21st Century Trivium Man

The Visible People

2011-09-17T13:06:00.000+01:00

Snarl at us; shove as you pass. But we do not quite forget.

For are we the people of England; and have we not spoken yet?

There is many an English man drinking less cheerfully

Many shopaholics venturing out more fearfully

There are no folk in the world so helpless and despised

As the ‘feral’ thugs with a hunger for violence in their eyes

They laugh at us and shout, but their eyes are wet

Do they not fear us, because have we not spoken yet?

Nicked sports shirted, flying from their gang lands, fists flying and girls,

Vodka smiling, short skirting around with breasts unfurled

Bloodied Boys in Bosworth’s Bar, fishing for girls who go down

Later they’re naked in orgies or comatosed beneath the bar owner’s frown

The eyes of our youth, bloodied with terrible tiredness and lust

Wear their gold, riot, and burn, here it’s only their morality that goes bust

These craven hooded boys, living in quaint monk-like housing, no food to find

Looking for love, in days and nights for anyone who’s kind

The speckled sports bars, enticing and alienating, God we are all weak…

Drinking, fighting, snogging and puking, no wonder they do not speak.

And the faces of these children grow greater than our leaders:

Who trick them, trap them; and in the press, shock Middle Englands’ readers.

Lions led by Donkeys, badly let down, encouraged to be hedonistic

By the men of the new religions, with their economies of plastic,

We saw their glass buildings growing, to menace or disgust,

Sure some were pure but most were vile; but none took heed of us.

We saw the Kids as they were ritually killed, their faces proud and pale;

Few men talked of freedom, while England talked of knives, drugs and ale.

At war with ourselves our visions of Albion crumble, when will we wake?

The Greeks, Germans and other euro doomed unlikely mockery make

As our chips, pounding beats; our English words invade all eyes and ears

Yet our Masters chastise us for our lack of education and lack of fear

So when we take the streets; revert to our free selves, condemn us not then

For we are the daughters and sons of generations of English women and men

Blasted in Iraq, Blown up in the tube, Ripped off in the shopping malls. We accept no blame

We want to be like lions, not keep ourselves in chains

Living in economic ruin, with no heroic work

Just faces and feats on You Tube after mobile phone cameras lurk

These are the faces of Circumstance and Pomp, do they know for what they fight?

As blood is spilled in streets and bars is there anyway to applaud these yobs at night?

Our patch of glory ended; Our wars, under-funded, in far off climes,

Our leaders duck the questions, redacted to hide their crimes

Our laws stagger from bar to bar, hacking & corruption. Being priced out of education

Teens are stricken; it may be, after all, a reflection of the state of the nation.

Or perhaps the shades of the craven hooded men hide eyes of steel,

Playing poker with their lives, the Gods of mammon in front of which they kneel:

JD Sports, Adidas, Nike, Apple, HDTV and Wii

And these new people take the land: and still it is not ‘we’.

They have given us into the hand of new unhappy lives

Kids with anger and honour, who dare to only carry knives.

They’re chastised by the journalists and newsreaders with their dead eyes;

They look at our Labour Lib Dem and Tory as a drunk man undoes his flies.

Politicians’ loveless pity is worse than the ancient wrongs,

And now, pissed in the evening; they know only crude songs.

We see men fighting like dogs and hunting in large packs

Yet there is no man fighting as we lyrically wax

It may be they will rise like lions from their slumber and despair

Or that our wrath will descend upon them, no matter whether they care

It may be that they are meant to riot and never rest

Our scorn upon them, a sound-bite, our society, broken, as fear is best?

But we are the people of England; and we have spoken a lot, yet

They snarl at us; shove as they pass. Because they do not quite forget.

after GK

Life After Death?

