Who would want to be Ed Balls. Having taken the initiative by announcing a review in the educational facilities for home schooled children he has now felt he needed to defend the action. For some parents, the face of officialdom has caused to them to consider home schooling in the first place. The thought of an officail review seems abhorrent to them. Unfortunately we live in a soiety that harbours many problems with child care. Understandably Ed Balls must rightfully insist on the review of the vetting procedure before any damage is done. BBC edcuational news

Alistair Owens www.keen2learn.co.uk/news

The primary school results are out. This year these “educational games” are on time, inaccurate and heavy criticised by teachers, parents and the marking contractor.

A lot rides on the SAT’s. The examination results reveal the performance of the pupil, teacher and school. Targets are met or missed and critically SAT’s are designed to give secondary schools an indication of a child’s potential. But they don’t.

The “teach to test” syndrome that distorts the true ability of children and a teacher’s prowess, is routinely heralded by secondary heads as a waste. The policy change where the exams are to be  moved until children arrive in their new school gives partial relief to the primary sector, the secondary schools who inherit the burden think otherwise. But perhaps the greatest shock from the latest results is the claim of government interference by the examination marking contractors.

Exam technique advice given by teachers is not to panic. A pity the schools department weren’t listening. The examiners claim their job was made impossible through constant government interference probably resulting from the 2008 results fiasco, when the original contractor was fired. But maybe there is a common denominator. Lightening may not always strike the same point twice but maybe the schools department does.

Students leaving university are about to be hit by a double whammy. To survive the course they will have inevitably taken out a students loan. On average this amounts to a debt of 22k pounds over the three years degree course. Not much choice, they have to live but the real burden is the time-scale over which the loan will need to be settled. Previously this could be phased over several years after they had found a job. But proposed changes mean the repayment period is to be dramatically reduced to fund the next batch of students. The Independent and job prospects are not ideal.

One of the greatest code breaking exercises occurred in World War II. The Enigma machine  enerated codes that were uncrackable until mathematicians in Bletchley Park broke the code.

Now children and parents can enjoy a highly practical and enjoyable way of seeing maths in action.

See how the Enigma machine worked to generate the codes and write some codes yourself with this fascinating CD ROM. Featured on the channel 4 television series “The Science of Secrecy” and written by Dr Nicholas Mee and Simon Singh, the interactive CD also features may other forms of code including the Sherlock Holmes “Dancing Men” code.

The debate on university fees has perhaps only just started and will run for some time. The changes that will ease the financial load on parents by waiving the fees to students who commute to University. A positve move, but  we know employers still merit degrees in a league table from the universities. Premier division are those in the “Ivy League,” including Oxford and Cambridge. The fisrt divison are the “RedBrick University of … ” and the second division are the “Town name University” So it is still a lottery depending on where you live geographically and the location of your nearest commutable university.

Some better news, a report is being considered by the government proposes that children be given schooling credits. These will allow bright children in the catchment area of poorer schools to be accepted by an out of area better school. This reminds me of entrance exams. What goes round comes round as the saying goes. But it would avoid the chancer’s who  manipulate their address in an  attempt to get their child into a good school….The Guardian

Alistair Owens www.keen2learn.co.uk

It ever it was difficult to educate children to understand the practical use of maths this case will dash all hopes of logic. To protect our interests a consortium of surveyors called CLM have been appointed to keep the bill for the London Olympic Games under control. A laudable task and meant to reassure. Last year they were paid £87m for their efforts. I am staggered by the audacity, but what do I know. This year the fee, yes it is an annual pot of gold, has risen to £151m.

Last year the taxpayer stumped up the cash gap that appeared in the funding for the athletes village and media centre. Presumable CLM were protecting our interests by passing the buck when push came to shove. But apparently they made a splendid job, as buried in this years fee payment was a bonus of £60m.

Estimates that total fees to consultants will top £680m by the opening of the games isn’t desperately reassuring. But the government believe it is value for money, but not perhaps money for value.

