Nearly as weary as the Spanish, probably as miserable as the Estonians, no its not me, it has to be another survey of UK happiness http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/jan/24/british-identity-new-economics-foundation-happiness the full report http://www.nationalaccountsofwellbeing.org/public-data/files/national-accounts-of-well-being-report.pdf In my opinion, it is worth considering this kind of research because happiness is essential for optimism and optimism is necessary for people to even try to begin to overcome disadvantage. Also, if one takes a broader view of social wellbeing then I guess one has to take a wider view of what is social disadvantage. However, I can see this debate becoming contentious, especially when it seems to question the appropriateness of mothers entering paid employment instead of engaging in full-time child care, as here in another report about to hit the streets http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/families/article5627605.ece
Sunday, 1 February 2009
Where there is hope
1 Digitally challenged
Following an investigation by Lord Carter, an interim report into the UK's digital future has been published by the UK government http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7858498.stm the full report can be found at http://www.culture.gov.uk/images/publications/digital_britain_interimreportjan09.pdf This report will be a disappointment to anyone who is worried about the effect of the digital divide in the UK: the division between those who use the internet and those who don’t. Curiously, this report seems to assume that the lack of a household internet connection by 17 million people or around 30% of households is because they don’t understand or see the advantage of using the internet. One of the report’s recommendations is that there should be a popular champion to encourage the take up of the technology by these excluded people. Frankly, I think this is a marginal point, however my only plea, is please, lets not have another Tsar, if the champion has to be named after some feudal relic, how about a people’s Kaiser or a community Shah.
In my opinion, the main problem isn’t ignorance or fear or indifference to the internet, I think the problem for poor families is almost entirely about cost; and moreover, not the cost of a device to access the internet but the cost of an ongoing connection for that device. As far as I can see, this is not seriously addressed anywhere in this report. Instead we are treated to many pages about reassuring adults about child safety, ensuring every building in the country is able to connect to the internet, stopping illegal file sharing and the future of publicly funded broadcasting. On the issue of access for disadvantaged groups there are only two short sections. First, there is praise for what is claimed to be the widespread availability and success of UK Online Centres.
“Since their creation in 2000 UK Online Centres, based in libraries, citizens’ advice bureaux, internet cafes and other publicly-available locations, have helped millions of people in England. They have particularly helped the disadvantaged or older people who have not encountered digital technology at work or do not have supportive family networks. The Centres provide a safe and supportive environment, often working well with voluntary and community organisations, to show the practical uses and benefits of the internet and the essential skills to use it. The Government is currently looking at how to harness the potential of UK Online Centres for supporting digital inclusion policies as a whole.” Page 61
However, at a recent Brightside Trust team meeting, when we discussed single parents accessing potential e-mentoring schemes, the general feeling was that one of the problems with any such scheme was that public access to the internet was in reality very poor, rendering such initiatives problematic. So, I’m sceptical.
The nearest the report gets to addressing the problem of cost is this second, delphic paragraph,
“This will include working with industry to develop affordable, reliable and easy-to-use IPTV boxes – particularly relevant to those households currently without a PC and, when a critical mass of digital public service delivery is reached, around 2012-13, there could be a new scheme to assist remaining elderly and disadvantaged households to get online. This would draw on key lessons from the digital switchover scheme in television, notably the vital role of engagement with the third sector in identifying those most in practical need and providing the level of trusted quality contact to demonstrate the practical benefits of the technology and impart the basic skills to use it.” Page 62
Yet between now and 2013, many thousands of children will find their relative disadvantage increased because of this gap. Nowadays, even primary school students routinely use internet resources to complete their work, which gives them a major advantage over those without home internet access. A recent survey found that a third of young people insisted that they “could not live” without their computer http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/jan/19/internet-generation-parents
I still think that the only real answer to the digital divide would be to offer internet connections free at the point of use to every household, as part of the local infrastructure provided by the local authority, like rubbish collection or schooling. To make it a little more acceptable to middle England, then perhaps restrict it to families with children and pensioners. Unfortunately, I cannot see anyone pursuing that policy in the UK today and so the digital revolution will only exacerbate the social divide. Lord Carter’s full report is due in June of this year, so still time for a revelation, but judging from this report he’s going to need the full road to Damascus experience.
2 Not so clever
A recent report found that 1 in 7 of those students categorised as gifted and talented failed to get 5 GCSE A to C including Maths and English. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/scheme-for-gifted-pupils-is-a-failure-1452286.html My first thought was that this reflects the confused criteria for selecting pupils for the gifted and talented scheme. However, maybe there is more to discover here, perhaps this is an interesting insight into the disillusionment of bright children.
3 Good news items – a jumble of disadvantage overcome
City mentoring program http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/jan/14/young-people-social-exclusion Oxford success story http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/jan/17/elitism-oxbridge-university and a more traditional way of getting disadvantaged students into Oxbridge http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/education/article5626714.ece Physics female role model http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/jan/13/athene-donald-physics Medical school, the example of an access course http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/education/article5536362.ece
5 Diplomas: it needn’t have been this way
6 The context of e-mentoring
The higher education learning environment has changed significantly over the past few years and that pace of change shows no sign of diminishing http://www.guardian.co.uk/universitychallenge/weapon I think this could be relevant to the evolution of our e-mentoring projects.
7 Campaigning for science
A campaign to promote a more positive view of science launched by celebrities and government http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/jan/28/science-terry-pratchett and as this article shows, it’s needed http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/jan/14/league-tables-science