The weekend press reflected the cyclical dearth of news as the Northern hemisphere lunged into holiday mode. Journalists dredging the news agencies reported on three educational stories involving parents that could otherwise have easily slipped into obscurity.

Education, as a prime activity, escapes from its daily torrent of political comment and operational concern, yet three story lines pervaded the emptied corridors displaying a tangible link.

In France the most popular summer read is “Le Cahier de Vacances pour Adultes” Holiday revision guide for parents. Aimed at providing parents with a knowledge boost in readiness to support their children’s return to school, and the inevitable plea for help with homework, 3.5m of these popular holiday revision guides are sold each year. Their success is a combination of a genuine desire to provide more effective support to their children, and a macho challenge to ensure parents stay one step ahead of the child.

The guides are also said to be a great leveller; parents experience the complexities of the curriculum first hand, and children appreciate that parents taking a practical interest in the school programme will be more supportive to them next term.

The guides are meant to be enjoyable, but the French, unlike the English, do not just read for fun gain reassurance from the guide’s serious and factual content. Our culture allows a greater sense of fun to subsist, but equally the beneficial outcome of parents and child cementing an operational bond throughout the schooling process has a distinct and lasting payback.

The majority of modern teaching resources have been developed in educational games format. This presents the ideal opportunity for parents to take an enjoyable and highly practical role in reinforcing classroom lessons at home – far an away from the conventional one dimensional text and exercise book based homework. Seventy five percent of learning retention is achieved from through the practice function – more practical to be completed at home.

And this links to the second news story. The quality of schooling in the private sector has long been recognised as superior to state schools. The average annual fee of £10,000 represents between 25% – 36% of professional incomes has risen assiduously by 41% in the last five years. Although only 7% of children in England attend private school they attain a disproportionately high level of results in exams. The key to the success lies in the detail, private schools have an average teacher to pupil ratio of 1:9.7 whereas in state schools this increases to 1:30. This presents a logarithmic increase in the teaching complexities of the larger group results in a hugely depleted comparable output in teaching. But the link to the first news story could herald salvation.

The involvement of parents in the “practice at home” activity dramatically improves the effective teaching ratio to give their children a better change without the expense or limited access to private schools. The 1:1 relationship at home, critically at the pace of the child leads to a significant improvement in performance back in school. This functional interaction between parent, child and school also leads to a widening of knowledge and perhaps this is what education is all about.

The third story reveals the success achieved at the Camborne Science and Community College an 11-18 mixed comprehensive school in Cornwall. Having introduced practical parental involvement in the design and technology programme through a combination of home and school activities resulted in an 11% improvement in GCSE performance. It should be pointed out that Cambourne College operates in an area which suffers from considerable deprivation with high unemployment and low aspirations. 21% of students are eligible for free school meals, 15 % have special educational needs. Getting Parents on board

All parents can now take on a hugely beneficial role in the schooling of their children. Their practical interaction, moral and mentoring support leads to a mutual benefits that can take the state schooling process to new level.

History is under attack from apathy. Cast into relative obscurity within the National Curriculum this largely misunderstood subject area possibly holds the greatest impact in the future destiny of countries of tomorrow.  

A bold statement coming from one who took little personal interest whilst at school. Slightly misquoted as one damn thing after another in Alan Bennett’s film and stage play “The History Boys” it is a crucial area of knowledge that requires careful handling to stimulate interest and provide reason in the developing mind. My own experience comprised of reading endless dull text books at school would have benefited immensely from the modern history games format which increases interest immeasurably.

The entire Government of tomorrow is currently in our schools and their grounding in History is vital if we are to benefit from learning from the mistakes and successes of the past. History which is the manifestation of the one true virtue of hindsight could have resolved many surmises of the modern world. But it needs to be handled with care entrusted to teachers able to put a modern slant on the subject to present facts in an enlightening manner to stimulate interest.

Modern teaching resources such as Ancient Egypt, Roman , Victorian, Viking , and World War 2 games  all present the facts in an entertaining way for the enquiring mind.
My enemies’ enemy is my friend maintains stability in many countries of the modern world, with predictable results if the status quo is interrupted. The possibly repressive Tito regime in the then Yugoslavia held the country under control for decades. His ultimate demise saw the burst into a blood bath between the warring factions previously held in check. So why didn’t we anticipate that the removal of Saddam Hussein in Iraq would suffer the same consequence. History should have taught us.

