The launch of a new form of educational textbook didn’t quite meet the mark. The new iBook from Apple certainly has games and gadgetry on-board but the revolutionary opportunity didn’t materialise. Not yet. Maybe an initial financial blessing to school budgets who would have to buy countless iBooks to capture the benefits. In the meantime Amazon’s Kindle et al will be studying the opportunity in the digital textbooks market. more…
Archive for the ‘Opinion’ Category
Apple iBook Not the Educational Breakthrough Expected
Friday, February 3rd, 2012New Phenomina Needed To Change the Face of Education
Friday, February 3rd, 2012The world is dominated by new forms of communication that have emerged and swept into global application within the space of eight years. Why are we then seeing governments still unable to introduce the radical reforms needed to turn maths, English literacy and science education into a similar success story?
The World Wide Web, Twitter, Facebook, Google and Apple et al. have fundamentally transposed our accessibility to knowledge and communications. What we need now is an entrepreneurial eureka moment that will lay the foundation stone to a revolutionary method of education and learning. Maybe as elusive as the Higgs Boson particle and could be the subject to an incentive reward, we need a clever group of individuals to evolve a form of learning with global application. The effect could revolutionise our world of learning and generate massive wealth for the developers. more…
Tony Blair Missed The Point About School Leader Recruitment.
Thursday, January 19th, 2012Tony Blair perhaps epitomises why careers in teaching fails. Around 50 per cent of new teachers leave the profession within five years. A staggering statistic that leaves schools struggling to recruit the long term leaders of tomorrow. A hidden downside is the number of poor teachers that abound possibly kept on in educational employment because their absence would leave a gap in the teaching capacity. A sad indictment to schools and children alike. Tony Blair explained in a Times interview that his son, Nicky Blair, was teacher in the West Midlands.
An example of a Teach First recruit he found teaching history at Smith’s Wood Sports College in Solihull tough. Within two years he had left the school and the profession. He is now a sports agent. Tony Blair said his son had found the role very tough and fulfilling and speaks about the job with a passion. Mr Blair also said “One of the great things that it (Teach First) does is to put young people in a situation which is immensely challenging, out of which they develop a significant amount of leadership skill and courage.” Mr Blair perhaps misses the point. The Teach First concept aims to recruit school leaders of the future, rather than train graduates for careers outside teaching. Perhaps the reason his education, education, education mantra failed, dismally.
Can Education Be Changed to Attract Top Graduates Into Teaching
Thursday, January 19th, 2012The Teach First concept was first launched in 2002 to attract top graduates to strengthen the teaching resources in our schools. Not a huge success at the time as within five years all the recruits had left education.
Despite this setback Teach First still exists and is gearing up for another onslaught. The process of recruiting, training and developing young graduates to become the schools leaders of tomorrow is back in focus. This year Tech First is aiming to recruit 1000 new teachers. So what is different from the experience of 2002. The market is different, we are in the midst of a recession and young graduates do not all, or cannot all work in high flying jobs in the city that pay eye-watering salaries and a King’s ransom in bonuses.
As things stand in education the stress and responsibility of a top job as Head Teacher in an inner city school can now command a handsome salary. So if you are motivated by money teaching is an option. But you want job satisfaction as well there are few jobs where your leadership skills will be so thoroughly tested and recognised. Measured by the number of children who have been blessed by a decent education at a good school your credentials can be measured over years; somewhat more gratifying perhaps than the city highflyer’s gamble on the overnight value of shares or commodities.
The schooling system is in need of paradigm shift in standards to move the UK back up to world class standards. We have slipped badly over the years despite a staggering number of curriculum initiatives that have come and gone. The biggest problem lies in education controlled by “temporary” Ministers Of State for education whose tenure in the role lasts about 18 months. Although we have some damn fine state schools they are the exception. Few exist in inner cities. But a top graduate starting their career in teaching as an entrepreneurial leader in the making could change the face of teaching. We need them desperately and we need them to see the potential career and kudos that can be achieved.
Tony Blair Flunks Teaching Resources Review
Tuesday, January 17th, 2012British ex Prime Minister Tony Blair once emphasised a crucial part of his political manifesto in a speech; “education, education, education.” So good he named it thrice. But twenty years on little has been achieved. Plenty of educational initiatives have been and gone taking a Kings ransom with them. Teachers have introduced change, reinforced it, refreshed it then watch it replaced by another scheme. But perhaps the greatest shock emerges with Mr Blair’s confession that he wished he had done more to remove teachers who were not up to the job.
The subject remains a thorny issue. Its recent resurrection by Michael Gove has teacher unions already kicking up dust saying his plans to remove failing teachers will be strongly opposed. Christine Blower, General Secretary of the National Union of Teachers, prefers that errant teachers should be given help and retrained as a prerequisite before any potential for the sack. A positive stance providing the resource is available to help. How many new teachers are tossed into the fray with little or no immediate support because none is available. But the problem also lies with some time served teachers. It was this group that gave Tony Blair the greatest regret; that he failed to raise the standards in schools.
The downside of all this change and recrimination is the number of children that have subsequently had a damaged education. Even Michael Gove’s present enthusiasm is tempered by the fact he proposes poor teachers should be removed after a term rather than a year. Still a long time to provide a class of children with substandard teaching.
Bilingual Education Not An Ideal Solution
Friday, January 13th, 2012Is there a benefit in bilingual education in the now global markets. Certainly learning in a foreign language helps significantly to understand a new language but there are equal concerns that the second language approach is an expensive option that could detract from main stream learning. More….
