Tag Archives: education

Shock news

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BBC: Local voting figures shed new light on EU referendum

[…] local results were strongly associated with the educational attainment of voters - populations with lower qualifications were significantly more likely to vote Leave. […] The level of education had a higher correlation with the voting pattern than any other major demographic measure from the census.

Call me a Liberal Elitist, but it seems to me that maybe we should be treating education as a higher priority. Then maybe, just maybe, in the long-run, the British public might stop making such monumentally stupid decisions.

J.A.G.

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BBC: John Gwilliam: Wales Grand Slam-winning captain dies at 93
Gwilliam
Former Wales Grand Slam-winning captain John Gwilliam - who was part of the last Welsh team to beat New Zealand - has died at the age of 93…
Away from rugby, he served as a tank commander during the Second World War and was headmaster of the independent Birkenhead School from 1963 to 1988…
Gwilliam was described as a physically imposing, religious and austere, and he is remembered at Birkenhead School as a strict disciplinarian.

My old headmaster. Physically imposing, religious, austere, and a strict disciplinarian pretty much nails it.

As a young atheist, I used to disagree with him in Divinity (RE) lessons. He got his own back by making me into a 'monitor'. The difference between a monitor and a prefect was that monitors weren't required to read the lesson in school chapel. In my case, I'm pretty sure he didn't want to take the risk.

State-funded brain-washing

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BBC: Catholic pupils 'invited to sign anti-gay marriage petition'
Education Secretary Michael Gove is to examine claims the Catholic Education Service (CES) broke impartiality rules on the topic of gay marriage…

"Schools have a responsibility under law to ensure children are insulated from political activity and campaigning in the classroom," said a Department for Education spokesperson. "While faith schools, rightly, have the freedom to teach about sexual relations and marriage in the context of their own religion, that should not extend to political campaigning."

Rightly? Would it be equally right for so-called faith schools to have the freedom to teach the biological sciences, say, ‘in the context of their own religion’?

Highly relevant

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Guardian: Former public schoolboy dressed as lawyer before shooting drug feud rival

Rupert Ross and accomplice jailed for a minimum of 30 years for fatal gun attack outside Wandsworth prison.

Clearly, the fact that this murderer went to public school was highly relevant to the case, otherwise the Guardian would not have seen fit to mention it in the title of their piece. It seems strange, however, that they neglect to mention that he drank milk and watched Disney™ movies as a boy.

I wonder which soccer team he supports.

Lor' blimey, guvna!

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Guardian: Word 'school' is out for new £4.7m Sheffield primary

A new £4.7m primary school in Sheffield is facing criticism for dropping the word "school" from its title after governors decided the term had "negative connotations".

The headteacher of Sheffield's Watercliffe Meadow, Linda Kingdon, said the south Yorkshire school, which is due to open on Monday, will instead be called a "place for learning".

Words failurise me.

Actually, I think the word governors has very negative connotations. The phrase clueless twats seems far more appropriate.

What it takes

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BBC: Ofsted 'can deter would-be heads'

Ofsted inspection pressures deter talented teachers from taking on the top jobs in schools, research suggests.

A National Association of Head Teachers survey of 500 members found 86% thought the impact of Ofsted meant potential head teachers were put off applying.

Yeah, and I could have been a great ballerina, if only I'd been prepared to lose a few pounds and go through the sex-change.

Stop bloody whinging. Dealing with Ofsted inspections is part of the job of being a head teacher. You can't pick and choose which aspects of the role you want to fulfil. Managing a school requires an entirely different set of skills to overseeing a class of kids. If you don't think you've got what it takes, don't apply for the bloody job.

Simple as that.

Balls by name…

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My, this is scary:

BBC: Faith schools set for expansion

The government has pledged its support for the principle of faith schools - with the prospect of many more Muslim schools within the state sector.

Schools Secretary Ed Balls and faith group leaders have formed a partnership - endorsing faith schools as a force to improve social cohesion in England.

Social cohesion? Is that what they're calling sectarianism these days?

Why not write to your MP and tell them how you feel about this? You might like to cc. the aptly named Ed Balls while you're at it. (Not that writing to your MP ever made a shite of difference, you understand.)

Personally speaking, I am fucking livid.