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Janet Downs: DfE digs up more “survey’s” – but do they support Gove’s statement that teenagers have “disturbing historical ignorance”?

Today’s young people are uninformed about history – that’s what Education Secretary, Michael Gove, says. In a Mail article, he cited “survey after survey” which displayed “disturbing historical ignorance” among teenagers. But the Department of Education (DfE) could only find one survey when asked*. That survey, by TV Gold, turned out to be targeting all ages not just teenagers. And ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by When A Government Minister’s Data Laundry is Hung Out to Dry… | School of Data - Evidence is Power: "[...] well targeted Freedom of Information request to the UK Department for Education and its consequent report hit the news here recently. It turns out that a claim by Minister for Education, Michael Gove, that [...]..."

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Janet Downs: No template, says Ofsted chief, just so long as you avoid mixed-ability teaching, says DfE

It’s encouraging that Chief Inspector of Schools, Sir Michael Wilshaw said, “There will be no OFSTED template which compels teachers to do things they wouldn’t normally do. We need to celebrate diversity, ingenuity and imagination in the way that we teach.” However, this diversity isn’t extended to teachers with mixed-ability classes. Sir Michael acknowledged that it’s possible to teach mixed-ability classes ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Rebecca Hanson: "I agree that that is the point...."

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Janet Downs: Statistics watchdog expresses concern about DfE use of the PISA 2000 figures

After a campaign lasting nearly two years, FullFact has seen a letter from Andrew Dilnot, Chair of the UK Statistics Authority, which gives concerns about the use by the Department for Education (DfE) of the flawed figures from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) tests for the UK in 2000. In December 2010, FullFact published its misgivings about a DfE ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Paul Brown: "Thankyou Janet. The bristol paper is quite good at first glance although they are concerned with gcse results. They fit a model which has some of the factors I mentioned plus some others. I'll print it off and read it on ......"

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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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Nigel Ford: Man in £5 million debt as he struggled to pay school fees

An article in the Daily Mail reveals a reversal in fortunes as a speculator's overseas venture ruined him After his UK property business fell flat due to the slump in prices this guy took out a loan of £3.3 million against his mansion to invest in the property market in Romania so that his children could continue to board at their ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Jane Eades: "Interesting reverse argument by CSN. Surely s/he should be arguing that the family in the article are benefit scroungers? They have the choice to send their children to state schools but, instead, presumably are claiming benefits in order ......"

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Janet Downs: Mail says faulty figures had been passed by DfE before publication

The Press Complaints Commission (PCC) has upheld a complaint by Fullfact.org concerning a Daily Mail front page spread about school exclusions with the melodramatic headline “Britain’s Broken Schools”. The Mail had claimed that exclusions had doubled in a year when they had in fact fallen. The Daily Mail agreed to publish a correction although this does not have the same front ... read more and comment →

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Nigel Ford: Why the 11+ and grammar schools should be abolished?

An article in today's Daily Mail  shows the extreme lengths parents will go to get their child into a grammar school. Some of it seems utterly demented and puts unfair pressure on children with the stress even causing couples to divorce. Parents are putting their own feelings ahead of their child as it is a giant ego trip for them if ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by botzarelli: "I have updated my blog in any event as well as approving your comment and replying to it Allan - after all, if I didn't I'd be guilty of the same vice that prompted the blog in the first place!..."

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Janet Downs: Is Mr Gove the most impressive Cabinet member? And if he is, what does it tell us about the rest?

Quentin Letts describes Mr Gove as being “by some distance, the most impressive member of the Cameron Cabinet.” This, according to Letts, is because Mr Gove rushed legislation through Parliament to free schools from the tyranny of control. Perhaps Letts hasn’t realised that Mr Gove is giving more powers to the Secretary of State for Education than any other previous ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Nigel Ford: "Quentin Letts wrote a book called "50 people who buggered up Britain" and one of the 50 featured is Kenneth Baker on account of the fact that as a Cabinet Minister he introduced "The Dangerous Dogs Act" in 1991, and ......"

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Janet Downs: State education suffers from biased media coverage

How often do we see headlines trashing state education? Consider the Daily Mail's headline about the recent OECD PISA results, "Travesty of our 'stagnating' schools: In a damning indictment of Labour, OECD condemns British education..." There were so many inaccuracies in this article that my letter of complaint covered four pages. Inaccuracies such as: 1 ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Rufus: "Jamie's Dream School is the latest example of the media's trivialisation of education. I agree that there is almost blanket negative distortion on the media's coverage of the teaching profession. For example, yesterday's Sunday Times features two articles focusing on ......"

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