I speak/email/DM and meet lots of teachers … all the time! Many of these teachers are in FE and I have to take my hat off to them as I’m not sure I could work in that sector especially given the policy of enforced resits. It must be draining on all levels to be relentlessly positive in the face of students who are facing so-called “failure” yet again but I can also imagine that it is utterly rewarding when it all clicks into place! However, given the uplift in challenge in the new GCSE I don’t think its going to get easier any time soon – most of the feedback from teachers I’m meeting in secondary is that great things are happening in primary schools but for those in FE it’ll be a while until they make it through the system to get to them! I keep saying it, but this new GCSE is (in my opinion) aimed at those kids currently in primary and in the long run should be more accessible to students but for the next few years I suspect that we are going to continue to have challenges and that doesn’t bode well for FE. Most schools have increased their teaching time for the new GCSE and if a student needs to resit in their post-16 setting, along with their other subjects they have to squeeze in maths lessons and are probably going to get less than they used to at school … you should know too that Maths & English in post 16 does not attract funding per se but forms part of the conditions of funding for the other studies undertaken.

On top of that there is no sign of the Smith Report and this has created uncertainties since the announcement of this review last year (its now 6 months late!!).

It is therefore no surprise to me that I received the below. I am sat here late on Friday (well its now Saturday morning as I press “publish”) night, heartbroken, that the system … our system … can do this to someone in our profession (and it makes it worse because I know and respect this person so the story has human face to me!) There is something seriously wrong with the system. It’s broken and along with it … we are breaking people too!! So, dear reader I share the below with you as a way to raise awareness … the DFE need to understand that the fall out of their policies is far reaching and at the coalface real peoples lives are being torn to bits.

Mel. I have made much of the financial cost of the post-16 Maths and English resit policy but after a tough weeksI’ve written my thoughts on the human cost – I have worried for a while about this and have decided to write about it:

At the end of another week dealing with shouty parents, worn out teachers and disappointed students – I’m done.

20 years in FE and I’m ready to throw in the towel. I have worked in schools too but always returned quickly to FE. I love the ethos of FE, the support we give to students, the variety, the passion of teaching staff, so what has gone wrong?

Michael Gove’s forced resit and Conditions of Funding have changed us into exam factories. The policy has ensured students hate maths and English even more than they did before, teachers are fighting impossible odds (not to mention demotivated, disinterested and disengaged students) – 3 hours per week for 29 weeks is not much time – then the sector gets battered for poor results.

Add to this the issue of Functional Skills – if students have grades below D/3 then most colleges place students on Functional Skills maths or English. This qualification has a range of levels – most would do Entry Level 3, Level 1 or Level 2. The prize if you pass a level? You have to do the next level. If you pass level 2, then you have to do GCSE. For many the jump is too great and they face failure again.

In no other circumstances would anyone force someone to do a qualification they are not going to pass. In no other circumstances if you pass one qualification (e.g. GCSE) can you assume you are capable of passing the next level up in that subject (e.g. A level), otherwise we would all have PhDs. I have had a parent screaming at me today that her daughter is distraught about her maths, why am I making her do it etc. No amount of explaining I have no choice made parent or young person any happier. This same parent reduced one of my best maths teachers to tears and accused her of being an awful teacher, when the reality is that the young person concerned should not be doing the course, but we have no choice. This is the real cost of the policy: traumatised students, angry parents, teachers on the brink, college managers trying to keep it all together.

This is not sustainable. I’m done.

It’s the end of a tough year and I know personally that emotions run high at this time of year but in this case, it is so much more than that and I’m at a loss for words – I know the pressure is on the students, the teachers, leadership and more … all as a direct result of government policy! I couldn’t ignore this message .. to do so would make me feel like an accomplice to government policy (yes .. I’m weird like that!) but we can ill-afford to lose good people from the profession.