C.E. Jottings

The State we have been brought to

(Somehow managed to save this posting as a Draft instead of publishing it a couple of days ago) Two mothers, friends, have a job-share and arranged also to share the child-care of their young children between them. On pain of £5000 fine if the Mums do not comply, Ofsted apparently will have to approve the arrangement and a Criminal Record Bureau check (and no doubt a Vetting and Barring check) will have to be done. The Bullying of Common Sense... Read more →

What would you say to Michael Gove?

What would you say to Michel Gove as he starts now to draft the first Education Bill for a new Conservative Government? Today's Guardian is reporting ("Tories begin planning for rapid education shake-up after election") that "The Conservative party has begun drafting its first education bill, planning to fast-track academies, scale down the national curriculum and dismantle the system of setting national pay deals for teachers. .... A source close to Gove told the Guardian: "We're trying to do as... Read more →

Dennis Marsden

Dennis Marsden has died. He was, as his obituary in today's Guardian says "an inspirational sociologist".We, working class Grammar School pupils, fresh from university, on our one year postgraduate teacher training course at Goldsmith's College in 1968, recognised ourselves in his book, written with Brian Jackson, "Education and the Working Class" (1961), who "having broken through [the class barriers] to gain university entry found themselves at sea", as the Guardian obituary writer puts it. On the last day of term,... Read more →

Togetherness

The contracting and procurement culture is with us. Of that there is no doubt. One consequence is that ever larger organisations and consortia will out-bid smaller charities. More, the trend is already visible towards convergence of education, well-being and employment funding One consequence is that, small or large, charities locked in single-issue silos will be outbid by organisations that make a broader offer. This week, as Chief Executive of Paces, I have been involved in reviewing a proposal for a... Read more →

A time for coming together?

I blogged recently (New Schools. The Tories Big Idea for Education?) about Tory policy for opening schools to new providers along Swedish lines, and the potential thereby for conductive education in the UK. The Government has also recently broadened the rules on the setting up of Academy Schools to admit new sponsors, that might also have benefit for CE providers. In that previous blog I asked two questions, the second of which was: "Do we dare to imagine (and build... Read more →

What a week lies ahead!

Days turn into weeks and pretty soon you've been around 12 years in the same place wondering if the progress you've definitely made might have been achieved more easily by different approaches. Then you find yourself trying not to be trapped into counting the days to Christmas. There are bulbs to plant this week in our garden, for Spring. Time passes. But some weeks seem to have the power and potential to change everything. This is such a week for... Read more →

Busy Busy Busy

I'd intended before now to follow up my previous posting with some clarification. Already a week has gone by - an eternity in blogging. I will do as soon as I have a moment. Been rather busy. Mostly crafting grant-funding applications and addressing financial planning issues. Also had a positive meeting about the Campus redevelopment plan. Something more might come of a meeting on 22nd September. Things are taking shape. Read more →

New Schools. The Tories big idea for education?

The general election for the next British Parliament must be held no later than Thursday 3rd June 2010. Assume, for the moment, that the Tories win a sufficient majority to form the next Government. What might their approach be to the education of children with special needs? Will Michael Gove, the current Shadow Education Secretary, an advocate of radical change and expected to keep his post in a Conservative cabinet, introduce change in the management of schools in England and... Read more →

The day the music died

I've been asked what has happened to the music which was a distinctive feature of this blog. I too enjoyed searching out and sharing the choices. I had several approving comments and only one complaint (that was easily dealt with as readers of the blog could always turn off the sound on the panel.) The music was provided (legitimately) via a link to Playlist.com. Unfortunately, there now seem to licensing difficulties for UK users of Playlist. Until that is resolved,... Read more →

OECD Doing Better for Children

If, like me, you need to engage with public policy, whether locally or nationally, it's helpful from time to time to stick a finger up to test the direction of the wind. A new report from the OECD "Doing Better for Children" is one of those finger-in-the-wind reports; nothing about conductive education of course, but a useful indicator of the breezes around policy-makers' heads. "The well-being of children is high on the policy agenda across the OECD. But what is... Read more →