Stories + Views: Media Coverage

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Sarah Dodds: Do not mention autonomy……I think we said it once, but it looks like we got away with it….

I just wanted to give a quick update on where we are in the mad, mad academy world of Lincolnshire. First of all....this story has broken in the press this week. The Greenwood Dale Trust are becoming a major sponsor of schools down the east coast of Lincolnshire, despite people always expressing concern to me about their policies on unofficial ... read more and comment →

11 comments

Latest comment by Rebecca Hanson: "Nobody should be making judgements about these kinds of statistics at a school without investigating the circumstances. There will always be outliers. If inspectors tell a school to reduce a statistic that statistic will be reduced whatever the consequences and ......"

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Adrian Elliott: What do parents really think of our schools?

A contributor to LSN recently suggested that parents no longer want the ‘status quo’ in schools. Leaving on one side whether the last twenty-five years in education has resembled any kind of status quo, the comment does raise the question of what parents really think about the education their children are receiving in state schools today. It’s a big task. ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Rebecca Hanson: "I wrote to them formally twice SJT. Once when things were at their worst and once after the phone hacking scandal to see if their attitude had changed. I did contact the moderators to ask for explanations when I was ......"

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Janet Downs: Gove blames media for not praising English school leaders

Secretary of State, Michael Gove, praised English head teachers at the annual conference of the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) on Saturday. His admiration of NAHT general secretary Russell Hobby and his colleague Kathy James was so fulsome that Mr Hobby joked later that he thought it was a ruse to make NAHT members distrust him. Mr Gove quoted a ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Rebecca Hanson: "I'm not confident that all the very able and dedicated heads who've had ignorant and bullying Ofsted teams turn up to label them and everything about their schools as being failing while systematically ignoring all the incredible things they have ......"

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Allan Beavis: The Leveson Inquiry reveals Michael Gove’s and Rupert Murdoch’s plans for an Academy and a Free School

Jeremy Hunt’s position looks increasingly untenable and his reputation tarnished but the collusion between his department (well, not HIS collusion, apparently - just his SPAD, Adam Smith’s, now sacrificed to save the skin of the master) and the Murdoch empire over the securing of the BSkyB deal has been laid horrifyingly bare in the Leveson Inquiry. Will he in turn ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Allan Beavis: "You miss the point, or seek to throw people off a pretty rancid scent. No one is claiming Murdoch's actions were "sinister". It's the lack of transparency, toadying to Murdoch, collusion and Gove's willingnes to allow a discredited mogul at ......"

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Allan Beavis: Jamie Oliver criticises Gove for allowing Academies to serve unhealthy food

Two weeks ago I had lunch in my local maintained school. The food was very good, excellent even, when you consider that the kitchen prepared hundreds of covers every day, including hot food, salads, sandwiches, wraps and vegetarian options. The queues were a bit long perhaps, the children a little unruly and desperate to quickly eat and get out to ... read more and comment →

31 comments

Latest comment by Allan Beavis: "And, according to the report, 9 out of 10 Academies are offering unhealthy food to their students. It seems that Gove's trust in Academies to offer nutritious food to their students is misplaced and so his reassurances that Academies can ......"

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Janet Downs: How reliable are the school oversubscription numbers if they include applications from parents who ranked the school lower than first place?

Nineteen of the twenty-four free schools have received more applications for places in September 2012 than are available, according to figures in the Independent. “On average, primary Free Schools attracted more than twice as many applications for the number of places available. The secondary, or all-through, Free Schools, on average received well over three times as many applications for the ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Rebecca Hanson: "S'okay Tim. Learn at lot about life from that experience and moved on to something much better having done so. Kept the ex-parents-in-law as great friends though and my children from both marriages love hanging out on the ......"

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Janet Downs: Using evidence from Labour’s sponsored academies to justify Government’s programme of converter academies is “step too far”, says academic.

Professor Stephen Machin, co-author of a London School of Economics (LSE) report on Labour's sponsored academies, has expressed annoyance about the way the findings have been hijacked by the present Government to justify its policy of academy conversion. Writing in the Guardian, Professor Machin said, “our evidence on Labour academies has frequently been marshalled in support of the new academies programme, usually (though not always) ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Rebecca Hanson: "If only Michael Gove would listen to what I'm saying in detail we could deliver these things (or have them credibly in place to the electorate) by the end of this parliament. But he needs to sort out his ......"

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Janet Downs: Are 6-8 million British adults illiterate? Are schools to blame?

Headlines in the Sun and Mail trumpeted that one in five adults struggled to read or write, so Channel 4 FactCheck and FullFact checked out their claims that 8 million British adults were illiterate. So what did FactCheck and FullFact discover? 1 The articles originated from a report published by the World Literacy Foundation (WLF) which was based on an International Adult ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Janet Downs: "Ricky - your blogger, Ms Christodolou, Teach First 2007, seems to share my suspicion of anecdotal evidence. She told the Guardian, “Conversations I've had in the pub with other teachers suggest that this book [Birbalsingh, K, "To Miss With ......"

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Janet Downs: University undergrads have “glaring gaps” in subject content and need lessons in basic grammar, shrieks the Mail.

“…60 per cent of universities run remedial classes for first-year students to fill glaring gaps in their subject knowledge and boost essay-writing skills, including basic grammar,” trumpeted the Mail in its discussion of the Cambridge Assessment Survey. But a closer look at the survey does not paint such a negative picture about undergraduates’ “basic grammar” and contradicts the Mail’s assertion about ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Janet Downs: "Pam Tatlow, chief executive of million+, a group which represents 26 of the new universities, told the Guardian that academics had informed ministers that the A-level system was "not broken" at a meeting earlier this year. "Ministers appear to have ......"

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Janet Downs: The 3 Rs – Reading, Rioting and Recommendations

“Primary and secondary schools failing to raise the literacy rate of a child to an age appropriate minimum standard should receive a financial penalty to cover the cost of raising their attainment as they move on to a new provider”, so says the Riots Panel Final Report. This headline-grabbing recommendation drew attention from the many worthwhile comments in the report including ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Janet Downs: "The problem is made worse when commentators apply the figures for adult literacy (ages 19-65) to school leavers. - this is commonly given as 20%. But the Government's own report, Skills for Life, found that only 6% school leavers ......"

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