Wednesday, July 04, 2007

Angela Mason Banned

Angela Mason has been banned by the General Teaching Council from teaching for one year. In case you had forgotten, she did some Supply work and secretly filmed the kids in her classes to show how bad their behaviour was for a Channel Four Documentary. The hand wringers argued that she had 'abused her position of trust and brought her profession into disrepute' or something like that and everybody else thought;

'God I'd like to whack some of these little shits'

Considering that she retired from proper teaching in the 1970s I don't think that she will be unduly worried, although she might be wondering just whose interests does the GTC represent?

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is how they will prevent bad news about schools being broadcast, since who is going to risk their pensions to inform an uncaring publiic.

As long as my kids are not in a sink school, who really cares?

Anonymous said...

Frank, aren't you doing a very similar thing yourself?

I only hope you have thought about what might happen if your identity is ever found out.

Whilst I certainly don't want to silence the no. 1 whistleblower of teaching, do tread carefully.

Anonymous said...

I thought the GTC was there to remove power from our already laughable unions and provide a means of slapping down troublemakes.
can someone please tell me what the GTC actually does for me?

Anonymous said...

just from reading the BBC article, it's a disgrace to see that the GTC ruled that she didn't try to promote bad behaviour, nor did she endanger their education and social welfare.
But breach of trust! oh no! run for the hills!
Will the GTC now tackle the problem that they admit was not the teachers fault?

Anonymous said...

Ironic, when Britain has more public CCTV cameras than any other country, and the government claims the right to spy on everything we do and every moment of our lives.

Isn't the classroom of a state school a public place, then? How is it different from a street in that respect? If random passers-by can be recorded without their knowledge, why can that not be done to pupils who are known to be misbehaving and disrupting classes?

I think we should be told.

Anonymous said...

"although she might be wondering just who's interests does the GTC represent?"

Sorry about this, but is it grammatical education?

'whose interests'

Sir Henry Morgan said...

I assume everyone who reads these pages is seriously interested in and concerned about the state of our education system. We're not alone: the problems in America are identical.

Fred puts forward the solution. I don't think many of you will disagree. Fredoneverything talks America, you'll see Britain:

http://www.fredoneverything.net/FOE_Frame_Column.htm

Scroll through the yellow sidebar on the left and pick out any articles that take your fancy. Fredoneverything really is on everything. You'll read some of the most wonderfully sardonic writing you've ever encountered.

Sir Henry Morgan said...

The penultimate paragraph puts it right on topic.

Fred talks America, we see Britain

http://www.fredoneverything.net/FOE_Frame_Column.htm

Anonymous said...

Opinion is divided here. Some take her side. Those in maagerial positions slag her off. May have something to do with the fact that this place featured in the documentary!

Anonymous said...

It's like Frank says: nobody seems to ask the important question: is what she claims true?

Instead there is endless pointless debate on whether she should have filmed the pupils or not.

ba ba said...

Fred on everything was the first columnist i read regularly. I have, believe it or not, read everything on his site - And there is a huge amount there.

Another one i have read all of is PC copperfields blog.

Anonymous said...

Two questions:

1)Was she in a Union?

2)Did they support her?

Anonymous said...

Having just read the BBc site, and the 'wonderful' Mike Baker, (who seems more right wing every time I check his wibblings), there seems to be an implicit 'blame the teacher' thing going on here.

Children misbehaving? must be the teacher, who is too old / not stimulating enough / not catering for their specific needs / a supply teacher and therefore the class teachers could manage it, oh yes.

This attitude has some grains of truth in it, but is too much of the 'blame and shame' culture, where the impetus is on the teacher, not the children, as if they are devoid of any sense of self, and the only discipline is external.

Like it or not, some schools are facing a battle against misbehaviour, and are largely losing.

This should be the focus of teh debate.

Anonymous said...

Schools are losing the battle against bad behaviour and the problem is compounded by management's refusal to admit that this is the case.

Anonymous said...

Which Union was she in and why are they not supporting her?

Quick Home Sale UK said...

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