Monitoring Parents:  Science, evidence, experts and the new parenting culture

Conference organised by the new Centre for Parenting Culture Studies at the University of Kent 13^th and 14^th September 2011

 Monitoring Parents: Science, evidence, experts and the new parenting culture provides the opportunity for inter-disciplinary discussion of empirical and theoretical work that explores the increasing advance of a ‘science’ of child-rearing. The organisers hope to encourage discussion of and debate about developments through which ‘parenting’ has been constructed as an activity which can and should be influenced by scientific evidence and expert opinion.

 http://blogs.kent.ac.uk/parentingculturestudies/pcs-events/forthcoming-events/parenting-science/

 Dr Jan Macvarish,Research Associate, Centre for Health Service Studies, University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent, CT2 7NF, 01227 823666, J.Macvarish@Kent.ac.uk

LibEd News Flash http://www.libed.org.uk

 News Flash

 Alex Dunedin of the Ragged University (www.raggeduniversity.com) will be in London until the end of February, looking for potential collaborators. 

If you might be interested, please contact alex@raggeduniversity.com to find out more. 

 editors@libed.org.uk

Apprenticeships and the road to recovery
23 March 2011, 11am-1pm
Campaign for Learning, London
Event Information

£99+VAT (10% discount for Friends of The Campaign)

We are delighted that David Way, Director of the National Apprenticeship Service, will speak at our special session on ‘Apprenticeships and the road to recovery’.

The recent Education Bill has confirmed that the Coalition Government will raise the participation age to 18 by 2015. David will talk about expanding participation in this context. In addition he will cover topics such as the role of apprenticeships in reducing 18-24 youth unemployment (now over half a million in England), and the way in which income contingent loans for adult apprentices (over 24 on Level 3 and Level 4 programmes) will change the relationships between employer, apprentice and the taxpayer. Seminar participants will have the opportunity to question David on these topics and discuss the issues.

Tricia Hartley, Chief Executive of the Campaign for Learning, will chair the session.

Please note, all Campaign for Learning policy seminars are conducted under the Chatham House Rule to encourage openness and the sharing of information.

Discounts are available for voluntary sector organisations and sole trading consultants, please contact Katie Bloom for further details.

Booking Information

Click on the link http://www.campaign-for-learning.org.uk/cfl/events/Apprenticeships_23March2011.asp

RSVP to the 8th annual AERO conference,”Transforming Education & Our World,” on Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=149040921805523   Registration is now open!

Contents:

1) 10 Days Remain: Transforming Education & Our World: Early Bird Deadline (Event)

2) Reach 25,000+ individuals by advertising in our upcoming double issue of Education Revolution (Magazine)

3) Take an Innovation Tour (Event)

4) Report from Jerry Mintz’s Consultation in Puerto Rico (Report)

Venue: Amsterdam, The Netherlands We are delighted to invite you to attend and participate in this first international biennial conference organised by Una: The Global Learning Initiative on Children and Ethnic Diversity!

About the conference

This international conference will explore the power of early childhood as a force for reducing racial and ethnic divisions and building peaceable communities. It will provide a unique forum for practitioners, researchers and policymakers to learn from one another about the latest developments in research and practice from around the world.
The conference will be of interest to anyone concerned with understanding how early childhood programmes can contribute to efforts to overcome communal divisions and build socially inclusive societies. There will be a range of sessions of interest to:

• Policy makers
• Early childhood practitioners
• Early childhood researchers
 

Registration

Book by Friday 25 March 2011 to catch the early bird registration fees of just GB£80 for students and residents of developing countries and GB£120 for regular delegates.

