{"id":5177,"date":"2013-12-06T08:38:00","date_gmt":"2013-12-06T08:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/?p=5177"},"modified":"2013-12-06T08:38:00","modified_gmt":"2013-12-06T08:38:00","slug":"my-week-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/2013\/12\/06\/my-week-5\/","title":{"rendered":"My week"},"content":{"rendered":"

This began well with an extended cabaret on the lawn by a\u00a0green woodpecker and then the arrival of the first fieldfares. \u00a0Fortunately, we have enough apples and ants to cater for all.<\/p>\n

Poor PISA scores were heralded by Sunday newspaper stories that Mr Gove<\/a> was already blaming the last government for the continuation of the decline that was recorded in 2009<\/a>. \u00a0The big question was whether the Welsh<\/a> would still be going backwards. \u00a0As I have already noted this week, unsurprisingly, it turns out they are. \u00a0Equally unsurprisingly, Mr Gove could not resist pointing this out in a series of House of Commons exchanges with opposition MPs. \u00a0Whether Mr G's own policies will stem the tide \/ stop the rot \/ choose your metaphor, remains to be seen \u2013 probably around 2019 when the blog will fearless\u00a0report the outcome.<\/p>\n

\"JD<\/a>I was very pleased to see Justin Dillon finally make the finals of the international memory man competition\u00a0and reveal the secret of where all that talent comes from ...<\/p>\n

I noticed that there were new posters on the University of Bath's campus saying that the university was in the top ten in every national league table. \u00a0 This is the case, but only if you discount the efforts and output of \u00a0People and Planet<\/a><\/em> \u2013 which the university obviously \u00a0does, in more ways than one.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, an enthusiastic email arrived from the normally self-effacing\u00a0London RCE<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Papers are invited for the forthcoming conference,\u00a0Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) London: Supporting employability, society and the environment: a curriculum for sustainability \u2013<\/em> the first Annual Conference of the London Regional Centre of Expertise (RCE) on ESD, organised in partnership with 4 All of Us, a social enterprise event organisation. \u00a0Bringing together educationalists, NGOs and employers, the conference aims to develop a London wide community of practice, with a view of inspiring and engaging the participants in promoting a sustainable future for all.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Much evidence of collaborative ambition. \u00a0How odd, then, that the first three confirmed speakers are just the usual suspects from higher education (who will probably say what they usually do \u2013 and only one will be critical). \u00a0So, how many captains of industry will be speaking, I wonder? \u00a0 How many will be even attending? \u00a0Well, you know the answer, but here's a clue: it's the same as the number attending the launch of the Manifesto We all Want<\/a>. \u00a0Why do we (well, some of us) go on about the importance of business, but never bother to talk with its representatives?<\/p>\n

Matthew Taylor\u2019s annual Chief Executive\u2019s lecture<\/a> in which he asked: What does it mean to be a citizen at work<\/em>? is available. \u00a0Taylor argued that, \u201cby implementing robust standards for engagement, accountability, transparency and redress, we can recast the employer\/employee relationship and make better employment a national strategic priority.\u201d\u00a0 Much needed.<\/p>\n

To the Guardian Higher Education Awards<\/a><\/em> judging lunch on Wednesday. \u00a0Absorbing. The two categories I was involved with generated much discussion and mind re-making around the table. \u00a0Was justice done? \u00a0Well, it wasn't obviously undone, and I came away happy with the outcomes. \u00a0Tricky things these awards.<\/p>\n

Then there was the Turnip Prize \u2013 awarded on the same evening as the more prestigeous Turner Prize. \u00a0Both prizes, though miles apart in seriousness, share a penchant for seriously bad art, though Turnip manages it with more wit than Turner. \u00a0Channel 4 covered Turner, from Derry \/ Londonderry, and BBC West covered Turnip \u00a0from a pub in Somerset \/ Somerset. \u00a0The winning Turnip entry is\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This began well with an extended cabaret on the lawn by a\u00a0green woodpecker and then the arrival of the first fieldfares. \u00a0Fortunately, we have enough apples and ants to cater for all. Poor PISA scores were heralded by Sunday newspaper...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":237,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5177","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-comment","category-news-and-updates"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5177","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/237"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5177"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5177\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}