2011-09-06T11:32:00.000+01:00

As a Parent there are some questions one is asked that are so fundamental we have to answer them as honestly as we can, one is: “Where do we come from?” Another is: “What happens after we die?” When my five year old asked this I tried a fairy story: “We go to Heaven,” “What’s Heaven?” “It’s the place where God lives, we go there after we die.” “Did God create death?” “Yes.” “Why?” “Well, the day after God created Himself, he was lonely, His loneliness was such that He decided to create the world, and then he sent Death to stalk the world He had created and take people to live with Him in their afterlife.” “Why take the dead and not the living?” “Because God likes Spirits?” “Anyway, I thought God was everywhere!” “He is.” “So why bother with heaven?” “It’s to make sure we behave ourselves, it’s like a big treat!” She laughed and said: “You’re being silly…”

It says in the Bible: “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.” As a parent I take this as my guiding principle. So I took her to the Natural History Museum: “Look at this Rabbit,” and we saw the Rabbit alive, dead; decomposing: you see there is an afterlife, our decay gives life to other creatures, insects and plants. She was fascinated.

It is fun to believe in fairy-stories, but there comes a time to put away childish things.

This article appeared in the Oxford Mail on Tuesday August 23rd, page 18.

Michael Gove wins the Prize

2010-08-13T14:33:00.000+01:00

Been very quiet recently, I can't begin to make sense of the nonsense that surrounds me. There was I, expecting more of Michael Gove and all I get is this picture of youthful, smirking, smug, incompetence. You couldn't make it up, it reminds me of the quote, from Tom Lehrer about Henry Kissinger being awarded the Nobel peace prize: "It was at that moment that satire died," said Lehrer, "There was nothing more to say after that."

GTC RIP

2010-06-03T07:25:00.000+01:00

At last, my bete noir, the GTC is no more ! This is great news, thank goodness I never bothered to send the cash. Now the reminder they sent me next week for lots of dosh can be framed and put on display to remind me to stick to my principals no matter what the prevailing wind is, or appears to be.

David Laws, Oh Dear...

2010-05-28T22:49:00.000+01:00

David Laws, truly a Con Man!

QCDA RIP

2010-05-27T20:58:00.000+01:00

Ta ra QCDA , QCA, or whatever you were known as. Now for the National Curriculum!

How the rich neglect their kids

2010-05-25T22:03:00.001+01:00

Only 49 minutes with your child, a day, is a disgrace. Whether you are poor, or privatise your care out, you are a disgrace. Especially for the first 3 years of a child's life, there must be one main carer, preferably the mother. Yet there are extremely well off people, taking mammon over love, and employing nannies, posh nurseries, a myriad of music lessons, dance lessons, sport lessons, to minimise contact with their furthest and fearest. At least the poor have an excuse. And when the 'dahling' kids get home, they are shoved in front of the pianoforte, telly, xbox or other computertainment, no wonder our kids are depressed.

Cuddle 'em, talk to 'em, laugh with 'em, cry with 'em, argue with 'em, tell 'em off, liven up your sterile, upper middle class, minimalist homes with a bit of the mess of human kindness!

Kick out the Pricks

2010-05-25T20:53:00.001+01:00

Of course, I'm an Oxford boy, now what does that conjure up in your mind? Posh boy from a public school most probably; less likely, a posh boy from a grammar school, least likely a posh boy from a comp... Hang on, what about a poor boy, from a sink estate, shite school, inner city, not very likely? So what, I hear you say, do we really want those types in Oxbridge? Well, take it from me, many of the posh boys are pricks, and stupid ones at that, yet they get in and end up in charge of something important, somewhere, for lots of dosh, so they send their kids to public schools and so it continues.

Oh, we are Lions led by Donkeys, but let us applaud Gove, at least he wants to try to do something about it. How about taking a leaf out of George Monbiot's book? His suggestion that we should take the 'top' two kids from each school in the country and bung them into Oxbridge instead of all the failing attempts we are making to open the 'Dreaming Spires' to the plebs is so simple as to be a beautiful solution to all that is wrong in our education system. Originally thought of by Peter Wilby, this idea has found its time.

Gove Fails a GCSE

2010-05-19T19:49:00.000+01:00

Just a bit of fun?

Take a look here.

'The best that has been said and thought'.