Call for Papers

The call for individual papers and/or symposia is now open. Papers are particularly welcomed that include a focus on one or more of the following:

• report on the findings of research that seeks to increase our understanding of the impact of race/ethnicity on the lives of young children

• report on the findings of evaluations of the effectiveness of early childhood programmes that include a focus on addressing issues of race/ethnicity among young children, their families and/or local communities

• describe the development and delivery of innovative early childhood programmes that include a focus on addressing issues of race/ethnicity among young children, their families and/or local communities

• explore the wider political and policy contexts and the opportunities as well as barriers these create for the development of effective early childhood initiatives aimed at reducing racial and ethnic divisions and promoting peacable communities

OPENEYE FEBRUARY 2011 UPDATE CAMPAIGN MATTERS 
 
The most important item to report is the news that the government has now decided not to go ahead with league tables for five year olds (see the item below). We think that any policy which sets expectations or targets for all young children at a specific date or age is developmentally inappropriate and cuts across the important principle of the unique child. We will continue to strongly oppose any such proposals. The younger the children are, the less appropriate it is to compare them with others. We would rather see practitioners focusing on each child’s unique strengths, interests and learning dispositions and celebrating these with their parents. 

 The other item that is causing a great deal of concern is whether the teaching of synthetic phonics should be made compulsory. Even within OpenEYE we have differing views on the value of phonics and it is a debate that has been going on for decades.The DfE has just closed a consultation regarding the introduction of phonics screening tests at the end of year 1. The testing will apply to all children (whether in independent or maintained schools) and the screening check will start at an age when children in alternative settings such as Steiner Waldorf would normally not have had any introduction to formal literacy. Whether or not you agree with the use of phonics the statutory imposition of such tests is surely compromising any pretence of the government supporting pedagogical diversity or parental choice.

The 2005 House of Commons Call for Evidence produced the following comments that we feel are highly relevant:

 ”What worries me about what we have just heard is that it implies that children come into school with no reading at all and suddenly they are taught by people who are called teachers. In fact as soon as a baby looks at a symbol on a cot and points at it, they are actually learning to read.”

 ”In Finland, if I were to say Reading Recovery they would say ‘Recovering from what?’ There is a sort of strange notion about reading and you know that for me early intervention is the key. We have many adults who can technically read, but very few who ever read for pleasure. That disposition to read and that joy of reading is actually an essential tenet if we are going to have reading.” 

 ”What is the point of creating children who are proficient decoders through phonic awareness if they do not read for pleasure as part of lifelong learning?”

 ”It is important to emphasise that it is not the children who are failing in literacy, but our methods which are failing the children.”

 Concern about early years interventions

At the beginning of January this letter was published in the TES and signed by some extremely highly regarded experts in the field.

Early years plans sound an early warning
We are writing to express our concern about some of the early years interventions announced in the recent education white paper. The education secretary has stated that he will reduce the amount of central control, instead trusting professionals to make principled decisions. The Department for Education’s business plan also recognises the importance of high-quality early years education. These are entirely sensible aspirations.

However, they do not sit well with a number of proposals in the paper. The proposed phonics teaching in the nursery and reception years, and phonics test in Year 1, are not supported by research evidence. Phonics is an essential element of learning to read, but the timing of the introduction of a systematic programme is crucial. The white paper starts with a comparison of educational standards which shows that the UK appears to be falling in relation to other OECD countries. Yet – in contrast to the successful models elsewhere, where formal schooling and the teaching of reading do not begin until children are six or seven – the plans would impose increased and earlier emphasis on basic phonic skills.

There is evidence that children who are given plenty of time to develop their communication skills and to enjoy books before they are expected to crack the irregular phonic code for English do just as well at the age of 11 as others whose enjoyment of literacy is undermined by premature pressures to decode text. This is all the more true for children who do not get rich experiences of language and literacy at home. The introduction of a test in Year 1 in which they would decode non-words is particularly unwelcome. At this age, children learn by making sense of the world around them, and it is hard to think of anything more confusing than words that are nonsense.

As for the teacher training proposals, the most recent annual report from Ofsted finds that more outstanding initial teacher education is delivered by higher education-led partnerships than by school-centred initial teacher training partnerships and employment-based routes. It is difficult to reconcile this evidence with ministers’ determination to focus on work-based training. 

 Wendy Scott, president, Association for the Professional Development of Early Years Educators (TACTYC); Pat Beckley, Bishop Grosseteste University College, Lincoln; Professor Pat Broadhead, Leeds Metropolitan University; Maulfry Worthington, doctoral researcher, Vrije University, Amsterdam; and 12 other signatories on behalf of TACTYC.

