Alistair Owens www.keen2learn.co.uk
Just when we thought we understood how to save the planet a bombshell emerges which turns the ethos on its head. Digital radio has me greatly concerned. It is difficult to mount a science based renewable energy educational programme to children and adults on the need to reduce power consumption when the science of digital radio goes completely the other way.

In the not too distant future we all have to throw our perfectly serviceable analogue radios in the skip. The reason; we have to convert to using digital radio receivers to continue to listen to the radio stations we currently know. Granted digital is more versatile, able to tell you the name of the artist and song title being played rather than relying on the disc jockey. But then an energy shock emerges as digital radio uses four times the power to work. Alarmingly they also use batteries at six times the rate of the equivalent analogue radio. Maybe in years to come the efficiency will improve but it is a colossal gap to close.

We will fill landfill sites with vast quantities of perfectly serviceable analogue radios. The energy cost to manufacture digital replacements exacerbating the issue. And then we switch over to a unit that uses power at four times the rate and continue to add to the landfill problem with six times the number of batteries. The batteries should also be recycled but councils don’t want to collect them in normal recycling collections and their small size makes it all too easy to chuck them in the bin.

This is a tricky benchmark against which green energy education takes a severe knock.  Children probably relate to radios more than any other device and the contradiction of new digital technology could easily confuse or dispel the enthusiasm for the larger issues. The solution in addition to  production and design developments to reduce the power demand would the inclusion of solar photo voltaic cells in the sets.

This is a shot in the foot for the green energy team, and not of their making. It is a knock that needs addressing if it is not to suppress other initiatives and create apathy. In the meantime does anyone else have frequent changes radio signal strength? My digital radio starts the day with 80% signal strength but as the day wears on it drops to 10% and lower. The music then proceeds to make all the warbling and fluttering noises it was heralded to remove. Or am I just a Luddite looking for excuses! No it’s a rhetorical question – no need to scratch around for the email address!

We often refer to the National Training Laboratory who conducted research into our learning retention. There is a further saying that summarises  the research:-

I hear and I forget,

I see and I remember,

I do and I understand

Seventy five per cent of learning retention is achieved in “practice in doing.” Despite the continually changing approach in educational policy this fundamental fact still holds true but is often difficult to achieve in school. With the range of educational games now available – this is a great opportunity for parents to help at home.

The plans laid down by Tony Blair and the labour party that heralded the start of a new education policy in 1987 is about to be abandoned.
Is this the start of new found freedom for teachers who have been shackled for the past 15 years? Will we be able to shake free or have we become animals that have bound in a cage for so long we dread the freedom. Time will tell but the greatest concern is that we are admitting we have failed countless children in their education.

Is this a courageous move by the Secretary of State in a new dawn or an essential move to save £100m from the budget of a broken government? See the full article from the Guardian Labour to junk Tony Blair’s flagship school reform

Research in the last three decades has established a clear link between parental involvement and children’s educational attainment. While most of what we know is based on mother-child interactions, increased attention has been paid to the specific influences fathers and other male caregivers have on their children’s development.

This paper briefly summarises the findings from the field of father involvement that also address the issue of children’s literacy practices. Since the literature on father involvement and children’s literacy outcomes is limited with significant knowledge gaps, the focus of the paper has been broadened to encompass evidence regarding father involvement and general child outcomes. This short overview is organised around the following areas:

• What is the level of fathers’ involvement in their children’s literacy practices and how are fathers involved? Are mothers and fathers differently involved? Do specific types of involvement at one stage of development result in particular outcomes later in childhood or adolescence?

• What is known about the influence of father involvement on children’s literacy practices? What is the influence of father involvement on child outcomes over and above that of mothers? And is father involvement equally beneficial to boys and girls?

Read the full article from the Literacy trust

Alistair Owens www.keen2learn.co.uk

Ed Balls, Minister of State for Children Schools and Families plans to merge selected good schools with failing schools. The idea is to allow the strength of the good school to infiltrate the bad school and also reduce costs. This educational game is fraught with issues and could result in the good school being dragged down more that the bad school is moved up.

About two years ago the Association of School and College Leaders reviewed the concept of a strong Headteacher being able to run two schools. This was a possibility provided such a Headteacher existed and was interested. It was also an indictment that schools were failing to attract the right calibre of Headteacher in the first place.

The idea we could have chains of school management companies supposedly to tighten the running and reduce costs is a significant move. But the bottom line is the bottom line; the emphasis is not of primarily improving the performance of the weaker schools flagged up by Ofsted, but a way to reduce the costs by pooling budgets between the schools. Another indication that UK Ltd is running our of cash.

