Teachers pack it in

Alison Prince

Last weekend, a teacher from Germany came to stay – or, more exactly, an ex-teacher. She was still gasping with relief at her escape from the system, the testing, the constant scrutiny. It seems to be the same in all the big capitalist countries. Our own teachers yearn for the freedom to enthuse and inspire children through whatever start-points present themselves, and a Voice reader who works as a life-style advisor says that a majority of his clients are frustrated and unhappy teachers who feel they must get out, regardless of the resulting insecurity. In America, the whole education set-up seems to be shaking itself apart.

What is the basis for these observations? Conversations with real people and, further afield, the common ground of the Internet. Last week Dana Goldstein of The Nation quoted a survey of teachers in the US, released in March by MetLife, which showed that nearly a third of American school teachers are considering leaving their jobs. Like their colleagues in our own country, they are depressed by the increasing reliance on standardised tests to measure student learning. They are angry, too, about the austerity cuts that have reduced the working week of schools in 292 districts to four days. In California nearly half of schools have cut art, music and drama programmes since the recession, and the same number have laid off school psychologists, nurses and guidance counsellors. Across New York City, 700 school support staff, who often work with special-needs kids, have been axed

American students, meanwhile, are coping with a crippling debt-load. It was reported last week on the US website, Truthout, that the amount owed by students is greater now than the entire owings due on credit cards.

In Philadelphia, there’s a plan to close more than 60 schools in the next five years and people are up in arms about it. Even Canada, which usually seems a civilised place, is seeing mass protest. A students’ strike in Québec has turned into a Citizens’ Revolt, exacerbated by the proposed Bill 78 that will make any gathering of over 50 protesters illegal. On May 22, nearly half a million people marched in the streets of Montreal, resulting in ‘kettling’ and heavy fines – but the protest has not stopped. A report in the Truthout website speaks of nightly protests in Montreal, countered by riot police armed with high-pressure water guns and rubber bullets. Despite all opposition, the students are fighting on for equal and open access to higher education

Finland, at the opposite extreme, comes out top of all studies on effective education, and takes a radically different approach. Gentle, child-centred and creative, their schools are virtually test-free. It’s not the statistics they bother about, but the children.

Time for some intensive learning by the top class of Governmental high heid yins, perhaps.