Thanks to Ben Ballin for this link

A useful article from Bill Scott’s blog is attached: Should we encourage behaviour change or encourage thinking?
He has made these arguments before, but it’s a very succinct piece and therefore very usable … And once more he has chosen Fair Trade to illustrate his points.
There are several other recent posts worth looking at, too: he has been very busy since retirement! http://blogs.bath.ac.uk/edswahs/
Ben Ballin Projects Development Tide~ global learning
Website www.tidegloballearning.net
Follow Tide~ on facebook
www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/Birmingham-United-Kingdom/Tide-global-learning-2/163773263637851

Should we promote behaviour change or encourage thinking?– not quite the no-brainer it seems

 “The current obsession with human behaviour change is a strategy which has very limited scope for long-term success: instead, we should try to encourage thinking.”

A while ago, a colleague and I visited a primary school that wins awards for its work on sustainability.  We saw two arresting displays.  The first was an exhibition about wind farms, which explored in age-appropriate scientific and social terms the potential benefits and problems of harnessing wind energy.  This was presented as a complex and controversial issue, and we felt that the students would likely gain valuable understandings.  The second, just down the corridor, was a poster that said: “Buy Fair Trade” which seemed nothing less than a moral instruction and so we wondered what there was to learn.  We asked the teachers about this contrast between a well thought through approach to a complex set of issues, and the promotion of something equally complex, and controversial.  The teachers said that they didn’t see Fair Trade as controversial, but as a good thing for children and their families to get into the habit of supporting.  But it is, given that it meets the two general conditions necessary for this: [i] there is honest disagreement amongst experts, and [ii] the issue is of significance to society.  In particular, it is controversial because it promotes a set of values and a commercial way of realising them.  To make matters worse, its uncritical promotion in schools denies young people the chance to think about its pros and cons for themselves, and so negates one of the key purposes of education.

This is far from the only behaviour change being promoted by schools and NGOs, and now ‘nudged’ by government.  These are seen as either good for us, personally or socially, good for the planet, or sometimes for all three.  However, given that schools are supposed to encourage and enable both critical thinking and an open-minded examination of issues, doesn’t it seems odd to find so much focus on replacing one set of (supposedly) bad behaviours with another set of (allegedly) good ones? Read the rest of this entry »

Our good friend Dr Tim Rudd is growing his new Livelab Organisation. Tim’s posted a host of excellent resources already to the Livelab site.www.livelab.org.uk

Tim is author of numerous publications relating to education, new technologies and innovations, as well as a range of other outputs and academic publications. The selected list below demonstrates some of the key themes and areas covered.

Livelab

About us

Current projects

Contact

Publications and links

iPads for Education: 33 Useful Resources - iPads for Education: 33 Useful Resources NEW!Learner Voice and Co-Design

Learner Voice Handbook

Learning Spaces

What if…?: Reimagining Learning Spaces

What if…?: Learning Spaces Workshop Cards

Live Lab Academy: A Hypothetical Case Study

Reimagining Outdoor Learning Spaces: Co-design and Educational Transformation

Reimagining the Design of Outdoor Play and Learning Spaces

Thinking Space: A Workshop Resource to Support Visioning Around New Learning Spaces

Transforming Schools for the Future

Personalisation

Personalising Learning through Spatial Re-design

Personalisation and Digital Technologies

Roland Meighan, Janet Meighan and Peter Humphreys from CPE-PEN, and Gillian Trott from the Self-Managed Learning Centre in Brighton  http://www.college.selfmanagedlearning.org/ paid a visit to Hollinsclough Primary Flexischool Project this week http://www.hollinsclough.staffs.sch.uk/

Left to Right: Olaf Hindmarsh (Staffordshire LA Elective Home Education Co-ordinator), Peter Humphreys (CPE-PEN), Janette Mountford-Lees (Headteacher), Janet Meighan (CPE-PEN), Roland Meighan (CPE-PEN) . Also present but not in this photo Stephen Malbon, (Leadership Support Officer), and Gillian Trott, (Self-Managed Learning Centre

We  previously posted about the Hollinsclough Project http://blog.personalisededucationnow.org.uk/2011/01/17/flexischool-developing-in-rural-staffordshire/ 

Headteacher Janette Mountford-Lees is looking creatively at how to develop a sustainable setting. She has introduced flexischooling and looking to developa learning hub  and virtual learning solutions .

