Wednesday, October 13, 2004

RARE SANITY FROM BRITAIN

But will he do anything about it? He would have to fire half the teachers first, I suspect

Teaching theories of the 1960s and 1970s have been attacked as "plain crackers" by the chief inspector of schools in England, David Bell. The Ofsted chief said that in the past he had seen "too much of the totally soft-centred belief that children would learn if you left them to it".

Speaking in Chester-le-Street, Mr Bell said pupils needed a well-rounded curriculum, including basic skills. And he rejected the "incoherent" approach of over-liberal teaching. In a lecture at the Hermitage School, Mr Bell defended the importance of a "broad and rich" national curriculum, spelling out what pupils should be expected to learn.

In the past, he said that too many pupils had been short-changed by "eccentric" educational philosophies. "I saw too much that went wrong in the 1960s and 1970s," said Mr Bell. "I saw too many incoherent or non-existent curriculums, too many eccentric and unevaluated teaching methods, and too much of the totally soft centred belief that children would learn if you left them to it. "In particular, the notion that children learn to read by osmosis - and I suppose I exaggerate to make the point - was plain crackers."...

Mr Bell also highlighted the difficulties of introducing citizenship lessons in schools. Inspectors have criticised the quality of secondary schools' efforts to introduce citizenship lessons - which Mr Bell described as "stuttering and varied". But he pointed to the importance of the subject which could help to improve "social cohesion" and to address ethnic tensions.....

The Shadow Education Secretary, Tim Collins, said: "David Bell is 100% right. There is no clearer evidence of the great betrayal of several generations of British children. "Countries that have embraced school choice have far less of a gap between the best and worst performing schools and we need to emulate them. "He is also right to say that methods of teaching children to read, write and do their sums must be based on clear scientific evidence of what works rather than outdated trendy left-wing 1960s theories."

More here.





BRAINLESS CREDENTIALISM AGAIN

It seems to happen everywhere in government schools

"Tristram Jones-Parry is taking early retirement from his current role as Headmaster of Westminster School, one of the top schools in the country, where he is regarded highly. He was formerly Headmaster of Emanuel School, another excellent London private school. He has also taught at Dulwich College. He would now like to help out the state sector by moving there to teach maths (which he has been teaching for decades). One might think that the opportunity to get someone of Mr Jones-Parry's stature into the state sector would be jumped at. After all, there is a shortage of maths teachers. Unfortunately, he has been told that he is not properly qualified to work at a state school. I am sure that it is something that the Department for Education and Skills will be embarassed about, but why do we let the DfES set such rules in the first place? If the best private schools can employ someone without an official teacher qualification, why can't the state sector?"

From the Adam Smith blog.

***************************

For greatest efficiency, lowest cost and maximum choice, ALL schools should be privately owned and run -- with government-paid vouchers for the poor and minimal regulation.

Comments? Email me here. For times when blogger.com is playing up, there is a mirror of this site (viewable even in China!) here

***************************

No comments: