madwullie Posted August 13, 2020 Share Posted August 13, 2020 2 hours ago, Salvo Montalbano said: 3 hours ago, superbigal said: What do you actually think of the teaching profession in areas that clearly tried to play the system ? I'm pissed off and many of my colleagues are but sadly we all know it happens, and not just this year. One of the worst things to happen in my teaching lifetime has been the publishing of league tables IMO. All it encourages is the massaging of the statistics, whether that is removing people from the school roll of they think they won't pass any exams, schools that have been given inside info on exam questions (luckily a few teachers have been struck off recently after being caught doing this which will hopefully stop), pupils being waved through National 4s because there is no final exam and the kids can just sit in a room with the PT and somehow all manage to pass the unit assessments etc. Even daft things like Teachers who turn up late to in-service day meetings or who play on their phones during things like that piss me off - they wouldn't accept that from a pupil - and for a so-called profession, sadly it lacks professionalism in a great many areas. Currently having an argument with my wife about league tables. The catchment we live in is for a school that is pretty far down the tables, and she wants to placing request the posh school nearby. Leaving aside the fact that trying to extrapolate information from the 2020 league tables is a complete farce anyway, to the lay person they represent something completely different from the reality. Her and her pals think that a school high up the tables has superior teaching etc to those lower down, no matter how much I try to explain that it has much much more to do with the catchment area of the school. Loads of new build "posh" estates have been built in this low down schools catchment recently, so in a few years it's bound to be storming up the tables anyway, and our eldest is only just p4. I'm an snp voter and independence supporter, but their handling of education has been shite to say the least - absolute outrage that there are league tables for these national assessments (are they still doing that) despite them knowing full well what tables represent, and that all they do is further muddy the waters. Few things pissed me off more than sitting in in service meetings at the start of the new school year, and the smt practically spunk ing with excitement that the school had moved one millimetre higher on a spreadsheet So the wife, who would disembowel her own parents before sending the boys to a private school (goes against everything she believes in etc etc) has no issue in selling the house and buying in a catchment for a "better" school - no matter how I try I can't make her see that it's essentially the same thing. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
printer Posted August 13, 2020 Share Posted August 13, 2020 But what are they being judged against. What is the accurate data that the % is being calculated against? If they were 100% accurate then they would not be estimates. HTH 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
printer Posted August 13, 2020 Share Posted August 13, 2020 With paragraphs like this I can only pray you don’t teach English. Too many big words for you? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
printer Posted August 13, 2020 Share Posted August 13, 2020 Thanks. Three further comments.If comparing to algorithm results, then "accurate" isn't really the correct word.Why not just be "honest and realistic"? Why bring "positive" into it?"Actual exams". Which ones are these?Compared to the "algorithm" results. In our subject they downgraded only a handful of pupils because we went through them and tried as best as possible to be honest and realistic while positive. We also didn't feel that we could give high estimates for pupils who probably would have went on to do well but we didn't have evidence for (people who bombed the prelim but had subsequently pulled their socks up in class or who had got a tutor or who had been doing well when working through lots of past papers during Easter or whatever). Across the school we weren't afraid to give D and F estimates where they were justifed. I think our estimates compared to the actual exams are usually around 80-90 % accurate (and of course while some people you expect to pass well totally bomb, you also get a fair few who perform better than expected) so you will never get 100 % accuracy. Our estimated number of A-C students at Higher in my subject was only slightly higher (maybe 2-3 %) than the 5 year average (and that was a wee bit harsh as I had a good class this year) whereas it looks like some schools were putting in estimates that suggeated their number of A-C students in a subject was going to jump up by 15-20% which is clearly a nonsense. We are now in a situation where we are ruing the time and energy spent trying to make the estimates honest and realistic and wish we'd just stuck everyone down for what they potentially could have got if every single thing went for them and they got lucky with the questions and they had a private tutor and they felt so good going into the hall they were practically floating. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Salvo Montalbano Posted August 13, 2020 Share Posted August 13, 2020 Thanks. Three further comments. If comparing to algorithm results, then "accurate" isn't really the correct word. Why not just be "honest and realistic"? Why bring "positive" into it? "Actual exams". Which ones are these? 1. I guess not, but at time we were told the information the algorithm results WERE the exam results. So as far as the Headteacher was concerned, we had been fairly accurate in predicting what the pupils would get on their certificate. 2. We should always be positive, but without taking the piss. If someone was a borderline A/B candidate, you'd be looking to estimate an A. If someone had totally failed the prelim but had put in some effort and so had a chance of getting close to passing you might estimate a C. That is positive whilst not always being realistic in a sense as the borderline cases aren't always go upwards (and of course some go the other way when you are fairly confident they'll get something but fluff the exam). That ia totally different from looking at someone who got 50 odd percent in the prelim and estimating an A or B, or estimating a C for someone who got 12% in their prelim and hasn't tried a leg all year. 3. Sorry, have just went back to read the original post. In terms of estimates/predictions and "actual exams" - we do this as a matter of course every year before the exam diet so we will have previous evidence of how actuate or otherwise our predictions are. Some will do better than you predict, some will go down but on the whole if we e.g. estimate 15 As in Higher Physics in a year, then maybe between 12 and 18 pupils actually get an A in their exam then that is seen as being fairly accurate. If we estimated 15 As and only 3 or 4 got an A we would be questioned why our estimates were so bad - firstly by the Headteacher then the Council Education Officer. It also helps with appeals (less so these days but in the past) and allows you to make up class lists before the exam results are known. