Last evening’s (8/2/10) BBC’s Newsnight report on the Swedish Private (for profit) School system prompts the question as to whether any other country can teach English schools how to improve, without the English first rigorously and honestly analysising what is the essence of their educational predicament. Contrary to what I suspect their glossy Party Manifestos will say shortly there is no one panacea that can deal with the numerous, yet inter-related, problems which have placed English education in a difficult, unpleasant and often embarrassing situation.

Leaders or Managers? The Labour Party it seems is to go into the Election with a proposal that schools will in future be organised into ... Read on

Collapsing democracy Under the Education Act of 1944 English state education was based on a partnership between central government who defined the structure, and provided ... Read on

Foundations of Intelligence Queen Victoria created a most dangerous myth when she told the English that “little children should be seen and not heard”.  That ... Read on

The Best Possible The papers are again full of what qualifications youngsters should have before training to be a teacher, and then what assessment tests ... Read on

The grain of the brain There is not much that today’s children don’t know about human biology, but there is an awful lot about the ... Read on

A-Levels and all that The media had been fermenting interest in the A-Level results for weeks, so there was little surprise that the pass rate ... Read on

Putting the cart before the horse A boy who had just left school was asked by his former headmaster what he thought of the new ... Read on

Quality teaching involves subject expertise, and knowledge of child development A most helpful Report has just been published by the Think Tank Politeia about teacher ... Read on

Ignoring what gives the best its context Readers of this blog fall into several categories; a minority who are looking for ideas to get them ... Read on