Monday 19 May 2014

Character and resilience by the bucketload

Yet another criticism of state school pupils, and by implication their teachers, from a think-tank,(Demos) following "its examination of skills and experience gained with a scout group"! In my 40+ years of teaching in state schools, I saw pupils from working class backgrounds displaying "character" and "resilience" by the bucketload every day, recovering from serious setbacks and diverse problems, and still determined to do their best. Why is it that the privately educated fail to accept this, and repeatedly insist that only in private schools can "character" be developed? Gove, of course, is the worst offender, and changed the assessment system because state schools` results improved so much. Privately-educated Tristram Hunt has shown frequently that he is one of Miliband`s worst appointments with his remarks about "character" being taught so much better in lavishly appointed and staffed private schools. It would be interesting to discover how many members of this think-tank, Demos, were privately educated? 

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