Are we really to mess with the educational goals by adjusting the budgets and have area or regional Head teachers. This would be worth considering if they currently existed and a role many would relish. Somehow I doubt it. The current reluctance of deputy heads wishing to seek promotion due to stress of the job  is a pretty clear indicator the heads role is not for everyone.

If we are looking for commercial managers to reduce budgets and manage pooled resources there are a number now available due to the recession. But if it is teaching leadership to improve performance across several schools – these guys are scarce.

Alistair Owens www.keen2learn.co.uk
My mouse died recently. A valued friend who gave loyal support through good and bad days. We had grown much attached. But as with us all it had grown old and lost it’s ability to left click. It needed replacing, and my knowledge and technical education took a massive step forward as a result.

The old mouse was a wireless optical device which flashed red to give a reassuring indication it was working. The new one is laser based and has a tiny green run light underneath on its belly which you can’t see. The science involved is astounding and it’s all contained in the operating software.

Stuff the CD in the drive, a few clicks on the on-board synaptic touch pad (which by the way seems to have taken a long term dislike of the capacitance of my fingers and plays silly beggars with the simplest of instructions) and bingo a new mouse with a multitude of additional features. But the new boy didn’t last long. Four days later it too died. A terminal case of the jiggling images. You can scroll but you can’t stop still. Seemed the impatient little blighter continuously wanted to move on. We reached an impasse in our relationship.

The shop swapped the wee beast and advised to remove the software and reload it. If only I had known. To cut a long story short and avoid the awful wailing noise said to come from my direction, removing the software was OK right up to the point of the pop-up which advised that all the gobbledygook had not been removed, so there! Undaunted, I reloaded the software. My old mate the synaptic pad playing silly devils throughout in a fit of pique reacting I think to the thought another pointing device was about to come online.

The software CD drive hummed, clicked its fingers and stopped. Anther pop-up; Found some old files still on the system and decided to stop loading. Total impasse. A couple of hours of fiddling; you loose all sense of time when using a computer, I had exhausted all the hints, tricks and Microsoft advise and phoned the supplier tech help. “Try this, now that and now the other” came the instructions over the phone. OK when you know roughly what you are doing, traumatic when you don’t. Hours passed, grey hairs appeared. The synaptic pad still had the upper hand, smug beggar.

Files were sought and deleted, operating systems visited, start up programs modified, temporary files exterminated. No luck. The phone support gave a final burst of “try these” and disappeared. Six hours had elapsed. I had lost the will to continue. The teaching resource on the help line has steered me through the minefield but had failed to hit the target. My education had been drastically extended as had the frustration.

Then out of the blue delving through the logic as if in some science games I found a small insignificant file which had the name of the mouse supplier. As in the cleaning advert “Bang and the dirt was gone.” The software reloaded, the mouse sprang out of its box and the smug look from the synaptic pad faded. F9 was never so sweet (turns the touch pad off in case you are wondering).

And the moral; always care for your mouse, it may be small but it can give you a very nasty bite.

By Alistair Owens www.keen2learn.co.uk
The mother of Laura Robson blamed the timing of the GCSE’s for her daughter’s failure at Wimbledon. The educational needs of a couple of hundred thousand children were at fault. Trying to cope with the pressure of these important exams that Laura has been working towards for the past 10 years were a problem.

A question of timing. The GCSE’s and their previous incarnation GCE’s have been historically held in June each year since the year dot. The educational calendar has cast this in stone. But the Wimbledon games of tennis clash with the dates. Which one is to be moved? Depends if you are a budding tennis star, of which we in Britain have had precious few or a generation of normal kids at school who need the result sot support their next move.

I sincerely hope that Laura excels in tennis as she will be an inspiration to a host of teenagers interested in outdoor games activities. But if she wants to gain her GCSE’s maybe she has to accept the November resists will be the better timing.

By Alistair Owens www.keen2learn.co.ukl

The UK Conservative party has proposed key stage 2 SAT tests, normally held in the final year of primary school, should be transferred to the secondary school. The proposal met with mixed response from teachers. Half see it as a great idea, the other half see it as ludicrous. My money is on it being a good idea. It will need development but it will stop the games being played with educational standards, save a mass of cash and improve the teaching content.

