The primary curriculum review will solve nothing
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However little (or much) senior civil servants know about the state of education, there is no doubt that they are politically astute. Their drafting of schools secretary Ed Balls’ brief to Sir Jim Rose, the former director of inspection at Ofsted, to conduct an “independent” review of the primary curriculum (announced as part of the [...]
No student loan without ID card says government
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Students will be “blackmailed” into holding identity cards in order to apply for student loans, the Tories have warned.According to Home Office documents leaked to the Conservative party last night, those applying for student loans will be forced to hold identity cards to get the funding from 2010.Anyone aged 16 or over will be expected [...]
Scrambled thinking
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I do feel for headteachers - with so many initiatives being thrust at them, it must be hard to prioritise. Jacqui Smith wants them to introduce metal detectors (”security arches”, she calls them). Ed Balls wants compulsory cooking lessons, initially in schools that already offer a food technology GCSE, in all schools by 2011.The danger [...]
Retrain as physics specialists and get #163;5000 teachers told
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Teachers who retrain to become maths, physics and chemistry specialists will get a “golden handshake” of %26#163;5,000 under new government plans announced today.The new %26#163;140m scheme is aimed at increasing the number of science and maths teachers, improving results at GCSE and getting more young people studying science, technology, engineering and maths - Stem - [...]
Only class war on public schools can rid us of this unhinged ruling class
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If only the government would justify the paranoia of the ruling classes. They believe, as they have always believed, that they are under unprecedented attack. All last week the rightwing papers rustled with the lamentations of the privileged, wailing about a new class war. If only.The whinge-fest was prompted by the publication of the Charity [...]
Cash confusion
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The government must deal with three long-term funding challenges for post-14 learning. The handing over of the cash for 16- to 19-year-olds by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) to local authorities is one. Closing the gap between publicly funded adult skills and higher education (HE) is another.And then there is paying for “reskilling” (for [...]
The fight against stress
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It’s approaching 5pm on a Wednesday night, and in a primary school gymnasium in north London, 35 tired and hungry teachers are being encouraged into tai chi poses.Leading the charge is Sue Westin, co-founder of holistic health company Relaxing the Mind, who has come to Roe Green primary school in Brent to run a “Keeping [...]
Where state schools are so good few go private
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“One family rented a house for a week in the school catchment area and fitted out the front room,” says John Wilson, education director for East Renfrewshire. “The school was suspicious and an inspector went along to check. He looked in the front window and saw them all sitting around the table eating dinner. But [...]
Crib sheet
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Small babes, large lessonsSeventeen-year-old Nathan Carson used to think having a baby with his girlfriend wouldn’t be too bad. “I probably thought, if it happens, it happens - we’ll manage somehow,” he says. Being involved in the reality TV show the Baby Borrowers, in which the BBC gave teenage couples live babies to care for [...]
Child abuse exam paper recalled
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Thousands of GCSE examination papers have been recalled after headteachers complained that one of the questions asked children to research a photograph depicting child abuse.The picture, Heart Attack by Tracey Moffatt, which forms part of the permanent collection at the Tate Modern, shows a naked man reaching out for a young child.In a letter to [...]
