have also developed and earned a respect from their local community generally, pay them well to teach and deliver training/support classes to parents in how to control their own children and give headteachers the legal powers and support to enforce/suggest relevant parents to attend the classes - this ticks all the boxes:
- increases the government agenda of extended schools and the involvement of parents in schools and fosters a valuable partnership for the wellbeing and development of the child, family, school and local community.
- shares expertise from serving practitioners to support parents in controlling their children and thus taking responsibility, (the responsibility appears to be shared initially and therefore less threatening until the parent is confident in setting/maintaining boundaries, engaging positively, enabling quality shared time etc.)
- responds to the requests of many parents who are, quite literally at times, screaming and crying out for help and support. (I have first-hand experience of such parents desperate for help witnessed in my history of running youth clubs in London and then teaching - both in London and now in the West Midlands)
- raises the status of teaching as a skilled profession, valued by the community and where parents can look up to with respect rather than disparaging scorn, (often developed from fear, tainted by their own negative experiences of school as a child,)and most importantly
- allows children to see schools and parents working in partnership for their good rather than, (as so often is the case in real life education,) against each other and so ultimately models the concept of shared rights and responsibilities which in turn raises standards of social behaviour, family relationships, community cohesion and educational inclusion.
WIN WIN ALL ROUND!
Many thanks for taking the time to read my ramblings,
Now, I'm not so presumtious to think for even one minute that he will be interested - after all, why should a government minister for education be interested in the views of those who teach our children on a daily basis but it's an idea!