Loughborough Learning Exchange

Sunday 3^rd April 2011 

The next Learning Exchange will be our annual trip to Burleigh Community College, Loughborough. Members and the wider network of friends are invited to join us at this free event. Themes will include:

 -         AGM (mercifully short!)

-         CPE-PEN Developments

-         Attendees learning exchange – developments and personalised learning.

-         Establishing a Flexi-school at Hollinsclough C.of E. Primary School – report

-         Presentation by Josh Gifford – ‘Young People at Risk’

 Learning Exchange

To ensure that there is enough time for personal networking and informal discussions it is helpful if members who have specific news/developments to share would let Janet know in advance of the Learning Exchange, and if appropriate perhaps they could write a few lines about these so that they can be shared on the PEN blog. Please send any copy to Peter Humphreys at personalisededucationnow@blueyonder.co.uk  

Programme for 3^rd April 2011

 11.00-11.15 Drinks will be available

 11.15-11.35 AGM (Peter Humphreys) This is a meeting primarily for the trustees but the wider network are welcome to be present in a non-voting capacity. The last agenda item AOB will include an annual invitation for the wider membership / network to make suggestions to trustees.                                          

11.35-12.00 Developments taking place in CPE-PEN-EHP (Peter Humphreys/ Roland Meighan)

 12.00-12.30 Members learning exchange / experiences / news (Janet Meighan)                 

1230-13.00 Establishing a Flexi-school at Hollinsclough C.of E.Primary School (Report-Peter Humphreys)

 13.00-14.15 Lunch – Informal networking

 14.15-1600 ‘Young People at Risk’ – (Josh Gifford) Plus discussion.

On the 31^st March Josh’s service will close, with many other services on that day, due to cuts in funding for public services. At this Learning Exchange, three days later, Josh will reflect on his learning and practice of supporting families over a period of eight years. He will share the insights he has gained from his experiences of working with schools and other agencies, and will explore the relationship that has developed between the corporate and the domestic in recent years. Finally, he will consider what will be lost by the passing of his team and what can be held onto and nurtured for the future.

 1600-1630 Drinks informal networking

—————————

Venue

The Learning Exchange will be held at the Adult Centre (immediate right after entering the gate), Burleigh Community College, Thorpe Hill, Loughborough, Leicestershire, LE11 4SQ. Travel Directions: http://www.burleigh.org.uk/directions A hard copy map will be sent to anyone who needs one.

 Please let us know you are planning to attend with your address, telephone and email contact Janet Meighan at edheretics@gn.apc.org / 0115 925 7261

CHILDREN AT HOME

Friday 18 March 2011, Geffrye Museum, London 9.30-17.30pm

 While childhood itself has been the subject of scholarly interest, relatively little has been written on the place of children within the home, their position within the household and their lived experience of home. This conference will therefore bring together historical and contemporary research examining children’s senses of home and belonging, their familial/ household relationships and their use of space within the home, as well as their material culture.

 Sessions will explore the intimate spaces and memories of working- and middle-class childhoods, toys and technology in the contemporary home, homelessness and deprived childhoods, as well as feeling at home in semi-domestic settings and institutions. Methodological challenges and innovations will also be discussed throughout the day. The conference programme reflects the interdisciplinary approach of the Histories of Home SSN and will draw on sociology, social and economic history, film studies, cultural anthropology, pedagogy, art history and social work.

