http://www.guardian.co.uk/education Latest news and features from guardian.co.uk, the world's leading liberal voice en-gb &copy; Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 Sun, 05 Sep 2010 17:51:02 GMT http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds 15 http://image.guardian.co.uk/sitecrumbs/Guardian.gif http://www.guardian.co.uk/education http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/sep/03/social-class-achievement-school/print <div class="track"><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.20.4/51909?ns=guardian&pageName=Social+class+affects+white+pupils%27+exam+results+more+than+those+of+ethni%3AArticle%3A1446884&ch=Education&c3=Guardian&c4=Race+in+education%2CRace+in+schools%2CSchools%2CGCSEs%2CEducation%2CSocial+exclusion+%28Society%29%2CSociety%2CUK+news&c5=Society+Weekly%2CNot+commercially+useful%2CEducation+Weekly+Education%2CSocial+Care+Society%2CSchools+Education&c6=Jessica+Shepherd&c7=10-Sep-03&c8=1446884&c9=Article&c10=News&c11=Education&c13=&c25=&c30=content&h2=GU%2FEducation%2FRace+in+education" width="1" height="1" /></div><p class="standfirst">Poverty affects grades less among non-white children with social divide noticeable from primary school</p><p>A child's social class is more likely to determine how well they perform in school if they are white than if they come from an ethnic minority, researchers have discovered.</p><p>The gap between the proportion of working-class pupils and middle-class pupils who achieve five A* to C grades at GCSE is largest among white pupils, academics found.</p><p>They analysed official data showing thousands of teenagers' grades between 2003 and 2007. Some 31% of white pupils on free school meals – a key indicator of poverty – achieve five A* to Cs, compared with 63% of white pupils not eligible for free school meals, they found.</p><p>This gap between social classes – of 32 percentage points – is far higher for white pupils than for other ethnic groups.</p><p>For Bangladeshi pupils, the gap is seven percentage points, while for Chinese pupils it is just five percentage points, the researchers discovered.</p><p>The study – Ethnicity and class: GCSE performance – will be presented to the <a href="http://www.bera.ac.uk/" title="">British Educational Research Association</a> conference at Warwick University tomorrow.</p><p>It argues that one of the reasons why class determines how white pupils perform at school is that white working-class parents may have lower expectations of their children than working-class parents from other ethnic groups.</p><p>The researchers, from the Institute of Education and Queen Mary, both part of the University of London, also found that Chinese pupils from families in routine and manual jobs perform better than white pupils from managerial and professional backgrounds. They also discovered that African and Bangladeshi girls had vastly improved their GCSE grades in the last few years.</p><p>Professor Ramesh Kapadia, who led the study, said this may be linked to "cultural aspirations and expectations, as well as parental support for education. This appears to have been the case for Indian and Chinese pupils for many years," he said.</p><p>A separate study has found that a similar pattern can be identified for children in primary schools: social class is more likely to determine how well a pupil will perform if that child is white than if they are from other ethnic groups.</p><p>Researchers from the University of Warwick analysed the scores of pupils living in the south London borough of Lambeth. White children from well-off homes were the top-performing ethnic group at the age of 11, while white pupils eligible for free school meals had among the worst test results.</p><p><a href="http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/wie/staff/teaching-research/steve_strand/" title="">Professor Steve Strand</a>, who will present the findings to the <a href="http://www.bera.ac.uk/" title="">British Educational Research Association</a>'s conference today, said the effects of poverty are "much less pronounced for most minority ethnic groups".</p><p>"Those from low socio-economic backgrounds seem to be much more resilient to the impact of disadvantage than their white British peers," he said.</p><p>However, he added that well-off white children may do particularly well because their parents might be "a bit more savvy about ensuring that they go to schools with similar pupils".</p><p>"More recent immigrant groups, such as the Portuguese, Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities often see education as the way out of the poverty they have come from. By contrast, if you've been in a white working-class family for three generations, with high unemployment, you don't necessarily believe that education is going to change that.</p><p>"All of these factors may combine to make the effect of socio-economic status remarkably strong for white British kids."</p><p>Meanwhile, headteachers' leaders have warned secondary schools to consider axing subjects that few pupils take to cope with imminent budget cuts.</p><p>The Association of School and College Leaders told the <a href="http://www.tes.co.uk/" title="">Times Educational Supplement</a> that A-levels in foreign languages, for example, could be scrapped. <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/aug/24/gcse-results-2010-languages-sciences-french" title="">Last week, French dropped out of the top 10 most popular GCSEs for the first time.</a> "Languages in some schools will be vulnerable," he said. "We are already worried about them and this could speed up the decline."</p><div class="related" style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/raceineducation">Race in education</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/raceinschools">Race in schools</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/schools">Schools</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/gcses">GCSEs</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/socialexclusion">Social exclusion</a></li></ul></div><div class="author"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/jessicashepherd">Jessica Shepherd</a></div><br/><div class="terms"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> &copy; Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/help/feeds">More Feeds</a></div><p style="clear:both" /> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/BJgMlBI32pjb8SU9O9sI0jaxgwQ/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/BJgMlBI32pjb8SU9O9sI0jaxgwQ/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/BJgMlBI32pjb8SU9O9sI0jaxgwQ/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/BJgMlBI32pjb8SU9O9sI0jaxgwQ/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p> Race in education Race in schools Schools GCSEs Education Social exclusion Society UK news The Guardian News http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/sep/03/social-class-achievement-school Thu, 02 Sep 2010 23:05:20 GMT http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/sep/03/school-lotteries-fail-to-help-poor/print <div class="track"><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.20.4/3394?ns=guardian&pageName=School+lotteries+fail+to+help+poorer+pupils%3AArticle%3A1446707&ch=Education&c3=Guardian&c4=School+admissions%2CSchools%2CEducation%2CUK+news&c5=Not+commercially+useful%2CEducation+Weekly+Education%2CSchools+Education&c6=Jessica+Shepherd&c7=10-Sep-03&c8=1446707&c9=Article&c10=News&c11=Education&c13=&c25=&c30=content&h2=GU%2FEducation%2FSchool+admissions" width="1" height="1" /></div><p class="standfirst">Middle-class families still dominate best schools despite attempts to close class gap</p><p>Middle-class families monopolise the best schools even when a lottery is used to allocate places, according to a study published today.</p><p>Lotteries have been seen by some educationists as a way of reducing deep-seated class divisions in the school system. The highest-performing schools tend to cluster in the wealthiest neighbourhoods; if places are allocated according to how near a family lives to a school – rather than by a lottery – children from the poorest areas miss out.</p><p>Lotteries are said to be used to distribute places in at least one school in up to a third of councils across England. In Brighton and Hove, all pupils have been assigned secondary school places in this way for the past two years.</p><p>But researchers have found lotteries alone fail to give poor children a higher chance of attending a top school, and marginally narrow the likelihood they will win a place at a high-performing school.</p><p>Their study analysed how far Brighton and Hove's lottery admissions system had improved the chances of poor pupils attending top schools, and who the main winners and losers were when places were allocated randomly.</p><p>The researchers, from the Institute of Education, University of London and the University of Bristol, analysed which schools thousands of pupils attended before and after the lottery system was implemented. The study is being presented to the British Educational Research Association conference today.</p><p>Brighton and Hove council does not allocate places entirely randomly. Parents can apply to any school, but priority is given to those who live within a designated catchment area. First, a lottery is used to decide who gets a place within a catchment area. A second lottery is used for any spare places that are not filled by those within a school's catchment area. But there are few spare places for children outside the catchment area of the best schools, so the lottery does not help the poorest, the academics found.</p><p>Pupils on free school meals – a key indicator of poverty – were "slightly" more likely to be at school with other pupils on free school meals under Brighton's lottery system than under the previous system that allocated places to families living nearest the school to which they have applied, the academics discovered.</p><p>They also found that when places were assigned through a lottery, the brightest pupils, as well as the poorest, lost out. Pupils with high scores were less likely to attend a high-performing school than they would otherwise.</p><p>Rebecca Allen, senior lecturer in the economics of education at the Institute of Education and one of the main authors, said Brighton's lottery system would just lead to families relocating to the catchment areas of the best schools. House prices would adjust and keep the poorest families out of these neighbourhoods.</p><p>"It seems unlikely the reforms will substantially lower social segregation across schools even in the long run," Allen said.</p><p>"Differences in the quality of housing stock across areas of Brighton are deeply entrenched and the boundaries of the new catchment areas mean that families living in the most deprived neighbourhoods have little chance of accessing the most popular schools in the centre of the city."</p><p>The study, on the early impact of Brighton and Hove's school admissions reforms, will be published by the Centre for Market and Public Organisation at the University of Bristol.</p><p>Currently a pupil eligible for free school meals is 30% more likely to attend a school with exam results – well below the national average than an otherwise identical child from a better-off family.