In the end quality will out

Frustrated by years of falling standards, and with them a growing gulf between the private education sector and the taxpayer funded sector, there is a growing rush of state schools taking up the International GCSE. This exam system was set up in order to placate the mainly Commonwealth countries who looked at the decline in Englsih eductaion and rejected the National curriculum backed normal GCSE.

Initially the exam was chosen mostly by private schools, but now, according to this report in the Independent we can see that it is becoming the exam of choice in those state schools who do not wish their pupils to be left behind.

One of the state schools to switch to the IGCSE is Parkside in Cambridge – a school which believes it has the highest number of scientists living in its catchment area of any in the country due to its proximity to the university. Mark Carrington, the chairman of its governing body and a biochemist at the university, said: "I have two sons who have done science GCSE and A-levels and I found that the science they did was nice and cuddly science which didn't provide the depth of understanding you need to progress."

This can only be a good thing and hopefully what we will see here is an educational 'reverse Gresham'.

A total of 300 UK schools – most independent – will receive their IGCSE results today, 12 days before GCSE results are released.

Their numbers will swell to 500 next year but it will be 2012 before the growth in state schools switching to the new exam comes into effect.

Last month, the first since the Education Secretary, Michael Gove, announced that state schools could teach the IGCSEs, the Cambridge IGCSE received 26 new applications to start taking the exam from September – 16 from state schools and 10 from the independent sector. In addition, 60 state schools have signed up for a session to be trained in teaching the exam in September.

Of course the Independent's commentators are not fully supportive of the trend,

Of course many state schools are happy to offer parents the nostalgia associated with a return to "O" levels, it is a buyers market.

Look here Quietzappple , with your ED Balls avatar. What you denounce as nostalgia is in fact a desire that children leave 11 years of compulsory education with a modicum of learning. It is you and people like you that have condemned two generations to falling educational standards. Something that I regard as a crime against reason which has destroyed the hopes and opportunities of millions. Something that though not without precedent (I understand education declined inthe period after the Romans left us) is a complete disgrace.

So all power to the elbow of those schools prepared to demand better.

Sherborne wins one upmanship competition

The Emir of Qatar was so impressed with his son's education at Sherborne School in Dorset that he bought it, well not quite but the next best thing.

He is building an exact replica - minus the Abbey in Doha.

The children in the oil rich sand-pit will not always be overly chuffed. They will be required to wear their traditional uniform designed for Dorset.

In weather designed for camels

Condemned to repeat

This news just fills me with a sad dread,

A secondary school is withdrawing History from its timetable this year because it is unpopular".
St Mungo's in Falkirk also said it would not offer the subject to S3 Standard Grade pupils in 2009 because it had only one History teacher.
In addition, the school said the subject was also being withdrawn as a Higher exam option until 2011.

Why would anybody in Falkirk want to learn about their history?

Can't tell, or won't tell?

Is it important that those who teach our children are capable of stringing a few words together? Well being old fashioned I would have thought so. Is this the sort of thing that HMG should be aware of? It seems that the Government don't really want to know,

Lord Pearson of Rannoch
Further to the Written Answer on 31 of January, what proportion of entrants to Bachelor of Education degree courses are candidates with less than two A-levels; what is the average A-level attainment of those entrants; and what is the overall average A-level attainment of all entrants, including candidates with less than two A-levels, in table 1 of the Answer.
Baroness Morgan of Drefelin
The attainment of trainees who enter initial teacher training with less than two A-levels is not separately identified.

Why the Devil not? Given that we are regulated, checked and assessed every minute of our working lives. Would it not be reasonable to assume that the Government have a clue as to how many near illiterates are being co-opted into our education system?

Apparently not.

Educational Governance in the EU

We are often told that the EU has no say into either health care or education. These things being exclusive national competences. Of course this is hokum.

Next week there is a day conference in the European Parliament being hosted by the EPP/ED group, yes the Tories again, which is as the poster advertising the event makes clear is moving towards taking commands of the uplands of higher education.

