I was at the Naace Conference earlier this week and attended a session on the New Primary Curriculum fronted by Assiya Hussain a curriculum advisor from QCDA. I came away from that session confused as to the status of the NPC. We were shown the web site and told that paper documents had been sent to all LAs and into schools … we were told we could buy additional copies for £4 !

There was an article in the Education Guardian 16.03.10 called Primary Vision which explained the whole thing to the readership.

Now checking on the state of the Children, Schools and Families Bill 2009 - 10 I find that (as I thought) that it is still in the committee stage in the House of Lords and a date is yet to be announced for its reading(?)

So how do we get to the stage where it is being portrayed that all ‘has come to pass’? I remain ‘Yours confused …..’

Answers would be most welcome please… one already in via Twitter:  I saw Michael Gove give a very direct response when asked about the new primary curriculum “I don’t like it and will get rid of it”

Attribution: Image: ‘Timeless‘

Terry Freedman has just completed, with the help of many, many people a labour of much love. His FREE web  book - The Amazing Web 2.0 Projects Book - will give readers an incredible insight into what teachers around the world are doing and using.

Chapeau to Terry for producing this incredible (and insightful) resource.

Attribution:

mage: ‘A Sea of Sunflowers‘
http://www.flickr.com/photos/95572727@N00/2940009989

I spent the later part of last week at a conference devoted to educational research and was heartened by academics putting forward, based on their research, ideas for making teaching, learning and education itself better. The weekend has arrived and the sun and the rugby has come and is nearly gone and now, late on Sunday afternoon, I have had chance to catch up with the Newsnight programme of Wednesday - a programme devoted to education.

What a contrast.

The people from the three major parties fought each other for the upper hand politically making me more and more convinced that education should be taken out of politics. It is getting in the way of providing life chances for young people.

And now I am seriously worried about the steps forward in an area in which I have spent my whole life since the age of five.

Yesterday, not wanting to be outdone by Mr Gove, Mr Ball pipes up with : … cut £500m from his departmental budget by slashing quango spending, halving the bursaries for trainee teachers …

And this is where he is going to cut:£135m from quangos, including a £40m cut for Becta, which promotes the use of IT in schools, and a £55m cut for the training and development agency; £100m from funding for after-schools clubs; £50m reduction in bursaries for trainee teachers, with most “golden hellos” being cut from £9,000 a year to £4,000; £5m from communications, mainly by sending fewer printed documents to schools; £1m saved by taking Teachers TV off Freeview and making it internet only; £7m off administration costs by axeing staff and consultants.

As John Sutton asks on Twitter :’ How much did Becta get anyway?’ … it looks like £60m ! So that makes a £40m cut - quite a cut !!

This could be an interesting turn up for Becta as both political parties appear to be after them. Who next I wonder?

Attribution:

Original image: ‘The World’s Largest Axe‘
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by: Chris Campbell

I am now getting seriously worried. Today I read in the TimesOnline that if the there is to be a Tory government after the next general election then there is going to be a return to ‘traditional’ school lessons:

Children will be instructed to learn poetry by heart and recite the kings and queens of England, in a return to a “traditionalist” education planned by the Conservatives. The national curriculum would be rewritten under a Tory government to restore past methods of teaching history, English, maths and science, Michael Gove, the Shadow Children’s Secretary, told The Times. He promised that a committee of the “greatest minds in Britain” would decide what children were taught. The Prince of Wales’ Teaching Institute would also be involved in drawing up a new curriculum.

I have spent just about the whole of my teaching life trying to move away from this to a more rational, learner-centred and personalised curriculum and now, having read this, I simply don’t know where to turn. Have I the strength, determination and will to fight against, what is a political involvement, in a cause that I feel should be above politics?

But the article goes on to assure me that I don’t need to worry as there are so many ‘worthies’ on hand to help out … maths will be ‘Vordermanised’ (but hasn’t she only got  a 3rd Class degree) and the Prince of Wales (Is he aware of this?) is concerned about the dumbing down of the curriculum (Which curriculum would that be I wonder?)

