It’s time to get up, pull on the school uniform and the tie with that dreaded knot - the special knot that would otherwise show you up. Downstairs you eat the breakfast your oblivious parents have prepared on automatic drive, grab the school bag, say goodbye to “Frazzle” the dog who looks back with those […]

The big players in video games are looking closely at developing new educational games to be played on games consoles and Pc’s. We look at the top 10 aspects we feel should be considered in the next generation of learning games. This list is just the start, please comment on what you feel would be […]

Isn’t it amazing how targets get in the way. Any target driven organisation seems bound to play games with the figures  to maximise the score, why wouldn’t they?
We have the police that did not report serious crime properly ( pushed the crime detection rate up) banks that astounded everyone ( how long have you got?) […]

We accept the ideal that the education of children attempts to follow a similar format throughout the world. It comes a shock that the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA)  recently banned an advert promoting  Horlicks which claimed that Horlicks makes children “taller, stronger and sharper”  after it mistakenly was screened on British television. The ASA has […]

At last a breakthrough. Headteachers are now able to recruit bursars to run the school finance’s and administration - and leave Headteachers to do what they do best  - TEACH
Already applications are arriving from Deputy heads seeking promotion after years of stagnation. Maybe we can see numerous schools start to move forward, but lets hope […]

Matching subjects at school to career aspirations is a bit of a lottery. In the past careers were mapped out virtually at birth. Sons and daughters were heavily influenced by the jobs held by their parents. Now many jobs have emerged that didn’t exist when a child started school. Subject selection and specialisation have become […]

The lifestyle of any busy mum can impact on the schooling of children.  Ruth Kelly, Minister for Transport, and ex Educational Secretary packs in parliament to give more support to her children.
Every mother suffers from guilt!  It’s natural, goes with the job, is very difficult to overcome and causes considerable angst.  Fathers as a rule, […]

So at last Sat’s for the 14 year old are to be scrapped. Likened to the MOT test where some cars are “cleaned up” just before the annual test, the test to test syndrome associated with the Sat’s tests can at last disappear. Instead let us hope teachers are allowed to enrich the teaching process […]

A recent survey in Northern Ireland has revealed that 22% of all children have been physically attacked by school bullies, 39% have been bullied in other ways, and thanks to modern technology 10% have been bullied by internet or text.
A sad indictment of the control that some children seek to impose on others, and the […]

Just when you thought it was safe and had come to terms with PC’s, Mac, Vista, networks and miniBooks the world is shortly to start turning the other way. Welcome to the wonderful world of Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs). We asked Brian Kerslake, Managing Director of Toplogika Software Ltd, one of the ‘oldest’ educational games […]

Teaching four-year-old children to write is nonsense says literacy consultant Sue Palmer. “As useful as teaching a dog to walk on its hind legs.” So why has the National Curriculum in the UK adopted new assessments to measure handwriting skills in the first year at school?
Concerned opinion asks why the government introduced a scheme which […]

Recent trials of a Nintendo maths games in Scotland have proved to be very successful. The key benefit is the format is seen as an educational game by children that is fun. This invokes a natural element of practice to improve the score or move to a new platform. It also allows peer assistance ( […]

The world is smaller than we think. Apart from the financial crisis that has become global, the issues concerning education seem remarkably common between the UK USA and Australia. Barack Obama made the following comments yeserday on his education policy.
In a major policy address and later in an interview with the editor of The Toledo […]