Comments on: Why is UK educational policy so confident, yet so incompetent?

By: gpettyedit

gpettyedit — Wed, 01 Mar 2017 15:13:08 +0000

In reply to Joe Hughes. Sad story, and of course not restricted to Northern Ireland.

By: Joe Hughes

Joe Hughes — Wed, 01 Mar 2017 10:40:56 +0000

It really does seem ludicrous that people make such big decisions that are so clearly flawed and cost so much money. Northern Ireland is currently establishing a new Education Authority. It should be an exciting time with a chance to bring about school improvement through effective CPD, to focus on what happens in classrooms from 9.00 till 3.30. Instead they focus on writing action plans, or meetings with the school principal/SLT to discuss issues. Part of the problem is that the model of school improvement is not determined by evidence of what will be effective, but by what they can do with limited resources, or by an individuals personal agenda. Until we recognise that teachers make the difference, standards will continue to slide in Northern Ireland.

By: gpettyedit

gpettyedit — Sat, 17 Dec 2016 08:56:59 +0000

In reply to Nick Nicholson. Well its seems strange that they wouldn't care, I suppose it might also be that they have given up, or that the real focus of educational policy is to get re-elected rather than to actually improve things. Sad that these should be seen as incompatible. Thanks for your kind words about my book!

By: Nick Nicholson

Nick Nicholson — Tue, 13 Dec 2016 13:34:31 +0000

The only logical answer to the conundrum of why successive governments have continually ignored the abundant evidence and advice on improving education seems to be that, at best, they don’t really care about educational standards in the public realm and seek to manage it as cheaply and expediently as possible; and worse, there is a core, but largely unstated belief, that education is for the elite and therefore is an expensive nuisance that should be privatised as just another commodity to benefit further that elite. One looks over the pond with horror at how US education has been systematically dumbed-down to produce generations of unquestioning, bewildered youngsters who wonder why they have no access to jobs, wealth and quality of life.
Having read your hugely inspiring book, I can see that, with genuine political will and ambition to improve education for all, the answers are there for those who want to see them.

By: gpettyedit

gpettyedit — Mon, 04 Apr 2016 11:02:40 +0000

In reply to Mike Bryant. You'd think the Department for Education would be stuffed with people familiar with the evidence, and perhaps it is, though my own very very limited experience is that the top of the department is very ignorant and quite pleased about that. They certainly lack recent experience in schools and colleges. But do our politicians simply ignore expert briefings? Or don't they good briefing in the first place? Blair instituted the idea of "Personalised Learning" at the instigation of a manaagement consultant called Charles Ledbetter or something like it. Teachers thought it was an educational construct and wondered what it meant, it wasn't it was a political construct. The academic who wrote most about it eventually owned up to the Select Committee on education that the term meant next to nothing and wasn't useful!

By: gpettyedit

gpettyedit — Mon, 04 Apr 2016 10:53:02 +0000

In reply to Ria Steventon. Secretary of States are not usually experienced in the domain they work in, but if that were so, you'd think they'd take advice and follow the evidence. I'm interested in why they don't. Inequality is best dealt with by using teaching approaches that benefit most those with least achievement, like formative assessment for example, but we don't see that!

By: Mike Bryant

Mike Bryant — Mon, 04 Apr 2016 01:03:13 +0000

I remember that under Cameron / Ted Miliband both Government and Opposition systematically marginalised and excluded genuine ‘policy makers’ from the educational debate in favour of ministers and their offices, for multiple different political reasons that seemed to coincide and accelerate an existing trend. (I don’t know what’s happened since then, because I have left the United Kingdom, but looking at Geoff’s blog it doesn’t look optimistic!)

By: gpettyedit

gpettyedit — Sun, 03 Apr 2016 10:43:46 +0000

In reply to Mike Bell.

I’m sure he has a point there. I also really like your idea of reducing the power of the Secretary of State as you describe here:
http://schoolsimprovement.net/reducing-the-power-of-the-sec-of-state-for-ed-and-giving-it-to-an-independent-body/

By: Mike Bell

Mike Bell — Sun, 03 Apr 2016 06:41:25 +0000

I also like an observation Hattie makes. What politicians, journalists and parents want in a policy is something visible (academy status, smart uniform, marked homework, league table etc) while some of the most effective techniques are not visible outside the classroom (peer assessment, questioning, graphical approach etc).

By: oliver caviglioli

oliver caviglioli — Fri, 01 Apr 2016 17:21:21 +0000

Brilliantly written Geoff. Echoes of Jonathan Swift in your debunking of authority’s stupidity. Just one thing, how about including some cognitive science (which we used to know as cognitive psychology)? While based on laboratory experiments, this can be a strength rather than a weakness as the results are regularly replicated and are not subject to a variety of contextual factors found in wildly different cultures. That said, I am working with two young cog sci professors who regularly go from laboratory to classroom to check on the applicability of their findings. While the current re-discovery of the central place of memory is not everything, it is more, I feel, than had been admitted previously. I think such an addition to your list of evidence against which policy is framed, would be more complete and, also, more inclusive of a greater range of teachers and their approach to teaching.