Alistair Owens www.keen2learn.co.uk
The mighty McGraw-Hill publishing group has suffered a downturn in their world wide business. Publishing text books and journals, they are cutting 550 jobs, alarmingly 340 of the jobs will disappear from their education unit. Ironically only 85 of the jobs are to go from their financial division. Are we seeing a change in the consumption in the demand for educational text books, replaced by newer forms of educational media, or are school budgets under constraint. Arnie Schwarzenegger recently cut millions from the Californian schools budget.

The latest round of educational SAT tests has failed to pass muster. Irregular marking has caused concern amongst teachers who have returned a staggering number of papers for remarking.

Last years marking debacle resulted in lost papers, poor marking standards and the cancellation of a £156m contract. This year was to have been so much better. It wasn’t. Teachers are incensed that, amongst other irregularities, marks for correct spelling were docked when the dot over the letter i was missed. A case of educational examiners being cursed through a cursive error. The Times

To add to the trauma of finding a place at a good primary school there is a growing shortage. Increased birth rates and a growth in the number of parents unable to afford fees at Independent schools due to the recession are boosting applications. The article in the studies the size of the problem …The Times

Teachers are finding that allowing children to watch movie’s as part of the school day or after hours clubs has boosted their communication skills. Being able to relate to the film, describe the plot and their views  is stimulating the learning process. Proves the point that fun in learning can prove dividends in a child’s attention and enjoyment of learning…Teachers TV

Alistair Owens http://www.keen2learn.co.uk
Independent Schools are under threat from the recession and potential changes to their charitable status. Is this an opportunity to get smart and expand?

Children attending independent schools have four distinct advantages over state schools. Their school is mostly unfettered from interference by the state; teaching resources  have to excel to warrant the fee structure; pupils will be connected to the upper echelons of society – and earn 30 per cent more than state school-leavers; and they dominate top universities and professions.

There is a lot to be gained, but at a price. The fee structure excludes many children irrespective of their talent. Society and the professions are devoid of a seam of raw talent from children whose parents could never afford independent schools, they will forever lie untapped.

The recession has hit the fee income. Many parents have to make financial adjustments that exclude independent schools, their children becoming part of the annual jamboree to seek entry to the better state schools. The process is fraught. It can cause the possible displacement of other local children, overload the state school and lower the potential attainment of the ex independent pupil. The Independent school, not only loosing fee income, face tax penalties due to face proposed changes in their charitable status.

It seems they are being attacked on all fronts, but maybe through diversification there is light at the end of the tunnel. The greatest strength of an Independent school is its brand. Built on a platform of teaching strength and exam success, this expertise could be the salvation of selected state schools and bring income to the Independents. Ed Balls proffered the financial inducement for the better state schools to also run failing schools. This includes the option for third parties to manage several schools. This opens the door to the independent school to capitalise on their expertise and brand strength and run a number of state schools. Offsetting the current loss of fee income this could provide an enormous benefit to selected state school children. It could however, result in a scramble for places at the schools involved.

As if the effects of the recession are not hitting independent schools hard enough the government plans to introduce a new tax regime. This could push school fees up further just as many are reeling from reduced attendance from the recession. Independent schools face a transfer nightmare as children are relocated to state schools. The Independent

The education of our children could take an interesting twist next school year.  Parents concerned about getting their children into the ideal school are met with the possibility the queue wil grow longer. The effects of the recession has forced many parenst to remove thier children from independent schools and try to place them in the better state schools. more….

Alistair Owens www.keen2learn.co.uk

There is no better way to gain focus in renewable energy education than reveal the single reason why children are being educated at school. We need them to save the planet.

Many of the climate change initiatives are long term. With introduction dates 10 – 20 years ahead the leading scientists and engineers currently on the renewable energy project will have long retired. The future scientist, engineer and mathematician are currently in school. But exam statistics prove very few children enjoy a positive interest in science, maths and engineering as individual subjects let alone see any connectivity.

