Interesting article by Zoe Williams in The Guardian (16 October 2024) …

teachers’ … say TY [transition year – 4th year of secondary] deepens their relationships with students, and, freed from a curriculum, they can explore their own passions. Dale McCarthy, 37, says he emigrated to Ireland from England, having taught in Manchester and two large London comprehensives. “When I was in the UK, the class’s grades were mine. Now, they don’t feel like my results. They belong to an individual. I was blown away by that: ‘Oh right, the students are in charge of their own learning.’ As teachers, we’re trusted. The levels of bureaucracy are much lower. No one’s checking to see if I taught my lessons. If I was in the room, I taught it.”

Read the article here