House prices falling affecting some teacher friends...

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2016/jul/14/northern-england-house-prices-negative-equity-moodys-bank-of-england

As this article hints at, a drop in house prices seems to be taking affect. I also found out from two of my teacher friends who are moving cities to start new teaching jobs are feeling the reality of it. They are having to consider dropping their asking prices to get a bite. The truth is the market has been overpriced for too long and it will benefit the majority of people to see a reduction. It may be difficult for people who have to move right away but unless you are in danger of negative equity which frankly very few Londoners are, considering the massive deposits they would have put down, this is a useful reduction. We need to stop seeing property as investment and get back to what it is really about: a home to live in. It's a shame we had to use Brexit to do it.

Ten reasons to avoid UKIP

Thanks to The Guardian for reminding us why we shouldn't vote for racism:

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/apr/29/10-good-reasons-not-vote-ukip-nigel-farage-europe

You are in control

'Can you teach tomorrow morning instead of the afternoon?'

'I'm afraid I can't.'

'What about the next morning?'

'I'm afraid I'm all booked up.'

'Oh, really? But the exams aren't far away.'

One of the most common problems for tutors is the constant rearranging of lessons because Jemima has a dentist appointment that the parents forgot to mention or you turn up to did that little Jimmy got a detention and can't be home in time. The parents seem affronted when you tell them that we will be charged because twenty-four hours notice is not enough time for the tutor to fill in with a replacement lesson. The wealthier the parent often the more entitled they feel they are to not pay for a missed lesson.

The answer is to be very clear at the start about the terms and conditions when taking on a new client. I used to send an email with a list of conditions in which I stated that any cancellation within 48 hours of the lesson, including for illness, would result in a full charge being made. It's amazing how ill a child can be! As a freelancer, I have been subject to three parents changing times in a single week. Each one assumes that you are only teaching their child. The result is that if you aren't clear on what the terms and conditions are you will find the parents saying that they were unaware of the extra charges. You will also constantly be reorganizing your week. The whole point in being freelance is to dictate your time and working hours. Don't let the parents get the upper hand. Yes, you are providing a service but don't let yourself be treated like a servant. The kids need you. 

Most of my work ended up coming through word of mouth. It is even more vital in these cases to be clear about your terms. It is very easy for professional relationships to bleed into something more casually arranged but this is dangerous because as soon as there is a problem you don't have the means to support your case. 

Don't forget it's a business. 

Six-year-told who has new chess set

So a boy gets a new chess set. Shall he learn from his mum or dad or a guardian? No he needs a tutor at 50 pounds an hour to teach him the strategies of avoiding family interaction. I suppose his parents might not play chess but then why not send him to a club with other kids his age ? 

School trips are for teachers not the kids

The idea that a class of students needs to visit NYC for an economics trip at 1200 pounds is a bit much when really the products of our global economy are all too apparent to see in our city or in any city really. The student in this article

 http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/apr/14/school-trips-new-york-educational-arms-race-parents

would have done just as well to have visited the M&M store in Leicester Square if he wanted to see how an essentially useless economy can be generated around a chocolate with a crispy shell. How does visiting Wall Street really help the student understand how the world works? Perhaps it would have been better to have arranged a trip to the factories in China, Malaysia and India that produce most of our high street clothes. Or perhaps a school trip to an oil field in the South Sudan where oil companies and lawyers squabble over a war torn country to make as much money for us as possible. Or even just a visit to their local Starbucks. This would offer a better education on how the economy works, but I somehow feel the teachers might not have gone for any of those.

The truth is that most school trips remain a jolly for the teachers. Yes, they have to keep an eye out for the safety of their kids but, generally, very little education takes place on these excursions. Perhaps for some students there is something to be learned in being away from home, but at a cost of over a thousand pounds, it is hardly fair to the poorest families.

If state schools and academies intend to ape private schools there will be a lot more of these added extras and some parents simply can't afford to pay it. They should not be made to feel guilty. When I was a kid we had a three day trip to the local coast and explored the history, geography and local economy. I think the total cost was 65 pounds. Even that cost can be prohibitive for some, but at least the school had funds to help.

When education is tied up so closely with business funding, the smell of money is never far away. An academy in Bethnal Green has the mantra: 'we're climbing the mountain to university together'. Perhaps we need to stop everyone focusing on the mountain and look at the rest of the horizon. After all, not everyone wants to climb Everest.

I want to be a psychotic killer when I grow up.

My student begins this conversation. 

'I want to be a dictator. Or a spy. What was the name of that guy? Burgess?'

'Guy.'

'Yes, what was that guy's name?'
 
'It was Guy. He's called Guy Burgess.' 

