the trials of the student teacher.

So today I applied for a pass grade of the prac that I’m meant to be on because the offers of placement that I have recieved have included a baptist school in which you have to be a church member to attend which I am not, then I was offered a place in a lutheren school teaching religious studies which is not my area and something I know nothing about and then I was offered a place in a primary school when I studying to be a high school teacher. So based on the fact that none of the placements were sutiable under the university guidelines I can apply for a pass grade due to the fact that it is impossible for me to complete the prac unit and gain the points under normal circumstances due to circumstances outside of my control.

 So I sent the email to the academic council and I’m now just waiting for a reply to my request. I was offered a third option of delaying my prac untill the end of next month however in so doing I will in fact have to miss a weeks worth of classes in both my major and minor subects and so this option too is unrealistic.

Overall I would have to say that thus far the university has handled this situation very badly indeed and that I should have been awarded the pass grade by the department in the first place as I requested it several days ago when I was told not to panic just yet. Instead this has lead me to undergo offical submission of my case to the academic council a procedure which I was hoping to aviod and I have yet to be notified of any consessions that may be made in my case.

I believe that under the university guidelines that I have a strong case to request a pass grade from the academic council and that I will certinally be indicating to the school experience office my distrust in their abilities and my demand that I am the first person placed in my next placement round next semester.

I am also going to claim that I recieve a refund for the prac based on the fact that I have not been presented with any realistic and sutiable options at this stage and given that the prac now has just over 1 week to go there is now no use in trying to place me as there will be no suitable options available to me.

Of course I will keep you updated as things happen, I expect that at some stage tomorrow I will recieve an email or a phone call in regards to my application for a pass grade.

So its Monday morning and I’m still at home. In the ever increasing saga of shell I or shell I not be placed it would seem that no news yet would indicate the latter. Anyway I wrote to the head of department explaining that I expect to get a pass grade if I don’t get placed and that I am prepared to go anywhere within the country for a placement on the stipulation however that if it unrealistic for me to get to the school daily then I expect the university to pay for my transport and accomidation.

Of course she wrote back saying not to panic yet and that I am the last student to be placed and that they have never not placed a student. Of course she didn’t answer my question in relation to any consessions but realisticly I can not fullfill the requirements of the prac if I have less time on prac than everyone else.

So I guess its just a case of sit around and wait as I’m now officially on call. Still if they don’t answer my question then I won’t go on prac. I’ll be telling them that if they don’t give me any consessions then I’m not going, simple. after all how can I teach 16 hours in 2 days with classess that I have no idea what level they are, what age they are, and what it is they have been doing? Especially when they only have 6 hours a day in class, that means that I would be 4 hours short of the prac requirements and to top it off how can I possibly make 16 lesson plans in the 20 minutes I would have before the class starts?

Of course my HOD told me that its too early for what if’s, and well she may be right but I don’t think its too early for them to have a plan if it doesn’t happen. Basically its a case of, if I don’t get placed literly within the next 30 minutes from writing this, then I will be at a disadvantage with everyone else and consessions need to be made and they need to decide what those consessions are going to be.

Either way it really pisses me off when people don’t answer a simple question. I will keep things updated as they happen as always…

Well I got the call from the head of department at 3pm today and I have no placement. She said that they are still going to try and get me a placement on Monday but if they haven’t got one yet I don’t think its going to happen and I’m certinally not the only one in the boat. So I guess I get the next 2 weeks off to study for my exams bacuse if I don’t get placed by Wednesday then there’s no point in trying to place me after that given that I won’t be able to fillfull the requirements of the prac in 7 days.

I knew it was going to go down like this. If I don’t hear anything back by Wednesday then I’ll send an email to the head of department requesting that I recieve an automatic pass grade for the prac and a refund of the money that I’ve paid for the prac. I’ll also ask for a gurantee placement for next semester otherwise I will need a full refund of everything that I’ve paid so I can transfer to another Uiversity to complete my diploma.

I could make another surgesstion that I’m happy to be placed anywhere within the state as long as the university is prepaird to pay for my travel and accomodation expenses. Although I’m sure that they wouldn’t do that. So untill next time…..

Well its now almost 10:30am on Friday May 9 and next Monday we are meant to go out on our prac yet I still have no placement. Its looking very much like I wont get one at this late stage and honestly I don’t really want one now. All I want is an automatic pass and a refund for the fees that I’ve paid for the course.

In the handbook that we got it says that we have to do the prac as part of the course and that we can’t get the diploma if we don’t do it. Well I’m not hanging around for another 6 months to get my diploma because they couldn’t find me a place. Its not my fault that they won’t let us orginize our own pracs. They also want us to call the mentor teachers that we are placed with and go and see them before the prac starts. Well thats not going to happen at this stage. When I spoke to the placement person yesterday she said they were looking to put me on the other side of the city from where I live and frankly I don’t think that thats fair considering that everyone else doesn’t have to travel as far and given the price of gas at the moment its going to cost me about $300 in gas alone if they place me on the other side of the city. Not only that, but it will take me almost 2 hours each way to get there which is highly unrealistic so if they do find me a place on the other side of the city I’ll be saying to them that I’ll go if they are going to compensate me for the cost of gas. If not then forget it.

