Layer 379 . . . Education, Supporting Teachers, Changing Schools, Ken Robinson, and a Royal Wedding

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Aaaaaarrrgggghhhh! Camilla described the announcement of the royal engagement as "wicked"!!!!!!!!!!!

According to Wikipedia, William Windsor (known as Billy), was a goat who served as a lance corporal in the 1st Battalion, the Royal Welsh, an infantry battalion of the British Army, from 2001 until 2009.

William and Kate are both 28 years old and complete twats. Embarrassingly so.

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For more on the value of silence, and on instinctual intelligence and intuition - visit Layer 104.

Also this page in the London Review of Books for a list of books about silence -

http://www.lrbshop.co.uk/home.php?cat=418

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Start The Week

"Through poetry we can make the people we love live forever."

On Start The Week this week there was a conversation about the way in which a great poem can make someone - i.e. its subject - immortal. A great poem can capture the absolute essence of someone. The really great thing about Dylan's tribute poem to Woody Guthrie is that it captures the spirit of the man and his life without really describing the man at all - simply likening him to a lamp or a candle or an oil well, or the magnificence of the Grand Canyon, or a bringer of hope. That's real brilliance.

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Education Oxzen

Katharine Birbalsingh and John Bangs were on the radio yesterday talking about underachievement and behaviour in English schools. Ms B, of course, created a stir by speaking out polemically at the recent Tory party conference.

How to improve classroom discipline, eh? Hmmmmmm.

Ms B believes we need to be 'a lot harder', impose 'a lot more structure', and 'show less compassion' towards the problem kids. Oh well - that should do it.

Thankfully John Bangs spoke really well about the need to make learning "far more exciting, far more relevant". He accused Ms B of talking 'hyperbolae', though he meant hyperbole. He recommended we pay attention to what people like Tony Sewell say about anger management, about motivating kids properly, and about using 'a range of disciplinary techniques and classroom strategies'. He also pointed out that it's not helpful to make generalisations about schools.

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To really understand what's wrong in our most challenging schools it's worth reading the whole of an article that was published in today's Education Guardian.

Why are new teachers leaving in droves?

Nearly half of all newly qualified teachers leave the profession within five years. Charlie Carroll went on the road for a year, working in the most challenging schools, to find out why

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/nov/16/teaching-problem-schools

The idea, when it came, was fully formed, sparked by a surprising statistic I read one morning in the staffroom: nearly half of all England's newly qualified teachers were leaving the profession within their first five years.

I wanted to know why.

So I took to the road to find out:

I spent a year travelling through the 10 areas of the country that were deemed as having the most challenging schools, one month in each, and teaching in those schools. By witnessing the frontline, I could find an answer to why so many teachers were fleeing the profession, and I could journey through my own country – and experience it as I never had before.

My working day was dominated by confrontations with aggressive, disaffected or miserable teenagers.

These were children with a proliferation of asbos; children on terrifyingly high dosages of Ritalin; some with criminal records and, already in their short lives, histories of violence.

I had also seen in these challenging areas some wonderful schools, which, beset as they were with their difficult intake, would still thrive against the odds – three of the schools I had worked at in particularly difficult areas had achieved outstanding status in their most recent Ofsted inspections. What was it, then, that set these schools apart?

It had felt to me in these schools that a teacher really could make a difference. Supported by good and hands-on senior management teams – rather than by shadowy headteachers who rarely enter their classrooms – the teachers knew that any sanctions they implemented would be backed up, which empowered them, in turn, to support and encourage their students to achieve to the best of their capabilities. In one school, when a pupil shouted an expletive at me, the head put him on a temporary exclusion for swearing at a teacher. This kind of thing is what counts.

My aim had been to find out why so many teachers were leaving. And I think I did find my answer – a score of them, in fact, and a few ideas about what can be done to make things better. In order to stop teachers leaving, it's useless throwing money at them (no teacher teaches for the money), or implementing structural innovations such as academies or free schools. Instead, changes need to be made at a much more fundamental, frontline level, which involves supporting teachers and assisting them to support their students to learn and achieve to their maximum capability – which is, after all, what teachers train to do.