The current move to integrate lessons is splendid. Teaching the significance of each subject in this cross curriculum learning process is bound to improve interest. Instilling the interdependency between Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths the STEMNET programme is an enthusiastic fresh approach to engage children. If only it will attract more girls, currently they are lagging the interest being shown by boys.

Yet girls excel at maths. Maybe the world of science and engineering has to loose its spanners, test tube and nerdy image to break through. As some of the greatest entrepreneurs are female, why not a feminine led challenge to master the next generation of renewable energy? It has distinct maternal credentials; after all we all know it as mother Earth. The essential need to create our salvation cannot rely on the male of our species alone, we need females to prove Telford, Whittle, and even Dyson were mere pawns.

The challenge has been thrown down by nature through the effects of global warming and by governments through international targets. But developing countries need help. Whatever the outcome of the technology and techniques evolved in the developed world it would inevitably have similar application in China and India. It would be in our overall interest to share any knowledge gained and break down the energy barriers. The clock is ticking.

The effects of the recession is impacting on the educational budgets. After years of progressive growth the budget for schools is slowing. Next year forecast is a marginal increase on this year. This maybe reality based on the governments depleted coffers but hides a sting. The greatest proportion of a schools budget is payroll, and any reduction in spending is quickly absorbed though payroll costs.

This means the remaining budget for teaching resources will be curtailed for next year. Maybe this poses the opportunity for parents to take the initiative. The educational games played in school are available for parents to purchase. allowing the fun in learning to be supported at home.

Read the full story from the Times Educational Supplement TES

Alistair Owens www.keen2learn.co.uk/news/

A recent UK government report shows 50 percent of children in some areas had speech and language difficulties. Sir Jim Rose recommends formal lessons in spoken English in a series of adjustments to the National Curriculum.

Sir Jim Rose, the former head of Ofsted, has been commissioned by the government to review the National Curriculum in primary schools. Amongst his findings was the stark statistic that children in the 7-11 year old group from poorer families had an average vocabulary of 500 words. An appreciably lower total than the 6000 word vocabulary found in children from affluent families.

A limited vocabulary impacts significantly on the learning process. Unless corrected through more effective teaching resources the initial deficiency can track with the child until they leave school.

The inability to express their thoughts and undeveloped listening skills effectively leads to frustration. Poor understanding prevents children trying to comprehend causes, effects and consequences, and impacts significantly in the learning process.

Academic progress is limited and children find themselves disadvantaged in the job market. Unable to express themselves in conversation or on the telephone leave employers reluctant to offer employment. Sir Jim Rose’s recommendations include advice that teachers pay particular attention to speaking, story telling and listening skills in children.

Alistair Owens www.keen2learn.co.uk

Right now millions of children are taking exams to check on their educational progress and attainment. This massive log jam creates anguish, panic and overload – and this is just the teachers. There must be a better way to assess children; surely technology that monitors vast arrays of data in our lives could be harnessed to assess school work.

I recall my first visit to the engine room on steam ship when I was an engineering officer cadet in the Merchant Navy. Despite the training and education at college nothing prepares you for the overwhelming array of gauges that support the turbines. We are talking hundreds of gauges. How does anyone cope with that amount of information? The answer was simple. You don’t try to “read” every gauge; you scan them all frequently and learn to recognise one that is showing something different from normal. You then investigate the exception.

Years ago a software system was developed to monitor equipment performance. But rather than writing a new program for each item of plant it learnt the performance itself. The MOON system measured – motion out of normal. It was simply clipped onto the electrical supply of the equipment with noise and temperature sensors clipped onto bearings. And off it went. It would record the power demands, noise levels and temperatures of the equipment, allow for a few peaks and troughs in the demand and map a unique profile. Any change against the profile would be flagged for the engineer’s attention.

Could this concept be considered for our Educational system? Replacing the conventional exam and its associated hype, pomp and drama, with a system that quietly assimilates all information on a child’s school performance bringing any change out of normal to the teachers and parents attention.

