29/01/2008 by Tony Attwood.

When I was a schoolboy in what is now called year 11 (the year of taking the GCSE) I was writing a regular column in an American rhythm and blues magazine, had had a short story published in a sci-fi magazine, and occasionally playing jazz piano in a local ensemble.So did that make me gifted or talented?   It may be unusual - and (I certainly felt) distrusted by my teachers.   But gifted?

In those days we didn’t have ”gifted and talented” - although that was not because anyone was worried about suggesting some would succeed and some would fail.  The focus in my school was on getting boys into Oxbridge, and I certainly wasn’t going to make that.  I scraped through music and English lit A levels, while perversely doing unexpectedly well in history.So what should the school have done?   Denigrate my extra-curricula activities on the grounds that jazz, journalism and sci-fi were not really the thing?   Justify such a decision with my poor A level showing (poor that is when compared with my fellows)?  Or say, here is a creative talent - a bit all over the place, but still a talent.  Let’s give him such support.  Let’s nurture him.  He’s G&T.If they had said I was G&T I don’t know what they would have achieved - except maybe a reduction in the disaffection and resentment I felt.   And maybe reduced the number of rows I had with my long suffering mum and dad.

I mention all this because the government now lists the number of gifted and talented pupils each school has identified.  And I just wonder if I had been born many years later if it would have made any different to the way the school treated me.  I rather suspect they would have listed all my fellows who were destined to get 3 or 4 Grade As.  The fact that I used to pick up a copy of the Morning Star at the bus station on my way in each morning didn’t endear me to the powers above. The point is that while lots of people make good arguments for getting more bright students from outside of the world of private schools to Oxbridge, so I can make some sort of argument for giving lots of support to teenagers who are great dancers, singers, cartoonists, story tellers, and even players of jazz piano.   But there’s a huge problem.  You can measure Oxbridge potential by giving the students mock A levels every other day.  How are teachers supposed to measure ability in the creative arts.  What would you do if a potential Thomas Pynchon turned up?  Or a Cornelius Cardew?  Or Bob Dylan?  Or come to that Cesc Fabregas?

I really have no idea.

There’s plenty more about schooling, plus full details of every school in the UK on www.schools.co.uk

Recent Posts

• Ofsted reports on improving departments
• The government may not realise but time has changed.
• Practical cookery
• Government gets tough on admission policies
• Sharing expertise
• Parents to get reports on line all the time

Articles by Tony Attwood   You can get in touch with Tony by emailing Tony at Hamilton-house.com

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28/01/2008 by Tony Attwood.

The notion of attempting to transform individual departments in schools, instead of thinking that one should reform the entire school at one go, was put forward in the 1990s following a study of problem schools in Bristol by Professor Alma Harris.   The findings were written up in a subsequent report, “The Improving Department”, which has since become one of the best selling reports into school improvement and has been used by over half the schools in the UK as a way of making improvements without calling in outside experts or spending additional funding (more details below). 

The approach described in “The Improving Department” does not require any outside investment or involvement - everything was achieved through a minor modification of the way the teachers in each school worked.    However the government has recently tried to modify the approach, using the Teach First scheme, which puts graduates into challenging secondary schools for two years.  

Ofsted has now reported on the programme says the programme has been beneficial to both the trainees and the schools involved and that the scheme makes a “notable impact” in transforming underperforming departments and attracts graduates who would not otherwise have considered teaching. Teach First works in schools in London, the north-west and the Midlands - although the original programme, “The Improving Department” (which schools can implement without reference to the Teach First programme), is used in schools of all types in all locations.    

Ofsted say that headteachers frequently mentioned the Teach First trainees’ very positive impact on students’ academic achievement,  Ofsted found more work was needed to improve the scheme’s effectiveness. For example, trainees who found aspects of teaching difficult were not always identified soon enough or provided with the quality of mentoring they needed to correct this.  

Part of the problem, as Ofsted point out, is that very few schools evaluate the quality of their internal training and so don’t know exactly what happens as a result of their own developments, or of programmes like Teach First.   Ofsted also criticised Canterbury Christ Church University and partnership schools in Teach First, saying they should improve the planning and organisation of the follow up work.

On the down-side only half of those who have completed the two-year programme remain in teaching.

