Dear Mr Gove by Jess Green

[@paulroddis]

My wife is a teacher. She cares and works to make sure she does what it takes to get the best for the kids. She gets battered, rammed to the floor by the media, the people that think teachers work 09:00 till15:30, have massive holidays and have an easy job. She is 40, and i am watching her run toward her grave. Thank you for making an effort.

[@gin3540]

As a year 11 student, I can say that this poem was inspirational and fantastic. I am sick of the changes Gove has done, I was once tempted to contact him, but I've stuck through. I gave up after the change to the English speaking controlled assessment, having spent time to get an A* and then finding out it would not help my GCSE because it was removed from the english exam it was the absolute worst. My trust and faith lies in my teachers who have to put through the sudden changes! His changes can affect any school, state or private, i am of the latter,

[@OfficialAyshaBee]

As a trainee teacher this totally opened my eyes to what I'm about to walk in to. It's sad enough that most kids aren't enjoying school but the fact teachers are finding it torturous too is reason enough for dear Mr Gove to face the facts that something isn't working here. Things need to change.

[@lifestudios3374]

As a student who has had to suffer the student-sided effects of Gove's ridiculous utopian (and often downright unfathomable) policies, let me just say how brilliant this poem was. It hits all the points that I am seeing happening - dead on.

[@MrBrianD]

I have been teaching 20 years this poem describes exactly how I feel right now about how our profession is being ruined by Gove. Brilliant poem.

[@xtwosidedthorn]

He is going to make those who have learning disabilites (like me) struggle even harder. Making maths and english harder is not going to be easy for people who have Dyslexia or Dyscalculia, in Year 11 I struggled so much, I would look at the paper in front of me and I would just cry because I found it difficult, education made me believe that if I was not good at maths then I would be stupid. I am not academic, nor will I ever be, but I am creative. People can be academic smart but they can also be creative smart like I am and the education system needs to realise this.

[@ravichagger8313]

u kan right betta than most mate

[@wednesdayupnorth]

Hannah you speak for a lot of people just like yourself including my son. Well said, keep trying and don't give up!!

[@xtwosidedthorn]

Chris Howlett It took me two years to realise it, I hope your son does too, just because you aren't good at maths or english doesn't mean that you are stupid it just means that you aren't good at that one subject. :)

[@wendygallagher8200]

Well said Hannah, the creativity is become less!

[@EllenJones]

I agree with this video completely. Even from a pupils perspective, the education system in Britain is just wrong and needs to be addressed. We live in a culture where University is perceived as the only option and where public speaking isn't valued. Education has become about learning facts to get us through exams not the skills I need to get us through life

[@BobbyFerriswheel]

I was home schooled until I was 11 because of this. I had to go to school because my Mum grew too ill to teach me and my sisters. I spent 6 years in state education in the UK under-achieving. Being given slips of paper saying 'gifted and talented' but sinking to the back of the class because teachers were completely stretched and had to give attention to the students who were struggling with subjects. They had to bring the E's and D's to C's. They couldn't focus on the A/B's who could be A*s I managed to get a full scholarship to a private school to take my a-levels and I absolutely cannot believe the difference. It is shocking. The teachers aren't any better. There are fantastic teachers and uninspired teachers like anywhere, but the facilities, privileges and smaller classes that the teachers have to work with is unbelievable. I have spent the last two years torn between being absolutely overwhelmed that I have had such an amazing opportunity to learn with teachers who can give me the time and completely indignant that this opportunity isn't offered to every child regardless of wealth.

[@janebatson2753]

Dear Jess - thank you for saying it for so many of us! I'm ashamed to say I shed a tear, as most caring,conscientious teachers simply won't make it to 40 years and that 'golden pension'! I didn't,I managed 27 years before burn-out,but now have my health back and a very reduced pension! Even this is begrudged by acquaintances in the business world who were having it good back then, when we could only afford camping holidays with our children, but they are feeling the pinch now! I began teaching in the 70' and was allowed to be a thinking, creative professional. Through continual government interference, the task deteriorated into a prescriptive curriculum, continual over assessment,ridiculous data collection, and Heads who are more interested in Targets and Ofsted threats than caring for the children and the staff who work over and above 'contracted' hours.Dedicated teachers have become dispensable because there are plenty of young graduates who will give it a try for a few years! I believe average retention is 5 years. This pressure and stress does not seem to apply to the Private sector - one wonders why? Thinking of you, Jess, and wishing you the strength to continue

[@bagginsr]

Excellent to hear just before I break up for the holiday and am seeking inside my inner soul for a reason to come back to this job, which I have been in for 18years and it's never felt as hard and impossible as it currently is. If only the nasty germ of a man would listen.

