The emphasis these days (here at least) is on 'classroom management'. Knowledge
of and passion for one's subject is almost a handicap - it gets i the way of
the administration giving you classes that might be only vaguely in your area
of competence, sort of, perhaps. When objecting, I was once admonished by a
principal with the fatuous comment - implied threat - that 'we're teachers of
children, not subjects'. I think I replied that I could then expect to get a
senior maths class the next year? That didn't bounce very high as a response.
I had the joy of sitting in a staffroom the other day and having a genuinely
intellectual conversation with three other teachers - on the possibility of
introducing Philosophy as an integrated study at middle level (14-16yo). A very
passionate group. I commented that it was the first time I'd had such a high
level conversation in a staff room for ten years and wasn't it brilliant?.
Others at the table actually looked nervous because topics like religion were
broached. (One was, two weren't - I was pointing out that it's no problem if
'goodwill' is maintained).
What cowards we have become
Andrew Fildes
afildes@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
www.soultheft.com
Author/Publisher: The SLR Compendium - http://www.blurb.com/books/3732813
On 02/07/2013, at 1:03 AM, Ken Norton wrote:
> We know there are a number of teachers with inadequate
> knowledge of the subject being taught.
--
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