2010-05-15T09:43:00.000+01:00

There is a superb piece by Howard Jacobson in the Independent. He argues, briefly, that we have ended up with an unrepresentative government due to the failure of our state schools to educate their students. Now what is the evidence for this? I think the following 'facts' are instructive: 75% of this ConDem Government were privately educated and our new 'lords and masters' are the first generation, predominantly born in the 1960's, who will have had Comprehensive Schools as the main public sector 'choice'.

The damage occurred when the 'liberal arts' approach to learning stopped. A crisis in modernity and the western tradition, caused educationalists to jump into the arms of cultural relativism and the idea of equity instead of excellence. This is the broken society: the broken brains of the masses devoid of the knowledge that would have enabled them to 'stand on the shoulders of giants '. Let us hope Gove will lead us back to the future, though I am not entirely sure he will as the schism that ruptures his policy pronouncements between accountability and freedom has yet to be worked out.

DCSF RIP

2010-05-12T20:23:00.001+01:00

http://www.education.gov.uk/team

Gove says hello!

2010-05-12T20:06:00.000+01:00

Gove has sent an e-mail to his staff:

INTERNAL, Communication
Sent: 12 May 2010 16:21
Subject: A message from Michael Gove MP, Secretary of State for Education

Dear colleague

I am delighted that the Prime Minister has appointed me Secretary of State for Education in his new coalition Government.

As the Prime Minister said in Downing Street last night, the coming together of the Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties to form one strong Government marks a new era for Britain and for British politics. I believe that it can also mark a new era for our education system.

There is, I believe, nothing more important to the fairness of our society and the future prosperity of our country than getting education right.

Too many children still leave primary school every year without meeting basic standards in English or Maths and too few 16-year-olds get five decent GCSEs. So improving literacy, raising pupil attainment, extending parental choice, freeing teachers from bureaucracy, improving discipline and closing the widening gap between the richest and the poorest should be our shared goal.

To help us achieve the radical reforms that we will need, I want to refocus the Department on its core purpose of supporting teaching and learning. So I am delighted that we have acted immediately to create a new Department for Education.

School reform will be our priority but schools only succeed when society is strong, which is why we will also strengthen and reform children’s services.

We want to ensure the direction of our reform programme is clear. In the weeks ahead, I want us to offer all schools the chance to enjoy academy-style freedoms so that heads and teachers across the country can be liberated. This will be the focus of the legislation we hope to bring forward later this month.

We will also work to allow charities, parents and teachers' groups to open a new generation of small schools with smaller class sizes; introduce a new pupil premium which will ensure more funding is targeted to the most deprived pupils; give schools greater freedom over the curriculum; radically reform our exam system so that all schools can offer a wider range of qualifications; and support our great teachers by giving them more powers to ensure higher standards of discipline.

Over the past year, I have spoken to the Permanent Secretary, David Bell, and to the Directors General a number of times. I have been hugely impressed by their integrity, their impartiality and their commitment to detailed and thorough preparation. I know that these same qualities characterise the work of the whole Department and that you will be well prepared to start work quickly.

Our challenging programme of work comes against the backdrop of a far tighter fiscal climate. But I do believe that we have an exciting journey ahead. I and the new Ministerial team are looking forward to meeting many of you in the weeks and months to come as we begin our journey together.

MICHAEL GOVE MP

New Schools Network

2010-05-12T16:38:00.000+01:00

The New Schools Network has been given the go-ahead to start Parent Run Schools, Gove is hitting the ground running. Anyone fancy setting up a school? If so, get in touch.

Love Gove?

2010-05-12T13:38:00.000+01:00

Can Gove sort out education or will he make it worse? I will run a commentary about his progress here.

No more Balls

2010-05-09T10:45:00.000+01:00

Excuse my silence but I haven't known what to make of the turmoil throughout our election campaign. Now that we have a non-result, I feel a bit more confident. That may seem strange to some but I can see which way the wind is blowing through education. I can confidently predict there will be no more Balls! I would also wager that the next education secretary will be David Laws , a man who will undoubtedly be a breath of fresh air in our over centralised, box ticking culture. Quite how far he will go remains to be seen especially as the ghost of William Tyndale School hangs over Whitehall's distrust of teachers.

