Cancelled Lessons.

[Qwerty133]

Caution: contains ranting
As some may know, I'm at sixth form college (a big one), doing As levels (Maths, Business Studies, Law, economics).
Teachers are often absent, with hardly any lessons covered when they are absent (only maths ever get covered). Economics has now been cancelled for over a week due to the teacher being in hospital, which clearly can't be helped (only know due to his Twitter feed which we must have alerts to, so he can set us homework at 3AM if he so chooses (and yes he has so chosen)), and in total for over 3 and a half weeks worth of lessons since September. Anyway last night one of the other economics teachers tweeted that my economics teachers lessons would be covered this week and that we had our mock today (another story having not covered half the content), however when we got to the lesson (09:50 requiring me to get the 08:05 bus), no teacher was there. About 5 minutes late, the same economics teacher who tweeted the lesson would be covered turned up clearly in a mood that his group were loosing out on 5 minutes and informed us that our lesson wouldn't be covered, however our lesson on Wednesday will be and the one on Thursday is 'hopefully' going to be covered (with the one on Friday already cancelled as college finishes early), and that there was 4 business/economics teachers off.
Anyway next block I was meant to have Law, and guess what, she was also off ill, informed by a notice on the door. Next lesson for me was then meant to be during block 6, which was my 'enrichment' a block a week of things which are mean to improve us as people (total BS), my particular choice of enrichment is taught by one of the other teachers in the business department, who was also unexpectedly off for unknown reasons. Leaving just block 7 (maths 15:00), which was actually on!
I also happen to know through her Twitter account (another one who insists we have a notifacation set up (that link to a high heel website was very useful :roll that,although my group arent meant to have her today my Business Studies teacher was also unexpectedly absent today (well there's a surprise... NOT).

Are all colleges like this?
Does anyone think this is acceptable considering if we are ever 2 minutes late we will find ourselves locked outside the classroom?
is there really no supply teachers in one of the UKs larger cities?

 

[Bayum]

Caution: contains ranting
As some may know, I'm at sixth form college (a big one), doing As levels (Maths, Business Studies, Law, economics).
Teachers are often absent, with hardly any lessons covered when they are absent (only maths ever get covered). Economics has now been cancelled for over a week due to the teacher being in hospital, which clearly can't be helped (only know due to his Twitter feed which we must have alerts to, so he can set us homework at 3AM if he so chooses (and yes he has so chosen)), and in total for over 3 and a half weeks worth of lessons since September. Anyway last night one of the other economics teachers tweeted that my economics teachers lessons would be covered this week and that we had our mock today (another story having not covered half the content), however when we got to the lesson (09:50 requiring me to get the 08:05 bus), no teacher was there. About 5 minutes late, the same economics teacher who tweeted the lesson would be covered turned up clearly in a mood that his group were loosing out on 5 minutes and informed us that our lesson wouldn't be covered, however our lesson on Wednesday will be and the one on Thursday is 'hopefully' going to be covered (with the one on Friday already cancelled as college finishes early), and that there was 4 business/economics teachers off.
Anyway next block I was meant to have Law, and guess what, she was also off ill, informed by a notice on the door. Next lesson for me was then meant to be during block 6, which was my 'enrichment' a block a week of things which are mean to improve us as people (total BS), my particular choice of enrichment is taught by one of the other teachers in the business department, who was also unexpectedly off for unknown reasons. Leaving just block 7 (maths 15:00), which was actually on!
I also happen to know through her Twitter account (another one who insists we have a notifacation set up (that link to a high heel website was very useful :roll that,although my group arent meant to have her today my Business Studies teacher was also unexpectedly absent today (well there's a surprise... NOT).

Are all colleges like this?
Does anyone think this is acceptable considering if we are ever 2 minutes late we will find ourselves locked outside the classroom?
is there really no supply teachers in one of the UKs larger cities?

Are there, not is there.

Unfortunately many institutions across the UK are feeling the strain as a result of successive governments galvanising the profession and making it such an unattractive job to be in. As a result there are less teachers graduating a year at the moment, and our school had four applicants for one post, when I applied I was one of twenty, which even then was down on numbers.

The government portray teaching as a worthy profession, however the changes, new curriculum and stresses due to further changes with secondary school syllabus changes mean that no-one is wanting to go into secondary teaching, let alone supply teaching. That number drops further when particular specialist subjects are sought after in supply jobs. So as it is, no. There may very well not be any supply teachers in a city as large as yours.

 

[Qwerty133]

Are there, not is there.

Unfortunately many institutions across the UK are feeling the strain as a result of successive governments galvanising the profession and making it such an unattractive job to be in. As a result there are less teachers graduating a year at the moment, and our school had four applicants for one post, when I applied I was one of twenty, which even then was down on numbers.

