Teaching in England

I taught in England for 10 years, and then overseas in the Far East, for nearly 20 years in a very different society. I’m now back in England – London for a while, and its been quite interesting to compare the two.

England is basically quite an aggressive western society. Media influences that help reinforce aggression are action films and similar TV series. You can also include many video games as well. There has always been a ‘hard man’ culture in England, so the most esteemed student in a secondary school would nearly always be the toughest guy (the hard man) and not the most successful scholar.

Smacking children is another way to reinforce violence. If done regularly it can often make the child more aggressive, especially towards those s/he perceives to be in a weaker position. Such abuse can manifest as raging, self – harm and low self esteem.

Of course England has significant social problems which began with the break up of the extended family (Grandfathers, aunts, cousins etc.) around the 1960s and now the nuclear family (mother, father, children), which probably began in the 1980s.

In the Far Eastern country I taught in, the extended family still existed. Relationships were treasured and emphasized. Respect was built into the social system and emphasized. Violence was frowned upon. Children were not smacked, and the emphasis was on inclusion rather than exclusion. Although there were a few exceptions, as no society is perfect, generally it was non – aggressive.

Since children respected authority, teaching there was fairly straight forward in respect of class discipline. The teacher could have a more harmonious relationship with his/ her students. Education was valued quite highly.

In England, both before and after my overseas experience, it is almost entirely the opposite. The most successful teacher here is one who has very good behavioural management skills. Although it is possible to use these skills non – aggressively, the most successful are those who appear to ‘frighten’ their students into submission. Students in their classes work, because the teacher will get angry and shout at them. At the first school I taught in, a student once told me that ‘so and so’ was a good teacher, because ‘he makes us work’.

Often in England a teacher with good behavioural management skills is seen as a good educator, but is that necessarily true? I once heard a teacher say to his class that he was getting angry because they were failing to understand some of the things he was teaching.

Some foreign teachers who have done supply teaching in London, say that students here do not value their education. Generally when given the opportunity, students prefer to mess about, rather than stay on task and complete their work. Many students don’t see the benefits of education or the need for qualifications. Consequently many under achieve and to a certain extent the Government caters for this. Apparently the GCSE grade A in mathematics has been around 48% for the last few years.

Education through cooperation and mutual respect or education through anger and fear. I know which one I prefer.