Good for Gove

2010-03-24T15:25:00.000Z

Some really sensible ideas from Michael Gove in response to the Sykes' Review. Limiting the number of qualifications a child takes at 16 is necessary, schools cramming 'clever kids' to get lots of meaningless GCSE qualifications so that a school looks good is educationally immoral. Making A levels two year, non-modular courses is to be applauded, studying and understanding in real depth has disappeared from our target driven, re sit encouraged, knowledge jettisoning, school culture. The ideas on how to include further information in school 'league tables' on where students go after leaving school, the quality of the exams passed in school, and the inclusion of all levels of success needs to be taken very seriously, as does my thinking that targets bludgeon real learning.

Perhaps, if Michael has begun to take education seriously, he will stop his recent nonsense on the National Curriculum and leave educationalists to devise learning, decide where children sit*, who with and for what purpose.

*Or run around, stand, or lie down.

Carol Vorderman not good enough to teach Maths

2010-03-07T10:56:00.000Z

Another case of Michael Gove not thinking things through. The Conservative policy on teacher recruitment is to ensure that new recruits have, at least, a 2:1. Carol Vorderman, who is advising the Tories on Maths education only has a third class degree . Good enough to design a curriculum but not good enough to deliver it.

What is the point of 13 A* grades at GCSE?

2010-03-07T10:17:00.000Z

All over the country able kids are being 'encouraged' to take lots of GCSEs. The more they get the better the school looks in the all important league tables. Yet is this good for the kids involved? Educationally the answer must be 'no'. The GCSE is a flawed exam as it is; 'successful' schools are exam factories that drag pupils through endless redrafts of inconsequential coursework and drill the poor little blighters into answering exam questions in a robotic way, rather than encouraging individual thought and style. The morality of all this has been ignored in the unseemly pursuit of exam targets instead of the higher values of a transformative education. Are the kids doing well out of having 13 GCSEs? No, they are stressed and have no time to do the things that matter.

It is about time we limited the number of subjects that are taken at GCSE, encouraged schools, kids and parents to value educating the whole child. Sport, Music, Theatre, Poetry Appreciation, Outward Bound Courses, Debating Societies, Voluntary Work etc. are all far more valuable than 5 more GCSEs.

Michael Gove doesn't know what he's talking about.

2010-03-06T07:19:00.000Z

I am someone who wants to go back to the future but even I am worried about what Michael Gove has to say in today's Times . He wants the curriculum to go back to the facts and figures world of his own education with a 'great tradition' decided by great minds, such as the clearly bonkers 'Carol Vorderman'.

What he doesn't want is some education about 'abstract thinking skills', yet this is clearly what IS needed. The reason I want to go back to the future via the Trivium is that it will enable kids to think independently, research, make connections and arguments and be able to articulate their ideas. By just concentrating on his version of the quadrivium (subjects) with no idea about how to think our kids will be bored and educated for a world that no longer exists.

Michael, stop putting together second rate lists of the (not so) great and the good and let teachers run the schools without interference from your list of 'experts'. Let teachers devise your new curriculum, or abolish the National Curriculum altogether.

Teachers to be Screened for "Intangible Qualities"

2010-03-03T21:06:00.000Z

What are the qualities needed to be a good teacher ? According to the TDA, Teach First, and Gordon Brown the best quality teachers have:

Empathy
Understanding
Passion
Organisation
Flexibility
Resilience
Humility
Respect
Self-Evaluation
Reflection
Leadership
Knowledge

Empathise with the kids who have to sit through your 3 part lesson - knowing that you've already told them what they are going to learn and the next hour is filling in time.
Understand that targets and grades are more important than learning something.
Passion is something to keep to yourself as you have to stick to your lesson plan that has already been shared with the kids on the VLE and displayed on your IWB.
Organisation is important as your seating plan is the most important thing according to your line manager.
Flexibility is essential as you are on cover, again, for a colleague who is off through stress, and you have to deal with that borderline psychotic child who scares you witless.
Resilience - it ain't over until that bell rings.
Humility as that kid tells you you must be crap cos you went into teaching.
Respect the kids and listen to their voice more than they listen to yours.
Self-Evaluation - now you have to tell Ofsted how bad you are.
Reflection: looking back on it all, what would you have done differently? You would have ignored what you were told to do by SMT, QC(D)A, Ofsted, LA, and that expensive consultant.
Leadership: something you aspire to as you love being hated by all your colleagues.
Knowledge: didn't you just know this would be the last thing anyone thought about?

