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‘
http://www.flickr.com/photos/51035566106@N01/29228460
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‘
http://www.flickr.com/photos/12836528@N00/3650600124

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‘
http://www.flickr.com/photos/43217080@N00/3081093838

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‘
http://www.flickr.com/photos/92132559@N00/304526237
by: Anssi Koskinen

I have recently come across LAs and schools that are considering buying software that keeps a track on what is happening on their network(s) - Such software can record online activity by individuals, including web pages visited and messages sent - so said the BBC earlier this week.

Is this what we really want? I am not talking about trying to track teachers who are on their facebook accounts or ordering their groceries in teaching time. I am talking about intrusion and civil liberties. I am sure that those who have adopted such systems can justify their stance in respect to safeguarding but is it any less personally intrusive than the ‘in the background’ actions of Google etc.

The BBC 2 programme, broadcast last evening, in the Digital Revolution series (more here) explained in detail how web searches capture not just our chance data but details about our very life and times. And we have come to expect and accept this just as we do when we hand over a loyalty card at the supermarket checkout. Although the programme was not to my taste - too much clever television and ‘in your face’ presentation in off-site locations - it did get me to wonder who it was aimed at. This, as it was broadcast at peak viewing time on Saturday evening.

But do we want this everywhere?

Telford and Wrekin Council in the English Midlands is one of the many local authorities understood to have introduced such software in all its schools. The council says everyone who logs onto system sees a screen which says activity on the schools’ computers is being monitored.

The underlined bit above took my mind back to the positive messages on safeguarding I heard on Wednesday of last week at the Becta Conference on the theme. If we are considering that the best way forward in safeguarding users is education then surely openly telling them that they are being watched is not the best way to  go about it.

Attribution:Image: ‘Vigilando‘
http://www.flickr.com/photos/62518311@N00/3856795179

On Friday I had the great pleasure of working with about 80 teachers from schools in and around Devizes in Wiltshire. It was the last day before their half term break but they were all up for something that would make them think. I kicked off the day talking about the need to have a huge ‘chooser chart’ to work from when considering the use of ICT to enhance teaching and learning. And then spent the next hour, hopefully, adding some new gems to their charts so that they could get excited about using technology. I used ‘wordle’ as a great example of a tool that is Web 2.0, that needs no log on or password and just works. I pointed out to them Tom Barrett’s bog posts on ‘Interesting Ways’ as a really good place to look for inspiration and we used the application as a data handling package.

The workshops I ran as part of the day were directed at speaking and listening with an emphasis on beginning to collect evidence by recording digital sound. We spent some time looking at the physical resources in the TTS catalogue and reflected on how they would make a difference to what children actually did and said. We also looked at Podcasting and used Podium as a tool for recording and publishing digital sound to a wider audience.

Altogether a terrific day hosted by Tim Heath at Nursteed Community Primary School.  

Attribution: Image: ‘Talking and Listening‘
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8628862@N05/2232111990

The Becta fronted conference on ‘Empowering children and young people in a digital world:2010′ was a confident place to be. The speakers were eloquent, focused and current and the buzz around the 300 delegates was of positivity and a search for effective ways forward in safeguarding all people.

For me Oldham sticks in my memory as a place where some real concerted and coordinated thought has been given to the issues and the young people from the ‘Oldham Youth Council’ simply made me feel proud. Their charter, though not a new thing in itself in this world of charters and actions, was theirs and they owned it and they felt passionate about it. It can be access from the ‘charter’ tab here. The concept behind their thinking was of ‘rights’ not rules with a wonderful strap line of ‘Trust us, teach us, talk to us’.

We were told of the Becta revamp of their safeguarding site - it can be accessed here and of the Ofsted report ‘The safe use of new technologies’.

I think we came away thinking - yes - let’s get to it and move on !

PS  Just love this idea - ‘The importance of Fear, Risk and Hacking’