Teachers - Keep Your Data To Yourself!
Teaching is incredibly stressful: too much is out of our control, we have too much to do and too little time to do it in. Targets are set for children based on spurious assessment data and we have to move heaven and earth to ensure that they reach these targets. If attendance falls below 95% we must show evidence that we are intervening. Books must be marked in different colour pens, the correct stickers applied and then students must respond to our marking before we respond to their response. Learners must make progress (whatever that means) every 20 minutes. We are learning-walked, observed and scrutinised. Some teachers are asked to submit short, medium and long term planning for scrutiny. No wonder that so many of my colleagues have taken time off with stress, anxiety and depression.
But this is the profession we have chosen and we have a choice - we can leave or we can deal with it. Nine months ago, I dealt with it by finding a job in alternative education. I am still working heavens hard for my learners, but there are only eight in a class and nobody is expecting me to get them level 8 in English and Maths. I don't talk to my learners about grades much - or targets - because that is usually part of their problem. It's too stressful, they can't deal with it and they don't have the option of finding another job!
In mainstream, we talk incessantly about grades, targets, flight-paths and other nonsense that they really do not need to hear about. When I was at school, I had no idea what grade I was working at or what grade I should aim for. I just wanted to get as many marks as possible. I looked at my teachers' comments and tried to do it better next time. Nobody, ever, in all my education told me that I was an A grade student or a C grade student.
I was generally considered to be a bit thick when it came to maths but nobody told me that I was not expected to get a C. If they had, I would have stopped trying. I would not have taken the blasted O level three times, I would not have got into Durham and I would not, now be a teacher.
I have sat in an assembly in an outstanding school and heard a Head of Year tell students all about Progress 8 and how every grade counts towards it. He made it sound as if Progress 8 mattered to them personally. He is, by the way, a very fine Head of Year. One of the best. And yet even he got so caught up in the data-madness that he thought this would help in some way. He stood there and communicated our stress to them and made it their problem.
My contention is this: data is for teachers not learners. When gathered carefully and used wisely, data is a very powerful tool. Data should be robust, comparable and diagnostic. It should inform how we tailor our teaching and interventions to support our learners. When it is shared with students it should be because it will help them to understand their strengths and weaknesses and, when the time is right, give them a realistic idea of what to expect on results day and how to plan their next step. It should never, ever be a stick to beat them with. Learners are responsible for their learning - not our results. No child needs to be anxious about their data; they need to concern themselves with doing their best and nothing more.
Teachers should keep their stress to themselves and let the kids be just that - kids.
But this is the profession we have chosen and we have a choice - we can leave or we can deal with it. Nine months ago, I dealt with it by finding a job in alternative education. I am still working heavens hard for my learners, but there are only eight in a class and nobody is expecting me to get them level 8 in English and Maths. I don't talk to my learners about grades much - or targets - because that is usually part of their problem. It's too stressful, they can't deal with it and they don't have the option of finding another job!
In mainstream, we talk incessantly about grades, targets, flight-paths and other nonsense that they really do not need to hear about. When I was at school, I had no idea what grade I was working at or what grade I should aim for. I just wanted to get as many marks as possible. I looked at my teachers' comments and tried to do it better next time. Nobody, ever, in all my education told me that I was an A grade student or a C grade student.
I was generally considered to be a bit thick when it came to maths but nobody told me that I was not expected to get a C. If they had, I would have stopped trying. I would not have taken the blasted O level three times, I would not have got into Durham and I would not, now be a teacher.
I have sat in an assembly in an outstanding school and heard a Head of Year tell students all about Progress 8 and how every grade counts towards it. He made it sound as if Progress 8 mattered to them personally. He is, by the way, a very fine Head of Year. One of the best. And yet even he got so caught up in the data-madness that he thought this would help in some way. He stood there and communicated our stress to them and made it their problem.
My contention is this: data is for teachers not learners. When gathered carefully and used wisely, data is a very powerful tool. Data should be robust, comparable and diagnostic. It should inform how we tailor our teaching and interventions to support our learners. When it is shared with students it should be because it will help them to understand their strengths and weaknesses and, when the time is right, give them a realistic idea of what to expect on results day and how to plan their next step. It should never, ever be a stick to beat them with. Learners are responsible for their learning - not our results. No child needs to be anxious about their data; they need to concern themselves with doing their best and nothing more.
Teachers should keep their stress to themselves and let the kids be just that - kids.
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