Toby Young: “The idea that somehow children want to be left to their own devices to run wild and play and discover the world for themselves, and any interference in that romantic process is cruel, is just rubbish…” Rousseau gets blamed for a lot of things in education being often cited as ‘where it all … More Rousseau, Romanticism, Education and Play
Good Lord, a Pygmalion of a row has exploded across social media and beyond, Lord Digby Jones, as he calls himself, set up a little culture war all by himself, with Alex Scott the ex-footballer and now commentator for the BBC: She responded: The Good Lord took umbrage at that: Ah, the elocution word. Elocution … More Lord Digby Jones and Cultural Capital
The value teachers place on the activities children engage in outside of school. In Lawrence Stenhouse’s wonderful book ‘An Introduction to Curriculum Research and Development’ there is a list of pupils’ interests and activities ranked by how their teachers approved/disapproved of them. It is quite an interesting, in some cases extraordinary, list. It was part … More Cultural Capital
Initially appealing, at least to me, the idea of cultural capital has begun to worry me. Though not coined by someone who admitted to being a Marxist, Pierre Bourdieu did draw quite heavily on Marxist thinking when it came to expounding his thesis. It is about power. Simply put, if you speak posh, go on … More Some Problems with Cultural Capital and Social Mobility
The aim of education is the knowledge, not of facts, but of values. – William Ralph Inge “The Training of the Reason” Do we know that torturing or killing a person for entertainment is wrong? Or is it that we just find it unpalatable? Is it merely guesswork on our part, is truth, outside of … More On A Knowledge-Rich Curriculum
In a piece for the TES Bernard Trafford wrote that: Assessment is linked, of course, to the whole question of reporting. Many parents still love nice, simple effort and attainment grades: they feel they know how their child is getting on. The message that such judgements are both arbitrary and unscientific is only now starting … More In Defence of the Graded Report Card
A striking conclusion that we have drawn from the findings is that, despite the fact that the curriculum is what is taught, there is little debate or reflection about it… there is a lack of clarity around the language of the curriculum. It is certainly possible that this ambiguity and lack of shared understanding expose … More Curriculum Series Number One: Curriculum Chaos
A level results day is always a bittersweet day for me, school left me when I was sixteen and by the time many of my friends were getting their A level results I was working on a market stall selling, amongst other things, whoopee cushions and fart powder. Both products with clear results. But I … More A Level Results Day and the Polymathic Adventurer!
Ron Berger’s famous ‘Austin’s Butterfly’ is a great lesson about how redrafting and feedback can help a child create a more accurate ‘scientific’ drawing of a butterfly. In the context of the task picture six is clearly the ‘best’ depiction of the butterfly. If one removes the context and no longer looks for accuracy … More The Problem With Austin’s Butterfly
Trivium 21c 