Don't Exclude?

2010-02-28T09:43:00.000Z

Apparently, excluding children is bad for them. So let's keep 'em in schools says Sonia Sodha. Sonia, obviously not a teacher, can sod off! Keeping disruptive malcontents in school is bad for the rest of us and sometimes the rights of the majority should take precedence.

Why do these wet behind the ears researchers involve themselves in think tanks? If they really wanted to make a difference they'd be working in schools or in PRUs, rather than trying to make a name for themselves. Advice for Sonia: 'Get a job in a school, then advise me what to do about these kids, rather than throw clinical stats at me.

Thank you Demos, its been emotional.

Teaching to the Test

2010-02-27T14:35:00.000Z

More evidence that we are failing to educate our kids . Science and Maths teachers with their obsession on statistics and assessment might be their own worse enemies. Is it just me, or are a lot of leaders and managers in schools from a science/maths background? I think we should use the pyrotechnics to blow teachers up who just teach to the test. Some of these teachers think it is down to them when they get good results, rather than the conformist kids, the parents who do their coursework, or the tutors who are hired to get the kids to pass.

Why are our schools so bad?

2010-02-27T12:19:00.000Z

Well, as if it needed saying ...

Our Schools are bad because:

We over manage them
We have a silly curriculum
We judge schools on their 5 A*-C GCSE pass rate, therefore the schools' care more than the kids about exam passes
Managers who immorally follow the pass rate as the 'target' to reach rather than care about educating the next generation
Teachers teach to the test
Kids learn to pass exams; kids don't learn
There is no understanding of the point of the liberal arts approach to education
Teachers are not paid enough
Schools consistently under estimate their kids
Kids are bored because they are pandered to and 'entertained' more than they are stretched and educated
We value interactive white boards more than Socratic dialogue
Kids become more dependent rather than independent
Our system is distorted by class rather than defined by clarity
Snake oil initiative overload

And to solve it? Sort out the above, and bring clarity back via a modified and relevant curriculum, locally interpreted, written on one side of A4 - stating the structure of the Trivium - then get on and teach it through subjects and events.

Sex and Religion

2010-02-19T07:39:00.000Z

So schools with a religious 'bent' can teach sex from their point of view , a climb down by Ed Balls. The Catholics are particularly happy it seems, I wouldn't wonder - haven't Catholic schools been teaching sex, practically , for years, in their own 'unique ' way?

A Level above

2010-02-18T22:36:00.000Z

Finally the message is getting through, exams weren't getting easier, they were getting more formulaic and teachers and exam boards were 'working' together to drag kids through. None of this was about learning, or thinking, or finding out what someone is good at.

The new A level exam promises to sort out the wheat from the chaff, however the students who are due to take this new exam this year have been brought up on exams that have not prepared them for this final hurdle. Our students have been taught by cynical teachers, led by cynical management, applauded by cynical politicians to think that the exams they have passed actually count. Now that there is a possibility that one exam level does count, what will happen?

Expect mayhem?

When will I, will I be famous?

2010-02-18T22:04:00.000Z

Well, blow me down, something to celebrate, our 16 year olds have become aspirational . Apparently, over 50% of them want a career in 'being famous'. Lets celebrate this desire to rise above mediocrity, and look forward to seeing more wags, lads, tits, fads, mad, sad, dead celebrities enjoying their 15 minutes, on second thoughts, 5 minutes of, what used to be called, fame.

President Obama bans TV

2010-02-18T20:34:00.000Z

Well, how about this? President Obama bans his kids from watching ANY TV on school nights. Now how about that? Responsible parenting? Or over the top? Perhaps there are some TV programmes that are good for kids to watch? If so, should he allow them to watch some programmes, though which programmes would they be?