For years we have heard of “teaching to the test.” The phenomena emerged when it became apparent children’s performance in SAT’s would indicate the competency of the school. League tables; be they intrinsically simplistic and inaccurate, were born, and true to form in all targeted functions, open to manipulation. The focus of teaching resources in the final year of primary school has been known to overly concentrate on training children how to pass the tests. This is a dramatic loss of educational opportunity for children whose learning curve is highly positive. It is also an impingement on the skill of the teachers unable to exert their pedagogical prowess and make learning interesting and enjoyable. The negative outcome of what was an original sensible idea now far outweighs the benefits. The target driven mentality, in common with its adoption in other public services has induced a skew. “Target points mean prizes” resulting in salary adjustments, bonuses, grants, local accreditation. And perhaps the greatest incentive; a positive outcome means Ofsted leave you alone.

A failing school, common with a football club falling out of the Premium league, suffer disproportionate consequential penalties both real and perceived. The temptation to maximise results can be overwhelming. And so children are groomed to pass exams instead of having fun learning. They loose faith and the enjoyment of education. Although they may ultimately pass the SAT test their narrow band of learning has ill equipped them for secondary school.

Criticism from both primary and secondary head teachers show this is not a one sided equation. Primary head teachers have seen “bright” primary school children capable of continuing progress fall by the wayside in secondary school. Secondary heads indicate the standard of maths and English literacy in the new intake from primary schools is woefully inadequate to meet the demands of keys stage 3and 4.

The proposal to move the key stage 2 SAT test to the secondary school would be the solution. Keen2learn has long said entrance exams should be set and processed by the receiving party. Secondary schools should administer entrance to secondary school, thereby setting the standards and curriculum of primary schools. Universities would judge entrance to higher education and set the standards and curriculum of secondary schools. Ultimately the CBI would set the university standards for entrance to employment.

A key benefit of the adoption of both technology and relevance would be a reduction in the £54m annual cost of marking exam papers. Secondary schools with the incentive to adopt technology could handle the marking logistics and enjoy the income instead of the funds being paid to external consultants.

No easy solution, concerted effort is required to establish the new ground rules. But let it be the teachers who decide rather than too many remote theorists. The incentive would be the improved standard of leaning and reduced operating budgets. Just at the moment that seems to be a really positive outcome, or should I say target!

The vital educational role of dads in bedtime reading is under threat. Research by the National Literacy Trust in the UK revealed less than 50 per cent  of Dads  say they regularly read bedtime stories to their children compared to 76 per cent of Mums. Despite bedtime reading resources being one of the best ways of establishing the reading habit in children, long hours, work pressures and stress and were the issue with 58 per cent of reluctant Dads. A lack of confidence meant 10 per cent felt the role was better left to Mums.

Coincidentally boys are falling behind girls when it comes to reading skills and more male readers are wanted as role models to correct this trend. In 2008 the National Year of Reading and YouGov completed a study of over 2,000 adults as part of a campaign to raise awareness of the pressures Dads face and the impact this has on children’s reading habits at home and school.

The survey showed:

• Watching TV is the most common pre-sleep habit amongst children, followed by a bedtime story, then playing on the computer

• 39 per cent of dads think a better work / life balance would help them read more to their children

• 33 per cent of dads think employers should do more to help parents read to their kids

The National literacy trust found that while 75 per cent of children said their mum encouraged them to read, only 50 per cent said this of their dad. Disconcertingly, nearly 25 per cent of pupils stated that no-one in their family encouraged them to read.
In many time poor households little time is available to read to children. Often grandparents are the closest known reader. There were no books, beyond picture books, in many of their homes. Books as objects aren’t considered a desirable feature of these homes. Thought to be messy many of the adults taking part had not read a book since school.
Many found selecting a book intimidating and the packaging and promotion of reading materials full of code which they did not understand. The primary barrier, though, was the lack of appreciation of the pleasures to be gained from reading. The campaign drew volunteers into two weeks of reading tasks. This reading experience gained increasingly positive comments from family groups, who were encouraged to make the tasks pleasurable.
A series of Manga style short books written specifically for reluctant readers has met with a great response. These reading resources for primary and secondary levels provide the intrigue of a good story in a succinct publication.

Honor Wilson-Fletcher, Director of the National Year of Reading, said:  “Reading has never been more important, but we know boys lag far behind girls when it comes to reading. Boys need to see their dads enjoying reading if they are to become readers themselves as they grow up. Football programmes, blogs, newspapers and sports magazines are just as valuable reading as fairy tales. Reading is the best private investment you can make in your child’s education; it’s free and makes you feel like the best parent on earth. Just spending ten minutes a day reading something you enjoy with your children can make a real difference.

