Lucy Fey and homeless spikes

Hello!

Once again, I have been letting this blog fall by the wayside. I'd apologise, but I think an apology means that you are committing not to do something again, and my track record suggests that this probably will happen. All I can say is that I have been busy of late with my University course, and also that if I don't blog for a certain amount of time, I get very demotivated to do this. I need to update this more in order to keep my own motivation going. So anyway, I am going to attempt to add more content to this in the coming days. I can't guarantee that I'll be successful in that endeavour, but I will of course do the best I can.

There are really two things that I want to discuss on this blog, and the first is as follows. I was really struck the other day by news reports about someone called Lucy Fey, a primary school teacher from Bristol who has quit her job in protest of the immense pressure put on students by our education system. As most people know, our education system, led by Education Secretary Michael Gove, prioritises core subjects, what we might call old-school academic subjects, such as what used to be known as 'the three Rs', over and above things like arts, literature, human interest subjects and physical education. There has been a lot in the news recently about Gove's intentions of removing texts by non-British writers, such as Of Mice And Men by John Steinbeck, from the GCSE curriculum, in what actually comes across to me as an attempt to promote works that Gove likes personally over and above a wider variety of cultures, nationalities and eras of literature. I'm not sure if I have spoken much about Gove's education ideals on this blog, but that kind of attitude I needless to say disapprove of. I enjoy reading, but a lot of people my age do not, and I think that this kind of decision is not going to help people enjoy good literature in any way.

I may talk a little more about that in future blogs, but that isn't really what this one is about. When we hear about Gove's controversial changes, we generally think more about secondary education. It appears though that primary school children are just as affected, if not more so. Lucy Fey quit her job teaching in a primary school because apparently she was angry and fed up with having to prioritise subjects that her students were struggling with over and above subjects that they could potentially take much further, and demotivating them in the process. When she left her job, she wrote an open letter to Michael Gove, which I think everyone should read. I'll copy and paste it below, as that will be more effective for the purposes of this blog than me summarising it:

"There is nothing better than a class full of buzzing pupils, excited about what they are learning, taking ownership of the lesson.

"This is becoming increasingly hard to achieve when we expect so much from them. There is little time to have fun, to enquire, to be intrigued, to be children. They have too much pressure. They must, 'compete with the world's best'.

"Why are we not letting them grow as individuals? Why are we damaging their self-esteem and confidence by trying to make them all fit into the same box?

"To ensure a successful future for our country we need to give children a broad, balanced curriculum which enables everyone to excel at what they are good at.

"They need to feel empowered and valued for their individual skills to be able to take risks and push the boundaries to be successful. How is that possible if they have had a restricted education?

"How will all those talented people who are not necessarily 'academic' excel in their different industries if they were not given the opportunity to hone their skills throughout their education?

"How will this improve our country? What sort of adults will they turn in to? I know I never had those pressures when I was a child.

"I handed my notice in last week. I can't do this to them anymore."_

"Until recently, I was not adept at data analysis. I now know that the pupils we are teaching are not simply children, they are numbers, percentages."

"The hours I have spent analysing data to decide which children need intensive afternoon intervention groups, those who need that extra 'boost.'

"Those children do not take part in the afternoon history, geography, art, science, music, PE or RE lessons as they are struggling with maths, reading and writing.

"They understand that they must miss out on subjects they are more likely to engage with, feel confident in, so they have the opportunity to achieve the required level in writing, reading and maths.

"They spend all day, every day struggling. Slowly feeling more and more like a failure, becoming more and more disengaged.

"It is amazing that every one of my pupils knows what level they are working at and what level they need to be at the end of the year.

"Children are so desperate to achieve and to please others that they naturally put themselves under a huge amount of pressure.

"If they are not working at age related expectations they believe they are not doing well despite the amazing progress they have made. They are in tears. They feel the pressure.

"They know they are not where they 'should' be. They know already, at primary school, that they may not be 'successful' in the future.

"They know that the only subjects worth anything are reading, writing and maths. They know that their options are limited."