I just panic when I read that Mr Gove is: … amazed to discover that science is not divided into physics, chemistry and biology. It has these hybrid headings about the chemical and material whatever and the Earth, the environment and this and that.

And all of this comes after last weeks option to ship in the army to bring the discipline of the parade ground to failing schools.

I just wonder how long it will take until someone suggests that teachers should wear gowns and mortar boards …

More than ever before I feel the need to open my communicator and get beamed up to a different planet.

Attribution:

Image: ‘Planet Sunset‘
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This post is an observation not a comment!

I have spent two days this week at the NEC at the Education Show and have been an interesting observer of teacher behavior. Thursday was a quiet day with people stopping and asking discerning questions about products and services and they seemed to be focused but open to new ideas and were prepared to question views and assumptions before making up their minds about things.

Saturday (today) has been completely different. It seemed to me that for a good part of the day at least half of the hall was semi-empty and the other half appeared to take on the appearance of ( what I can only imagine) a souk would look like on a national holiday.

The stalls/stands selling small, tactile items such as stickers, pens, bags of dice or buttons or stands with finger puppets or ‘100′ squares were surrounded by people with plastic trolleys (I was buzzed by one lady towing two trolleys full to the brim that had each a number of carrier bags balanced on the top) who were obviously on a mission.

Hence the title - there seemed to me to be an direct correlation between the size of the object being sold on the stand and the number of people surrounding it. Remember that this is Saturday and these teachers are doing this in their own time. I wonder what this says about education - and I think I am only really referring to primary education. Is it that when it comes down to it people stick to or want to use to inspire the sort of resources that have been available for a long, long while? It seems to be about tactility.

The writing is on the wall … depending on which wall you are reading but today the Times Online reports that the head of QCDA, Andrew Hall, is to stand down in June to take up a post as head of AQA …

The report goes on to say that this could be the first sign of a shake-up in government education bodies … I think it means that this will be so if the Conservative Party form the next government. They are also targeting Becta, an educational technology agency, Partnership for Schools, which has overseen a controversial school building programme, and Teachers TV, which screens educational television output.

… and I suspect many others.

ComputerWorldUK today also has a look back but not really in anger at the roll of Becta in a report called Becta and school ICT: end of the line for the gravy train? … interesting !

Attribution:

Image: ‘Lost In Translation‘
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Just when you thought all was safe for at least two months the next ‘ interesting’ idea surfaces to challenge future classroom teachers. The BBC reports that:  New teachers could be tested for their desk-side manner under government plans to improve the quality of teaching. Trainee teachers in England would be screened for empathy, understanding and passion to ensure they have the qualities to be a good teacher.

The politics of education moves slowly forward: In a nod to the Conservatives’ call for teachers to be better qualified, the prime minister said: “Recruiting the best is about more than simply a class of degree, but also about empathy, understanding, passion - those intangible qualities that define every great teacher.

So now you know … but at least Mr Brown got it right !

Becta have just put up on their site a summary of the key points of the Ofsted Report - The safe use of new technologies. (Thanks to Neil Adam for the ‘heads up’ about this)

The summary highlights the five themes:

• Internet filtering
• Curriculum
• Staff training and engagement
• Policy
• Beyond the school gates

All really positive stuff I think and a huge step forward … now there is a need for schools and LAs to get behind the ideas and move forward.

Attribution: Image: ‘Life ring‘

On Monday evening Channel 4 broadcast a programme called ‘Kids Don’t Count’ in which they examined how children are being failed by teachers who are themselves not mathematically able. They tested a group of teachers to find out just how good they were and the results are ‘ interesting’.

If you want to test yourself in a 15 minute version of the test then you can have a go here. It is interesting when you read the comments on the blog that, it seems, that only people who did well wish to tell what they think!

Attribution: Original image: ‘calculator‘
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by: Anssi Koskinen