Teaching and Beekeeping

[B+.]

"Experienced teachers have a wealth of knowledge and skills to offer schools. However, complaints of high workloads, endless accountability and targets, along with insufficient financial reward for the hours in a working week, result in tired and stressed professionals, causing this expertise to be lost by them leaving the profession.

The REALITY is that my wife was on the phone to the police at 9:45 last night trying to prevent a suicide.
Show me where it says anything like that in the job description!

If the "average joe" doesn't see things like this, it is because other people are doing it away from the public eye.

 

[Jimmy]

There are a few beefarmers who are/were teachers alongside their teaching commitments.
A couple that I know of:
John Phipps, editor of Beekeeping Quarterly, was a teacher.

The late Robin Lewis, obituary here behind the Telegraph paywall for those who subscribe https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/9073017/Robin-Lewis.html

For those who, like me, don't want to give the Telegraph any of their money, I managed to copy and paste the obituary in the 5 - 10 seconds before the text faded away and attach it below.

 

[Repwoc]

... and all that material they have created has to go into store and a fresh set created and planned.

First off, I'm not a teacher. However I have managed businesses for over 30 years, and it seems to be very inefficient that every teacher has to prepare lesson plans to teach their particular group of 30-35 children, duplicating and repeating the work already done by thousands of others. Aren't they all teaching the same curriculum over the whole country? Why can't lesson plans be centrally prepared to go with the subject syllabi? Teachers could then concentrate on delivering the material and doing the actual teaching.

 

[B+.]

First off, I'm not a teacher. However I have managed businesses for over 30 years, and it seems to be very inefficient that every teacher has to prepare lesson plans to teach their particular group of 30-35 children, duplicating and repeating the work already done by thousands of others. Aren't they all teaching the same curriculum over the whole country? Why can't lesson plans be centrally prepared to go with the subject syllabi? Teachers could then concentrate on delivering the material and doing the actual teaching.

That would seem logical......IF a lesson plan was limited to a list of the material to be presented. It isn't. A lesson plan has to take the needs and abilities of every child into account so is really an amalgam of individual lesson plans for the 30+ children in the class. If you can imagine teaching similar material 30+ times to different people, some people will get it. Some people will get some of it and some will not understand any of it. That isn't just because some people weren't listening, or were distracted by the vocal minority trying to disrupt the class. It's because some people learn better in different ways. They may have misunderstood prior material so may be trying to fit new material into a erroneous conceptual model or they may have been absent when that material was taught and have nothing to relate the new material to.
Do you begin to see now why lesson plans don't work now? The really enlightened schools realise this and don't ask for a plan for every lesson. This is not the norm though. Most schools are so terrified of being beaten up by OFSTED that they pass all the pressure onto the teacher.

 

[Jimmy]

First off, I'm not a teacher. However I have managed businesses for over 30 years, and it seems to be very inefficient that every teacher has to prepare lesson plans to teach their particular group of 30-35 children, duplicating and repeating the work already done by thousands of others. Aren't they all teaching the same curriculum over the whole country? Why can't lesson plans be centrally prepared to go with the subject sylabi? Teachers could then concentrate on delivering the material and doing the actual teaching.

There is a national curriculum, has been for over 30 years in the state sector.

A significant amount of the preparation is tweaking the lesson plan (either self-generated, created/shared within a school department or as a bought in package) to the needs of the target group and resources available.
For example, as a Biology teacher I regularly do heart dissections. With a top set who are overall motivated, interested and trustworthy it's a worthwhile lesson. With a more challenging set who lack motivation, can't be trusted with knives and struggle to listen to instructions then giving them all a scalpel and a raw lamb heart is not going to end well. If no practical is possible then a different activity needs to be planned. Of course most groups lie somewhere between these two extremes but the planning element wouldn't be eliminated by having some central lesson plan.

B+ saying pretty much the same

 

[Murox]

First off, I'm not a teacher. However I have managed businesses for over 30 years, and it seems to be very inefficient that every teacher has to prepare lesson plans to teach their particular group of 30-35 children, duplicating and repeating the work already done by thousands of others. Aren't they all teaching the same curriculum over the whole country? Why can't lesson plans be centrally prepared to go with the subject syllabi? Teachers could then concentrate on delivering the material and doing the actual teaching.

The National Curriculum is only a 'framework' setting out the skills and knowledge that children are expected to learn from ages 5 to 16. Similarly it's a 'framework' for teachers (and also standards) so teachers can see how children are doing in respect of the framework and standards. It is the teacher who 'puts the flesh on the bones' delivering appropriate information at the appropriate level to pupils.

 

[Repwoc]

OK - like I said I'm not a teacher. Sounds like it's not possible to plan anything, which is rather worrying. I couldn't work like that.

 

[B+.]

OK - like I said I'm not a teacher. Sounds like it's not possible to plan anything, which is rather worrying. I couldn't work like that.

Knowledge is the beginning of wisdom

Now, if only we knew everything about beekeeping!

 

[pargyle]

That would seem logical......IF a lesson plan was limited to a list of the material to be presented. It isn't. A lesson plan has to take the needs and abilities of every child into account so is really an amalgam of individual lesson plans for the 30+ children in the class. If you can imagine teaching similar material 30+ times to different people, some people will get it. Some people will get some of it and some will not understand any of it. That isn't just because some people weren't listening, or were distracted by the vocal minority trying to disrupt the class. It's because some people learn better in different ways. They may have misunderstood prior material so may be trying to fit new material into a erroneous conceptual model or they may have been absent when that material was taught and have nothing to relate the new material to.
Do you begin to see now why lesson plans don't work now? The really enlightened schools realise this and don't ask for a plan for every lesson. This is not the norm though. Most schools are so terrified of being beaten up by OFSTED that they pass all the pressure onto the teacher.

Precisely, and when OFSTED visit the first thing they ask for is the paperwork ,.. and when they observe lessons they will measure it's success or not on the basis of what they perceived the children gained from the lesson in relation to the lesson plan. A succesful lesson could deviate from the lesson plan .. for instance, if the topic was weather and it snowed during the lesson then the teacher could deviate to take account of the circumstances ... but woe betide the teacher who decides to wing it without a lesson plan and it all goes belly up.

There are some excellent resources for infant and primary school teachers to be found on line but I doubt that many headteachers would permit slavish copying and regurgitating in entirety something found on the internet.

Teachers do worry and the constant threat of unannounced OFSTED inspections is yet another layer that adds to the stress.

I've had NQT's in my home in floods of tears and ready to pack it all in because they just can't cope with everything they have to do and the pressure of expectation put on them by the school management.

Sure, some of them manage to struggle through the first few years and seem to cope but I dread to think how many think that it's not worth the candle and look for alternative employment - I have two ex-teachers in the office i work in - in their late twenties - just found it all too much.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

OFSTED - another layer of bureaucracy not fit for purpose

 

[Jimmy]

OFSTED - another layer of bureaucracy not fit for purpose

What's the difference between an Ofsted inspector and a plastic surgeon?

One tucks up your features, the other one........

 

[Erichalfbee]

 

[B+.]

OFSTED - another layer of bureaucracy not fit for purpose

Some might say that applies to all levels above schools - but, I wouldn't make such a cynical statement

 

[pargyle]

What's the difference between an Ofsted inspector and a plastic surgeon?

One tucks up your features, the other one........

Where's the like button !!