Such changes are not dramatic or expensive. They merely require a slight shift in the cultural attitude. With more power to stop violence in the classrooms, with more freedom to exclude those students who cannot cope with mainstream education, with smaller class-sizes, with an enhanced communication between teachers and parents, with protection for teachers against the overwhelming fear of litigation, with the encouragement of a zero-tolerance approach to such unacceptable misbehaviour as violence and psychological abuse (such as cyber-bullying), and with the removal of the league table culture – where schools are unfairly ranked by a cold system of results-based numbers – perhaps teachers would be encouraged to remain in their profession and continue to provide the service so invaluable to this country's future.

I still teach, and at times still love it, but I don't know for how much longer. For, until such changes are implemented, it is this teacher's opinion that the professional exodus will continue.

• Charlie Carroll is a pseudonym. All names have been changed. On The Edge by Charlie Carroll is published by Monday Books, price £8.99.

The great thing about this piece is that hits the nail right on the head. Yes, there are poor teachers who can't cut the mustard and can't cope, but there are also thousands of teachers who would be able to cope and even do well if they had the proper backing of senior management that are determined to get to grips with the really challenging kids and their families. It's true that this requires the determination to spend hundreds of hours of unstinting attention focused on the aggressive and disruptive kids, talking with and counselling children and parents - but there simply is no other way.

You try to understand why the kids are unable to show proper self-control and why they lack so much emotional and social and spiritual intelligence. Then you make it very clear to them where the boundaries lie, and what action will be taken if they fail to control themselves, fail to opt into the school's ethos, and fail to keep within the boundaries. You then apply the sanctions you have outlined in your discussions, which will be gradual, and not harsh, but will eventually end with fixed term and even permanent exclusions.

Of course this assumes that the school is also doing its utmost to make every part of every day worthwhile for the kids - enjoyable, stimulating, rewarding, creative, satisfying and motivating. The child has to WANT to come to school.

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Ken Robinson and the Coming Education Revolution

Everyone who's interested in education simply has to take a look at this brilliant video of Ken Robinson talking about education and schools, and changing paradigms:

http://www.dontwasteyourtime.co.uk/elearning/video-sir-ken-robinson-changing-education-paradigms-rsanimate/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U&feature=player_embedded

http://www.sirkenrobinson.com/

Also this TED talk:

http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=-4964296663335083307#

See also Layers 162, 171 and 233. 

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Here's something I've missed about Sats, the schools' boycott, the NUT, the NAHT, and Gove

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1315657/End-SATs-11-year-olds-2-years-teachers-boycott.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1192939/Tories-pledge-abolish-SAT-tests-11-year-old-children.html
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Layer 352 . . . Gaga, Changing the World, Battle of Britain, Training Leaders, Coalition Education, Free Schools, Theorems, Gove, and Wild and Whacky

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Gaga

"And now, I'm just trying to change the world, one sequin at a time."

It seems Lady Gaga - Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta - has over 6 million "followers". And that doesn't include people who pay attention to her but haven't identified themselves as Gaga followers on Twitter, or whatever.

Channel 4 news has just reported that LG's been making televised speeches demanding that the laws against gays in the US military be repealed, and it seems the US legislature might well be preparing to do exactly that. Gaga seems to be turning herself into a formidable political lobbyist.

http://www.politico.com/click/stories/1009/lady_gagas_political_helpers.html

http://www.sldn.org/blog/archives/gaga

http://www.ladygaga.com/sldn/

Obviously any changes in the anti-gay laws won't be entirely down to Gaga, since there's been an ongoing campaign on the issue by several different groups. But it's significant that artistes like her, thanks to the internet and to their access to the media, are able to play a major part in politics if they're so minded.

Other musicians and artists who are already well known for their support for various 'causes' include Bob Geldoff and the guys in U2. The significance of Gaga is that she's young, photogenic and extremely popular. The lady has plenty of guts - which isn't a pun on the meat dress thing, either. There are literally millions of homophobes in the US - many of them aggressively so. Millions of fruit cakes of all sorts - many of them right-wing gun-toting fully paid up loons.