 Delegate fees

£40/£30 (full-time students), includes light sandwich lunch and refreshments

 Booking information

Book early to secure your place! To book please complete and return the Booking Form with payment by Wednesday 9 March 2011 to:

Krisztina Lackoi, SSN Co-ordinator

klackoi@geffrye-museum.org.uk

Geffrye Museum, Kingsland Road, London, E2 8EA

http://www.collectionslink.org.uk/index.cfm?ct=network.displayNetwork/name/Histories%20of%20Home%20SSN/networkId/16

RSVP to the 8th annual AERO conference,”Transforming Education & Our World,” on Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=149040921805523   Registration is now open!

 Contents:

1) Transforming Education & Our World: Early Bird Deadline (Event)

2) Sneak peak of initial workshops accepted for Transforming Education & Our World (Event)

3) Reach 25,000+ individuals by advertising in our upcoming double issue of Education Revolution (Magazine)

4) What You Don’t Teach is Killing Our Children (Video)

5) Reflections on the current education landscape (Blog)

6) Obama has a long way to go on education reform (Article)

7) Thank you for Village Free School donations  (Fundraiser)

Deborah Meier: Rules, Children, Schools, and Prisons (Blog)

9) NCLB has been educational disaster (Opinion)

How Taking Classes Online Can Help You Personalise Your Education

By-line:

This guest post is contributed by Katheryn Rivas, who writes on the topics of online universities.  She welcomes your comments at her email Id: katherynrivas87@gmail.com.

For many students, traditionally administered higher education institutions can be somewhat limiting. Of course, this isn’t the case for every student; however, the highly structured learning environment that many young adults encounter can sometimes keep them from reaching their full potential as learners, all while costing them money. In some cases, the cost of education is worth it, but only if the student can get the full benefit from the education. Unfortunately, this is not as common as we would hope.

So, to a certain extent, taking classes online, either on your own or as part of a degree program, can offer a way to escape the limitations of the traditional world of education while still allowing you to take advantage of its benefits. Here are a few ways that online classes can help you personalise your education.

Cost

 One way that taking classes online can help you personalise your education is that they often allow you to control your expenses much more so than had you signed up for a semester of university. Of course, both programs charge you by the credit hour; however, online programs allow you to cut out other expenses that you would ordinarily incur had you taken classes at a traditional campus. One of the greatest expenses is that of residency and food. By taking classes online, you do not have to worry about living on campus and buying a meal plan. The online program will give you freedom to manage those expenses in some other, perhaps cheaper way. Likewise, you do not have to worry about travel expenses, as you won’t have to drive to and from campus and pay for parking.

Flexibility

Another wonderful thing about taking classes online is that online classes provide you with a great deal of flexibility. When you take classes online, you can really determine the schedule that you’d like to follow. You can also make your class-time more efficient. Rather than having dead time around your classes, as you would at a traditional university, you can take the classes on your own time and schedule In other words, you do not have to reprioritize your life. You do not have to make education the center of your life. You can work it into your life so that it is a useful part of it, rather than an all-consuming activity.

 Overall, online education offers you a few options that you might not get as much of if you were to take classes on campus. Of course, you’ll have to determine what is best for you before you enroll, so be sure to do all of your research as you look to personlise your education.

The Education Bill – radical, but how will it work?

18 February 2011, 11am-1pm
Campaign for Learning, London
Event Information

The Education Bill was published on 26 January 2011 and will have its second reading in the Commons on Tuesday 8 February 2011. The Bill implements the proposals set out in the White Paper ‘The Importance of Teaching’ and covers a range of policies including school discipline, the establishment of Academies, the raising of the participation age and abolition of school workforce quangos.

Chris Waterman, Editor of Children’s Services Weekly and Professor John Howson, Managing Director of Education Data Surveys will provide an analysis of the Bill and look at the intended and possibly unintended consequences of the legislation. Tricia Hartley, Chief Executive of the Campaign for Learning, will chair the session and there will be plenty of time for discussion.

Please note, all Campaign for Learning policy seminars are conducted under the Chatham House Rule to encourage openness and the sharing of information.

Discounts are available for voluntary sector organisations and sole trading consultants, please contact Katie Bloom for further details.

