My mentor is a banker http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/jun/03/bob-network-bangladeshi-mentoring Coaching 'at risk' undergraduates http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/may/26/youth-at-risk-charity A scheme for budding judges http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/jun/02/legal-mentoring-scheme Football coaching as the way to improve social skills http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/may/27/public-inquiry-dennis-bailey Public school weirdness http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/higher/diary-of-a-fresher-at-my-university-marriage-is-just-part-of-taking-care-of-students-1701729.html
Sunday, 14 June 2009
The Female Millennium?
The majority of students training to be medics are women http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/jun/03/women-doctors-nhs-medicine-review however, it's not just medicine, by 2025 70% of students in HE may be female http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/universityeducation/5459854/Girls-will-take-up-70-per-cent-of-university-places-says-new-study.html higher female achievement is across areas of study http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/its-academic-university-women-are-beating-men-at-almost-everything-1693493.html Its not just the academic world, another recent report found that most volunteers are women http://www.thirdsector.co.uk/News/DailyBulletin/910970/Women-likely-volunteer/40B5E500CDC9CDB8A952DA4593E8866E/?DCMP=EMC-DailyBulletin and this year, there were two women finalists in Alan Sugar's TV game show, The Apprentice. So, what's the young male in the street's reaction to this crisis? Dumbing down seems to be in fashion; don't knock it, it's a start and some do it very well http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/schools/bullied-boys-why-bright-lads-are-being-picked-on-1684266.html However, some researchers are suggesting that this male failure to thrive is rooted in their experience of modern schooling and is illustrated by GCSE studies http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/jun/07/gender-gap-university-boys with further discussion at http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jun/07/boys-academic-gap-education-gender or maybe its time to restart the drones club, day care for young men
Stop, in the Name of the Law
Legislation is being brought forward by this government to make it a legal duty for all future governments, local authorities and other named organisations to work to end child poverty across the UK http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/8095775.stm I think this qualifies as the most absurd anti-poverty initiative of the last 50 years, if not of all time. Only a bunch of lawyers could come up with such a pompous irrelevance. The reality of Welsh poverty http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/jun/03/gains-wales-wiped-out-recession and Scottish child poverty http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/may/29/child-poverty-figures-joseph-rowntree-foundation
The latest Sutton Trust Research
This time, they find that 1 in 5 state school pupils have private tutors http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/5502356/Rising-numbers-of-families-hiring-private-tutors-says-Sutton-Trust.html and that in London, 43% of pupils had had a home tutor http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/jun/11/private-tutor-boom-for-state-pupils
University Admissions
Different institutions use different systems to assess potential students http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/may/26/university-admissions
This has caused friction when disadvantage is openly part of the calculation http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/education/article6350374.ece
While university entry exams are found to be a barrier to working class entrants
However, what works for the applicants?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/may/26/university-access
Job Prospects for this Year’s University Leavers Look Tough
40,000 graduates face unemployment http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/jun/10/students-higher-education
A discussion of this http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/jun/10/university-students-jobs-recession A graduate premium can still be identified according to a new report http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/why-a-degree-is-still-worth-the-loan-1693841.html However, the statement made here, that "The research shows the average man with two A-level passes or more who does not go on to university earns £13.50 per hour. With a degree the figure is lifted to £16 – around £34,000 extra a year" is mathematically wrong. I calculate from these numbers that such a premium is worth about an extra £5,000 a year. Yes, it is a premium and is worth having but getting reliable analysis of this subject seems to be proving hard to achieve.
The Future of Student Finance in Higher Education
OFFA speaks http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/may/22/university-top-up-fees-offa-martin-harris or should there be a graduate tax, as suggested by the president of the NUS http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/jun/10/nus-tuition-fees-graduate-tax
Science Stories
Experiments are said to be the key to making science 'cool at school' http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/experiments-key-to-making-science-cool-at-school-1693511.html Not just experiments, "Teachers are turning to ICT to make science more practical and exciting, with tools such as data-logging, blogs and wikis, podcasting, simulation software, YouTube video clips and digital microscopes." http://www.guardian.co.uk/resource/ict-practice-science
There is still a problem offering students the opportunity to study individual sciences at GCSE http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/8080139.stm
Is science squeezing the humanities at universities? http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/may/21/language-departments-face-cuts
Unemployment as Career Move
A volunteer brokerage scheme has been established to place jobseekers as third sector volunteers and boost their employment prospects http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/may/13/jobseekers-third-sector Do we have a need for such volunteers? Should we be known to the scheme?
Blimey
Sex is history http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/may/31/sexual-health-oxforduniversity - too much time on their hands
Tuesday, 12 May 2009
Piss Poor
"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
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
Friday, 17 April 2009
Shocked of Darlington
I don't know how many of you are fans of the film Casablanca, but when I hear new labour ministers saying that they are shocked by reports of declining social equality in the UK, I'm reminded of Captain Renault who was shocked, shocked, to discover that gambling was rife in Rick's café as he collected his winnings. This time, it was Captain Milburn's turn to be shocked http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/apr/14/social-mobility-internships , when he was given a research report which had found that the professions have become more, not less, socially exclusive in recent years; full report can be found at http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/media/200480/fair_access_panel_report.pdf The Sutton Trust has stepped forward with some suggestions as to how this trend could be reversed http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/education/article6078322.ece. Over the years, the Sutton Trust have produced some very useful reports, incisive research and bold policy proposals. Unfortunately, this is not one of those occasions. These proposals simply do not relate to the reality of schooling as lived by modern students. For example, a recent study found that it's not cool, especially for boys, to be seen as academically successful and that "the threshold for what is constituted "boffin behaviour" tended to be lower at poorer-performing schools." http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/mar/29/education-schools-bullying or that given a choice, some headteachers are now hiring "Bouncers, ex-soldiers and former police officers …. to provide "crowd control" and cover absent teachers' lessons" rather than appoint a qualified teacher http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/apr/12/school-behaviour-bouncers-discipline I would in jest ask why we don't just bring back grammar schools, and then the bright and compliant children of the lower orders could openly pretend that they were at public schools? However, as I fear that there might still be time for this to be done before the next election, I won't. How about an alternative approach to this problem, one that is based on supporting students in the lives that they actually lead, for example, why not build on existing rapping competitions as a way into public speaking rather than trying to become little Etonians.
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