On the Reading Reform Foundation website, Geraldine Carter has posted a link to a piece, ‘The Reader Gets Angry: Scenes from a PGCE‘, by Gabriella Gruder-Poni on her experiences as a PGCE student.The experiences Gabriella recounts are nothing short of a disgrace and, if her testimony is true, the imbeciles dispensing the advice she was… Continue reading ‘The Reader Gets Angry’
In the year’s last issue of the Sunday Times, Minette Marrin has some timely advice for us. Did I say, ‘for us’? I meant ‘on our behalf’. It addresses a number of important issues – get out of Afghanistan and Iraq – and a variety of people: to Peter Mandelson – ‘Stop talking’; to Harriet… Continue reading Above all, do no harm. And, if you are a primary teacher, teach the children to read!
In case you missed the BBC2 Newsnight programme last night (Friday 11th December), the guests were Anthony Horowitz, Michael Bywater, David Schneider and Bidisha (Mukherjee). Newly released films under discussion were Where the Wild Things Are and The Fantastic Mr Fox, and the adaptation of Terry Pratchett’s novel Nation at the National. There were reviews… Continue reading Newsnight review on BBC2: lets hear it for the kidults!
What did yesterday’s SATs news tell us that we didn’t already know? The results show a decline in performance, with more than 1400 primary schools falling below the government’s so-called ‘floor target’ for attainment in maths and English. What’s the government’s response? According to the BBC’s education correspondent, Gary Eason, it wants ‘local authorities to… Continue reading Further decline in SATs scores evidence that this government has run out of ideas.