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Less Finger-Pointing, More Collaboration

Less Finger-Pointing, More Collaboration

Less Finger-Pointing, More Collaboration There are many who share culpability in the tragic and heart-breaking case of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes. It’s our grief-driven instinct that immediately wants to fight for justice for this mistreated youngster. We can rightly blame the murderer and the immediate man-slaughtering bystander, who watched his son endure months of neglect and abuse; Arthur being…

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Future Proofing Our Schools? - More on Positive Thinking

Future Proofing Our Schools? – More on Positive Thinking

Download 3D Eye is a great believer in positive thinking, and a recent edition of Radio 4’s series called Positive Thinking was well worth a listen. The title of the programme is Future Proofing Our Schools. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000tcb9 Are we future proofing our schools? Do we need to? Is the future a threat? Or is it a time of great opportunities that ought to be embraced?…

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"We need a different approach to education"

“We need a different approach to education”

Consider the following: “The consequences of the standardised exam system? It’s a classic example of unintended consequences. It began with good intentions which was to raise “standards”. It’s ended up with a tick-box, teach to the test, grade-factory approach to teaching – which is a disaster. It’s having a massive effect on the ability of young people to show curiosity and to acquire knowledge…

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The New Music Curriculum

The New Music Curriculum

The government has announced a new “Model Music Curriculum” – https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/teaching-music-in-schools Here is the press release: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-music-curriculum-to-help-schools-deliver-world-class-teaching The Model Music Curriculum (MMC) outlines a complex and prescriptive approach to learning music. It’s been developed “by a panel of 15…

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Some thoughts on science, problem solving and the reinvention of our system of education

Some thoughts on science, problem solving and the reinvention of our system of education

Heard on Radio 4’s Start The Week this week: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000tcnk A very interesting thought to begin this or indeed any week! One that teachers might put to their students. What are the most important problems currently affecting our daily lives? When should we end the covid lockdown, now that government has apparently abandoned following “the science”? Should we make…

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"I was born with music inside me"

“I was born with music inside me”

  So said the late, great Ray Charles. Heard on the Today programme this week, some thoughts by Professor Michael Spitzer: Professor Spitzer has written a book called “The Musical Human“. His publishers say, “It boldly puts the case that music is the most important thing we ever did; it is a fundamental part of what makes us human.” Music is what we take to our lonely desert islands, along with…

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A New Vision for Lifelong Learning

A New Vision for Lifelong Learning

According to an editorial in the Guardian, “a campaign is growing around a new vision for lifelong learning.“ https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/mar/21/the-guardian-view-on-adult-education-bring-back-evening-classes We might well ask why it’s taken so long for the Guardian and others to develop such a vision, and when was the last time anyone raised lifelong learning and adult…

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Progressing Education

Throughout the pandemic and the ensuing lockdowns, we’ve suggested a “return to normal” for education isn’t a viable option. Prior to Covid, a great many of our schools were focused on attainment rather than enjoyment of learning. Many teachers were target-driven rather than concentrating on the universal educational needs of the child in front of them. Education policy has been imposed rather…

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Child Mental Health Week, Again.

Child Mental Health Week, Again.

February 2021 – Child Mental Health Week – and we’re still reiterating & re-emphasising posts we’ve written about child mental health and wellbeing. (Reference, quotes, graphics and links to these will be shown throughout this post). Our children are still not sufficiently supported should they become affected by mental ill health, and the universal support for all children to prevent them from…

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Being Donald Trump: Education, Intelligences, Integrity and Impeachment

Why is Donald Trump so popular? This question has been asked repeatedly, and even more so in this time of insurrection and impeachment.  How has he managed to nurture an alternative universe of lies, deceit and half-truths? How has he managed to coerce millions of people in the USA and elsewhere into believing his tweeted and facebooked and Fox News nonsense? How did he inflame political debate…

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PSHE IS Compulsory

For those who don’t know, PSHE is compulsory. Now. Personal, social, health and economic education. Life skills. It’s been compulsory in schools since September 2020. Schools that are not teaching PSHE currently are expected to be doing so by the start of the summer term 2021 From the government website, “Relationships and sex education (RSE) and health education: The new curriculum will be…

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Education: Stuck in a Failing Paradigm

Education: Stuck in a Failing Paradigm

“Our education system has mined our minds in the way that we strip-mined the earth, for a particular commodity, and for the future it won’t serve us. We have to rethink the fundamental principles on which we are educating our children.” Remember that TED talk – from Sir Ken Robinson, who sadly died in this traumatic year of 2020? “We have to rethink the fundamental principles on which we are…

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Say NO to 2021 Exams - and beyond.

Say NO to 2021 Exams – and beyond.

Gavin Williamson has now stated his position clearly and has declared that students in English schools WILL be taking GCSE and A-Level examinations in the summer of 2021. A delay of three weeks has been provided for the six-month loss of formal and in-class learning. There will be no discretion or differentiation for students who have had to self-isolate or have been ill with Covid-19.

We’…

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Black History: For a Month or All Year Round?

Black History: For a Month or All Year Round?

Have you ever heard of Akyaaba Addai-Sebo? Probably not. How about Carter Goodwin Woodson? Is this a name you’ve encountered in your studies? No, not one known to us either.

What about Gerald Ford? The man who resided in the White House after Nixon was kicked out in disgrace.

Whilst these other names didn’t hold tremendous power, they have shaped the lives of millions of children and young…

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Gavin Gradgrind

It’s been reported that Gavin Williamson told a private Tory 1922 Committee meeting he plans to make children face the front of the classroom since this is a “good traditional teaching method” and a “commonsense approach to teaching”. Clearly it’s not a teaching method (pedagogy) – it’s a seating arrangement.

(He also called the National Education Union (NEU) the “No Education Union” and said he…

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Rethinking Education - Yet Again.

Rethinking Education – Yet Again.

Fair play to whoever is producing or editing the BBC’s “Rethink” series on BBC radio, and managed to insert an item on education into the Radio 4 Today programme this week. This is a series that asks what changes we can expect or SHOULD expect as we go through the Covid19 pandemic. Surely things can’t go back to old familiar ways?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-53082188

The discussion was…

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Time to Move On

Time to Move On

Back in 2013 we wrote the following:

https://3diassociates.wordpress.com/2013/02/01/rearranging-the-deckchairs/

Rearranging the Deckchairs

“You didn’t have to be an absolute genius back in 1912 [the year of the Titanic’s one and only voyage] to imagine that aircraft would become bigger, faster, more comfortable, more reliable, cheaper, more affordable and far preferable as a means of travel for…