Wasted Billions Includes Education
Friday, January 13th, 2012The shock that the UK government has wasted 32 billion pounds in the last two years has many of us reeling. At around twice the potential budget savings the chancellor is seeking it is a staggering waste of cash. Cancelled school rebuilding programmes pall into insignificance as a savings option. The strategic impact on educational programmes from trimmed budgets will be immeasurable. The incompetent decision and management capacity in the government beggars belief. And the misuse of central funds only came to light after a national audit review. Probably if that hadn’t been completed we and Whitehall would never had known and annual performance bonus handed out as measure of a departments ability to spend money. But the issue certainly is not limited to the last two years. Billions have also been wasted on failed educational initiatives over the last twenty years. Our standing in the world educational league tables have slipped alarmingly.
There is a huge challenge ahead and it will taken a revolutionary sea change to bring educational values and teaching resources up to par. And the problem is not limited to the UK. The heavily promoted “No Child Left Behind” (NCLB) in the USA is floundering. Maths and literacy levels have failed despite an increase in the educational budgets from 27 billion dollars in 2001, when the scheme started, to 38 billion dollars in 2011. More….
Too Many Good New Teachers Leaving The Job
Friday, January 6th, 2012The cycle of concern over the quality of teaching resources in the UK seems to hold small consolation that the same issues are common overseas. The Department of Education (DfE) oversee circa 450,000 full time equivalent teachers in the UK. Applying the law of averages we would expect a nominal range of excellent, good, indifferent and poor teachers. Allowing for occasions when the excellent teacher is asked to teach an unfamiliar subject and their expertise may be undermined we must accept that a nominal sample of five per cent of all teachers will be incompetent.
This would indicate 24,500 teachers could be suspect teaching ability. Yet head teachers struggle to remove this errant brigade. At best they are recycled, passing them on with positive references to another unsuspecting school where they able to confound their new charges in the classroom. In 2011 just 11 teachers were dismissed for incompetence, or 0.002 per cent of the total UK teaching compliment implying we have an almost perfect manifest of quality teachers. The exam achievements results imply otherwise. Using these teachers is far from fair to the students involved and grossly unfair to the quality teachers bundled with the dead weight. Many good to excellent teachers leave the profession disillusioned.
But we are not alone. Teachers in Australia suffer similar frustrations in the job. Around 50 per cent of new teachers leave the job within five years. Most (58 per cent) in Victoria state are on short fixed term contracts leading to job insecurity reflected by 70 per cent of all teachers having to reapply for their own jobs each year. Hardly conducive to allowing positive focus on the vital job in hand and you can bet a percentage incompetent teacher probably sneaks through the net.
More …….
Can Schools Afford Not to Have The Latest Educational Computers
Thursday, December 29th, 2011Technology is on the increase in its use as a valuable teaching resource in schools. Over the past 20 years a significant portion of educational budgets have been invested in electronic education media from games to interactive whiteboards. But this glitzy technological approach has risks. Advances in design and performance can make equipment outmoded within a year and it does not come cheap. Compared to the lifetime of a textbook or educational board game limited primarily by their physical structure, technology in computers has become an almost disposable option. Therein lies a conundrum.
The role of our teaching resources in school prepares children for adult life. Although the national curriculum sets the agenda the school has the responsibility to turn this into a practical scenario. If the teaching equipment is to succeed in educating children in the efficiencies of technology the latest model becomes a necessity. This is good news for the equipment supplier who has designed planned obsolescence to come into effect by injecting a step change in the design to encourage an upgrade purchase. In their defence if they don’t a competitor will. All this is not the best financial news for educational budgets.
The BBC computer of 20 years ago was a marvel in its day but has long since occupied a place as a museum piece. A relic of bygone days and massively superseded by current equipment that operates on a quantum leap in performance and speed. The situation is exacerbated as the pace of change accelerates. Children are also becoming increasingly aware of the brand image of the equipment and want the latest version. Research Machines (RM) once leader in the field of networks and PC’s in schools are currently suffering from a cocktail of technology advances, cancelled educational schemes, lowered school budgets and brand competition. Promotional pressure has increased product awareness with students reinforced by product placements in television and films, which for example, elevated the Apple Mac to be a must have item. Many schools are now opting for Apple Mac benefiting from some price support from Apple who obviously see a marvelous opportunity to capture their future customers.
With children generally aware of the current models of equipment anything that is not the latest model is seen as old tat. With teachers preparing children for further education or employment in a now truly global market, releasing children inadequately prepared in technology will clearly not give them the best start.
Much of the marketing clout in computer hardware currently lies in the USA or Far East. But does it have to be so?. The historical design ingenuity within the UK could clearly develop a world beating design that moves technology to a new versatile platform that could beneficially match the needs of education without the current frantic pace of obsolescence. And why couldn’t the next Bill Gates, Steve Jobs or Mark Zuckerman be British.? All we need is the right kind of inspiration, and to develop a state of the art school’s teaching resources that won’t break the school budget. Maybe that’s the challenge all children can aspire to.
Head Teacher Qualifications Move Down A Grade
Sunday, December 11th, 2011The Department Of Education (DfE) has been concerned for some years over replacing retiring head teachers. The normal promotional path seen for deputy heads is under-subscribed due to their perception of the stress and bureaucracy involved with the job. Consequently many head teacher positions remain unfilled for some considerable time to the ultimate detriment of the school. But now the DfE want to lower the entry qualifications for Head teachers at a time when they want to increase the qualifications for teachers.
The reluctance of recruits involves the content seen in the modern role of head teacher. The combination of business manager, administrator, man manager, disciplinarian and teaching resource planer can faze the strongest applicant. These key performance indicators almost sideline what should be the focal element of the job, teaching. The wise owl of the school’s teaching resources should be naturally identified as the role model for the whole teaching staff. The head teacher should manage, inspire and encourage the teaching manifest in way the up and coming teacher can be encouraged, the bad teacher retrained or removed.
