C.E. Jottings

Explorations

One of the purposes I have for this blog is as a shared space for my own explorations and understandings of possible links between Neuroscience, Learning & Cerebral Palsy. I am not a specialist in neuroscience or any related field. However, I hope I am a reasonably intelligent and critical reader. For the timing being, and until I learn otherwise, by 'neuroscience' I understand all and any studies related to the brain. By 'cognitive', as in 'cognitive neuroscience' or 'neurocognitive... Read more →

More About 1: CERI

CERI is the Centre for Educational Research and Innovation, a major division of the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) Directorate for Education . CERI was set up in 1968 as an independently funded programme by member countries and other organisations. CERI has established an international reputation for pioneering educational research, opening up new fields for exploration and combining rigorous analysis with conceptual innovation. CERI’s work covers learning at every age, from birth to old age. It goes beyond... Read more →

Leading with Political Awareness

At £75, I will, regretfully, not be buying "Leading with Political Awareness", the "pioneering research initiative" from the Chartered Management Initiative and Warwick Business School "exploring how to develop leaders with the capability to manage the political dimension of their businesses", reported in The Times on 14 June 2007. (An Executive Summary can be downloaded for free.) Particularly resonant with my own experience at Paces was the report's conclusion that an understanding of public policy and political contexts is an... Read more →

Glenda Watson-Hyatt

While I'm thinking of it: there are not many people who would find the strength of character to turn what most of us would regard as bad news into something inspirational. Glenda, a woman with cerebral palsy, is doing just that. Through her blog, as it says there "Glenda shares her experiences living with cerebral palsy to motivate and inspire others to think about how they perceive their own situation and their own world around them. She does all this... Read more →

Physical self-worth, self-esteem & confidence.

"Higher physical self-worth and self-esteem leads to higher confidence. This makes pupils more likely to succeed physically and academically" says the Times Educational Supplement. Reporting on a 10-year study undertaken by the Manchester Institute of Sport and Physical Activity (part of Manchester Metropolitan University), the TES says: "Pupils who take regular exercise are up to eight times more likely to achieve good GCSE results than their less sporty peers, research has revealed." The TES quotes Dr Gillian Burgess, a senior... Read more →

Strapped In

How important is exercise to the well-being of adults with cerebral palsy who use wheelchairs? An article in 'The Times" yesterday, "Eat Wisely - and Fly Safely" about causes of Deep Vein Thrombosis, caused me to wonder. "The sheer immobility of sitting in a plane (or coach, train or car) for more than four hours slows down the blood flow, and flying in a pressurised cabin causes a potential further problem because some of the fluid component of your blood... Read more →

Testing Times

On Saturday, in Costa Coffee, in Waterstones, in Orchard Square, I bought a "Daily Telegraph": only paper they sold. Just one article caught my attention, missing apparently from the online edition for 9th June: "Teachers Condemn Special Needs Tests". Two quotes capture the tone of Education Correspondent Graeme Paton's piece: (1) Steve Sinnott, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said: "What matter's is a child's quality of life, not whether we can measure them alongside a list of... Read more →