[@TheScatteredMemory]

Being in this years year 11 and being the what my school calls "guinea pigs" of the system where I can't sit modules and study leave isn't a privilege I can access anymore. I can tell you it is a beyond shit system. This is having a huge affect on not only my mental health but all the other students around me, the pressure is way too much for a bunch of 15 and 16 year old's to handle. I don't care what anyone is telling me about revision, it is IMPOSSIBLE to revise for 9 science, 2 maths, 3 English and for options exams. In my case I have 21 exams to sit in less than a month. I know I'm going to fail most of my compulsory subjects purely based on the fact that the pressure is way too high. Thanks to this I have completely lost faith in the education system, I find it hard to believe that I used to actually care about how well I did in school. I feel lucky to be in a school where creativity isn't as crushed as it is in most other schools and they have given us the opportunities to think for ourselves. It amazes me that a lot of other schools in my area don't even get that. And to those complaining that the last 40 seconds is about pensions, teachers are responsible for educating the next generation and work force in our society, give them some credit.

[@SUNSHINERose78]

I have so much empathy for teachers

[@georgiavisentin2673]

WOW. That was the best thing I have ever heard in my entire life. Mr Gove should visit a proper school, a state school, a school with failing children, children who want to learn and children who stop others from doing so. Then see what he says. Visiting private schools does nothing. They have the money to do the things they want but what about the children who struggle to get up everyday? What about the children who can barely afford to get into school? Why are we overlooking the problem? The teachers have it hard, and the children have it hard too. Teachers don't like teaching and the children don't like learning. Isn't there something wrong here?

[@Autonova]

Finland is the best education system in the world, you know why? No inspections. One exam at age 18. Respect for teachers. Simple.

[@markandrewguy4517]

Dear Jess Green, I have seen your passion, I have considered your words and I am proud that you feel you have the sheer GUTS to express yourself in this public way so eloquently. I am far older than you, getting a little brassed off with the effort I have put in over the years and the lack of consideration by the world for for the pupils I feel I have helped to improve their lot in life. You know that this job is not just a job, but a calling. You also know that this job burns out brains from the sheer number of things we have to try and consider when putting together a lesson. Non teachers (And that included me until 9 years ago) just don't understand the emotional energy that is needed to face some classes, do not get that we know the battered and scarred story of many of these young humans. Do not get that tears flow, as we try to give these children a better chance than their parents, a chance to be as eloquent, numerate, literate as each individual child is able to be. Yet you also know that we put on the classroom smiley face to cover up our own private pressure induced terrors, illnesses and lack of sleep. It is so easy to slag you off Jess, as you struggle to pay your way, build a home, make a family, clear your student debt. It is so easy to use your own efforts, fears and hopes as weapons to beat out your reluctance to teach ill considered rubbish devised by ignorant self serving sphincter suckers. BUT JESS TIME PRESSES AS I REJOYCE AT YOUR PASSION. NEVER EVER SUBMIT. Non Carbarundum Bastardis XXX

[@TheRealChrisRogers]

This is a fantastic piece highlighting the discrepancy between the frontline and the policy makers. Together with the immense tuition fees this government introduced it is creating an even greater divide between rich and poor. And Mr.Gove is simply a terrible man for the job.

