Day 90

I found out today that there are only a few people at NU that did not sign the new contracts, but one of them is already leaving at the end of their contract. So it will be interesting to see if the majority of us got it wrong and NU were going to pay the higher salary anyway, or whether NU will honor what they said and only give the top-up to those that signed. I can only imagine the ire that will ensue if it is the former, but given that this same person (who is leaving) also had provisions in their contract that have never been upheld, no-one can be really sure what will happen next.

Perhaps this is the biggest impact and starkest contrast with work in the UK. I am learning not to be overly fussed unless or until it directly affects my family's well being. It does feel like a roulette wheel has been spun and each candidate coming into NU ends up with a randomised package (salary and title) and if you accept, then you are given a number and slotted in to that position for 3 years. The fact that you could get away with the bare minimum, have no aspirations to better oneself or the university, is truly remarkable. But this is not me and I want to put this time to good use.


I met with an academic today who was viewing NU in consideration as to whether they will take the offered post. I tried to inform them of the broad scope of issues and possibilities, but I sensed that they were not really listening and their decision would be based on how much more salary and better post they can extract from the hierarchy. One useful thing they did say was that from their experience (being Russian) a contract is only honored as long as it is useful and are likely to change in order to reflect a new state of affairs. I retorted that if this was the case, then it is highly likely that the grand vision for NU will never be realised and no research or academic strategy could ever come to pass. I am not sure this person really cared, though I could be wrong.

Had a fantastic breakfast this morning, bringing my whole family into the NU cafiteria for pancakes, some form of sausage and eggs and all less than £3 for 5 of us. It didn't include coffee for Ali though, to her disappointment. The children and Ali stayed on for a short while, entertaining the locals and keeping my office colleagues in line. They all returned at the end of the day for more drinks and ice cream. Then finished off their lessons by drawing flags of the world, which are decorating my School entrance in preparation for Nauryz part 2 - apparently, Nauryz part 1 was insufficient. I still don't get it, but will hopefully find out later in the week.

Ray

 

I’ve been reading lately about various home educators and their opinions, ideas and ways of doing things.  The resources and curriculums available are becoming more of a minefield – those that are very structured and follow pretty much the same as regular schools and those who are more relaxed in their approach.  Today it struck me again how much children can learn when we don’t interfere.  In a 20 minute bus ride (it was a coach and we were the only ones travelling on it so more conducive to concentration than a public bus here!) I sat behind Rebekah and Matthias and listened to their conversation.  They read a book together with Rebekah helping Matthias with tricky words.  This then led to an in depth discussion on various other books they had read and a quick chat about the origin of the song that was playing on the radio.  Finally as we drive past a huge mosque, they had a good little discussion about its architecture and how they could compare it with a church building.  I was suitably impressed – I’m sure if I had tried to lead similar discussions with them round a table or in a classroom we would not have achieved nearly as much.

They then completed their regular maths work while Kyria played at a toddler group, they had an extended painting art lesson at friends house and finished off the day by copying a number of flags of the world that were suspended outside Ray’s department at work.  I’m not sure I would have achieved as much if I’d planned and marked extensively.  Funny how a day ‘off’ school can still be a learning day...

 

Ali