“I think you should read the report.” A simple sentence. Powerful words though. A challenge, and a (deserved) reproof. So I read the report. Oxfordshire Safeguarding Children Board Serious Case Review – Children A-F – Overview Report – March 2015 I would advise you to do so as well. If you can stand it. I… Read More The presumption of innocence
We’re told there were 44,000 responses to the teachers workload challenge, with more than 20,000 providing answers to the open questions. Let’s assume 5 minutes to fill in the basic form and another 25 minutes to answer the open questions. That’s 12,000 teacher hours. We’re told that every single one of the responses was read… Read More The value of nothing
The first assembly I attended as a teacher was for the new intake of Year 9’s (lower/middle/upper system) given by our Deputy Head Richard Morris. Now I’m not that brilliant at remembering things from that long ago but many of his words that day stayed with me and informed not just my teaching but how… Read More Primum non nocere
For clarity, I’m not a “Sir Ken Robinson said the word ‘creativity’ without defining it to my exact requirements, so he needs to die at the stake” sort of person. Anyone who wants to take the time to discuss education and to laud the benefits of a state education is ok by me. Nothing anyone… Read More You can dance if you want to
Grrr. I was intending that my next post would be a follow-up to this one, but events, dear boy, events! So, Nesta and The TES commission YouGov to run a survey on teachers levels of confidence in delivering the new Computing curriculum. They may well have their own motives for asking the particular set of… Read More The significance of confidence levels
When politicians make speeches I understand that they are, by and large, made for a political purpose. They will use language and, sometimes, facts in a way that ‘helps’ the reader to understand and subscribe to their point of view. I do, however, have a preference for politicians to get basic, checkable facts contained in… Read More Assessing Politicians Prose
If you set up a school in a area where there is no need for more school places. If the local population don’t want it. If you allow a group of people who have no experience in running a school to start one. If you allow that group to outsource the running of the school… Read More If…
I’ve been doing some research into salaries paid in different professions. Whilst in some city-based jobs the overall packages can be very high, it is clear that the individuals who receive the highest average basic salary before bonuses are Premiership footballers. This is clearly the acme of employment possibilities. As educators we therefore need to… Read More Everyone can succeed
There are a number of facts doing the rounds about Margaret Thatchers time as Secretary of State for Education and Science. It is not my intention to make absolute statements about what is and is not the truth of these statements, simply to lay out some evidence about a couple of them. There are no… Read More Facts, truth and reality
…and it will get even busier this week as I finally (FINALLY) get to grips with the H807 work. For various reasons I have found it a bit difficult to get going on this one. The main issue has been the day job – hopefully that will calm down a little soon as I have… Read More A busy couple of weeks…
Distant Ramblings on the Horizon 