Schools
Parents need to fight this 'dumb-ass' culture
Published: 21 September 2006
Education Quandary
Published: 21 September 2006
It pays to play the generation game
Published: 21 September 2006
Leading article: Academies are proving their worth
Published: 21 September 2006
The National Foundation for Educational Research has conducted research into whether the Government's flagship new academies have avoided the temptation to choose their pupils through covert selection. And it has given the academies a clean bill of health. That is good news. It has been one of the main complaints from opponents of the scheme that it will lead to a two-tier education system with academies selecting the brightest children from the many who apply for places.
Leading article: University gains
Published: 21 September 2006
Last week, Alan Johnson came clean - more or less - about the Prime Minister's target of 50 per cent of under-30s going to university by 2010. "It is going to be very difficult to achieve this," the Education Secretary said. But he wasn't giving up yet. The question, he added, is where we can get to, and whether we keep the 50-per-cent candle burning. That is hardly a ringing endorsement. But we believe that the Government has been right to put so much effort into encouraging more young people to go to university. It has been right for the country and right for individuals.
Flagship schools: On shaky foundations
Published: 21 September 2006
Quakerism means 'calmer' classrooms
Published: 21 September 2006
Leading article: A new rung in the languages ladder
Published: 14 September 2006
At last, some encouraging news about modern foreign language teaching. A new approach to it - being pioneered by the Oxford and Cambridge and Royal Society of Art (OCR) exam board - has had considerable success in encouraging children at primary school to start learning the subject. Under it, languages are treated like music, with students able to sit a grade exam when they are ready for it (whatever age they are). A total of 10,000 students, some as young as eight, have signed up for it - and more than one in four secondary schools are now preparing to offer it to their pupils.
The tycoons of tomorrow?
Published: 14 September 2006
Schools lay bait in the parent trap
Published: 14 September 2006
Leading article: Too many targets
Published: 14 September 2006
The nanny state is growing apace. Local authorities, it seems, are to have a new set of targets from central government to include how much children are drinking and smoking, as well as how many have sexually transmitted diseases. Where will this lead? Does it mean that schools will be given targets, too? Will head teachers have to delve into pupils' private lives to find out how many units of alcohol and cigarettes they are consuming - and get black marks from Ofsted if they haven't curbed pupil excess? That would be a step too far. Schools should be laying on classes, but not blamed for what teenagers do in their spare time.
Education Quandary
Published: 13 September 2006
Hilary Wilce: First days of school: don't push your child
Published: 07 September 2006
ello, and a big welcome to all parents with children starting school for the first time this week. Your child is either four or only just five. In other words, still very little. They probably still love to play and have cuddles, and maybe sleep in the afternoons, and perhaps dress up and be silly, or whisper in a corner with friends, or racket around making a great big noise about nothing.
Jamie's dinners: What children think about healthier school meals
Published: 07 September 2006
Leading article: Cookery lessons are a must for all
Published: 07 September 2006
The Government deserves much credit for embracing Jamie Oliver's campaign for healthier school dinners.
'Oh!' said a competitive mum when she discovered where we lived. 'The Third World...'
Published: 02 September 2006
Leading article: We need to reform A-levels now
Published: 31 August 2006
The August exam period has left the Government with several burning issues to resolve. No one can deny that the A-level results - which saw the second biggest rise in the number of A grades awarded in the history of the exam - added urgency to the review of the qualification that is being undertaken by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA), the exams watchdog.
Victorian school buildings: please don't destroy our heritage
Published: 31 August 2006
Education Quandary
Published: 31 August 2006
Leading article: Blair could learn from the Danes
Published: 10 August 2006
Barry Sheerman is the most influential back-bench Labour MP on education in the House of Commons. He is not naturally disposed towards rebellion. In fact, he has agreed with much of the Prime Minister's education programme - witness his voting record on controversial matters such as top-up fees and the schools legislation that will pave the way for Tony Blair's independently-run "trust" schools. So when he mounts a critique of government policy, as he did at the Professional Association of Teachers' annual conference, he deserves to be listened to.
Bethan Marshall: Why should the gifted and talented be favoured?
Published: 10 August 2006
One of the features that makes English such a versatile language is the number of apparent synonyms that actually mean something subtly different. The Government's "gifted and talented" policy rests on this lexical nicety. It uses the idea that these two words appear synonymous, so lending them the veneer of parity, but exploits the fact that they have a slightly different resonance. To clarify this difference, in a somewhat Orwellian fashion, Labour has given these words their own definitions. To be "gifted" is to be orientated toward the academic; "talented", on the other hand, is equated more with sporting or artistic achievement, for example.
Designer stationery? You must be joking...
Published: 10 August 2006
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