PASS THEM!

One of my friendly colleagues reported that the new programme manager asked him to check another lecturer's work as they were, in the higher management's view, failing too many students. He asked my friend, who has been with the college a long time, to have a quiet word with her to relax her standards. He refused. The programme manager writes English with all the competence of a pre-GCSE student. Has he actually any standards?

Don't go to private colleges!

The principal of the private college I work at is called 'professor'. He was an accountant who moved into college admin. and then ran a government college to turn it towards a business orientation. This of course does not suggest an academic. And-trumpets, etc-he has only a Master. He says that his professorship came from a Chinese university and therefore is an hononary one for services rendered.

Surprise! Surprise!

Last week the other lecturers told me that the management, including the above professor, had a meeting for all the staff to teach them how to teach. Many of the lecturers are qualified, experienced people. They told me it was very patronising.

The problem with the college is the employment as programme leaders fraudsters like the one whose English is like a child's. The propagation of low standards and too many fraudalent and dubiously qualified teachers like the 'professor'.

Don't go to Private Colleges

Back to teaching-

I was in front of my class lecturing on procedures in health and social care. In this college I cannot write the material myself, as I would normally do.

Half way through my lecture I gave up and told the students the material was rubbish. Which it is! The compiler puts up copy and paste American articles on health matters, apparently unaware that the two systems, British and American (USA) are vastly different. Worse he provided case studies for the students. The English in each one was pre-GCSE. On the level of a 12 year old. I felt embaressed and ashamed. My students began to laugh.

The writer is supposed to have an MBA. What can I say? -Buying essays and presenting them as his own in order to achieve a high level qualification?

That afternoon I went to a teacher's meeting to discover that the compiler of the above said barely literate material had recently been made programme manager! Don't go to private colleges unless you check them first!

psychotherapist

After a few weeks I realised all the other students had problems of various kinds. Some were clearly depressive, others recovering from abusive childhoods. But one, a woman of 60, stood out. Judgemental, egotistic, unbalanced. These were her good points. Having psychotherapy with her was like having a cuddle with a rattlesnake.

psychotherapy1111

I was offered an interview, which was to be in Ipswich. It was for a degree course under the indirect auspices of Midddlesex University. I was more concerned then about cost.

The gentleman interviewing me suggested we meet first on Ipswich Rail Station. I agreed arriving there about 4 pm. I expected to go to their facility for the interview but instead was interviewed in the eatery on the platform. WARNING! WARNING!

The gentleman wore the obligatory earrings although he must have been about 50. He was a bit of an aging hippy. I went along with the whole charade convinced that this was for me.

psychoanalysis

A few years ago I decided to train in psychotherapy. Mistakenly, I chose not to do this at a university as getting on to a course I knew would take time, perhaps as much as a year. I therefore looked at alternatives. I found one based in East Anglia which was both cheap and accessible. A huge mistake, but an interesting one.

PSYCHOTHERAPY

In the coming blogs I will detail my experiences training in and acting as a psychotherapist.