Hi
Any Primary School Teachers kicking about, i’ve got an assessment day to get onto a PGCE next week, one of the tasks is to write a 300 word piece of work regarding a contemporary issue within Primary School Teaching.

Could someone point me in the direction of what they could be, i’ve got ideas from the TES, BBC and Gov.com sites etc, but wouldn’t mind a bit of a “steer?”

Cheers
Nick

Here’s one that causes grief. Infant schools very often push kids to juniors with inflated test scores. This means that the juniors have to move those kids on 2 level in their 4 years. Fine if the infant levels are accurate, but a very serious problem if they are not as the junior is still expected to move those kids on and you can’t polish a turd.
I do some supply teaching at one school that’s very inner city. 60%+ free school dinners and about the same EAL and more than half knownto the pastoral team for home concerns. That sort of area does not produce 75% of the years two having a level 3 yet that is what the junior I go to is facing. that means all those year 6 kids have to earn level 5 next week when there is just not way.
Loads more details but it is a huge issue for junior schools that is usually not acknowledged by the inspectorate.

As above, assessment seems to be a big thing now.

Kids expected to make 2 levels of progress in each key stage.

Lot of pressure on teachers to deliver and senior managers to monitor.

I’d add moderation within and across schools as an issue too.

cheers

Here’s one that causes grief. Infant schools very often push kids to juniors with inflated test scores. This means that the juniors have to move those kids on 2 level in their 4 years. Fine if the infant levels are accurate, but a very serious problem if they are not as the junior is still expected to move those kids on and you can’t polish a turd.

Funny that. All the secondary teachers I know say the exact same thing about junior schools.

mattsccm

you can’t polish a turd

but you can roll it in glitter…

Infant schools very often push kids to juniors with inflated test scores. This means that the juniors have to move those kids on 2 level in their 4 years

Assessment/CVA (Curriculum Value Added) is big at the moment as already said…

I don’t think it is so much “inflated test scores” rather the way that assessment is done is different. e.g. Y2 children will be given several short passages to read with questions after each one. Y3 children have to read a whole text and then answer questions at the end; but both could be a 2a.

Or slightly more interesting alternatives include:

LoTC – Learning outside the Classroom
Forest Schools
AfL vs Summative Assessment
Reliance on Phonics and issues around inhibiting progress of high attaining readers
Boys and Writing
Reggio Emilia – Child Centered Learning
The new ‘Gove’ National Curriculum

Hope this helps

I know bugger all about teaching, but read an article last week about how so many children are still not toilet trained when they start primary school

Might be worth a bit of researching

Learning beyond the classroom and forest schools is massive at the minute.

New curriculum in September.

With those two you really can’t go wrong.

Thanks again