</p><div class="related" style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/schooladmissions">School admissions</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/schools">Schools</a></li></ul></div><div class="author"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/jessicashepherd">Jessica Shepherd</a></div><br/><div class="terms"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> &copy; Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/help/feeds">More Feeds</a></div><p style="clear:both" /> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/sWnCIYH-yMFcNJVy58MLa-H6MC0/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/sWnCIYH-yMFcNJVy58MLa-H6MC0/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/sWnCIYH-yMFcNJVy58MLa-H6MC0/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/sWnCIYH-yMFcNJVy58MLa-H6MC0/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p> School admissions Schools Education UK news The Guardian News http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/sep/03/school-lotteries-fail-to-help-poor Thu, 02 Sep 2010 23:01:14 GMT http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/sep/02/arran-fernandez-maths-prodigy-cambridge/print <div class="track"><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.20.4/79670?ns=guardian&pageName=Maths+prodigy%2C+now+15%2C+heads+for+Cambridge%3AArticle%3A1446878&ch=Education&c3=Guardian&c4=Mathematics+%28Education+subject%29%2CEducation%2CCambridge+University%2CHigher+education%2CUK+news&c5=Not+commercially+useful%2CEducation+Weekly+Education%2CHigher+Education&c6=Jessica+Shepherd&c7=10-Sep-02&c8=1446878&c9=Article&c10=News&c11=Education&c13=&c25=&c30=content&h2=GU%2FEducation%2FMathematics" width="1" height="1" /></div><p class="standfirst">Arran Fernandez, who hit headlines in 2001 for his mathematical prowess, set to become university's youngest student since 1773</p><p>At 15, most teenagers are struggling to get their heads around the algebra and equations of maths GCSE. Not Arran Fernandez.</p><p>Next month, he will become the youngest student at Cambridge University for 237 years – aged 15 and three months.</p><p>Arran, an only child who has been home schooled, will study maths at Cambridge, the youngest to attend the university since William Pitt the Younger was offered a place as a 14-year-old in 1773.</p><p>Arran first made headlines in 2001, aged five, when he gained the highest grade in the foundation maths paper. At the time he said he was considering becoming a lorry driver.</p><p>He has now decided he wants to be a research mathematician and find a solution to the Riemann hypothesis – the unsolved theory about the patterns of prime numbers that has baffled mathematicians for 150 years.</p><p>Fernandez will live with his father, Neil, in rented accommodation. He said he would miss his mother, Hilde, who will stay at the family home in Surrey and see her son at weekends and in university holidays.</p><p>The teenager plans to join the university's bird watching society and develop his interest in English literature.</p><p>"I'm excited about starting the course and advancing my knowledge of maths," he said. "It isn't the youngest bit that is so important to me – I am more interested in going to Cambridge than comparing myself with other people who go there."</p><p>He was not upset that he would be barred from the bar at the college that has offered him a place – Fitzwilliam College.</p><p>"I don't feel like I'm missing out on much. Even if I was 18, I wouldn't want to go out drinking," he said.</p><p>His parents said they were very proud of their son, who scored an A* in maths GCSE aged seven and has just achieved top grades in maths, further maths and physics A-level.</p><p>He will join the likes of Isaac Newton, who also studied at Cambridge, and Stephen Hawking, who like Newton was Lucasian Professor of Mathematics there. But he will also be following the path of other child prodigies, some of whom have come to regret being separated from their peer group and starting university so early.</p><p>Sufiah Yusof achieved a place at St Hilda's College, Oxford University, in 1997, to study maths at the age of 13. But In 2001, she ran away after taking her final exam for the academic year. She was discovered working as a waitress in a Bournemouth internet cafe two weeks later, but refused to return home. She claimed her parents had made life difficult for her and lived with a foster family instead. She never finished her course.</p><p>In March 2008, a reporter for the News of the World found her advertising as a prostitute under the name Shilpa Lee. She is now said to be working as a social worker.</p><p>In 1985, Ruth Lawrence became Oxford University's youngest-ever maths graduate at 13. She had been tutored by her father. She is now a maths professor in Israel, married with two children and has said she would not want to do the same to her son.</p><p>Paul Chirico, a senior tutor at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, said Arran had achieved the conditions of his offer to read maths. "Fitzwilliam considers all applications to the college very carefully, regardless of background. Arran was assessed as part of this well-established process and his considerable academic potential was recognised." Children cannot live in student accommodation, because the university cannot carry out criminal record checks on all the other undergraduates.</p><div class="related" style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/mathematics">Mathematics</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/cambridgeuniversity">University of Cambridge</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/higher-education">Higher education</a></li></ul></div><div class="author"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/jessicashepherd">Jessica Shepherd</a></div><br/><div class="terms"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> &copy; Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/help/feeds">More Feeds</a></div><p style="clear:both" /> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/ZOa_OibGaADXZvfK5KpxXM5wPU8/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/ZOa_OibGaADXZvfK5KpxXM5wPU8/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/ZOa_OibGaADXZvfK5KpxXM5wPU8/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/ZOa_OibGaADXZvfK5KpxXM5wPU8/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p> Mathematics Education University of Cambridge Higher education UK news The Guardian News http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/sep/02/arran-fernandez-maths-prodigy-cambridge Thu, 02 Sep 2010 20:50:44 GMT http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/sep/05/michael-gove-baccalaureate-gcse/print <div class="track"><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.20.4/86631?ns=guardian&pageName=Michael+Gove+wants+baccalaureate+qualification+for+England%3AArticle%3A1447681&ch=Politics&c3=Guardian&c4=Michael+Gove%2CEducation+policy%2CPolitics%2CGCSEs%2CSchools%2CEducation%2CEd+Balls&c5=Policy+Society%2CNot+commercially+useful%2CEducation+Weekly+Education%2CSchools+Education&c6=Patrick+Wintour&c7=10-Sep-05&c8=1447681&c9=Article&c10=News&c11=Politics&c13=&c25=&c30=content&h2=GU%2FPolitics%2FMichael+Gove" width="1" height="1" /></div><p class="standfirst">Pupils with five GCSEs would gain the proposed certificate as 'special recognition', says education secretary</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>The education secretary, Michael Gove, today announced plans to combat the decline in exam standards by proposing an English baccalaureate qualification to recognise the achievements of GCSE students who complete a broad course of studies.</p><p>The "English bac" would not replace GCSEs, but would be a certificate to reward pupils who pass at least five of the exams, at grade C or above including English, maths, one science, one foreign language and one humanity. "If you get five GCSEs in those areas, I think you should be entitled to special recognition," Gove said.</p><p>The details will be set out in a white paper in the autumn, but Gove will flesh out some aspects in a speech tomorrow, seen by Labour as an attempt to divert attention from the fact that he is only able to announce 17 new free schools.</p><p>Ed Balls, the shadow education secretary, said it was laughable that Gove claimed he was on course to succeed with plans for new schools set up by parents and teachers.</p><p>Gove also revealed plans to "declutter" A-levels, slimming down the number of modules and exams faced by students in order to allow them more time for extra-curricular pursuits such as art, music and sport, as well as "deep study" in their chosen subjects.</p><p>Speaking on BBC1's Andrew Marr Show, Gove said he wanted to "transform the accountability systems, the league tables, the whole qualification system in this country".</p><p>GCSE league tables obscured the exams pupils are taking and hide the flight from languages and tougher subjects such as science, his aides said. The education secretary was not seeking to instruct pupils what exams to take, but the baccalaureate would be a way of rewarding those that took a wider range of subjects.</p><p>Gove said the narrowing of the range of exams being taken was "depriving young people of the things they should get from education, which is a rounded sense of how to understand this world in all its complexity and richness. "If you don't understand science and you don't understand other cultures, you are deliberately cutting yourself off from the best that is going on in our world."Gove said he was "very attracted" by the baccalaureate systems operated by many European and Asian countries which deliver a broader educational curriculum than in England.</p><p>"One of the concerns about the English education system is that people's options are narrowed too early," he said.</p><p>"I am deeply concerned that fewer and fewer students are studying languages, it not only breeds insularity, it means an integral part of the brain's learning capacity rusts unused.</p><p>"I am determined that we step up the number of students studying proper science subjects. Asian countries massively outstrip us in the growth of scientific learning and they are already reaping the cultural and economic benefits."</p><p>The percentage of pupils gaining a baccalaureate would be included in school league tables, allowing parents to assess which schools were likely to give their children a broad academic education.</p><p>Gove's aides said the policy of "equivalence" introduced in 2004, under which vocational qualifications were given parity with academic exams when compiling league tables, had led to perverse incentives for schools to put children through easier courses.</p><p>Gove made clear that he intended to retain A-levels, but said it was important to ensure they "remain a proper preparation for university", and he has asked universities to contribute to reform of the system.</p><p>"There are parents who worry that what used to be a clear two-year run during the sixth form – when you had the chance to do sport and art and music as well as getting into deep study – has become cluttered up by too many modules, too many exams, which have led to too much time being spent weighing what you know and not enough time actually getting to grips with the subject," he said.</p><p>Balls said: "If Michael Gove was serious about making sure young people get a broad and balanced education, he would not be scrapping diplomas or saying vocational qualifications should count for less in school-to-school comparison."</p><div class="related" style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/michaelgove">Michael Gove</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/education">Education policy</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/gcses">GCSEs</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/schools">Schools</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/edballs">Ed Balls</a></li></ul></div><div class="author"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/patrickwintour">Patrick Wintour</a></div><br/><div class="terms"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> &copy; Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/help/feeds">More Feeds</a></div><p style="clear:both" /> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/aytDng3HPSRVzZkS-fQUfJqgJTs/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/aytDng3HPSRVzZkS-fQUfJqgJTs/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/aytDng3HPSRVzZkS-fQUfJqgJTs/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/aytDng3HPSRVzZkS-fQUfJqgJTs/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p> Michael Gove Education policy Politics GCSEs Schools Education Ed Balls The Guardian News http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/sep/05/michael-gove-baccalaureate-gcse Sun, 05 Sep 2010 17:46:26 GMT http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/sep/05/french-schools-pupils-feel-worthless/print <div class="track"><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.20.4/58207?ns=guardian&pageName=British+lecturer+Peter+Gumbel+attacks+French+education+culture%3AArticle%3A1447498&ch=World+news&c3=Obs&c4=France%2CEducation%2CWorld+news&c5=Not+commercially+useful%2CEducation+Weekly+Education&c6=Kim+Willsher&c7=10-Sep-05&c8=1447498&c9=Article&c10=News&c11=World+news&c13=&c25=&c30=content&h2=GU%2FWorld+news%2FFrance" width="1" height="1" /></div><p class="standfirst">A British academic has provoked a storm by claiming that the French education system robs its pupils of their&nbsp;self-esteem</p><p></p><p>A British teacher at one of the leading universities in Paris has produced an extraordinary indictment of France's admired schools, saying they humiliate pupils and could learn much from other countries, including Britain.