Teacher Talk
Nik Lawrence, 31, teaches French and IT at Wyvern Technology College in Fair Oak, Hampshire
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Your support makes all the difference.Are you sorry to see Estelle Morris go?
No, by her own admission she wasn't up to the job, like Kevin Keegan when he left the England manager's job. Her heart was in the right place, but she didn't have the courage of her convictions. She took it too personally when people panned her for things, some of which weren't her fault – the A-level crisis, for example.
Has the fiasco changed your views about the value of A-levels?
Not really. The crisis certainly brought to light a system that had been in place for years, but which outsiders hadn't understood. A-levels have been fixed in a back room for a long time. Exams are big business and the politicisation of schools – the introduction of league tables, for example – means that exams are politically sensitive, and the boards will know what results they are after from the beginning of the marking process. This means that when you go through past exam papers with pupils, you can't really say "if you do that, you'll get this mark".
What's your view of baccalaureate exams?
Being half-French I'm very pro! The broader base it gives students is much better – it's pretty poor that French students know more about English literature than English students. Also, is it good for to leave school with four A-levels yet not know the geography of the UK, how formal letters are written, or how the electoral system works?
What do you make of reports that homework clubs are failing to help those who most need them (ie struggling pupils don't turn up for them)?
Homework is easy if you are from a settled home, where you have support and the space to work. Otherwise, it's a big problem, and one that a club won't solve. If school work doesn't interest you or if your family doesn't value it, clubs are a non-starter. Marketing tools such as McDonald's tie-ins – with the kids getting a treat for turning up – could work, but they would be coming for the wrong reasons. Maybe it's better to focus on the education of these children during school hours. They may be destined for jobs that don't demand taking work home, so perhaps a focus on work outside school hours isn't ideal for them.
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