Culture, religion, natural resources, environment, land, access routes conspire as key elements in the modern world yet all stem from a basis in history. Economic situations track with modern dynamics but the glue holding the machine together comes from the past. Let us hope that History can be elevated to the status it rightly deserves and avoid the irony of going down in the history books with an epitaph of why on earth did we never learn from the past.

Alistair Owens

educational games from www.keen2learn.co.uk

The recent government decision to modify the history programme in the curriculum makes stark reading. It may not be one of the “easy” subjects but one of the most influential in future long term decisions. It does not need to to be the heavy subject some of us think it is – just take a look at our history games .

Placing the events of history in context is essential if we are to learn cause and effect. The future leaders of the UK are currently in school. It is vital they as well as the rest of us comprehend the potential behind any future decisions that involve country borders, cultures, religion, industry, economics, social reforms and past conflict etc. etc.see world war games.

Maybe a few of the current leaders would benefit from an immersion in history to develop the vital insight able to guide future decisions and avoid repeating mistakes of the past.

Echoing A.J.P.Taylor’s quote – ironically also featured in the recent film the “History Boys” – “History, its one thing after another” we should add that other maxim – what goes round comes round. History surely provides the best perception of what is coming round.

Alistair Owens

reading and poetry games from www.keen2learn.co.uk

The opportunity to influence changes in the curriculum are being sought from teachers. Is this a good thing ?
The benefits of education can be measured by its practical usefulness in later life. Knowledge of the codes and keys to problem solving enriches the educational experience. Better we therefore let head teachers select the contemporary relevance of what is being taught. This would engender a participative learning platform encouraging teachers to provide children with useful application data in place of time expired theory.

  Example of the vehicle fuel system of tomorrow

Alistair Owens education games www.keen2learn.co.uk

Some of us may recall that awful moment when you are forced to push your child metaphorically or physically through the school gate into school. Although the majority soon overcome their reluctance a few find the school environment a continuing issue. The reasons are legion with numerous books giving sound advice on potential solutions. But one underlying Catch 22 is that any absence means they slip behind their lessons and subsequently feel even more reluctant to attend.

Maybe it was a slow learning capacity that created the impasse with peer pressure at school doing little to ease the problem. Academic achievement is therefore at risk but there is a way to try and help build confidence. Lessons at school progress at the average speed of the class, if a child is slipping behind it is extremely difficult for a teacher to devote more than an average of 11minutes per week on a 1:1 basis to help, and the spiral begins.

Pitching the learning programme to suit the individual is best achieved in a small group; being part of a class of 30+ is therefore not ideal. Learning at the pace of the child is the ideal, and with modern teaching resources a highly practical solution is to reinforce the classroom lessons through practice with educational games and a parent at home.

This activity can be extremely rewarding to both child and parent with as much as a 25% improvement in performance being achieved. Using similar teaching resources used in class these fun and enjoyable educational games. Parents do not require teaching skills as the games are self evident and the introduction has been handled by the teacher. Practicing the lesson at home at the pace of the child builds confidence and enthusiasm and maybe helps overcome the reluctance to attend class. The parental involvement also provides a comprehensive approach to understanding the problem and can actively participate in the potential solution. It’s amazing what a parent will learn at the same time.

The teaching resources extend across all subjects of the National Curriculum and cover ages from preschool through key stage 4 (15years old) for standard subject area as well as special needs and gifted and talented. These can be seen on web sites such as www.keen2learn.co.uk

PTA groups play a beneficial part in the social and financial support of schools but through a significant refocus of their operation from the current fund raising activity they can take a pivotal role in the academic development of children in the school.

The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) previously known as the DfES seeks to significantly re-engage parents in the schooling process. The “Every Parent matters” programme launched earlier this year by sets out to encourage parents to take a more interactive role in the support of their child’s progress by reinforcing classroom lessons at home. Surveys show that this can lead to a 25% improvement in a child’s performance.

