h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7624953.stm

In other news, my new job as a teacher educator is going suspiciously well and my students are lovely. Although maybe next year I'll have a class of bankers.

Coely



I've just been made redundant from my Chemistry lecturing job because the College decided not to recruit to the Foundation Degree course in Forensic Science w.e.f.last year. That means that, this past year, I've only had a second year and for this year, no first year nor 2nd Year. Also, too few students signed up for the Chemistry component of Access to H.E. so that course isn't running either. They asked if I'd sign a new contract for o.4f.t.e. but I can't afford that as it's a 100 mile round trip from my home, and so I rent a flat during the week.

I'm looking to get out of teaching now. I'm signing up to supply agencies as a stop-gap until something suitable crops up.

Big Al!

.4 - Ouch! Though my new post is only .5. But there is sessional work available and at the moment I have enough settling into the new job to keep me very busy indeed. I do have a little supply work lined up in November and December and I'll probably need to take on some exam marking of the January AS modules. Have you thought about that? (I hated every second when I did it before, but I do need to pay my bills!) At Easter and May I work for a crammer, June will probably mean more marking and in the summer I'm registered as a film extra.

I don't regret giving up teaching, in truth teaching gave me up. However, teacher educating is a great job and one I never thought I'd be able to do. My whole department consists of ex teachers, so maybe you could look into it?

My eldest daughter, Sunshine, graduated this year with a 2:1 in Forensic Science. However as she can't drive she's unable to get work. Scene of crime officers tend not to arrive on the bus! So she's continuing full time with the shop job she had as a student, both to give her brain a rest and to pay for lessons. I did tentatively suggest a PGCE but she said no way - she knows what teachers do! Still at least she hasn't followed her fathers career either (the ex Mr coelacanth works for a bank!)

Well, as I say, I've got a few things I'm working on at the moment - nalthough one fell by the wayside during the week. I had an interview at a University for what was two 0.5 fte jobs rolled into one. One part was for an Outreach Officer to work with Primary and Secondary schools and the other part was to work with First Year Undergraduates to assist with the school-university transition. It took me 3 hours to drive there for an interview that barely lasted 30 minutes and for which I wasn't offered expenses. They said that, although I obviously had a lot to offer the university they thought that, on balance, the students wiould see me as more on the side of the academic staff rather than as one of themselves.

Another thing I have an application in foris as a Quality System Compliance Auditor with a government body. (This is something I did for two years before I came into teaching... 14 years ago.

Another thing I am working on is a Health & Safety Administrator with a firm that makes pyrotechnics for the military. This is through an agency, and the agency say that the company seems to be a bit schizophrenic about precisely what attributes the successful candidate should have. Thus one was turned down because he had H&S qualificationsm, whereas the company said they wanted someone used to working in a safety-conscious environment rather than a safety professional. However the second was turned down for having no safety quals

Later this week I have an interview to train as an Energy Assessor (a government initiative). I asked how much this training costs and they replied 'a contribution'...

Then on Friday I have an interview to be a taxi driver. I am intending this to be one part of a 'portfolio career'.

Also, as I say, I am registering with teaching supply agencies. However, ideally, I would like to move away from teaching as I feel that all we are doingf is training students to pass exams rather than educating them or teaching them a subject (precisely what OFSTED said about maths teaching last week!)

Ref the Forensic Science, my college has an Industrial Liaison team who help with course planning/content and who meet with the students once a year. Our students were somewhat disgruntled when the team members stated that the Forensic Science Service etc would rather have straight chemistry graduates than graduates in Forensic Science.

I thought I'd miss teaching but I haven't felt any pangs yet. There's wasn't really any dramatic tipping point, just a fairly miserable couple of years of frustration within the institution and with the education system as a whole.

Then I read "Corruption of the Curriculum" and "The Tyranny of Testing" and realised it was time to go.

I do feel a bit of a hypocrite, given what I'm now doing, but perhaps it's just a stepping stone. And the new generation of teachers have grown up in a portfolio and evidence based culture. Paperwork and Power Point is all they know and I have so very little time to get some creativity into them before they go on TP, but I'm trying.

Sunshine came to the conclusion fairly soon after starting that the fancy label "Forensic Science" actually just meant "Chemistry degree repackaged to attract the numbers". The FSS might want graduates, but she was told Scene of Crime don't need degrees at all. I do wonder if it's been a waste of time and just a very expensive way to get cheap alcohol.

The fancy label "Forensic Science" does actually just mean "Chemistry degree repackaged to attract the numbers".

Unfortunately, my college marketed the course just as 'Forensics' i.e missing out the word 'Science' altogether. Hence, it tended to attract ladies 'of a certain age' who had been drawn in by watching prgrammes like CSI etc. They were a bit shocked to find out they had to learn chemistry , especially as it was very basic chemistry to get them up to A Level standard. i.e. not initially directly relevant to 'Forensics' in their eyes.

I attended an AQA meeting today on the new A Level syllabus and told the presenter that I'd just been made redundant. He made your suggestion that I look to mark exam scripts. However, he also said that they had no shortage of markers in AQA; in fact they have a waiting list! So, he said I should contact other boards as well.