The original programme: “The Improving Department” is still available as a photocopiable book, on CD or as a download and details are below.  All formats can be ordered on line at the website of the publisher. 

You can also order in the following ways…

By phone (with a credit card) on 01536 399 011. Please quote Cat No: T1298-Schools.co.uk offer
By post to Hamilton House Mailings plc, Earlstrees Ct, Earlstrees Rd, Corby, Northants NN17 4HH.   Schools can be invoiced. Please quote Cat No: T1298-schools.co.uk offer
By fax to 01536 399 012.  The publisher can invoice schools with the book or you can quote a credit card. Please quote Cat No: T1298-Schools.co.uk.offer

The prices:

Download: £12.95. Downloads can of course only be ordered on line.
Ringbinder containing photocopiable book: £24.95
CD: £24.95
Printed volume plus CD: £30.94
Delivery: There is naturally no delivery charge on downloads, but for the CD and the printed book there is a charge of £3.95.ISBN: 978 1 86083 365 6  

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25/01/2008 by Tony Attwood.

Somewhere around the age of 16 I had a furious row with my physics teacher, in which I suggested his interpretation of physics was so far removed from real science that it was little short of a lie.  The trouble was I had started to recognise the very basics of quantum mechanics - at least enough to know that Heisenberg had by and large destroyed reality.

Time has not been kind on physics - take an A level course and the first thing you are told is that everything you learned at GCSE was wrong - not just a simplification, but actually wrong.  Take a degree in physics, and you’ll probably be told the same about A level.  Try to come to terms with Entanglement (probably the greatest issue in physics today) and you enter not so much a parallel universe but a universe travelling in the opposite direction.

I have no idea how this issue can be dealt with, and sadly there is nothing in the government’s latest statement on science that suggests they even know there is an issue.   But nevertheless it has not stopped the Schools Minister from outlining a £140 million strategy to educate the next generation of scientists and mathematicians and help recruit and train more science and maths teachers without any recognition of the fact that in recent months New Scientist has run major articles on the fact that time either does not exist or else it runs backwards.

So, the Government wants the very best teachers to increase the number of young people opting for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects and following a related career which will help the UK compete in the global economy.

And it also wants to ensure that lessons are lively for budding scientists, with more “flash bang” excitement to bring these fascinating subjects to life while maintaining academic rigour.

The £140 million package over the next three years is more than double the amount spent between 2005 and 2008.  It includes…

• £31 million for recruitment and retention including £11.4 million so that teachers can retrain to become maths, physics and chemistry specialists - every teacher who retrains will receive a financial incentive of £5,000;

• £50 million for continuing professional development including:

£18 million to fund the regional science learning centres plus continued funding for the National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics;

£4.5 million for schools to encourage them to release teachers for professional development at our science learning centres;

• £34 million to help boost the number of young people studying science STEM subjects post-16 including up to £9 million so that more pupils can take the three GCSEs in physics, chemistry and biology;

• £9 million to improve pupils’ learning experience through enhancement and enrichment activities including doubling the number of science and engineering clubs in schools from 250 to 500.

Work on improving teacher training includes:

• A special partnership (called Transition to Teaching) between employers and the Training and Development Agency for Schools to attract more scientists and mathematicians into teaching. The programme will be formally launched in the spring and will begin training new teachers from the autumn;

• Continuing to pay the teacher training bursary for maths and science (£9,000) and the golden hello (£5,000); giving additional £1,000 payments to ITT providers for each physics or chemistry trainee teacher they recruit; offering additional courses to enhance physics, chemistry and maths subject skills for those entering teaching who do not have a recent degree in the subject; expanding the student associate scheme to give science and maths undergraduates a taste of teaching with a view to encouraging them to pursue teaching as their career.

The PISA study on the attitudes of 15 year olds to science found:

• 75 per cent agreed that they study science because they know it is useful for them;

• 71 per cent agreed that making an effort in science subjects is worth it because this will help them in the work they want to do later on;

• 71 per cent agreed that studying science subjects is worthwhile for them because what they learn will improve their career prospects;

• 54 per cent agreed that what they learn in their science subjects is important for them because they need this for what they want to study later on.

The report also found that although English teenagers say that studying science is useful for their futures, fewer say that they want to work in science-related careers or to study science. Although students agree that science is useful and beneficial, most do not wish to be involved with it in their future lives.

