“I Was Not Observed Once” – Could We Learn A Thing Or Two From Schools In Canada?
No inspection stress, capped class sizes, less focus on ability grouping – teaching in Canada for a year taught Claire Matthews a great deal. Not least the benefits of being able to maintain a good work-life balance… Just over two years ago, I participated in a year-long teacher exchange through the Commonwealth Youth Exchange Council […]
No inspection stress, capped class sizes, less focus on ability grouping – teaching in Canada for a year taught Claire Matthews a great deal. Not least the benefits of being able to maintain a good work-life balance…
Just over two years ago, I participated in a year-long teacher exchange through the Commonwealth Youth Exchange Council (CYEC). The application and visa process was time-consuming and a challenge at times – but the prospect of spending a year teaching in a foreign country and the opportunity for travel made it all worthwhile.
In August 2013, with all the planning completed, visas issued and house cleared and decluttered, my partner and I packed our cases and headed to Heathrow for our departure to Ottawa. Over the next academic year, I would be exchanging my teaching post and home with a Canadian teacher.
Our best selves
The year that followed, was full of adventure, new experiences and learning. It was a year that provided opportunities to learn from international colleagues, to teach a wonderful grade 2 class (equivalent to Y3), to integrate into Canadian life and experience the beauty this vast country had to offer.
I had hoped to return to the UK inspired, full of energy and with renewed determination to carry on with my teaching career. As it was, the exchange school – St. Thomas More elementary – certainly inspired me. It also served to remind me just how important it is for teachers to maintain a healthy work-life balance – one that allows them to travel, seek out adventures and follow their own interests. Only by achieving and maintaining this balance can provide our best selves to the children – who, after all, deserve nothing less than that.
My inspiration for teaching had, in recent years, become lost under a mountain of demands for feedback marking, target-setting, grid-filling, pupil tracking, planning and book trawls. I had journeyed to Canada away from a system that seemed to have placed accountability on a pedestal, and allowed the instinct to place trust in teachers to become a fading memory.
Less threatening and rigorous
The system I found myself in Ottawa was refreshing for many reasons – both at the local and provincial level.
The Province of Ontario, had a cap of 20 children for classes up to and including grade 3 (Y4). The size of the class not only affected how much of my time each child received, but also how much of my time was required to mark and assess work outside of school. The benefits to both parties cannot be overstated.
The curriculum was outlined in several documents, covering a very similar range of subjects to those I was used to, but the pernickety detail that I had become used to was conspicuously absent. This might have caused concern for some teachers; for me, it meant greater freedom to use my initiative and professionalism. I must admit to feeling slightly apprehensive to begin with, though, having those constraints suddenly removed and being trusted to teach with just a minimal framework to guide me. I found this sense of trust to be an essential part of teaching in Ottawa.
During the year I spent there I was not observed once – nor was any other teacher. While there is a system of inspection in place for teachers and schools, it is less threatening and rigorous than OFSTED. Inspections occur less frequently, appear to be more about recognising strengths and are therefore less stressful for all involved. They are certainly not the driving force for what occurs inside the school building.
Different priorities
There are provincial tests, which are administered at the end of grade 3 and grade 6 (Y7) and are similar in nature to SATs. They are externally marked, reported to parents and presented in league tables. They do not, however, appear to have hijacked the curriculum or stolen the limelight.
I didn’t hear of any intervention groups to ensure that children made a certain grade in order for the school to achieve a provincial target. That’s not to say that this never happens – but it certainly never seemed to be a priority.
Where children needed support, they were given it – often outside the classroom by a specified member of staff. Teaching assistants were used to support behaviour problems, rather than specific learning issues.
In a system that didn’t require children to be constantly grouped according to ability, I was often surprised by how much progress the less academic made, without me needing to differentiate for four different levels. Instead, collaboration and cooperative learning were advocated across the curriculum, with an emphasis on practical work and less emphasis on filled exercise books.
A wonderful career
I wasn’t required to set writing targets, numeracy targets, or indeed target of any other kind – and yet they actually made progress anyway. Some made very good progress, some not quite as much, but on the whole I have to say that it was much the same as my class in the UK. The major difference, obviously, was that my overall workload was considerably reduced, but the children’s progress remained similar to what I’d seen here.
I had been worried beforehand about the lack of PPA time, but in actual fact teachers there were entitled to 240 minutes a week. In my case this was spread across four days, amounting to an hour each day, which was enough for me to get my marking done within school time each day. I would have struggled without this preparation time, and found myself valuing it just as much as I do here.
Teaching at St Thomas More ultimately reminded me that without constant observation of teachers, endless scrutiny of children’s books, obsessive monitoring and assessment – all those big changes that have unsettled our education system in recent years – teaching is a wonderful career. A wonderful career that’s made even better by being able to enjoy a sensible work-life balance. It’s something that all of us deserve and should strive for.
Claire Matthews is a teacher and member of the SLT at Grange Farm Primary School, Coventry; you can read more about her experiences as a participant in the CYEC exchange at www.claireincanada.tumblr.com
