Posted by Editors
Academies, ASCL, Education Business, Events, Free Schools, In The News, League Tables, Managerialism, Ofsted, Standards, Teach First, Teacher Bashing, Testing, Tories, Working Conditions
Tuesday, March 27th, 2012
Michael Gove, UK Ed Sec, spoke at the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) conference on the the 24 March 2012 so we thought we’d run through the justifications he could come up with for alienating both teachers and headteachers with his needless reforms. There was a defence of free schools and academies. There [...]
Posted by Editors
Cambridge Assessment, In The News, Media Watch, Testing
Sunday, May 29th, 2011
Despite its Reithian foundations, the BBC and its Education journalists in particular seem to be dishing out free ad space. In ‘New Exam Weapon Against Exam Cheating‘ the Beeb declare that new computerised techniques devised by Cambridge Assessment will be able to better spot exam cheating. And for that we should all be grateful. However, [...]
Posted by RonDietel
In The News, Testing
Friday, April 1st, 2011
Is there a perfect test? A test so well developed that it can do all those things that policymakers want it to do: higher test scores, teacher evaluation, and assisting teachers to help students learn in the classroom? Test developers Grant and Jennifer Wilson think so, and they have developed what they believe are the [...]
Posted by Editors
In The News, NCLB, Testing
Sunday, March 27th, 2011
Too early to say, of course, but the actions of one Pennsylvania woman give us hope that the days of factory education are coming to an end. State College, Pennsylvania (CNN) — A Pennsylvania mother has decided she does not want her two children to take the two-week-long standardized tests given by her state as part [...]
Posted by Editors
Education Philosophy, In The News, Testing
Wednesday, January 19th, 2011
This Royal Society of Arts animate was adapted from a talk given at the RSA by Sir Ken Robinson. For more information on Sir Ken’s work visit his website [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U[/youtube]
Posted by Editors
In The News, Ofsted, Secondary Education, Testing
Friday, January 7th, 2011
Have Gilbert and OfSTED had an epiphany and seen the light? Or knowing that her days as honcho are numbered is she getting her own back? For an organisation so determined to kowtow to politicians and hold on to power and funds, today’s Successful Science report is quite remarkable. In its report based on the [...]
Posted by Editors
Education Philosophy, In The News, Testing
Tuesday, October 26th, 2010
This is a great book by Katy Farber. No connection to us but echoes much of what we have to say. “Available July 2010 from Corwin Press and Amazon, and most major booksellers. Learn why today’s best teachers are leaving- from the teachers themselves. Low pay, increased responsibilities, and high stakes standardized testing– these are [...]
Posted by Editors
In The News, Testing
Sunday, January 24th, 2010
The Gruaniad has an excellent article on the artificiality and crudity of exam grades and worth including in full: “It was recently reported in this paper that I was proud to have received a third-class degree. Not really. But at 66 it is true to say I am no longer as ashamed of it as [...]
Posted by Editors
In The News, Politics, Testing
Sunday, May 17th, 2009
We thought that it would be a good idea now that New Labour have pressed self-destruct to consider the other crews’ Education policies. So starting with the new friendlier, tree-hugging but still fabulously wealthy Tories let’s take a look: “Schools Education is the most powerful means by which individuals can be given the freedom to [...]
Posted by Editors
In The News, Testing
Wednesday, June 20th, 2007
WE at EducationState can only thank Gordon Brown for his wonderfully vague and awe-uninspiring comments regarding the future of the UK’s education system. Apparently, he’s going to make it ‘world class’, whatever that means. He could make it really ‘world class’ by: 1. getting rid of standards, targets and all the other meaningless twaddle that [...]