[@jasmineshort2469]

As a student who has recently made the transition from secondary school to university I have to say that I cannot agree more. Not only are the teachers being overworked but so are a lot of the children. The children in the bottom sets are always being told that they need to work harder just to be average even if it feels like trawling through mud, the average children are constantly working striving to poke their heads out from the crowd and (I know this is going to get a lot of backlash but oh well) the people in the gifted and talented groups have it the hardest of all. The school pins all their hopes on you, the four Oxbridge candidates from your year, not only do you have to do all the work everybody else did but you're expected to do it perfectly first time every time, you're expected to go in for meetings after school, to do extra curricular activities to boost your personal statement, to do volunteer work, to take on extra projects and to help the other students too! Teachers are putting too much pressure on the students who actually try (I spend my average day spending 6 hours working at school and then 7 hours of homework once Id 'finished for the day'), but that's only because the government is putting too much pressure on schools. The government needs to realise that academia and knowledge are not synonymous, it takes knowledge to fix a car just like it takes knowledge to write an essay on Macbeth, if the education system let students play to their strengths then students and teachers would be much happier. Being able to recite the periodic table isn't going to help you become a gourmet chef, just like being able to make a fruit bowl isn't going to help you become a doctor.

[@stevenbudd3725]

Well done Jess. As a trade union activist in a different part of the employment landscape, your poem is much appreciated here as a magnificent reflection of the raw, grinding misery embedded in work places across the country, not just the classroom; the deliberate generation of fear, anxiety and uncertainty by the modern performance management culture. Now kids can look forward to 'levels 1-9' as the screw turns again for teachers and pupils, driving stress ever upward until...the next round of screw turning...and the next...and the next...and the next, until critical mass is reached and suicide and terminally emotionally broken people of all ages just can't be ignored anymore by the politicians. The obsession with wringing unendingly increased output from children and adults, whether in the classroom or workplace, is a cul-de-sac; it's unsustainable, paid for with the blood and suffering of the ghosts in the machine - a tsunami of emotional fall out that goes comfortably sight unseen by the lunatics in charge of the asylum.

[@allypallyable]

Jess Green I will remember your name and pass this stunning video around to everyone I know and beyond. You moved me . Properly moved me.

[@maxm7611]

This is the best poem I've ever heard with a message that shouts the truth. I hope Mr Gove saw this

[@DrTHopper]

Wow. Thank you for sharing. For taking the time to reach out, to your efforts to make a difference.

[@mbaiey]

Well said Jess. Exactly what EVERY teacher is feeling at this moment in time. How fantastic would it be if Gove (he doesn't deserve any title from me) decided he would listen only then could things get better. anyway Jess thanks for voicing your opinion that's shared by so many. xx

[@Magikalic]

When I started secondary school it was the top one in the area, now one election later it's stunk to the bottom, in danger of failing. Nearly all of my old teachers have left, being over 60 and working those hours isn't good for their health but they were the ones keeping it going. There's a handful of new, bright-eyed freshly graduated teachers who everyone thought was really but every year they get worn down with progress sheets and working on how to label our productivity rather then actually teaching us. Teachers who roll their eyes as our headteacher walked through the doors, scolding us and the teacher for minor breechers in the school uniform while we cover our GCSE artwork in plastic wrap to stop the leaking rook from ruining our work. I was top of the year for my English coursework but when I had a scribe in the exams who asked me, a dyslexia student, for spellings my grade sunken to a high avenge. I think Gove believes that every child is like the ones he knew and knows, families who can hire a private tutor if the school is under-selling them or have a higher-educated parent who can teach their child, children who can motive themselves into doing work and have no other worries other than schoolwork which is rich considering his peers are cutting down the amount of money their let go and unemployed parents can claim for. How are children supposed to do work in school when it's his governments fault they're coming in with empty stomachs or teachers who are being paid for half the hours they put in. Sing it with me now, Gove's a twat.

[@Magikalic]

St Michaels They were deputy-heads and heads of years, etc so I find it difficult to believe that they were all fired

[@Themanyvoicesofme]

She has got it so right!! This woman should be applauded for putting it so well! Teaching has become harder than ever - the demands being placed upon teachers is becoming beyond ridiculous - how can you engage children with the curriculum Gove has proposed? How can you make lessons fun when you are constantly assessing pupils and telling them they are not working well enough because they have been set targets they will never achieve?? She is right - the children in the middle are forgotten - there is nothing for them in our education system

[@SimonThomson58]

Brilliant, sheer brilliance, amazing.

[@grabJim]

Bloody beautiful words, genius. On behalf of all non-teachers, unilluminated parents and people of under-bolstered intelligence I salute her!

