I recently read an article in The Daily Mail newspaper, about how intelligent GCSE students were going above and beyond what is required during their exams yet the paper markers were not specialist within the subject area and sticking purely to the marking criteria, therefore missing valuable insight the pupils had provided. Surely this constitutes serious professional incompetence, as per the teacher’s own Code of Conduct document.
Serious professional incompetence is a pattern of failure in terms of; subject knowledge and operating effective assessment procedures, to name but two of the behaviours documented. As a Registered Nurse myself, our Code of Conduct is very similar to that of the teachers, in that we must always work within our competence and know that we are accountable for both errors and omissions within our work.
It beggars belief that teachers would be allocated the role of marking exams that will determine a child’s future, if they themselves do not understand the subject. That child has to then make a life accordingly, whether that is return to education to improve those marks, or find a lesser fulfilling job. In one of my previous roles, I became a distanct learning tutor for an infection control module. I was allowed to give marks for the student’s knowledge of the subject, even if what they wrote was not within the expected answers that were given to me.
It allowed me the autonomy of allocating a mark if the student showed signs of understanding by giving a different answer or gave an example, as I knew the subject. Currently I teach a range of healthcare subjects to healthcare workers, face to face. It is imperative that I understand the subject as I could be (and usually am) questioned about anything (I mean – anything!) and it does not look good if I don’t understand what I am teaching.
Why are teachers being allocated the marking of subjects they know little about or do not understand, that have such a huge impact on our children today, especially when the jobs market is so limited? I am passionate about teaching and learning (can you tell?). What are your thoughts?
Comments