In a recent speech to Labour Party conference, the Prime Minister argued that the achievement gap between rich and poor can only be closed in the modern world if every school student has access to a computer and high speed internet access. The Department of Children, Schools and Families have now detailed how that aspiration will be achieved http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/pns/DisplayPN.cgi?pn_id=2008_0208 This plan could have a significant impact on the present and future work of The Brightside Trust. One of the first groups to benefit will be those children in the care of local authorities and hence this policy initiative will be of immediate relevance to the Confident Futures program. I would encourage people to visit the BECTA report associated with this project http://news.becta.org.uk/display.cfm?resID=38386 It has a two page executive summary!
Tuesday, 7 October 2008
2) End child poverty
Last Saturday, I went on the end child poverty campaign march, which ended with a rally in Trafalgar square http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7651606.stm It was an affable and lively affair. The most obvious contingents were from anti-poverty and children’s charities, such as Barnardos, Action for Children, CPAG etc. Clearly, the aim was to make this a family friendly fun day out rather than a dour demonstration; so the participants included people dressed up as giant lobsters and much other silliness, all of which worked well. The rally was hosted by a famous person who I’m afraid I’d never heard of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Parker and in another sign of my old age, where I had expected to see a large number of Labour Party branch banners; I did not see a single one. There were some small trade’s union groupings from teachers and public sector unions.
In the square, large screens carried short broadcasts describing the reality of poverty in the UK and these were interspersed with some campaign posters. Some of these made me wonder. In particular, two poster/adverts worried me: the first, simply asserted ‘we spend £10 billion pounds a year on wine and champagne in this country’. The second, that we spend £24 billion (I think it was 24) on foreign holidays. I’m sure the intention of these statements is to plant the thought that if we can collectively spend such large sums of money on obviously gratuitous expenditure then we can easily afford to end child poverty. I think this line of argument is a real mistake: to be blunt, if ordinary folk think they are going to loose their annual holiday in order to pay for someone who has produced children without the proper means to support them then this movement is dead in the water. We must emphasise that we can afford this without ordinary people making sacrifices.
The march organisers were very pleased that the Prime Minister had once again committed the government to meeting the aim of abolishing child poverty by 2020; although the form of his commitment surprised me. The prime-minister announced that there will be "ground-breaking legislation to enshrine in the law of the land Labour's pledge to end child poverty"
This announcement was generally met by words of uncritical welcome http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/sep/26/children.gordonbrown I know that ministers think the electorates’ memory is short but am I the only person in the charity business to remember that the government enshrined in law their commitment not to introduce university top up fees. Indeed, I’m enough of train spotter to still have a copy of the 2001 election manifesto which included the pledge, that the government "will not introduce top-up fees and has legislated against them". They were elected and they changed the law soon after and introduced top-up fees. So, I guess Gordon’s people judge that the collective social memory is around 5 years and as this commitment is 12 years away….
Maybe we all like magical thinking; it’s nice to think that poverty could be abolished. All the main political parties say they agree with the aim, there is no opposition, and yet, I don’t feel there is a hope in hells chance of achieving it. For example, the recent report showing that the number of people in the UK who are in fuel poverty rose by a million in 2006 – what must those numbers be now http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7647997.stm
Equally, I think the campaign organisers are right to try to hold government and other political parties to their public commitment to end poverty. However, in order to avoid disappointment, I’d caution people to remember that in this world the tail never gets to wag the dog.
Please left click on the picture to spot the lobsters
3) Brightside and Son
With recession looming, there are bound to be more major business failures in the UK. These companies that cease trading may well have well developed systems of sponsored charity work and consequently it will not only be redundant business assets that will be up for grabs. I think we should be alert for any such charitable assets, as we might be able to give them a new home. This Guardian article discusses the fall-out from the Lehman Brothers collapse and illustrates the kinds of opportunities that we could anticipate arising from similar situations http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/sep/24/banking.crisis.charities
4) Brightside’s bread and butter
How to make maths teaching more interesting http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/education/3136861/If-maths-is-boring-what-is-the-answer.html I’m not sure I’m convinced.
Physics in good health http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7647166.stm
Science teaching research and good practice http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/schools/signal-failure-how-to-get-science-back-on-track-941087.html
Doctors training, a new approach http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/joepublic/2008/sep/24/nhs.doctors.training
5) It’s not over, even though the fat boy sang
The debate about widening participation and university admissions has flared up on a number fronts over the past few weeks. One spat has been over the extent to which considerations of social disadvantage should influence admissions to the elite universities, especially Oxford http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/oxford-is-not-a-social-security-office-947427.html and http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a17127d6-8c2e-11dd-8a4c-0000779fd18c.html?nclick_check=1 I notice that Cambridge seems to have a more sympathetic attitude and are making much better progress than Oxford, even though I have always thought (it would seem wrongly) of Cambridge as the most reactionary university in the UK. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7631070.stm An alternative view of the merits of an elite Oxford education found its way into the Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/oct/02/oxforduniversity Elsewhere, debate has been sparked by the news that the government is backing a new system of grading state schools ‘on the proportion of their pupils who attend top universities http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2008/oct/03/schools.highereducation I think it is interesting that these types of discussions increasingly hinge on the importance of bad subject choices by some students while still at school. The National Council for Educational Excellence has recommended that all primary school children should get a ‘taste’ of university education http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/government-report-give-pupils-early-taste-of-university-949715.html the same report recommended that universities should be free to vary the A-level grades expected from applicants depending on the schools they attend http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7648733.stm which is probably just as well because a report from HEFCE has found that a number of universities are doing this already http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2008/sep/30/accesstouniversity The government has decided to strengthen this trend by sponsoring increased flexibility and experimental admissions procedures at 9 universities - Birmingham, Bristol, Exeter, King's College London, Leeds, Leicester, Newcastle, Southampton and Warwick. http://nds.coi.gov.uk/environment/fullDetail.asp?ReleaseID=379525&NewsAreaID=2&NavigatedFromDepartment=False The sensitivity of this subject was reflected in this discussion article in the Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2008/sep/24/accesstouniversity.highereducation This debate is not over, but I think the detail of these discussions and the different systems of access and admissions that are beginning to emerge could be of great relevance to the work of The Brightside Trust.
6) Important Lesson
The Scottish free school meals experiment http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/7646898.stm to be piloted in England http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7632349.stm I think the important point is that universal provision of free school meals not only increases the numbers of students taking up school meals but it also increases the number of disadvantaged pupils taking up the offer of a school dinner. This should not come as a surprise: in matters of social policy it has long been known that if you want people to take something up then make it free and universal.
7) Another UN report criticises UK child care record
http://www.communitycare.co.uk/Articles/2008/10/06/109597/un-slams-britains-child-poverty-levels.html This article is from Community Care, which we now get delivered to our office (I have managed to secure a free subscription). I will keep back copies in the library. For those who don’t know it, I would describe it as the house journal for UK social workers. I think we will find it useful as a guide to contemporary community and social work projects.
8) Scandal: David Cameron and the Swedish model
The Swedish model of schooling has suddenly become fashionable with the Conservative Party. The Independent produced a neat little description of the Swedish education system and in particular the place of parent established and run schools http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/schools/the-big-question-what-is-the-swedish-schools-model-and-can-uk-education-learn-from-it-947339.html I would point to the significantly larger sums of money being invested by the Swedes.