Sleep No More!

2010-02-18T11:08:00.000Z

'Still it cried "Sleep no more !" to all the house.'

Why do people allow their kids to have loads of gadgets in their bedrooms? Despite the fact that there is a huge amount of evidence that sleep deprivation affects the quality of life and learning, kids are 'encouraged' to play with, communicate through, and watch, computer games, mobile phones, internet, televisions etc. in their bedrooms. They do this, in many cases, until very late.

'Methought I heard a voice cry: "Sleep no more!"

Why do we wonder, then that many kids can't function at school during the day?

The first hour of sleep, the dozing off stage, is so vital to cognitive development and 'gathering' thoughts that to have this part of sleep disrupted by the unedifying pursuit of game-playing, the ever expanding number of 'friends', the cyber bullying, the pap that is late night TV, or even the Onanist's desire for ever more intriguing porn, is a disaster. Look around the classrooms, it's not boring lessons, that send the somnambulists into the land of nod, it is the late night technological explorations that hit the snooze button.

Strip all bedrooms of wake inducing gadgetry; bung in some bookshelves, and allow kids to settle down to sleep through the pages of a good 'old fashioned', 'boring' book.

They Fuck You Up, Your Mum and Dad.

2010-02-17T20:58:00.000Z

Well, did Larkin have it right ? Frank Furedi wants educators to go back to educating and not trying to solve all of society's ills. He also wants us to step back from trying to make a difference through early intervention and blames Blair, Duncan-Smith, et al, for trying. He seems to want us teachers to teach and parents to parent and leave it at that.

Ah, halcyon days, wouldn't that be great?

But has he seen what comes through the classroom door of the average state school? Has he seen what comes through the door at the average parents' evening (and these are usually the parents who are interested in their kids)?

I remember my first parent/teacher evening, I was sitting there thinking about how I could explain that this child, Wesley, was a bit, well, stupid. Bounding towards me, came two, smiling, freckled faces: "How is our Wesley? Do you know what, he is the brains of our family?!"

Clever Kids Shock!

2010-02-17T20:30:00.000Z

Well, a real shock here , apparently children who are read to, every day, at three years old are, according to the Institute of Education, 'likely to be flourishing in a wide range of subjects by the age of five.' So, get some books and read 'em to and with your kids.

And have fun together.

The Great Debate on Schools

2010-02-15T17:31:00.000Z

Antony Seldon has called for a great debate on Schools , yet Dylan Wiliam disagrees. According to Dylan: "We don't need it because we know what we need to do," so that's the end of that then. Mind you I think we do know what we need to do, however is that the same knowing as Dylan Wiliam?

Michael Gove Gets Hawny

2010-02-15T10:03:00.000Z

I thought that Michael Gove would be resistant to the purveyors of snake oil, however it seems that hollywood stardust , when sprinkled on this member of the commons, makes him stand up and take notice.

Jewish Buddhism and breathing (heavily) - the future of our schools under the conservatives?

How to raise clever kids

2010-02-15T07:31:00.000Z

It should really be a no-brainer, but good parenting in order to help your kid to be academically able seems to be beyond some people. There is a correlation with poorer backgrounds and cash poor can often mean time poor, but here are some rules to follow if you can:

Spend time with your kids, don't privatise all their care with nannies or child care.
Read to them every day from their first day on this planet.
Read your own books, newspapers etc. in front of your kids, modelling the joy of reading.
Visit a library, together, often.
Play games with your child based around themes and stories from books.
Ensure your child can see you actually reading the words (follow your finger across the page etc.)
Switch off the Television, games consoles and the computer.
Choose interesting books.
Regular bedtime and bedtime ritual, including reading 1 book/chapter before you say goodnight.

Do all this and you will give a good academic grounding to your offspring that will enable them to do well academically; more detailed evidence available from the Sutton Trust .

Am I a Luddite?

2010-01-13T17:27:00.000Z

I was at a 'conference' today about online reporting to parents where someone proudly announced that, at key stage 3, all the marking and all the students work is done online. No paper, no ink, no books...