Let's not forget this is the 30th anniversary of John Lennon's assassination, and that he was only 40 when he was murdered.

Lennon was an artist who was best known for wanting to change the world, especially after he left the Beatles, and was a massive propagandist for world peace and universal brotherhood and love. Clearly a dangerous radical. Pretty amazing he chose to live in the USA really.

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Battle of Britain

A few weeks ago, before I'd realised that 2010 is the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain, I took a drive along the Kent coast with my good friend K. We came across a place called Capel-le-Ferne, and just off the main road, on the clifftops, the beautiful Battle of Britain memorial. Watching a TV programme about the battle a few days ago I was delighted to see some brilliant aerial shots of the memorial.

http://www.battleofbritainmemorial.org/the-memorial/

The memorial consists of a replica Spitfire, a replica Hurricane, a curved wall on which are written the names of every pilot who took part in the battle, and a landscaped circle of grass in which a gigantic three-bladed aircraft propellor is depicted. At the centre of the circle is a sculpture of a seated pilot. You can zoom in on the site here:

http://www.multimap.com/maps/?mapType=aerial&zoom=16&countryCode=GB&lat=51.0986573722078&lon=1.20642034929497

http://www.hows.org.uk/personal/hillfigs/bob/bob.htm

(c) Oxzenpics 2010
 
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Training Our Leaders

Oxford University is opening what it says is Europe's first school of government, with the backing of international leaders.

Funded partly by a £75m donation from Soviet-born philanthropist Leonard Blavatnik, the school will train top graduates in the skills needed for government.

It has the backing of world statesmen Nelson Mandela and Kofi Annan.

The school also has Prime Minister David Cameron's support.

Mr Cameron said the school would create "a new avenue for training and research in the crucial field of good government and public policy in this country and around the world".

He added that Mr Blavatnik's gift was a "very generous act of philanthropy".

'Huge milestone'

Former UN secretary general Mr Annan said: "More than ever before, we need a new generation of leaders who understand the different dimensions of society and the economy, and its implications for governance and public policy.

"I am certain that the school of government at Oxford University will spearhead this new approach to leadership and public service."

Mr Mandela said he was delighted about the establishment of the new school.

Professor Andrew Hamilton, vice-chancellor of Oxford University which is contributing an extra £26m, said the development of the school represented a "huge milestone" in the university's history.

"It will give tomorrow's leaders the best of Oxford's traditional strengths alongside new and practical ways of understanding the challenges of good governance," he said.

He added that Oxford had educated 26 British prime ministers and more than 30 other world leaders, but that until now international schools of government have all been outside Europe.

The Blavatnik School of Government would develop leaders in both private and public sectors and would aim to address complex global problems in new and practical ways, Oxford said.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-11370707

On the Radio 4 Today programme there was talk about 'vision' and 'ability to inspire' and 'character' and 'being informed'.

The idea is clearly that our leaders need to have an informed understanding of society's problems, and they also need to understand technical, scientific and legal advice from experts. They also need to renounce war and violence.

The big question is - can 'character' be taught? Can empathy and a determination to achieve social justice be taught? Can the ability to find innovative solutions be taught?

"The course will combine disciplines ranging from the humanities, social sciences and law, to science, technology, health, finance, energy and security policy. The school will also teach an understanding of different political systems."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/sep/20/oxford-university-blavatnik-school-governance

Which is all very well, but doesn't guarantee we'll get wise or radical leadership instead of another generation of bullshitting administrators doing the bidding of the Establishment, Whitehall, the City, financiers and fat cats in general.

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Education and the Coalition

Further to my previous blog's wondering whether Clegg and Gove have been talking to one another about education policy - Gove popped up on the Today programme and pretty much reiterated what Clegg had said about giving headteachers more control over their schools - including Primary headteachers, who must have the same freedom to direct their schools as their Secondary counterparts.

