Dispatches
- Kirk Bevins
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Dispatches
Monday's Dispatches on Channel 4 was about the shocking standard of maths teaching at primary school. They gave a year 6 test to their teachers to see how they did and their results are pretty shocking. You can watch the programme here:
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/dispatches/4od
Next Monday is the second part of this programme and involves Rachel Riley.
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/dispatches/4od
Next Monday is the second part of this programme and involves Rachel Riley.
- Alec Rivers
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Re: Dispatches
Unbelievable. I suppose we can now add "lowest educational standard" to "highest teenage pregnancy rate" and "highest childhood asthma rate" in Europe. Go England.
Re: Dispatches
These were the teachers who agreed to take part, presumably. How bad were the ones who refused?
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Re: Dispatches
Is the test available online?
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Re: Dispatches
They might have been the better ones.David Roe wrote:These were the teachers who agreed to take part, presumably. How bad were the ones who refused?
- Charlie Reams
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Re: Dispatches
This could be the beginning of a C4C mission to get Kirk his job back.Gavin Chipper wrote:Is the test available online?
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Re: Dispatches
Worryingly easyGavin Chipper wrote:Is the test available online?
- Kirk Bevins
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Re: Dispatches
I don't teach primary kids and as long as kids don't give a shit about learning, I won't be teaching them.Charlie Reams wrote: This could be the beginning of a C4C mission to get Kirk his job back.
- Ben Wilson
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Re: Dispatches
i.e. 'never'.Kirk Bevins wrote:as long as kids don't give a shit about learning, I won't be teaching them.
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Re: Dispatches
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... Mensa.htmlBen Wilson wrote:i.e. 'never'.Kirk Bevins wrote:as long as kids don't give a shit about learning, I won't be teaching them.
This kid wants to learn.
- Kirk Bevins
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Re: Dispatches
That's ace. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed teaching top sets, but that's a small proportion of the school.
- Charlie Reams
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Re: Dispatches
Private schools.Kirk Bevins wrote: That's ace. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed teaching top sets, but that's a small proportion of the school.
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Re: Dispatches
Grammar schools.Charlie Reams wrote: Private schools.
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Re: Dispatches
Only top 0.4% - that's only 1 in 250 people. Not particularly remarkable since if he goes to a 1000-person school, you would expect there to be at least three other people as intelligent as him. Well done to him, but not exactly newsworthy IMHO.
Re: Dispatches
lol@the comments on that link
- Michael Wallace
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Re: Dispatches
Weird, I could've sworn that article had an amusing bit where they said "top 0.4% (99.6 percentile)" last time I read it. I was about to quote it for the "thanks for that" lolz, but now it's gone ![Sad :(](./images/smilies/icon_e_sad.gif)
Also yes, those comments are great.
![Sad :(](./images/smilies/icon_e_sad.gif)
Also yes, those comments are great.
- Charlie Reams
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Re: Dispatches
I'm surprised there aren't any comments warning about the dangers publicising photos of your child, now we live in the Paedoph Isles and all.
- Lesley Hines
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Re: Dispatches
Grammar schools are private by usOliver Garner wrote:Grammar schools.Charlie Reams wrote: Private schools.
![Sad :(](./images/smilies/icon_e_sad.gif)
Lowering the averages since 2009
- Ian Volante
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Re: Dispatches
There's a mixture. Mine is, but the one up the road where Patrick Stewart went (incidentally) isn't.Lesley Hines wrote:Grammar schools are private by usOliver Garner wrote:Grammar schools.Charlie Reams wrote: Private schools.
meles meles meles meles meles meles meles meles meles meles meles meles meles meles meles meles
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Re: Dispatches
Well, sort of. I mean I got them all right (of course!) without any problem, but no-one in real life ever divides by 0.1, for example, and it's just a way of getting people to give the wrong answer to a simple-looking question.Matthew Tassier wrote:Worryingly easyGavin Chipper wrote:Is the test available online?
- Ian Volante
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Re: Dispatches
But anyone that can do maths at a higher-than-basic level surely understands reciprocals, and the commutativity of multiplication and division? Or should I say, surely should be able to understand such things? If that's going to trip them up, then they really are going to struggle to to help brighter youngsters.Gavin Chipper wrote:Well, sort of. I mean I got them all right (of course!) without any problem, but no-one in real life ever divides by 0.1, for example, and it's just a way of getting people to give the wrong answer to a simple-looking question.Matthew Tassier wrote:Worryingly easyGavin Chipper wrote:Is the test available online?
meles meles meles meles meles meles meles meles meles meles meles meles meles meles meles meles
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Re: Dispatches
The depressing thing is that my son (now in Year 7 at one of the country's few remaining state grammar schools, and who got practically full marks in the year 6 SATS for Maths) included the following startling facts in his maths homework....
1. 2.3x1.2 =(2x1) + (0.3x0.2) =2.06
2. 1/2 divided by 1/4 = 1/4
3. an approximation to (5.1x1.9)/0.1 is (5 x 2)/0 = 10/0 = 10
So I'm not convinced SATS results tell you that much.............. sure standards have gone down since I was at school - but of course there wasn't as much history to learn then so I could concentrate more on Maths......
1. 2.3x1.2 =(2x1) + (0.3x0.2) =2.06
2. 1/2 divided by 1/4 = 1/4
3. an approximation to (5.1x1.9)/0.1 is (5 x 2)/0 = 10/0 = 10
So I'm not convinced SATS results tell you that much.............. sure standards have gone down since I was at school - but of course there wasn't as much history to learn then so I could concentrate more on Maths......
- Kirk Bevins
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Re: Dispatches
Who the hell teaches like this!? This is where the problem lies. I found in primary school they confused them further with decimals as they had to work out things like 0.3 x 0.2 as part working out to do a sum and they'd write 0.6 and get it wrong and lose confidence. If they just did the 2.3 x 1.2 sum like a traditional 23x12 sum and keeping the decimal point in place, the algorithm works nicely and there's very little to go wrong.Lisa Hermann wrote: 1. 2.3x1.2 =(2x1) + (0.3x0.2) =2.06
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Re: Dispatches
I watched the second part of this programme. I found it really annoying that they had all these numbers games but didn't bother to show them to us. I know you might say "but that's not the point of it" - well they didn't need to spend so much fucking time on these games we couldn't see then, did they?!
- Alec Rivers
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Re: Dispatches
This.Gavin Chipper wrote:I watched the second part of this programme. I found it really annoying that they had all these numbers games but didn't bother to show them to us. I know you might say "but that's not the point of it" - well they didn't need to spend so much fucking time on these games we couldn't see then, did they?!