Reporting by exception has greater impact. The timely arrival of the error message allows for corrective action before any damage is incurred. Better to know a child’s performance is dipping behind the norm now than at the end of term or even year.

The average teacher is stressed. The intrusive round of monitoring, target setting and assessment doesn’t just affect children. As one doctor said she always knew when a teacher came through the door as they would be on the verge of tears. So how could the MOON concept help?

Statutory Assessment Tests, SAT’s, attempt to produce a record of a child’s ability in a burst of activity over a couple of days. But the focus on the event involves months of drama. As teachers and children are jointly assessed by the outcome it is no surprise teachers concentrate on achieving the maximum score. The result is the wretched “teach to test” drilling which represents a significant waste of any teacher’s talent. Children are missing the depth of enjoyment that emerges with a broad based education from a relaxed teacher.

An educational MOON system once configured could learn with the child. Performance could be continuously measured against the class, school and national achievements. But the real beauty is the data input could be electronic. Measuring a child’s performance at frequent intervals in the form of educational games, right and wrong answers would reveal the strengths and weaknesses and flag up corrective action. Critically this could also advise where parents can help.

It would allow teachers to teach whilst the system analysed the results. Already we have scanner that reads handwritten script and converts this to a “word” document complete with spell check and grammar analysis.

Educational tuition fees are to be waived for students living at home. This option comes with a slight sting as such students will be ineligible to receive any grants or other support. Gives these students – whose parents can afford it the real opportunity to finish their educational journey without a huge debt. See the full story

The latest SAT’s result finally arrive on schedule – just as they are being phased out. After the mess last year have we seen a fantastic dying swan act that has delivered on time a service that nobody now wants. Still we can look forward to saving an absolute fortune on the delicate educational budget, or will next years solution be more expensive read the full article.

A pioneering project that supports care leavers in York has been held up by the Government as a blueprint for employers nationwide to follow.

Starting Blocks, set up by the charity York Cares with partner organisations Aviva, City of York Council, University of York and York Marriott Hotel, helps young people leaving care to develop their skills by providing work placements tailored to their needs. More… The organisation led a working group of business managers, social workers and a University social policy researcher to develop the Starting Blocks model. It was highlighted by the Government today as Ed Balls, Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, launched the new From Care2Work programme.

Alistair Owens www.keen2learn
The educational games are in play. The annual fest of parents striving to get their children into the ideal school is amongst us. The process can demonstrate horrendous examples of a collapse in ethics and the very basis of some children’s educational journeys start on a bed of lies and deceit.

Sounds outrageous in the 21st century. Not that those parents are lying and cheating, after all which normal parent would not strive to secure the best for their child. Independent schools are a classic example. If you can afford the fees would you prefer your youngster to attend such a school or the local state school? The real crunch is the status of good state schools fall into an elite and desperately small group. They are significantly oversubscribed and brings out the worst behaviour imaginable. Honest and decent citizens will be tempted to lie to manipulate their application. And many such schools are forced to spend a fortune drawn from their limited budgets to defend and investigate misdemeanours.

The simplistic answer would be to elevate the status of all schools to be rated good to excellent. This dream is shattered with a realisation of the effects of local conditions, socio economic groups and local attitudes have on the prospects of a school. Not hard and fast rule as there have been marked success of certain “zero tolerance” academies that have taken over a failing school. Equally there have been outright failures despite the investment of facilities and personnel. The Ridings School which has finally closed, and destined for demolition is a classic case of abject failure.

The proposal for school groups where a good school runs a further school or groups of schools need to be cognisant of the Ridings example. The commercial world is fraught with examples of white knight strong company’s failing to uplift the ailing company acquired as a result of a take over or merger. So if our schools are failing can we condemn or condone any parent that wants to manipulate the system to get the best for the child. The down side is the child who looses out in this race. The one whose parents joined the queue and refused to ignore the ethics of the situation.
How do you right a wrong when parents caught cheating in school?