'Yeah, that's pretty cool. Being a spy would be ok. I would like that.'

'Why?'

'The power and that. The girls too.'

'You know I am not sure Guy was that interested in girls.'

'How do you mean?'

'I think he preferred men.'

'No.'

'Yes, I think so.'

'That's fine. I don't have a problem with that.'

'In fact it was quite common that spies were gay. Even in the time of Elizabeth I. Although gay might be an anachronistic term. Male friends with early modern benefits might be more appropriate. 

'What?'

'Nothing.'

'Why were spies gays?'

'You mean why did some people who were gay become spies?'

'Yeah.'

'Perhaps it was a way to feel loyal but remain on the outside. Or perhaps they just liked to travel.'

'Burgess was a traitor though.'

'He was.'

'The thing is not to get caught.'

'Yeah. That is one of the drawbacks of the job although some gay men might go in for that scene in the new Casino Royale with the chair.'

'What?'

'Plus you wouldn't be able to tell anyone you were a spy.'

'Perhaps not then. A dictator is easier.'

'Whatever you say.'

'Call me sir.'

'I don't do role play.'

'You are my servant.'

'No, I'm your teacher.'

'My mum pays you.'

'Ok. I work for your mum.' 

'I could have you killed.'

What we don't say.  

'Or we could just do this source paper so you can grow up and become an investment banker like your daddy.'

'What is wrong with my dad's job?'

'He is fat and bald and he does bad things with money. He probably has a mistress too.'

'Don't talk about my dad that way.'

'Go f**k your dad.'

'Daddy pays your rent.'

'Damn. You win that one. But you are losing the game of free choice. You're really good at drawing and photography and your parents are making you drop art.'

'So.'

'Feels like you are giving in to their desires rather than thinking about what you actually want to do with your life.'

'No.'

'You won't be a spy. You'll be an investment banker and, you'll be just the same as your daddy.'

'My dad will fire you.'

'Too late, I'm quitting. This is my last lesson because I feel degraded.'

'Degraded?'

'You aren't worth my time.'

'Whatever.'

'But really you aren't.' 

'Stop it.'

'No. Let's not pretend anymore.'

'What?'

'I hate this time with you. I hate your attitude and I hate mine too. Let's end this now.'

We sit and stare at the work and understand that we have nothing to give one another. An abyss opens up and we wonder who is going to jump first. 

Confidence building takes time

I have just signed up to help the admissions department of my old college at Oxford to speak at state schools on the hope of encouraging more applicants. 

As things stand there are fewer date school kids attending than when I was a pupil. The sad truth is that many working class kids do not feel as though they have a right to attend such universities. With plays such as Posh portraying the grubby side of the Bullingdon Club members, some of whom now run our country, it is not hard to see why. Aside from the huge academic pressures and expectations, there is the social division to navigate. Even at Balliol, a reasonably left and liberal college, there was a divide between many of the privately educated kids and the state school kids. 

Part of the problem is giving the state school applicants a better sense of their own entitlement and worth. This can't simply be achieved by a single visit but needs to be about developing an ongoing relationship. I know that private schools spend months prepping their Oxbridge candidates, and they exude a confidence that is infectious. We are naturally drawn to those who present themselves as powerful and ready to meet the world; we turn away from the shy and awkward. I would love their to be a more comprehensive relationship between universities and the state schools and colleges who have perhaps only a couple of students applying but that they had an alumni working with then. In many cases the teachers at their school aren't equipped to sufficiently prep them. Conversely, Westminster and top private schools have extremely coherent preps and teachers who know exactly what Oxbridge tutors are looking for. If we can't scrap private education, we should put a quota on how many students can apply to certain universities. 

http://www.theguardian.com/education/mortarboard/2014/mar/25/working-class-students-russell-group-universities-unwelcome

Tuition fees

So according to this article Labour may reduce tuition costs to 6000 pounds. There will still be lots of debt and, while, many may never have to repay, the incentive for those to go to university from working class backgrounds will still be lower than when grants were provided. We are burdening the young unduly with too much debt and not making those who have benefited from a free system twenty years ago get off cheaply whilst making huge sums of money from their property. It is time to share the wealth more equally.


http://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/mar/30/labour-cut-student-tuition-fees-6000-a-year

The racism still inbuilt to our educator role models

So there are currently two stories making the rounds. The first was that St Edmunds College at Cambrige was planning a Gone With the Wind ball and the second, equally disturbing, that teacher training courses have accepted far less African and black Caribbean students to train on their courses. Not only are their lower number of applicants but their success rate is lower.