Secretary of State for Schools, Children and Families Ed Balls said: “Reading opens doors to everything in life, from applying to jobs to enjoying your favourite hobbies. Getting your children – both boys and girls to be passionate about reading is something all parents can do. Reading to your children for ten minutes at bedtime is the best way of improving our kid’s chances when they get to school”.

The National Year of Reading is calling on all large employers to make their workplaces more reader-friendly. There are a host of simple, practical challenges for businesses including:

• Turn old smoking rooms into a staff reading area

• Adopt-a-book for all staff to share

• Create a book swap shelf for children’s books at work Encourage staff to join a library

• Encourage night shift workers, airline and merchant navy staff or armed forces serving overseas  to pre-record bedtime stories for their children

Despite the trend for computerisation and video games the pleasure of reading is still a vital element in our education and enjoyment. Where else could you see someone curled up with a great book reliving an adventure, a romance, a thriller  all without a battery in sight!

By Alistair Owens http://www.keen2learn.co.uk

California is in a spot of bother. The golden state has run out of cash and needs to find billions of dollars to stay afloat. One of the savings to be enforced is the dramatic reduction in school educational textbooks and teaching time. Playing games with education is fraught with risks, has Arnie Schwarzenegger, the state governor, made the right choice.

The school budget for California is set in billions of dollars so the possibility of a budget raid was bound to be high. If you have your back to the wall there’s little option. But there is one heck of a risk  if this is the wrong decision as a whole generation of children subsequently passing through the system will have little to thank him for.

Textbooks are the staple diet teaching resources for schools. The alternative planned is the greater use of computers. This opens a new and exciting dimension of technology. Many educational games, ICT games, learning programs and worksheets can be accessed and integrated in the classroom lessons. Teaching, lesson planning and achievement assessment can be effectively measured and controlled via Netbook and Laptop computers.

On the surface the reduction in textbooks and the greater use of computers looks great. The budget can be reduced and a great chunk of traditional teaching resources become more cost effective. Children will substitute the sometimes enormous weight of books lugged on their back for the lighter load of a laptop or even a flash memory. The five pounds weight textbook, costing $10 swapped for a $200, two lbs. weight net-book. OK perhaps the maths of the savings is hidden deeper in the budget. But can books be replaced that easily by a computer? The Sony Reader electronic book is a mute point. Although able to store 160 books in its memory the market take-up has not been that phenomenal. It could easily pass through a FAD stage and disappear. Is this due to the negative comparisons between the easy read and rapid accessibility of a book to the electronic version of a reader? Maybe it’s because if you leave a book on a bus or train you have only lost $10 compared to the cost of a lost laptop.

The other educational budget cutbacks in California will see teaching time reduced and class sizes increased. Both hold huge potential for concern. To control a class in our modern society requires exceptional skill; not all teachers have it. The current element of disruption in a classroom, assuming it continues during a shorter lesson, will have the disproportionate effect of increasing percentage of time lost by the rest of the class.

California has a massive problem. Playing with education as a means to reduce the budget holds risks that will take a generation to expose. Laptops could certainly pave the way ahead, but need to be handled cautiously and the benefits regularly tested. There is the possibility that educational standards could fall in this highly reactionary situation.

The salvation could be down to parents. Their support at home is highly beneficial in the academic achievement of children back in school. Using the same maths games used in classroom, matched to the curriculum, increase the effective learning time dramatically and help offset any reduction in teaching time in school. And they are great fun.

By Alistair Owens www.keen2learn.co.uk

The number of children missing effective education is  a growing concern. Schemes to punish parents of truanting children failed and the cost of rounding them up a costly game. A new approach is, however, proving to work. But is it just treating the symptoms and not finding the cure?

Some children rebel against authority, struggle with lessons and drop out of contention in the schooling process. Things can mount up pretty quickly and any enthusiasm for education wanes. School becomes the nightmare to be avoided. Some kids just switch off.

Threats, fines and punishment have minimal effect and a costly option to administer. But a novel scheme that rewards attendance and effort is making a difference. Not a new idea, I can recall similar concepts way back, but the application has been brought up to date. Having launched the scheme through local authorities it attracted criticism that the rewards took to long to arrive. Now handled by a third party the rewards are timely, achieving the objective and luring a percentage of truants back.

These red letter days offer an incentive to many kids, but deep down it is treating a symptom not curing the problem. If school was seen to proffering more educational games in the content and made to be more fun in the first place the engagement of kids in class would be much higher and the level of truancy reduced. The funds required to support the rewards scheme could be invested in the cure rather than the treats.

