I love writing, it has become a real way of life for me. If you asked me I would say I really love my teaching too - until the introduction of the Fischer Fantasy Targets. Our kids are school are sweet (mostly) so we work hard to get them the best grades we can. Some of our successes have been notable - a student of mine got the highest chemistry mark in the UK for his A levels. Now, in the quest for a higher position in the league tables, the FFTs have been wheeled out. They set an exam target for each student based on KS2 and KS3 score, do they get school dinners, eat white or brown bread at home, have a sibling named Dwayne etc. Every factor you can imagine is taken into account to label the kids. The FFTs know everything about kids in general and nothing about each individual child.
An FFT can't tell you if the child's parents are in a poisonous marriage, if one of their siblings is much brighter so they feel inadequate or if they have friends who lead them astray. Apparently this doesn't matter. We get on well with our students and accept that most will be on target, some may underachieve and others will overachieve. Often we actually speak to them like humans and give a toss how they are. We accept that there are some students we can help and a few we really can't for whatever reason. However if you are an FFT believer all you want is a student on target. Undertarget is unacceptable and worthy of investigation. Strangely being overtarget is unworthy of comment. No wonder we all feel like the apple sitting on a little boy's head.
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