A former independent school teacher writing under the pseudonym Timothy Hine has written in the Daily Telegraph of his disagreeable six months teaching in a comprehensive.
It came as something of a shock to him to discover that state schools are not at liberty to choose which pupils to teach: so they do get, amazingly, quite a few children who are - shock! horror! - quite tricky to teach! Who even require discipline! Who do not have ambitious parents hovering in the background!
For the first time in his life this man had to put some effort into his teaching. Naturally, he bombed and naturally he blamed the state system for his failure, and not his own teaching; naturally it did not occur to him how absurd is the national sychophancy towards schools that decide every year which pupils they feel like teaching...then smugly scoop the top rewards in the league tables.
About Me
- Sarah Johnson
- Sarah Johnson is a journalist, a mother of four children and also a birth doula. She has written regularly for the Catholic Herald, the London Evening Standard, The Times, The Daily Telegraph, the Sunday Telegraph and other publications. She was educated at Oxford University before becoming a journalist. From specialist news reporting on education she moved to children's book reviewing. She is the author of The Christian Parent's Toolkit (2008), Daring to be Different (2004) and Parents on Parenting (1994). Now with four growing young people in the house she is focussing on her lifetime dream of helping women have birthing experiences they can remember with joy and pride and helping new parents and babies enjoy their first days (and nights) together.