What I've been up to lately

Well this may be only 24 hours late but here is a bit of an update. Back in September I started a PGCE. For those not in the UK that is a qualification taken by people who wish to train to be teachers.

The last term has been like a typical rollercoaster. There have been good days and bad days and I have discovered a number of things. Firstly I don't want to teach in an ordinary comprehensive school. This is because I am too old and too set in my ways to put up with all the hassle of teaching people who don't want to learn. There is for my money too much hassle and bureaucracy in the profession and too much emphasis is placed on things like 3 part lesson plans and other 'great ideas'.

I find the actual course also to be tedious and unnecessary. There are lectures which I have attended and for which I won't ever get the time back. The course propounds more pointless theories and does not concentrate on actual teaching.

In the next few days I start on my second placement at a grammar school but I am already looking for jobs outside teaching. If I stay in teaching it will be in the independent sector or in the FE sector. But I am also looking for jobs in the legal profession for which I am trained as well or in training somehow. Whatever I do I want to somehow end up in Ireland which is where I feel at home or if I stay in the UK somewhere more rural and in a bigger house.

I went into teaching with the idealistic aim of changing the way that kids think and thus hopefully changing the future of the country. What I have learned very quickly is that there is no place for idealism in the profession. Teachers are their own worst enemy by signing up to every crackpot idea that comes along. I heard one lecturer criticise a teacher just because he didn't appear to sign up to a type of assessment. This teacher had twenty years plus of experience and the lecturer said openly that she felt that he didn't understand assessment. On the contrary he probably understood it better than she did.

In the legal profession in England and Wales you are given a small inch thick A5 book which contains all the professional rules to which you must adhere. You sit a small exam and you either pass or fail. After that you are deemed to know the rules. Nobody will check that you have read the rules but if you infringe any you will be held to account. In teaching you have to produce portfolios of evidence to show how you meet each of the 33 standards. This is just needless paper creation.

Until teaching starts to behave like a profession in the way it treats its members then it will never be considered to be one of the professions.

Films on Freeview w/e 14th January 2011

Well Happy New Year to all my readers and apologies for not posting anything recently. I will explain my absence tomorrow all being well.

Over the next week on the Freeview channels there are a number of films of note to watch. For new readers these films are not necessarily the best in cinematic terms but are films I like and that I would recommend to anybody.

Today we have had a few films which on any given day would be my film of the day and even occasionally a film of the week. The day got under way with The Searchers starring John Wayne and directed by John Ford. Arguably this, or one of the Cavalry trilogy, should have been the film that Wayne won an Oscar for instead of True Grit which has just been remade and is due at cinemas imminently. Wayne plays against type to a degree and is not at all likeable as a character. As usual he has his reliable acting troupe around him. At around the same time there was Star Trek 6: The Undiscovered Country. This was one of the best of the movies and many argue that it was the best. It is worth a look in its own right. One slightly odd recommendation is Cronos by Guillermo Del Toro. It is a slightly odd 'vampire' movie and is worth a look.

Sunday brings The Princess Bride. This film is a work of genius and you should not trust any human being who says that they don't like this film. In the evening there is a plethora of films to choose from. You have The Long Kiss Goodnight with Geena Davis, Samuel L Jackson, Brian Cox to name but a few of the cast. This is a brilliantly comic action film. You have The Last Samurai with Tom Cruise, Billy Connolly and Ken Watanabe. This is a beautiful film and one of my favourites. There is also The Hunt For Red October with its all star cast. or my money this is thebest of the Jack Ryan movies and Alec Baldwin is a better Ryan than Harrison Ford for my money. One last recommendation is to avoid Aeonflux like the plague. Now I like pointless films and mindless violence but this is just utterly without redeeming features.

Throughout the week on ITV2 theya re showing the Bourne films one after another. They are all worthy of a look. Monday night sees Mars Attacks (ITV4) a gloriously anarchic film. The film was based on a set of cards and is brilliant and the all star cast just go for it. Jack Nicholson, Pierce Brosnan, Rod Steiger the list goes on. A little later on there is Alien Nation (Film4) which is a quirky little film and which is generally underrated by most people.

On Tuesday is South Park Bigger Longer and Uncut. Much like the cartoon series this film is a bit hit and miss but for me the stand out bit is the musical number 'Bomb Canada'. Wednesday night brings possibly Arnold Schwarzenegger's finest film (OK I know that that isn't saying a lot) The Terminator. It is a film that stands out and which is still as effective as it was when it first came out.

Enjoy your films.