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Janet Downs: Careers switchers are to be welcomed in classrooms – but they must be properly qualified and trained

Those who switch careers to become teachers bring experience and skills gained in previous employment to the classroom. But experience and skills alone are not enough – career switchers need to be qualified and properly trained. Lance Bolton (see Department for Education press release) is one such career switcher. After leaving the Coldstream Guards he did a one-year course which allowed ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Nick Fairburn: "I am against all special interest groups peddling their wares inside the public sector, at the taxpayers expense, instead of getting on with the task in hand, namely to improve the lot of those they have engaged to serve; the ......"

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Roger Titcombe: Labour wants to label pupils as non-academic at 14

The Independent on Sunday (9 June) has a double page spread on Labour's big idea for education. Stephen Twigg sets out his plan for 'gold standard' vocational courses provided by FE Colleges, for students that do not wish to go to university. This is admirable and long overdue. Too many FE Colleges have for too long been pretending to be universities ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Roger Titcombe: "Jay - Thanks for this. See my latest post on this thread. http://www.localschoolsnetwork.org.uk/2013/05/could-gove-be-right-about-the-need-to-reform-gcse-grades/..."

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sarah: An end to religious discrimination in schools?

There has been coverage in the press this week about a new campaign to end religious discrimination in schools admissions in order to make it fairer and promote religious, social and cultural integration. Details can be found here. I think it's a really good piece of work and I hope it is successful. Their report makes many good points in favour of ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Rosie Fergusson: "Let us hope the campaign is successful..however I am pessimistic.. After all what will the quasi-catholics of our government do if they can no longer leap-frog over their local 40 % FSM school straight into the London Oratory ( ......"

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Janet Downs: University’s warnings about its literacy and numeracy survey were ignored by cheer leader for Gove’s reforms

“A survey conducted by the University of Sheffield two years ago discovered that something like 20% of 16 year-olds are leaving school functionally illiterate and functionally innumerate and in general they’re children from the most socially deprived backgrounds. That’s the status quo that the teaching unions are defending,” said Michael Gove’s champion on ITV’s Tonight (6/6/13, 9.55 mins). But is this ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Janet Downs: "Tubby - I think the academics were doing both. They were issuing a warning about careless use of the terms "functionally illiterate" and "functionally innumerate". At the same time they warned about "experts" imposing their views on the ......"

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trevor fisher: Gove is on the edge

May 2013 saw Michael Gove's third year in office. It may also mark the point when his political credibility began to peak. Not because of our activities, but because he started to act in public like a politician outside the circle of even the current right wing Tory Party. The tactics used by Gove of denigrating and marginalizing any critics have ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Rebecca Hanson: "I've no idea why you think we're rich or that your language in this context is in any way more appropriate...."

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Roger Titcombe: OfSTED and DfES – Partners in Spin?

I obtained the information in this post from Freedom of Information requests to Ofsted. In the early years of the Academies Programme, Ofsted produced a Protocol (revised November 2004 and March 2006) for working with a DfES team referred to as the ‘Academies Division’ (AD). According to the Protocol, OfSTED was informed as soon as a new academy was proposed. OfSTED then ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Janet Downs: "Roger - that's a good question. And the spending hasn't stopped. Bristol Brunel has submitted plans for a £6.2 million swimming pool in December 2012. http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/Plans-submitted-6-2m-swimming-pool-Bristol-Brunel/story-17522256-detail/story.html#axzz2VtUXirkV And it appears that additional money had to be spent to adapt the new ......"

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Janet Downs: Academy brokers are not bound by Civil Service Code, FoI response reveals

As the Department for Education (DfE) touts around for new academy sponsors, the Academy brokers involved in sponsored academy projects are not bound by the Civil Service Code, a Freedom of Information (FoI) reponse reveals. MPs have received complaints about the heavy-handed approach of some academy brokers and one MP described tactics as being from the “Vito Corleone textbook”. So, what ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Janet Downs: "The Department for Education (DfE) made 35 payments to personal service companies to education advisers (aka brokers) for the academies programme according to the DfE response to a Government review intended to identify the number of off payroll engagements ......"

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Janet Downs: The Sutton Trust is right to highlight covert selection, but tackling England’s socially-segregated school system won’t be solved by opening up private or grammar schools to a few more FSM pupils.

“…the schools in this study, by and large, are not using forms of overt selection, they are exercising covert selection,” said the Sutton Trust’s report Improving social mobility through education. The report recommended random ballots or banding across all abilities to address this issue. But the press release added a further recommendation which wasn’t in the full report. “At the same time, independent ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Marco Bligh: "The OECD figures showing that between 18% and 26% of UK adults have not completed upper secondary education is here, P. 19: http://www.oecd.org/edu/school/50293148.pdf These figures are further supported by the House of commons figures that show 24% of UK pupils drop out ......"

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Henry Stewart: Time to Allow True “Fair Banding”

In response to this morning's Sutton Trust report this post calls for two key changes in school admissions: 1) Banding should be encouraged and be truly fair, in that it should be able to be based on the distribution of ability in the local area (which is not allowed at the moment) 2) Whatever the nature of the school, admissions should be ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Milos Jankovic: "The first key finding of the reference is: 'Schools were choosing to belong to a range of middle tier bod(ies) which between them provide strategic and operational functions, and a local and national perspective.' So middle tier bodies selected by schools, de ......"

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Melissa Benn: Selective judgements

Today, the Sutton Trust publishes a report on the issue of ‘selective comprehensives’ which is getting a lot of publicity, including a spirited, but somewhat partial, debate on the Today programme, which led to the usual suggestion of increased ballotting and random allocation in order to enable more poor children access to 'good schools.' The report looks at ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Roger Titcombe: "Sorry Melissa and Helen Jarvis - It is not a minor point. I should have been more careful...."

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