Teacher training - what fundamental skills should be expected from a teacher

[Duranis]

I often wonder what some teachers do when they have problems at home, if their TV/Sky goes off do they just sit there dumbfounded wondering who to call and end up calling a TV repair guy or do they get up and reboot the TV/SKY box first and if it doesn't work then call the TV man?

 

I've said this exact same thing to my partner after having had a teacher complaining loudly and not very nicely about her laptop acting up when the issue was she hadn't plugged it back into the power again.

 

To take the other side of the argument though that teacher when they are at home is not under pressure to get the sky box working right there and then. They aren't stressing about it getting it working in the next 60 seconds before 30 impatient kids, who probably don't want to be there anyway, completely lose interest.

 

I've done my fair share of complaining about this kind of thing but if I was in their shoes I honestly can't say that I would do things much different (expect maybe be a bit more polite about things).

[Koldov]

Good point, but in all honesty though, they probably call their OH or child who is 'better with technology' (not everyone knows that a Sky box can be rebooted)...

 

My OH has even text me at work one day to complain about the internet being down (to be fair she does WFH)... Then sent me a video of the lights flashing on the front... My answer 'turn it off and on again'... I'm sure she knows this, but sometimes people need reminding or the confidence to do it.

 

Some teachers need telling once and you never hear from them again, some ask the same thing every week... it's a 'people' thing not a 'teacher' thing. However it might just be that teachers just have a high proportion of that type of person...? I always like to think of them as adults that never left school...

 

It is a little bit like asking why they leave dirty coffee cups in the sink, why they leave the lights/speakers/projector on, why they don't lock up the iPad trolley, why they don't take any responsibility for smashing their laptop screen... would they do that at home?

[Disease]

Whilst I appreciate your point, it is though as if they get in school and then they lose all ability to use simple logic for things they would normally try and attempt to resolve at home. Edited January 14, 2022 by Disease

[stevejp]

You just need to be one lesson ahead.

 

A common fallacy, I’m afraid.

[Koldov]

Well, the student teacher in question popped their head around the door of my office this morning...

 

They thanked me for the laptop, but wondered why they couldn't access the planning folder over the weekend whilst they were at home!

 

When I explained that there is no connection between the server and her house (honestly I'm OK with that as why would they know), they seemed a little confused but I carried on regardless explaining that if they wanted to work on things at home from the server, it needs copying on to the desktop. More confusion, regarding what a 'desktop' was (yes, a 'desktop' is a style of 'computer' so I understand the confusion) and if they brought the laptop to me at lunchtime could I show them how to do it...

 

So, this will be a fun lunchtime watching them struggle to tap the mouse pad twice to open a folder (it's a skill not everyone has apparently)... I think I'm going to go with right-click > copy & right-click > paste, to try avoid all sorts of drag and drop chaos.

[paulkerton]

When I explained that there is no connection between the server and her house (honestly I'm OK with that as why would they know), they seemed a little confused but I carried on regardless explaining that if they wanted to work on things at home from the server, it needs copying on to the desktop. More confusion, regarding what a 'desktop' was (yes, a 'desktop' is a style of 'computer' so I understand the confusion) and if they brought the laptop to me at lunchtime could I show them how to do it...

To be fair, this is someone who has grown up with the cloud and is probably assuming there should either be a VPN or sync solution in place. The last thing I'd teach anyone is sticking files/folders on their desktop. Then again we're a Chrome house these days, so there is no desktop paradigm.

[Koldov]

Yeah, I knew that was coming...

 

We do have the Big G and actually a VPN solution in place (for selected staff).

 

However as a student teacher, who won't be here long (and has dubious IT skills) I don't think they will be given access to either of those things.

 

As it is, the only access is to the planning folder and only whilst at school.

[DrBeaker]

....

 

When I explained that there is no connection between the server and her house (honestly I'm OK with that as why would they know), they seemed a little confused but I carried on regardless explaining that if they wanted to work on things at home from the server, it needs copying on to the desktop. More confusion, regarding what a 'desktop' was (yes, a 'desktop' is a style of 'computer' so I understand the confusion) and if they brought the laptop to me at lunchtime could I show them how to do it...