The current role of business manager handled by heads is a strident development for which many do not have a developed aptitude. Much of the business content could handed over to the enlarged role of Bursar or financial director, who could operating over several schools. This would allow heads to resume being teaching supremo. But Michael Gove and the DfE appear to think otherwise. At one end of the scale they are concerned over that the minimum entry qualification for teachers believing this should be set at a 2:2 degree to reflect the progress shown in Singapore and Finland where a masters or a 2:1 degree respectively is required in the subject area to be taught.
So if this is the laudable policy to improve our teaching standards why is the Educational Secretary now playing games with the qualification standard at the pinnacle of teaching by lowering the standards in the head teacher’s role? Concerns have been raised by school leaders over what is seen as a retrograde step. They also believe the move will achieve little to improve the morale of many teachers. Once again the DfE seems to be disconnected with the very people it sets out to convince at a time when the UK schooling standards must improve to match world standards.
Educational Success Makes You Look Younger
Friday, December 9th, 2011Some bright people in scientific research have noticed educational qualifications help people to age less quickly. Conversely people with less academic qualifications tend to age more rapidly. A question of stay bright look young.
It is all to do with our telomeres DNA, which apparently sit at the end of our DNA chromosomes. These chaps help protect the chromosomes from the ageing process. OK it’s only by a small amount but you never know how this could develop. Maybe some day the scientists will discover how to modify theses chromosomes and reverse the aging process.
Anyway if your telomeres are a bit short Grecian 2000 will become your best friend instead. The long telomeres strands that signify educational ability and reduced aging pose a conundrum. Is this modification to the DNA the result of the brighter student helping their development or is it the other way round.
Does the brighter student at university suffer less educational stress, thereby depleting the conventional impact on the aging process? By eating the right food and gaining a well-paid job the brighter student avoids a lot of the stress endured by many lower grade students who fail to find a career easily. At the moment nobody knows. Stephen Holgate from the British Medical Research Council said “Your experiences early in life can have important influences on your health and being educated to a higher level can benefit you more in the job market.”
A further intriguing fact is the slower ageing process is not affected by people’s eventual social and economic status. Andrew Steptoe from University College London who was a researcher on the project said, “We already know from previous research that people from poor backgrounds are prone to age more quickly.” He added “Education is a marker of social class that people acquire early in life and our research suggest that it is long term exposure to the conditions of lower status that promotes the ageing process.”
The key to living longer is to improve your educational achievement. An added bonus to all those children whose teachers and parents are pushing for the best results!
Educational Achievement In School Improved With Parents Support
Wednesday, December 7th, 2011Teachers are very familiar with the hugely beneficial role parents can play in supporting a child’s educational progress. Yet when a such support is applied it is generally through one parent. Rarely do both parents contribute. Teaching resources in school can be despondent when they see child who could excel is left drifting beyond their control. Parental involvement means their children attend school on a regular basis, earn higher pass marks in tests and exams, have better social skills and behaviour and a have better overall outcomes in life. Doubtless parents who recognise this synergy would apply their practical support wholeheartedly. So why is there a disconnect between school and their child’s educational support.
Parents are the most influential factor in a child’s education according to research conducted in American by the Mississippi Institute of Technology(MIT). Their Review of Economics and Statistics showed children work harder when parents put ongoing effort into their schooling. But a key point that also emerged is the opportunity to instigate a few educational policies toward improving parental involvement. More…
Reading To A Child In Early Years Gives Huge Educational Boost
Monday, November 28th, 2011Despite the need for good teachers in schools recent studies have shown just how vital the role played by parents is in a child’s achievement. Parents who read to their child during the early years in primary school showed a marked benefit in the Program for International Student Assessment ( PISA) tests. The practical involvement of parents on a one to one basis with their child compares favourably with the busy teacher in a class of 30 -40 children.
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development ( O.E.C.D ) reviews the reading comprehension and ability to use what children have learned in maths and science to solve real problems. This exercise forms part of the PISA tests of 15-year-olds in the world’s leading industrialised nations. Britain’s 15-year-olds students, like America’s, do not excel in the PISA review compared with pupils in Singapore, Finland and Shanghai.
Why some students thrive taking the PISA tests and others do not has been assessed by Andreas Schleicher who oversees the exams for the O.E.C.D. was encouraged by the better scoring countries to look beyond the classroom. So starting with four countries in 2006, and then adding 14 more in 2009, the PISA team interviewed the parents of 5,000 students about how they supported their children then compared this with the overall test results for each of those years. . Schleicher explained “just asking your child how was their school day and showing genuine interest in the learning that they are doing can have the same impact as hours of private tutouring. It is something every parent can do, no matter what their education level or social background.” more….
Teaching Resource Budget Being Slashed Warns IFS
Tuesday, October 25th, 2011Keen2learn has spotted some conflicting headlines concerning our educational teaching resources that appeared in the press today. Firstly it has been revealed a high proportion of kids involved in the recent UK riots had failed in school. Nearly 70 per cent of the children involved had been excluded from school. An analysis of the youngsters arrested proved them not to be predominately from gangs as first thought. In fact only 13 per cent of those arrested had gang connections but 76 per cent had received a previous police caution or conviction.
The aggression was significantly biased towards males who represented 90 percent of those arrested. But a significant statistic emerging is the cost of the affray. The Metropolitan Police believe the final cost will be 30 times the original estimate now closing on 300 million pounds.
The second element in the news is the fall in educational spending covering our teaching resources. Spending in the medium term over the next four years is forecast to fall at its fastest rate since the 1950’s. Maybe reacting to the issues of the riots the Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS) forecast the governments reduction will also occur mostly in the better-off areas. Although the Department for Education assures that the actual educational budget will increase by 3.6 billion pounds over the next four years the IFS equate this as a 14.4 percent overall reduction in real terms.
