"Britain under Gordon Brown is a more unequal country than at any time since modern records began in the early 1960s" http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/may/08/poverty-equality-britain-incomes-poor and in the telegraph http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/5291482/Gap-between-rich-and-poor-grows-to-record-levels-official-figures-show.html as yet, this finding has not triggered any real debate in parliament or elsewhere, it seems to be an issue that both labour and the conservatives would rather duck. If you were wondering how a Labour government could possibly spin this as an achievement – here's the press release http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/pns/DisplayPN.cgi?pn_id=2009_0086
Tuesday, 12 May 2009
Piss Poor
The changing educational environment
The Rose review, a major government inquiry into the future of primary schooling has published its findings. Its recommendations include proposals to facilitate and ease student transfer from primary to secondary schooling http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/school-to-start-at-four-with-new-timetable-to-restore-creativity-1677109.html Although long awaited, I felt that there was a generally muted response to this report from both commentators and from teaching professionals. I sensed a weary exhaustion: a feeling of here we go again, another report, more recommendations, more changes, another trip on the educational roundabout. For myself, I liked the discussion about the significance and place of new technology in primary schooling http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/8025157.stm It seems that technological literacy is now fundamental to educational success from the very earliest of learning programs. It is certainly no longer an optional or specialist skill as technology now shapes the whole learning process.
The centrality of the new technology shaping the learning environment can also be seen in debates about the future of secondary schooling, such as here http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/5166111/Revealed-new-teaching-methods-that-are-producing-dramatic-results.html It is of course valid to note that the school catchment area, Monkseaton, is a stable middle class area.
And onto higher education, with this case study about the development of e-learning environments at a university http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/apr/21/elearning-university-of-london and discussing the variation of existing provision http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/may/12/computer-science-it
Children in care – a turn for the worse?
The latest government statistics suggest that the relative educational performance of cared for children is in decline http://www.communitycare.co.uk/Articles/2009/05/05/111473/education-children-in-care-fall-further-behind-peers.html
There has also been an increase in the numbers of children taken into care http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/may/08/child-protection-figures-baby-p and again at http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/may/09/baby-p-children-care-councils – unlike some, I do not welcome this trend, to be blunt, in my opinion and experience, I think a rough and ready upbringing within an existing supported family and neighbourhood is preferable to being taken into care. I certainly think that those worst served by the system are those older children who often become 'revolving door' users of care, flipping from family into care and back again on a routine and usually traumatised basis.
A recent parliamentary review of children in care, concluded that the state needed to be a more pushy parent http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8004735.stm , the guardian saw the report as a litany of failure http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/apr/20/state-failing-children as part of a history of failure http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/apr/20/care-system-failures
Many are now seeing the northern European system as being more successful model for care http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/apr/21/child-care-europe but the starting point for any such approach is a highly resourced and respected social work profession. The reality of the UK was highlighted by a survey in the magazine Community care which found 1 in 9 social work posts vacant and a pervasive fear of burnout http://www.communitycare.co.uk/Articles/2009/04/21/111339/exclusive-survey-reveals-social-work-burnout-fears.html in this context, it is worrying that Ed Balls decided to evade a simple budgetary commitment http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/may/07/baby-p-child-protection-funding At this rate, I'm afraid we'll see more reports like this one http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/apr/22/social-work-child-protection all together now "some day over the rainbow…"
Investigating the role of emotion in on-line communication
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/may/07/luv-is-all-around-myspace
Are there lessons here for us? Or are the mentor/mentee relationships emotion free zones?
Sutton Trust Research
The Sutton Trust has commissioned and published some attention-grabbing educational research. Summaries were published by the Daily Mail http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1177283/Struggling-schools-fail-bright-pupils-High-fliers-11-miss-GCSE-grades.html and by the Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/may/04/gsces-school-education The full report can be seen at http://www.suttontrust.com/reports/Attainment_deprived_schools_summary.pdf
I cannot say the results are that much of a surprise to me, indeed thinking back to a couple of schools where I worked, albeit a long time ago, brighter students would have been pleased to have suffered from these relatively minor disadvantages.
However, I thought it interesting that the Sutton Trust draw the conclusion that all schools should have a balanced socially mixed intake "we argue that the best results for all children – low and high ability – is if there is a spread of abilities in each school. All pupils benefit from that, and it is the only way to start reducing the educational inequalities in this country" but would that include private schools?
Another survey of youth wellbeing, another poor result for the UK
The UK has been ranked 24th out of 29 in a league table of youth wellbeing comparing countries across western Europe http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/8008926.stm The full report can be viewed at http://www.cpag.org.uk/info/ChildWellbeingandChildPoverty.pdf
Visit the NEETS, before they visit you
Even before the current economic downturn there was evidence that the numbers of young people not in education, employment or training (NEETS) was on the increase http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/recession/5188075/Number-of-young-people-not-in-work-or-education-hits-record-high.html this represents a significant section of society and it must be worrying that they have stood apart from mainstream society during one of the most prolonged periods of economic prosperity and opportunity of the last 50 years. They seem to represent a long tail of failure and rejection, in this context, I thought it might be appropriate to mention the late Jade Goody who seemed to have gained so little from her educational career and yet apparently valued education so highly http://www.tes.co.uk/article.aspx?storycode=6011978 this article refers to a table which is unavailable here which shows the percentage of 19 year-olds who have no educational qualifications in the UK. Its absence is no great loss, as it's a very simple table; it reads 8 percent for every year of the last 12 years. We seem to have a sizable section of the population who have apparently gained little or nothing from the existing social offer. Yet, if the publicity is to be believed, education was at the end of her life Jade Goody's highest priority. Maybe there's hope in that, might it yet be possible to engage the apparently totally disengaged, the ill-educated, the NEETS, the marginal: its at least 1 in 12 of the population.
Student Income and Expenditure Survey 2007/08
This is an extensive government publication based on a survey of full-time and part-time students at higher education institutions and further education colleges pursuing undergraduate courses during the 2007/08 academic year http://www.dius.gov.uk/research_and_analysis/~/media/publications/D/DIUS-RR-09-05
At the least, I think it is worth looking at chapter 8, student choices and attitudes, pages 243 to 252, which builds on the finding that when "Students were asked whether the student funding and financial support available to them affected their decisions about HE study in any way. Just over 30 per cent of both full- and part-time students responded that it did."
School for entrepreneurs
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