Who owns teachers?

We asked Laura McInerney to give us her thoughts about teacher professionalism and voice in the current school climate.   Who owns the Moon? Everybody. On 10 October 1967, all major United Nations members signed the Outer Space Treaty stating that from thenceforth all celestial bodies would belong to the “common heritage of mankind”. Two…

What’s the role of ethics in education?

When we surveyed Edapt subscribers last year, we asked them if there is anything they’d like to see us so differently. One teacher said: “Get us together to create a vision of the perfect education system. Rather than tinkering views here and there, Edapt should stand for something big…” I was reminded of this comment…

Teaching unions: who needs them?

Taken from the original Independent article published on 06/02/2013. On first encounter, the thing that strikes you about John Roberts is his youthful looks. A keen climber, he has already climbed mountains, scaled previously never-scaled cliff faces and become possibly the youngest assistant headteacher in the country at the age of 24. Now, though, he…

Teachers don’t like industrial action: DfE survey confirms Edapt’s findings

The Department for Education (DfE) has quietly published a survey which confirms many teachers are ignoring work-to-rule directives laid down by teachers unions – because they join unions primarily for protection and support in the workplace. The findings of the NFER Teacher Voice Omnibus Survey” Understanding union membership and activity” (link here) published on the…

Top ten reasons to be cheerful (if you’re a teacher)

With grey January turning colder and greyer and the papers full of bad news, we thought we’d come up with ten reasons to be cheerful: 1. If you search google for ‘teaching “best job in the world”’ you get over 4,680,000 results 2. Only 6% of pupils are taught by teachers who are less than…

Spectator: an interview with Michael Gove

An online version of an interview with Michael Gove, published on the Spectator website on 12 December 2012, surprised us by including the Secretary of State for Education mentioning Edapt. The article quotes Michael Gove saying: “Look at the way [the teaching unions] justify their existence to members. On the one hand, they justify their…

Sunday Times: Talent + graft = £££s for teachers

An article in the Sunday Times on 9th December featured an interview with CEO of Edapt, John Roberts. The article uses John as an example of a teacher who has ‘no wish to sign up to such a campaign’ as that being conducted by the NASUWT and NUT in response to what they see as…

Parents evenings and the difference between supportive and pushy

Our anonymous primary teacher blogger describes the build up to parents evenings …   ‘Haven’t you just had a holiday?’ ask my non-teacher friends. It’s been a nearly eight week half term – no, I have not just had a holiday. Myself and the children were very much ready for a break because they were…

TAs worth their weight in gold

The following blog post is from our anonymous blogger in a primary school. TA, LSA, HLTA, Support Assistants – I have had some worth their weight in gold and I have worked with others who just seem like an extra member of the class to deal with.  There is nothing better than a TA who…