{"id":6577,"date":"2016-01-27T07:18:31","date_gmt":"2016-01-27T07:18:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/?p=6577"},"modified":"2016-01-27T07:19:24","modified_gmt":"2016-01-27T07:19:24","slug":"another-dfe-attempt-at-a-straight-bat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/2016\/01\/27\/another-dfe-attempt-at-a-straight-bat\/","title":{"rendered":"A backward defensive stroke from the DfE"},"content":{"rendered":"

Back in the mists of time \u2013 it was October 2103 \u2013 I wrote about a letter<\/a>\u00a0I'd received\u00a0from the DfE explaining what it wasn't doing about sustainable development. \u00a0I commented, with what I felt were pleasing cricket metaphors ...<\/p>\n

This is the DfE straight bat; a solid defensive stance trying to cover all the stumps, and with both feet well inside the crease. \u00a0I'd say that it will take an in-swinging yorker to discomfort them. \u00a0SEEd is having a go at this, assembling a team of strike bowlers from its friends in the campaigning business to try to influence what the main 2015 election manifestos say. \u00a0In reality, it will likely be finesse rather than pace that will break the resistance. \u00a0Let's hope Graham Swann is on the team.<\/em><\/p>\n

Of course, this\u00a0is\u00a0a limited overs match, and SEEd may well be hoping for most luck with the side\u00a0currently fielding. \u00a0We shall see.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And see we did. \u00a0To everyone's surprise, including its own, the home team won (to mix metaphors) by a short head. \u00a0But, to no one's great surprise, the SEEd horse\u00a0was unplaced.<\/p>\n

I'm reminded of all this by a letter written by DfE minister, Nick Gibb, to the admirably persistent\u00a0Chris Southwood<\/a>. \u00a0Chris wrote asking\u00a0if DfE would\u00a0be going to respond in any way to the Paris Agreement to help future generations understand climate change and to actively participate in achieving the targets set. \u00a0This seemed a very reasonable enquiry \u2013 the full text of her\u00a0letter is here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Gibbs response is here<\/a>. \u00a0Needless to say it does not answer Chris's question \u2013 except to say that the government thinks it important that young people study the facts about climate change and the environment, and that, happily, the national curriculum provides opportunities to do so. \u00a0Huzzah!<\/p>\n

But what about all those youngsters who no longer have to study the national curriculum in England? \u00a0 They now comprise the majority of secondary school students, because of the shift to Academy status, and a growing proportion in primary schools.<\/p>\n

It is certainly telling that Gibb's response was in relation to the increasingly irrelevant national curriculum, rather than in relation to the 2002 Education Act which still applies to all schools. \u00a0Section 78 is key. \u00a0It begins ...<\/p>\n

78 \u2013 General requirements in relation to curriculum<\/em><\/p>\n

(1)\u00a0The curriculum for a maintained school or maintained nursery school satisfies the requirements of this section if it is a balanced and broadly based curriculum which ...<\/em><\/p>\n

(a)\u00a0promotes the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development of pupils at the school and of society, and<\/em><\/p>\n

(b)\u00a0prepares pupils at the school for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of later life.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If I had the energy, I'd ask Gibb how schools are supposed to do this without critically addressing the Paris Agreement, reminding him that, to do so, will involve more than setting out facts. \u00a0And I'd also ask him when he is going to act on his\u00a0responsibility\u00a0to remind schools to do this.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Back in the mists of time \u2013 it was October 2103 \u2013 I wrote about a letter\u00a0I'd received\u00a0from the DfE explaining what it wasn't doing about sustainable development. \u00a0I commented, with what I felt were pleasing cricket metaphors ... This...<\/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-6577","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\/6577","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=6577"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6577\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}