The conference will addressed by a host of educational bigwigs an it is, as these things always are about driving the process further, more all encompassing and so on.

The Bologna Process itself is a case study of how these things work over here.

The Bologna Process aims to create a European Higher Education Area by 2010

This is the sort of stuff they are talking about,

A Europe of Knowledge is now widely recognised as an irreplaceable factor for social and human growth and as an indispensable component to consolidate and enrich the European citizenship,

Lets not forget plans for a common European History syllabus and you will see quite how deep the EU wishes to dig into the minds of our children.

Why not send them to Runnymede?

News that the Government are going to send two pupils from every six form on a trip to Auschwitz just shows how skewed our education system has become.

Coming fast on the heels of calls to take pride in our own history out of the classroom this just shows the goverenment at it's shallow worst.

The best protection against the possibility of another holocaust must be and understanding of who we are. Sending children who do not understand the growth of Liberty in our country on horror tourism to the gas chambers of the Shoah gets us nowhere. I cannot believe that there is a single six-former studying history who has not studied the rise of the Nazis. The growth of National and International Socialism is littered by examples of the destruction of individual liberties.

What we in the UK can be proud of is that we stood out against the Nazis with the Empire, almost alone. It was our belief in freedom, a belief nutured by an understanding of our own history that gave us the confidence to oppose the great totalitarian regiems of the 20th Century.

So I am calling for the Government to start concentrating on those landmarks of freedom; Runymede, Plymouth Hoe, Tamworth, St Peter's Fields, Tolpuddle and others rather than chasing after some collective guilt of which we are not guilty.

What is education for?

Well one simple definition that I think would be understood by most is it is for teaching people to do stuff.

So it comes as no suprise at all to discover that teenage girls are still getting pregnant. After all if the schools keep on teaching sex education in the same way that they always did when I was at school, then, duh, children will have sex.

If I remember rightly sex education was the one constant in biology. Every term without fail from the age of eleven up in a desperate attempt to create some interest in the subject the teacher would proclaim, "Next week we will be doing sex education".

Of course anything that smacked of genitalia was of great interest so we all dutifuly settled down to the present task of disecting ants or defining xylem and phloem.

The point is that if the purpose of this constant stream of information, now being suggested for 5 year olds is to reduce unwanted or accidental childhood pregnancy then surely some form of abstinence education could be a better idea?

Of course we have a government that has only recently called for the pill to be given to girls who, just by having sex are breaking the law. How can that act as a disincentive to have under age sex?

We have a system that as failed in its stated aims for its entire period of existence. The fact that it hasn't been closed down of course begs the question. Why on earth not? Could it be that the framers and supporters of the policy do not really have the reduction in teenage pregnacy as their aim, but instead the undermining of the institution of marriage and the building blocks of what they see to be old fashioned conservative societal mores? Or are they just pig ignorant and refuse to acept the reality of failure, but as the net gainers - they after all get nice salaries and a sense of moral self-importance in their ring-fenced taxpayer funded lives, that the wreckage of hundreds of thousands of individual lives is of slight importance?

"Yes, er well no, hang on, or sorry..."

Reports from the pre-recording of Nick Clegg's appearance on TV AM this Sunday suggest that he may just have blown a gasket in the leadership race
From PA we hear this,

"Mr Clegg said that the pupil premium policy would mean schools receiving an extra £2.5 billion, tied to the number of children from disadvantaged backgrounds they have. This would bring funding per head for the poorest pupils up to private school levels and give schools an incentive to attract children from low-income families.

Rather than parents being given the money in vouchers and choosing where to spend it, the premium would go direct to schools to pay for smaller class sizes, bonuses for teachers, one-on-one tuition or extended hours learning, he said.

Some £1.5 billion of the bill for the premium would be paid for by removing tax credits from parents on above average income, but Mr Clegg acknowledged that there was £1 billion "gap" which he had not yet decided how to fill.