Our third observation reveals Universities will also suffer. The hatchet will lop around 40 percent of expenditure in this vital area of economic growth. If the UK is to compete in the global market we will need graduates able to match the growing number of excellent degrees offered to students overseas. The 9000 pound tuition fee, a threefold increase over the previous level will offset some of the deficit, but under graduates are already voting with their feet and opting out of university. Applications for UK universities places have fallen by 12 per cent due to the application of increased tuition fees. Even the mighty Oxford is showing a 2.3 per cent drop in UK applicants.
These three issues have a common theme. Mess with education at our peril. The schooling journey for children lasts for 15-18 years from primary school to degree. This equates to approximately four governments and, based on their average tenure of 18 months, 12 Secretaries of State for Education. We can’t afford to view educational as a tactical move. The current recessionary effect will undoubtedly will get worse before it improves – with or without the Europe Union. The is a lot of angst in the schooling system and we need a few swords to be turned in ploughshares to improve strategic investment. Talking of which perhaps we could get BAE to swap the two useless and unwanted aircraft carriers the UK nation is obliged to buy and turn them into schools for the future even if they are painted grey.
School League Tables Should Show Top and Bottom Results
Monday, October 24th, 2011Keen2learn has banged on in the past about the the inadequacies of our educational system. Despite billions of pounds being spent; we can’t say invested, over the past 24 years since the National Curriculum was launched we still have not moved forward in overall educational achievement.
In addition to the current soaring inflation and troubles in the Euro-zone there is mounting concern over rising unemployment. More especially there is concern that our educational system is failing to provide children, and thus employers, with the right degree of literacy, numeracy and that essential work ethic. During a recent poll by the British Chambers of Commerce around 50 percent of employers stated it was difficult to recruit British candidates due to inadequacies in basic English and Maths. Moreover a spokesman for the UK Department of Education said too many young people lacked the skill base required for work.
Whilst the school achievement league tables herald the success stories, subject to routine criticism from teachers and children, there is no table which shows how many children are released to the adult world without a hope. Perhaps we should question any school that produces five percent of its population in the A-C pass band at GCSE yet simultaneously releases a large proportion of children unfit for employment. more…
No Child Left Behind Policy Fails To Get Exam Results Needed
Sunday, October 23rd, 2011Another governmental educational scheme falls into disrepute. The “No child left behind” edict destined to revolutionize teaching resources in the USA is spluttering. The gap between target and achievement is such that 65 percent of schools in Illinois have flunked the federal standard. Rather than regrouping to overcome the failure the Illinois state board of education is seeking to a waiver from the provisions of the law. Now forgive me for being a heretic but couldn’t ever child taking any exam claim the same option.
It would seem that common with many government eductaional initiatives around the world the transition from the concept theory to achievement at the coal-face seem disconnected. Maybe time to review the corporate intentions with teachers rather than set schemes that are doomed to failure causing frustration all round – especially with the school children involved. More
STEM Education and Careers Still Need Boost By Governments
Thursday, October 20th, 2011The USA sees a critical shortfall looming in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) skills being taught in school. These essential skills are needed to support the engineering and science initiatives of the future. But the lack of performance in this key area of the curriculum is worrying major manufacturers and medical companies who fear a reduced intake of the engineers scientists of tomorrow.
The turnaround to influence children in school supported by the intrigue from viable science and engineering projects can take years to accomplish. The clock is ticking away whilst schoolchildren review their options and the current recession is certainly not helping. Children no longer see employment as a natural conclusion to their education. University degrees now carry a fee burden equivalent to a first time mortgage and the vast majority of children now face the real predicament of either earning money or debt at the start to their adult career.
We need to influence children in the key roles in which they could potentially prosper. STEM careers could be the answer. Not only would this induce creativity in design and operation, a budding scientist or engineer could be at the centre of wealth development for themselves, their employers and the nation. This is especially relevant in countries seeing manufacture migrate to the Far East. It is no wonder that a cold sweat is appearing on the brows of governments, higher educational authourites and key manufactures such as Lockheed – Martin and Ingersol Rand. The advent of the STEM summit in 2012 next June in Dallas, and the activities in the UK have to make science and engineering outrank other interests. Most importantly they need to ensure children see this a a key career for the future; something many governments still have to work on. More
UK Education Fails to Match Progress in Science and Technology
Wednesday, October 12th, 2011One of the most startling revelations of modern Britain is the overall decline in educational achievement. Whilst science and medicine expand their horizons our teaching resources in both primary secondary state schools continue to fail to thrive. Despite the investment of billions of pounds by successive governments the department of education has become a very poor example of educational achievement on the world stage.
Recent developments at CERN indicate that science is constantly re-evaluating itself. The thought that Einstein’s theory where nothing can travel faster than the speed of light could be proven wrong may be unthinkable, yet science is now being turned on its head. Physics as we knew it is witnessing fundamental laws that are now being rewritten. Yet in the world of education and schooling practices over the same time frame we seem to have achieved so little.
In the last 10 years technology, the internet, mobile communications and computers have all established paradigm shifts in performance and applications whilst our overall achievement in state schooling has not. Certainly the skill base in teaching has remained intact but we haven’t seen the equivalent mould-breaking breakthrough in pedagogy. I believe there are parallels in medicine. Whilst medical science has progressed in research and treatments an article in the Times (12th Oct 2011) reveals certain breakthroughs in bowel cancer surgery established by a leading professor in surgery 20 years ago remain unadopted by the National Health Service despite the significant improvement in its success compared to current practice. Central government bodies are the common denominator both in the NHS and in state schools education.
Whilst constantly introducing bureaucratic controls from the top down, motivating inspirational development at the coalface is stifled. Teachers and head teachers appear emasculated in their very own area of expertise. The policy to apply singular focus on attaining targets has thwarted the radical developments that are needed. Even those external colleges deemed to be researching improvements in teaching concepts have to a large extend fallen by the wayside during the cost cutting culls of the new government.
