29 September 2009 12:48
When a man with the best part of 20 years' experience as a headteacher speaks, it pays to listen - particularly when he holds forth on the subject of academies. Geoff Best left no-one in any doubt about his contempt for the academies programme when he...
posted by Steve Downes with
17 September 2009 13:11
More than 50,000 new university students will start next week without their loans because the Student Loans Company is in meltdown. I can understand why the almost-undergraduates are getting sweaty about it. After all, money worries are what you're supposed...
posted by Steve Downes with
15 September 2009 13:27
Is 'great' the most overused and undervalued word in the English language? (Ok, maybe 'like' is the most used among teenagers....)
I'll explain. Today we hear that celeb chef Keith Floyd and Dirty Dancing actor Patrick Swayze have died. A Sky News headline...
posted by Steve Downes with
11 September 2009 12:13
On Thursday I was the (15th choice) "guest" who handed out certificates to 11 sixth formers who have completed four-week summer science scholarships at UEA and N&N. Not sure a more inappropriate person could have been selected for the task. I...
posted by Steve Downes with
07 September 2009 10:28
As of today, I could run (ruin?) a school. My lack of a degree means I'm not allowed to teach in one, but apparently it'd be ok for me - or pretty much anybody else - to manage one.
Basically, the government's decision to scrap the requirement for...
posted by Steve Downes with
03 September 2009 15:52
Students apparently are non-plussed by them, many universities won't accept them without additional qualifications like A-levels, and initial take-up of 14-19 diplomas is below 25pc of the government's target. As the number of diplomas available (if you...
posted by Steve Downes with
02 September 2009 10:26
Earlham High is a school that I have an inexplicable soft spot for. Eighteen months ago, I wrote a story about the school being ranked almost rock-bottom in England for its GCSE results and truancy rates. The headline (not written by me!!) was "Is this...
posted by Steve Downes with
01 September 2009 14:07
Apparently there's a shortage of social workers across the country, so the government has wheeled out "celebs" who had social workers - incluidng Goldie (not the Blue Peter dog, more's the pity), Michelle Ryan (from the repugnant EastEnders) and some...
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