Asked if the cash would come from taxing the better-off, he replied "Yes, er well no, hang on, or sorry..." before adding "I'm not fixed in my own mind about where that money would come from".

The Lib Dem home affairs spokesman said he expected some of the extra cash to come from cutting Government waste and bureaucratic duplication, but said he was
ready to be "creative" in finding ways to raise it.

He has already floated the idea of a 10% tax on non-domestic earnings of "non-domiciled" foreigners resident in the UK in order to raise £1 billion to cut council tax for households in the lowest-value properties, he pointed out.

Mr Clegg said he believed it would be possible to "break the stifling grip of two-party politics" in Britain within two general elections if he became leader.

Yeah go Nick, so the people who will suffer are those who are in work but cannot quite afford private education. And they will be taxed more for the privilege.

Priceless, a bit like his policy. What he obviously doesn't understand, apart from basic economics it appears, is that the ethos of the school is almost as important, if not definitively more important than the industrial quantities of cash poured down its gullet that he suggests.

If the money followed the child, by dint of giving the parents a voucher to spend where they see fit, then the results would be more than impressive.
Take a look at this recent publication 'School Choice' from Cato if you want to see why.

Do they teach press officers maths?

Or at least Press Officers in the Department for Children, Schools and families.

In response to a DCFS report that shows that 1 in 10 children are now going to private schools, an unnamed departmental spokesman has said,

"the "overwhelming majority of pupils" - almost 93% - still attend state schools.
In terms of raw numbers, 2,000 fewer pupils were being taught in private schools, he said.
"The overwhelming majority of parents are clearly satisfied with the state education system," he said.
"New research from Keele University shows that nine out of 10 are happy with their children's schools.
"The state school system is continuing to deliver for parents, regardless of their wealth or background, with record results across the board."

They are clearly happy, where the hell has this prize idiot been? He obviously hasn't met a parent recently.
They are not happy, more like they have been taxed so hard by this blasted government that they cannot afford to escape to private education.

So there we have the authentic voice of Britain's elite today. If you are rich all shall be yours, if you are poor then you can have substandard public services and we will take your compliance with the system (enforced through penal or economic servitude) as your acquiescence.
A shower the lot of them.

What could they mean by this?

TEBAF Walstrom is at it again, and this time she wants your children. Acording to her statement today, accompanied by a cringemaking video, European institutions should stop blaming each other for failing to convince us the public about how frightfully spifing they are, but instead should get together and,

Identifying the aspects of school education where joint action at EU level could support Member States;

So how do you go about home schooling?

The education badlands of South Dorset

It appears that education minister Jim Knight has grandly boasted about sending his children to the "the local school. It's probably the least popular school in the area and they have done perfectly well out of it".

Gosh isn't he good.

Lets have a look at the schools in the area,.

All Saints' Church of England School, Weymouth
Below national average in both authorised and unauthorised absenteeism
At GCSE it comes in at 1243 out of 3579 schools in England
64% pass rate, National average 52.9%

Beaminster School
Marginally above national average absenteeism
At GCSE it comes in at 1847 out of 3579 schools in England
54% pass rate, National average 52.9%

The Purbeck School
Marginally above national average absenteeism
At GCSE it comes in at 1666 out of 3579 schools in England
56% pass rate, National average 52.9%

The Wey Valley School
Marginally above national average absenteeism
At GCSE it comes in at 2265 out of 3579 schools in England
46% pass rate, National average 52.9%


So my guess given his description is that his children go to the Wey Valley School, and here is the most recent OFSTED report.

Though large, at 1344 pupils, there were only 11 of ethnic minority at the time of the inspection. Sadly whether one likes it or not this does have an impact on the school, so much so that the report points this out in its first paragraph.