He also guaranteed that the pupil premium will shift resources to the more disadvantaged schools. He intends to extend the Teach First programme for training 'high flyers' to teach before going off on careers in the City, etc.

He also spoke about flaws is our current system, the need to 'level up' and create more aspiration. He said he was concerned with addressing inequality 'head on'. "How poorly we educate those from disadvanteged homes". He said he wants to encourage ideallistic people who want to work with the poorest children.

So far, so good.

Citing the much celebrated Mossbourne Academy on Hackney Downs, Gove said it's a genuinely comprehensive school that has a brilliant headteacher and also does brilliant things for the least able, on account of insisting on 'academic rigour' for the least able.

And it's here, of course, that he starts bullshitting. Because Mossbourne may well have a balanced and fully comprehensive intake, but the same can't be said of other schools in the area. Mossbourne appears to have gone beyond the tipping point thanks to having good teachers, good premises and facilities, good leadership, and a critical mass of focused pupils of all abilities who are eager to study and enjoy going to a good school.

But it's also oversubscribed and as such is able to pick and choose from those in its catchment area of every ability and aptitude who have the most positive attitudes and 'fit in with the ethos' of the school. The same isn't true of all schools in the poorest and most challenging parts of our inner cities. Besides which - not all of our least academically able pupils are willing to strive for academic success when what they need is an education that emphasises success in creativity, art, communication skills, emotional intelligence, practical skills and technical skills. Yes, it's possible to have all of that PLUS academic success - in ideal circumstances. The reality is that lots of kids are simply unwilling to write essays galore on obscure topics towards exams in science, history, literature, etc. A lot of kids aren't willing to write at all, because they hate writing. Whilst this is regrettable, it's simply the reality, and as such schools need to take account of it and shape their offering accordingly. Most schools are too inflexible to do so.

As John Humphries said - surely we need better teaching and a more relevant curriculum that meets the interests and needs of pupils - not 'free schools' and more 'academies'?

At which point Gove gave himself away and started spluttering about 'proper uniforms', 'strict discipline' and 'academic emphasis' instead of "wild and whacky 'theorems' ".

Theorems? Pillock.

Obviously an education that puts equal emphasis on all the intelligences, plus creativity,  imagination and the development of human values, is a wild and whacky 'theorem' in Gove's book.

'Strict discipline' sounds like an urge to get wild and whacky with the more wayward souls in our schools. Which I'm sure it is for Whacker Gove. I'm sure he'll testify that getting whacked never did HIM any harm. Obviously.

He's incapable of conceiving that self-discipline, whose development is far more important than any imposed discipline, can only come from motivated learning and engagement with a rich, diverse, relevant and enjoyable curriculum, which for some pupils will have nothing to do with traditional academic disciplines, or indeed A levels and universities.

How many times do we need to say this? Not going to university does not mean failing in life. And going to a university is far from being a guarantee that someone will learn how to live well, find fulfilment, become self-actualised, learn how to live and work creatively, and develop all of their intelligences.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5imMcdlTe1HhO__THFpQP781NAilA

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/8013973/Michael-Goves-attack-on-wild-and-wacky-teaching.html

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23880012-michael-gove-parents-prefer-strict-discipline-and-school-uniforms.do

http://www.timeplan.com/news-and-events/news/1743-parents-%27want-better-discipline-in-schools%27/

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Blow for Clegg as Lib Dem delegates vote down coalition's flagship 'free schools' policy

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1313642/Lib-Dem-conference-Delegates-vote-coalitions-flagship-free-schools-policy.html
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Layer 204 More Education, Tesco, Academic Rigour, Community Service and Spiritual Intelligence.

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There were some interesting letters in Guardian Education this week:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/oct/13/education-letters-school-discipline

troops out

Michael Gove, the shadow schools secretary, told the Conservatives' conference that pupils should wear ties and ex-soldiers should be employed to enforce discipline in schools. This prompted some colourful comments on our website.

Cellardoor

I wore a tie and blazer to school and still acted like a petty thug. Not once did I think that I should behave differently because of the way I dressed.

