Stories + Views: Maintained Schools

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Roger Titcombe: Educational Failure By Definition

Recent posts have elicited much comment about how LA comprehensive schools are allegedly failing low performing pupils in urban areas, and how Academies and Free Schools might address this problem. There has also been much discussion about the fitness for purpose of the C grade at GCSE if it is to be used as a test of basic literacy and numeracy ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Rebecca Hanson: "Thanks for your post Roger. Does Ofsted deliberately seek to identify whether this kind of think is going on or not?..."

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Tom London: Some people loath Michael Gove but others love him. The explanation lies in the educatiuonal apartheid between state and private education.

The “Michael Gove mystery” is how the same politician can be so loathed and so admired at the same time. The answer to the mystery lies in the educational apartheid between the private and state sectors, which has far greater importance in the UK than in any other country in Europe. In the UK, 7% of children attend private schools and ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Adrian Elliott: "Ah Melanie Phillips, that scourge of standards in the English classroom,who wrote in her book 'Londistan' that muslim immigrants in the sixties came to work in the 'cotton mills' of Bradford and Rotherham! She then repeated ......"

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Fiona Millar: Michael Gove praises LSN and Blue Labour’s Maurice Glasman hints at a return to “stakeholder governance”

Last night I went to an interesting debate at the London School of Economics. The Secretary of State for Education Michael Gove and Labour peer Lord Glasman , author of Blue Labour and involved in the party’s policy review, were discussing who “owns” the concept of One Nation, originated by Benjamin Disraeli and appropriated by Labour leader Ed Miliband in ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Peter Prince: "The FAQ 'What risks did the NAO describe in its report about delivering public services through markets?' exemplifies why the FAQ section here, as currently structured, may not be as useful as it could be. The NAO report describes both the ......"

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Janet Downs: What did the Academies Commission recommend? And why’s the Government so slow in reacting?

Note: words in brackets are the author’s comments The Academies Commission recognised that academy status alone is “not a panacea for improvement”. It had concerns about some academies manipulating their admissions and found that although a few sponsored academies had been a stunning success, most had not been any better than similar non-academy schools. The Commission found that some academies in ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Janet Downs: "The Academies Commission report was published on January 10 2013. And still no response from the Government. http://www.academiescommission.org/academies-commission-report-unleashing-greatness-getting-the-best-from-an-academised-system/..."

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Janet Downs: Many previously underperforming non-academy schools in poor areas did just as well as similar academies, says report

Note: The Academies Commission’s findings were based on results for 2011. The 2012 schools performance table had not been published when the Commission reported. Words in brackets are the author’s comments. Many previously underperforming non-academy schools in disadvantaged areas have done just as well as similar academies, the Academies Commission reported. Results in sponsored academies were slightly lower than similar non-academy ... read more and comment →

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Janet Downs: Too many Government initiatives and the focus on structures and systems are drawing attention away from the classroom, says Academy Commission

Note: words in brackets are those of the author. The avalanche of Government initiatives and reforms, changes in Ofsted and so on, was leaving heads uneasy. It was this that was preventing schools from being innovative. Only 16% of the Teach First respondents to the Commission’s survey thought that innovations with teachers’ terms and conditions of service had a positive impact. This ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Leonard James: ""Here’s some more information about gagging orders: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/dump-fing-everyone-the-inside-story-of-how-michael-goves-vicious-attack-dogs-are-terrorising-the-dfe-8497626.html I wouldn’t want to suggest they’re all to do with Ofsted." This is what you did suggest...."

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Janet Downs: Innovation is inhibited by league tables not by lack of freedom says Commission

It’s a central plank of the Government’s flagship academy programme: if schools want to innovate then they must free themselves from local authority "control" and become academies. But the Academies Commission found it’s not lack of freedom that’s preventing schools from innovating. It’s league tables and Ofsted. The Commission wrote that it had “heard considerable evidence that the current accountability framework inhibits change and innovation.” ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Janet Downs: "Graham Stuart, chair of the Education Select Committee, said in the EBacc debate: "...our accountability is driven and focused to an obsessive and damaging extent. It pushes schools to focus desperately on trying to get people over the line, and yet ......"

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Roger Titcombe: Twigg wants to militarise our schools

According to Twigg, "State schools should copy the private sector by setting up army cadet forces to help build self discipline in their pupils", Labour said yesterday as reported in the Independent (18 January). This has got to be the most depressing piece of Labour education policy since Blair imposed academies on us. It is WRONG, WRONG, WRONG Behaviourism does not build self-discipline. ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Francis Gilbert: "I agree Roger that this sort of language is very troubling, and suggests very little divide between Labour and the Conservatives. We desperately need a sensible progressive voice about education which speaks for the ignored majority who want a system ......"

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Janet Downs: Media ignores DfE academy spin

“More than 2,600 schools now open as academies,” trumpets a recent Department for Education (DFE) press release. But the media has ignored the spin. Instead, the media concentrated on the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) awards. And when it did mention academies (the school variety) it focussed mainly on the Academies Commission findings that some academies manipulated their ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Janet Downs: "No - the DfE press release makes it all sound so wonderful. However, we've got evidence of a school jumping before it was pushed, primary schools being intimidated and schools converting because they thought they'd get extra cash. ......"

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Janet Downs: “Most things an academy can do, a maintained school can also do,” says Academies Commission

Secretary of State, Michael Gove, said academy heads were improving the education of pupils in their academies by the following: “Longer school days; better paid teachers; remedial classes; more personalised learning; improved discipline; innovative curricula…” This is what the Academies Commission found: "In short, many maintained schools have, in the words of the Secretary of State, introduced extended school days, remedial classes, more ... read more and comment →

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