Latest Educational News
Send the mandarins back to school
by Belfast Telegraph, February 28, 2006
have followed the education debate over these last few years with a mixture of wry acceptance and some exasperation. Wry acceptance because in my last few years of teaching, as the present debate was gathering pace, I remarked to colleagues that the system will be changed whether people want it or not; exasperation, as there seems to be a lack of objectivity in most statements, reports and correspondence from Government and from so-called teachers' leaders, entrenched positions are taken up by many correspondents from within the education sector, most defending or expounding a particular system or philosophy of education.
By all means alter the system and remove the 11-plus. Parental aspirations and media hype have caused it to become a huge source of stress for the children involved. When I was 11, I didn't completely understand why I was doing an examination, and there was certainly little pressure.
Removing the 11-plus surely places the onus on the powers that be, to preserve the best of what we have and improve the worst of what we have. Applying the proposed system of choice will inevitably mean a radical breakdown of a successful grammar school structure, with all the expertise and experience which they possess.
What's in the education bill?
by Guardian, February 28, 2006
Every school in England will have the opportunity to acquire a trust, employing their own staff and managing their own assets under the bill. Trusts may include groups of schools.
Trust schools will enjoy the flexibilities of specialist schools and city academies. Like other foundation schools, trust schools will employ their own staff, under the terms of the School Teachers' Pay and Conditions document (STPCD) and manage their own assets. Where the trust is involved with more than one school, they will also have opportunities of sharing resources and workforce development.
There is no single blueprint for becoming a trust - schools can choose who they work with, and how, in order to best meet the needs of their pupils, said the Department for Education and Skills today.
Don't risk our future, Blair tells schools bill rebels
by Guardian, February 28, 2006
The prime minister last night made a last-ditch plea to rebel backbenchers to support his controversial education bill after claiming that the proposals were "the crux" of his government's reforming agenda.
On the eve of the publication of the bill, Tony Blair said his proposals for reforming the state education system in England were "extremely important to the future of a Labour government". His message to the 100-plus backbenchers threatening to vote against the reforms was that the current package - already diluted by concessions earlier this month - is now non-negotiable.
At a Downing Street seminar, Mr Blair insisted private firms, universities and local authorities all had a role in education and that the reforms would allow these partnerships to flourish. The white paper proposes a new breed of independent trust schools freed from local authority control to run their own affairs with the backing of business groups, parents' bodies and faith organisations.
Kelly 'confident' over school reforms bill
by Independent, February 28, 2006
The Education Secretary Ruth Kelly this morning said she was "very confident" that Labour MPs will be able to unite around the measures for school reform which she is unveiling today.
Up to 100 Labour backbenchers have voiced concern over her proposals for reform of secondary schools, raising the prospect that Prime Minister Tony Blair may be forced to rely on Conservative votes to get the Education Bill through Parliament.
But Ms Kelly said she believed that the vast majority of the Labour Party was now "comfortable" with the measures she is putting forward.
"I am very confident that we have a Bill which is not only a good Bill which will help drive up standards, but which is also a Bill which will command the consent of my colleagues and which Labour MPs can unite around," she said on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.
Education Bill to be unveiled
by Channel 4, February 28, 2006
Tony Blair has launched his controversial Education Bill in what could prove to be a turning point for his political career.
The Government's flagship education reforms will create a new generation of independent "trust" schools free to run their own affairs and admissions policy.
The proposals are expected to disappoint many backbench critics who fear they will lead to a "two-tier" system, where children from disadvantaged backgrounds miss out.
Q&A: Reforms
by Times, February 28, 2006
What will the Bill do?
The Bill gives schools the opportunity to establish a trust or to acquire one from an external partner such as a private company, a charity, a university or even an independent school.
The trust will run the school, establishing a majority of the governors and having control over issues such as the employment of staff. Trusts will be able to run groups of schools across the country, allowing for administrative savings and the spreading of expertise to raise academic standards.
Critically, the Bill does not impose anything on schools, but merely enables them to go down this route if they believe it will be of benefit to their pupils. Many of the critics on Labour's backbenches are concerned, however, that this will lead to the creation of a two-tier system in which successful, confident schools gain the benefits while weaker and less popular ones are left to struggle.
Study: Reading Key to College Success
by Guardian, February 28, 2006
One major factor separates high school graduates who are ready for college from those who aren't, a new study shows: how well students handle complex reading.
Trouble is, most states don't even have reading standards for high school grades, and not a single state defines the kind of complexity that high school reading should have.
``If you're not asking for it, you're not going to get it,'' said Cynthia Schmeiser, senior vice president for research and development at ACT, the nonprofit company that did the study.
It's official: class matters
by Guardian, February 28, 2006
A major new study shows that social background determines pupils' success. Does it mean that the government is heading in the wrong direction?