• 34 per cent agreed that they would like to work in a career involving science;

• 33 per cent agreed that they would like to study science after secondary school.

There’s more each day on the Education Blogs at www.blog.educationmarketing.org.uk and the direct marketing blog at www.blog.hamilton-house.com

Tony Attwood - phone 01536 399 000

Hamilton House Mailings plc reg number 2444392 VAT 354907535GB.  Phone 01536 399 000.

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22/01/2008 by Tony Attwood.

 The government has announced compulsory “practical cookery” lessons for teenagers in England as part of its anti-obesity campaign.   Each teenager should get around 12 lessons at some time in their secondary school life - they could be as a once a week one term course, or it could be several intensive periods, or spread out over time.

The schools secretary is asking the public to come up with ideas for the classic English dishes and international cuisine that children should learn to cook.

From September, all KS3 schools that currently offering food technology classes will teach practical cookery.  The remaining schools (about 15%) will  teach the compulsory classes by 2011.   No indication has come as to how the new project is to be fixed into the curriculum.

The emphasis will be on making sure pupils can master simple, healthy recipes using fresh ingredients.  The parents will have to pay for the ingredients. 

Cookery is already compulsory in primary schools and the government began an overhaul of school dinners three years ago after Jamie Oliver campaigned against the poor quality of school dinners.

The Schools Procurement Site (www.top5.org.uk) is very light on supplies to do with cooking - if you would like to be listed you’ll find a suppliers information section on the menus on the left.

Tony Attwood

Read more about education on www.schools.co.uk   Find products and services aimed at teachers on the School Procurement Site www.top5.org.uk

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18/01/2008 by Tony Attwood.

These notes on schooling and education are written by Tony Attwood.  You can read more news on www.schools.co.uk   If you work in a school you can receive additional news through our regular email news service by signing up at http://www.schools.co.uk/subscribe.html    These services are free.  

The government has says it suspects some councils and schools may be flouting the new tougher, mandatory School Admissions Code which came into force one year ago.  New policies have to be finalised by April 15. The Code rules out subjective arrangements, which penalise low-income families, or vulnerable children, with disabilities, special educational needs or in care. 

The independent Office of the School Adjudicator, which regulates the admission system, has investigated objections against 79 schools in the last year, where their admission criteria and practices have breached legislation or the Code.  

Complaints investigated include:

• children in care are not given highest priority as required by law;

• unfair or unnecessary supplementary information forms asking for personal details about parents such as asking for copies of birth or marriage certificates;

• unclear and confusing admission arrangements, when the law requires them to be fair, objective and clear;

• the use of subjective tests and criteria such as asking parents to give their reasons for applying for a particular school and then making a subjective judgement about whether those reasons are better or worse than those given by other parents; and

• schools retaining first preference first policies, asking about the order that parents have ranked their choices of schools or where parents or children have been asked to attend an interview. 

 The Government It will publish new guides for parents in the spring to help them understand the system and how they can complain if they find admissions that they think may be unlawful. The Code balances the right of parents to have a fair hearing and the right of schools to be protected against admitting more pupils than originally planned, if that will have a detrimental effect on children’s education.

From today, by law all admission authorities, governing bodies, admission forums, schools adjudicators and appeals panels now have to adhere to the Code – previously they only had to have ‘regard’ to it.

The Code sets out that:

• anyone who has a connection with the school or who could in any way be perceived as being partial must not sit on an appeal panel or act as clerk;

• appeal panel members and clerks must now receive suitable training before they hear appeals – including on the statutory admission code and related law, including the Sex Discrimination Act, Disability Discrimination Act and Race Relations Act.

• specific timescales within which an appeal must be held;

• all parents must have appropriate guidance and information from admission authorities, to help prepare their case for appeal;

• all appeal panels must have regard to the impact of additional admissions on the quality of education and use of resource in schools; and

• local authorities and diocesan bodies should consider centralising the recruiting and training of panel members and Clerks, and take responsibility for administering the appeals process – leading to greater independence and consistency in administration, clerking and decision-making.

School Admission Appeals Code is available at: www.dcsf.gov.uk/sacode  

There’s a lot more information and a link to every school in the UK on www.schools.co.uk   If you are looking to sell products or services to schools you’ll find a lot more information on www.educationmarketing.org.uk

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