[@dovestone_]

I'm a yr 11 student and I see it from a student's perspective and from a teacher's my parents are both teachers and my Mum works in secondary education, her work load is RIDICULOUS. The sooner Gove is out the better.

[@lebruce33]

Please continue. You are the best thing I have heard this year.

[@tgiles8626]

This is superb!! Thankyou for creating something so beautiful and so true. Your voice is being heard. Let's just hope the people in power hear it, listen to it and then respond.

[@docviccary]

Wow! What a reminder to me of my brief time as a teacher! I really feel for teachers and this young lady does a wonderful job of showing what its like. Well done Jess!

[@steverevill4836]

Brilliant Jess. I am a governor of two schools and have been for 12 years. You have made more sense of our crazy education system in those "pure genius" 5 minutes than I have heard in hours and hours of statistics that are churned out day after day, week after week, term after term, let down young person after let down young person.

[@toperic02]

This is done in such an inspirational, original way that it deserves to be seen by all. It really connects and gets across so many points about not just education but the breakdown of community action, social conscience and left leaning values which have been totally destroyed. One wants to despair but when you see this you realise there is still some hope.

[@gillianfradley4210]

You have put into words exactly how we all feel. Thank you.

[@ardbeg2878]

Every day that I turn up to teach my class, I feel like I'm colluding with the enemy. I just continue in the hope that things MUST change soon! Thank you for your brilliant contribution, Jess. It is perfectly representative and apt.

[@lisavincent1809]

Amazing. This poem is potent, universal, and intimate. As a fellow teacher, even from another country, I understand so well the struggles and sentiment- it lets me know it isn't just me, my school, my kids. Teachers everywhere feel this burden for their students, have these unrealistic expectations thrust upon them, are provided nothing, rewarded nothing, examined under a microscope daily, and worst of all- we understand what is at stake if we are less than perfect.

[@rach1cles]

Simply brilliant! Had me sobbing like a baby, it's so spot on. Unless you've been a teacher, or lived with one, it's hard to understand just what the job is like. This poem is the closest many will get to seeing it like it is. If you are not moved by it, you're not a human being.

[@followthebunnydown]

brilliant. thanks for writing/performing this. thank goodness for you and others like you.

[@alishakhan-on8jn]

Wow you are amazing atleat there is someone who has the capacity to really understand what schools are turning in to and what students and teachers are going through. Thankyou for standing up

[@sophie82jane]

Outstanding. For those of you who have missed the point entirely and think this poem is about pay and pensions, it is not. It is about it all! it sums up perfectly how frustrating and heart breaking it feels to teach. It is thankless beyond words.

[@bobbins9002]

It seems appropriate to write this here if anywhere. I've just finished watching all of Jess' stuff that I can find; the thing that stands out is how much what is said seems to resonate with her, how it is spoken with such feeling and passion. It's unusual at a time when the best a great many can muster is slight annoyance in the most extreme circumstances, or extreme fits of emotion when confronted with something that provokes them or their family. Many now live inured, in a continuous cycle of rage and hate and disappointment and apathy and dullness; as mindless consumers. It's refreshing beyond words to see an exception, someone who absents themselves from the stupid pace of things and can work out independently what is important. It's even more refreshing to witness her belief that this can be changed, rather than cowing, becoming a 'Boo' as it seems Jess would say. Here's to hoping that people can take heart from Jess' message and that there's nothing wrong with finding meaning in small things and people, and building ones own happiness empathy and engagement with others. Thank you for that Jess

[@markdavid7237]

Brilliant. It needed someone to say it so succinctly and passionately.

[@robjwmiller]

Im not a teacher but was looking into primary or secondary high school teaching. This video has made me think twice is it a profession that i will find rewarding. On the other hand as a graduate sports coach working with children is a passion. I will join you on the picket line and advise those thinking of going into teaching to do the same.

[@MrBenHype]

Half my family are teachers and it was something I was looking into, I wouldn't be massively put off at this stage but I would reconsider when you enter the system. The same thing happened 20 years ago when there was a massive shortage of teachers. All that will happen is in the next 5 years, when the government finally realise what idiots they've been they will start to put wages back up and increase incentives to attract teachers back into positions again. It's a dismal system to work in at the moment but if you look ahead a few years there is potential for it to improve.

[@robertcooley2879]

You've taken what so many of us in the profession feel and articulated it so well. Thank you!

