John G Davies, Alma Terrace, East Morton, Keighley.
Yorkshire Post.
THE use of pupils to assess teacher’s classroom performance in Longfield
Academy raises some ethical questions. How old are the pupils? If they are under
17 years there must be concerns.
The teacher-pupil relationship is a complex and delicate one, largely
built on trust. Undermining that could be disastrous. Asking pupils to evaluate
a teacher’s classroom performance changes that situation’s dynamics as well. The
child is no longer there just to learn, looking at other things will surely
detract from the learning process.
Never let us forget the 'malevolent power issue' which may
obtain here.
A teacher who disciplines a recalcitrant teenager is in an
extremely vulnerable position. All it takes is one malicious 15 year
old girl to say, "He touched my breast" and all it then takes, to utterly
destroy the man, is for her to stick to her fiction and get a friend to be
similarly resolute! (I have always been surprised how few pupils recognise the
immense power they possess.)