Now we learn the UK government is playing games with our educational schools rebuild programme. This vital project has seen 20 per cent of the total budget of £55m paid out in consultant’s fees to oversee the project.

Last year the government paid an individual solicitor £30m to oversee a compensation scheme to pay injured or sick miners.

When will the government learn? Perhaps we should put them on a maths course to stop playing games with our cheque book. The current recession has probably released a number of good project managers who would welcome the opportunity to use their skills to oversee the project on a realistic salary. The saving should be reinvested into the urgent need to rebuild schools rather than pay consultants exorbitant fees.

By Alistair Owens www.keen2learn.co.uk

By Alistair Owens www.keen2learn.co.uk
The DCSF have decided to introduce a checking procedure to home learning. Ofsted, the lambasted schools inspection body is to also handle home learning inspections to asses educational standards against the national curriculum.

Many parents with the requisite skill and dedication have opted to teach their children at home. The educational values achieved are ultimately measured by a child’s performance in GCSE’s. The progress en route is clearly monitored intimately by the parents. Assuming the ultimate achievement is the educational success for their children the home schoolers must be at the pinnacle of personal involvement.

There is an obvious duty to ensure children are receiving the educational content that will benefit them and society in adult life. Granted the system should assess the ability of home school parents to achieve that goal. But the tests should be at the onset of the task. Perhaps this can be achieved by emulating how we monitor house building projects, through planning applications, building regulations and inspections. A similar process could be introduced for educational at home, but once the inspections are complete the parents can perform the tasks unhindered by further inspections.

The real problem in the short term is the choice of the inspectorate and the size of the problem. Ofsted are already overloaded dealing with 33,000 schools, failing to achieve the objective to become proactive in improving schooling standards. Potentially they are being asked to handle a further 30,000 inspections in homes. This may break the camels back and we could witness Ofsted crumbling into a pile of terminal bureaucracy.

Boffin Boy and the Deadly Swarm from Ransom has been selected for the 2009 Booked Up programme. Run by The Booktrust, this major annual initiative is funded by the DCSF. Every 11 year old is able to chose a free book from a carefully selected list. Last year Booked Up was launched by the Children’s Laureate, Michael Rosen. Over 637,000 children received a free book; and nearly 5,400 secondary schools took part in the programme. Boffin Boy and the Deadly Swarm were included in the schemes’ list of books designed for children who struggle with reading.
“We are thrilled to be involved with this important initiative” said Ransom’s MD Jenny Ertle. “ Boffin Boy is the perfect book to stimulate children who are struggling with reading”

Ransom’s Boffin Boy series – a popular manga comic-style series is designed for reluctant and struggling readers. It appeared on The Times Top 160 Books for Boys and received a nomination for the prestigious Kate Greenaway award. The books have fantastic illustrations, imaginative plots and wacky characters. Appealing to children aged 8-14  they are carefully written for a reading age of 6-7 years with carefully chosen language, font and simple layout.

For those of you who have not encountered the Combostill, it is a piece of apparatus designed for doing organic chemistry experiments quickly in the classroom on a small scale.

It can be used for distillation and refluxing and the number of experiments you can do with it depend on the imagination of the teacher. You can, if you wish replace the thermometer with a syringe to use as a dropping funnel.
What are the advantages of the Combostill over normal scale Quickfit apparatus?

•    It can be used at Key Stages 3-5 and can be adapted to work with other apparatus like our own Microcalorimeter.
•    It’s small size means that each student in your class can safely use it on their own
•    It can be put together safely without any worries about joints that are not sealed
•    It uses about 1/20th the amount of chemicals used by Quickfit apparatus
•    You get enough of the products to do chemical tests and in many cases,calculations on yield
•    The experiments can be done in about one-half the time

Because of the smaller scale you do not have to worry about all those health and safety issues that stop you doing things on a larger scale. When you are using 2.5 cm3 and not 50 cm3 of flammable liquids there is a lot less to worry about. Chemistry is chemistry whatever the size of the apparatus, and the principles of distillation and refluxing are transferable from one scale to another It does not need water or a supply of gas to function and therefore you do not have to worry about taps, sinks, water flow and leaks.