There is no doubt that I agree with every word. I think that there is far too much of a focus on achieving exceptional marks in an academic sense, and nowhere near enough on the subjects that make a person think, consider and grow on an individual basis. We're all different, and our education system needs to reflect that. Having a system based around a dog-eat-dog situation where only the most conventionally 'bright' students succeed, and those who are having a bit of trouble fail is simply not feasible, not only because it puts everyone who doesn't fit into a certain box a massive disservice, but also because it means that our future is in the hands of people who were not taught effectively about the varying ways of looking at the world and considering situations. I think we're putting our own future in serious jeopardy, actually. This could severely harm the next generation of authors, actors, musicians, artists, sportspeople - in fact, anyone whose talents lie in anything that requires creativity and intellectual capacity, and not merely being able to dot the Is, cross the Ts and circle numbers on a spreadsheet.

I consider myself very lucky to have had an excellent education. If any member of staff or former pupil from my secondary school reads this blog, I don't think anyone will disagree with my assertion that the senior staff there made a very conscious effort to look out for me specifically, and to make sure that I always received any support that I needed with any subjects that I was struggling with, or with any social or emotional issues that I was having. I suppose that it could be argued that it was possibly unfair on the other students that I in particular was looked out for in that way - I sincerely hope that the same went for every student and it seemed to quite a lot from what I saw, but I imagine that must have been difficult with around 1000 students and I think it likely that I was particularly lucky that certain decision-makers took a shine to me early on - but I think overall my school was very good for allowing people to be themselves and being there for students who need support. My experiences there have stayed with me, and as a result I tend to have very high standards of people. I expect people to do their jobs properly, and to fulfil any duty of care that they may have to those using their facilities. Our beloved Education Secretary is one of those people. Of course, he would say that he has 'high standards' as well, but his form of high standards are different to mine. His form of high standards centres around everyone achieving a certain grade on a tick sheet and being especially good at certain subjects. Mine are more about providing services to those that need it, encouraging and supporting people who are struggling, and making sure that students are able to think creatively, enjoy their education and take something really valuable from it. This is what I was lucky enough to be provided with (predominantly by my secondary school, but in fairness probably by the schools I attended in my younger years as well), I think that everyone should be able to get as much out of their education as I did, and I think that it is actually a serious disservice to have a system which is only tailor-made for a certain type of student. If any one student is not able to take what they should be able to take from their school years, I think that is an absolute disgrace, and there are some people who really need to answer to that.

As for how to change the situation? Well, I think that at this stage, the best thing to consider is how to put the parties under the spotlight on this kind of issue at the General Election next year. I believe, rightly or wrongly, that Michael Gove's approach is more about how he personally feels about education than what would suit society at large. Who is to say that we won't get someone better next year? I'm idealistic, I know, but I think that one has to be, otherwise we'll just sit complaining and not get anything done.

There is another thing that I'd like to discuss before I sign off for the night, and I'll try not to go on and on about it (although knowing my general writing style, that may be something we'll just have to wish for)! It has been widely reported lately that there are housing estates in Britain in which spikes have been erected to prevent homeless people sleeping there. As far as I am aware, this has not been implemented in a huge number of places thus far, as there is only a small number of images being used in reports - and one of them isn't actually in the UK, which I do feel is a little misleading even if it does make a point about something that is happening in the UK. I have written about homelessness a lot on this blog in the past. It makes me angry how homeless people are essentially being treated as pests. Spikes like this are used on roofs to deter pigeons - is that how we see homeless people? In a day when people's benefits are being cut and it is actually really hard to find jobs, educate oneself or gain experience in an industry for those of us not born with a silver spoon in our mouths, I do find it rather sickening that this is even considered. In fact, the money spent on these spikes could surely have been put to better use providing services to these vulnerable people? I'm not convinced that this is the way forward at all, and that is putting my thoughts mildly to say the least.

It's hard to know what to do sometimes. Personally I find it incredibly difficult not to give a homeless person money. People tell you not to give to beggars because they will apparently spend it on the wrong things and that it is better to give to a charity. Charities do great work, but ultimately that doesn't help that one person who you shake your head at. I think assuming that people like that are heroin addicts and alcoholics is very unfair actually, as in this climate it could potentially be any of us who end up on the streets. I would suggest to anyone who has a bit of spare time to sit down with a beggar and chat to them for a while. I have done that a few times, and it is generally quite illuminating.

Well, I don't think that there is a huge amount else that I can say about that, so I shall sign off now. Thank you for reading, and as usual, please share this around, leave me any feedback you'd like to give me, and hopefully I will blog again within the next couple of days.

Peace out x