It is a familiar scene: mum and dad hunched at the kitchen table, poring over Ofsted reports and brochures, trying to fathom which is the best school for their child. But a new report, obtained by Education Guardian, suggests that these well-meaning parents, and thousands like them, are looking in the wrong place. Instead of trying to decode inspectors' reports or work out whether academies are better than voluntary-aided schools or trusts superior to community comprehensives, they need look no further than the average earnings among parents.
A study by academics at University College London (UCL) and Kings College London has given statistical backbone to the view that the overwhelming factor in how well children do is not what type of school they attend- but social class. It appears to show what has often been said but never proved: that the current league tables measure not the best, but the most middle-class schools; and that even the government's "value-added" tables fail to take account of the most crucial factor in educational outcomes - a pupil's address.
Evolution rather than revolution
by BBC, February 28, 2006
Unveiling his education reform package, last October, the prime minister promised "pivotal" and "irreversible" change.
The promises certainly sounded radical - a new system of "independent, self-governing state schools" to release "parent power" and local councils to switch from being "providers" of schools to mere "commissioners" of services.
The rhetoric was perhaps over-ripe - it alarmed Labour MPs into believing the comprehensive school system was under threat.
The genie of selection was out of the bottle and anyone familiar with the politics of education knows the trouble that causes.
Tactics Of Grammars Are Open To Question
by News Letter, February 28, 2006
Once more I have received a communication from my son's well-financed grammar school encouraging me to come to a meeting to support the 11-plus. I am encouraged to sign a petition and fill in a response booklet asking for the retention of selection.
I am not surprised that a grammar school is participating in such a campaign. Every business wants to have the best raw material and education is no different; of course, a grammar school will seek to campaign against having to take ordinary children.
Survey Results
by Channel 4, February 28, 2006
More4 News has polled fifty conservative constituency chairmen across the country to find out whether they back David Cameron's plans for change.
The results make mostly positive reading for the new Tory leader, but, a quarter worry that his policies are too close to those of the Labour government.
We put forward three key questions on Tory policy:
Asked whether they support their leader's position against the creation of more grammar schools, 60% said yes.
On tax, support for David Cameron was even more pronounced... with 84% saying he's right not to make cuts a priority.
But there are concerns - a quarter of the conservative chairmen we spoke to say they're concerned the party's policies are now too similar to those of new Labour.
Brightest school children to be earmarked for university at 11
by Guardian, February 27, 2006
Secondary schools will be told the names of their brightest pupils and warned they will be held accountable if those students do not go on to get three As at A level, under a scheme to be introduced by the government's specialist schools trust. The plan will also make it much easier for universities to latch on to bright pupils before they reach their teens.
To improve the standard of secondary schools and make sure that state school pupils get to university, the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust (SSAT), which is part funded by the Department for Education and Skills, has identified 180,000 bright children aged between 11 and 17 by looking at their key stage 2 exam results. The names will be given to schools to ensure that the students fulfil their academic potential. If parents give the school permission, the names of bright children will then be passed on to universities, who can encourage applications from them.
The move is likely to be welcomed by universities, many of which are under pressure to change their admissions standards so that state school students are more equally represented. But many Labour MPs and critics feel the government is becoming obsessed with selection and fear that the plan will lead to universities "cherry picking" the most gifted children when they are just 11.
Tests at 11 to decide places at university
by Times, February 27, 2006
MOVES to cherry-pick the brightest children in England’s state schools from the age of 11 for places at top universities are set to begin within weeks, The Times has learnt.
The controversial plan, which will spark fears among Labour MPs of a new system of “super-selection”, is hailed by academics as a way of opening up university admissions without lowering standards.
But critics fear that students who develop later will be left out because the process hinges on tests in the final year of primary school.
Universities will be encouraged to select the brightest children by establishing early links with them.
In coming weeks, secondary heads will be told the names of the cleverest pupils and that they will be held accountable if their students fail to get three A grades at A level.
Leading universities will be asked to contact the children’s families, urging them to join holiday courses or summer schools, with a view to applying later.
The move, which turns the final-year primary school exam in effect into a university entrance test, is expected to be welcomed by the top universities anxious that wider access does not lower academic standards.
Critics will ask whether the national curriculum test is the best measure of a child’s potential and point to the impact it will have on pupils who fail to make the grade.
Kelly refuses to budge on veto for new local authority schools
by Guardian, February 27, 2006
The education secretary, Ruth Kelly, said yesterday she would retain her veto over local authorities setting up new comprehensives under the controversial school reform bill to be published tomorrow.
Relinquishing that power is one of the demands of up to 100 Labour rebels who are threatening to vote against Tony Blair in a crucial plank of his third-term reform programme. Ms Kelly said the bill would still win the backing of the vast majority of Labour MPs.
