Today there were some tweets about how many teachers are doing extra revision sessions so @tessmaths started doing a bit of a “straw poll” and it would appear that the vast majority of tweachers who replied (note that the sample will more than likely have been biased) were doing sessions this weekend. The views on the usefulness of this were very diverse and I suppose that is to be expected.

Personally I have known nothing else – we have always done half term revision and I never questioned it. Has it now become one of “those things” you do as part of the run up to the exams that you wouldn’t want to stop just in case it’s “the” thing that makes a difference. A comfort blanket maybe? Part of the reason I suspect there is a proliferation of weekend schools this year is the timing between last Thursday’s exam and Monday (with a big Science exam on Friday). I also have a feeling that this drive for results is underpinned by wanting students to succeed but also because of the huge accountability that comes with schools headline results. There are big things at stake for many schools – I don’t mean egos and accolades – imagine if your school was categorized as “requires improvement” or below there is so much at stake nowadays.

Anyway coincidentally, this morning I put a shout out to see if anyone fancied doing a blog post (the last one went down really well – “How many Rob Smiths?” ) and Julia Smith felt the urge to get her thoughts down on paper. I’ve also managed to pin down one of my colleagues who has explained … oh no! I’m not going to give it a way … it’s on the next post.

So, dear reader … I offer you … To Infinity & Beyond

It’s not often that I get inspiration to simply put pen to paper and rant but here it goes…

The weight of teachers going above and beyond in terms of revision classes for GCSE Maths is incredible…maybe they feel compelled to do it, maybe they are asked but for some it is expected and becoming the norm. 

So we’ve had Paper 1 and the lull before Paper 2 is filled with every waking minute, all weekend working whether at a local Holiday Inn or in school. Early morning breakfast revision, after exam revision…but it’s been going on for months.

The pressures on students but particularly staff and schools are enormous…and its only going to get worse with a bigger, fatter GCSE maths on the horizon. When I have the new cohort of maths ITT trainees in September…yes there are a few…this will be a topic on our agenda, for sure.

I started to question this pressure at the recent March La Salle maths Conference which was around the GCSE mocks time. Several teachers who had given up their own Saturday for CPD sat there in sessions marking mocks for Monday morning. When challenged they said it simply had to be done and so every minute of every day and day off is consumed. Talk about multi-tasking. 

My own nephew who has recently had his SATs in primary school went in over the half term for two days. That is quite simply bonkers. He needs to play and his teachers need to rest. Instead its the inverse Mars Bar approach to education…instead of work, rest and play its work, work and work; work cubed in fact…and you are failing if you don’t.

The rise of private tutoring too seems to support all of this evidence that to be any good at maths you cannot simply rely on what is done in the classroom during the school day, in the school term. And where are the parents and their role in all of this? Are they happy for their kids to go to school in the holibobs…happy for the extra babysitting? Or do they like me support and encourage revision at home…because that is what it is…going over the work you have already learned, by great teachers, using a range of revision techniques you have been taught.

As Mark McCourt says…just teach kids really really well and make them very very bright…

So chuck away your Academic Calendar because that is no longer necessary…you are lucky not to start at 7.30am and finish before 9pm nowadays…and as for your weekends…it doesn’t!

Good Luck

@tessmaths

MEL: Julia Smith is one of my “go – to” people on Twitter as she is seriously funny (not funny in a serious way, I mean VERY funny) but wise with it too! She is Chair of Governors at Writtle College, a Teacher Trainer & Maths Author.