Posted by Editors EdReform, In The News, Policy, Politics, Schools, Teaching, Unions Saturday, October 12th, 2013
On October 17th the main teaching unions in England have organised a day of strikes (also known as industrial action, or walkouts) that will shut most schools and cause a good deal of disruption to the daily routines of millions of people across the country. However, this week alone teacher strikes have also been witnessed […]
Posted by Editors EdReform, In The News, Management Consultants, McKinsey & Co., Media Watch, NASUWT, NUT, Ofsted, Politics, Social Enterprise, Teach First, Teach for America, Teaching Saturday, July 27th, 2013
Given recent political limelight-sharing speeches, and education news media puff pieces, we thought it important to restore some balance to the current largely light-touch media debate on Teach First. We also thought that it would be useful to collect all the various arguments for and against Teach First in one place. What follows therefore is […]
Posted by Editors Charter Schools, Common Core, EdReform, EduBusiness, ICT, In The News, Teach for America, Working Conditions Saturday, February 9th, 2013
A further excerpt, this time from the writings of another strong critic of the corporate education reform movement, Leonie Haimson (@leoniehaimson), who leads Class Size Matters in New York City (“a non-profit, non-partisan clearinghouse for information on class size and the proven benefits of smaller classes”) and who was a co-founder of Parents Across America […]
Posted by Editors EduBusiness, In The News, Labour, OECD, PISA, Teach First, Teaching Monday, May 14th, 2012
The BBC report that the UK Shadow (in the broadest sense of the term) Secretary for Education, Stephen Twigg, believes “England’s schools should learn from Japan”. He obviously hasn’t been reading the Economist recently. “THE yells of children pierce the night, belting out the elements—“Lithium! Magnesium!”—as an instructor displays abbreviations from the periodic table. Next, […]
Posted by Editors EdReform, Events, Exams, HE, In The News, Labour, Policy, Politics, Schools, Teaching Tuesday, March 27th, 2012
For those who think Gove or any other politician is the answer to our educational problems (whatever they may be), perhaps excerpts from the text of the speech by Prime Minister James Callaghan, at a foundation stone-laying ceremony at Ruskin College, Oxford, on October. 18 1976 will make you think again. The speech proved to […]
Posted by Editors Academies, ASCL, EduBusiness, 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 In The News, MetLife, Ofsted, PISA, Standards, Working Conditions Thursday, March 15th, 2012
While in the UK OFSTASI’s Wilshaw spouts further drivel about declining literacy standards, across the pond in the US a very illuminating survey of teachers has attracted a lot of recent attention, not least because it shows just how dissatisfied teachers currently are. The MetLife Survey of the American Teacher: Teachers, Parents and the Economy […]
Posted by Editors Andreas Schleicher, Events, In The News, OECD, Politics, Teacher Bashing Wednesday, March 14th, 2012
For those of you who don’t know, the ISTP – 2012 International Summit of the Teaching Profession is being held today and tomorrow in NYC, USA. Our initial reaction to these events is always that they are a good opportunity to see the world, have a few dinners at taxpayer expense and pontificate on matters […]
Posted by Editors In The News, League Tables, Politics, Standards, Teacher Bashing Tuesday, February 21st, 2012
The BBC reports today that Labour education spokesman Stephen Twigg has called for the creation of an independent office to raise standards in education in England. On so many grounds this is a mistake. We have written at length about standards in the past but it is clear that Time Warp Twigg, new to the […]
Posted by TLC Education EduBusiness, In The News, Schools, Teaching Tuesday, July 26th, 2011
Five East Anglia schools form tutoring partnerships with TLC Education Group TLC Education Group, the specialist maths and English tutoring provider, today announces five partnerships with schools across East Anglia. The Samuel Ward Academy and Wymondham High School in Suffolk, Coleridge Community College and Parkside Community College in Cambridge, and the Open Academy in Norwich, […]