As a control experiment the expertise in independent schools continues to set the pace. Apart from financial constraints in fees linked with the prevailing market conditions the independent sector is thriving in the quality of schooling offered to children.
The advent of free schools and academies will circumvent the controls of the department of education. This move, heavily promoted by the government and the Secretary of State for Education would seem on the surface to be a bold move to implement change. Freed of Government and local Authority intervention these new schools could provide the breakthrough in focus and practical application in teaching.
It also seems a retrograde step 24 years after the introduction of the National Curriculum and Tony Blair’s battle cry of “Education, Education, Education”. The UK’s approach to excellence is to now to leave schools to their own devices. If this were the case it would appear the better solution would have been to have avoided government intervention in the first place. UK schools, instead of constant criticism, pressure on teachers – many of whom have left the profession and the introduction of countless educational initiatives that have cost billions of pounds to little or no effect, we could have seen 24 years of actual development spearheaded by teachers.
The role of head teacher has largely become administrative dealing with Ofsted and finance. Applications for promotion to head teacher is seen as a retrograde step by many potential candidates believing the job too stressful. Ironically the teaching and motivational skill of the head teacher has been largely lost to administration at the very time it was needed most. If we are to adopt a paradigm shift and claw our way back up the OECD educational league table, where we currently languish in around 25th position in the world, we need some courageous moves by schools. The free schools and academies may show the way. If Eton and Westminster schools who started life as a schools for children from poor families can metamorphosis to their current position of learning excellence so hopefully can our state schools.
Educational Research Found Teachers Enhancing Maths Exam Score
Monday, September 12th, 2011Our teaching resources in primary and secondary schools are motivated and rewarded by attaining targets. Time in the classroom can be absorbed by the process of selecting the range of children who potentially will generate the maximum points in tests and exams. Gifted children and the slower learner are often discounted by the law of classroom averages. A recent survey by the Institute Of Education in London (IoE) has shown this can induce teachers to go against their better judgement and play educational games with the learning opportunity of the class especially by manipulating exam results especially it seems, in maths.
The SATs tests and GCSE exam results is proving our overall performance in maths is suspect. The improved exam results are not only being linked to the potential of an easy exam. The pass rate may seem to be improving but the quality of learning in maths is often declared mournful and unfit for service. Numerous captains of industry and commerce claim the standard of maths ability in children seeking employment is woefully inadequate requiring remedial support before school leavers can start work.
A review of maths tests in the national curriculum has shown children apparently able to add and subtract in their head without understanding the times tables. On the surface that this would seem a positive achievement, but some teachers, conscious of hitting targets, are manipulating the results.
Children have been so well groomed they can answer many questions without understanding how the answer is actually calculated. Professor Richard Cowan who completed the study for the IoE said “The goal to have children able to calculate the answer to basic calculations by year three will be unlikely to be achieved without a substantial change in the way children are taught”.
Ironically the incomplete knowledge of maths is not a total stalling point. Some children can grasp the answer without a thorough understanding of it should be calculated. The misguided energy involved with attaining targets sacrifices confidence in maths to the detriment of the children and the teachers. Although the IoE survey found the reports on a child’s performance in maths could have been manipulated to meet targets and make the school look better there is a happy medium. If all children in the class where to feature as the collective measure of teaching proficiency rather that the achievement of targets the incentive to manipulate results will be largely removed.
It seems such a simple enough strategy that is hard to believe this is not the case already. The government initiatives such as “Every child a reader” and “No child left behind” may have stood a better chance if targets had been modified and the whole class, year or school were judged in the statistics. This would reveal the overall merits of a school and indeed a government initiative. At the moment we are playing games by manipulating the figures merely to improve the achievement of a school to get Ofsted off their backs.
Academies and Free Schools Escape Educational Dogma.
Sunday, September 11th, 2011The clearest indictment that our schooling system is failing comes from the government. The introduction of free schools could be said to be a remedy for the malaise that our schools are facing. The National curriculum, unanimously voted by teachers as the curate’s egg; good in parts, has ailed and failed since its launch in 1987. Billions of pounds have been invested for scant return. But will new academies and free schools, unfettered by the national curriculum and government scrutiny, be the panacea our schooling system needs, or create confusion our schoolchildren will condemn for generations?
The uptake to seek free schools status seems grossly under-subscribed. Head teachers, hounded by Ofsted inspections, targets, budget cuts and endless government educational initiatives had been expected to grasp this ideal opportunity to opt out. But the flood of anticipated applications for free school status turned out to be a trickle. Just 240 schools applied from the expected two to three thousand. Many were late applications where teachers and school governors fought with the implications of academy or free school status. Clearly the freedom from government, Ofsted and local education authorities were a huge plus for the schools, but they are not exempt from performing and the thought of going it alone and failing must have been significantly daunting. Other schools hover on the touch line waiting to see how the first tranche copes. As the new academic year starts many schools are only half full raising concerns over their financial viability. The new free schools need to attract a minimum number of children to generate their operational budgets from fees paid by the government per child attending.
A further unease is whether the initial enthusiasm to break free prevails. If the right teaching staff are not recruited and retained the chances of a schools’ success will be severely impaired. From the teachers perspective they seek the better performing schools to provide job enrichment and career enhancement. There is a risk the brand new free school operating without a pedigree will only be able to recruit those teachers willing to take such a risk.
A huge benefit for children attending free schools is the amount of additional learning time involved in the school year. State schools are contracted to provide 38 weeks of schooling (196 days a year) a year. Free schools are able to provide up to 51 weeks a year. The additional learning time is further enhanced by a reduction in the time allocated to exams and the tutoring for exams that occurs generally in state schools preoccupied with the need to hit performance targets. State schools spend around nine weeks a year in exam tutorials. Parents may also welcome the longer teaching year giving them financial benefits from reduced childcare costs.
