Education, grammar and the squealing of the Left

The Telegraph reports "Pupils will be penalised in exams for poor spelling, punctuation and grammar under a sweeping overhaul of the education system."

Just listen to the lefties squealing about this. Learning grammar, punctuation and spelling is obviously soooo hard. Amazing how someone like my late mother, who left school at 14 before the war and who had no other formal education, could write English that was grammatically correct and properly punctuated. Many of our young people lack these basic skills. And they get to university. Believe me, I have to mark their papers.

Teenagers will lose up to five per cent of marks in GCSE examinations if they fail to display high standards of written English.

The rules, which are likely to apply to all subjects, including mathematics and science, follow claims that thousands of children leave school without being able to compose a sentence, spell difficult words or write a coherent letter or email.

The move, to be outlined in an education White Paper next week, would reverse a Labour decision seven years ago to scrap rewards for good literacy.

Michael Gove, the Education Secretary, said the building blocks of English had been "demolished by those who should have been giving our children a solid foundation in learning". Business leaders such as Sir Stuart Rose, the Marks & Spencer chairman, have complained that too many young people leave school "not fit for work".

Last night, the change was backed by educationalists who suggested it would give schools a greater incentive to train pupils in the basics of spelling and grammar. The written English requirements will be among a string of radical reforms designed to restore rigour to the examination system in England and promote the study of traditional subjects.

Next week's White Paper will also propose:

• A return to traditional A-levels by moving away from bite-sized "modular" courses in some subjects in favour of tests at the end of two years of study.

• Allowing universities to script A-level exams and syllabuses to ensure sixth-form courses act as a better preparation for a degree.

• The introduction of an "English Baccalaureate" that rewards pupils for gaining five good GCSEs in English, maths, science, foreign languages and a humanities subject.

• A ban on schools using vocational courses as "equivalent" qualifications to boost their ranking in GCSE league tables.

• A review of the National Curriculum to outline the key "bodies of knowledge" that children should master at each stage of their education.

• A reading test for all six year-olds to identify those struggling the most after a year of school, ensuring they receive extra tuition.

The Coalition reforms are being billed as an attempt to reverse 13 years of "dumbing down" by Labour. Mr Gove has been critical of changes to the exams system which he claimed had widened the gulf between independent and state schools. Many fee-paying schools have shifted pupils towards alternative exams following claims that mainstream tests are too easy.

In a speech, Mr Gove attacked Labour's decision to abandon requirements for pupils to spell correctly and use proper punctuation and grammar in GCSE exams.

In the past, five per cent of marks in all GCSE exams were ring-fenced for high standards of written English. But the rules were scrapped in 2003.

Good spelling and punctuation is still rewarded in some exams, but the number of marks available differs between subjects and often candidates are only rewarded for good English in certain questions. They are usually told which questions these are.

Mr Gove said: “Thousands of children – including some of our very brightest – leave school unable to compose a proper sentence, ignorant of basic grammar, incapable of writing a clear and accurate letter.

“And it’s not surprising when the last government explicitly removed the requirement to award a set number of marks for correct spelling, punctuation and grammar in examinations.

“The basic building blocks of English were demolished by those who should have been giving our children a solid foundation in learning.

“Under this Government we will insist that our exams, once more, take proper account of the need to spell, punctuate and write a grammatical sentence.”

The move, which will not at first apply to A-levels, was given a cautious welcome by examiners. Jim Sinclair, director of the Joint Council for Qualifications, which represents exam boards, said: “The previous system fell into disrepute because of cases where candidates were writing competently, spelling flawlessly and using correct grammar – therefore picking up the five per cent – but the subject content of their answers was rubbish.”

He added: “I wholeheartedly support the desire to ensure that when young people leave formal education that they are functionally

literate and numerate but I would caution against using crude instruments to disproportionately reward spelling, punctuation and grammar.”