</p><p>In a book to be published this week, Peter Gumbel, a lecturer at the Institute of Political Science – known as Sciences Po – attacks a classroom culture that brands students "worthless" and that he says is counterproductive and contrary to France's republican ideals. <em>On achève bien les écoliers?</em> (<em>They Shoot Schoolchildren, Don't They?</em>) has already provoked a storm.</p><p>"Why is France the only country in the world that discourages children because of what they cannot do, rather than encouraging them to do what they can?" Gumbel writes. "I believe France is missing a key element of what's wrong with the school system, an element that is immediately apparent to any foreigner who comes into contact with it: the harshness of the classroom culture.</p><p>"It's a culture you can sum up as <em>T'es nul</em> (You're worthless). You hear these words all the time in France."</p><p>Gumbel says studies by World Health Organisation groups and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in Europe reveal that, in France, more than six out of 10 schoolchildren complain of being anxious, four in 10 have difficulty sleeping, and more than two in 10 have a stomach or headache at least once a week. "These studies show that, while French children score quite highly in European studies on their ability and performance, when asked they rate themselves below countries with low levels of literacy," he said. "So even when they have the ability, their self-esteem has been knocked out of them."</p><p>Gumbel's book praises British schools, which may surprise UK parents accustomed to having them compared unfavourably with those across the channel. He told the <em>Observer</em>: "Although the French with their national curriculum have maintained standards and avoided being dumbed down, their system focuses on the transmission of knowledge and doesn't even remotely address the child or their wellbeing.</p><p>"There is more to school than getting good marks, and in Britain schools are not just a about your brain but about sport and arts and finding lots of different ways of excelling. The British system may focus less on results, but it nurtures self-esteem, personality and character, which is something totally missing from the French system and this is tragic."</p><p>Gumbel's attack has touched a nerve in France. On radio talk shows, his views have had overwhelming support from parents; his book was also given a six-page review in the respected news magazine <em>Le Nouvel Observateur</em>.</p><p>Philippe Meirieu, a professor in education science, admitted: "Our way of testing and evaluating [pupils] discourages creativity and the personal involvement of the pupils. This is the cause of the relative passivity they show and that Peter Gumbel deplores. If pupils hardly ask questions in class it's because they don't really feel bothered about what they're being told or fear being stigmatised by their classmates."</p><p>Patrick Gonthier, secretary- general of France's second-biggest teaching union, Unsa Education, said: "Our teaching staff could take this as an attack, but they are not being blamed. It's the whole French school system that is stubborn to change and remains profoundly elitist and dedicated to the grading and the selection of the best. For this to change and other teaching methods to be introduced into classes there has to be a strong consensus among professors, parents and politicians to challenge this elitism and focus on the success of everyone at school, and we are far from having that."</p><p>Gumbel, 52, who also works as a journalist, has lived in Paris since 2002 and was prompted to criticise French schools, colleges and universities after putting his two daughters, now aged 10 and 13, into the education system.</p><p>"There are 16,000 new teachers entering French schools this term who are undoubtedly very clever but haven't the slightest idea about how to teach, and that is scandalous," he said. "The key to good schools, as other countries have discovered, is having good teachers."</p><div class="related" style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/france">France</a></li></ul></div><div class="author"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/kim-willsher">Kim Willsher</a></div><br/><div class="terms"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> &copy; Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/help/feeds">More Feeds</a></div><p style="clear:both" /> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/J79rEvY_zDYnu17UxKZg7o9gdGc/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/J79rEvY_zDYnu17UxKZg7o9gdGc/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/J79rEvY_zDYnu17UxKZg7o9gdGc/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/J79rEvY_zDYnu17UxKZg7o9gdGc/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p> France Education World news The Observer News http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/sep/05/french-schools-pupils-feel-worthless Sat, 04 Sep 2010 23:07:14 GMT http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/sep/05/michael-gove-schools-academies/print <div class="track"><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.20.4/63000?ns=guardian&pageName=Schools+are+lining+up+for+academy+status.+But+not+enough+for+Michael+Gov%3AArticle%3A1447098&ch=Education&c3=Obs&c4=Academies+%28Education%29%2CMichael+Gove%2CEducation%2CUK+news%2CPolitics&c5=Not+commercially+useful%2CEducation+Weekly+Education&c6=Liz+Lightfoot+%28contributor%29&c7=10-Sep-05&c8=1447098&c9=Article&c10=News&c11=Education&c13=&c25=&c30=content&h2=GU%2FEducation%2FAcademies" width="1" height="1" /></div><p class="standfirst">On the face of it, the numbers are disappointing for the education secretary</p><p>How many schools does it take to herald an education reform? That was the question when the teaching unions and Michael Gove, the education secretary, battled it out over the latest figures for <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/sep/01/140-schools-academies" title="">schools wanting to convert to academy status</a>.</p><p>On the face of it, the numbers were disappointing for Gove, who believes standards will rise only when schools are freed from the control of local authorities and allowed to run their own affairs. The Tories' big idea for education is a country of stand-alone, independent schools funded by the state but run by their teachers and governors.</p><p>So important is the academy policy to the coalition's education reforms that Gove used emergency powers to steamroller his bill through Parliament and wrote to every school urging them to take the leap. So the announcement that only 32 of the 20,300 secondaries and primaries in England will reopen as academies this term – and a further 110 in the course of the academic year – looked disappointing, not least because Gove had put the figure at 1,100 earlier in the summer.</p><p>But behind the apparent PR coup for the classroom unions that are campaigning against academies is the question of timing. The bill became law on 28 July. With everything else going on – exams, induction of new pupils, end-of-year form-filling in and leaving parties – perhaps the low figure does not say much.</p><p>The coalition, which inherited the academy programme from Labour, has dropped the requirements that schools wanting to be academies must serve deprived areas and gain the support of millionaire, business or institutional sponsors. Schools rated outstanding by Ofsted can now apply to be fast-tracked through the process and join the 203 academies created under Labour, regardless of the communities they serve. At the other end of the spectrum, failing secondaries and, for the first time, primaries will close and be replaced by academies.</p><p>First off the blocks when schools reopen will be oversubscribed schools in middle-class areas, including several grammars. Their headteachers have used the "ready reckoner" provided by the Department for Education and worked out that they will be tens of thousands of pounds better off when they get their share of the "central cake" of resources for local authority-wide services. Councils warn that the remaining schools could suffer from the loss of economy of scale.</p><p>Gove quickly has to persuade all schools to become academies or he will end up with a two-tier system and hand the cards to his union opponents.</p><p>Will schools flock to claim the extra money and freedom from policies such as the national curriculum and official guidance on discipline, no longer imposed by local authorities but by central government diktat? The dilemma was summed up by Nigel Burgoyne, the head of Kesgrave High School in Ipswich, Suffolk, an outstanding school that could be fast-tracked to academy status: "If we join, by default, everyone else is slightly worse off. We have a moral concern that this is not the best thing for the whole system."</p><div class="related" style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/academies">Academies</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/michaelgove">Michael Gove</a></li></ul></div><div class="author"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/liz-lightfoot">Liz Lightfoot</a></div><br/><div class="terms"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> &copy; Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/help/feeds">More Feeds</a></div><p style="clear:both" /> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/ti6t-a1BNtds66YGedKYibGrOvI/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/ti6t-a1BNtds66YGedKYibGrOvI/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/ti6t-a1BNtds66YGedKYibGrOvI/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/ti6t-a1BNtds66YGedKYibGrOvI/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p> Academies Michael Gove Education UK news Politics The Observer News http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/sep/05/michael-gove-schools-academies Sat, 04 Sep 2010 23:05:03 GMT http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2010/sep/05/gap-year-career-break-recession/print <div class="track"><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.20.4/94204?ns=guardian&pageName=Recession+drives+number+of+career+breaks+to+a+record+high%3AArticle%3A1447049&ch=Money&c3=Obs&c4=Work+and+careers%2CRecession+%28UK%29%2CCredit+cards+-+UK+consumer%2CUnemployment+and+employment+statistics+%28business%29%2CGraduate+careers%2CSantander+%28Abbey+National%29%2CGap+years+%28Education%29%2CMoney%2CBusiness%2CTravel&c5=Personal+Finance%2CCredit+Crunch%2CBusiness+Markets%2CNot+commercially+useful%2CStudents+Education%2CInvestments+%26+Savings&c6=Mark+King&c7=10-Sep-05&c8=1447049&c9=Article&c10=News&c11=Money&c13=&c25=&c30=content&h2=GU%2FMoney%2FWork+%26+careers" width="1" height="1" /></div><p class="standfirst">Research suggests the number of people taking time out from work or study has rocketed in the last decade</p><p>The recession is driving more young people than ever to embark on gap years as well as prompting record numbers of working Britons to take sabbaticals and career breaks, according to research from <a href="http://www.santander.co.uk/csgs/Satellite?canal=CABBEYCOM&cid=1237866883945&cidAgrup=845616358929450&empr=Abbeycom&leng=en_GB&pagename=Abbeycom%2FPage%2FWC_ACOM_TemplateW2&posSel=1" title="">Santander</a>. In the 1970s, around 270,000 people took time out from their careers, a figure which increased to around 710,000 between 1980 and 1989. By 2010, according to Santander's research, the number of people taking career breaks had rocketed to around 4 million people.