Thursday, July 29, 2010
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
From the Guardian
Thank goodness some people are talking sense.
Alan Thomas and Harriet Pattison:
"Evidence including our own suggests strongly that this kind of education (home education) prepares children to enter further and higher education, or the workforce – and offers them the freedom to learn in the ways that suit them best. Yet there is a consistent failure on the part of local authorities and government reviews to grasp even the basis of the ideas that can underlie a different kind of education. Even the language of the serious case review demonstrates this failure of understanding. Small wonder that home-educating parents are afraid of conferring power on people who do not know what it is that they are judging."
Alan Thomas and Harriet Pattison:
"Evidence including our own suggests strongly that this kind of education (home education) prepares children to enter further and higher education, or the workforce – and offers them the freedom to learn in the ways that suit them best. Yet there is a consistent failure on the part of local authorities and government reviews to grasp even the basis of the ideas that can underlie a different kind of education. Even the language of the serious case review demonstrates this failure of understanding. Small wonder that home-educating parents are afraid of conferring power on people who do not know what it is that they are judging."
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Free Maths Sites
Smart kiddie maths, KS2 and 3, free for a year here.
The Khan Academy videos, most levels of school maths, plus biology and history.
The Khan Academy videos, most levels of school maths, plus biology and history.
Monday, July 12, 2010
Maggie Atkinson under Review
Here's an idea. Don't bother with a review. Just get rid of her. She never represented anyone else's views other than her own and these were frankly terrible: bullying, statist, interventionist.
Tuesday, July 06, 2010
Monday, June 21, 2010
Friday, June 18, 2010
Press Release from Graham Stuart
NEWS RELEASE
June 17th, 2010
Ofsted Home Education Report Seriously Flawed Says Graham Stuart MP
Graham Stuart MP, who last week was elected to take the Chair of the Commons Education Select Committee, today condemned Ofsted’s report on home education, “Local Authorities and Home Education” as “an unpleasant hangover of the last government: a manifesto for more state power at the expense of dedicated home educators and their children”.
Mr Stuart went on, “It is astonishing that the Chief Inspector of Schools should stray onto home education and get it so wrong. In Ofsted’s official press release she says that “it is extremely challenging for local authorities to meet their statutory duty to ensure children have a suitable education”, when they have no such duty. Parents, not the state, have the statutory duty to ensure that their children have a suitable education.
“I find it deeply concerning that, after months of work, the Chief Inspector should make such a basic mistake and so utterly confuse the duties of local authorities and parents. Parents who home educate deserve our respect and awe at their dedication and achievements, not the relentless suspicion of an over mighty state.”
Under section 436A of the Education Act 1996, inserted by the Education and Inspections Act 2006, local authorities have a duty to identify children who are not receiving a suitable education in their area, so far as it is practical to do so. As the 2007 Elective Home Education Guidelines for Local Authorities make clear, however, ‘local authorities have no statutory duties in relation to monitoring the quality of home education on a routine basis’ and are only required to intervene if it appears that parents are not providing a suitable education.
Mr Stuart went on, “As local authorities do not have the power to demand access to home educated children and cannot insist on parents registering with them, the obvious and correct answer is for local authorities to improve their support for families so that more families make contact with them voluntarily. If they did this and made sure that they employed sympathetic staff who built good reputations, then the number of “unknown” children would be reduced. Such a positive approach would respect the primacy of parents in determining the education of their children and put the onus on local authorities to serve and support, rather than catalogue and monitor, families who home educate.
“Ofsted’s report has little to say about improving local authority support for home educated children and says only that the Department of Education should “consider” funding an entitlement for home-educated children to take public examinations. Ofsted’s report is seriously flawed and damaging to the confidence of home educating parents who had hoped that the relentless disinformation and bullying of the previous regime was over.”
It's covered here in CYPNow.
June 17th, 2010
Ofsted Home Education Report Seriously Flawed Says Graham Stuart MP
Graham Stuart MP, who last week was elected to take the Chair of the Commons Education Select Committee, today condemned Ofsted’s report on home education, “Local Authorities and Home Education” as “an unpleasant hangover of the last government: a manifesto for more state power at the expense of dedicated home educators and their children”.
Mr Stuart went on, “It is astonishing that the Chief Inspector of Schools should stray onto home education and get it so wrong. In Ofsted’s official press release she says that “it is extremely challenging for local authorities to meet their statutory duty to ensure children have a suitable education”, when they have no such duty. Parents, not the state, have the statutory duty to ensure that their children have a suitable education.
“I find it deeply concerning that, after months of work, the Chief Inspector should make such a basic mistake and so utterly confuse the duties of local authorities and parents. Parents who home educate deserve our respect and awe at their dedication and achievements, not the relentless suspicion of an over mighty state.”
Under section 436A of the Education Act 1996, inserted by the Education and Inspections Act 2006, local authorities have a duty to identify children who are not receiving a suitable education in their area, so far as it is practical to do so. As the 2007 Elective Home Education Guidelines for Local Authorities make clear, however, ‘local authorities have no statutory duties in relation to monitoring the quality of home education on a routine basis’ and are only required to intervene if it appears that parents are not providing a suitable education.
Mr Stuart went on, “As local authorities do not have the power to demand access to home educated children and cannot insist on parents registering with them, the obvious and correct answer is for local authorities to improve their support for families so that more families make contact with them voluntarily. If they did this and made sure that they employed sympathetic staff who built good reputations, then the number of “unknown” children would be reduced. Such a positive approach would respect the primacy of parents in determining the education of their children and put the onus on local authorities to serve and support, rather than catalogue and monitor, families who home educate.
“Ofsted’s report has little to say about improving local authority support for home educated children and says only that the Department of Education should “consider” funding an entitlement for home-educated children to take public examinations. Ofsted’s report is seriously flawed and damaging to the confidence of home educating parents who had hoped that the relentless disinformation and bullying of the previous regime was over.”
It's covered here in CYPNow.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Monday, June 07, 2010
Tuesday, June 01, 2010
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Monday, May 17, 2010
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Saturday, May 15, 2010
The Coalition Approach to Education
...will be outlined in the Queen's Speech in May.
More free schools, more familial choice, but all held properly accountable.
(Have just undergone an inspection process in work. Overall it is not helpful, and the final mark which is the only thing most people take note of, does not adequately represent the issues).
More free schools, more familial choice, but all held properly accountable.
(Have just undergone an inspection process in work. Overall it is not helpful, and the final mark which is the only thing most people take note of, does not adequately represent the issues).
Friday, May 14, 2010
The Demise of the DSCF
To be replaced at least in part, by the Department for Education.
No wonder the incoming government felt they needed a fresh start. From the Guardian:
"Last year, the then schools secretary, Ed Balls, was accused of wasting money on a £3m makeover of the DCSF. This was said to include shipping designer furniture from Italy and installing a grand staircase made from glass and surgical steel. It came at a time when he needed to make £2bn in savings.
(HT: Jem for the button).
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Home Education and the Coalition
...according to Lord Lucas and here's more on the Great Repeal Bill from Douglas Carswell.
Also, the perspective on the current situation from across the pond, from Kelly Green and Gold and The Slog on the departure of Brown and his minions. My sentiments precisely.
Also, the perspective on the current situation from across the pond, from Kelly Green and Gold and The Slog on the departure of Brown and his minions. My sentiments precisely.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Sunday, May 09, 2010
Friday, May 07, 2010
News from Graham Stuart MP
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