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Get More, Want More or how to think our way out of a bad end.
A Review of Pandora’s Seed: The Unforeseen Cost of Civilisation, by Spencer Wells, and some cross-referencing to The Watchman’s Rattle: thinking Our Way Out of ... Read on
No Comments »Battling for the Soul of Education
The publication of Diane Ravitch’s “The Death and Life of the Great American School System” might not immediately appeal to an English readership, but its ... Read on
2 Comments »Schools in the Future: What has to Change, and Why
An explanation of why, in the light of recent research on the nature of human learning, the present Western, essentially Anglo, system of schooling is both upside down in terms of its distribution of resources, and inside out in terms of its excessive dependence on school-as-place; on formal as opposed to informal learning, and on the teacher as instructor rather than as facilitator.
1 Comment »An introductory explanation of the disconnect between the organisation of schools and what the neurobiological, cognitive and behavioural sciences are discovering about how humans learn
Of all the animals in the woodland surely it is the deer that most excites human imagination? A peaceful herbivore, the deer’s survival over aeons of time has depended on its ability to sniff out danger, and then to run off to safety faster than any other creature. Over millions of years it has developed the sleekest and most powerful combination of bone structure, muscle and tendon so making it a veritable icon of animal fitness.
4 Comments »Who will take Education where?
Like many others in recent weeks I have become something of a ‘party policy watcher’, comparable to those who watch the fascinating antics of dolphins so as to try and understand how their brains work. As the General Election gets ever nearer, the behaviour of these policy wonks seems to have become ever more erratic, eccentric and represents apparently hopeless organisation behind the scenes.
No Comments »It’s Really Very Simple … The Solution to England’s Education Problem
One. The solution to England’s education problem will be very simple once the country comes to appreciate the damage still being done by two Victorian ... Read on
No Comments »The “Helicopter Parents” Hovering over their Adult Children
John Abbott’s “Overschooled but Undereducated, Society’s failure to understand adolescence”, demands that we “return adolescence to its rightful place of enabling young people to go beyond their self imposed limitations and exceed their parents aspirations. That is what adolescents do naturally – given the right opportunity.” We were all adolescents once and owe our successes to the privilege of walking “with older men and women who have stiffened our sinews and stretched our minds”. John writes of “the natural exuberance of youth” predicting “the arrival of fresh potential”. He continues “In the saga of the ages, if a generation fails, the fault lies squarely with the previous generation for not equipping them well enough for the changes ahead.”
No Comments »The End of SATs for 13/14 Year Olds
Some good news about the English education system at last? It would be, if it heralded an understanding of why those tests had to go. Not because of teachers reluctance to be assessed. Not because “some teacher’s didn’t fancy having the attainment of their pupil’s measured”, to quote Jack Straw, answering a question on Jonathan Dimbleby’s “Any Questions” on Oct 17th and 18th. Even he thought his teacher sisters’ would say to their pupils “Hey, kids! The government has at last done what teachers have been asking for.
No Comments »Occasional Pieces: All Hands to the Sink
For the dishwasher or the microwave to breakdown just before the family descends for a long Bank Holiday weekend can be a disaster. An older ... Read on
No Comments »Occasional Pieces: Education: A Question of Democracy
To send your child to the local school, or decide to go private, is a question that splits families apart. Is education primarily for private ... Read on
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