The Business of Education...

I got speaking to Pete today about a recent Radio 4 broadcast – ‘The Education Business’ (http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01rgmbh) It sounded interesting so I had a listen to the broadcast and have summarised below…

The broadcast was focussed on education as a business – looking at all levels of education. I was most interested in James Tooley – the Chairman of Omega Schools in Ghana. http://www.omega-schools.com/

Omega Schools provide low-cost private education in Ghana and are making the move into Sierra Leone. The general idea of the schools is to provide low cost private schooling to those in the slums in Ghana. Most private schools charge termly which can mean that parents must save a large amount of money before being able to send their child to school. Omega Schools charges by the day (roughly 30-40p).

The reason behind the ‘pay-daily’ set-up is due to the nature of the parents’ pay – most work as farmers, fishermen, market traders etc. and so their wages are daily. Thus, daily payment for school suits the way that these families receive their money.

Government schools in the area are poor and so many choose private school or no school at all. The daily cost for Omega Schools includes a hot meal, uniform and books, which are generally charged as extras in other private schools.

The business works on a low margin, high volume basis and they are currently putting all profits back into developing more schools. They are providing opportunities to families that were not there before – however is it right that they profit from this? Should education be a business?

It is an interesting situation and one that has really got me thinking. Let me know what you think!

What A Year!

I’ve been thinking recently about getting back into blogging. I’ve found this year (my third year, out of four) to be the busiest yet and blogging sort of fell to the side line. Apart from my dissertation blog, the last time I wrote properly was back in September and so I thought a summary of my year would be a good place to start.

Back in September, I was invited to the Vice Chancellors Awards on the Hoe to celebrate Pete, Steve and Oliver getting an award that I had nominated them for. I had a great night and it made me think about how much I would love the Plymouth Education Society to receive an award this year – let’s hope we have done enough to get a nomination!

Just after the awards, I also attended my boyfriend’s graduation, again on the Hoe. He was graduating from his PGCE and so I got a little look into the position I will be in two years from now – scary and exciting! It was something that really made me realise that it isn’t a huge amount of time before I graduate and am hopefully in a full-time teaching position. These past three years have gone so quickly, but I am also so ready to get into teaching.

The academic year began and I was busy instantly with the Education Society. We managed to recruit about 150 more members than the year before which is fantastic. Over the year we have been able to offer lots of courses and opportunities to the members who are mostly from education courses. I’ve taken on a smaller role for next year as I’ll be on placement for so long, but I am really looking forward to getting stuck in again and creating and taking part in the opportunities we can offer. I’m particularly looking forward to doing the Makaton and First Aid courses to add to my CV and gain some more experience that will be valuable in my career.

In October I had my placement for the year. My previous placement was amazing and I had a great time, met some amazing people and learnt a lot, so I was hoping for the same from this placement. Sadly, I didn’t enjoy my placement half as much as the previous one, however I tried to make the most of the opportunities that arose. I am definitely looking forward to my next placement and find it difficult that we will have had over a year in between!

A HUGE part of this year has been taken up by my dissertation. It took a lot of time and effort but I am hoping to get a good grade for it… I’ll find out in a few days!

I’ve just been invited to go on a couple of school trips with a school that I was on placement with over Easter of last year. I was lucky enough to get to go to London and Escot with that school, and this year they have asked me to go to Escot again, and also to the Isle of Wight for a week. I am really looking forward to these – partly because I know how much fun they are, and partly for the great opportunities to develop my experience for the future.

I’m now currently working full-time at the University and am doing that for a couple of months. Today I got to meet a potential student for next year’s course and spoke to him about the course and about blogging. It really inspired me to get back into the blog writing and so hopefully I’ll get a few more blogs up soon!

Why Do I Want To Teach?

I was lucky enough to be invited along to a Plymouth primary school to join in on an introduction to the new Digital Literacy course for the new starters. Bob Harrison gave a great interactive talk, with a lot of questions for us, getting us thinking – hard to do that when you have had the Summer off!

At midday, we were given hints and tips for interviews by both Bob and the head teacher of the school – I was particularly interested after Pete reminded me that I will be applying for teaching positions in just over a year!

Both Bob and the head teacher said that a question that will always be asked is “why do you want to be a teacher”? As we went around the room, almost all the answers were the same –

“I want to inspire children”.                            “I enjoy working with children”.

This made me think – I’m not sure I have ever really thought, “why do I want to be a teacher”? I just know that I have always wanted this.

I remember wanting to be a teacher at school, mostly because of a few stand-out teachers and so I did my work experience aged 15 in a primary school. Having ‘achieved’ a D in my Science GCSE, I wasn’t able to do a teaching degree and by 16 I had enough of education. I attempted AS Levels and struggled and so entered the world of work, working in offices and later as a Legal Secretary, along with a couple of trips to Asia and Eastern Europe.

Throughout this time, I knew I still wanted to teach, and so I took an Access to Higher Education course (a life-changer for a ‘mature’ student!) and the University of Plymouth was kind enough to let me take a Science equivalency test which meant I finally had a good enough Science GCSE to take the course!

However, I have gotten to Year Three, without really having an answer to why I want to teach. When you decide as a child that you want to be a teacher when you’re older, you don’t think along the lines of being inspiring or changing children’s lives.

When I think now about what excites me about being a teacher, having had experiences in placements, the thing that does stand out is seeing a child go from struggling and not understanding something, to that moment when they ‘get it’ and you know that you have got them to that point.

Another main reason for me, is that having been through a period between the ages of 16-21 when learning did not appeal to me at all, I suddenly reached a stage where I found learning fun and enjoyable. The beauty of teaching is that not only are you educating the children, but you are constantly being educated yourself. Teaching is always changing and developing, even more so in my specialism of ICT, and so I feel honoured to be going in to a career where I every day I get to teach, but also I get to learn myself.

When I do get thinking about it, of course there are many reasons why I am going in to teaching:

-   - The job satisfaction of knowing that you have done something good that day.

-   - To be able to spend my day working with children – having worked in offices for            5 years, I know that working with children is way more appealing for me!

-   - To know that when a child leaves my class, I have changed their life, even if only slightly.

-   - To help children to enjoy primary school, as I did, and to hopefully be a teacher that they can look back on fondly, as I do with a few of mine.

-   - To be a good role model to the children.

-   - On a purely selfish note and looking to the future – teaching is a great career to get in to as a woman in terms of having a family – although this is just a bonus, rather than a reason.

-   - To use my head – I spent way too long working in jobs where I would turn up, do as I was told and leave – I am looking forward to being able to take charge of my class, giving them interesting and exciting lessons and being creative in my teaching.

    The list goes on…!

So, just out of curiosity, why did you go in to teaching? Was it a lifetime ambition or a decision made later on?

Amy :)