</p><p>While travel is the most common reason for taking time out, 415,000 Britons (including students and those in employment) say a fiercely competitive jobs market is to blame, the research shows. Some 219,000 people also say they took time out because they were unable to secure a university place; as a result, one in four students aged 18 and over is currently planning a break.</p><p>Ian Coles, of Santander credit cards, said: "With lifestyle breaks costing around £5,000 to £6,000 on average, it is important that people weigh up the costs and the benefits, financially and otherwise."</p><p>Santander claims its Zero credit card is one of the few cards on the market to offer fee-free, foreign usage anywhere in the world – but you need to have a Santander current account, investment product or mortgage to get it.</p><p><a href="http://www.moneynet.co.uk/" title="">Moneynet.co.uk's</a> Andrew Hagger prefers the <a href="http://www.halifax.co.uk/creditcards/clarity.asp" title="">Halifax Clarity credit card</a>, which is also free but doesn't require you to take out any other products to qualify. "<a href="https://www.metrobankonline.co.uk/personal/credit-cards/" title="">Metro Bank</a> also provides debit and credit cards that are free to use overseas," he adds. "Then the next best deal is <a href="http://www.coventrybuildingsociety.co.uk" title="">Coventry Building Society</a> and, even though it is increasing charges, <a href="http://www.nationwide.co.uk/default.htm" title="">Nationwide Building Society</a> is third cheapest."</p><p><a href="http://www.natwest.com/personal/credit-cards.ashx" title="">NatWest</a>, <a href="http://www.rbs.co.uk/personal/credit-cards.ashx" title="">RBS</a> or Santander debit cards are typical in that you will be charged 2.75% on purchases plus a transaction fee of £1.25 each time, making small transactions on debit cards very expensive.</p><div class="related" style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/work-and-careers">Work & careers</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/recession">Recession</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/creditcards">Credit cards</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/unemployment-and-employment-statistics">Unemployment and employment statistics</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/graduates">Graduate careers</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/santander">Banco Santander</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/gapyears">Gap years</a></li></ul></div><div class="author"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/markking">Mark King</a></div><br/><div class="terms"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> &copy; Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/help/feeds">More Feeds</a></div><p style="clear:both" /> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/og333co0u2oeZdr9OJqAwi7Hu-c/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/og333co0u2oeZdr9OJqAwi7Hu-c/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/og333co0u2oeZdr9OJqAwi7Hu-c/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/og333co0u2oeZdr9OJqAwi7Hu-c/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p> Work & careers Recession Credit cards Unemployment and employment statistics Graduate careers Banco Santander Gap years Money Business Travel The Observer News http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2010/sep/05/gap-year-career-break-recession Sat, 04 Sep 2010 23:03:56 GMT http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/sep/04/mary-ellen-harrison-mary-beard/print <div class="track"><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.20.4/1379?ns=guardian&pageName=My+hero%3A+Jane+Ellen+Harrison%3AArticle%3A1446778&ch=Books&c3=Guardian&c4=Books%2CCulture+section%2CClassics+%28Books+genre%29%2CMary+Beard%2CCambridge+University&c5=Not+commercially+useful%2CHigher+Education&c6=Mary+Beard&c7=10-Sep-04&c8=1446778&c9=Article&c10=Feature&c11=Books&c13=My+hero+%28series%29&c25=&c30=content&h2=GU%2FBooks%2FClassics" width="1" height="1" /></div><p class="standfirst">by Mary Beard</p><p>I wouldn't have wanted to spend much time with her. She was far too histrionic, too satisfied with her own cleverness and even more self-obsessed than the average early 20th-century don. But Jane Ellen Harrison changed the way we think about ancient Greek culture – peeling back that calm, white marble exterior to reveal something much more violent, messy and ecstatic underneath ("bloody Jane" they called her, for more reasons than one, I suspect). And she was the first woman in England to become an academic, in the fully professional sense – an ambitious, full-time, salaried, university researcher and lecturer. She made it possible for me to do what I do.</p><p>Harrison went up to Cambridge in 1874 to read classics at Newnham College. Though she missed a first (to her life-long annoyance), she was already an academic celebrity – and a trouble-maker. As a student, she even faced down William Gladstone, by claiming that her favourite Greek writer was the sceptical playwright Euripides (not, as the old man hoped, the pious Homer). Taken aback, he stuttered and walked away.</p><p>Through the 1880s she made her living in London as a journalist and by giving lectures, with ingenious sound effects and gas-powered lantern slides. It was mass entertainment: 1,600 people once turned out in Glasgow to hear her talk on Athenian gravestones (those were the days). In 1898 she went back to a fellowship in Cambridge, to write the books that would offer an entirely new vision of the ancient world. The austere titles (<em>Themis</em>, <em>Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion </em>and others) conceal a heady mixture of Nietzsche, Durkheim, bull-leaping – and, of course, blood.</p><p>Harrison argued for women's suffrage but thought she would never want to vote herself. She fell repeatedly, volubly and unsuccessfully in love. When Virginia Woolf gave the lecture that became<em> A Room of One's Own</em> in Cambridge in 1928, she thought she glimpsed Harrison's ghost in Newnham's gardens. I sometimes see it too.</p><div class="related" style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/classics">Classics</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/mary-beard">Mary Beard</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/cambridgeuniversity">University of Cambridge</a></li></ul></div><br/><div class="terms"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> &copy; Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/help/feeds">More Feeds</a></div><p style="clear:both" /> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/Evfoefh5OEltxD9AU2VbEGpgM2Q/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/Evfoefh5OEltxD9AU2VbEGpgM2Q/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/Evfoefh5OEltxD9AU2VbEGpgM2Q/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/Evfoefh5OEltxD9AU2VbEGpgM2Q/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p> Books Culture Classics Mary Beard University of Cambridge The Guardian Features http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/sep/04/mary-ellen-harrison-mary-beard Fri, 03 Sep 2010 23:06:27 GMT http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/sep/04/andrew-penman-schools-education/print <div class="track"><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.20.4/42423?ns=guardian&pageName=A+real+education%3AArticle%3A1445568&ch=Life+and+style&c3=Guardian&c4=Family+%28Life+and+style%29%2CLife+and+style%2CSchool+admissions%2CSchools%2CEducation%2CSchool+tables+%28Education%29%2CFaith+schools&c5=Not+commercially+useful%2CEducation+Weekly+Education%2CFamily+and+Relationships%2CSchools+Education&c6=Andrew+Penman&c7=10-Sep-04&c8=1445568&c9=Article&c10=Feature&c11=Life+and+style&c13=&c25=&c30=content&h2=GU%2FLife+and+style%2FFamily" width="1" height="1" /></div><p class="standfirst">It's been three years of confusion and distress, but Andrew Penman has finally found a secondary school for his son. Why is it so hard, he asks</p><p>I can pinpoint the moment the panic set in. My son Robert was eight and Tim, the father of one of his best friends, had just visited the local comprehensive. A lot of noise was coming from one classroom as he walked past, so he peered through the small window in the door. The next moment, he told me, a pupil yanked open the door, squared up to him and demanded: "What do you want?"</p><p>The school was Rutlish in Merton, south-west London. Once it had been a grammar and old boys include John Major and the author Raymond Briggs, who hated his time there, describing it as "awful and snobbish".</p><p>I don't think he'd find it snobbish any more. I checked the results for Rutlish: at the time just one third of pupils could scrape together five or more GCSEs, including English and maths, with a C grade or better (today that figure is 49%).</p><p>No, my children would not be going to Rutlish, which meant I had to start thinking about an alternative. And "thinking" became "panicking".</p><p>A couple of other local state secondaries were not much better than Rutlish, but two were rather impressive. The trouble is, both were Catholic comprehensives.</p><p>On the website of one of them, Wimbledon College, was the following: "The school exists primarily to provide Jesuit education for children of the Catholic community. Once it has met its historic and current obligation to boys of the Catholic community, Wimbledon College welcomes other Christians and those who support the religious ethos of the school."</p><p>I don't suppose that includes atheists such as me or agnostics such as my wife, Pam.</p><p>Should we become fake Catholics? That's a question that took us about two years to answer.</p><p>On principle, I had nothing against the idea. We'd already faked being Anglicans to get our children – Robert and his younger sister, Anna – into a decent C of E primary school.</p><p>To be certain of a place, we started attending the local Anglican church when Robert was about two. The demographics of the congregation were interesting. There were a lot of children of two, three or four years old, a sprinkling of slightly older ones and then the figures fall off a cliff. You would struggle to find more than a couple of nine or 10-year-olds because, I assume, by then they had a primary school place so there was no further point going to church.</p><p>Pam and myself did not just sit at the back, we got involved. I was on the coffee rota after mass (which added an extra half hour or more to the misery) and the car rota to ferry the old and infirm. Pam helped at junior church and ended up sitting on the parochial church council.</p><p>You can't say we didn't put in the hours. Robert and Anna both got places. Hypocritical is how some people have described my behaviour. I don't know why that's the word that's so often used; I've never criticised anyone for doing what I did, so hypocrisy doesn't come into it.</p><p>I'm just concerned and pragmatic. I care deeply about my children's education and am prepared to make sacrifices to ensure that they get the best I can manage. If that means mumbling "I believe in one God, the Father Almighty ... " when I believe nothing of the kind, then so be it.</p><p>You can see why churches aren't going to advocate an overhaul of this system any time soon. They get people through their doors who would never normally go to church. They may even convert some of them.</p><p>So, would we now convert to Catholicism? If not, what are the alternatives?</p><p>Up the road was Southfields Community College where pupils spoke 71 first languages so – guess what? – its results were rubbish (37% of pupils getting five or more GCSEs, including English and maths, with a C-grade or better). Slightly further afield there was a very good school in Tooting, but Tooting has had a couple too many murders for my tastes.</p><p>Grammar school, suggested Pam. This being the same Labour-voting Pam I've heard criticising Labour not abolishing grammar schools. Funny how your principles change when it's your children's future at stake.