Jobs for the boys?
Grrr, had a very growly day today. Turned up at work to be informed that one of our Chemistry teaching staff 'would not be returning'. After digging deeper it seems there had been a few complaints by students regarding her teaching. No offense to anybody but most of our teaching staff get complained about for one reason or another throughout the year and having been present whilst this chemist was teaching found her lessons in no way more disrupted than any other member of staff and as far as curriculum she may not have been totally 'au fait' with the syllabus being brought in at short notice earlier in the year but was a very experienced and knowledgeable chemist. Very often students that have 2 separate teachers for one subject will express a preference for one or another's teaching and other than this I certainly didn't see any other student rumblings other than what could be considered normal in an educational environment.
It seems to me that as part of the 'process of complaint' the Head of Chemistry sat in on some of her lessons to see if the student concerns were warranted. This came under the guise of 'classroom observations' which all staff throughout the year are involved in. One of the points of concern was 'using power point presentations is poor practice'. Excuse me but having been well briefed on ofsted inspections the integration and use of IT applications within all teaching is a must and to obtain the 'holy grail' of grading,a miraculous 1 grade without IT you have no hope. This seems very much an individual judgement that has cost someone their job purely because one member of staff dislikes the teaching style of another based on perhaps malicious but certainly inaccurate student complaints.
I find it also slightly strange that the Head of Chemistry who never uses IT and gets us lowly technicians to do all her word processing is trying to defend her non-use of IT within the classroom as 'Good practice' and within 24hrs of our ex chemist leaving our old PT chemist that the Head of Chemistry knows well had miraculously returned just in time for the revision classes to 'Save the day'......
I think I might just mention my Union rep position to the Head of Chemistry this afternoon and watch the fireworks.....
It seems to me that as part of the 'process of complaint' the Head of Chemistry sat in on some of her lessons to see if the student concerns were warranted. This came under the guise of 'classroom observations' which all staff throughout the year are involved in. One of the points of concern was 'using power point presentations is poor practice'. Excuse me but having been well briefed on ofsted inspections the integration and use of IT applications within all teaching is a must and to obtain the 'holy grail' of grading,a miraculous 1 grade without IT you have no hope. This seems very much an individual judgement that has cost someone their job purely because one member of staff dislikes the teaching style of another based on perhaps malicious but certainly inaccurate student complaints.
I find it also slightly strange that the Head of Chemistry who never uses IT and gets us lowly technicians to do all her word processing is trying to defend her non-use of IT within the classroom as 'Good practice' and within 24hrs of our ex chemist leaving our old PT chemist that the Head of Chemistry knows well had miraculously returned just in time for the revision classes to 'Save the day'......
I think I might just mention my Union rep position to the Head of Chemistry this afternoon and watch the fireworks.....