Prof Alan Smithers, the director of the Centre for Education and Employment Research at Buckingham University, said: “Clear expression is evidence of clear thought. It is reasonable to expect accurate spelling and good use of grammar in an exam.

“The results mean less if the examiner is trying to project on to a poorly written answer what he or she thinks the candidate was attempting to say.”

Balls Builds Loony Schools

Ed Balls's plan to replace traditional subjects with 'thematic' lessons | Education | guardian.co.uk

Ed Balls continues New Labour's 'progressive' plans to completely fuck up education in Britain. Here are some of the things his new bill will introduce in 2011:

• Introduce a new license to practice for teachers, which they will have to reapply for periodically in order to prove their fitness to teach;

• Give schools greater flexibility in spending their budgets and encourage them to set up federations to share resources;

• Allow the introduction of a new school report card setting out the quality of services and pupils' achievements in each school to give parents better information than is currently available in exams-based league tables;

• Introduce a new register for home educated pupils run by local authorities.

Not even home schooling will remain out of the clutches of the incompetent state.

That won't matter, though, because:

There is greater emphasis on children's happiness and wellbeing. The bill also makes personal, social and health education – including sex education – mandatory in primary schools for the first time, though parents will still be allowed to opt their children out of lessons until they turn 15.

Ah, that 'wellbeing' bollocks again.

At primary level subject-based teaching will be eliminated in favour of thematic areas of learning:

The bill will legislate for the new primary curriculum, starting in September 2011, to reorganise traditional subject areas such as history and science into thematic areas of learning, such as "historical, geographical and social" lessons. The aim is to try to ease the pressures of the cumbersome curriculum on schools and give schools more freedom to do cross-subject thematic lessons.

Best thing most concerned parents can do is make sure they stock up on old-fashioned books full of unfashionable facts and get their kids to read them at home, because they sure as hell aren't going to learn anything in school in the future.

BBC Impartiality? It's An Education, Whatever

BBC partiality - unprofessional behaviour

Fausty takes exception to the treatment of Dr Sheila Lawlor in this discussion about school places.

The presenter, Naughtie, typically skews the discussion by not going back to the underlying problem but carries on with the government schtick about punishing parents who cheat. Dr Lawlor, however, does go back to the fundamentals.

Taylor (CEO of the RSA, Fausty, not the Arts Council, though these people are all of the same cloth) spins the whole thing and doesn't address the problem at all, which is what you'd expect from a former political adviser.

Hats off to Dr Lawlor, who doesn't put up with this shite. I'm coming round to her view that government ought to butt out of more than a basic input into education. The more they interfere and micro-manage, the worse it gets.

Mandelson Plans More Shit For Universities

University drop-out rates and graduate earnings to be tagged

University courses are to be tagged with their drop-out rates, graduates' future earnings and the number of contact hours students can expect with tutors. The move, which will be modelled on a food-labelling system, is part of a consumer revolution in higher education to be unveiled this week by Lord Mandelson, the universities secretary.

Students should be treated more as paying customers and given better information about the quality of their courses before they embark on a degree, the new government framework for universities is expected to say on Tuesday.

Yes! Just what we need! More fucking bureaucracy and fake statistics! More PR! More shit! Less learning! It's 1968 all over again, this time without the barricades! Students decide what they want to learn! Yeah! And if they don't get the grades they want they can blame their tutors!

Still, Mandelson's making 15 Year Plans when his government will be out on their arse within a year.

Trouble is, the Tories won't be any bloody better.

Tesco's Sir Terry Leahy attacks Government education record - Telegraph

Tesco's Sir Terry Leahy attacks Government education record - Telegraph

The head of Britain's largest private employer has said standards are "still woefully low in too many schools", adding that companies "are often left to pick up the pieces".

The same old stuff, but unfortunately true. BBC news had some educational buffoon on saying that businesses ought to be getting together with schools to make sure pupils get the skills that are required. It's pretty bloody obvious, though, isn't it? The ability to read, the ability to write correct English, with correct spelling and punctuation, the ability to cope with basic arithmetic - aren't these fairly straightforward?