There is a lot of good that can come from the free school concept. Freed from government intervention and Ofsted policy they can invest more time to the learning process. Moving with the times rather than national curriculum could produce more rounded students better matched to the education demands of commerce and industry. But there is a high risk some will fail. The stand-alone structure may cause some to suffer withdrawal symptoms. This will be a catastrophe for the children involved.
PSHE Educational Games To Help Diffuse Riots
Tuesday, September 6th, 2011Assiduous changes have affected our society immeasurably. Our children can often feel overlooked and ignored at home and at school. Yet their freedom of speech through social networks and the ability to communicate worldwide at the touch of a button has left some teenagers bewildered. They have significant power to talk yet can be discounted by a society where parents and perhaps teachers fail to keep up with their educational needs in a rapidly changing social environment. Feeling disenfranchised they result to anti social antics which we may abhor yet have been responsible in part for their onset.
Educational initiatives introduced as part of the national curriculum have predominately failed. The cost of failure has been phenomenal both financially and the social impact in school and society. The recent riots have rung the Lutine bell now the aftermath of action and reaction needs to dealt with effectively. The combination of renewed parental support and educational initiatives must be jointly harnessed. It all cannot be left to Teachers. But there is some help. A fantastic series of discussion cards is available to get that essential conversation going with our youth. Developed by Sue Scott- Horne after a lifetime of experience in dealing with children and young adults they break down barriers and reluctance to talk by introducing the subject in the form of educational games.
Educational Secretary To Tackle Truancy
Friday, September 2nd, 2011The current scheme to control and reduce truancy for school is not working. With over the number of children avoiding class clearly there is scope for improvement. Education Secretary Michael Gove revealed that there are over one million children who missed more than 10 per cent of lessons in school each week.
The government are also drawing a connection with the level of truancy, the subsequent loss in education and its effects in the recent riots. The education secretary explained his thinking in a recent speech when Mr Gove said: “We still, every year allow thousands more children to join an educational underclass – they are the lost souls our school system has failed. It is from that underclass that gangs draw their recruits, young offenders’ institutions find their inmates and prisons replenish their cells.”
Our teaching support would need a huge boost in resources to counteract the problem, which is not going to be possible within the current financial constraints in educational budgets. The root cause and effect of a child’s drift to truancy has to be thoroughly understood by the government. There are many with specialist knowledge that must be consulted before any initiative is taken. We cannot afford to let the matter drift on any longer. It not affects the lives of those “lost souls” involved in absconding from school but also the children who suffered the consequences of the associated disruption in class. It is symptomatic of a festering sore in our education system that has defeated numerous educational secretaries. Maybe the cabinet should look to solving the issues in our own society a little than our overseas excursions. more
Schooling Policy In Wales Fail Exams
Monday, August 29th, 2011This years crop of GCSE and A Level exams taken by children in Wales has shown an alarming decline in performance. This has stranded many students wanting to take degree courses at university. But the real concern is the change in the educational policy introduced in Wales that abandoned annual exams and tests which monitored learning progress which seems to have created the downfall.
The ideal seemed well founded. Scrap the tests which previously involved extensive periods of grooming and practice in how to pass the exams. Instead allocate this time – estimated at nine weeks per year, towards further learning. The concept seemed ideal, it made logical sense and in theory should have improved the range of education for Welsh children. But something has gone wrong in the equation. By not honing children in exam technique and assessing their performance annually seems to interrupted the ability to pass exams. Results are poorer than in England which maintained the status quo.
The experiment is an eye opener but maybe should not be abandoned wholeheartedly. This pedagogical conundrum need further investigation. The bench mark of exam performance in England is far from ideal. Exam results have been manipulated by children taking the easier subjects. The need for Maths and the sciences, which could help students in future careers in this changing world, have swapped for and abundance of courses in media studies etc.
Wales had a problem which needs significant soul searching to modify the measured outcome in final exams. The Educational authourities must accept that the educational benefit of allocating those precious nine weeks into learning rather than exam techniques. But for the sake of good order they also have to come up with a better measure of ability and academic progress. Now is not the time to throw the baby out with the bathwater. more..the implications for Wales’ school system
School Term At Free Schools Starts With Low Attendance
Monday, August 29th, 2011The success of the new Free Schools to be run by parents and teachers is off to a wobbly start. These new educational establishments were set to change the face of the our teaching resources in the UK. Freed from the normal controls instilled in the state sector they were heralded by educational secretary Micheal Gove as the way of the future. But there is a flaw. It required local parents to take a gamble with these schools with no pedigree and enlist their children. But they are not.
The Free schools are to draw funds from the government based on a fee per student. It is essential these schools have a full compliment to make ends meet. The operating and payroll costs would have set in the budgets assuming a 80 per cent occupancy but some are falling desperately short of their targets. This poses an awful conundrum. No erstwhile teacher will want to work for a reduced salary or even nothing. The chances of the free school taking off during the first critical years will be severely impaired if the better teachers abandon ship and leave. Schools Freed From Educational Authority Could Flounder
The scheme has a further vulnerability. Set up by interested parents they will inevitably have a finite interest. A concern is the whether these parent’s will maintain the operational energy after their children have moved away from the school, and the headteacher retires. Many a parents group or parent-teacher interface folds when the driving force moves away or their children leave the school. Although their are supposed safeguards the fallibility of the free school structure is yet to be proven.
The schooling journey of a child is 15 years. This critical time is made perilous enough with government initiatives, many of which fail or are heavily criticised by the teachers who are required to operate them. As the clock moves on interruptions to this valuable learning time lost can never really be recovered. Let us hope that the Free School experiment does not implode and leave countless children stranded by parents who were led to believe it to be a good idea or a solution to the failing local state school.
