Folks

...Science for the 21st century ...report by UYSEG...
----p.58, Education in Chemistry, May 2002

What a huge gap between what's going on in schools right now and the
recommendations by UYSEG!

...School science is like the Devil' snare in 'Harry Potter and the
philosopher's stone' ....Nothing much has changed in 25 years.......
Trainees who enter the profession with new ideas, energy and
commitment go into schools to have it all crushed out of them.....
----Vanessa Kind, Wanted - magic to cure the Devil's snare' of school
science, Education in Chemistry, July 2002

As a supply teacher
1. I have witnessed(in almost all the schools I have worked) the
suffocation of fresh ideas brought by trainees from HE
2. I have worked with many teachers(including HODs)who don't know
about the existence of professional bodies(including ASE) and and who
don't read any educational journals.
3. I have been in schools where issues of Education in Chemistry go
straight into the bin without even being taken out of the wrapper -
some teachers don't even know that they get such a publication from
the RSC
4. Many departments have one departmental meeting each half term only
to discuss 'administrative' work and never about teaching and
learning. I know of the History department in one school and of the
Geography department of another who have regular sharing of
teaching/learning.
5. I have seen teachers spend hours and hours marking books and never
spend a minute sharing ideas about actual lessons - whenever I have
asked for sharing thoughts on science lessons I have been asked if I
haven't got my PGCE.
6. Many teachers haven't heard about reflective practice!!!!!!

Ann Stafford:
...Why is such an important topic as reflective practice treated so
casually in the Uk? Is it because we see it as just another box to
complete on a lesson plan? ...
---Curtin University Reflective Teaching discussion website

If teachers spend even an average of 10 minutes a month on browsing
through one journal there will be a certain amount of change in their
conceptual ecology which will affect that of the department and that
wil in turn affect that of the school. Conceptual ecologies of
various schools affect each other and ultimately that of the national
education system. These small and gradual changes will allow the rest
of the systems to respond healthily and we will come to have
reasonably healthy evolution in education thinking.

Teachers are more likely to change by what they read voluntarily than
by what they are being told by others(those other than their
immediate superiors - hence the utmost importance of people
in 'positions' to be uptodate in CPD). This may be why some of
current 'initiatives' aren't as effective as they are expected to
be.

If you look at the work of SEN and Pastoral Care teachers and rummage
through educational journals you will find many more Devil's snares
(those who are interested in knowing about examples of educational
journal articles may email me). They all point to the fact that we
aren't making enough use of psychology in schools and that's due to
inadequate 1.initial teacher training and 2. continuing professional
development.

So there's a problem not just in science but right across the board.
(Understandably motivated pupils don't suffer as much as the
unmotivated).

Best wishes
Puni Selvaratnam