Archive for July, 2007
Sir Ara’s grand design
Posted by James Gubb in Health on 12/07/2007
Just as you think some kind of consensus has emerged to let things be in the NHS for the moment, another bombshell comes along. ‘Localise where possible, centralise where necessary’, runs the catchy slogan to the latest reform package aimed at the NHS. The report, undertaken by Sir Ara Darzi, the new junior health minister, looks at the state of healthcare in London recommends what can only be described as a dizzying array of service transformations for the capital. But this one, if properly interpreted, isn’t all bad.
Question 1: complete this cheque to pay the interest on your credit card
Posted by Nick Cowen in Education on 12/07/2007
It will take some time to unpick the latest additions and subtractions of the National Curriculum. But the main theme this round seems to be lowering children’s horizons. More compulsory elements of the History Curriculum have been axed, reduced down to essentials like the Glorious Revolution in order to tie into the requirement for pupils to understand the relationship between the Monarchy and Parliament. These reductions have been smuggled in under the guise of greater ‘flexibility’. If this were true, it would be admirable: allow teachers and schools to use their professional expertise to design a course that they think works for each class.
But there won’t be much opportunity for this while the school has to teach pupils how to open a bank account or how to calculate the size of their ‘carbon footprint’. If you want a vision of our children’s future, imagine trips to the Roman ruins at Cirencester cancelled so that the whole class can be shown the wonders of the local bank. Or instead of a trip to a local university to see the latest super-computer or MRI scanner in action, the local dump to spot how much rubbish their parents are failing to recycle!
See our report, The Corruption of the Curriculum (previewable on Amazon) to understand how we got here.
Why the Government is Just Asking for Trouble by Pressing Ahead With the 2012 London Olympics
Posted by Nick Cowen in Security on 10/07/2007
According to a report in today’s Times, the Public Accounts Committee has condemned the government for having ‘left itself “financially exposed” over the 2012 Olympic Games and at risk of letting costs spiral put of control’. The basis for its charge has been the government’s having let the original Olympic budget treble to £9 billion.
continued on the Centre for Social Cohesion blog.
Blurred visions
Posted by David Conway in Education on 06/07/2007
Today we hear from the BBC that a well-known and highly successful private girls’ school, Colston Girls’ School in Bristol, is taking steps to move into the state sector.
Not that ‘unprecedented’
Posted by James Gubb in Health on 05/07/2007
Alan Johnson yesterday launched an ‘unprecedented’ review of the NHS, to advise on how to meet the challenges of delivering health care over the next decade. In particular this will examine how the NHS can provide better access to safer, high quality care for all, whilst delivering value for money for taxpayers. Sounds great, but while this may be unprecedented for Mr Johnson in his week-long tenure as Secretary of State for Health, it is hardly unprecedented in the recent history of the NHS – there have been two in the last five years, both of which have been very general in their nature.
Another science teacher writes…
Posted by Nick Cowen in Education on 04/07/2007
As a comment response to Wellington Grey’s plea to AQA to save Physics as a body of knowledge rather than a series of opinions developed by a mass media consensus, Dr Debbie Barnett wrote:
I am also a Science teacher, and although not a Physicist, I share your despair at the diluting of Science in the vain attempt to make it accessible to the masses! I teach Chemistry and Biology and feel that the objectivity of Science and been replaced by a need for pupils to use language in a way that requires an eloquence not always seen in even the best Scientists. AQA have replaced proper Science with newspaper Science. Pupils are switching off, Science teachers are looking for ways out of teaching or jobs in private schools so they can teach the IGCSE.