General points,

This is an improving school, which provides a good education for its pupils. The excellent leadership of the headteacher, effectively supported by other senior managers and governors, has brought much improvement. The school provides good value for money. Because teaching is good overall, most pupils make satisfactory progress and for many it is good. This is reflected in the results in the National Curriculum tests and in the GCSE examination, which are above average in comparison with similar schools. Staff work hard to ensure that all pupils are able to participate in the wide range of activities the school offers.

Sounds like a hell hole doesn't it? And I am sure they will be delighted with his comments about it. But that is hardly the point. For somebody enjoying South Dorset, and its homogeneous, low crime and delightful environment to suggest that parents should send their children to the "worst schools" in their area is asking parents to act in dereliction of their duty of care to their own children.

Why do I say this? Because next week my own daughter will be moving from her school, the poorest in the city, to another a few miles away. We have had to take this action for a range of reasons, which I will not bore you with, but suffice to say most of our friends thought we were mad in the first place to send her there, and when events took over they were incredulous that we did not act sooner to remove her. Indeed the general opinion was that we were failing our daughter because we were prepared to risk her development in the local sink school.

Most people in Britain do not have the luxury of having the worst local school described thus,

" The exemplary leadership of the headteacher, with very good support from other senior managers, is ensuring that procedures for monitoring and evaluating the work of the school are being used effectively to improve the quality of education the school provides.
· Good teaching promotes good learning in most lessons. This is well supported by the effective use of assessment to monitor pupils’ progress and set targets for improvement.
· The school has an effective inclusion programme and makes very good provision for pupils with special educational needs.
· Pupils’ learning is enhanced by very good links with the community and a very good range of extra-curricular opportunities.
· Very good provision for physical education and sport promotes above average standards and high levels of enthusiasm for the subject.
· Very good support from the governing body allied to very good financial planning, are ensuring that the school makes the best use of its resources

.

Mr Knight says ignore local opinion, ignore OFSTED reports (then what the hell are they for?) ignore all advice but go to the school and make your own mind up. Most of us are ill qualified to judge on the short visit that we make to visit various schools. Most of us in fact do look at the league tables, take local soundings and so on.

How else can we get a broad picture?
This attitude is typical of the "I'm alright Jack" school of governmental and ministerial contempt that so distinguishes this government. He personifies the supercilious, holier than thou attitude of a government without the slightest clue about makes people tick. If he wants to let his children down so be it (but of course in Dorset that isn't actually an option) but don't dare lecture the rest of us you prig. Go stand on Nine Barrow Down take a look around and think about what you are saying and suggesting.

Just for once.

Hat tip, The Englishman

Another good idea

Following the suspension of Angie Mason from teaching by the General Teaching Council Professional Conduct Committee for having the temerity to film the monstrousness that bedevills the nation's schools, some bright spark on the TES message board has come up with an idea.
GTC I challenge you to select any supply teacher of your choice- how about Coronel- and legitimately film him over a period of three months in 14 schools.Get permission from the students.Film in the same schools as Angela- or different schools- seriously; take your pick!
They wouldn't dare.

The Tories have left the field

While the Tories abandon aspiration by dropping selection in Schools (and I cannot wait to see Mr Chalk's response to this brainfart) it appears that Tony Blair has lost the plot.
Ministers urged top private schools today to join the state system and help raise standards of education in poor areas.

Oh yes I can see it now, at the same time Ministers have asked the BBC to provide balanced reporting, they have requeswted that the Stock Exchange donate all its profits to the Waterloo soup kitchen and they have called upon, chelsea football club to hand over Didier Drogba to Accrington Stanley on a free transfer.

All this comes only a short month after Bristol University published the results of a survey which tells us that,

"The paradox is that, for the minority of poor children who do gain a place in a grammar school, the advantage this bestows appears to be greater than for more affluent children," they reported.

"If access could be widened then the case for keeping selective education would be greatly enhanced."

Which of course leaves the UK Independence Party as the last remaining British party that is in tune with the vast majority of the population on selection.