The Blog

A couple of years into the programme and a few cracks have appeared in the structure and  educational performance of free schools and academies. The much heralded foray into this new concept was crucial to the educational ministers strategy of rebuilding schools for the future.
Severed from the operational control by local government the Academy and [...]

In the midst of the turmoil that constantly surrounds teachers, schools, teaching resources and league tables we have a further teachers strike.
Parents who have striven  to get their children into the best school and thereby the best education are now faced with industrial action that will see hundreds of schools close today Wednesday 26th March.  [...]

One of the themes that constantly haunt the world of education is despite our teaching resources being around for millennia we still have not perfected an educational system that fit for purpose in 2014.
Children have been born and educated in the UK since the year dot. Times and techniques have changed but somehow we have [...]

Student debt is running at £36bn in the UK. A couple of years ago we commented on the level of student debt that remains unpaid in the USA. Student tuition fee debt in the USA in 2012 stood at $833bn and at the time exceeded the prevailing credit card debt.
Worryingly still is the fact that [...]

One of the greatest concerns to any parent is the need to provide the very best education for their children. This can prove to be a nightmare involving gaining admission to an ideal school and an educational programme provided by the best teachers. Unfortunately this can prove to be a tortuous path and many parents feel [...]

The world of education is in turmoil once again. If we are not scrutinising exam results or introducing yet another initiative we are presented with investigations highlighting the morals of teachers, this time in independent schools.

The vast majority of us passed through the schooling system relatively unscathed. Whether we ultimately realised our full [...]

Some time ago the keen2learn blog highlighted a concern over the long-term effect of student borrowings and the ability to repay the debt. Taking the USA as the benchmark, where college and university educational fees have been the norm for decades, some startling facts emerge that should be reviewed in the UK.
The Department for Education [...]

History often repeats itself, as the saying goes, and this also includes the world of education. Our teaching resources are again met with a significant change this time in the exam pass grading structure of the GCSE. The proposal to revert back to a numerical system to denote the pass grade gives a greater indication [...]

The strikes by the teaching resources in our schools, apart from depleting the schooling content of students, are creating a backlash with the public. Parents having to fund childcare or take time off work to care for the displaced schoolchildren are hard pressed to find support for the teaching unions actions.
The schooling of children is [...]

One of the frequent criticisms heard from universities and employers is that many students are unprepared for life in the real world. Their education may have ticked the right boxes with regards to the curriculum but the maturity and awareness of life in the real world  in further education or as an employee is sadly [...]

Students in secondary school learn about hearing and the structure of the ear in science and biology lessons. But common with all our  senses we can take then for granted later in life – until they start to fail. Whilst we may recognised the need for sight tests most of us overlook what life can [...]

The next general election is now 18 months away in 2015. Round about now the cabinet focuses on how to win. Ministers are charged with vote winning exercises rather than long-term strategies. We wait to see if the educational minister will be playing some positive educational games with our schooling process during this era.
Come September [...]

Keen2learn now features a range of educational games and teaching resources for business studies. The new range of business conversation cards from Fink cards, initially designed for the business community, is ideal for A level students in business studies. Developed by specialists to engender team conversation and discussion the 48-card set gives some hints, tips [...]

Changes to the national curriculum are to be introduced next year in order to bring the UK educational system up to date and improve its international relevance.
(image FreeDigitalPhotos.net)
Behind the scenes in the department of education has been studying the curriculum used in the world’s leading educational systems. These include Finland, Hong Kong and Singapore, which [...]

With one years notice the Secretary of State for education has announced significant changes to the national curriculum affecting primary schools. This will be yet another major upheaval for the teaching resources in order to accommodate substantial changes in the teaching format.
The latest changes are the outcome of Michael Gove attempting to arrest the declining [...]

The courageous or ill advised move by the Secretary of State for education to toughen up educational standards depends on your viewpoint. Certainly the basis of the mounting criticism over falling standards needed addressing. The annual bloodbath emerging after the final GCSE and A level exam results are published resulted in two camps; parents, children [...]

The tactical manoeuvrings of divide and conquer appears  to be at play in educational circles. Michael Gove, the Minister for Education is on a roll to outflank opposition. Having had his fortune read by successive teaching union conferences, all voicing concerns over his policies, he has developed plans to circumvent the opposition.
In addition to fragmenting [...]

Once again Michael Gove, the educational secretary goes into bat, this time with the National Association of Headteachers. It must be with some trepidation that as head of the U.K.’s educational structure our intrepid minister faces the onslaught of the conference which has already indicated posing a vote of no confidence in his strategy.
The educational [...]

One of the best educational teaching resources to hit the market in recent years – is also one of the simplest.
Developed by a teacher, Thinking Dice are a set of six coloured foam cubes where each face has asks a different question to develop a student’s and adult reasoning skills.
The question areas are

Yellow; remembering,
Orange; understanding,
Red; [...]

One of the primary tasks of parents is to bring up their children to enter adulthood with the best possible options. A good educational foundation is fundamental to this objective. But achieving this without manipulation can be the hardest task any of us can take on, as failure is a collective disaster.
At this time of [...]

Now is the time to get school children involved in science education through some great practical biology games. Despite the inclement weather there is still the great opportunity to get students studying the natural world. Safely collect the bud unharmed in a Pooter bug hunter and see what it looks like at five times magnification [...]

Who would want to be a teacher, more importantly who would want to be a student in the UK at the moment? Ever since his appointment as Secretary of State for Education, Michael Gove seems to be lobbing mortars into our teaching resources in an attempt to instigate fundamental changes.
Common with the military application of [...]

Educational initiatives have come and gone, created mayhem with our teaching resources and cost a fortune. Yet we still languish in an educational programme that is beset with games rather than strategy.
Estelle Morris has always been a heroine in my eyes. As Secretary of State for Education she had the immense strength of character to [...]

The annual Easter teaching conference created a stream of claims, concerns, demands and a vote of no confidence in the Secretary of State for Education. Hardly the news to allow the rest of us can relax and not worry about the fate of teaching in the UK whilst the professionals play educational games with the [...]

A significant difference of opinion is currently raging in France between the Ministry of Education and the teaching resources in primary schools. France is concerned that, in common with the UK, they too are sliding down the only OECD world league table in education. Currently they lie in 29th position out of 45 countries for [...]

Alistair Owens Keen2learn.
At the same time the children are going through the traumas of our educational system, parents are also involved in nerve-racking games and decisions to give their child the best possible schooling. News of the trials and tribulations involving our national curriculum and the performance of teaching resources at our state schools do [...]

In this competitive age the right school and the best education is rightfully at the top of the list for many parents. Displaying some of nature’s least desirable attributes we kick, scream and shout to nudge our children into the right school. We invest in legal support when they don’t. Not necessarily the ideal role [...]

Over the past decade we have seen the U.K. slip down the OECD world league table in educational quality. The shocking statistic just issued by the Institute of Education in London reveals that the brightest maths students in the UK, on a par with their peers in Hong Kong at the age of 10 years, [...]

Ever seen a child read a school text book or complete a homework exercise on a bus, train or car journey? Apart from the negative street cred it would produce it is also a little impractical. But playing some educational games for maths on a mobile device would turn the process of recapping on the [...]

A delightfully eloquent spat has kicked off in the Guardian between two eminent History Professors. Both are understandably highly articulate, hugely knowledgeable of history yet hold totally opposed views on the future of the history curriculum in our schools. An unfortunate game of wit and criticism abounds. But there is also tragedy in this situation.
The [...]