Now that's progress...?

I have a 3 and a half year old daughter, she is an enthusiastic reader. I caught her reading, out loud, PG Wodehouse the other day (but that's another story). Anyway, she is due to start school in September (too early I say). The two Primary Schools that my wife and I have visited so far, proudly announced that they have closed their libraries, and all students' research etc. is now done online...

This makes me very uneasy, please advise me, am I a Luddite?

Over examined and Under educated

2010-01-10T13:29:00.000Z

In its leader on 9/1/10 the Times thundered that our young people are "Overexamined and Undereducated." Hurrah, something that has been evident for a long time, is now reaching consensus in the establishment beyond those immediately involved in education. In the name of raising standards, measurable standards have risen, and 'real standards' have declined. "Broader intellectual discovery," has indeed been replaced by "Cramming". "The curriculum leading the exam and not the exam leading the curriculum," is truly radical stuff these days. "The highly schematic lesson planning" talked about by Andrew Motion is rightly described as part of the problem. The entire curriculum is micro managed to the nth degree, by content, by style, by delivery, with lesson observations backing up a belief that there is mainly one way of planning and delivering lessons and that is the ubiquitous '3 part lesson plan'. Poppycock.

Paradoxically all this micro planning leads to confusion in the minds of students especially as the 'big picture' is lost. The classic, liberal arts curriculum, neatly encapsulated in the 'Trivium', needs to be refashioned for our age. By making lessons places for enquiry, for questioning for testing out ideas and arguments, by making the importance of rhetoric, style, beauty, in expression and product central and by establishing the importance of rules, knowledge, information, opinions and research we have a way of learning that has been proven to work throughout the centuries. Why have we ditched the liberal arts tradition rather than adapted it? Why is the content of the curriculum immediately judged by its accessibility? Surely the content needs to be more challenging, lessons longer, less planned, more open, more interesting and teachers trusted and 'given license' to take more risks.

Gove Balls Laws

2010-01-05T10:56:00.000Z

Rearrange the title any way you wish. What a great bunch of names to make an innuendo from. Anyhow they may get together to debate the future of education post election 2010, should be fun.

Watch this space...

Everyone's Reading?

2010-01-03T18:34:00.000Z

According to the BBC, Ministers have set up a scheme called "Everyone's Reading," as part of this scheme each secondary school in the country will receive between 15 and 25 books. Ministers say that this scheme will open up "new worlds" for young people. The list, which schools can pick titles from, is divided into themes such as: "laugh, explore, imagine, boggle and fear". The list was compiled by Eileen Armstrong, school librarian at 'Cramlington Learning Village'.

Now, call me a cynic, but I am not sure that 15 books in a school of over 1000 students will get 'Everyone Reading' nor open up new worlds to most of them. The ridiculous 'themes' with which the books are catalogued only panders to the idea that books are dodgy dossiers that need to be 'sexed up'. I am pleased Eileen Armstrong is referred to as a 'school librarian', but what the heck is a 'learning village'? Are we suffering from the same nonsense as I mentioned before where a library has to be named an 'idea store' in order to dupe unsuspecting 'customers' into being in the same room as a book? If the Government spent more money on books, less on interactive white boards, computers, rebranding libraries and employing teaching assistants, how many books could they afford for each secondary school? Perhaps enough to get everyone reading?

The mind 'boggles'; I should 'explore' this further. I 'imagine' we want the same things but I 'fear' the Government is enamoured by ICT in a way that goes beyond their belief that books may be important too? Makes me 'laugh', now I'm off to a 'learning village' to find out if Ed Balls is right when he says that books: "help to improve your reading skills"!

You couldn't make it up.

(Original article from the BBC can be read here.)

No idea

2010-01-02T23:47:00.000Z

I went with my family to the library today. It's the first time I have visited one for many years. I saw books, computers, a class going on and people using the resource. However, I didn't notice the word, library. No, this library was called the 'Idea Store'.

