Most of our readers will no doubt remember Saddam Hussein’s press officer during the 2nd Gulf War, Comical Ali aka Baghdad Bob.

He became known for his outrageous and simply ridiculous attempts to pretend to the world’s press corp that Saddam’s Iraq was far from imploding but actually resisting the Allied Forces (even while Baghdad itself […]

Shelter, the homeless charity, should know about housing costs.

They have released some very alarming statistics showing how much it would cost to buy a property in the UK. The strike action taking place on 24th April has been attacked, predictably, for letting students down. But when teachers’ pay is so low - they need […]

We can only but admire the logic of a system designed to record progress and raise standards that in fact is costing £700 million and rising. Brilliant for those who provide the examinations e.g. Cambridge University, Edexcel, Trinity and so on.

Why is it costing so much? External agencies holding educational establishments to ransom? A National […]

We at EducationState have written of the trials and tribulations of staff and students in education but we think that of all news commented on in recent times the new university entrance exams in the UK are purely and simply an attempt to turn back the clock to the days of educational elitism.

Widely reported in […]

We at EducationState have read with horror that the National Union of Students is to now accept tuition fees and fight for them to be capped rather than continue to oppose them outright as they have since 1997.

We now call on the NUS to explain why they bother to exist AT ALL. Apart from being […]

It has been revealed in The Guardian that from next year (2008/9) the running of Education will be placed in the hands of locally-appointed councillors, experts and teachers doing away with over 150 years of state control.

Explaining the volte-face Ed Balls MP, Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, explained that “the time is […]

WE would like to offer our sympathies to all those hard-working teachers who have recently had to endure an observation grilling.

As a result WE have put together a list of reasons why observations, at least in their current form, make little sense:
1. They lack objectivity because objectivity is unattainable. The mere selection of criteria with […]

Recent lighter-touch inspection regimes have been welcomed by some but we believe such a welcome would have been less warm if the true impact had been known. For it appears that Ofsted inspections have been replaced with institution-led inspections.

Whereas in the past we may have expected observations to be in-house and free of […]

Seems even the unions are in on the IfL scam. They are advising members to join asap when they know that staff in Adult Ed are being press-ganged into joining or threatened with the sack if they don’t.

Aren’t they supposed to have the interests of their members to look after?

A quick trawl of the web offers these timely reminders:
Further education lecturer, Barnet
Diana Whelham
Salary: £26,780
* Leo Benedictus
* Society Guardian,
* Thursday March 20 2003
* Article history
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This article was first published on guardian.co.uk on Thursday March 20 2003. It […]