German players seemed to have more to draw on as people than English counterparts; greater all round resources that helped them navigate tournaments and pressure points Jonathan Northcroft: interview with Frank Lampard, Sunday Times, May 28th 2017 In our great debates about education: vocational vs grammar, 21st Century skills for the jobs that don’t yet … More Academic Education For All
Lord Nash, speaking at the Challenge Partnership national conference, titled his talk: ‘what is relevant in business to education?’ According to the TES, he said that: “…too often teachers have confused their individuality with their professionalism… Being a professional means embracing accountability, standardisation and consistency, although of course we want our teachers to be inspiring.” He went … More Schools Are Not Businesses. A Message to Lord Nash.
The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilised community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not a sufficient warrant. JS Mill This week saw Milo Yiannopoulos banned after discussions with the DfE’s Counter Extremism Unit from … More On Milo and Free Speech in Schools
Creating a culture of speech in your classroom means having everyone doing it, not simply those that are willing – do not let students ‘hide’. Andrew Fitch, from the book: Trivium in Practice In a piece for the TES, Jonathan Simons, head of Education for Policy Exchange, wrote about the importance of debating: To debate, participants … More The Importance of Debate in Schools
In this morning’s Daily Telegraph Shaun Fenton the headmaster of Reigate Grammar School writes that: We should increase social mobility by using state funding to open access to independent schools. Independent schools should be challenged to educate even more disadvantaged young people… My proposition is that the partial state funding should be for those who … More On Independent School Education for Pupil Premium Children
The dove, in free flight cutting through the air the resistance of which it feels, could get the idea that it could do even better in airless space. Immanuel Kant: Critique of Pure Reason Pity our free spirits, constrained by the school and kicking against the pricks. Teenagers, angst ridden, knowing full well if the … More When Push Comes to Shove: Kant’s Dove
I was running late, grabbed some toast, said goodbye “good luck!” came the reply and with that I set off, no worries I thought, the school will offer me coffee… I arrived at the school on a drizzly summer day and pressed the buzzer, the door opened and in I went. Reception was packed with … More My Worst Job Interview
Managerialism is the idea that quantifiable administrative approaches are the correct way to run institutions. Efficiency is all and it can sometimes be value free in that what works becomes more important than what’s right. Employees become pawns in the game of delivery and the idea of management as neutral and post-ideological holds sway. The sociologist Max … More Remove Managerialism from the Classroom
It seems some classrooms have embraced Brexit fully, these classrooms can be spotted easily because you need a passport to enter them and sometimes a boarding pass too. On exiting these classrooms you may have to line up at the departure gate with your departure card and undergo some rigorous, yet ultimately futile, bureaucratic exercise … More Avoid the Brexit Classrooms
Reason is, and ought only to be the slave of the passions David Hume Try as we might to be rational beings, devoid of emotions, especially in times of crisis it is in times of crisis when we can’t help but notice we are nothing of the sort. When we experience visceral reactions to events … More Schools and Freedom of Speech
Trivium 21c 