</p><p>There aren't any grammars in Merton, but a nearby borough, Sutton, has them and we knew several parents who have used Sutton to escape the worst of Merton's comprehensives.</p><p>When I met Merton's head of education, Dave Hill, he admitted that 30% of children at the borough's primaries go elsewhere for their secondary education. Some find a grammar, some go private – I check my bank balance and realise that's not an option – and some families leave London altogether.</p><p>That was our most likely option. As I didn't care where I lived so long as it was near a good comprehensive and a bearable commute into London, my search for decent state education took me to six counties. Surrey eventually won.</p><p>We spent around £40,000 on stamp duty, solicitors and estate agents and all the rest of it, money that was added to our new mortgage, and endured some of the most stressful months of our lives. We were so desperate for that house in the catchment area of a good comprehensive that we bought it before selling our terraced home in Merton. Here are some diary entries:</p><p></p><p><strong>3 November 2007</strong> Robert asks: "If we buy this new house will we have to sell the one we're in at the moment?" If we're unsettled, how must it be for an eight-year-old faced with leaving the only house and school he's known. And all because there's no good state secondary near us.</p><p></p><p><strong>8 November</strong> We've started telling friends in Merton that we're planning to move. One mum, says Pam, was welling-up. I don't think it's entirely because we're such lovely people who are a credit to the community so much as the fact that it's more disruption. Already five of Robert's classmates have left, not counting those who've moved out of the area for reasons not to do with schools, such as a job change. It doesn't do much for classroom stability.</p><p></p><p><strong>11 January 2008.</strong> I can tell from Anna's latest cunning plan that she's really not keen on moving. With the lovely logic of a six-year-old, she says: "Why don't we buy the new house and move it here, and put this house over there, then we don't have to move?"</p><p>When I repeat this to Robert, he claims credit for the wheeze. I gently suggest that it's important to try to be positive about moving when discussing the subject with Anna. After all, it is mainly positive.</p><p>"No it's not, it's 55% negative," he replies, surprising and worrying me with the precision of the answer.</p><p></p><p><strong>7 February 2008</strong> As someone with two mortgages, it is deeply, grindingly, continually worrying. I woke up this morning and, unable to get back to sleep, checked the time. It was 3.49am.</p><p>Later, Pam calls me at work: "I want a rant." She deserves one. Our so-called buyer wants to know if we've got written evidence of permission for the kerb outside our house to be lowered. How should we know? It's not our kerb, it presumably belongs to the council. Our so-called buyer is either a) messing around because he needs to drag things out, having previously claimed not to be in a chain, or b) – and this is Pam's best guess – "He's anal."</p><p></p><p>Eventually the house-buyer coughed up and we were down to just the one mortgage and a house a short walk from a suburban comprehensive where 63% of the children get five or more GCSE passes, English and maths included. One of the criticisms levelled at people like us is that we are dooming failing schools to more failure by taking our children to better schools. That's an argument that has got its logic back to front. This exodus is a consequence of dire schools, not a cause of them.</p><p>Even Dave Hill, Merton's head of education, was understanding. He said he hoped improving performances by their comprehensives would encourage future parents to stay in the borough, but in the meantime didn't blame anyone for avoiding the worst schools.</p><p>"If you live in any area and you've got a school that's not scoring around 60% I don't know if I'd really want to send my kid to that school," he said. "I think people have a right to choose something else. We've had schools down in Mitcham scoring 18%, 15% – it's just not acceptable. Why would you want your bright kid with all your family support to go to a school where clearly that school's not going to be able to improve their chances? You'd be mad to."</p><p>So we moved, and Robert and Anna transferred to their new school. On their first day, Pam took Anna to the infant classes and I took Robert to the adjacent primary. I left him in the hands of a teacher in the playground and was walking out of the school's gates when, well, here's my diary entry: I hear a voice crying, "Daddy, daddy." I don't have to turn around to know it's Robert. My heart sinks. I'm ready to cry. I turn and do my best to smile and look calm and ask what's the matter. "You've still got my PE bag."</p><p>I do – it's still over my shoulder. Robert's fine. I'm the one who's going to pieces.</p><p>They quickly settled in, the school is wonderful and they have made loads of friends. Wind forward two years to March 2010 and we're waiting to hear whether Robert has got a place at the local comprehensive. Being in the catchment area of a good school is no guarantee of a place.</p><p>Pam calls me at work: Robert's got his place. He'll start there this month.</p><p>Nationally, the picture isn't so happy: around 100,000 children did not get into their first choice of secondary school. I'll bet that the second choice often isn't just a bit worse, but dreadful.</p><p>Final word, from a mate. "Before I had children I thought that all schools were the same and all parents were moaners. How wrong can you be?"</p><p></p><p><a href="http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9781906132972" title="School Daze: Searching for a Decent State Education"><em>School Daze: Searching for a Decent State Education</em></a><em> by Andrew Penman is published by Mogzilla for £9.99. To order a copy for £7.99 with free UK p&p go to guardian.co.uk/bookshop or call 0330 333 6846</em></p><h2>How to find a good school: Andrew's top tips</h2><h2><strong>1: League tables</strong></h2><p>Start with the headline league table figure, the one that tells you how many children get five or more GCSEs with a grade C or better, including English and maths. You can find it here: <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/league_tables/default.stm" title="news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/league_tables/default.stm">news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/league_tables/default.stm</a>.</p><h2><strong>2: Added value</strong></h2><p>Many schools, mainly struggling ones, hate the GCSE figure with some justification: it ignores the nature of the intake of children. If your child is less able, then it's worth checking the school's contextual value added score, which measures how much children improve (or don't). Any score above 1,100 is impressive; anything below 900 is awful.</p><h2><strong>3: Ofsted reports</strong></h2><p>Check the Ofsted report, which rates schools on a scale of one to four: one is outstanding, two is good, three is satisfactory, four is inadequate. It does this in areas such as overall effectiveness, achievement and standards, personal development and wellbeing. Bear in mind that the definitions are skewed towards the optimistic, with three of the definitions sounding fantastic or at least reasonable, and at the worst – "inadequate" – not sounding too horrific. To translate: "satisfactory" will mean for most parents "unsatisfactory" and "inadequate" will mean "dire".</p><h2><strong>4: Exam results</strong></h2><p>Get a detailed breakdown of a school's GCSE results – they're usually handed out at open evenings. I came across two schools in the same town in Surrey that had almost identical pass rates for five GCSE subjects including English and maths of 62% and 63%. But what of the other three subjects? At one of the schools there was a decent sprinkling of good grades in chemistry, physics and biology. At the other, no pupil took chemistry or physics and the highest grade in biology was a D.</p><p>Writing in 2007, the BBC education correspondent Mike Baker recalled: "One school went from a score of 82% passing the equivalent of five A*-Cs to just 16% when maths and English were included." You can be sure that if the rules were changed again so that a science or modern language had to be included in those five GCSEs as well as English and maths, then a load of schools with currently impressive scores would suddenly look very poor.</p><h2><strong>5: The head's study</strong></h2><p>Vitally, ask about the admissions policy. For some schools there's a catchment area with a defined border, for others it depends on how close you live to the school gates, headteacher's study or some other defined point – check before you move house.</p><p>Grammars, of course, use the 11-plus, and some comprehensives also have a test to select some of the pupils. Faith schools will want to know how religious you really are, and their criteria for measuring this varies from school to school. When there are more applicants than places, some schools resort to lotteries, or "random allocations" to use the formal expression.</p><h2><strong>6: Google</strong></h2><p>Stick the name of the school into Google along with words such as "vandalism", "knives", "arson" and "metal detector".</p><h2><strong>7: Last resort</strong></h2><p>Stock up with strong alcohol and antidepressants – you'll need them.</p><div class="related" style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/family">Family</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/schooladmissions">School admissions</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/schools">Schools</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/school-tables">School tables</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/faithschools">Faith schools</a></li></ul></div><br/><div class="terms"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> &copy; Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/help/feeds">More Feeds</a></div><p style="clear:both" /> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/fzuD2nnASMWQIHrfgkrbxR512_c/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/fzuD2nnASMWQIHrfgkrbxR512_c/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/fzuD2nnASMWQIHrfgkrbxR512_c/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/fzuD2nnASMWQIHrfgkrbxR512_c/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p> Family Life and style School admissions Schools Education School tables Faith schools The Guardian Features http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/sep/04/andrew-penman-schools-education Fri, 03 Sep 2010 23:05:59 GMT http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/sep/04/third-gcses-private-top-grades/print <div class="track"><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.20.4/55204?ns=guardian&pageName=One+in+three+GCSEs+taken+at+private+schools+earned+an+A+or+A*%3AArticle%3A1447374&ch=Education&c3=Guardian&c4=GCSEs%2CSchools%2CEducation%2CStudents&c5=Education+Weekly+Education%2CStudents+Education%2CSchools+Education&c6=Rachel+Williams&c7=10-Sep-04&c8=1447374&c9=Article&c10=News&c11=Education&c13=&c25=&c30=content&h2=GU%2FEducation%2FGCSEs" width="1" height="1" /></div><p class="standfirst">Private schools are three times more successful than state schools at helping pupils gain the top two GCSE grades</p><p>Close to a third of all GCSE entries from private schools were awarded either an A or an A*, figures released today suggest, while at 20 fee-paying schools almost every GCSE taken by pupils this summer earned the top grades.</p><p>Nationally, 22.6% of entries score an A or above. The figure for the 571 independent schools whose results were reported by the Independent Schools Council (ISC) was 60.2%. But the head of the school that topped the league table, scoring the highest proportion of As and A*s, said the exams were not academically challenging; moves to make them more relevant to students' lives had rendered them too easy for bright pupils, she said.