Overcoming the historic parental disconnect from the schooling activity, apart from homework chasing, the scheme sets out to harness a pro active interaction between parent and child using the same modern teaching resources used in school. Analysis by the National Training Laboratories in the USA shows around 75% of learning retention is achieved through practice – notoriously difficult to achieve in class due to constraints on time, class size and equipment.

Teaching resources used in school are now available to parents. They have been designed with fun in mind involving learning through a range of educational games. Practice at home at the pace of the child provides a huge boost to their progression in the subject area. As with all effective learning, enjoyment is essential and the proactive support of parents – especially fathers gives them a greater understanding of the schooling programme.

Parents need to be more aware of the performance of their child in the various subject areas. Although end of term reports and parents night now on far greater relevance, it is worth adopting the process as soon as possible. A pupil support form allowing the teacher to identify the subject area where practice is required, can be downloaded from www.keen2learn.co.uk A guide to the National Curriculum programme is also on the site showing the various subjects and the milestones children will progress through.

Parents don’t need teaching experience to support this programme as the subject areas will have been originally introduced by the teacher. Learning formats, such as a common approach to solving maths games, is achieved through the use of the same learning resource used in class by the teacher.

Alistair Owens Educational games at www.keen2learn.co.uk

A recent article which appeared in the Times by Alexandra Frean, Education Editor stated that less than half of primary school teachers have two good A levels, while only 41 per cent of secondary teachers have a degree in the subject they teach, according to a report claiming that the profession is in crisis.

There has been a big increase in teacher numbers in recent years, after a shortage in the mid1990s. But the report from the think-tank Politeia says government policies focus too much on increasing numbers with too little regard for quality. It notes there there are two non teaching members of staff for every three teachers. There are now 150,000 teaching assistants, while the number of unqualified teachers working in schools has increased significantly in the past decade.

Bob Moon, Professor of Education at the Open University and co-author of the report, said: “The assessment system allows even the weakest candidates through.”

Do we have a system that is imbalanced due to a gap in the applicants subject expertise or the overall demands of the educational system? Holding relevant first class honours is of little use to a teacher unable to control a modern classroom and motivate the learning process. Adolescents constantly test the boundaries, and as in the animal kingdom, the weak are defeated by the strong.

Stress is the single largest reason for newly qualified teachers to leave the profession within three years. Constant curricula modifications, the attitude and aptitude of the class versus the ability of the teacher to assimilate, control and stimulate takes its toll.

The high level of staff turnover creates issues, not least attempting to match qualifications to subject area. Any teacher lacking the control instinct is doubtful to excel in front line teaching – in any subject. And once the weakness is spotted in the class the hyenas move in.

Changes in society’s attitudes and modern influences on children’s behaviour have to be accepted but kids will always respond positively to some form of discipline. Setting the ground rules removes the option to play up, allowing the teacher to concentrate on the learning process. Key is the fundamental skill to make learning fun and enjoyable engendering an enthusiasm to learn more. Modern classroom resources incorporating learning in educational games format assists the teaching capacity at school and equally at home.

Better to have a skilled disciplinarian than a degree, but maybe the role of parental support at home is more of a necessity than we realise.

Alistair Owens

educational games at www.keen2learn.co.uk

The almost daily stream of news reporting the pressures surrounding the UK educational system raises concern of the possibility of any solution. It seems the process of education has become embroiled in a struggle to evolve in line with changes in our culture.

With the modern teaching resources developed for the classroom over the past five years now available for home use, now is the time for teachers to enlist the huge and largely untapped practical resource available from parents at home.

Read the full article at Education Today.

The news that a supply teacher is to be suspended after releasing video footage of children in her class causing significant disruption is alarming for several reasons. Although the manner of the release, to a TV company, has rankled the authorities it is doubtful whether the content of the situation would have had the same impact if it were not screened.

The time spend by a teacher in dealing with the disruptive element in a class is teaching time lost to the balance of the class wanting to learn. Perhaps this should be dealt as an offence, but please no quaint terms such as “joyriding” use erroneously to describe vehicle theft. There is no joy for the vehicle owner faced with disruption, increased premiums or policy excess charges. Equally, disrupting a class is a theft of education for the remainder wanting to learn that can have long lasting dire consequences and should be dealt with accordingly rather than just shooting the messenger.