For all the education reforms that are being pushed through at the moment, Michael Gove has not really tackled the issue of who is doing the teaching. Of course, part of the problem is encouraging more applications from African and Caribbean individuals but then to accept, in some cases, ten per cent while accepting a quarter of white applicants does not send out the right message. 

Teachers are powerful role models for students. Other than parents or guardians they are the key example of a working adult. We really should see a greater diversity of teachers. I recently visited a special needs primary school and was overwhelmed that all the teachers were female. Encouraging a greater variety of applications should be a key aim in broadening the experiences of our children. It is more important than questions of exam performance. This kind of inbuilt prejudice in selection does nothing to help such diversity. 

March 17th

I quit one of my big teaching jobs today and it felt like most productive thing I have done in a long while. When I was working as an actor private tuition was a useful subsidiary income but when you've been out of theatre work for six months, it becomes clear quite quickly, that private tuition can never really provide a satisfying career. Apart from meeting new clients, the work remains pretty much the same. There is also the issue of age. When you are a fresh graduate in his early twenties, A Levels are part of your recent life. You are still able to emotionally connect with the students over the problems, challenges and anxieties of preparing for an exam. As a thirty-year-old, my attitude has changed. I am frustrated by the laziness and lack of initiative amongst many of the students. I am like a band-aid rather than a teacher; there to patch up a gaping wound of inertia inflicted by too much privilege.

I hope to finish tutoring completely by the end of this year, or take it down to a bare minimum of three or fours a week. There. I've said it. I've written it down on a blog on the internet, so now I have to stick to it. I have two students I like and will see through to their final exams. One of them is from a working class background. I would like to throw my energies into helping him more. He is polite and hard working but doesn't read enough. His parents' first language is Spanish and so they have not been able to help him with much of the reading.

Home school kids today were being difficult for the last half an hour. Their energy levels dropped and mine did too if I'm being honest. Not sure that teaching for three hours with a ten minute break isn't asking a bit much of a ten-year-old. Part of the issue is that the girl is much further ahead than the boy and while I set her extra work and more advanced she has a habit of misbehaving to entertain him. I may split them up a bit more. They kept asking if I had a girlfriend. Oh dear, if only they knew. Perhaps they do. 

Harrods and heartache

The Jehovah family was on good form today. They are off to Harrods for haircuts. Apparently the girl wants to have a shampoo with crushed diamond in it. 

Harrods really is a tacky theme park extravaganza. They have over a hundred Harrods points to spend which means they have spent several thousand pounds in store at the very least. 

I am really curious about the nature of their father's business. They seem to have a lot of funds going through foreign bank accounts. 

What is interesting is how quickly the family has let down their guard in terms of their behaviour. I suppose it gets to a point where you can't hide everything that happens from people like teachers, cleaners and nannies who come into your home. I see the mother terribly upset sometimes, although today I had the privilege to see their very sick child, who suffers from a genetic disorder, lift her own cup and drink by herself. This was the first time she had done this. It was very moving to see. 

It reminds me that I must not dismiss these families out of hand. For all their money, they are not protected from the heartache that life shovels out from time to time. 

Feb 24th

According to his mother Samuel is a stoner. Oh, and his father also found ecstasy in his coat pocket. He's not even clever enough to hide his drugs. Although his lassez-faire approach may have been encouraged by a speaker who came to his school (Westminster) and apparently said ecstasy was less dangerous than smoking. 

It seems Sam and his mother are at loggerheads. He doesn't listen and he has basically checked out as far as his education is concerned. Samuel is the youngest of five kids and, boy, he doesn't half live up to it. He can't make his own breakfast. Apparently he asked his mum: 'how do you make fried egg?' 

This is a kid who managed to get himself 8 A* grades at GCSE but now there is nothing that interests him. Although I know that there is something more going on. He has become infatuated with another boy at his school. A kid who regularly spends a couple of thousand pounds every weekend.

Samuel also explains to me how he wants to have power when he grows up. 'I'd be a good mafia boss,' he says, 'accept the mafia aren't as glamorous as they used to be.' To which I reply: 'you mean they don't kill people as elegantly as they used to?' 'Whatever brings in the...' And he rubs his fingers together in the universal gesture of money. 

I tell him about a woman I know who is not only suffering from cancer but is also waiting to hear about her asylum case. She is from Zimbabwe and has been terribly abused. I wonder if this will shake him up, awaken some kind of emotional response but he just shrugs his shoulders: 'nothing to do with me.' 

The trouble is that he knows how easy he's got it and so is making a decent attempt at destroying his future. At some level I think it's about a lack of identity. A vacuum of testosterone he looks to his rich friend as a role model. It makes me think, more than ever, that we need more diversity in our schools.