</p><p>Cynthia Hall, of Wycombe Abbey girls' boarding school in Buckinghamshire, which last week headed the A-level results table, said: "It may make those subjects more accessible. But from our point of view of academic studies for university, it makes them less 'academic'."</p><p>Some 99.3% of GCSEs taken by pupils at Wycombe Abbey were awarded an A or A*, with 89 girls notching up 734 A* grades between them.</p><p>In 20 schools, at least 90% of all the GCSEs passed were A or A*. Nearly a third (29.5%) of private schools' GCSE entries got an A* grade, compared to 7.5% nationally.</p><p>Many private schools, including Wycombe Abbey, offer International GCSEs (IGCSEs) in some subjects, believing them to be more rigorous than traditional GCSEs. State schools will be able to teach the qualifications from this month, after the education secretary, Michael Gove, reversed a ban imposed by Labour.</p><p>IGCSEs accounted for more than one in ten of all entries from ISC schools. The body represents 1,260 of the 2,600 independent schools in the UK.</p><div class="related" style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/gcses">GCSEs</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/schools">Schools</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/students">Students</a></li></ul></div><div class="author"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/rachelwilliams">Rachel Williams</a></div><br/><div class="terms"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> &copy; Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/help/feeds">More Feeds</a></div><p style="clear:both" /> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/HmcJhCj7wVroqaNtWuQwCHHoWXQ/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/HmcJhCj7wVroqaNtWuQwCHHoWXQ/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/HmcJhCj7wVroqaNtWuQwCHHoWXQ/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/HmcJhCj7wVroqaNtWuQwCHHoWXQ/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p> GCSEs Schools Education Students The Guardian News http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/sep/04/third-gcses-private-top-grades Fri, 03 Sep 2010 23:01:59 GMT http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/sep/04/risky-university-application-strategy-cost-students/print <div class="track"><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.20.4/6012?ns=guardian&pageName=Risky+application+strategy+cost+students+university+places%2C+says+clearin%3AArticle%3A1447227&ch=Education&c3=Guardian&c4=Clearing+%28Education%29%2CHigher+education%2CEducation%2CA-levels%2CSchools%2CUK+news&c5=Not+commercially+useful%2CEducation+Weekly+Education%2CClearing+Education%2CHigher+Education%2CSchools+Education&c6=Jessica+Shepherd&c7=10-Sep-04&c8=1447227&c9=Article&c10=News&c11=Education&c13=&c25=&c30=content&h2=GU%2FEducation%2FClearing" width="1" height="1" /></div><p class="standfirst">Bad advice or unrealistic goals meant thousands of degree hopefuls had no margin for error in their A-level grades</p><p>Thousands of teenagers have missed out on a degree place this year because they received poor advice and set themselves unrealistic goals, the head of the university admissions service claims today.</p><p>Almost 181,000 applicants are still in clearing, the process that matches students who missed their offers or applied late to unfilled places on degree courses. It represents nearly 27% of those who applied for a university place for this autumn.</p><p>This time last year, just over 132,000 applicants were in clearing – 21% of those who applied. The number of vacancies is not known, but is said to be falling fast. Just over 12,344 students have withdrawn from the application system, compared to 9,818 this time last year.</p><p>Applicants are allowed to list a preferred university and a back-up institution, known as their insurance choice. The insurance choice usually requires lower grades and is used in case they miss the marks demanded of their first-choicechoice university.</p><p>But Mary Curnock Cook, the chief executive of Ucas, told the Guardian that many young people this year had narrowed their chances by picking an insurance institution that required the same grades as their top choice. This gave them no leeway if they failed to achieve the grades demanded by their top-choice university, she said. She warned that students may have been misinformed about how to maximise their chances of a place. Others will have set themselves unrealistic goals.</p><p>"I think there is quite a lot of improper usage of the insurance choice," Curnock Cook said. "The advice is to list an insurance university that has lower grades than your top choice. But there is some evidence that the insurance choice isn't being used in that way.</p><p>"We need to make sure that young people have good advice from a number of sources, including their parents. It is not just teachers who give them advice. We have to get better information into the system because the system is becoming more competitive. People do need to make realistic choices."</p><p>The Institute for Career Guidance agreed that students had adopted the risky strategy of leaving themselves no leeway in case of a missed grade.</p><p>Andy Gardner, from the institute, said teenagers want to go to a university that has a good reputation because they have heard this will give them the best chance of a graduate job afterwards, yet the universities with the best reputations all demand high grades.</p><p>"All those prestigious universities want three As or two As and a B," he said. "Students need to be realistic because these universities are not going to be flexible if they even slightly miss their grades."</p><p>Gardner said students' insurance choices should reflect the grades they have achieved in their AS-levels – the exams at the end of the first year of sixth form.</p><p>Alan Bullock, head of student information services at Havant College in Hampshire, said it was not always possible to persuade students to think "slightly outside the box in terms of course choice or university choice".</p><p>He said: "If you apply for competitive subjects like economics or English at universities who are all close to the top of the league tables, then however outstanding your grades the margins are going to be extremely tight and there will be very little leeway.</p><p>"We always try to encourage our students to strike a careful balance between aspiration and realism and not to be misled by superficial perceptions about what is a 'good' university."</p><p>He added that it was becoming more important for university applicants to thoroughly research their insurance choice.</p><p>Curnock Cook said clearing had been "fast and furious" this year and that more than 150,000 students would either abandon their application for this autumn or be left without a place in the coming weeks. At some universities, the majority of unfilled places are only open to non-UK and non-European Union students, who pay higher fees. At Kent University, for example, 61 courses have vacancies, but just four of these are open to UK and EU students.</p><div class="related" style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/clearing">Clearing</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/higher-education">Higher education</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/alevels">A-levels</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/schools">Schools</a></li></ul></div><div class="author"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/jessicashepherd">Jessica Shepherd</a></div><br/><div class="terms"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> &copy; Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/help/feeds">More Feeds</a></div><p style="clear:both" /> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/2wnYg4Idtfk3rnKJQphL0HhD9wc/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/2wnYg4Idtfk3rnKJQphL0HhD9wc/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/2wnYg4Idtfk3rnKJQphL0HhD9wc/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/2wnYg4Idtfk3rnKJQphL0HhD9wc/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p> Clearing Higher education Education A-levels Schools UK news The Guardian News http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/sep/04/risky-university-application-strategy-cost-students Fri, 03 Sep 2010 23:01:59 GMT http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2010/sep/04/tower-bridge-operator/print <div class="track"><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.20.4/739?ns=guardian&pageName=A+working+life%3A+The+Tower+Bridge+operator%3AArticle%3A1445650&ch=Money&c3=Guardian&c4=Work+and+careers%2CMoney%2CEngineering+general+%28Education+subject%29%2CEducation&c5=Personal+Finance%2CNot+commercially+useful%2CEducation+Weekly+Education%2CHigher+Education&c6=Jill+Insley&c7=10-Sep-04&c8=1445650&c9=Article&c10=Feature&c11=Money&c13=A+working+life&c25=&c30=content&h2=GU%2FMoney%2FWork+%26+careers" width="1" height="1" /></div><p class="standfirst">Ever wondered what it's like to take charge of raising London's Tower Bridge? Charles Lotter, who's job it is, gave Jill Insley the chance to find out</p><p>A crowd of about 200 people is staring intently at me, cameras poised. My heart is pounding. Charles Lotter, a great bear of a man, presses the loudhailer switch and I start to speak: "Staff announcement. The bridge control system is about to be switched on. Please stand clear of all moving machinery, structures and controls."</p><p>I am about to raise Tower Bridge and although I know Lotter, a senior technical officer employed by the City of London Corporation at the bridge, has already carried out myriad pre-lift safety checks, I am still as jittery as a cat in a sack.</p><p>I press the first button of several in a row and say: "Stand by, bridge crew. About to stop road traffic."</p><p>Ahead of us, the traffic lights on Tower Bridge turn to red. Gates come down in front of peeved-looking motorists while four guards put up chains to stop pedestrians walking on to the bridge.</p><p>Once the bridge is clear of free-ranging buses and tourists, I push a button to release the immense bolts that hold the two bascules – the moving parts of the bridge – in place. I then push a lever forwards and the bascules gradually rear up in front of the control room. A computer screen shows the degree of angle and Lotter tells me to aim for 45 degrees because the sailing barge Gladys, which has requested passage, is quite small (a huge cruise liner is moored on the other side of the bridge that required the bascules to be fully raised the previous night). I overshoot slightly on the angle, but he says kindly that it doesn't matter.</p><p>Gladys glides past regally and soon I'm going through the procedure for lowering the bridge again. The whole process takes about seven minutes, much faster than I had realised. No wonder that, in 20 years of living and working in London, I have only seen the bridge raised once before, even though it opens on average about 13 times a day during peak tourist season (some tourist boats have cheekily attached <em>faux</em> masts so the bridge has to open for the benefit of their passengers), or 1,000 times a year.</p><p>Lotter looks just like the type of man you'd expect to be responsible for lifting bridges: tall and broad, totally calm and carrying a considerable air of authority. He is one of three senior technical officers (STO) working at Tower Bridge and although his job is primarily about maintaining the operating machinery and managing the bridge staff, he is also one of five official "bridge drivers", with a sixth undergoing training. This involves controlling the 1,200-tonne bascules, French for "see-saw" or "scales", and a name that reflects the way the huge 450-tonne counter weights pull the bridge up to let vessels taller than 30 feet (9m) through to the next section of the Thames.</p><p>So how do you learn to "drive" the bridge? "The only thing that will prepare you is doing it," Lotter says. "It's like riding a bike."</p><p>I think about how nervous I was while making the announcements and operating the bridge mechanisms, and ask him what went through his mind the first time he raised the bascules. "I felt just like you – very nervous. But it's my job and you get used to it."