 

So, this will be a fun lunchtime watching them struggle to tap the mouse pad twice to open a folder (it's a skill not everyone has apparently)... I think I'm going to go with right-click > copy & right-click > paste, to try avoid all sorts of drag and drop chaos.

 

See I'm kind of fine with that stuff.

 

I would however expect someone who holds a degree, to be able to determine if a computer is powered on or off via the glowing green LED light is glowing or not.

[Koldov]

someone who holds a degree

 

OK, I'm painting with fairly wide brushstrokes here, so please forgive.

 

I have heard it said that 'education is no guarantee of intelligence' (but I guess depending on how you define/quantify intelligence), maybe it's more to do with common sense as a few others have alluded to and there does seem to be a correlation between how long some of them have been 'in education' as opposed to the 'real world' and what type of culture exists there as to whether or not they need to think for themselves (a bit like how they think leaving speakers/projectors on doesn't actually use up electricity/damage components/cost 'real' money). You know, to pass an exam you just have to be proficient at retaining information and regurgitating it. My Grandfather used the phrase 'educated idiots'... and something about 'having a degree and not being able to boil an egg'.

 

But, true story... I spent an hour on the phone on Sunday as 'remote support' for my parents who were having trouble with their laptop. I won't go into the full transcript, but among other issues suffice to say trying to work out if it had power, if it was actually on or off and whether the wi-fi was working and all the lights (and their colours) that needed to be explained was at best challenging and they are both very intelligent (just very new to technology and they are in their 80s)... turns out they were trying to reset the password as it was telling them it was incorrect... I told them that if it was there might be a bigger problem and they probably just had 'Caps Lock' on or something else... turns out the 'N' button on the keyboard wasn't working (in the remote session I asked her to type the password into Notepad). Bit hard for me to fix as they live in Spain...

 

Anyway, a couple of gems from this week:

 

I have used GPO to disable USB mass storage being used (unfortunately I had to allow read access to WPD devices as it was stopping the school phone and iPads being connected to download the photos), but write access is denied (pretty much everything else is denied).

 

Had a couple of strange side effects as I forgot most teachers use the memory card out of their cameras and when I told them to plug in the USB, most of the cameras were configured as... mass storage!

 

I talked through how to change the USB setting on the camera with one particular teacher to allow it to be accessed by the OS and this actually worked OK. But he obviously couldn't delete the photos from within Windows (no write access I guess), so I told him he would just have to delete them from the camera 'manually'.

 

He replied that was acceptable and congratulated me on my 'lateral thinking'... but what I would consider as common sense (I guess he had just never done it that way).

 

The second one is from my 'infamous' mature student teacher...

 

They asked if I could setup the hall to access the internet to play music from a website and show a PowerPoint (we have a computer in there to do this, but most teachers still unplug everything to use their own laptop - and leave it all unplugged afterwards). I picked up on the fact that she said something along the lines of 'because I can't get the internet on the laptop you gave me' and questioned her further... she said it was asking her to sign in... but we don't have anything like that...

 

As I've rambled on and to try and cut a long story somewhat shorter, here is why she couldn't get on the 'internet'...

 

 

EDIT: Actual screenshot of her minimised browser window...

Edited February 2, 2022 by Koldov

[DrBeaker]

OK, I'm painting with fairly wide brushstrokes here, so please forgive.

 

I have heard it said that 'education is no guarantee of intelligence' (but I guess depending on how you define/quantify intelligence), maybe it's more to do with common sense as a few others have alluded to and there does seem to be a correlation between how long some of them have been 'in education' as opposed to the 'real world' and what type of culture exists there as to whether or not they need to think for themselves (a bit like how they think leaving speakers/projectors on doesn't actually use up electricity/damage components/cost 'real' money). You know, to pass an exam you just have to be proficient at retaining information and regurgitating it. My Grandfather used the phrase 'educated idiots'... and something about 'having a degree and not being able to boil an egg'.

 

But, true story... I spent an hour on the phone on Sunday as 'remote support' for my parents who were having trouble with their laptop. I won't go into the full transcript, but among other issues suffice to say trying to work out if it had power, if it was actually on or off and whether the wi-fi was working and all the lights (and their colours) that needed to be explained was at best challenging and they are both very intelligent (just very new to technology and they are in their 80s)... turns out they were trying to reset the password as it was telling them it was incorrect... I told them that if it was there might be a bigger problem and they probably just had 'Caps Lock' on or something else... turns out the 'N' button on the keyboard wasn't working (in the remote session I asked her to type the password into Notepad). Bit hard for me to fix as they live in Spain...

