Posted by Editors In The News, Primary Education Thursday, October 29th, 2009
If half a million parents and guardians have submitted appeals regarding dissatisfaction with Little Johnny’s school place then how much is spent responding to them? The culture of choice is really an excuse to employ more civil servants – how very convenient for them. Nothing wrong with choice but how about cutting costs first. And […]
Posted by Editors EduBusiness, In The News, Primary Education Tuesday, October 27th, 2009
We at EducationState think that it is very, very sad that, according to the BBC, “Children as young as seven are to be offered careers guidance under a government scheme in England.” Is this what children really need or will remember? Psychologists tell us that our automatic, non-conscious behaviour starts early on in life but […]
Posted by Editors EduBusiness, Ofsted, Politics Monday, October 26th, 2009
EducationState have little time for education inspectors. And why would we? They create unnecessary amounts of stress and bureaucracy. They waste time, money and other resources. And they are used an instrument of fear and control by Government. It has dawned on us, moreover, that they bear many similarities to some rather unpleasant characters who […]
Posted by Editors In The News Monday, October 26th, 2009
“Blue Chip companies refuse interviews on GCSE results” writes Victoria Bell in the Daily Telegraph. Apparently, top firms like KPMG, Deloitte and PWC won’t interview anyone without top grades from GCSE onwards. It seems that if for whatever reason you underachieve you have no chance of being a beancounter or consultant. Seems more than a […]
Posted by Editors FE, HE, In The News, League Tables, Politics, Research Sunday, October 25th, 2009
Recent headlines have highlighted how education research findings must be treated with a little suspicion. Contrast the findings of the government-funded UK Commission for Employment and Skills (Ukces) review into further and higher education, which calls for yet more league tables – this time in FE – with the Cambridge Primary Review that calls for […]
Posted by Editors EduBusiness, Primary Education, Secondary Education, Teach First, Working Conditions Thursday, October 22nd, 2009
We see that the “Tories back ‘Teach First’ scheme”. It seems sensible to encourage ‘high-flying’ graduates to join the teaching profession so that they can pass on their skills and experience. However, we would argue that this scheme is not the answer to teacher recruitment and retention. Improved working conditions especially eradicating all paperwork and […]
Posted by Editors In The News, Politics Wednesday, October 21st, 2009
“Truancy rate reaches record level” declares the BBC education website. We are told that, “The truancy statistics for the first two terms of the last school year show 1.03% of school sessions were missed without permission, up from 0.97%” and “show the rate of unauthorised absences as running higher than any annual figure since 1994, […]
Posted by Editors HE, In The News, Media Watch, NUS, Tuition Fees Tuesday, October 20th, 2009
“Science adviser warns of fee rise”, writes someone at the Beeb. We don’t think so. At EducationState we see this very differently. The Government to appease HE are appointing ‘advisors’ to make such statements so that HE staff can maintain their present living standards while pretending that to retain ‘our’ competitiveness in science we need […]
Posted by Editors In The News Sunday, October 18th, 2009
That “Minister rejects plan to start lessons at six” is unsurprising given how such people so stubbornly refuse to loosen their grip on the fates of the millions of teachers and students in their power. This is yet another reason, in our opinion, why control of education needs to be removed from the clutches of […]
Posted by Editors In The News, NUS Thursday, October 15th, 2009
“Tabloids duped by celebrity hoaxes” is a story that has dominated the UK press today. “Chris Atkins and his team put in hoax calls to some newsrooms, including that one girl band singer was a physics wizard, only to see the details printed — unchecked — in the press the next day.” we are told. […]