Changing work places is always exciting, its a journey of expectations and hopes mixed with anticipation, enthusiasm and a pinch of uncertainty.
So, there was I, leaving the shores of the foggy Albion (literally) and arriving to hot and sunny Qatar to follow my husband on his great quest for a fulfilling and meaningful job. And possibly mine too…
It is my understanding that majority of teachers in Qatar are recruited with the help of various ”specialist” recruitment companies and a Skype interview. Considering that choosing the ideal person for a role is a two-way process, an applicant is at a clear disadvantage here as it is almost impossible to get a ‘feel’ for your potential future employer by looking into your computer screen and seeing some standard office furniture.
I was lucky enough to be in Qatar for a few weeks during my application process so I got to visit a few schools, did tours and talked to people who worked here.
Only a couple of schools stood out for me, and I was privileged to be offered a job by one of them. What really attracted me (it could not have been the salary package for sure!) was the school representative’s infectious enthusiasm and determination to go forward, to do better, and the expressed desire to move in step with the latest pedagogical ideas and practices. I could feel that my quite extensive experience as a classroom teacher in England would be welcomed and my skills and knowledge would contribute to the drive for improvement and excellence.
I spent quite a few days in summer thinking about ways to better the existing schemes of work, putting some documents and resources together to ensure that when the kids come, I would be ready…
One of the brilliant things at the start of each school year here is that the whole of the first week is spent in preparation. I can understand why it is needed – some people got off the plane only 2 days prior to that! Still, it’s a luxury to be able to gather one’s thoughts and place various things in order.
So it was, that on my first day I was there, bright and early (for me anyway!), and after a little confusion with buses, times and other stuff, the day got on its way. It was wondrous to be surrounded by so many colleagues of different nationalities, experience and ages. It gave me a buzz actually, I imagined myself a true ‘citizen of the world’; where else can this be felt?
If the reader remembers, it was change or a prospect of improvement which attracted me to this particular school on a first place. Change can only take place if people upon whom it depends are ready and happy to accept it and put energy into driving it. Today I understood that here, as in any work place, change would not come easy. What might seem clear and logical to me, would cause resentment and the desire to stick to ‘what we always did’ approach in some minds.
Marking policy was on the departmental agenda, open for discussion.
In my experience the old way of teaching and assessment where the teacher simply wrote down a certain number or letter (giving a ‘mark”) and expected the student to understand what the teacher actually meant by it was not effective.
Ok, Jonny got 10 out of 15 for his homework today. He knows that he did better than Peter but not as well as Ahmed who got 14. “The bigger the number is surely the better?” But…
- What does this number tell Jonny in terms of his skills and knowledge?
- What did Jonny do right?
- What success criteria did he manage to fulfil; how can he move forward from here and what does he need to do to get there?
There has been a lot of research done to see how students react to the feedback. The evidence indicates that even if they get back marks (numbers or letters) supported by comments, the majority (especially boys) do not even read the comments. The learning becomes more about competition than progression. This is not to say that competition is a bad thing, but not knowing how to improve is important!
Not only it is essential to give constructive feedback to students, but also it is vital to give them time to follow on the advice given by teacher.
Modern day teachers believe that improving one’s work leads to development of self-evaluating skills in students, their ability to follow the success criteria for the given piece of work, and in future, to much higher skills of deriving the success criteria on their own. This is an important step in ensuring that students develop into independent learners. This process requires effort and time from both students and teachers but, if the objective of teaching is to turn out better prepared, more complete students with the skills to continue to learn and develop then the outcome is really worth it.
Alas at my new school, on the issue of marking policy, numbers prevailed and the status quo is to continue. In a variety of ways, I might add.
Firstly, it is so much easier to put a number down! ‘4’ for ‘Good’ (who can argue!). The kids will compare the marks, the parents will see a big number (nearly ‘5’ – which is ‘Excellent’); ’next time do better’, ‘put more detail’ etc, etc, etc.
”What does ‘4’ actually mean?”
”What detail?”
”Better how?”
”Can anyone show me?”
”Can I practise?”
”No, no, no …. We always did it this way and everyone is happy. And parents demand more homework.”
There is a prevailing myth in some places that more homework is better. This is absolutely contradictory to all we have learnt as educators in the UK where today the focus in education (and I daresay in industry) is on quality and quality rather than quantity, as this is what makes for a competitive culture and economy.
However as the parents here have this old-fashioned idea that more homework is better it is not surprising that, in this school, the teachers are sticking with numbers!
Moreover, this focus on homework actually has the effect of reducing the efficacy of teachers. The reason is simple: If one teacher has around 250 students, then assigning each student homework each week results in 250 pieces of homework per week plus 250 work books and assessments at the end of term.
Let’s say the parents expect a teacher to spend 5 minutes reading, assessing and commenting on each student’s homework each week and allow teachers five minutes per hour to catch their breath. This implies that teachers will devote more than 22 hours per week to providing even this modicum of guidance and individual support to students.
”Well” you might say, “teachers will just have to work harder”.
And, you may be right. The reality? It is simply not possible for a teacher to physically cope with marking and providing meaningful feedback on this quantity of material.
A professional teacher today has a workload that includes planning lessons and courses, making resources, face-to-face teaching, participating in meetings, meeting parents, dealing with missing homework, managing student behaviour issues, report writing and data handling.
High quality is something we all strive for but it will remain an elusive ideal as long as this industrial-age focus on quantity remains the norm.
Would it not be better to adopt an approach of ‘quality before quantity’ take time to mark work, give constructive advice, make sure that it has been followed and understood?
I will finish this entry with a bit of advice, if I may…
If you are a parent, choosing a school for your child, there are questions you might want to ask the school such as:
- * What is the homework schedule?
- * How is it marked?
- * What kind of advice is given to my child to ensure progression?
- * When and how will my child act on the advice?
- * How will the school help my child to develop self-evaluation skills?
To be continued…
Musings of an itinerant pedagog 