Are We Learning From Our Mistakes In Education Policy?
Friday, August 26th, 2011We like to think we’re developing as a nation but as our educational prowess has just taken its annual hammering with the GCSE and Advanced level exam results. Despite the supposed improvement in results much is linked to the popularity of easier subjects. The quality of our teaching resources and schooling system languishes in the “could do better” zone. Such criticism would not merit respect except it comes from the very Head teachers responsible for our children’s education.
Despite state and private education being around for 100’s of years it has fundamentally failed to track with economic, social and technical developments. Countless secretaries of state for education have come and gone. Many leaving behind turmoil and failed educational initiatives that have cost billions of pounds. Their policies have been short-lived, created by short-term government ministers who hold the post for a desperately brief tenure leaving behind confusion, frustration and a deep-seated concern for the future of our children. We are slipping down the international educational league tables at an alarming rate and as yet do not have a concerted policy that can address this trend. Exam Results Reveal failure in Educational System
Accepting the strategic importance of education it seems crass to hand this vital role to a government minister who inevitably is equipped with an Eton and Oxford background. Having therefore benefited from a pinnacle of education being expected to empathise with the overall failings of the education system that serves millions of our children seems remote. Countless schemes and national initiatives have been introduced that are openly criticised and condemned by the very head teachers responsible for their implementation. Failed or abandoned trials leave hundreds of thousands of children stranded or robbed of the education they deserve. The policies cause undue stress within our teaching resources and having a negative influence on new teachers 50 per cent of who abandon the role within five years. This staggering waste of expensive educational resource remains an unresolved indictment of the educational sector.
Key performance indices (KPI) introduced by the bureaucrats to measure performance have been duly manipulated by the more savvy head teachers and clouded the true results and trends. Yet government educational departments busy handling the introduction and measurable the next initiative seems bereft of prior consultation with the unions, colleges and teaching resources. The fate of well meaning radical reforms and learning schemes could be vastly improved and the doomed schemes aborted before they damage our schooling systems.
Above all politicians zest for glory could be muted. As the average tenure of an educational Secretary is around 18 short months they hardly have time to get to grips with the status quo let alone develop and in depth strategic plan.
Our children deserve to be among the best educated in the world. Educational traditions of quality extend back hundreds of years for very few institutions. And over the next 10 years the numbers attending primary school will swell by a further 300,000 children. We have a UK wide problem that should take precedence in government planning. We must invest in these children after all they will run the economic recovery of the UK and replace the government of today, hopefully, from a much wider platform.
Parents Need To Be Behind Real Educational Reform
Tuesday, August 23rd, 2011Politics and education do not mix leading to a sequence of games played between government, authorities and the teaching resources in schools. A recent report by Steven Brill summarised his two-year investigation in the USA which he found enormously frustrating.
The worlds of education and politics have been odd bedfellows generating continuous ideological spin that pervades all from early learning to high school. He believes if you repeat a lie often enough you can convince yourself that it is true. State education is failing children and it is not about money or the size of the class but rather who is at the front of class. He believes that parents need to become more involved in the children’s education and refuse to put up with inadequate and failing or inappropriate educational standards. more
Educational Achievement of Kids Heavily Influenced by Parents
Wednesday, July 20th, 2011The summer school holidays are looming. Time to wind down and enjoy the time with the children, well at least until they get bored. Education takes a back seat, GCSE’s, A level exams and SAT tests are all in the past and now is the time to forget about school and get and about with the kids. Ignoring the price hikes applied by every sales company who see you as a captive audience in the now peak travel season this is a marvelous opportunity to kill two birds with one stone. You can overcome boredom by paying educational games especially the travel games that you and the kids will enjoy together. Importantly they will turn the bored free time into highly rewarding and productive learning that is also, crucially, great fun.
Teachers have ploughed through elements of the national curriculum throughout the year. The law of averages will mean some children will have grasped the lessons extremely well, some will have average understanding and some will have struggled. Doesn’t matter which category any child falls into a little extra help will stimulate the learning progress despite their ability. Keeping the educational flow going is the answer and six or eight weeks of school holiday can be a long time for young grey cells to stagnate.
Some surprising news has also recently emerged. Research indicates Google is creating a backwards step in learning. Apparently being able to easily Google something reduces the intelligence otherwise required to seek and reason. We are tending to believe that Google has the right and only answer to any question. The ability for children to seek facts and determine their relevance and accuracy is being lost. Learning from errors and mistakes is becoming eroded as we begin to lack the exposure to options. We now take the information displayed by Google as gospel, and are heavily influenced by the ranking and advertisements displayed. If it doesn’t show up in the search engine we are being led to believe nothing else exists which could be relevant to our inquiry.
Similarly we tend to believe that school is the sole arbiter of learning. There is nothing else we as parents should or could do otherwise we could be interfering and undermine the teachers. But ironically this is the exact opposite of the facts. As parents we have a vital role to play in the continuing schooling of of our children. And the fun activities now available cover the whole spectrum of learning have a double edged benefit. They help children to practice the lesson content at their own pace, building understanding and speed, and also provide parents with an insight into the contemporary ability of their child.
Conventional homework tends to be one dimensional. Children predominately find it a chore and difficult to get parents actively involved. Educational games on the other hand provide a fun base for the mutual interaction between parent and child. The games provide a great opportunity to practice the lesson content boosting the learning retention by the child. Turning learning into fun holds huge potential and with the school summer holidays looming playing some travel games has a double the benefit of having fun learning whilst on the move.
