The 11-plus and the Ruane 11-plus
July 9, 2008
One obvious outcome of Minister for Education Caitriona Ruane’s new 11-plus test will be improved results. Prizes for everyone. This of course makes differentiation more difficult- entirely her object in the quest to aboloish selection.
Should there be any remaining doubt over the inadequacy of the revised curriculum this article from the BBC should remove them.
Be careful Caitriona when you tamper with chemicals.
Why Labour are making a Balls of Education
July 7, 2008
Labour’s latest ruse on education is to draw attention to the secondary modern schools. They imply that the sector is in need of rescue because of poor examination results. Once again Ed Balls, the Education Secretary, claims that this is not an attack on secondary moderns but a consequence of the grammar schools reluctance to just go away and permit Labour to claim education Nirvana.. These efforts are risable. What Mr Balls fails to understand is that secondary moderns exist because of grammars, they are the complementary partner in a selective system but collectively their results outperform the comprehensives.
Why is it that Mr Balls is attacking the two best performing sectors of the state education system while ignoring the problem child?
First because of inherited bias. His father, a teacher, hated grammars.
The second is to attempt deflection away from the failures of the city academies and specialist schools programme.
Out of 638 failing schools, 436 are specialist schools.
26 are academies.
The rebranding of cpmprehensives as academies and specialist schools, foolishly backed by the Cameron Tories to hide their difficulties over failing to backgrammars has produced the same familiar picture – one of an education system floundering under poverty of aspiration.
Melanie Phillips has once again hit the nail on the head. Perhaps if those who are trying to impose constructivist changes to the Northern Ireland education system on the back of a themes based curriculum, while claiming also to speak on behalf of parents, would read this they might understand why their proposals are doomed to failure.
http://www.melaniephillips.com/articles-new/?p=596
As Melanie Philips points out it will only end when the politicans throw out the rotten lot. These people are laughing at parents for their crass stupidity, laziness and willingness to accept pseudo-science as fact. Roll on September for the latest round.