The government portray teaching as a worthy profession, however the changes, new curriculum and stresses due to further changes with secondary school syllabus changes mean that no-one is wanting to go into secondary teaching, let alone supply teaching. That number drops further when particular specialist subjects are sought after in supply jobs. So as it is, no. There may very well not be any supply teachers in a city as large as yours.

The supply thing was not overly serious as the college has a long standing policy of not using them (although there is a mostly retired maths teacher who'll sometimes be in), due to their low standard.

 

[Tetchytyke]

Supply teachers are expensive and many sixth form colleges won't use them for that reason. The senior management team would rather spend the money on something more important, like themselves. You can usually find supply teachers, although the more specialised the course the fewer supply staff are available.

Two years ago the ex-CEO of Newcastle College Jackie Fisher (salary: £200k/year) sacked over 60 staff by email due to "austerity". Bizarrely enough staff morale at the college, which was already low due to a management culture of workplace bullying, dropped through the floor.

 

[ralphchadkirk]

Welcome to further education. It's not ideal, but just because a teacher isn't there doesn't mean you can't learn.

 

[PaxVobiscum]

Are there, not is there.

Unfortunately many institutions across the UK are feeling the strain as a result of successive governments galvanising the profession and making it such an unattractive job to be in. As a result there are less teachers graduating a year at the moment..

Fewer teachers, not less teachers.

 

[Tetchytyke]

just because a teacher isn't there doesn't mean you can't learn.

Can you come and explain "independent learning" to my lot?

 

[muz379]

Welcome to further education. It's not ideal, but just because a teacher isn't there doesn't mean you can't learn.

If its anything like the sixth form college I went to , which it sounds funilly enough identical to . It will be an exam factory where you are only spoon fed to get past the exam not actually taught anything .Independant learning as a concept was new to me when I had completed my A levels and began my degree studies because I had never been expected to do it

 

[MidnightFlyer]

If its anything like the sixth form college I went to , which it sounds funilly enough identical to . It will be an exam factory where you are only spoon fed to get past the exam not actually taught anything .Independant learning as a concept was new to me when I had completed my A levels and began my degree studies because I had never been expected to do it

Indeed, the same happened at GCSE: all too often the focus was 'Right, the exam will ask this, so do x, y and z' Though I can still remember a lot of A-levels because I did do work outside of class, it wouldn't surprise me if most of my peers have long-forgotten what they were taught. Sad really. I much prefer the university set-up of you being given a task or an overview, then you have to fend for yourself.

 

[455driver]

If you are studying to As level I would hope that you could spell and punctuate better than your post indicates! :roll:

 

[Qwerty133]

If you are studying to As level I would hope that you could spell and punctuate better than your post indicates! :roll:

There's a reason I'm not doing English.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Another day, another cancelled lesson, at least this one was tweeted this morning before 7AM, so I wasn't wasting time at college all day. There's only so much independent learning to do, especially when most of the text books are at home (Business and Economics teachers don't use them), and the internet connection is intermittent, certainly not 5 hours worth on a Monday before my first lesson on a Monday, when I'd made sure everything was up to date at the weekend and I'd also had many frees on both Thursday and Friday.
(Sent from the bus home, as I have work to do when I get home, from my teachers twitter).

 

[CC 72100]

There's a reason I'm not doing English.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Another day, another cancelled lesson, at least this one was tweeted this morning before 7AM, so I wasn't wasting time at college all day. There's only so much independent learning to do, especially when most of the text books are at home (Business and Economics teachers don't use them), and the internet connection is intermittent, certainly not 5 hours worth on a Monday before my first lesson on a Monday, when I'd made sure everything was up to date at the weekend and I'd also had many frees on both Thursday and Friday.
(Sent from the bus home, as I have work to do when I get home, from my teachers twitter).

I'm impressed that you actually have some sort of warning in advance of cancellations. At my sixth form we found out when we turned up outside the classroom and applied the 10 minute rule. While my sixth form was only 6 miles away from where I live, the school bus was exactly that, and to get home using public transport would involve a bus into Gloucester (35 minutes) for a wait (not sure how long) and then 35 minutes on the bus back to my village. Wasted days were not that uncommon.

The situation is the same now - sixth form lessons are left uncovered, although lower school (years 7-11) are. As for the "get on and do independent learning" advice, to be honest it's a little difficult as you're not always sure what you're meant to be learning (for example, in languages we never actually had a physical copy of the textbook ourselves, relying on the photocopy that the teacher would distribute at the start of the lesson), and so I ended up doing 'independent revision' - shoring up my knowledge of stuff that may or may not (probably not) come up on the exam.

 

[Yew]

I wouldnt go into teaching, disruptive kids that dont care about the ineffective discipline techniques, and parents that care even less. Having to devote your spare time to marking coursework, mock exams and homework, whilst of course, not being paid a penny. And having to adhere to pointless, gimmicy rules that make no effect of learning (recently a teaching friend has been told to to put ticks and crosses, but to highlight with pink and green highlighters) And the Headmisteress principal, of the school Academy that I used to go to has just bought every pupil an iPad, obviously a better use of money than on more staff.