Is The Government Competent Enough To Educate Our Children
Tuesday, July 5th, 2011One of the few parameters of daily life in which we have little control is education. The disconnect starts in early learning and lasts for the four key stages of the national curriculum. Parents are in effect locked out of the learning process and rely entirely on the teaching resources that are provided by the school. This has little to do with cost allocation and applies for both the state and independent schools sectors.
The only exclusion from this control arises with home schooling where parents can select which maths, English, science learning resources they wish to pursue. The rest of the three million children currently in our primary and secondary schooling system have their educational programme mapped out by the government. The scope, content, timing, tests and examinations determined by a supposedly higher authority that knows best.
Parents are seemingly deemed inadequate to manage the process are left with the daunting task of attempting to select the best school for their children. A decision impeded by the lack of good schools. Post codes lotteries involving catchment areas of good schools become fraught with potential manipulation by both school and parents. And to cap it all the national curriculum enforced in all state schools is openly criticised by teachers who believe it can lack relevance in our fast changing world.
Importantly our examination and SAT testing process have become a travesty. Inaccuracies, manipulation and an annual debate on their relevance and suitability have undermined the exam boards. Despite the concern little has been achieved apart from the Department for Education terminating an overseas supplier multi-million pound contract who carried the can for the 2009 debacle where exam results results were late, poorly marked or lost.
The government has a history of change for change sake. The Secretary of State for education has seen a succession of incumbents for this strategic role. Ministers with an average tenancy of 18 months are hardly able to formulate and implement a plan before they move on long and way before any new policy can be ratified. Calamitous schemes have been launched costing tens of millions of pounds only to be abandoned five years later. Even the name of the department has changed to suit the latest Minister’s desire to stamp his or her authority on the role. But they certainly try and inevitably start with the name of the department. Recently the Department for Education and Skills became renamed the Department for Schools, Children and Families that ultimately reverted to the aptly named Department for Education in the last government shakeup. Printers reducing new stationery are delirious, teaching resources perhaps less so.
But the real question is if the government are the arbiters of our educational system why have they not cracked the ideal format for our children. Parents and teachers are responsible for the children in their care and perhaps the ideal resource to identify what works and what does not. They are after all responsible for all other decisions in a child’s upbringing. If the educational process were to be funded by individual families from reduced income tax parents would be far cannier with the pounds and induce more efficient control than has been achieved by central government. After all the billions of pounds invested in government educational schemes over the last ten years have yet to achieve a marked improvement in the basics of maths, literacy and science. The position of the UK in the educational world ranking has slipped from the top ten to the mid twenties. We are going backwards in what is an essential need for the nation as we metamorphosise into a new UK able to compete in the global market without our traditional industries and commerce. We need some bright well-educated children to lead the next generation and frankly take care of the current educational leaders who have failed so far.
USA Fails To Give Consistent Educational Resources To Children
Friday, July 1st, 2011Despite being one of the world’s leading nations in technology and commerce the USA still has problems with educational standards. With the resources available why does the United States, like the UK, struggle to reflect their position in global activities in the schooling of children?
A recent review by U.S. Department of Education shows that despite educational reforms there is still a significant inequality in the standards of teaching and educational resources across the nation. The review sample covering 7,000 schools revealed disparity with the number of children receiving inadequate maths schooling especially in algebra and calculus. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said “The data shows that far too many students are still not getting access to the kinds of classes, resources and opportunities they need to be successful.” …..Read More in Huffpost Education
Educational SAT’s Tests Pass Scrutiny
Wednesday, June 29th, 2011Wimbledon fortnight, in addition to tennis also coincides with the advent of another annual competition. It heralds the start of the schools examination silly season. Recriminations of poor performance, misguided exam and SAT’s test preparation and teaching standards abound. Critics crawl out of the woodwork to announce strident viewpoints and government educational departments parry inevitable negative feedback. If the results in September are good it is due to easier exams, if they are bad it’s the fault of the national curriculum, poor teaching resources schools and maybe Michale Gove.
The augment that says we could do away with them has long bounced around the playground. But startling new evidence indicates the significant value of regular testing. Wales abandoned the equivalent of SAT’s in 2004, and later abandoned school league tables. Their ploy was to avoid the “teach to test syndrome” where the last nine weeks of the final year at primary school was devoted merely to honing the skills to pass the tests. Children didn’t learn anything new as so much depended on the results. They were a key measure of teacher performance and indicated a schools prowess through its position in the subsequent performance league table.
The dilemma; was the time wasted by SAT’s and exams at the expense of teaching time when children could enjoy learning more or would the absence of SAT’s remove the key focus from the teaching standards. Wales has provided the answer. Since abandoning SAT’s testing the Welsh standard of education, as measured by the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), reveals Wales to be near the bottom of the world league tables. Alarmingly it has shown Welsh school children have also dropped two grades in GCSE examinations.
The Welsh Education Secretary, Leighton Andrews, has bitten the bullet and announced the situation “Is evidence of a systemic failure” he says. Needless to say he has advanced plans to reintroduce tests supported by the subdued educationalists who originally voted the test out. This stark revelation is a double edged sword. Firstly a whole generation of Welsh children have been failed by the system. Secondly, there is still criticism of the system operating in England. We need a new approach that will provide the key performance indicators KPI that can used to continually monitor a child’s performance and can be assessed by PISA. It seems pointless to hold end of key stage SAT’s that are too late to induce any corrective measure. The Welsh experiment has proven the consequences of abandoning tests. What is needed are far more frequent tests. The use of technology could offer huge significance in routinely testing children through educational games. Importantly the feedback would allow dynamic correction by teachers and parents and avoid the last ditch teach to test syndrome.
We certainly cannot maintain the current system in England which is clearly damaged. Being disliked by teachers who frequently describe it as a waste of teaching time, our resultant performance in the world league table is a lamentable mid 20th position – well behind China in first position. But then China has historically used regular tests in the classroom for the past 1400 years.
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