[@doylio9]

Thanks for sharing this, Jess. The situation is becoming increasingly draconian by the day. Gove would not last a week in teaching.

[@jeffbattersby1]

Absolutely brilliant Jess so right and sincere, spot on to the reality of teaching as it is and has been for a long time with far too much government intervention and meddling. Stay with it and with your pupils, they as ever will appreciate you and all you and other teachers do for them

[@jamescharles1905]

That is brilliant!!! I am not a teacher (thank god) but my wife is and everything she tells me, everything she puts up with relates to this piece from Jess. Unfortunately the ones who are listening and admiring this are not the ones who can change things. Teacher deserve more a lot more, those people who say " ah well look at the holidays they get" I am sure most spouses of teachers will agree (unless its PE they teach) they are in school preparing for the next term and planning the next years lessons.

[@Lizzydrip929]

You're not the only one on the picket line Jess, there do thousands of us with you, parents, kids and teachers alike! Good on ya!

[@GeezEvansMusic]

You have hit the nail on the head. Mr Gove has got to think about everyone - not just about the worldwide statistics - or what he thinks is best. He's got to think about the pupils AND the teachers, the good and the bad moments, the weak and the strong and everything in-between.. You are an inspiration. #education #amazing

[@johndaniels6100]

Well said. This process of devaluing teaching whilst arsing about with OUR education system started started long ago in the 1980s. If society does not truly value all our youngsters and their teachers you cannot expect them, the young people, to become truly educated.

[@slepycitron]

I've listened three times and have had a tear in the eye each time. Powerful stuff!

[@johnherriman]

And every negative comment that is coming about this wonderful and inspiring piece just goes to show it's not only the government that has forgotten that "Every Child Matters"

[@beautyclassyfied]

Woah. This made me cry. It was phenomenal! True words which couldnt have been put better. Xx

[@MrBenHype]

I've spent the last year of my degree researching into current educational policies, Goves background, how the system is changing, the academy and free school initiatives and what is happening that will directly effect teachers pay, pensions and in turn how that will effect pupils currently in education. Everything in this video is pretty much on the money. But here are a few things that aren't mentioned. Gove wants to increase school days to ten hours, so the UK can compete with Finland and Singapore who are world leaders with education at the moment, he wants to make maths compulsory to 18, ban resits, create standardised tests for year 6 students to enter state comprehensives, reintroduce year 9 SATS, ban any learning occurring outside of the classroom. According to him you can't learn out of anything other than a text book in a classroom, he wants to introduce more complicated maths and science to students at a younger age to help increase knowledge (proven not to work) and cut back funding to arts and the humanities which would effectively create a two tier system. Teachers have had a three year pay freeze and the pensions have been docked massively + they are now going to be expected to work far later than the job should medically allow. Half my family are teachers and I would say 18 hours is excessive but my dad has definitely spent that amount of time on numerous occasions marking work, I'd say 10-12 hours is probably more realistic, baring in mind they don't get paid for any of the work they do off school grounds or any holiday they get. Gove is a man that came from a comprehensive school, acquired a scholarship to a private school then went to Oxford. He is basing the changes on his schooling on his experiences and despite being told by dozens of professionals that it won't work he is still doing it, because him and his entire think tank, with people like Dominic Cummings, all come from an oxbridge education and they don't know any other way. He has no qualifications within education and he has never worked in the system, his main reasoning for being able to make these changes according to him is because "I'm a parent", he is butchering the educational system and almost securing a tragic educational future for children in England.

[@TheMafii]

...Wow. Just, outrightly, wow. Unbelievably powerful. Left speechless.

[@natalieseeve9029]

Jess you are wonderful and i'm going to send this to as many teachers as I can. You have shone a light on the empty competitiveness of our system, and the toll this takes on the people who work in this sytem. Recognising the gulf between what we want for our kids and what they get, is painful.

[@allicexx]

I have goosebumps on my arms and tears running down my cheeks - this is incredibly powerful.

[@peterbroome4965]

Jess, you're so perceptive I could weep. In my 45+ years teaching (I retired 10 years ago, but still taught till recently) I have seen many changes in education, many for the better. But the political interference of these recent years have left me depressed. Whilst education has a (max) 5 year strategy, to be changed as soon as the next administration has been "elected", we shall never improve, except by the indomitable efforts of those who love kids, and teaching, and the future of our country, and see further than the next election. Be proud of this clip; it is superb.