</p><p>Lotter, a South African by birth, trained as an engineer in his homeland doing an apprenticeship in a steel foundry and then moving into the automobile manufacturing industry, working for a plant that hydraulically pressed out car parts. He moved to the UK 22 years ago, and was working for Reuters in Docklands when he saw the job advertised at Tower Bridge. "I was one of 120 applicants," he recalls. "They were looking for someone with electrical as well as hydraulic experience, and I met both criteria."</p><p>He has worked at the bridge for 15 years this month and says: "It's the best job I've ever had. Every day is a challenge. It's never boring."</p><p>It is easy to believe that. In 1894 it was set down in law that Tower Bridge should be raised free of charge to allow passage to vessels and, provided they give 24 hours' written notice, that rule still applies.</p><p>Some drivers find it hard to accept that river traffic takes precedence. The staff at Tower Bridge are very successful at stopping people taking lemming-like leaps from one bascule to the other as the bridge opens, though some have tried. In 1958 the driver of a number 78 bus found himself caught near the edge of the south bascule as it started to rise and decided to accelerate over the gap rather than back up. No one was seriously injured.</p><p>And in May 1997, Bill Clinton's motorcade became separated from Tony Blair's when the bridge opened – again for the Gladys. The two leaders had been for lunch in the nearby Pont de la Tour restaurant, but while Blair's car just made it over, Clinton's was caught by the lights. The bridge staff recount that the second the bridge started lifting, they got a call from Scotland Yard demanding that it be closed again to let Clinton catch up with his buddy. Short of defying the laws of physics this was impossible, and the guards and their president had to wait with guns bristling until the barge had passed through in her own good time.</p><p>It's even less boring when something goes wrong with the machinery: if the bridge gets stuck while open, traffic can grind to a halt in the City and a good part of south London. The last time this happened was June when the bridge suffered a power failure: not only were the bascules wedged open, but clients at an event in the walkways above the bridge were left groping around in complete darkness.</p><p>The machinery is constantly checked and serviced to make sure it is in good working condition, but problems are inevitable. "If the bridge gets stuck for any reason we contact the City of London police and they close the roads," says Lotter. "It's a piece of machinery and it does go wrong. You sort of half expect it, and when it does happen you really earn your money."</p><p>The senior technical officers work in rotation, with two on duty to cover the shifts of any particular day and one resting. Collectively, the shifts cover a 12-hour period from 7am to 7pm, with security staff trained to step in if the bridge needs raising at night.</p><p>Lotter has brought up three sons while working at Tower Bridge and says it works well in terms of planning. Because the days follow a very strict pattern – seven days on, three days off, seven days on, four days off – you know exactly when you will have free time. "In terms of planning it's excellent. I know when I'm working in 2015 because of the shift pattern," he says.</p><p>STOs all report to the bridge master, the person ultimately responsible for running the bridge, and each has a team of technical officers. STOs are responsible for managing the technical assistants who do everything from setting up event rooms for weddings to cleaning the old steam-powered machinery (replaced by an electro-hydraulic system in the 70s).</p><p>A lot of the maintenance and repair work is contracted out these days, and Lotter admits, somewhat ruefully, the technical officers get more opportunity to do hands-on engineering. But he adds: "Some of my job is office-based, but 30% to 40% is still engineering."</p><p>The staff all speak affectionately about the bridge – everyone seems to have a deep fascination with her. I ask Lotter if he is interested as an engineer in bridges per se, and he looks at me as though I am mad. "No, if I go somewhere and there's a bridge I might go and look at it, but I don't seek them out," he says. The message is clear: there might be other bascule bridges around the world, but none are as big and grand as Tower Bridge. She deserves special respect.</p><p>Although the bridge was completed in 1894, not all the working parts have needed replacing over the years – and those that have are expected to last a long time. The nose bolts in the centre of the bridge were replaced in 2002 – a process that took five weeks, although the bridge was not closed for the full period. "They get inspected very regularly," says Lotter. "But we would expect them to last at least 20 years. They are pretty robust."</p><p>Later we stand looking down into the cavernous area that the counter weights swing into as the bascules rise. There is apparently room to stand at the end of the hall, even when the weights are down, but no one in the bridge's 116-year history has been brave enough to try it. "You'd have to be skinny," says Lotter. "It wouldn't work for me."</p><p>The traffic passing over the bridge a few metres above our heads makes a muffled boom – 40,000 people cross over every day – and Lotter says if a ship passes by the noise is unbearable. He points out that the bridge was put together with 2m rivets – no soldering was used. "It was really over-engineered, and that's why it will remain standing for a long time to come," he says.</p><h2>Curriculum vitae</h2><p><strong>Pay</strong> From £34,000 to £42,000 with London weighting. It's possible to earn a further £3,000 or so on top through overtime.</p><p><strong>Hours </strong>Eight-hour shifts to cover the entire day, either "earlies" (7am to 4pm) or "lates" (10am to 7pm)</p><p><strong>Work-life balance </strong>Long and often unsociable shifts can make having a social life difficult. On the other hand, you get long breaks of three or four days, sometimes in the middle of a working week, which must seem a luxury. Holidays restricted to two weeks at a time because of City of London Corporation rules.</p><p><strong>Highs </strong>"Every day is different and offers a new challenge, whether it's dealing with contractors or the guys in marketing."</p><p><strong>Lows </strong>"When you have to be out on the bridge on a cold winter's morning in the snow or rain dealing with a problem."</p><div class="related" style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/work-and-careers">Work & careers</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/engineeringgeneral">Engineering general</a></li></ul></div><div class="author"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/jillinsley">Jill Insley</a></div><br/><div class="terms"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> &copy; Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/help/feeds">More Feeds</a></div><p style="clear:both" /> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/zubGQtvbn4JXsjVxOz9az4Lp8dk/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/zubGQtvbn4JXsjVxOz9az4Lp8dk/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/zubGQtvbn4JXsjVxOz9az4Lp8dk/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/zubGQtvbn4JXsjVxOz9az4Lp8dk/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p> Work & careers Money Engineering general Education The Guardian Features http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2010/sep/04/tower-bridge-operator Fri, 03 Sep 2010 23:01:51 GMT http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/sep/03/michael-gove-free-schools/print <div class="track"><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.20.4/28570?ns=guardian&pageName=Michael+Gove+dealt+fresh+blow+as+only+20+%27free+schools%27+approved%3AArticle%3A1447414&ch=Politics&c3=Guardian&c4=Education+policy%2CMichael+Gove%2CPolitics%2CEducation%2CUK+news%2CSchools&c5=Not+commercially+useful%2CPolicy+Society%2CEducation+Weekly+Education%2CSchools+Education&c6=Nicholas+Watt&c7=10-Sep-03&c8=1447414&c9=Article&c10=News&c11=Politics&c13=&c25=&c30=content&h2=GU%2FPolitics%2FEducation+policy" width="1" height="1" /></div><p class="standfirst"><strong>Exclusive: </strong>Education secretary had claimed that more than 700 'free schools' could be established due to high demand</p><p>Michael Gove, the education secretary, will next week be forced to announce a dramatic scaling back of the Tories' landmark plans to create a new generation of schools run by parents and voluntary groups.</p><p>Labour tonight accused the education secretary of presiding over a "chaotic shambles" after it emerged that as few as 20 free schools are on track to open in September 2011. In June Gove hinted that 700 could be established.</p><p>Ed Balls, the shadow education secretary, said: "This is another embarrassment for the education secretary's flawed, unfair and unpopular school reforms. Michael Gove took over a successful department which has helped to deliver record improvements in school standards over more than a decade, but in just a few months he has managed to turn it into a chaotic shambles."</p><p>Gove said in June that he had been inundated with expressions of interest from establish a new tier of free schools. "More than 700 expressions of interest in opening new free schools have been received by the charitable group the New Schools Network," he told MPs.</p><p>The announcement next week will echo Gove's claim in the summer that more than 1,000 schools had applied to become academies. In the end just 32 are opening this term.</p><p>The reduced number was a blow to Gove, who rushed through legislation to allow existing schools to obtain academy status by the start of the academic year. The free schools are due to start opening in a year's time.</p><p>One senior Tory said: "Michael clearly massively underestimated the challenge he had decided to undertake."</p><p>Cameron regards schools reform as one of the key elements in his plans to create a "big society" in which power is devolved to the grassroots.</p><p>Gove is relaxed on the grounds that it normally takes between three to five years to establish a new school. While relatively few free schools will open next year, many more are in the pipeline and will open in due course.</p><p>A source close to Gove said: "Under the last government only a couple of parent-promoted schools were created over 13 years. Now, within just four months … there are teachers, parents and community groups who have prepared high quality proposals for free schools starting as early as 2011. There are a significant number of proposals in the pipeline and an announcement will shortly be made about those at the front of the queue who are planning to open next year."</p><div class="related" style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/education">Education policy</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/michaelgove">Michael Gove</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/schools">Schools</a></li></ul></div><div class="author"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/nicholaswatt">Nicholas Watt</a></div><br/><div class="terms"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> &copy; Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/help/feeds">More Feeds</a></div><p style="clear:both" /> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/3qd9zb3lVtLzSWcXuIqxSLR_eyw/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/3qd9zb3lVtLzSWcXuIqxSLR_eyw/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/3qd9zb3lVtLzSWcXuIqxSLR_eyw/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/3qd9zb3lVtLzSWcXuIqxSLR_eyw/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p> Education policy Michael Gove Politics Education UK news Schools The Guardian News http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/sep/03/michael-gove-free-schools Fri, 03 Sep 2010 20:30:49 GMT http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2010/sep/03/bargain-netbooks/print <div class="track"><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.20.4/50797?ns=guardian&pageName=Bargain+netbooks+bite+back+at+Apple%3AArticle%3A1446547&ch=Money&c3=GU.co.uk&c4=Consumer+affairs+%28Money%29%2CSaving+money+%28UK+consumer%29%2CMoney%2CStudent+finance+%28Money%29%2CNetbooks+%28Technology%29%2CTechnology%2CStudents%2CEducation&c5=Personal+Finance%2CEducation+Weekly+Education%2CTechnology+Gadgets%2CStudents+Education%2CCorporate+IT%2CConsumer+News%2CInvestments+%26+Savings&c6=Marc+Lockley&c7=10-Sep-03&c8=1446547&c9=Article&c10=Feature&c11=Money&c13=Price+check&c25=&c30=content&h2=GU%2FMoney%2FConsumer+affairs" width="1" height="1" /></div><p class="standfirst">There are bargains to be had for netbook shoppers on a budget, says Marc Lockley</p><p>Last week's article regarding the Apple MacBook <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2010/aug/26/apple-macbook-price-check" title="Take a bite out of the Apple MacBook price">sparked a fiery debate</a> about affordability and the usual battle between Apple and PCs. This week we are balancing the books, looking at a few netbooks which are a fraction of the cost of the Apple product.