Apparently not.

Education and Speeling The New Labout Way

Education, education, education...New Labour continues its relentless drive to eradicate education from schools as well as from the titles of its own ministries:

- Schools advised to abandon the 'i' before 'e' rule; the Department for Children, Families and Schools issues a 123-page document, Support For Spelling.

- Out of the nursery, into the rat race: the growth of private tutoring under New Labour. Labour is good for something then - private enterprise.

- Balls grabs more powers for himself in a new 'Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning' bill. That's his way of 'devolving responsibility locally'.

And Gordon Brown in the Guardian supplement:

And he really believes that the age we're living in is a progressive one. He cites a bit of evidence for this: for the first time, he says, teaching is the most popular occupation for people leaving university. "It's a great profession. I could move to teaching ... " He beams, as if to say, You see! There's always something else I can do!

Not a good idea.

Funtbag Flint Euro-Army And Cambridge Nonsense Education

EU army or not EU army? what do you think? - Caroline Flint (Labour MP) or the EU itself? Read Hugo Waterfield in The Times. Clue: Caroline Flint is a funtbag.

Education, education, education...the Cambridge Primary report apparently says that primary education in England concentrates too much on the basics.

Frank Chalk provides an adequate response:

Congratulations to Professor Robin Alexander who has successfully proved Chalk's 5th Law of Teaching; which states that whenever an educational academic speaks, you must immediately stick your fingers in your ears and repeatedly shout "La-La-La...".

When I first heard about it on the early news I was rather confused - the idea that schools under New Labour were concentrating too much on the basics seemed surreal. The government appeared miffed - presumably because they were being ticked off for over-testing, etc. Reading a precis of the Report, however, I began to suspect they were pissed off because they were being out-loonied and out-New-Laboured, thus:

The review suggests the primary curriculum should be "re-conceived" with 12 specific aims, which it arranges in three groups:

* The needs and capacities of the individual: wellbeing; engagement; empowerment; autonomy
* The individual in relation to others and the wider world: encouraging respect and reciprocity; promoting interdependence and sustainability; empowering local, national and global citizenship; celebrating culture and community
* Learning, knowing and doing: knowing, understanding, exploring and making sense; fostering skill; exciting the imagination; enacting dialogue.

These aims would be achieved through eight "domains", rather than a small number of subjects.

The domains would be: arts and creativity; citizenship and ethics; faith and belief; language, oracy and literacy; mathematics; physical and emotional health; place and time (geography and history); science and technology.

That's from the BBC website.

There you have it: 'wellbeing', 'empowerment', 'citizenship', 'celebrating', etc, all the usual vacuous buzz-words of the left; it's like reading the government's New Reich Plan for Children (Every Child Matters).

Educayshun, Eddukayshun, Edyoucaishn British Style

Not content with screwing up the state education system, the government is now looking for ways to screw up home schooling: 'Home teaching could mean abuse'. Since terrorism seems to have dropped off the agenda, child abuse is moral-panic-excuse de nos jours for Labour.

Unfortunately, the people who run the whole show are either illiterate or suffering from administrative logorrhoea, hence 'Literacy minister told to use plain English in reports'.

Policing Poetry For Correctness

Not that many people will find this of interest...a short while ago I found myself in a classroom looking through a copy of the Folens GCSE English for AQA/A textbook. As a poet, I was interested to see what poems and poets were being studied. Here are the featured poets:

Grace Nichols
Imtiaz Dharker
Sujata Bhatt
John Agard
Derek Walcott
Niyi Osundari
Lawrence Ferlinghetti
Denise Levertov
Tom Leonard.

Any comment I could make would be construed as racist but I do not believe that anyone can look at that list and not see an immense (and unjustifiable) imbalance. They're not all good poems, either.