[@xxGraham1969xx]

Oh dear this is depressing, I was educated in Scotland in the '80s, under Thatcher's torie government, and this sounds as if 28 years after leaving school the situation is WORSE. How much do people hate Michael Gove? Teachers sound frustrated and worn down by the system they have to work in.

[@benlowe1701]

I have a few politically minded colleagues in my school, voting for the first time at the next general election - and even though they are members of the Youth Conservative, etc, regularly involved in those politics, they are considering voting Labour just to get rid of Gove - and they are leaving this year, after they have left school. The same with guys who otherwise wouldn't vote, or are not bother by politics. He is not just hated by anyone even remotely connected with education, he is despised with a passion.

[@robddaniel]

An awesome stand Jess, beautifully done!!! Shared everywhere :)

[@57563]

Bloody fantastic! I taught for 35 years until recently and she summed it up perfectly!

[@bathhugs2152]

Spot on. Fantastic poetry with passion and belief. Love it

[@VirtueOrsin]

This is amazing. My mum and my big sister are both teachers. My sister works here in the UK but my mum works for Service Children's Education on a military base in Germany, and sadly is not allowed to join her UK collegues in strike action, so last October I marched with the teachers on her behalf against pay cuts, pensions and conditions and will continue to do so for as long as it takes for the cause to be taken seriously.

[@murraysackwild7776]

Absolutely brilliant Jess Green

[@kingwigga]

Nice work Jess. You've hit it head on. I teach in Scotland, but so much of what you describe is mirrored up here. I salute you for making a stand when so many of us are censored by the authorities we work in

[@serinawain738]

Wow! Amazingly talented and the truthful power of your words took my breath away. Let's hope this finds its way to Mr Gove for the sake of not only us as teaching practitioners but for the sakes of the generation of learners we are trying to drag through his insanity and regimes. Amazing video!

[@andymarshall1035]

Jess I love your touch with words. Don't let doing something that you don't like any more kill your spirit or addle your mind. Talk's cheap money builds houses. Vote with your feet and take your talents elsewhere, you are a class act.

[@macroverbumsciolist]

That was brilliant! I'm still in secondary school myself, and it just feels like you hit the nail on the head with this.

[@aoldfolk]

Incredible. Beautifully put.

[@johngreenwell591]

I'm a northerner teaching maths in the Tory heart land. This may be a little lefty but totally right on what is being done to the profession. More work more hoops to jump through is not what any teacher wants to do. I would love to spend my time planning better lessons and giving help to those pupils who want and need help. But know I spend my break time and after school hours doing the exact opposite.

[@petitefranglaise4482]

Desperately trying to make my decision whether to strike this week...your witty, eloquence puts forward so many of the grievances felt by teachers whose passion for teaching is being quashed by those in power who seem to have little knowledge of the reality of life in our classrooms and what truly is best for the children of the UK. THANK YOU for your astounding video.

[@carolannchalloner3778]

This is fantastic and sums up how the very large majority of teachers are feeling right now. Well done, Jess.

[@rebeccavincent3799]

This is superb. Moved to tears.

[@katallcock7245]

This is so, so true. And despite the massive mountain of problems, and issues, and stresses, and changes, and policies, it's teachers like this woman who inspire me to become a teacher myself :)

[@kmsmith28ify]

This is superb! Thank you for doing this to support our profession against this weasel. X

[@isander1]

Superb!!! Pure Gold!!! Outstanding ++++

[@holbyandbusby]

This is superb. I was a a teacher who cared about how my students did and what we did for them. There are those who don't. But non of us has the time. Even 10 years ago I took part in a time tracking exercise where I discovered that on a light week I did 50 hours and on a heavy one where I had a team out or a Duke of Edinburgh award scheme group out - for no extra pay - I would be on for over 100 hours. We put this in and didn't ask for anything except that they didn't fix what was not broken. Now even my pension is being affected and yet I had to give up due to the stress applied by heads who could not cope with the stress they were under. Now I identify and support those who have been left behind by a system which refuses to accept that they might not fail if they were given the right teaching from the start.