The University of Southern Denmark Becomes First Scandinavian University To Go Mobile with Blackboard

New App Brings the Academic Experience to Mobile Devices

AMSTERDAM – 7 February, 2011 – Blackboard Inc. (Nasdaq: BBBB) today announced that the University of Southern Denmark has signed an agreement for Blackboard Mobile™ Learn, making it the first Scandinavian institution to partner with Blackboard to enable students to access course content on their smartphones and mobile devices.

 With five campuses, students at the University of Southern Denmark spend a significant amount of time travelling between lectures. Students and teachers are using their mobile devices to interact online, get directions and find friends. To better leverage mobile support for the academic experience, the University decided to extend access to interactive teaching and learning to mobile devices, allowing users to comment on class discussions, view grades and documents, and access course information and materials.

 “Using mobile applications for students to not only contact one another but carry out day-to-day academic experiences such as accessing and printing course materials is becoming increasingly common,” said Ambrosia Hansen, Head of Department for Competence Development at the University of Southern Denmark. “Blackboard Mobile Learn is essential for our institution to deliver a first class learning and teaching experience. We aim to provide students with an innovative and technologically savvy learning environment that not only meets their needs but which facilitates successful learning. A recent study by Ericsson indicates that 80 percent of people who go online worldwide will be connected via a mobile device in 2015. It is highly probable that our students will increase their use of smartphones when working with learning activities in Blackboard within the next few years.”

 “Blackboard’s mobile solutions are already helping to enhance the academic experience for students worldwide” said Kayvon Beykpour, Vice President of Blackboard Mobile. “The evolution of mobile devices has created so many opportunities for mobile learning and overall student engagement. We’re excited to work with the University of Southern Denmark, they’re at the forefront of delivering the classroom experience to mobile users.”

 Developed by Blackboard’s dedicated mobile team, Blackboard Mobile Learn is currently available in native applications designed for some of the world’s leading mobile platforms and devices including Android™ and BlackBerry® smartphones as well as the Apple® iPhone®, iPad® and iPod touch®. After being enabled by their institution, students and faculty can download the apps for free at the app stores.

 For more information about Blackboard’s mobile solutions, please visit http://blackboard.com/Mobile/Overview.aspx.

 For more information about the University of Southern Denmark, please visit http://www.sdu.dk/?sc_lang=en

By Richard Garner, The Independent Education Editor. Monday, 7 February 2011

Thousands of school-leavers may be harming their job prospects by seeking a place at university this summer.

Results of a poll of more than 500 employers released today reveal that many would rather take on an apprentice than hire a graduate.

 ”You are typically seeing a faster return on your investment with an apprentice,” said Chris Jones, the director general of City and Guilds, which conducted the survey. “They appear to be delivering to a higher level. They pick up the sense of culture of the firm and the workplace quicker.”

 The findings paint a picture of a return to the days when school-leavers were articled or took up apprenticeships and started earning a wage before returning to some form of work-placed study.

Mr Jones added: “I think a lot of people would say that the target of getting 50 per cent through to university has perhaps distorted everyone’s expectations of how they should progress out of school.”  Read more http://tiny.cc/fm8qp

 We are clearly seeing a revision of  how universities are being perceived. The increasingly prohibitive fees and loan legacies, poor staff -student ratios, low rates of contact time, questions about value for money all currently threaten the status universities have enjoyed. With the university based teacher training under threat, other sectors of business and commerce are looking at the advantages of training their own and getting young people into the workplace straight away. The university sector really needs to look again at its offer or it is likely to be by-passed.

BBC NEWS 6 February 2011 http://tiny.cc/f35yc

North Ayrshire Council may examine four-day school week
The council may also consider starting primary education a year later, at the age of six A Scottish council has confirmed it may consider introducing a four-day week in its primary and secondary schools to cope with planned funding cuts.

North Ayrshire Council said it was one of a number of future options being considered.

If implemented it could save the council more than £2m. But unions have said the move would cause chaos for working parents.

The council last week approved a 2011-12 budget which included cuts of £8.9m.

The local authority aims to bridge a £38m funding gap by 2014.

The idea is said to be one of a wide range of early options which may be considered by North Ayrshire Council over the coming years.