 

Anyway, a couple of gems from this week:

 

I have used GPO to disable USB mass storage being used (unfortunately I had to allow read access to WPD devices as it was stopping the school phone and iPads being connected to download the photos), but write access is denied (pretty much everything else is denied).

 

Had a couple of strange side effects as I forgot most teachers use the memory card out of their cameras and when I told them to plug in the USB, most of the cameras were configured as... mass storage!

 

I talked through how to change the USB setting on the camera with one particular teacher to allow it to be accessed by the OS and this actually worked OK. But he obviously couldn't delete the photos from within Windows (no write access I guess), so I told him he would just have to delete them from the camera 'manually'.

 

He replied that was acceptable and congratulated me on my 'lateral thinking'... but what I would consider as common sense (I guess he had just never done it that way).

 

The second one is from my 'infamous' mature student teacher...

 

They asked if I could setup the hall to access the internet to play music from a website and show a PowerPoint (we have a computer in there to do this, but most teachers still unplug everything to use their own laptop - and leave it all unplugged afterwards). I picked up on the fact that she said something along the lines of 'because I can't get the internet on the laptop you gave me' and questioned her further... she said it was asking her to sign in... but we don't have anything like that...

 

As I've rambled on and to try and cut a long story somewhat shorter, here is why she couldn't get on the 'internet'...

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]64481[/ATTACH]

 

EDIT: Actual screenshot of her minimised browser window...

 

I got asked today why the toner in a printer gets empty when something is printed - because you're using it.

[Koldov]

You mean you haven't found the never ending toner, the endless supply of 'free' electricity (if you don't pay for it, it's 'free' for you right?), the stack of brand new, high-spec laptops in the cupboard (along with free replacement screens/keyboards/power supplies), the projectors whose bulbs last forever (even when left on 24/7) and never need dusting, speakers that work without turning them on (ok you never turn them off, I get it, why would you need to turn anything on if you never turn it off), the reams and reams of paper (that doesn't come from actual tress) worksheets you print just for the children to then stick in a paper book...

 

These are all standard issue in a school... apparently, going by the attitudes of a vast majority of teachers here.

[DrBeaker]

You mean you haven't found the never ending toner, the endless supply of 'free' electricity (if you don't pay for it, it's 'free' for you right?), the stack of brand new, high-spec laptops in the cupboard (along with free replacement screens/keyboards/power supplies), the projectors whose bulbs last forever (even when left on 24/7) and never need dusting, speakers that work without turning them on (ok you never turn them off, I get it, why would you need to turn anything on if you never turn it off), the reams and reams of paper (that doesn't come from actual tress) worksheets you print just for the children to then stick in a paper book...

 

These are all standard issue in a school... apparently, going by the attitudes of a vast majority of teachers here.

 

Along with the "spare" projector remotes?

[hardtailstar]

Along with the "spare" projector remotes?

 

And the batteries to go in the remotes even though its widely advertised in school that they are kept in the 'Useful things' cupboard guarded by the gate keepers of reception!

[LeMarchand]

May already be listed above, but basic keyboard functions like CapsLock or the one that drew a blank look today, Num Lock. By the time I got there the (far from young) TA had sorted what the youngish teacher could not.

[DrBeaker]

Not being sarcastic but serious here -

 

1) The ability to READ WRITTEN INSTRUCTIONS correctly.

 

2) Ability to tell that 2x identical looking boxes on the logon screen are actually labelled as username and password NOT email address

 

3) Reading the FAQs etc we send.

 

4) The ability for you to realise we're not fobbing you off, but we've wrote all out FAQs, guides etc so as YOU CAN HELP YOURSELF AND GET A QUICKER RESPONSE sometimes by reading those and it's EMPOWERING YOU. Instead of you waiting in the queue for us to get to you, then asking you to load up said guide and follow it with us standing behind you.

 

5) Understand that IT in schools is mostly severally under-invested and understaffed, that sometimes the IT "department" consists of ONE PERSON.

 

6) That the complaints you make we've heard before and are likely not the direct result of IT decisions. But IT being IGNORED, sidelined or not involved in the process and having to pick up the pieces of other departments.

