Posts Tagged ‘bectax’

Crikey, it’s interview fever!

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Posted 26 May 2010 — by cheersphilip
Category Rant, diary

Okay, so I went to an interview on Monday – and I got the job!

Sweet – a part time design & technology teacher in a nice school in Norwich – exactly what i was looking for.

But then…

Then I heard back from the SSAT. They were looking for a National Network Coordinator on secondment, which on paper pretty much looked like my dream job – travel around the country talking to specialist D&T departments. Lovely.

Except now I already have a 0.5 appointment. I wouldn’t want to change that; they are extremely nice and I’m really looking forward to starting in September, it’s just that the SSAT job was the one that i originally wanted…

However, the SSAT have kept me waiting OVER TWO MONTHS after the application date to inform me of the shortlist. Okay, they were waiting for the election and some certainty about their funding. (goodbye BectaX – the right idea, just a little too late!).

So, what I am going to do is go to the interview (tomorrow – short notice!?) and see what happens. I think some negotiating is going to be called for.

But… if i get the secondment as well, what am I going to do about my RDTHSC training? I won’t have any time left to go and train teachers how to use their workshop machinery. Crikey.

Onwards and upwards. In other news, I’m still making oak boxes, fully mitred, for my wife’s degree show, selling our campervan, renovating my Vespa, moving house and progressing with the DVDs. Will this ever calm down? A part of me hopes not!

Cheers,

Philip

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BectaX: What Happened?

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Posted 01 Apr 2010 — by cheersphilip
Category Rant, diary


Photo0321

Originally uploaded by Cheersphilip

So there we have it – an amazing event with some truly inspiring speakers.

But what actually happened?

I had no preconceptions about what was going to happen, and having talked to many people yesterday, many of them were in the same position.

We talked, discussed and tweeted about many different aspects of technology in education, but there was one thing that was noticeable by its absence.

There was a missed opportunity to talk ABOUT education, its purpose and current heading. The talk centred, in the main, around how to use technology.

As a teacher, I was so chuffed when the group I was with asked me what it is actually like to be a teacher. I was totally dumbfounded – no-one has ever seriously asked this question before.

The answer was, I am sure, as convoluted and contradictory as someone who enjoys what they do but doesn’t like the way it is done could possibly give.

There was no way I could give the technology and media people an accurate picture of how teachers think and feel, but hopefully I could get them thinking about it in a different way. Who knows. it was an amazing discussion.

Technology has its place in education, but its clear that technology cannot drive education – only people can do that.

As I heard so many times yesterday ‘the teachers just don’t use it’. There is little take-up of these new and startling technologies, because thats just not what most teachers are into.

No doubt I’ll come back to this time and again, but for now I just wanted to get my initial thoughts down.

Big cheer for the school kids who participated yesterday – can’;t have been easy hanging on to a webcam all day while Sony did their sales pitch!

Cheers,

Philip

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