[@michellelaffling4060]

I've got 17 years classroom experience. It's always been a job with a heavy workload and I never felt like earned anything like I deserved. That's teaching.

[@antonylishak]

You speak for the many - that's children and teachers. Long may you voice be heard - thank you, Jess!

[@tyler32093]

I really like watching this. great video

[@chrissymccann6291]

Well said, after forty years of teaching I wholeheartedly agree. The trouble with the politicians in charge of education is that they have all been to school, so they think they know all about it.

[@barbaraleonard79]

Sums up lots of the reasons I called time on a job I loved. If only he would listen...

[@sunnymadher]

I'm on your picket line Jess Green!

[@A1EyeDCatppn]

Thankyou for your passionate plea to protect learning in the education system and to value teaching as a profession. This video is overwhelmingingly a plea for student focused learning, and high order thinking. But it also recognises teachers need to have balance to provide the desired outcomes for their students.

[@beckiejbrown]

I thought this was about children's education and how outdated/horrible it is and how hard it is for teachers... until the last 40 seconds. This is about pensions? ---- Education is terrible, truly. I look back with such hate towards what I call "School". It was a conveyor belt, mass producing workers. Those who are talented are raised high - "gifted and talented" - was a major insult to all who were declined or passed over. Those at the bottom or with learning disabilities are given patch ups, bump ups, extra time, more classes, special classes... Those in the middle, like me - spend 5 years feeling like crap - feeling like, despite our best efforts, made alone without that extra help the others receive - we will always be average. I never had those benefits, I got my grades off my own back, in my own way and the price I paid was depression and baldness. Education should not be defined by silly exams at the end of the period - not everything we learn has a correct answer. Sure 1+1=2 but some lessons are more about self discovery - like creating canvases of art. You cannot judge that alongside millions of other children. We should not be divided up purely by the dates we were born. My best friend picked up simultaneous equations in one week... I was struggling to do basic ones 2 years after we first started learning. I can paint a canvas in 4 hours to high quality, yet my sister spent 3 weeks producing work that she still cannot smile about. We all learn in different ways and at different speeds AND we all have different talents. We should not be judged by whether we can do maths, science or english and give the correct answers in set amount of time. It's ludicrous. As a child going through education in this country, it is the most soul-crushing-damaging period. It crushes your creativity, aspirations, motivation... you go in with stars in your eyes, you come out closer to the ground.

[@benshepherd2076]

"mass producing workers" is exactly what schools are for, even if you try and wrap it up in a venomous term. If you want to have work displayed at a gallery you would be expected to present a portfolio of work, and you'd be judged on that. You'd be judged on it because that's an appropriate way to see if you're good enough. In the same way that passing an exam in maths is an appropriate way to show to an employer you can do maths to a certain level. If you find something you're passionate about then who cares what "that kid who was in gifted and talented" is doing? He's probably been pushed into doing a degree he doesn't really like because he was told he was good at it, and ended up in a job he hates. If you can live your own life without having to compare it to other people's then you'll be happy, and probably closer to the ground too, a good thing.

[@beckiejbrown]

But that's what teachers teach kids. You will be compared to others throughout school. Your grades will be compared to 100 others when placed into sets. You're ability in any subject will be judged... I'm all for not comparing myself to others... but from an early age - it's beaten into us :(.

[@benshepherd2076]

The kids compare themselves to others, they're not taught it. Schools would be much worse with nothing to help kids that need more help and no harder work in place for those that need the challenge. It's a basic human instinct to compare yourself to others, but a huge part of being a mature person is being able to stop caring about it, and there's no easy way to do it. It's just something people realise eventually, it takes some decades longer than others.

[@beckiejbrown]

I agree that people compare without being taught... but I also believe that this society is all about competition. School taught me that if I'm not the best, I'm going to fall behind... fall behind I did. I'm fighting my own way. I'll never be good enough for them, :(. To some extent, being confident in yourself is great - but a little comparing can open your eyes to what goes on around you.... :(.

