Culture Club for Primary School

Although they probably don't want my pity I feel desperately sorry for primary teachers in my homeland (England).
Not only do they have to fit in literacy, numeracy, physical activity etc but now the government (bloody meddling, fiddling, dithering hare-brained (sorry hares) politicians at it again) has decided in its ultimate wisdom that primary age pupils must get 5 hours a week of high culture.

Pupils to get more access to the arts | Schools special reports | EducationGuardian.co.uk via kwout

On behalf of my colleagues down south:

Dear Mr Balls,

Where do you propose to fit in regular theatre visits etc into an already cluttered timetable. Is travel to a theatre / art gallery included in this time. What happens when results in national assessments start to drop because kids no longer have time to cover the syllabus (even though they shouldn't need to sit these assessments.)

People think teachers are always moaning about their lot..no bloody wonder. Let us get on with the job we trained for and keep your unknowing noses out of it. How are you qualified to tell teachers how things should be?

I am sure this will not be the last post on this subject in the edublogoshere, having already seen Doug's and Doug's thoughts.

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Comments

[Brian]

It never ceases to amaze me how the world gets smaller. I enjoyed reading your post about all that is expected of your teachers and the frustration of trying to fit it in. Not that I want to see others suffer, but it's amazing how teaching is the same the world over--the U.S. teachers send their condolences!