The effects of global warming have been seen for some years, and it is getting worse. Despite an argument to the contrary most evidence points to the problem being man made. The cure is long term. This means we have to introduce educational programmes on renewable energy to ensure our children fully understand the science behind the problem and the legacy we have left them to cure.
There is compelling scientific evidence that the Earth’s temperature is rising, and that this is caused by human activity. This temperature rise is known as ‘Global Warming’. Global warming is caused by ‘greenhouse gases’ in the Earth’s atmosphere. They are named greenhouse gases because they trap heat in the same way that a glass greenhouse traps heat.

When fossil fuels are burnt, a gas called Carbon Dioxide (or CO2) is created. CO2 cannot be seen and doesn’t smell, but it is a huge threat to the Earth. CO2 is one of the main greenhouse gases contributing to global warming. We need to reduce the amount of CO2 that we produce, and look at alternative energy sources that do not produce CO2.

Scientists predict that even if we were to cease all CO2 output today, global warming would continue beyond the year 2100. Global warming is a huge danger to the world because of the potential impact it may have on our climate.

Isn’t education a wonderful thing! Literacy teaches a combination of listening and speaking. It develops the skill at being able to take turns in talking, develops reasoning and the ability to win a debate. Here is a powerful example.

I was party to a private phone call. I had no intention of eavesdropping, but the speaker was of the brigade who shouts at his mobile phone. We, the customers in the coffee shop had no option but to hear as the volume evicted all other thought.

The phone owner was involved in a debate of ever increasing angst with a lady. We learnt her name to be Janet and she had a brother, Noah. He admonished Janet; “I’ve told you not to call me at work” (perhaps it was a business meeting in the coffee shop) and explained at length he was clearly fed up with her attitude and disposition that had caused her brother such anguish. Her attitude was completely unacceptable.

We discovered the lady was five years old and was in for some retribution when Daddy got home if her errant ways were not amended immediately.

Janet is obviously a determined soul and capable of holding her own. Daddy became increasingly frustrated. “YOU ARE BEHAVING LIKE A LITTLE SHIT” he boomed! Then silence. The table had turned. Daddy was on the back foot. A stream of responses followed;

“Yes Daddy did call you a shit but I didn’t mean to, I was very angry”
“Yes I know it’s a naughty word”
“Yes of course I am extremely sorry”
“No Dear I don’t think we need to tell Mummy”
“Yes dear, perhaps it is Noah who is the little shit”
“No dear I really do think you are right”
“Listen Daddy has to go now, but thank you for calling”

Some of the latest products from the Market leader in primary educational games have just entered the keen2learn range.

This award winning company have some brilliant products that tie with the national curriculum. Take a look at the Elephant jigsaw puzzles and Glow Numeracy to help early learning maths games with numbers that also glow in the dark

By Alistair Owens www.keen2learn.co.uk

Our education is to be extended to today. The history books will recall the effect of a government and parliament  that  subjected itself to immense self harm through a complete disregard of restraint.

What model are we setting children in the classroom? Discipline is set by example and we teach that a team has synergy, mutual respect for each other and overcomes individuals shortcomings. United we stand, divided we fall. But somehow the focal point of this essential part of education in the classroom is at risk through a catastrophic public example by ministers of the converse.

Can we really be witnessing the chagrin of a cabinet minister, potentially seen by children as one of the highest positions of public authority, crying foul at how she has been dealt with. One thing to be caught abusing the trust by milking expenses claims, another, when chastised, to cause spiteful damage to the rest of the team.

The letter B of the alphabet is perhaps a little battle scarred. The succession of Blair, Brown, Blears and even Bush, could lead to the next letter of the alphabet becoming the government.

The next time we see Blears in tears we can ask what example she has set, what outcome she had in mind. Children in the educational programme in school could see the negative games played in parliament as an horrendous example of the lack of discipline in the breakdown of a team.

The current shenanigans of our members of parliament present an unfortunate educational dichotomy against our teaching progress. The games being played in Westminster set an unfortunate example for children learning the ethics of adulthood.

One of the greatest drains on our teaching resources is the need to manage disruptive children. Many teachers cite the absence of parental discipline as the cause. The absence of this essential focal role model has created a reaction in school, with many teachers having to act as substitute parents. This additional load comes with a sting, the drain on the teaching resources leaves many classes to struggle with the remaining class time.

Common with us all, children will be wondering what the future holds in store for them. Economic recession caused by greedy and incompetent bankers, and now financial greed being widely portrayed by MP’s. Whilst embroiled in their own self defence denies the country of services we best need from their focus on the problems in hand.

Seems that we have all lost out in a mass of wasted effort at a time we could least afford it.

Alistair Owens http://www.keen2learn.co.uk