December 2010

  • The Academy Revises its Professional Standards

    The Higher Education Academy has embarked on a process to revise its professional standards framework, last agreed in 2006.   The Academy notes: Over the past four years, in addition to an emphasis on initial professional development, there have been...

  • DfE Statement

    I'm pleased to see that the DfE's position statement on sustainable schools is now published online. A personal disappointment is that the work that we did for the DCSF on the evidence for the benefits to young people of sustainable...

  • Watching the Swirling Snow ...

    ... from the 12th floor of Centre Point on Friday afternoon was only one of the pleasures afforded those of us lucky enough to be at the latest meeting of HEFCE's sustainable development steering group.  This was a workshop rather...

  • Welcome to another Dr Scott

    For an academic parent there surely cannot be a grander occasion than to see one of your children be awarded his PhD.  To the University of Liverpool, then, and the somewhat faded ART Deco splendour of the Philharmonic Hall.  It...

  • A Council of Despair

    I am reading a paper from the 3046th (sic) Council of Europe meeting on Education, Youth, Culture and Sport which sets out the Council's yawningly predictable "conclusions" on ESD.   The report "highlights the key role of education as a...

  • What's Allowed to Count as Citizenship Education?

    The DfE's School Research News reports today on two school citizenship reports.  The first is  Citizenship Education in England 2001-2010: young people’s practices and prospects for the future: the eighth and final report from the Citizenship Education Longitudinal Study. The other is...

  • Blog to Blog

    My esteemed New Zealand colleague Bronwen Harward has sent me a recent blog about the London student protests on 9th December.  She posed a few questions about how we view young people in the UK today.  Here's my response: We...

  • Tomorrow Today – more like Yesteryear

    I have been browsing Unesco's latest coffee table book: Tomorrow Today.  This is a heafty tome for which only strong (and rich) coffee tables need apply.  It sells for a cool $125.  However, with one or two exceptions, I thought...

  • Big Society 0 – Big Brother 1

    Yesterday's Guardian carried a story about a 12 year old schoolboy in the Prime Minister's constituency who has been campaigning against the closure of youth facilities in his town.   The Guardian reports that, on Thursday, he had his collar...

  • The World's Worst Questionnaire

    I confess that I have had to change my mind about this dubious accolade  which had previously been awarded to Unesco for plumbing new depths of impenetrability.  This was before I saw the latest effort from UNECE in its efforts...