 

7) Understanding #6 that WE WANT to help you, sometimes our hands are tied on WHAT WE CAN DO. Whether that be time, resources, etc

[Katy]

6) That the complaints you make we've heard before and are likely not the direct result of IT decisions. But IT being IGNORED, sidelined or not involved in the process and having to pick up the pieces of other departments.

7) Understanding #6 that WE WANT to help you, sometimes our hands are tied on WHAT WE CAN DO. Whether that be time, resources, etc

 

This annoyed me so much. "Why is $thing so rubbish?" Well, because the first IT found out about it was when it had already been ordered, contract signed and was being installed. Little we can do there. Or another fun one, refurb of an old pavilion into a cafe - which needed my involvement for CCTV, Wireless, Till system, Phone - I found out by accident looking for something else on the council's planning portal that not only had we applied for planning, but had it approved, and look there are the layout designs. (In that case I had caught it early enough to get some input into the location of network sockets, and to point out that the 60m fibre run they had proposed would get them to about halfway across the playground).

 

So yes, teachers need to understand that IT is routinely left out of pretty much every major project by SLT until it is too late.

[DrBeaker]

...So yes, teachers need to understand that IT is routinely left out of pretty much every major project by SLT until it is too late.

 

So so many tales I could tell you about this - IT being left out of the project.

 

They can include us in the process, or leave us out. One is by intention, one is by mistake. One gets things done properly, one gets it bodged as a result.

[hardtailstar]

So yes, teachers need to understand that IT is routinely left out of pretty much every major project by SLT until it is too late.

 

I've always said that Network Managers/Heads of IT should be attending SLT meetings just so they can give an update or advise any ideas that come from the SLT minds.

[sigma]

I would expect that teachers would be able to read the T's&C's of a website or online service and understand this if it says that you must be over 18 to use it, they shouldn't be incorporating it into their KS3/4 lessons nor signing pupils up. Ditto curriculum advisors.

[psydii]

We've got a couple of older NQTs (50's+) this year who have recently retrained to be teachers.

 

They are both instantly fluent with interactive panels, (better at it than the ex ICT AST, who as DH brought these new panels into the school).

They navigate Word, Excel, PowerPoint, SIMS and SharePoint like they've been doing their whole lives. They make it look effortless.

 

It puts many of the teachers in their 20's and early 30's to shame.

 

The last time we had a cohort of staff who were (more or less) all as technically competent as these two was back in 2012.

 

Something is broken.

[Andrew_C]

I wonder if there's anything in - Older types (me) learned to use IT as a tool in mid-later life. Kids learned it as a toy/game and think they know it all from that.

[Koldov]

The thing is those 50+ year old NQTs have probably had other jobs (which may have included computer use and possibly MS Office related although not necessarily). Not only that, but they will have gained a different (better?) work ethic, by having a job outside of a school. The teachers that have a greater grasp on things in general and a better view on work (in my experience) have been teachers who joined the profession later on in life, as if you think about it those others that are 'career' teachers have actually never 'left' school and I think that does have an effect on their 'job mentality'.... School > Uni > School

 

I have always said (as is borne out by one or two teachers here insistence on complaining that their old Flash based resources no longer work) that a certain type of teacher is solely concerned with sticking to what they know and what works for them (I do have some sympathy with them if I'm honest as my Server 2012 R2 instances show). With most of their mindset (and working life) focussed on purely the job at hand... If you think that 08:30 - 15:30 of every working day will be taken up purely managing 30 little darlings and the evenings with marking/planning etc. Most of their time taken up with the actual T&L for the pupils and not expanding their own knowledgebase by learning new software or new products.

 

20-30 year olds have probably lived most of their life on an 'always on' iPad or some make of smartphone (possibly the cause of many 'why is this computer so slow', 'why can't I download X,Y or Z app' and 'why does it have to do updates all the time' complaints)...?

 

I remember that a certain young NQT once told me that this was her first job and in all her training had never once been shown how to actually use an interactive whiteboard...

[DrBeaker]

...

 

I remember that a certain young NQT once told me that this was her first job and in all her training had never once been shown how to actually use an interactive whiteboard...

 

In all my years of supporting and fixing them, no-one has ever shown me either .