I’m going to wait untill about 4pm this afternoon and if I haven’t heard anything by then then I’ll call them to find out whats going to happen. If they say that they will place me next week and that I will have to do 2 weeks then I’ll be saying no because after the 2 weeks is up I’ll be going straight into exams with no study time and everyone else gets the study time so therefore I will be placed at a disadvantage unless they are going to give me a higher grade because I was not given the equal amount of time to study for the exams.

Either way like I said I dont think its going to happen at this stage and I have things to do this afternoon. I have to go into the city for an appointment so if they do call me and tell me to go to the school to meet the teacher I’ll be telling them that I can’t. And knowing the problems that other universitys have been having throughout the city it doesn’t look like I’ll get a place this time.

Personally I think its stupid that they don’t orginise all the placements at the begining of the year. Why do they wait unill a week before the placement starts to start finding places? It’s dumb all round really.

Well I will keep you all updated with the progress as it happens.

Well controversy creates cash so I’m told although I’m not sure about the latest situation to hit the stands of the student teacher relm. So there’s been a lot of industrial action lately on the part of teachers, then again when is there not industrial action on the part of teachers? Anyways this latest bout has in turn fucked things up for the student teachers at my university. As explained in the last post were meant to go out on prac next week for two weeks although the problem is because the teachers are fighting the government for more pay or whatever other bullshit they can think of schools and teachers are not putting their hands up to take on student teachers as a result a number of student teachers across the city, including myself have not been placed.

At the moment my university has untill this Friday to place a number of students in schools and frankly given the stories that I’ve heard from lecturer’s within the university education department I don’t think its going to happen. Personally I think its a fucking stupid system anyway. So for this prac we are meant to be placed into our minor subject however my minor is not part of the state curriculum and as a result its vertually impossible to place me because there is no independant subject.

Another big problem is the fact that the placement office has only one person working on this issue and that’s rediculus when you have to place 100 students and given that the schools have just returned from holidays its not looking lickly that I’ll get a place. A friend of mine is in a similar situation in the fact that he hasent been placed either although his minor is different to mine. I heard today from a lecturer that at another university in the city that less than half of there students got placements because of the bullshit that the teachers are claiming.

Personally I don’t realy care if I get placed or not at this stage and in some ways I hope I don’t get placed, the only problem I have is what will happen if I don’t get placed? As part of my course mark is a report from the mentor teacher and the university supervisor. If we don’t get placed then does that mean that we automatically get a pass grade for the prac? Not to mention the money involved. If I don’t get a suitable placement then I expect to get a refund given that I payed for the placement as part of my fees and because I payed out of my own pocket given that I’m not a citizen then I expect that I will get a cheque from the university instead of having it taken out of future courses that I have to do. There’s also the question of training, I have paid to be trained as a teacher and if I don’t recieve that training then will I be able to complete my diploma? And what compensation is the university going to give to me? I’m sure not going to hang around for an extra 6 months waiting for a placement in order to get my diploma if they can’t place me.

The problem with the system is that they say that every university has its own schools that it opperates within and that we can’t go to just any school. The other problem is that the university won’t let us find a placement ourselves. They say that its against university policy which I think is bullshit. So we only have a limited number of schools that we can go to and we can’t find the placements ourselves.

So the drama continues with the fact that the teachers in the limited number of schools available are refusing to take anybody on because the teachers union is telling them not to. Personally I think the union should be disbanded and expeled from the teaching profession I also think that the schools should grow some balls and do what it can for the students in the school and part of that means creating better teachers which is not going happen if your not going to allow teacher training. The union is trying to hold the government to ransom and in reality the union is my biggist fear when I get out there next year after getting my diploma because the problem is, is that the industry is such that if you don’t join the union and do what they say you are segragated from the rest of the teaching community and hung out to dry. Although I don’t believe in anything the union is doing and I think that the union is just trying to make themselves more important than every other profession when the union needs to wake up and smell the coffee and realise that teaching is not about how much money can I screw out of the government or how can I hold the government to ransom by not allowing student teachers to complete their training and thus incressing the teacher shortage crises even more, but that teaching is about excatly that, teaching and the students in the classrooms waiting to be taught.

The union doesn’t deserve to get any more money in my opinion as most teachers haven’t got a clue what they are doing in the classroom and those that do know are to old and stubbon to change what they’ve been doing since Jesus played football for Nazareth. The fact is simple if teachers want more money then thay need to earn it through self development. Most teachers and I would hazard to guess the actual number but I’m pretty sure in saying somewhere around the 85% mark have no clue as to what their doing when it comes to using computers. Given that being able to use computers is such a crucial part of learning in todays world it is imperitive that teachers learn. Most teachers though will say that why should I have to learn how to use computers efficiantly for the classroom unless I get paid training to do so? I say your a fucking teacher its your job to learn these things, teaching is a professional profession and as such it is the teachers responsibility to be on the forefront of technology. Thats all is there is to it.

