C.E. Jottings

A Churchill Travel Fellowship remembered - the Education of Children with Cerebral Palsy

In the summer of 2007, I had the great and unforgettable good fortune to be awarded a Winston Churchill Travel Fellowship: for 3 weeks in Canada and the United states and later in the year to the World Congress of Conductive Education in Göteborg, Sweden. If you have not heard of the Churchill Travel Fellowships, I strongly urge you to check them out. The application process couldn't be easier nor the interviews more friendly and, what's more, the Fellowship will... Read more →

Is Personalisation failing? The founder of 'In Control' thinks so.

Is Personalisation failing? Professor Simon Duffy, the founder of "In Control" thinks so. ("Personalisation was supposed to empower vulnerable citizens. It has failed." Guardian 30 January 2014. Some of the Comments are interesting, too.) Intended as a more flexible and efficient system with people having more control to create solutions built around their own lives, Simon Duffy says Personalisation has become in too many cases, an excuse for abandonment or the new bureaucracy or an excuse to cut costs Worth... Read more →

First report of Labour SEN review - and actually there was something interesting

Special Needs Jungle reports "Special needs experts offer views for Labour's SEN plicy review". There are no surprises, but there was indeed one something worth a moment's attention which I copy below. First, the event itself - as Andrew Sutton recently wrote on Facebook "UK: SEN CHEWING OVER THE SAME OLD NOURISHMENT-FREE GRISTLE The Labour Party is holding yet another weary review of 'special educational needs'. Look at its agenda, if you can bear to: http://www.nasen.org.uk/latestnews/?news=109 Not a hint that... Read more →

WCMT open for 2012 Travel Fellowship applications

In 2007 I was delighted and honoured to be awarded a Travel Fellowship by the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust. A fully-funded 4 weeks enabled me to visit people and projects associated with cerebral palsy in Canada, America - and the CE World Congress in Sweden. Applications have now opened for Travel Fellowships for 2012. Check out the WCMT website. Jamie Balfour, Director General of the WCMT, writes: Would experience overseas enhance your effectiveness in your career or field of interest?... Read more →

Winston Churchill Memorial Trust - travel fellowships deadline

The deadline is fast approaching for applications for travel fellowships in 2011. 12th October, I think. "Travel to make a difference .... this could be your chance of a lifetime" the Trust website declares. It was for me in 2007 when I travelled in Canada and America - finishing with a week at the World Congress of Conductive Education in Goteborg. And it was for my colleague Neil Morris in 2008, travelling in New Zealand and Australia. "Would experience overseas... Read more →

CE2.0 a personal journey on a public road

Elliot Clifton has contributed a long and challenging reflection on the relationship between conductive education and the internet (in a Comment to an earlier posting of mine). At one point Elliot writes: “As a community CE hasn't really grasped the possibilities of Web 1.0 (static web pages), never mind the community-building social possibilities offered by 2.0.” Without fundamentally disagreeing with all that Elliot writes, I find myself perhaps a little more optimistic. For over 30 years I have been a... Read more →

Winston Churchill Travel Fellowship

In 2007, I had the great good fortune to be awarded a Winston Churchill Travel Fellowship. This enabled me to travel in Canada, America and to attend the World Congress of Conductive Education in Sweden. I travelled in total for some 4 weeks, all expenses paid. I met some terrific people working to improve the lot of those with cerebral palsy and their families. Great memories. Fellows rightly report that the experience of the Fellowship is life-changing. That's it. Who... Read more →

Cerebral palsy and menopause

One of the delights of Glenda Watson-Hyatt's blog is that Glenda goes places where no-one else does. Her latest posting is all about the lack of information - even on Google - on cerebral palsy and menopause. Can anyone help? Best read Glenda's blog first. Something that I've reckoned would be really helpful, ever since I came across (a) Partners in Policymaking many years ago and their practice of bringing together parents and adults with a learning disability, and (b)... Read more →

State-run community centres?

The media have been having fun. "Don't use the S-word. This is a place of learning, not a school", thundered The Times: and gave over a main news item from Education Editor Alexandra Freen and a Third Leader "School's Out - Rebranding a primary school 'a place for learning' is a euphemism too far" . The Yorkshire Post reports that "campaigners for both education and plain speaking" derided the decision as "laughable". The Sun goes for blunt-and-to-the point: "School bans... Read more →

Talking about the education of children with cerebral palsy

The following article appears in Issue 37 Nov/Dec 2008 of SEN: The Journal for Special Needs. Comments on the issues raised in the article are most welcome. Talking about the Education of Children with Cerebral Palsy “The problem, Norman,” said the Education Officer (SEN), “is that we do not agree with your view of cerebral palsy, so we do not see that conductive education has anything to offer us.” She added that in making placements at schools, her LEA relied... Read more →