Pupil Power

I have to say; not having children; that the inclusion of pupils in committees that decide school policy and even the recruitment, selection and promotion of teachers had passed me by. Now teachers are objecting.

Pupils are wrongly being used to interview prospective teachers and give feedback on how well they perform in class, a teaching union says.

The NASUWT teaching union says attempts to give pupils a voice in their school are also being abused by head teachers seeking legitimacy for their arguments.

I’m staggered. The idea that pupils should be involved in a matter that is for the employer – and the employer alone – is appalling. I listened to one jumped-up little oik claiming that as the clients, they had a right to have a say. Um, excuse me, but children are not the clients; parents are. It is parents who pay for the education of their children, either through taxation or directly. Education is the responsibility of parents, not children. And, as a client, I have no say over the recruitment, selection and promotion policies of organisations that I deal with. I can take my business elsewhere, but I don’t – rightly – tell them who they may hire and fire.

Parents – as the clients – should have the freedom to take their business elsewhere, but that’s another discussion. However, they can become involved as governors, for example.

My biggest objection to children being involved in such matters is one of competence. They lack the experience and maturity to make reasoned judgements of this kind and it is a fool for a headteacher who places reliance on their opinions in such matters:

In one case, a teacher failed to get a job after being labelled “Humpty Dumpty” by a pupil allowed to sit on his interview panel.

Sigh. And:

In another case, a teacher said they were “humiliated” after being asked by pupils to sing their favourite song at interview. They declined and did not get the job.

I’d have declined, too – and it wouldn’t have been particularly polite. But, then, I have no desire to become a school teacher. I do expect interviews to be conducted professionally by competent people.

An unpopular teacher may well be excellent at their job. I can recall a few from my schooldays who would have fallen foul of this scheme, yet provided a high quality of education to their charges. They were unpopular because they were disciplinarians – a necessity for keeping thirty-odd unruly brats in line long enough to take note of the lesson material.

Adults who are themselves competent in the role, along with adults who are competent in matters of recruitment, selection and competence management are the ones to make such decisions, not the people they are supposed to be teaching.

Another matter raised by Chris Keates today was of spying on adults, much like the Eastern Bloc.

Members of the NASUWT told how they feared pupils were also being used as spies to make negative comments about teachers in questionnaires.

How much of this is actually going on was not stated, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Pupil Voice is a form of grooming, given New Labour’s desire to spy on us all and exercise control. Children are impressionable and malleable to the point of being relatively easily propagandised. These people have form. I challenge you not to be horrified by the linked video clip.

Sure, ask for feedback about lessons and ask for ideas about improvement, but filter it out before giving it any credence. Getting unqualified children to sit on interview panels is going way too far.

A spokesman for the Department for Children, Schools and Families, said the idea was devised to give students a say about how lessons could be made engaging and interesting. Pupils were not meant to have an input on the performance management of teachers, he added.

Unexpected consequences, anyone?

Some comments in the Guardian piece linked above make a half-valid point on this. That the panel can observe a candidate’s reaction to the age group they will be teaching. If that is what the panel want, put them into a classroom and observe them delivering a lesson.

The BBC has just announced that the NASUWT has voted to ballot for strike action over the matter. That will go down well…

All of that said, I really wonder why anyone wants to enter the profession. I am actively involved in adult education. I like teaching adults and, yes, I do seek feedback from my clients, but nothing would persuade me into a classroom full of children. Quite apart from the tacit allegation of paedophilia which one has to disprove via submission to a criminal records check, that I absolutely refuse to do, an allegation by a pupil is automatically believed and careers ruined along with the anguish and suffering that this caused while trying to clear one’s name. Fuck that.

The lunatics are indeed in charge of the asylum.