C.E. Jottings

“Research has found” that 1 in 5 pieces of research are bunkum

Actually it hasn't. Apart from the phrase “research has found”, which is a quote from a story in The Daily Telegraph the other day, I made the rest up. Although it might be true, for all anyone knows. “Peer reviewed” might be the best protection from research nonsense that we consumers of traditional and social media have, but peer reviewed nonsense is still nonsense and the effects may be worse: Burt on the heritability of IQ? Wakefield on MMR and... Read more →

Pondering research, cerebral palsy and education (1)

The fourth and final evidence session of the Parliamentary Enquiry into Cerebral Palsy was held last Tuesday. Led by Action Cerebral Palsy and Chaired by Paul Maynard MP (to whom many grateful thanks), the final report is expected to be published on 27th January 2015. The final session, in part, raised issues around the vexed questions of research and funding. My interest, to declare it up front, is the education of children with cerebral palsy and the continuation into adulthood... Read more →

Please, (Sir/Miss as you like), have I reached my potential yet?

Not so long since, I was driving home from Pembrokeshire and up the M42 when I passed a wagon on which was proudly declared that the company that ran it was the largest large vehicle and coach recovery company in the UK. I remember thinking, for some bizarre reason, I wonder if the guy who runs it has fulfilled his potential? Careers' Master (I went to a boys' grammar school) to bright pupil: You'll go a long way, young man.... Read more →

How many pupils will be entitled to an Education, Health and Care Plan?

Following a lead from @scope on Twitter, "Excellent article from @jreynoldsMPon the battles families with disabled children face & the current #ChildrensBill", I find that in a knowledgable article for Progress Online, "Transforming the Lives of Disabled Children", Jonathan Reynolds MP repeats a statistic I have read elsewhere: "it is estimated that only 13 per cent of disabled children or those with SEN will actually be entitled to [an Education, Health and Care Plan]." Where does this figure come from?... Read more →

About nothing much ... and everything SEN, maybe

Not long awake. Contemplating the snow falling outside again. Do I set off before or after the early rush? First, a cup of tea. Read the newspapers online. I'd not previously taken notice of the Pupil Premium. It's for "disadvantaged" pupils not specifically special education, though there must be pupils "with special educational needs" who are also "disadvantaged". Setting that puzzler aside as I couldn't work it out without breakfast, I checked out a couple of pages on the DfE... Read more →

New report points to systemic failure in teaching of children with statements of SEN

I have been reading (and re-reading)a new research report from the Institute of Education: “The Making a Statement project Final Report. A study of the teaching and support experienced by pupils with a statement of special educational needs in mainstream primary schools” by Rob Webster and Peter Blatchford. The Executive Summary of the report concludes: On basis of the evidence from our research, we suggest that the new EHCPs avoid expressing support for pupils in terms of hours, and instead... Read more →

If no-one knows what's working, how does anyone know what's being "destroyed"?

Guardian award-winning columnist, Suzanne Moore, last Wednesday contributed a bizarre, hissy-fit of an article "Michael Gove is destroying our school system" that prompted blogger Tom Bennett to respond with "The Intellectual Abyss in Education: Suzanne Moore and why everyone's an expert". After first pointing out the essential "pot-calling-the-kettle-black" contradiction on which Suzanne Moore's article rests, "Gove, the amateur, the journalist who knows nothing about education, [is] put in his place by Moore, the amateur, the journalist, who apparently knows so... Read more →

Evidence in Education: Research and Policy (2)

Once again, the question of evidence and conductive education arises as, indeed, it seems to periodically. In August and September, 2008, I wrote three posts on the subject of "Evidence-based practice & education" which, on re-reading them today, I feel no reason to amend. I would, however, like to quote from the second of these postings, itself a quotation from the Executive Summary to Understanding the Brain: Towards a New Learning Science, published in 2002, by the Organisation for Economic... Read more →

Evidence in Education; Research and Policy (1)

There is a lively discussion over on Conductive World [See "Evidence is not Enough" (22nd October) and "Measures of Outcome and Process" (23rd October)] regarding evidence in education. In part related to this discussion are postings on Facebook regarding the situation of Move and Walk from Judit Szathmary, Gabor Fellner and Lars Mullback (Bing translation is available) My purpose with this post is simply to draw your attention to the Government-funded Teaching and Learning Research Programme (TLRP) – education research... Read more →

Hanif Kureishi can't skip .... but he is an artist of his own life #CondEd

Here's an article I think most of us in Conductive Education will understand. Unfortunately, it's in yesterday's Sunday Times Magazine section, behind Rupert's paywall: Think and You'll Miss It by writer Hanif Kureishi. He begins with an amusing admission that, having recently tried, he cannot skip with a rope; his 13-year old son, on the other hand, to whom he handed the rope, "did the whole thing backwards, singing a Beatles song". Which leads him shortly to: "My son who... Read more →