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thereisalight.. Posted August 13, 2020 Share Posted August 13, 2020 These briefings need binned and made once weekly. It’s like a mini episode of Eastenders - crying , fear, apologies, blame, a supporting cast of bit part players. Oh and the R rate “may be above 1”. Make of that what you will -1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven W Posted August 13, 2020 Share Posted August 13, 2020 Whats happening with a vaccine? f**k all it looks like. -1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sergeant Wilson Posted August 13, 2020 Share Posted August 13, 2020 5 minutes ago, Thereisalight.. said: These briefings need binned and made once weekly. It’s like a mini episode of Eastenders - crying , fear, apologies, blame, a supporting cast of bit part players. Oh and the R rate “may be above 1”. Make of that what you will Aye, while restrictions are still in place, less communication is definitely a good idea. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thereisalight.. Posted August 13, 2020 Share Posted August 13, 2020 1 minute ago, Sergeant Wilson said: Aye, while restrictions are still in place, less communication is definitely a good idea. They can announce things via a statement/social media, rather than having the big “look at me” set up. Honestly think people like Leitch are loving their 10 mins of fame every other day 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thereisalight.. Posted August 13, 2020 Share Posted August 13, 2020 4 minutes ago, Steven W said: Whats happening with a vaccine? f**k all it looks like. Andrew Lloyd Webber is taking part in an Oxford trial of it, that’s all I’ve read on it today 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John MacLean Posted August 13, 2020 Share Posted August 13, 2020 (edited) 11 minutes ago, Thereisalight.. said: These briefings need binned and made once weekly. It’s like a mini episode of Eastenders - crying , fear, apologies, blame, a supporting cast of bit part players. Oh and the R rate “may be above 1”. Make of that what you will If only there was an option open to people who didn't want to see the briefing. 6 minutes ago, Steven W said: Whats happening with a vaccine? f**k all it looks like. I think there was a collective global decision made that if a vaccine hadn't been discovered, shown to be effective and rigorously tested to show that there were no side effects by a week last Thursday they were going to stop trying to develop one. I mean it's no longer a Public Health issue said the sage with the graphs earlier. Edited August 13, 2020 by John MacLean 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jambomo Posted August 13, 2020 Share Posted August 13, 2020 Realised yesterday that I have a weird taste and smell In my mouth/nose and have been feeling a bit below par today. Realised the taste thing is a symptom and am now in self-isolation for 10 days and have to have a Covid test. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sergeant Wilson Posted August 13, 2020 Share Posted August 13, 2020 2 minutes ago, Jambomo said: Realised yesterday that I have a weird taste and smell In my mouth/nose and have been feeling a bit below par today. Realised the taste thing is a symptom and am now in self-isolation for 10 days and have to have a Covid test. How much would it cost me to have you passionately kiss @Thereisalight..? 11 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Todd_is_God Posted August 13, 2020 Share Posted August 13, 2020 (edited) 17 minutes ago, Thereisalight.. said: These briefings need binned and made once weekly. It’s like a mini episode of Eastenders - crying , fear, apologies, blame, a supporting cast of bit part players. Oh and the R rate “may be above 1”. Make of that what you will The briefings could be shorter, but it's good that journalists get to ask questions etc. That said, the questions from the journalists are quite poor, and seem to mostly be along the line of getting the FM to expand on what she's said. Sometimes the same question more than once. Very rarely do questions come up which challenge the FM, and, when they do, they are rarely answered there and then. I can't believe that journalists genuinely ask if Orkney will be getting locked down because 3 cases have popped up, nor can I believe that no one is even thinking of asking the FM why, if the virus is as bad as she wants us to believe, hospital admissions and deaths show no signs of increasing. If it's going to just be a sook fest, there is no point in having a Q&A Edited August 13, 2020 by Todd_is_God 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshmallo Posted August 13, 2020 Share Posted August 13, 2020 11 minutes ago, Steven W said: Whats happening with a vaccine? f**k all it looks like. Russia are claiming they've got one in use already -2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John MacLean Posted August 13, 2020 Share Posted August 13, 2020 Interesting to hear the Health Secretary talking about establishing a support framework to help people through recovery and rehabilitation from Covid. This shocked me as some people would almost have you believe that if you catch Covid you either die (and you were probably ill/old anyway and your time was basically up in any case) or you sit on the couch for a week or so watching Netflix and occasionally coughing. Who would have thought that death might not be the only health related issue to contracting Covid which is, of course, no longer dangerous. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billy Jean King Posted August 13, 2020 Share Posted August 13, 2020 Whats happening with a vaccine? f**k all it looks like. You clearly don't follow Russian current affairs [emoji1] 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billy Jean King Posted August 13, 2020 Share Posted August 13, 2020 These briefings need binned and made once weekly. It’s like a mini episode of Eastenders - crying , fear, apologies, blame, a supporting cast of bit part players. Oh and the R rate “may be above 1”. Make of that what you willWhy on earth do you watch them. Eastenders imo should be binned it's dugshite hence I choose not to watch it rather than sit through it then whinge about how shite it was. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven W Posted August 13, 2020 Share Posted August 13, 2020 6 minutes ago, Marshmallo said: Russia are claiming they've got one in use already Aye, feels like our boys seem to be dragging their heels. No updates, just silence on what, in all honesty is the only way out of this. The one thing in all this that the UK looked like doing right, was a vaccine, but doesn't look like there'll be one this year anyway. -1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jambomo Posted August 13, 2020 Share Posted August 13, 2020 11 minutes ago, Sergeant Wilson said: How much would it cost me to have you passionately kiss @Thereisalight..? More than anyone can afford! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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