C.E. Jottings

Damning report on Post-16 advice for young people & their families

Are we stuck with hand-me-down institutions? A report published earlier this week sets out 'damning' conclusions about the quality of information and guidance (IAG) available to young people and their families when choosing further education. The report, "How young peoplewith special educational needs and disabilities find out about their post-16 options" published by Natspec, the association for specialist colleges, was based in part on a survey of parents of young children aged 15-25. "The findings were worse than we imagined".... Read more →

Can you “do the math” on neurodevelopmental problems? Or is it just me?

In a week in which SATs tests have been all the rage, literally, in social and mainstream media, a question about clarity in the expression of number might be deemed apposite. The following two paragraphs are from a report on the work of the Cerebra Foetal Research Project at the University of Barcelona. Pay attention to the numbers. Do they confuse you or is it just me? One in ten children has neurodevelopmental problems. It is estimated that about two... Read more →

Conductive Serendipity – or why conductive education is more than the physical

Judit Szathmary set the thought flowing. “A masterpiece is still a masterpiece when the lights are out and the room is empty” she wrote on Facebook. But is it? That put me in mind of the old philosophy conundrum: “If a tree falls in the forest, and there’s nobody around to hear, does it make a sound?” Does it? In turn, that led me to Hui-neng's Flag. Hui-neng, founder of the Zen school of Buddhism, one day happened to pass... Read more →

More potential nonsense. Sadly. But some good reading, too.

There are few enough books written by those who have cerebral palsy. "I'll Do It Myself" by Glenda Watson Hyatt is one that I have throughly enjoyed reading and highly recommend. (Her blog is on my recommended reading list, too!) Another quite different book but equally enjoyable read is "George's Travelogue", by George McDowell. One of the best regular blogs (because, like the two books, it challenges comfortable, conventional thinking) is "Lawyer on Wheels" by Ralph Strzałkowski. (Both the latter... Read more →

Thinking differently about special education (from Carter and his review of ITT)

The Carter Review of Initial Teacher Training has been published. I struggle to imagine who could possibly find it an essential and inspirational document. It is a little more than a re-hash of the prevailing orthodoxy. It has nothing of value to say about special education or special pedagogy. In contrast, and coincidentally, I am at the moment reading "Vygotsky and Special Needs Education: Rethinking Support for Children and Schools" (Continuum International Publishing Group 2011. Eds Harry Daniels and Mariane... 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 →

Being great is rarely a product of not giving a damn

Tom Bennett's latest post "Twilight of the GCSEs; new balls, please" came to me via Twitter and was such an amusing read on a serious subject that I stopped to read others of Tom's posts. That's how I came to read his post on 5th August Lessons from the Olympics 2: Wanting the World is not enough Here's how you inspire a child: Part 1: You tell them they are capable of just about anything Part 2: You tell them... Read more →

Sometimes 'An Unexpected Ass-Kicking" is just what we need

Here's a cheering story about "potential" though the word isn't once used. So different from the view of potential as something that has to be "unlocked" or "untapped", as if potential is something we have inside ourselves: a view that has so debilitated the collective educational mind thoughout my professional lifetime. There's much else but I particularly liked: “That’s the problem with a lot of people”, he continued, “they don’t try to do stuff that’s never been done before, so... Read more →

The woman who changed her brain - in 1978

Coincidentally, another 'brain' piece. (Yesterday, I posted about an Observer article Who's in charge - you or your brain?) This time a piece from the author of the recently published "The woman who changed her brain" (which I haven't read, btw, just this article "Why I wrote 'The Woman who changed her brain'"), Barbara Arrowsmith-Young. The writer, recounting her own experiences, seems to understand implicitly that her success was 'self-taught', with an emphasis on 'taught', implying teaching and learning, albeit... 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 →