And as for getting the army to teach people how to behave – this guy obviously hasn't been out around Plymouth or Chelmsford on a Saturday night.

lonepilgrim

As reported in the Guardian recently, "the number of former servicemen in prison or on probation or parole is now more than double the total British deployment in Afghanistan", yet apparently this is the calibre of person we need enforcing discipline in schools.

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Last week headteachers suggested Labour initiatives to bin and those to save.

ratherbered

I can tell you straight away what education policies the Tories will cut: Building Schools for the Future; the Primary Capital Programme. The last time the Conservative party was in office it deliberately abandoned maintenance, refurbishment and renewal of the school estate, which left many school buildings structurally unsound and leaking. The reason why so much money has been poured into education under Labour is simply because of the disgraceful lack of investment in schools by the Tories during the 18 years they were in power.

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Big Tory business

Polly Curtis interviewed the architect of the Swedish schools' voucher system (favoured by the Conservative party), Anders Hultin, who said those running schools should be allowed to make a profit.

Please do not print any more stories about how the Tories' plans for education are insufficiently connected to the requirements of big business (The prophet's motives, 6 October). You are putting satirists out of work.

Keith Flett

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And talking about the requirements of big business, this story appeared in the Guardian -

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/mortarboard/2009/oct/14/schools-like-tesco

Should schools be more like Tesco?

Teachers are drowning in paperwork – and their pupils are suffering, says the boss of the supermarket giant

Education standards in Britain are "woefully low", leaving employers to pick up the pieces.

That was the stark message from Sir Terry Leahy, chief executive of Tesco, the country's largest employer.

Speaking at a conference yesterday, Leahy said companies like his needed well-educated applicants, but was not getting them.

He blamed excessive bureaucracy: teachers spend too much time on paperwork and not enough in the classroom, he said.

"One thing that government could do is to simplify the structure of our education system. From my perspective there are too many agencies and bodies, often issuing reams of instructions to teachers, who then get distracted from the task at hand: teaching children," he said.

Leahy reckons the education system should learn lessons from how Tesco is run. "We try to keep paperwork to a minimum, instructions simple, structures flat, and – above all – we trust the people on the ground. I am not saying that retail is like education, merely that my experience tells me that when it comes to the number of people you have in the back office, less is more."

Leahy is not the only business leader who thinks he could do education better. Dragon Peter Jones has set up his own academy for young entrepreneurs and is changing the way business skills are taught, keeping the focus as practical as possible.

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More information needed on what Sir Terry means by “well educated”, obviously. But he's not wrong to point out the stupidity of too much bureaucracy distracting schools from what they're actually trying to do for kids, and the importance of “trusting people on the ground”.

We also need to know more about what's meant by “changing the way business skills are taught”, but you can't argue with the need to make more of young people's learning “as practical as possible” - ie relevant, meaningful, interesting, engaging, purposeful . . . and away from endless and meaningless preparation for academic exams and tests.

A comment on this on  CiF -

TheGreatRonRafferty

"On Monday, the 5th inst., a lecture was delivered by the Rev. J. Whitely, principal of St. Augustine School, Hull, in the National Schoolroom, .... The rev. gentleman went on to show the danger in the present educational policy of our country of cramming rather than opening the intellect of our youth, and concluded with a warm appeal to the young men and women present to become thinkers, and thus general benefactors of their village and nation. The audience was large, and listened throughout with rapt attention, broken only by frequent bursts of applause, which demonstrations were loud and long."

That is a quote from the Hull Packet (a newspaper) published on 16th January 1881 !!!!!!

It was part of a nationwide debate on the national curriculum, cramming for exams and tests, and rigid inspection regime that was blighting mid-Victorian Britain. By 1885, the argument was won, and schools gradually became freer to teach properly, using knowledge gained about the psychological and physical development and needs of children.

Until the Thatcher, Major, Blair and Brown governments decided that they knew better, and that a system that failed the country in mid-Victorian times was just what was needed for 21st century Britain.

Now we have many of the central characters - those cheering on the politicians to set back the country more than one hundred years, claiming that it was a "mistake", and perhaps, like the Victorians, we should abandon this huge error in school planning.

