What's changed across FORTY YEARS in the classroom? With Sarah Ledger

okay guys sorry guys yeah no no no we're just i'm enjoying the banter but oh hello my daughter's here second night sorry good night hi

daughter

okay lovely bye off you go sweetie that's ironic because like i tried to bring things back into focus and i was immediately distracted Anyway, so we do have some questions that we want to ask you, Sarah.

So I'm going to, I think I'm going to have a bit of a difficult job tonight keeping the two of you on track, but I will do what I can.

So first question, it's been 40 years.

What are the major changes you've seen over that time? Because normally when we have guests and they've been around for a while, we're normally talking 15 years.

15 years have changed.

So talk us through 40 years.

Well, for a start, data, technology.

I mean, you were allowed, you had to kind of make friends with the photocopying or the bander lady to be allowed reprography, so you couldn't just, worksheets just weren't just wound off.

I mean, I was in right from the beginning of the national curriculum and GCSEs, and they were all new things.

I can remember, I've thrown it away and I wish I hadn't, My training notes, it says it might be a good idea to plan lessons ahead.

Think on.

Write down what you might be going to do before you do it.

We didn't have schemes of work in the way that we have now.

I think, though, I was thinking about this the other day.

For me, the biggest difference is safeguarding.

And one of the things that I keep hearing, there's an awful lot of doom about what's going on in schools.

I genuinely believe that schools are an awful lot safer than they ever have been.

There are still things that are happening that shouldn't happen.

But there's an awareness of what is appropriate and what is not appropriate.

And I mean, I was brought up in Cumbria in the 1970s.

you know, getting your head kicked in on the yard, that happened twice a week.

That was a, that was an...

Yeah, that was just a thing.