Forget CfE... the problems with our schools go much deeper than that

Plenty of those workhorses are leaving teaching altogether, too.

Admin and paperwork is another issue. Here’s an example. The SQA advises kids to look at their courses online and gives them links to what they should be looking at.

Go and have a look at them and try to work out what they’re talking about.

It’s unbelievable. Rubbish. To understand what they mean is almost impossible.

I translated it all into proper English and made it readable, into something everyone could understand.

The problem is other departments will interpret that differently, or maybe not translate it at all.

Assessments and marking have also been a problem. In the past you’d answer 10 questions, worth 30 marks. A pass rate would be 15 out of 30. Straightforward.

Then it changed, it was split into three different categories of questions.

And they all have sub-divisions. And you have to get 50% in each category and all the marking has to be colour coded.

And someone could get 25 out of 30 and fail because they didn’t get 50% in one sub-section.

It’s petty, time-consuming and finicky and takes up a load of time.

But the good news is that category in assessments has just been dropped. So has another bit of the exam that was a waste of time.

That’s since John Swinney came in – no coincidence. I think he’s gone to the SQA and said get rid of what’s not working. Dump it. IT is not difficult to understand why teachers are upset at workload issues.

A combination of new curriculum, methods, and resulting changes to assessment processes and qualifications, on top of severe financial pressure, is a recipe for stress.

Put that alongside far greater public accountability – well you can appreciate

So many hours have been wasted setting up things they’re now getting rid of.

I think that shows there was a problem with the implementation of CfE.

People go on about teachers’ conditions. And yes, our pay isn’t bad and our holidays are pretty good.

But my faculty head regularly puts in a 70-hour week. Most teachers are working on Sundays. I’m not saying it’s worse nowadays – we’ve always put the extra hours in.

Some teachers might leave at 4 pm and not have to do much extra. But to really be on top of your job, you have to put the hours in.

I’m seeing teachers now who just can’t face the extra work. So they’ll give kids homework, but it doesn’t get marked. The teacher thinks, well, I’ve got a choice. I spend my whole weekend marking that Higher close reading, or I don’t bother and have time off. the anxiety. However, as you would expect, complex issues don’t come with easy solutions. What’s the problem? What employers, colleges and universities now want from young people has changed. It’s not enough to know the content of subjects

Lots of teachers are still putting in the extra hours, though.

What people don’t realise is that without the holidays, the kids would burn out as well as the teachers.

School holidays are much longer in Finland and Denmark – and they’ve got far better results than us.

Class sizes in Finland are half the size they are here. The maximum allowed here is 33 – and if they could cram in more they would.

I still get a buzz from teaching. I love seeing kids coming on, especially the more challenging ones.

Who do I blame for the problems in teaching? Honestly? A lot of the problems are financial. There isn’t enough money. No one person or government is to blame.

And with austerity and more cuts coming, I don’t know how you fix that.