Education reform

Good link, cheers (added to op)

Yes totally agree. An school I worked in changed their ethos to one of entrepreneurship, and in their curriculum and marketing guff essentially changed the meaning of the word from its defined one to someone who worked hard etc.

The key difference for an Academy is that they are given all the money that would have been spent on them, then decide how to spend it. So for example, if previously the LEA did the payroll and it cost them £1000 a term (for example) the school has that extra money, but must now find someone to do that.

As LEA work on fairly large economies of scale, this can cause problems.

The major issue (IMO) with all of these reviews is this. There is a huge amount of attention on taking in information and remembering it from books. Whilst a good memory is an excellent skills to have, it's far less relevant then 50 or 60 years ago. Young people are growing up with access to information on almost anything, more then not found on the phone in their pocket.

What needs to be discussed by people like Michael Gove is widespread implementation of thinking skills. Teaching pupils how to think creatively, work independently and in groups to solve problems. We have very little idea what the problems people will face in employment will be in 30-40 years time. But if we start with problem solving and working collaboratively as key to education, those unknown problems will be easier to solve.

Meanwhile Gove and his cohorts decrease spending on creative subjects such as art, music and drama.

For him and his ilk education is about retaining facts a dominant group espouse.

His god is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._D._Hirsch,_Jr.

Why is Gove so impressed by the Swedish system? It's not as if the Swedes would be doing particularly well for such a rich country: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Programme_for_International_Student_Assessment#2009

How can a school make a profit without detriment to the students?
I know, right - Just look at the people that the profitable private school system churns out.

The system that's really good is Finland. They don't start school until they are 7, have not sets, only test a sample of pupils and have free education for everyone (including foreigners) up to and beyond doctoral studies.

Is there no question to a the tories default answer is't "increased competition". I am continually agog that this:

Stated in another way: not everything is/should be seen as a profitable enterprise. Most people would agree that education is one of these things. The benefit gained from it, even when run at a "loss," outweighs the cost. By attempting to make a profit from it you end up watering down the benefit - for both the users and society as a whole - with one possible exception: those rich enough to continue to gain access to a high quality education (although there is plenty of room to argue that this ignores the social disadvantages).

even needs to be explained or argued in relation to education.

I'm not ideologically opposed to privatisation across the board. I happen to think it might even me appropriate and have worked in *some *areas. That there is even a debate to be had about education (or the NHS for that matter) not being an appropriate area to introduce these principals is just... heartbreaking. It's just such a self-evidently *terrible *idea.

Teaching pupils how to think creatively, work independently and in groups to solve problems. We have very little idea what the problems people will face in employment will be in 30-40 years time. But if we start with problem solving and working collaboratively as key to education, those unknown problems will be easier to solve.

Key point this. And it is exactly these skills being eroded. Historical thinking replaced by rote learning. Reading comprehension by phonix. These changes across the board and based on a whim by Gove.

I know teachers will be striking over this and will probably criticised for letting the kids down and effecting the economy as parents may have to take off work to look after them. I really want to see the teacher unions making these points very clearly rather than solely focussing on teachers pay and conditions.

I really want to see the teacher unions making these points very clearly rather than solely focussing on teachers pay and conditions.

Agree and disagree with this.

I think it's great that unions like the NUT have a firm grounding in good teaching....

BUT, the quest for a better education system must be removed from a body that is in search of better pay and conditions because it allows good points to be hijacked.

For example, the NUT (following the Finnish system) suggests that teachers should teach a maximum four hours per day, and that the rest should be spent planning and implementing an engaging curriculum, marking and running out of school clubs.

You can guess the inevitable response to this - it's about shirking teachers wanted to work less, as opposed wanting to improve learning.

Indeed it should be parent groups fighting this corner and the rest of us including the media though I suspect that teaching unions will be at the forefront of this. One positive is that for the first time the 2 biggest teaching unions NASUWT and NUT are speaking as one as are some Head teacher unions

On this topic: another reform mooted is to the governance of schools removing the number of parent and teacher Governors on school boards in these academies.

We need to get mumsnet all over this shit. They'll have Gove for breakfast.

Yes, it's the first time the head teachers union has issued no confidence. Not a great working relationship: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-22558756

How come RBS has perfomed well for the tax payer since nationalisation?
Really? That's not quite the picture that the facts paint, is it?

While linked to this topic the bank discussion is for another thread

Private enterprise works on a success/fail system. The good succeed the bad fail so we're left with what works.

Unfortunately if you use that method with schools you risk the chance that vast swathes of children are failed by crap providers.

While linked to this topic the bank discussion is for another thread
Well yes, absolutely. It's curious that you decided to drag it into the discussion in the first place. Perhaps you should redact your comment?

I know, right - Just look at the people that the profitable private school system churns out.

To be fair I don't see all that many profitable private schools either.

Meanwhile Gove and his cohorts decrease spending on creative subjects such as art, music and drama.

We should be viewing all subjects as creative.

Especially Accountancy

An interesting perspective on potential school reform here

http://the-history-girls.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/the-first-gamers-and-end-of-history-by.html

No discussion in this thread on what's happening to the sciences. The removal of Climate Change teaching is obviously ludicrous, but given that Grove has form in approving hte licences of Creationist schools (and wasn't he the loon who sent bibles round to every school a couple of years back?), does anyone know if there is anything happening there?

I can't understand how policy can possibly be anything other than something that's delegated to experts in each subject - it should be the MPs job to oversee this delegation, not to dictate it from the top.

Here are some experts commenting on the changes by subject
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/feb/12/round-table-draft-national-curriculum
Science isn't too bad compared to other subjects

The history man expresses the issues well:

In Gove, we have our own empress dowager. His new history syllabus is very full, encouraging teachers to stress facts and dates over real understanding. And the focus is resolutely insular, as we would expect from our nationalistic education secretary – a real departure from the current syllabus, which shows an interest in parts of the world beyond Britain and introduces children to critical thinking.

We should be viewing all subjects as creative.

Agreed, but reducing funding in those that are currently viewed as creative isn't exactly progressive.