Oh, and the fact that your pay is significantly less than what you're university cohort will be earning...

 

[ThePannier]

At my school, hardly any lessons are ever cancelled. Years 7-11 are always covered, no matter what, and I think they''ll try their hardest not to abandon any Sixth Form lessons. It's more a case of a cover teacher not being able to offer some folk studying for their futures much at all is why the occasional one gets cancelled.

Our school has two cover duty supervisors, and when they aren't available either a supply is drafted in or a teacher from the relevant department is asked to cover if they are free (although not if it's a PPA!).

 

[Qwerty133]

As for the "get on and do independent learning" advice, to be honest it's a little difficult as you're not always sure what you're meant to be learning (for example, in languages we never actually had a physical copy of the textbook ourselves, relying on the photocopy that the teacher would distribute at the start of the lesson), and so I ended up doing 'independent revision' - shoring up my knowledge of stuff that may or may not (probably not) come up on the exam.

To be fair on the teachers they do sometimes set 'work' on the classroom door. Eg yesterday for Economics it was:'revise', for Law was 'read first 2 pages of handout which you can pickup in classroom' and today for business was 'detailed notes on buss 2 pricing strategies from (internal college website), which has a 40 slide power point on it and economics last week was 'research solutions to market failure'
However normally the work set takes about 20 minutes and not the hour of the cancelled lesson, let alone go towards the 4 hours per week of additional study per subject we are meant to do.

 

[Crossover]

In my time at school, lower school (years 7 to 11) wouldn't have lessons cancelled, partly as they had nowhere to go, so the supply teacher may have been a member of staff from another department who had a free period away from their normal classes.

More often than not, in Sixth Form (same school in my case), if the teacher was to be absent they would usually leave some work or instruction to do something, be it sometimes to just go to the Common Room. Certainly in Business Studies, sometimes one of the other departmental staff would cover, although they were a relatively tight-knit department and were mostly based in the same room (large with a few different areas within)

 

[455driver]

There's a reason I'm not doing English.

Tee hee hee!

 

[Searle]

I think Economics is a pretty bad subject for teachers: one of my teachers left for half a year due to stress, and to get a replacement in, our headteacher had to convince one of his mates to come out of retirement from it! He was such a lousy teacher, but it was best end to year 13 I could have asked for (and I still scraped an A ).

I wish I could help you out if you needed it, but I've forgotten most of my economic theory since I finished it. If you need any help with maths however...

 

[STEVIEBOY1]

When I was at school in the 1960s & 1970s, the teachers very rarely were late or missed a lesson. I think it only happened once or twice, owing to them going on strike for half a day and although that meant we had a morning or afternoon off, we were still given loads of homework to do during their strike period. Failure to do that, or indeed any, home work meant that one was given a long detention to do the missing homework and maybe any additional work or lines if the schoolmaster was so inclined. It must be very hard being a teacher now, compared to then. There was an interesting TV programme on this subject a few days ago on Channel Four.

 

[Harbon 1]

When our teachers didn't show up because they were getting all the GCSE student's work done so weren't in A-Level lessons we used to go and sit on the field in the belting hot sun (when it was sunny, I burned quite a lot last summer )

 

[Tom B]

Schools are doubtless in a difficult financial position and the assumption is that teachers will "rarely cover" other lessons - because some schools were using all teachers free time to cover lessons, leaving them with none. If a lesson is covered it is liable to be by a supply teacher or cover supervisor who is essentially babysitting some work set by the member of staff - 6th formers are supposed to be able to look after themselves so why employ somebody to sit with them? (I say this with the caveat that things may have changed in recent years - I have no idea if, for example, academies are subject to STPCD etc so some of the above may be different).

Of course where there are longer absences schools will try to find cover - but this can be difficult in a subject such as economics which is more 'niche' than, say, mathematics. Especially with A level courses, perhaps in a subject which has 4 or 5 syllabuses, even if a teacher is available and they are confident in his ability they may not be able to slot straight in or may not be experienced in the particular syllabus taught at that school. (A common tactic I saw used a few times is to redeploy existing staff onto A level and GCSE groups, the freed up classes lower down the school being picked up by a supply teacher who is more likely to be able to cover them to a high standard).

 

[DarloRich]

Bloody kids - cancelled lesson = pub/bookies/crafty fag in the toilets/fumble behind bike shed. What is wrong with the youth of today

(if you are that worried take text book to the library and read it yourself – it is called independent learning these days)

 

[GatwickDepress]

Bloody kids - cancelled lesson = pub/bookies/crafty fag in the toilets/fumble behind bike shed. What is wrong with the youth of today

(if you are that worried take text book to the library and read it yourself – it is called independent learning these days)

My old secondary has a pub directly across the road. It was a popular haunt at lunchtime for old buffers, stressed staff and mature-looking students! Nice place for a roast dinner too.

No comment about the bike sheds.