Posts Tagged DfES
Academies for 2000 pupils: the DfES’s own school choice
Posted by Nick Cowen in Education on 09/05/2007
The Sunday Times reports that the new Thomas Deacon Academy has not found room for building a playground amongst its (mostly taxpayer) £46.4 million funding. Justifying this move is the claim that all the pupils of this school will be so enthused by the curriculum that they will not require playtime in which to let off steam (a situation that one teacher blogger considers to be without precedent). The project manager of the academy even makes the further claim that removing all unsupervised time from the school day will prevent bullying. True in the same way that stomach stapling can be pretty effective at tackling obesity.
Looking at the school on Peterborough’s official website, the situation doesn’t appear quite as horrendous as the Times article implies. There is indeed no playground but a combination of grass and artificial pitches are there for structured sports activities (more than many schools can offer) and in the not unlikely event of this no-playtime policy falling flat on its face, these areas could probably be used to kick a football around.
We’re Nearly All Infants Now
Posted by Nick Cowen in Civil Liberty, Education on 18/04/2007
The new Educational Conscription blog is chronicling the burgeoning opposition to government proposals to extend compulsory education up to the age of 18. The big shift in policy is not the increased availability of further education to young people, a long held and frequently frustrated government aspiration. Instead, it is the use of coercion, with the threat of sanction, to ensure young people comply with these objectives. Fearing that the value of their educational initiatives won’t be evident, the government wants to give young people an offer they can’t refuse. Hence, the correct approach is to examine this as a civil liberties issue – not as just another initiative in the myriads of education reforms.
Up-to-date on the EU?! If you’re in 2003!
Posted by James Gubb in European Union on 01/12/2006
Some rather dry research into where the EU fits into citizenship teaching, and on the current teaching resources available on the EU, revealed this conundrum that at least made me giggle:
QCA writes: “When deciding whether a resource is appropriate for post-16 citizenship, it is important to consider the following factors:….
2. Is the content up-to-date?”
There is then a related link on their KS4 citizenship page to ‘Schemes of Work’ (DfES), which aims to give a framework for teaching citizenship. “Unit 11: Europe – who decides?” includes the following number one “Point to note”:
“The European Union currently has 15 member states”.
Not that I’m aware of! Is the level of ignorance in the DfES really this high?! I’m sincerely hoping this hasn’t been proof-read.