Kate Hawkesby: The Teaching Council wrote to me, but why are they wasting their time doing that?

A couple of weeks ago I told you guys the story of the relief teacher censured and embroiled in court action, over removing an ear bud from a Year 10 student’s ear because he refused to remove it himself, and the teacher had asked him to stop listening to music and pay attention. The student had been verbally abusive and refused to oblige and this relief teacher had had a gutsful. I pointed out that despite crying out for teachers, and not being able to get a relief teacher these days for love nor money, the Teachers’ Complaints Committee and the Teachers’ Disciplinary Tribunal had over reacted in siding with the student. I argued that, in my opinion, it fed a growing issue with a sense of entitlement among young people in classrooms, which in turn fed into disrespect of teachers, and that this guy being told his actions could ‘adversely affect their wellbeing’ was basically over the top. Many of you agreed with me at the time. But the next day my producer received an email from the Media and Communications Advisor at the Teachers Council. He wanted to ‘share a statement’ with me from the chief exec of the Teaching Council as they felt there was  “a lot of misunderstanding about the Teaching Council’s roles and functions”.. they ‘hoped I would find the enclosed letter informative and share it with my audience’. Attached to the email was a two page typed up letter on Teaching Council letterhead, signed by a Lesley Hoskin, Teaching Council Chief Executive. Kia Ora Alexander, Tena Koe Kate, it began. FYI If you want to know more about who this woman is, and why teaching is where it is these days, be sure to listen back to NewstalkZB on demand on the ZB website if you didn’t hear her interview with Mike yesterday on his show. It explains a lot about why we are where we are with the education system. I was surprised the Teaching Council was tuning in to Early Edition, I’m not so sure they were, I wouldn’t be surprised if they have a google alert set up, but to dedicate time to typing up a two page letter to me, then having your media guy attach a covering letter and send that to my producer.. I mean really?  You don’t have better stuff to do with your time when our education system is in the state it’s in? It may not surprise many of you that the Teaching Council is anecdotally apparently not held in very high regard by the teaching body itself. That was reaffirmed yesterday by teachers who texted in after Mike’s interview. That doesn’t surprise me given the Teaching Council appears to be working against teachers, not for them. Having heard yesterday’s interview it’s almost like they’re working against themselves too. We have record low literacy and numeracy rates, a teacher shortage, and these guys are hitting own goals by running teachers out of the profession for removing headphones from students, and now looking to make Te Reo competency mandatory, to retain your teaching certificate. Anyway the upshot of the letter I received was that the Teaching Council defended its decision over this relief teacher, and like all left leaning ideological bodies, they were just wanting to ‘educate me’.. the great unwashed, on how to think more like them I guess? This approach, this time wasting of typing up letters to radio hosts when you have way bigger fish to fry, sums up everything that’s wrong with where teaching’s heading.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.