Reading Time: 5 minutes On the 17th October, teachers in my area will be striking. Here are the reasons why I support this strike with every fibre of my being and why I will be with my fellow striking teachers on a march in Portsmouth. What I do find annoying is that the unions have not done enough good […]
education
Posted inEducation
An Indictment of British (Faith) Free Schools
Reading Time: 4 minutes I am a big advocate of the state education sector in Britain. I hate Michael Gove, the Conservative Education Minister, with a passion. He is trying to deregulate and effectively privatise the education system. I will joining my brothers and sisters on strike on the 17th October. I will be explaining why the strike is […]
Posted inEducation
Concerns raised about gender and religious discrimination at Derby Muslim Free School
Reading Time: 2 minutes The Derby Telegraph has reported that Al-Madinah School, a Muslim Free School that opened in Derby in September 2012, is forcing all female members of staff to wear a hijab (whether Muslim or not), and is requiring girls to sit at the back of classrooms. The Sunday Times is further reporting that reading fairy tales, singing and stringed instruments are banned due to being ‘forbidden in Islam’, and the school’s (non-Muslim) head and deputy head were bullied into resignation by the governing body due to the latter being belittled and sidelined as a result of her lack of faith – leading to both lodging official complaints of bullying with the Department for Education (DfE).
Posted inEducation, Science
Genetic Variants Linked to Educational Attainment
Reading Time: 3 minutes A multi-national team of researchers has identified genetic markers that predict educational attainment by pooling data from more than 125,000 individuals in the United States, Australia, and 13 western European countries.
Posted inEducation, Psychology
Islamic ‘inspired’ stabbing; government approves 25 faith schools; exclusivist policies abound
Reading Time: 4 minutes So a British soldier was stabbed to death in public, the atrocity being caught and shared on social media. They stayed around to be arrested, not afraid of the consequences, and this is the scary thing. Now there is a widespread Muslim backlash. To make matters worse, the government has admitted that “thousands are at risk of radicalisation” in the UK.
So what do we do to unite society? What do we do to make it more inclusive and less exclusive? How do we break the in-group / out-group psychology which fuels the fires of societal discontent and fear? How to we pull down the walls of separation of ‘us’ and ‘them’?
Posted inEducation, Psychology
The problem with when you are born – age standardisation
Reading Time: 5 minutes I researched about this for my first book, Free Will? As a teacher I am acutely aware of this, but it seems like nothing is ever done. However, the stats have consistently supported the fact that there is a problem with achievement and self-confidence. Let me explain.
In the Uk, for example, children start school at aged 5. The cut-off date is September 1st. This means that a child can be born on September 1st and be in the same school year as someone born on August 30th LATER that same year. In other words, one child can be 60 months old, and another effectively 48 months old when they start school.
Posted inEducation
Why don’t we just ban fundamentalist schools?
Reading Time: 4 minutes I posted a Guardian article about ACE (Christian fundamentalist) schooling. I have found the website of the author (Jonny Scaramanga) and came across this interesting post. See what you think:
Posted inEducation
Are fundamentalist schools up to standard?
Reading Time: 3 minutes Biased political statements in Accelerated Christian Education schools’ curriculum may be incompatible with new standardsAn Ace English test question. The ‘correct’ answer is b.
The Accelerated Christian Education (Ace) group of fundamentalist schools has gone largely unnoticed by academic researchers and the mainstream media. Recent changes to legislation could mean the education they provide does not meet new standards.
Posted inEducation, Evolution
Old Earth, Young Minds: Evangelical Homeschoolers Embrace Evolution
Reading Time: 4 minutes This is a fascinating article. It amazes me that parents can torture their children with AIG inspired textbooks. This is an albeit small step in the right direction:
Posted inEducation, Evolution
Dang. The Republicans: dinosaurs + people = pass your exams…?
Reading Time: 2 minutes Oh shit. UPDATE: On February 19, HB1674 passed through the Oklahoma Common Education committee on a 9-8 vote. In biology class, public school students can’t generally argue that dinosaurs and people ran around Earth at the same time, at least not without risking a big fat F. But that could soon change for kids in Oklahoma: On […]