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Mags Meanderings: From
Som Tam To Mushy Peas
cultural differences
When Tony Blair became the UK Prime Minister in 1997
he came up with the mantra ‘Education, Education,
Education.’ Which to be honest sounded a bit silly at
first. After all, few would argue that education isn’t
important, so what point was he trying to make that
would be different to previous governments?
But in fact education was top of Blairs’ agenda, and
it probably needed to be at that time. The 10 years of
increased investment which followed - tens of thousands
more teachers and support staff, improved school
facilities, introducing ‘social care’ in schools, which
included things like breakfast clubs, our schools had
still only been dragged into line with other industrialised
nations in terms of education spending.
It is true that exam pass rates had improved, but inner
city school pupils still lagged behind those educated in
the suburbs. Perhaps even more telling is that part of
the ‘social care’ introduced to schools included mentors
and behaviour advisors, together with a ‘zero tolerance’
attitude towards bad behaviour.
Those behaviour advisors are still around, and under
the last 5 years of a different government even more
measures have been either introduced or proposed
to help curb the aggressive and violent behaviour of
some pupils, including advice to teachers on mental
health issues in pupils. Yet only last week an Aberdeen
schoolboy stabbed another pupil to death, while last
year in another knife attack a Leeds schoolboy killed
a teacher.
Clearly the behaviour of some pupils hasn’t improved at
all, and is more likely getting worse.
A group of academics at one London university have
been studying the problem, and have concluded that it
is very rare for schools to encourage good behaviour as
a virtue in its own right. Instead pupils are told that by
behaving themselves they will allow teachers to do their
job - teach. Which in turn means that the children can
learn and progress.
The downside of this approach, say the academics, is
that success doesn’t depend entirely on good behaviour.
That many perfectly behaved pupils still won’t achieve
academically, and you can’t argue with that. But
what about those pupils who have no desire to study
or pass exams, so cause disruption deliberately to
prevent teachers doing their job? And is there any link
between that theory and the fact that, during the last
5 years, white working class boys have replaced their
Bangladeshi and Pakistani peers at the very bottom of
Britains educational ladder?
Then, as these thoughts were still chasing each other
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