The educational games are in play. The annual fest of parents striving to get their children into the ideal school is amongst us. The process can demonstrate horrendous examples of a collapse in ethics and the very basis of some children’s educational journeys start on a bed of lies and deceit.

Sounds outrageous in the 21st century. Not that those parents are lying and cheating, after all which normal parent would not strive to secure the best for their child. Independent schools are a classic example. If you can afford the fees would you prefer your youngster to attend such a school or the local state school? The real crunch is the status of good state schools fall into an elite and desperately small group. They are significantly oversubscribed and brings out the worst behaviour imaginable. Honest and decent citizens will be tempted to lie to manipulate their application. And many such schools are forced to spend a fortune drawn from their limited budgets to defend and investigate misdemeanours.

The simplistic answer would be to elevate the status of all schools to be rated good to excellent. This dream is shattered with a realisation of the effects of local conditions, socio economic groups and local attitudes have on the prospects of a school. Not hard and fast rule as there have been marked success of certain “zero tolerance” academies that have taken over a failing school. Equally there have been outright failures despite the investment of facilities and personnel. The Ridings School which has finally closed, and destined for demolition is a classic case of abject failure.

The proposal for school groups where a good school runs a further school or groups of schools need to be cognisant of the Ridings example. The commercial world is fraught with examples of white knight strong company’s failing to uplift the ailing company acquired as a result of a take over or merger. So if our schools are failing can we condemn or condone any parent that wants to manipulate the system to get the best for the child. The down side is the child who looses out in this race. The one whose parents joined the queue and refused to ignore the ethics of the situation.

Alistair Owens www.keen2learn.co.uk

There must be something in the air. Almost daily there is some form of change to the educational content of the National Curriculum. Maybe it’s the time of year, the closed season in the midst of exams. Or the lets do this before the holidays kick in so everyone will forget by the time they return. 

But this time teachers welcome the move. The white paper plans to drop the national teaching resources directives geared to English and maths. Long overdue according to many teachers who have seen the existing literacy structures fail. The opportunity to expand the horizons and make lessons more interesting to teachers and student is greatest incentive to change.

We are not alone in the UK. Earlier this year the Australian Association for the Teaching of English are seeking to downgrade the importance of literature in the national curriculum to allow the study of an expanded range of texts covering visual and multi-modal forms “as essential works in their own right”.

The professional association represents the view of Australian English teachers also calls for the national curriculum to recognise a whole-language method for teaching reading rather than exclusively emphasising phonics and the letter-sound relationships as the initial step. It also declared studying literature is “inherently a political action” in creating the type of people society values.

It calls for the end of traditional literature as a discrete element, and for other types of English texts — which would include advertising, TV shows, signage, text messages and web¬sites — to be viewed as essential rather than “add ons” to accompany the understanding of literary texts.

The world of English language and literature is highly adaptive. We need to move with the times and reflect on the input from those at the coal face rather than relying too much on remote theory or attempted propaganda. George Orwell has a lot to answer for.

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

After years of Ofsted inspections, SAT’s and league tables are we going to see a breakthrough by having teachers licensed? Could this be a better way to judge schools’ potential based on the capability of its teaching resources rather than the performance of its pupils.

Many teachers find Ofsted inspections intimidating. A feeling of dread, panic and theatre with stage direction The Old Vic would be proud of. But is this a true measure of a schools performance?  The common denominator is the pupil’s connection with learning. If this is not in evidence a huge slice of any teacher’s educational ability can dissipated. This is especially evident whilst controlling any disruptive or disconnected elements. A small proportion of these individuals can have a negative and sometimes devastating effect on the whole class way beyond the most positive influence of a good teacher.

Predominantly emanating from the home environment and changes in society the disruptive effect can break the learning curve of the class. It can present a false impression of the pedagogic skill of the teacher and commitment of the rest of the class. But a schools position in any league table currently ignores any such impediment. Now that the teacher is to be licensed, perhaps even graded in the process, the performance of the school can be additionally tempered by the quality of the staff. To even the field, and encourage these hard working schools to remain in contention, the better schools, judged by exam success could be handicapped as in horse racing. This would require the better schools to work harder to maintain their relative position. Edward De Bono recently invented a concept summarised with the acronym Edne – Excellence Delivered is Not Enough. He considers that anything reaching a point of excellence must try even harder to maintain that position by continually reinventing itself.