We hold doctors and lawyers to a professional standard and if you don’t think your doctor is correct in their diagnoses you go to a different doctor and in some cases you file a complaint about your first doctor and they are responsible to a professional code of ethics. Teachers on the other hand don’t have a professional code of ethics which is stupid beyond belief. I heard the other day on TV that there’s a new push to put camera’s in the classroom as a means of monitoring the classroom environment and teacher / student interaction. The initial backlash from this suggestion of course is that teachers are up in arms about it and saying that its not fair to them and that they could be misinterprited. Well I’m sorry to say that I think there should be cameras in every single classroom across the country for the safety of everyone. You may disagree but think about it, police have a lot of power and if a police interview is done without video these days its not admisible in court. The reason that cameras were put into police stations was to protect the person being interviewed against coersion and brutality. It was also done to protect the police personal who have claims of brutality against them. Ask your self this question, if the police took you down to the station and fulsly accused you of rape and murder wouldn’t you, knowing your innocence want the interview to be on film? Why then would you want to leave the safety of your children in the hands of someone who has complete freedom within the classroom? Not only that though but as a male teacher it only takes one girl to claim that some kind of sexual harrasment has occured and my carrer is over even if my innocence is proven in a court. Fuck yes bring in the cameras as soon as possible then we can realy see who’s teaching and whos just there for the money and doesn’t give a fuck about the students.

Well untill next time remember, Batman did it!

So I’m a student teacher. Yep thats the one, well were supposed to be all reflective about what we do etc… so I thought a blog might be the way to go. Problem is I get board with this sort of thing pretty quickly so I may just delete the whole thing in a few days or so, or I may carry on. Unlike some people who write blogs I actually have a life so I certinally won’t be doing this everyday or anything like that and in the normal scheme of things I’m too busy to upkeep something like this on an everyday level.

Anyways so I guess I should write some background information. Well I’m a student teacher. Let me guess I already said that? Yes I did but what you don’t know is where. Lets say Australia for arguments sake and leave it at that. Anyway so I’m doing what they call a graduate diploma in education, basically that means that you must have a degree already from a recognized university in a subject area that is relevent to education and the course itself runs for 1 year full time. I’m almost at the end of the first semester and next week we go out on prac which means that we’ll be in a school and teaching students for 2 weeks.

Of course there are different levels of teaching, namely primary and secondary. I’m doing secondary and the reason why is because it’s less bullshit at the end of the day. That is you don’t have to baby the students all the time and at the end of the day it’s more usefull if you want to teach adult education later on which is certinally one option I’m looking at.

So about the courses then. Well each University does things slightly differently although the core components are pretty much the same I think across the whole country. There are things that have to be covered in accordence with state law etc and so the Universities have to take those things into consideration when making their courses.

However over all the universities are pretty much free to do what they like and as a student you get to choose the university that best suits your needs in terms of course availability, subjects offered etc…

Problems with teacher education:

Well heres a topic that could go on forever and ever and we would never get to the end of it. Overall I think that the teacher education that I have recieved thus far is fairly good, however there are some obvious things that I would change. I think there is too much theory based topics in teacher ed. Not saying that you don’t need to be aware of or now the theories of education that have ultimatly lead to the way in which teaching is done in schools and the ideas behind it, but the theory side of things in the teacher ed is over rated I think. In the first 2 years of practice up to 70% of new teachers leave the teaching profession. I think that a big reason for such a huge change for new teachers is because at uni there is too much concerntration on the theory side of things and little to no information concerning the praticle side of teaching such as assessment, classroom management, the politics of the staff room, the structure of teachers, the education policy and all it’s implications etc….

An example of this is the fact that in Australia there is what is called a curriculum framework. Each state has one and in the curriculum framework it is outlined the objectives (from the governments point of view) for each of the individual subjects. So for example there will be a section on science, maths, english etc…

Anyways in my mind this is something that should have been given to us on day one, the cost of which included in the price of the course. Instead of that we have only been shown glimpses of it throughout the course and told that if we want a copy we have to hunt it down ourselves. Not to mention that fact that in the real world the curriculum framework hardly gets used by teachers anyway.

Another bug issue is the lack of physical practice of the skills that we are meant to be using out in the real world. Most of the day is spent inside a classroom listining to a lecture or doing some kind of small group activity that bears no real relivence to the concept of actuall teaching.

well thats a start anyways, so I’m off on prac next week although I haven’t been assigned a place yet and I doubt if I will be assigned a place before then. I shell make comments then about what happens, of course using the proffessional ethics in considering what I do and do not say, given that if I don’t and it was found out that I published the martireal here, I may lose my teaching liscense before I even get it.

So untill next time remember that the deadman lives and that batman did it.

The Moonster.