Comments for EducationState: the education news blog.

Comment on Lord, oh Lord, Adonis by Gove’s GCSE Reform Speech: Our View « jmgassociatesblog

Gove’s GCSE Reform Speech: Our View « jmgassociatesblog — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 09:59:48 +0000

[…] a lie. For many years now politicians have been making things worse, not better (and that includes Lord ‘I’ve been to Comprehensive School!’ Adonis). It is now time for them to relinquish […]

Comment on Still No Special Measures for Teach First by Mr G

Mr G — Mon, 21 May 2012 14:00:40 +0000

From experience I can tell you that Teach First only put their teachers into schools where 50% of the population come from the lowest quartile of the IDACI deprivation index – I found this out because our school was 44.5% and therefore not eligible. I find your assertion that they are disinterested in tackling educational disadvantage therefore very curious / ill informed.

And as for your expectation that unqualified teachers with 6 weeks training should work in schools in Special Measures? I can only assume that your background is outside of teaching or the education system.

For credibility purposes, I would recommend further research goes into subsequent blog posts.

Comment on Charity Begins At Home: TeachFirst’s Executive Pay by Andy Woodward

Andy Woodward — Thu, 03 May 2012 21:38:12 +0000

This is a vindictive and petty article, couched in terms of reasonableness. The premise that TeachFirst need help in forthcoming tough times is wilfully misleading, given that the report from 2011 is one presenting remarkably rapid growth in activities and funds raised during that year – growth largely attributable to government grants and corporate support (neither of which is eligible for Gift Aid as it is). The repeated comparisons between the wages of its executives and average UK workers is also vaccuous. In what economic model outside of North Korea would the employer of 164 staff be paid the average national wage – particularly in a time of double dip recession?
What I saw when I looked at the accounts was an effective and well run company with numerous Outstanding features, generating a turnover of over £10 million. This perhaps explains its place in the Top 10 of Top Graduate Employers, as ranked by The Times. To be in this position with only eight employees earning above £60k suggests a very tight ship and an absolute minimum of indulgence. It would appear that the CEO does indeed earn a low six-figure sum (indeed, he/she is the only one who does) which, considering that back in 2009 The Guardian found that ‘The average chief executive of a blue-chip company now earns a basic salary of £791,000′, is pretty good going! Try finding someone with the experience and expertise to steer a company of this size for significantly less than that and good luck getting anywhere. Those who succeed in pioneering successful business models; particularly if, unlike most, their businesses benefit struggling children and schools rather than maximising profit, deserve to be reasonably rewarded for their initiative. Perhaps then others may seek to emulate them. This seems a counter-productive and embittered left wing assault on a welcome success story and thus a thoroughly depressing read.

Comment on Still No Special Measures for Teach First by James

James — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 13:27:02 +0000

Are you being serious?

How could someone with no experience of teaching to be able to teach in a school that is in special measures!? How can you expect a school whose management has been judged inadequate to train graduates who have had only 6 weeks of training!?

Comment on Is it worth learning Latin? by James

James — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 03:53:49 +0000

Your tone requires that I reply to a few of these, though I don’t have the time to pick at the whole thing.

“But surely learning Chinese would prove as much of a challenge and engender the learning characteristics desired.” Wrong, Chinese is not an inflected language, whereas Latin is highly inflected.

“Really? It may ‘sell’ Latin programs but is it true. Where’s the study refs? Only 30% of words have Latin roots. That may be a large chunk but there are still 70% to get one’s head round.” Perhaps you should have done your homework on this one. A quick look at SAT’s official score reports reveals that students who study Latin have a higher mean score than all other students in the reading and writing sections.

“Math scores also increase? Yeah, right.” Yes, correct. Students of Latin average a higher score on even their math section than students of any other language, save for Chinese.

Reference: http://professionals.collegeboard.com/profdownload/2010-total-group-profile-report-cbs.pdf

Furthermore, Latin has given us plenty of grammatical content. It’s ludicrous to say that we’ve only inherited lexical content from the Latin language. For more information on that, use Google. Even you should be able to find your own references for that.

Comment on Why Teach First Could Be Bad For Your Career by Paul Evangeou

Paul Evangeou — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 20:58:00 +0000

I came across this article as a graduate looking for practical advice. Indeed, the title and attempted reportage style, would suggest that it is practical advice.

However, after looking at the “about us” section of this website , it seems that it is strategically directed towards fulfilling a particular manifesto:

“-An end to unnecessary and dangerous innovations such as IfL, Teach First and Academies and a return to the state comprehensive system.”

Please, if you wish to convince the reader that Teach First is a “dangerous innovation”, then make it clear that that is your case. Perhaps, even offer some points to that relate to that argument. But do not attempt to manipulate the reader into acting in a way which ultimately serves your own political vision.

Comment on The End is Nigh for the IfL by Lee Davies

Lee Davies — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 20:14:42 +0000

God what a pointless cretin you are

Comment on Only literacy test scores ‘fall short’ by NatalieKay

NatalieKay — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 12:58:23 +0000

Why is the current education system so insistent upon comparing children to each other?

Comment on Testing Lowers Standards by NatalieKay

NatalieKay — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 12:54:31 +0000

Hurrah!!!! People have seen the light!
How can testing ever raise standards?
Children who feel the pressure to perform will not be relaxed and comfortable in their learning environment- which is not conducive to effective learning. And teachers will only teach what is needed to pass the tests. How is this good teaching? – It Isn’t!!!!!

Comment on Why Great Teachers Quit by NatalieKay

NatalieKay — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 12:51:27 +0000

A great deal of stress is put upon teacher by the governement and the public. There is little to no trust given to teachers- if they were trusted then why would they need to be inspected and told how to teach?

I am in Finland at the moment where teachers are not externally inspected and they say that they feel that they are respected and trusted in their jobs.
The teachers do not feel like they are in competition with each other and can therefore work together in stressful situations.