.jpg)
Virgin Trains seem to grow shorter as well as more crowded. On the return journey from attending the annual National College for School Leadership Conference in Birmingham, I sit wedged between a family whose children want to reach Torquay: (do they have their holiday absence authorised? I wonder), and a young man listening to his MP3. My laptop is finally balanced on the folding shelf in front of me, with documents on my knee and hot Costa coffee on the floor by my side. Last night’s luxury in Malmaison Hotel seems a dream away, but the Snog me Senseless mouth spray freebee is proof I really was there, as a guest speaker on the subject of Within School Variation. South Dartmoor wouldn’t have paid for a luxury hotel! As I settle down to do some work, a man with an over-large dog and a giant suitcase tries to get past. I catch my coffee just in time, but the window seat MP3 listener also decides he wants to get out, to use the buffet car, so everything is chaos. The little boy has an electronic device and is resiliently trying to change the date, which means erasing his data. His parents respond brilliantly to all questions. I find myself scoring their teaching, OFSTED Grade 2 - Good, for learning and personalisation. That’s just the parental achievement!
Parents and their communities were very much the focus of the Secretary of State, Ed Balls’, speech to the Conference. I sat with over a thousand delegates and marvelled at his knowledge and fluency – a wide ranging 45 minutes which was delivered without notes or hesitation. The largest applause came when he told us he didn’t like selection, going on to outline plans to support Secondary Modern Schools. A million pounds per school seems to be the price. Why not just take the morally, educationally and socially correct decision and abolish selection?
His story about an English teacher’s work in motivating a disengaged group in a lesson about metaphors, using lemon sherbets, held us all fascinated. We have a Secretary of State that listens, is ambitious for schools and does not sound like a politician.
A small group of us watched the opening speech by the Chief Executive of the National College on closed-circuit television as we waited in a VIP room for a private audience with the Secretary of State. We had been asked to tell him about our roles and the frustrations and satisfactions. He is the third Education Secretary I have met, and he certainly listened and commented in ways that suggest he wanted to understand, to improve things, not just to impress or make a political point. He is totally focused on schools and raising standards. I told him about the Variation Projects I have carried out with NCSL and Professor David Reynolds, which have now been published. It is a simple idea: you take the very best aspect of the school and make sure that the same standards apply everywhere to everything. We can learn from our own best practice. This was the theme of the presentation we were asked to give at 8.00 am. In the programme it was described as a ‘fringe meeting’. Well, there wasn’t much comedy, but this was Birmingham not Edinburgh. Plenty of delegates missed breakfast to be there.
Disparity in society is a result of poverty or parents’ lack of interest in education. So I am pleased that the family taking their child to Torquay are helping him to learn. After all, learning is all about feeding curiosity. They seem to be parents who care and respond - even though they are prepared to sacrifice a week of school. Now I wonder what Mr Balls would make of that?
Parents and their communities were very much the focus of the Secretary of State, Ed Balls’, speech to the Conference. I sat with over a thousand delegates and marvelled at his knowledge and fluency – a wide ranging 45 minutes which was delivered without notes or hesitation. The largest applause came when he told us he didn’t like selection, going on to outline plans to support Secondary Modern Schools. A million pounds per school seems to be the price. Why not just take the morally, educationally and socially correct decision and abolish selection?
His story about an English teacher’s work in motivating a disengaged group in a lesson about metaphors, using lemon sherbets, held us all fascinated. We have a Secretary of State that listens, is ambitious for schools and does not sound like a politician.
A small group of us watched the opening speech by the Chief Executive of the National College on closed-circuit television as we waited in a VIP room for a private audience with the Secretary of State. We had been asked to tell him about our roles and the frustrations and satisfactions. He is the third Education Secretary I have met, and he certainly listened and commented in ways that suggest he wanted to understand, to improve things, not just to impress or make a political point. He is totally focused on schools and raising standards. I told him about the Variation Projects I have carried out with NCSL and Professor David Reynolds, which have now been published. It is a simple idea: you take the very best aspect of the school and make sure that the same standards apply everywhere to everything. We can learn from our own best practice. This was the theme of the presentation we were asked to give at 8.00 am. In the programme it was described as a ‘fringe meeting’. Well, there wasn’t much comedy, but this was Birmingham not Edinburgh. Plenty of delegates missed breakfast to be there.
Disparity in society is a result of poverty or parents’ lack of interest in education. So I am pleased that the family taking their child to Torquay are helping him to learn. After all, learning is all about feeding curiosity. They seem to be parents who care and respond - even though they are prepared to sacrifice a week of school. Now I wonder what Mr Balls would make of that?
No comments:
Post a Comment