The assessment of the teachers means 500,000 teachers will be evaluated every five years. The process is expected to reveal an estimated 20,000 incompetent teachers than can then be categorically removed. Something the current procedure has failed to achieve. In the last six years only ten teachers have been sacked for incompetence.

The assessment procedure will fall to the Headteacher. Yet more work, but the outcome could materially benefit the school and in turn reduce the Head’s work content in other areas. The unions are inevitably concerned. It could reveal some shocking truths. To offset any personality clash and make the assessment impartial perhaps the assessments should completed by the head of a different school. Let us pray any costs involved are supported centrally and not further deplete the school budgets.

Michael Grove the Shadow Schools Secretary felt “Ed Balls proposes yet another huge bureaucratic measure that will cost a fortune and cause all sorts of problems.” Rather a simplistic response to a major issue that has plagued UK teaching resources for years. There is no easy solution as it would have been implemented years ago. The problem is complex and requires some brave and long term thinking, something the transitory tenure of a Minister of State may lack. As Edward De Bono recently said “Most of the problems in the world have been caused by an inadequacy in our current methods of thinking. Most major conflicts in the world today exist as a direct result of that inadequacy, as do all the smaller-scale misunderstandings we encounter day to day. All could be solved by an improvement in the quality of human thought. All could be eased by developing our ability to look at things through the other person’s eyes”.

Alistair Owens www.keen2learn.co.uk

The thinking man’s guru Edward De Bono believes most of the problems in the world have been caused by an inadequacy in our current methods of thinking. Perhaps this concept alone should become the focus of all educational curriculum for the future.

“Most major conflicts in the world today exist as a direct result of that inadequacy, as do all the smaller-scale misunderstandings we encounter day to day. All could be solved by an improvement in the quality of human thought. All could be eased by developing our ability to look at things through the other person’s eyes”.

“Over centuries we’ve been encouraged to believe logic is all that matters, yet in assessing any given situation, it’s perception that’s really important. Imagine someone is coming towards you with a scowl on their face. Logically, you might interpret that as signalling negative intentions and react accordingly, thus putting yourself in a heightened, potentially dangerous situation. But try using perception instead: that person may have chronic toothache, or have just been told upsetting news. Allow for possibilities other than hostility towards you, and both your reaction to the encounter and its outcome will be different. It’s a simple technique that facilitates a better approach to life and one we should be teaching in every school.”

Perception appears the greatest attribute of a developing thinker. The ability to think things through becomes ever more critical. We learn of the major shake up in the educational world to give teachers a greater say in the teaching process. A radical thought compared to the current curriculum and SAT’s where the enjoyment of learning has been sadly confused and contained over past decades. Exam pass rates went up annually to be matched by criticism about falling exam standards. The reality being teachers had become cannier in achieving targets by focussing the thrust of education towards passing teats and exams. The “teach to test” syndrome improved pass rates and achieved targets, but this target shooting was at the expense of a wider learning process that should inspire children to continue to learn and enjoy learning.

Teachers skill and enthusiasm has been widely curtailed and the thrust of education left to bureaucracy. As targets became the focal measure of achievement the fun and enjoyment in education became exchanged for stress. Teacher’s enthusiasm to expand and enthral curtailed. But now we see hope with emerging changes. Yet deep down these are also a concern; has the thought process been correctly applied.

“Most major conflicts in the world today exist as a direct result of thinking  inadequacy, as do all the smaller-scale misunderstandings we encounter day to day. All could be solved by an improvement in the quality of human thought. All could be eased by developing our ability to look at things through the other person’s eyes”. Has Ed Balls hit the mark, time will tell but I sincerely hope so.