The Worm is a Seg

Three times a week since the start of the academic year, Natasha has dutifully copied the date and the title of the science lesson into her science exercise book. There was some physics, chemistry and, most recently, biology.

Biology is obviously the subject that has made the most impression on Natasha because it was that section which contained a page that contained any other writing than the date and title. On one page in neat handwriting were the words, “The worm is a seg.” That was all.

Natasha isn’t a difficult pupil. The science topic I was covering was food chains. Following the short note that passed for a lesson plan I asked her, and the rest of the class, to copy the illustrations, labels and notes from the textbook into her exercise book. She worked solidly throughout the lesson and by the end the centre pages of the exercise book contained, not only the date, title and staples, but a creditable copy of the textbook.

Perhaps Natasha now knows, not only that the worm is a seg, but that rabbits eat lettuce and foxes eat rabbits.*

I’m only a supply teacher. I had never met Natasha before, but in that meeting I had discovered that she had written nothing worthwhile in her science book for more than two terms. I also discovered that with the minimum of prompting she was capable of doing as much work, albeit only copying, as everyone else in her science class.

Clearly, nobody is checking, or, if they are checking, are just accepting that some pupils do no work and do nothing about it.

What should I do about it? I depend on supply work for my living. Any criticism of a colleague, actual or implied would simply mean that I would not be asked back to that school again. My intervention would be ignored because supply teachers lack authority and status.

Would Ofsted pick it up? Almost certainly not. They usually inspect a selection of books chosen by the teachers, and Natasha’s would not be submitted.

Working as a supply teacher gives you a unique access to what is happening in schools. Having no status or authority means that nobody feels threatened by your presence. You’re not a scientist so there’s no assumption that you understand the lesson and since Natasha never misbehaves there is no reason you should report anything about her from a lesson.

What you have discovered is absolutely vital to the education of Natasha and children like here. She is not learning and she is not being taught effectively. She spends three hours a week in science lessons doing nothing and nobody appears to care.

Later the same day, I met Natasha again. I was covering a special needs class that she was in. This lesson demonstrated the school’s very effective learning support system for English and Maths. In a small group with teaching assistants supporting, Natasha and the other pupils did all of the work required of them.

I have no idea how much work Natasha does in other lessons, but I have seen the same pattern in every subject – pupils with exercise books containing no work at all and maybe a few doodles.

In a few years time, at the age of sixteen, Natasha will have had some three thousand hours of science teaching, but will almost certainly fail a foundation level examination that is little more than a general knowledge quiz.

There is something very wrong with this.

* What do rabbits eat? If they are pets living in someone’s garden then they may get lettuce to eat, but are probably safe from foxes. In the wild, rabbits eat grass and hedgerow plants. Why does a textbook have to trivialise?