Now, it seems, that knowledge and literature can be reduced to the language of the market. We are one consonant away from Ikea Store to Idea Store; I am sure it struck some overpaid marketing guru as a great idea, it strikes me that the guru has no idea. What would our schools be called if this catches on? 'Lessons R Us'? 'Testco'? 'Marks and Corrections'?

Please can we respect the word 'library'? Please can we stop re-branding our culture to a point of no return? We should not be embarrassed by our cultural and educational institutions and we should get over the idea that we are nothing but a nation of shop keepers.

Grammar/Logos/Dialectic/Rhetoric

2010-01-01T11:38:00.000Z

So what does a trivium for the 21st century look like?

Well, first look at the 3 parts of the 'classic' trivium:

Grammar, Logos/Dialectic and Rhetoric.

I take these 3 parts and reinterpret them for our time: Rhetoric is the 'performance', the 'essay', the speech, the art work, the product, the finished article, the design, the results, the game etc. Logos/Dialectic is the making sense, testing it out, making connections, searching through the mist for clarity, clarifying, arguing, playing, discussing, sketching, rehearsing, working etc. Grammar is the rules, the facts, the known, the fragments of ideas, the research, the slog, the collecting etc.

So my Trivium for the 21st Century requires 3 stages: Getting ideas and facts, Making sense and connecting these ideas, creating new ones, testing them, playing with them and finally expressing these ideas in a beautiful way.

Now all schooling ordered in the above way would allow teachers and students to understand the learning process and adapt it to all situations, simply and elegantly.

Happy New Year.

The Liberal Arts and Learning to Learn

2009-12-03T09:11:00.000Z

'Learning to learn' is a phrase that is often derided by those who subscribe to the 'traditional' methods of education. Yet what are the traditional methods? Are these the Utilitarian methods of a Gradgrind, or the methods of a Romantic ideal articulated by Rousseau? Do the traditional methods hark back to Aristotle or do they languish in the league table driven, results are all, madness that is education today? The false dichotomies of education pit people against each other, not in debate or discourse, but in hard nosed opposition and prejudice based on reasoning that is so confused that no-one knows why they argue any more. This big endian vs little endian approach to the education debate serves little purpose when it comes to those that matter, the students.

"We have lost the tools of learning..." do the majority of students who leave our schools have a love of lifelong learning? Are they able to find things out? Are they able to make connections? Are they able to argue points of view in an articulate manner? Are they able to refer to their previous learning in new ways, adapting what they know in the light of the 'shock of the new'? Are they practical? Do they have a love and knowledge of the Arts, of Literature, of History, of Sport, of Science, of Number of Philosophy? Do they have a sense of beauty, of morality, of belonging, of rights and responsibilities? Do they read for pleasure, play for fun, have an ability to create, sew, cook, raise families, build a brick wall and climb a mountain? Are they resilient, thoughtful, dynamic, humorous members of society? Can they talk AND do? Can they lead, inspire, be relied on when needed and support, negotiate with, and help others? Can they learn to learn? Does our education system help produce citizens of 'good character' with the pre requisite skills and knowledge in sufficient numbers in a simple life affirming way?

Or do we throw everything at our schools, asking them to solve all the problems of the world while burdening them with an overloaded, bureaucratic, centrally driven, confused, contradictory, curriculum? Do we treat our schools as education factories that are judged by the values of utilitarian Government Inspectors mulling over a myriad of measurable facts and figures that seem to mean less each year?

"...(Teachers) they work only too hard already. (They are forced to)... shore up the tottering weight of an educational structure that is built on sand. They are doing for their pupils the work which the pupils themselves ought to do." Thus spoke Dorothy L Sayers in her essay 'The Lost Tools of Learning'. Written in 1947 it is shockingly relevant still. In it she harks back to the lost tools that, "Were so adaptable to all tasks and instead of them we have merely a set of complicated jigs." In her essay, she asks for the ancient Trivium, adapted to the modern age, to become central once more to schooling and education. She finishes with the following flourish: "For the sole true end of education is simply this: to teach men how to learn for themselves; and whatever instruction fails to do this is effort spent in vain."

In this blog I hope to be able to help, in a modest way, find out how we can adapt the Trivium for our age.