Kelly refuses to budge on veto for new local authority schools
by Guardian, February 27, 2006
The education secretary, Ruth Kelly, said yesterday she would retain her veto over local authorities setting up new comprehensives under the controversial school reform bill to be published tomorrow.
Relinquishing that power is one of the demands of up to 100 Labour rebels who are threatening to vote against Tony Blair in a crucial plank of his third-term reform programme. Ms Kelly said the bill would still win the backing of the vast majority of Labour MPs.
But in a last-minute attempt to win support, the government said an extra £30m would be pledged for local authorities to spend on failing schools. The battle stepped up with the intervention of Jack Straw, the foreign secretary, who released a letter to his local council leader saying there was a "socialist case" for the reforms.
Slap on wrist for private schools in fees cartel
by Guardian, February 27, 2006
A deal that will lead to nominal fines for 50 private schools found guilty of a fee-fixing cartel was defended yesterday after the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) confirmed that they may have to pay only £10,000 each.
The schools, which include Eton College, Harrow and Westminster, were investigated by the OFT in a three-year inquiry which acted on evidence that bursars and heads had swapped sensitive information about projected fee increases, activities which constituted running a cartel. The £10,000 fine on the schools is an acknowledgement that they broke competition law.
The OFT has powers to fine the schools up to 10% of their annual turnover, and last year the schools charged more than £650m in fees. But in a £3.5m deal designed to draw a line under the expensive three-year inquiry, the total fines and penalties payable by each of the 50 schools - typically £70,000 each - are well below the millions of pounds they could have been forced to pay.
'Talent search' plan under attack
by BBC, February 27, 2006
A plan to use primary school tests to pick out potential university candidates has had a lukewarm response.
The Specialist Schools and Academies Trust (SSAT) is to write to schools to encourage them to help nurture children who do well in tests taken at age 11.
But the National Academy for Gifted and Talented Youth warned against "hectoring" schools.
And secondary head teachers said the idea was "inappropriate and unnecessary".
The SSAT said that it is supporting the government in creating a register of gifted and talented pupils.
Call for easier Chinese exams
by BBC, February 27, 2006
GCSEs and A-levels in Chinese need to be easier for children who do not speak the language at home, the head of a leading independent school says.
Anthony Seldon, master of Wellington College, said it was important to encourage the study of Chinese so the UK could trade effectively with China.
But he said Mandarin learning would not flourish unless pupils were able to attain the highest grades.
The standard needed to be in line with languages such as Spanish and French.
Wellington College is hosting a one-day conference on Tuesday entitled Why all UK schools should be teaching Mandarin.
Blair appeals to school reform rebels
by Daily Mail, February 27, 2006
Tony Blair appealed to Labour rebels to back his education reforms, warning the issue could prove a "defining moment" for the Government.
Addressing MPs on the eve of the publication of the Schools Bill he indicated he did not want to rely on Tory support to get the measures through.
He told the weekly meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party that he wanted it to be a "Labour Bill" which helped cement the party's "rhythm of government".
Up to 100 MPs and senior Labour figures have expressed concerns over the plans to create a new generation of independent "trust schools".
Fears of a massive revolt were played down tonight, with former cabinet minister David Blunkett saying he did not expect Tory votes would be required.
He said that the crucial vote would take place on March 15.
The Prime Minister spoke for around half of the hour-long private gathering in a Commons committee room, with much of his speech devoted to schools reforms.
He told MPs it was essential for the party to "capture the rhythm of government" as the Tories had done before to ensure a fourth term in office.
Difficult decisions had to be taken now to make sure public services could be delivered "as personally as possible on an equitable basis", he said.
Smith urged to reassess 11-plus plan
by Belfast Telegraph, February 27, 2006
Education Minister Angela Smith is under severe pressure today to rethink her controversial plans to radically reform the education system in Northern Ireland.
The results of a Belfast Telegraph poll - conducted as part of our week-long Big Education Debate series - highlight massive public opposition to the planned scrapping of academic selection.
More than 90% of the 5,000 telephone votes cast by members of the public were against new legislation which will ban post-primary schools from using academic selection in any form to choose their pupils.
The result reaffirms the view of 90% of respondents to the Department of Education's own recent consultation on new admissions criteria for schools - they all called for academic selection to be retained.
"This was a consultation, not a referendum," the Minister claimed at the time.
The Government plans to replace the current 11-plus test with a system of 'informed parental choice', which will involve parents selecting the most suitable post-primary school for their child.
Parents will base their decision on information contained in their child's Pupil Profile, which will replace annual reports in primary schools, and advice from the primary principals.
Details of how over-subscribed schools will select their pupils still have to be finalised but will include the controversial tie-breakers of random selection and the measured distance of a child's home from the school.