The Labour-led council may also consider starting primary education a year later, when pupils are six-years-old, although no decisions have been taken on the proposals.

Carol Kirk, the council’s education director, said any plans to alter the current system would be “fully investigated and discussed”.

“The option for children to start primary school at age six has been widely discussed by education professionals across the UK for several years now and is already in operation in many other European countries,” she said.

“The option to deliver the statutory 25 hours of education per week over four rather than five days is also being explored by other local authorities in Scotland.”

After politicians and public have properly drawn breath over this story should they be as concerned as their first reaction suggests? Although these decisions are being driven by the financial climate there are plenty of educational justifications that should be considered. Could these proposals be the beginning of something quite creative and beneficial? Firstly, why try to ram statutory hours into four days? A range of  flexischooling options with various flexitimes could be deployed. We already know how effective these can be in permitting children and young people to take responsibility for their own learning and for a prompting shift in teachers roles from ‘sage on the stage to guide on the side’. There are plenty of examples of effective learning occuring beyond the constraints of the walls of school classrooms and we at CPE-PEN consistently advocate we should be learning from from them (W: http://personalisededucationnow.org.uk  B:  http://blog.personalisededucationnow.org.uk/ W: http://edheretics.gn.apc.org/)

We recently reported the Hollingsclough Primary flexischool project  http://tiny.cc/gc5fx another example of financial pressures leading to creative educational responses.

The crisis in our money systems should be seen as a real opportunity to build learning systems on what we do know about learning and real value for money. Perhaps the cuts could offer a quicker more intersting route to change in our moribund schooling systems.

Press release:

60% Of Managers Believe Gap Years Are Equally As Important As Or More Important Than Degrees When Looking For New Recruits

 Gap year travel wins greater recognition from UK employers

New independent research* commissioned by leading international volunteering company Projects Abroad, has found that 60 per cent of business managers believe that gap years are just as important or more important as a university degree when selecting candidates for interview.  More than 250 managers across several industry sectors in the UK were asked to rate the importance of the gap year against a degree; less than half (44 per cent), cited the traditional university degree as more important than gap year travel and seven per cent were convinced that gap years are more crucial than a degree when looking for potential job applicants.

 Interestingly, managers looking for new recruits in the HR, travel & transport and healthcare sectors are the most likely to consider gap years as equal in merit to a degree.  On the flipside, the engineering sector is most likely to rate the traditional university degree over the gap year.

 Managers in London and Northern Ireland were found to be the most accepting of gap year travel being as useful as a degree education, closely followed by the North West of England.   Managers in the North East of England and Scotland would prefer the comfort of a degree than those with exposure to overseas travel.

 These findings come in the wake of recent headlines surrounding the rise in university tuition fees and the predictions that gap year travel might decline as a result.

 Dr. Peter Slowe, founder and director of Projects Abroad comments, “These findings serve as a real wake-up call to anyone who ever doubted the value of overseas gap year travel.  To learn that gap year experiences hold an equal footing with employers alongside a degree, really shows just how far this once ‘off-the-wall’ concept has come, both in terms of its general credibility and an increased awareness across many professions and industries. Gap years can offer great life experiences and can be hugely rewarding and I hope that this research gives some comfort to those currently contemplating the prospect.  We hear hundreds of success stories every year around the world about the work that our gap year volunteers have been doing, such as teaching, conservation and care projects in Africa, Asia and South America.

 “In a climate where graduates in particular face fierce competition in the job market and need every opportunity to stand out from the crowd, we should be encouraging young people in this country to embrace the idea of gap year travel.  In the case of voluntary work it is a chance to live and work for a time in a different culture, experience real-life cultural exchange and to play a small but crucial role in the developing world.”

Company: Projects Abroad

The Education Bill – radical, but how will it work?

18 February 2011, 11am-1pm
Campaign for Learning, London
Event Information

 The Education Bill was published on 26 January 2011 and will have its second reading in the Commons on Tuesday 8 February 2011. The Bill implements the proposals set out in the White Paper ‘The Importance of Teaching’ and covers a range of policies including school discipline, the establishment of Academies, the raising of the participation age and abolition of school workforce quangos.

