Throwing Chalk: diary of a trainee teacher

Wow. How really weird. I actually really enjoyed today. It's almost spooky. I asked questions about what the chuff EMA is and whether people think it's a good idea and got some answers. Not a single real perfect answer but then no one can really say if it's doing any good.

EMA  as described by Wikipedia: (Education Maintenance Allowance, a financial scheme for British students).

16-18 year olds get paid to go to college provided their parents are *poor* enough to fit into the following income groups:

"£30 per week for those whose household income is under £20,817 p.a.;
£20 per week for those whose household income is between £20,818 and £25,521 p.a.;
£10 per week for those whose household income is between £25,522 and £30,810 p.a.

"Additionally, bonus payments of £100 or £150 are available to students who are in receipt of EMA. These bonuses are available in January and July of the first and second year. A total of £400 extra money can be claimed in bonus payments over a maximum period of three years."

[from Wikipedia - and therefore probably true]

It must cost a fair amount of money to finance and obviously 18 months time when we get a change of government (almost certainly) it'll get canned.

Kids nowadays, eh? They don't know how lucky they are...

"The Conservative Party have stated their opposition to EMA. Conservative Party spokesman Chris Grayling said: "This is another blatant example of the government trying to fiddle the figures. Bribing young people to sign up for courses they may not complete, might make ministers' targets look achievable - but they do absolutely nothing to help solve this country's chronic skills shortage."

[from Wikipedia - and therefore probably true]

Well a number of the students who are currently teaching are certainly cynical about the scheme. Talking about kids who demand their EMA and only turn up in class to get an attendance mark. It helps some, probably; others just spend the money on new trainers. But then, everyone needs new trainers every now and again. But then these student/teachers are cynical about everything & I don't have the experience to contradict them or the arguments to support EMA so I'm torn. It would have been nice to have had it in my day, but I would have stayed on in any case as I didn't want to get a full-time job. And I had a part-time job stacking shelves to pay for my intake of alchohol (etc).

Verdict: the jury is out, but it may not matter as the Tories'll jack it in as one of their first proposals in power...

So yeah, some new stuff. Real life experiences. I quite like looking at trends in current education, it is less dry than learning theories and it's all very new. Going on right now. And yet most non-education people don't even know that EMA exists - as a for example. How many people know what a *phonic* is either? And do they need to know? Well, probably not.

Other than that we looked briefly at *Curriculum Models*. There are a number. It's good to know them but it seems unlikely you'd create a curriculum or scheme of work to fit to one. They're more like *reverse-engineered* models. *Stuff looks like this*.

The “Hidden curriculum” is an interesting idea. It's the stuff that gets learnt that isn't on the syllabus: social skills, political views maybe. Certainly I thought that if you're doing a Business Studies course, you're going to accept the idea that capitalism is good. In nursing: caring is good. Those are the fundamental underlying themes, no one has to spell them out - but they differ from course to course. Some promote competition, some suggest sharing is the best way. Also, going to a Public School might make you more likely to be able to behave well in social situations or job interviews. Bla bla bla - is the general thing. Interesting. I thought of boxing and the way they value respect & working hard; staying in, looking after your body. Not hitting people in *real life*. It made me think that boxing - bashing people in the face on purpose - might be a good thing. Hmmm.

Other than that: I listened to Ms Complainalot tell me about her problems & I had baked potato for my packed lunch. I sat outside in a park eating it. It was sunny. In a properly not needing a coat, needing sunglasses way. Almost weird.

Current mood: surprised!!! and surprisingly happy. (Note: it cannot last...)

Posted by Stipey Sullivan at 02:34 Comments