British education was good in ensuring that 30% to 55% of all the world's inventions and discoveries were made by its pupils. Now the policy is not one that would yield this, but be factory fodder to compete with Third World countries for the benefit of public-school toffs. It's called globalisation.

Whilst I agree wholeheartedly with much of what Sir Leahy says regarding paperwork, and leaving it to folk on the ground, I wonder if he, or any other director of a major company REALLY wants workers who think creatively?

There was a golden age of British invention during and after the Second World War (first for defence, then for a whole raft of peacetime ventures), accomplished by ordinary/extraordinary people from ordinary walks of life. Sadly, we now have a country where the public-school educated have taken over the reins of power again. And we can all see what a mess they are making of it!

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/oct/13/secondary-schools-fiona-millar

Fiona Millar - A Few Simple Questions

Based on my own experience, I am now principally interested in hearing answers from the politicians to a few simple questions.

How are they going to protect our budgets and investment in our buildings while cutting public spending? How are they going to ensure every school has an excellent head and good teachers who stay and are supported and equipped to sustain school improvement? How are they going to fund the work, especially investment, in the early years and support for parents that counters the disadvantage outside schools that contributes so much to the underachievement within them?
How are they going to balance choice, not just with fair admissions, but with a fair framework for exclusions, special needs and sharing out pupils with behavioural problems?

How are they going to keep schools accountable while getting rid of the perverse incentives to manipulate the intake and the curriculum that are intrinsic in the current league tables?

Most parents want the following: a good local school, well resourced, with a pleasant environment; strong leadership; good teachers; consistent and effective behaviour management; a balanced intake; and a broad curriculum. It is such a simple message that I don't understand why someone doesn't just get up and say it – then concentrate on the detail that will bring it about.
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"A Chicago School is Hoping to Turn Out lots of 'Little Obamas'."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/oct/13/obama-black-students-chicago

It's 8.30 in the morning and 450 young men in jackets, ties and short back and sides line up looking for all the world like young Barack Obamas. They begin to recite their daily creed. "We are the young men of Urban Prep. We are college bound. We are exceptional – not because we say it, but because we work hard at it. We believe in ourselves. We believe in each other. We believe in Urban Prep."

For 16-year-old Israel Durley, even making it to school each morning is a challenge. "As of last night, we had four more murders around the school area," he says. "When you have the majority of people around you who don't care about their lives and their futures, then it's kind of hard to surpass them because they're always pulling you down."

At Israel's previous high school, his most optimistic goal was to get a job at McDonald's. Now that's all changed. So what's so different about the school, and could we in the UK learn anything from its methods?

Urban Prep emphasises academic rigour, extracurricular involvement and community service. It has a longer school day than most US schools, and tests students every six weeks. The curriculum is designed to be culturally relevant to young urban males. In literature week, teachers pitched their book choices to the students, reading excerpts from young urban writers such as Junot Diaz, whose work reflects the students' own lives.

Each year, students design and implement their own community service projects. "We want to prepare our boys to be the leaders in the communities, to take over the world tomorrow," says the school's vice-president, Evan Lewis. "They need to learn compassion and humanity, and this helps them to do so."

As a charter school, Urban Prep enjoys similar flexibility to Britain's academies. But, unlike in the UK, it makes full use of this autonomy to address the complex needs of its students, from the curriculum and timetable to staff recruitment.

At the end of the school day, as Israel Durley swaps his jacket and tie for a hoodie and slips back out into the mean streets of Englewood, he's optimistic about his college prospects.
"There's no doubt in my mind, that I'm going, that I'm going to pursue a professional career and that I'm going to succeed in life."

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Of course this school still seems to fixated on getting kids to pursue “professional careers”, and there's a way to go to establish the case for vocational education, careers as independent business people, artists, tradespeople, etc, and the possibility of leading a good, worthwhile and productive life as a working class person, but at least the school is focused on social, emotional and spiritual intelligence, and not just "IQ" and exam-passing.
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