[@92RedRevolver]

As an FYI, me and all three of my sisters were on the Gifted and Talented register, placed in the top sets across all subjects. We were never given special treatment. I had to leave that school when I was 13 because it had made me so severely anxious and depressed, something I struggle with to this day. So being so called 'Gifted and Talented' doesn't mean much. At the end of the day, the girls that benefited were the girls whose lives had gone right. Who didn't have to struggle so much, with their own demons or the environment around them. Mostly the girls that showed off and successfully bullied others into the ground. If you're going to say anything, perhaps that those who excel most are the ones that are taught that it's okay to be mean and nasty and manipulative as long as you're successful at it.

[@StephMcAlea]

I discovered my aptitude for learning after I left school. My physics teacher just used to hand out books and get us to copy out pages. When I told my dad he asked who the teacher was. I told him his name and he laughed. My physics teacher was HIS music teacher. The system is broken after being beaten by ideology for decades. I now own my own business as a professional cartographer. I became so because I love the subject and IN SPITE of school.

[@andrewsmith3503]

Steph, could it not be that there weren't enough subject specialists as referred to in the poem?

[@benlowe1701]

Andrew Smith Exactly. Apart from the fact that the further memorisation of facts and figures without learning is exactly what the government is implementing.

[@andrewsmith3503]

So you agree with Jess Green's sentiments?

[@benlowe1701]

I do indeed.

[@mistergeedotcom]

This brought tears to my eyes. Thank you and keep it up.

[@cazashley]

Fabulous Jess. Thanks for saying so eloquently what we are ALL thinking!

[@MusicTheatreAcademy]

After watching my mother become seriously ill after teaching in a Midland comprehensive for 25 years, I foolishly followed her into the profession. 16 years on, a wife , two children a "teacher of the year" nomination, both my wife and I plan our escape. Our school has lost six senior teachers in the same number of years, not retired...dead. We owe it to our families to draw a line in the sand. The video comes from an inspired young teacher our children desperately need. I'm sure our replacements will be cheap and unqualified full of enthusiasm for at least five minutes. When reality hits, I wonder who will be there for them.

[@dyngwyr1]

Brilliant Jess. The pen is mightier than the sword.

[@goatsegg]

Jess you and all the striking teachers have my full support

[@shanatarafdar3513]

Well said Jess. Not a teacher yet but I want to be and it's teachers like yourself that inspire us students ;) Every word is so true, it bought a tear (or two) to my eyes. Powerful words, well said and I hope he who it was intended for watches this until his eyes bleed!!

[@smileyraw]

This is amazing! Thank you x

[@keirwilliams1381]

Perfect Jess Green. Perfect.

[@lunidt9560]

I have only just heard this powerful and moving poem. Thank you Jess this certainly resonated.

[@gillnorris394]

Wow, Wow, Wow. Well done Jess. Very powerful. Very moving. Many thanks for sharing.

[@MartinSlidelMusic]

Great going JG!

[@malcolmpercival4504]

Thank you Jess x

[@johnnyontube]

Hi Jess I would love to see you include many of your pupils in another video in which they share their feelings about school life. My opinion is of a very similar one to yours. When I was at school, I was absolutely bored crap in almost every lesson. The funny thing is that when I left school and encountered the subjects again they were bloody fascinating when I wasn't forced to remember specific facts, data and encouraged to compete even if I didn't want to. So when I didn't compete and didn't get the grades the rest of the class managed to attain , I felt like a failure. Now I realise it wasn't a failure on my behalf; It was a failure on behalf of authority that enforce these insane structural restrictions on young adventurous, curious- minded individuals. When I look back at my time at school I think... brilliant social life but an absolute waste of time trying to force me to learn things I had no interest in whatsoever. I always wonder what would have happened if my natural tendencies to certain subjects were nurtured and encouraged, where would I be today? I remember as a child at home I would read animal books and I loved to draw. Now I can't draw and don't know much about animals. No-one bothered to ask what I was interested in as a child. I think we ought to change that, in this "modern" age where creativity, enjoyment and fun are as scarce as ever in all areas of life. So I think by a teacher sharing a video that allows the children to have a voice would hopefully encourage more schools to do so. We can then, learn from the younger generation what would be best for them rather than politicians telling them how they ought to be taught. Good Video Jess.

[@alyxbearman4090]

I want to make Mr Gove watch this video until his eyes bleed

[@montpelier42d]

Well done, Jess.