 Chris Waterman, Editor of Children’s Services Weekly and Professor John Howson, Managing Director of Education Data Surveys will provide an analysis of the Bill and look at the intended and possibly unintended consequences of the legislation. Tricia Hartley, Chief Executive of the Campaign for Learning, will chair the session and there will be plenty of time for discussion.

 Please note, all Campaign for Learning policy seminars are conducted under the Chatham House Rule to encourage openness and the sharing of information. ;

 Discounts are available for voluntary sector organisations and sole trading consultants, please contact Katie Bloom for further details.

Ten years ago, Education Guardian held a competition, The School I’d Like, offering children a chance to start setting the agenda for their own education. Did they get what they wanted? And are we listening to them any more today? http://tiny.cc/bddkv

Now the competition returns http://tiny.cc/et26s

It’s positive news to see this returning to the agenda. Will anyone listen to young people this time?

Centre for Personalised Education – Personalised Education Now

W: http://personalisededucationnow.org.uk

B: http://blog.personalisededucationnow.org.uk/

Educational Heretics Press W: http://edheretics.gn.apc.org/

Item from AERO E- News 30.01.2011. We brought Shikshantar http://www.swaraj.org/shikshantar/ to the attention of the CPE-PEN network a number of years ago. It’s great to see them at this AERO conference.

Nurturing Learning Ecologies, Building Learning Cities (Video)
Workshop by Shilpa Jain

A look at the experience of Shikshantar: The Peoples’ Movement for Rethinking Education and Development, in Udaipur, India, and their work in building a Learning City. How can the vast web of relationships, spaces, resources, etc. for learning be noticed, accessed, increased and imagined, to really build the world we want to see? Shikshantar has been working for 10 years; we have a lot of inspiring stories to share. Come and learn how you can get started too. A focus on appreciative interviewing and mapping your community.

Shilpa Jain spent the last ten years as a learning activist with Shikshantar: The Peoples’ Institute for Rethinking Education and Development, based in Udaipur, India. While there, Jain researched, wrote books and articles, facilitated workshops, and hosted gatherings on topics such as globalization, creative expressions, ecology, democratic living, innovative learning, and unlearning. Jain is currently working with Other Worlds Are Possible, a multi-media collaborative focused on grassroots alternatives, and with YES! (based in Santa Cruz, CA) as coordinator of the Global Youth Leadership Collaborative and of the Leveraging Privilege for Social Change Jam. All of her work seeks to uncover ways for people to free themselves from dominating, soul-crushing institutions, and to live in greater alignment with their hearts and deepest values, their local communities, and with nature. She is excited about growing new roots and new possibilities in the United States after many years away.

Find out more about this year’s AERO conference, “Transforming Education & Our World,” at www.educationrevolution.org/conference.html

 Watch the workshop video at: http://www.democraticeducation.com/2011/01/30/learningecologies/

Elise Bouldings’s Visions of a Peace-filled World. By Edith W. King,  Educational Sociologist

With thanks to Edith for sending us this piece she has written about Elise Boulding a figure who ought to be recognised more widely.

Elise Boulding, who passed away in 2010, should be held in our highest esteem for her vision of a world where all people of all nations abide in peace and security. This has been a utopian goal since biblical times.  Elise Boulding held that a culture of peace must be taught and learned. Education for a peaceful world is the direction and content of her many publications for teachers, social workers, and peace activists These groups have been involved in the study of child development on the learning of peaceful living, curriculum development for positive peace, training teachers and creating international schools dedicated to peace education. Read the rest of this entry »

Schooling The World: The White Man’s Last Burden by lost people films

With thanks to Prof Ian Cunningham Self Managed Learning College www.college.selfmanagedlearning.org for sending us this link. Not only does it flag up continuing educational colonisation it should remind us of the origins our own schooling systems.

Centre for Personalised Education – Personalised Education Now

W: http://personalisededucationnow.org.uk

B: http://blog.personalisededucationnow.org.uk/

Educational Heretics Press W: http://edheretics.gn.apc.org/