Comment

  • Another ministerial stonewalling

    Here is the response that Steve Martin and I have had from the DfE in response to a letter we sent to Nicki Morgan at the end of November.  See what you make of it; I'll be commenting on a...

  • No wonder Druids are confused

    No wonder Druids are more confused than usual this time of year when sunset started getting later around December 15th, and the sunrise will only be earlier after January 1st – even though their blessed Solstice was on December 21st.  Actually, it was at...

  • The widening gulf between HEFCE and institutional activity

    At long last, HEFCE has published its policy framework on sustainable development: "Sustainable development in higher education: HEFCE’s role to date and a framework for its future actions".  You can access it here. If you decide to read it –...

  • Fires, Trees and Mud Pies – all in a day's schooling

    If it's a forest school, that is, or so the Guardian said in a feature last week.  Maybe every school teacher should find time to read this.  There are even positive stories about Ofsted.

  • Separate tracks, real synergy or a strategic error?

    Separate Tracks or Real Synergy? Achieving a Closer Relationship between Education and SD, Post-2015, is the title of a new article by Stephen Sterling based upon a longer concept paper: ‘Winning the Future We Want — the pivotal role of education...

  • My! How smart those Americans are getting

    A while back, The Economist recently had a brief piece (and nice graph) on grade inflation in the Ivy league, reporting that the median grade at Harvard is now A–, with A as the mode.  But hang on, the Economist said,...

  • COP out in Peru

    Is it any real surprise that 11000 'delegates' in Peru failed to come to a decisive outcome over the last couple of weeks in COP20?  How was that supposed to happen?  The COPs, which started out as modest affairs, have grown...

  • Climate Update – no change

    This morning's Guardian has a gloomy update on COP20 from Lima which shows that all the usual fault lines are still in place – not enough cash and bad faith galore.  The piece ends: In addition to finance, one of the...

  • Strong Winds in Scotland – not many dead

    In fact, despite warnings of biblical proportion from an increasingly frit Met Office, there were no dead at all, and I did wonder whether that rather irked the media outfits that had spent £zillions sending news teams to north-west Scotland to cover what...

  • COP20 – are they really closing the gap?

    The United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP20, comes at yet another "crucial moment, and talks continue on a draft international climate agreement due to be fanfared in Paris in 2015.  Carbon Brief has a comment on proceedings so far, as governments back away from accountability...