</p><p>Netbooks are a great alternative for the budget-conscious student who wants to do their work but not miss out on portability, affordability, sociability and surfability.</p><p>As there are a number of choices in this category, please feel free to add your own preferences or price updates below. For the sake of too much repetition the following all come with 1GB of RAM.</p><h2>Less than £200</h2><p>Student Computers are selling the <a href="http://www.studentcomputers.co.uk/Samsung_N110_Netbook_1403018.html" title="Student Computers website">Samsung N110 Netbook</a> for £189 with a 250GB hard drive, Windows 7 starter pack and eight hours of battery life. They also offer an <a href="http://www.studentcomputers.co.uk/ASUS_Eee_PC_1000H_White_-_NEW__1401289.html" title="Asus Eee PC 1000H offer">Asus Eee PC 1000H</a> that has an 80GB hard drive and a two-year warranty for £182.13.</p><p>The Compaq Mini 110c-1010SA comes with a 160GB hard drive and a 1.6GHZ processor speed and runs on Windows XP and costs £198.99 <a href="http://www.shop.bt.com/products/compaq-mini-110c-1010sa-atom-n270-1-6-ghz-1gb-160gb-windows-xp-home-netbook-73YJ.html" title="BT shop: Compaq Mini 110c-1010SA offer">with BT</a> and <a href="http://www.dabs.com/products/compaq-mini-110c-1010sa-atom-n270-1-6-ghz-1gb-160gb-windows-xp-home-netbook-73YJ.html" title="Dabs.com: Compaq Mini 110c-1010SA offer">Dabs.com</a>. This netbook won the best budget laptop in a recent <a href="http://www.reevoo.com/" title="Reevoo website">Reevoo</a> survey of 1,000 students.</p><p>Meanwhile, the <a href="http://www.oyyy.co.uk/product.php/92099/acer-aspire-one-d250-aod250-0bb-netbook-pc-lu-s680b-199">Acer Aspire One D250 AOD250-OBb</a> netbook is best priced at £199 with Oyyy.co.uk. It comes with a 160GB hard drive and a 1.6GHz processor.</p><h2>More than £200</h2><p>The Acer Aspire One 533 with an Intel Atom N455 processor, 250GB hard drive and Windows 7 has eight hours battery life and costs £279.99 at <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B003SX0UWO/ref=asc_df_B003SX0UWO792917?smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&tag=googlecouk06-21&linkCode=asn&creative=22206&creativeASIN=B003SX0UWO" title="Amazon Acer Aspire One 533 offer">Amazon</a> and <a href="http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/5083503/c_1/1|category_root|Office,+PCs+and+phones|14418968/c_2/3|cat_15701344|Laptops+and+Netbooks|16164797.htm?_$ja=tsid:11527|cc:|prd:5083503|cat:office%2C+pcs+%26+phones+%3E+laptops+and+netbooks+%3E+netbooks+and+mini+laptops" title="Argos Acer Aspire One 533 offer">Argos</a>, although the latter includes free Norton internet security until 28 September. However <a href="http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/acer-aspire-one-533-06559684-pdt.html" title="">PC World are offering £50 off your old laptop/netbook</a> thereby reducing it to £229.99.</p><p>If you are signing up to a mobile broadband deal you can get the Acer Aspire One 521 (160GB hard drive, Windows 7) for free <a href="http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/acer-aspire-one-521-06559687-pdt.html" title="">with PC World</a>, but the mobile deal with Vodafone will cost you £600 over two years.</p><p>Amazon are selling <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Asus-10-1-inch-Netbook-Processor-Bluetooth/dp/B00336EN9C/ref=br_lf_m_1000277773_1_2_ttl?ie=UTF8&s=computers&pf_rd_p=212524087&pf_rd_s=center-3&pf_rd_t=1401&pf_rd_i=1000277773&pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_r=10QFMDR7MJZ4WQW7Y66G" title="Amazon Asus 1005PE deal">the new Asus 1005PE</a> with an Intel Atom N450 1.66GHz processor and a huge 11-hour battery life and Windows 7 for £254.99.</p><p>Play.com lead the field for the <a href="http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/4-/13555922/Samsung-N210-Intel-Atom-Processor-N450-1-66GHz-1GB-250GB-10-1-Windows-7-Starter-Netbook-White/Product.html" title="Play Samsung N210 deal">Samsung N210</a> at £269.99, which has a battery life of up to 11 hours, Windows 7 and a 250GB hard drive with the Atom N450 processor.</p><div class="related" style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/consumer-affairs">Consumer affairs</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/saving-money">Saving money</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/student-finance">Student finance</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/netbooks">Netbooks</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/students">Students</a></li></ul></div><div class="author"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/marc-lockley">Marc Lockley</a></div><br/><div class="terms"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> &copy; Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/help/feeds">More Feeds</a></div><p style="clear:both" /> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/72QPALj6nLorqiQX-Rm1FilDgJs/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/72QPALj6nLorqiQX-Rm1FilDgJs/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/72QPALj6nLorqiQX-Rm1FilDgJs/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/72QPALj6nLorqiQX-Rm1FilDgJs/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p> Consumer affairs Saving money Money Student finance Netbooks Technology Students Education guardian.co.uk Features http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2010/sep/03/bargain-netbooks Fri, 03 Sep 2010 07:56:21 GMT http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/sep/02/margaret-way-obituary/print <div class="track"><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.20.4/67600?ns=guardian&pageName=Margaret+Way%3AArticle%3A1446772&ch=Education&c3=Guardian&c4=Drama+and+dance+%28Education+subject%29&c5=Higher+Education&c6=Elizabeth+Jenner&c7=10-Sep-02&c8=1446772&c9=Article&c10=Obituary&c11=Education&c13=Other+lives+%28series%29&c25=&c30=content&h2=GU%2FEducation%2FDrama+and+dance" width="1" height="1" /></div><p>My great-aunt Margaret Way, who has died aged 92, taught speech and drama in Taunton, Somerset, for more than 60 years and was an integral figure in the performing arts community there.</p><p>Born in Taunton, she took a three-year course when she left school at 17, and began teaching elocution, speech and drama in 1941. One notable lesson in Exeter took place during a second world war bombing raid. After a year's teaching, Margaret joined the ATS, the&nbsp;women's army service. By the end of the war, she had become a captain, in charge of ATS permanent staff at&nbsp;Welbeck Abbey, Nottinghamshire.</p><p>On her return to Taunton, she rebuilt her teaching career. She established Saturday morning drama courses for primary school children, taught for more than 40 years at St Christopher's school, in Burnham-On-Sea, and was teaching at Queen's College and King's College, Taunton, until earlier this year.</p><p>As well as coaching many entrants for the annual Taunton festival, Margaret became a committee member in 1946, a patron of the festival in 1963, lifetime vice-president in 1978, and competitions secretary for speech and drama in 1979, a position she held for the next 30 years. Since 1935 she had also been a member of the Taunton Thespians, directing and acting.</p><p>Margaret was passionately committed to her work. She kept in touch with an incredible number of&nbsp;former pupils, and had taught three generations of several Taunton families. She was always cheerful, warm, lively and fascinating. In 2007 Margaret received the Somerset High Sheriff's award and a Taunton Deane citizenship award. She was appointed MBE in 2009.</p><p>She is survived by her brother, Michael, her nephew and niece, Robert and Katherine, and myself.</p><div class="related" style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/dramaanddance">Drama and dance</a></li></ul></div><br/><div class="terms"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> &copy; Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/help/feeds">More Feeds</a></div><p style="clear:both" /> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/m1CD6bZg-XafwPEI8Zq2q8RJ3ck/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/m1CD6bZg-XafwPEI8Zq2q8RJ3ck/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/m1CD6bZg-XafwPEI8Zq2q8RJ3ck/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/m1CD6bZg-XafwPEI8Zq2q8RJ3ck/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p> Drama and dance The Guardian Obituaries http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/sep/02/margaret-way-obituary Thu, 02 Sep 2010 16:49:59 GMT http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/sep/02/australian-school-gay-kookaburra-song/print <div class="track"><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.20.4/50699?ns=guardian&pageName=Australian+school+drops+%27gay%27+from+Kookaburra+song%3AArticle%3A1446398&ch=World+news&c3=GU.co.uk&c4=Australia+%28News%29%2CWorld+news%2CSchools&c5=Not+commercially+useful%2CSchools+Education&c6=Associated+Press+in+Sydney&c7=10-Sep-02&c8=1446398&c9=Article&c10=News&c11=World+news&c13=&c25=&c30=content&h2=GU%2FWorld+news%2FAustralia" width="1" height="1" /></div><p class="standfirst">Headteacher says he only substituted word 'fun' into Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree to stop pupils sniggering</p><p>An Australian school headteacher has asked students to stop using the word "gay" when singing a classic children's song, but today said no offence was intended – he was simply trying to keep the children from laughing.</p><p>Garry Martin of Le Page primary school, in Melbourne, said he instructed students to substitute the line "Fun your life must be" for the original "Gay your life must be" when singing Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree. The song about a native Australian bird is a favourite around campfires.</p><p>Martin said he was playing a recording of the song for the students about a month ago when the line "gay your life must be" produced a flurry of giggles throughout the classroom.</p><p>Some of the students use the word "gay" as a schoolyard taunt, he said, but don't understand its true meaning. And so, to calm them down, he told them to swap in the word "fun" for "gay".</p><p>"It wasn't misplaced political correctness, it wasn't homophobia, there was nothing really calculated in doing it," he said.</p><p>"I could've stopped the whole class and gone into a very caring, supportive explanation of gay being quite a reasonable choice in lifestyle that some people make, but I was only talking with seven and eight year olds, and I think that sort of thing is better explained more fully with parents."</p><p>His decision erupted into controversy, he said, after one of the students told his parents about Martin's change to the song. Word then spread from the parents to friends to the local newspaper, which ran a story – and Martin found himself being bombarded with angry emails.</p><p>"Some think I'm the devil incarnate," he said.</p><p>Crusader Hillis, CEO of the gay and lesbian advocacy group The Also Foundation, did not go that far – but he did call the lyrical swap an overreaction.</p><p>"It sends a signal to people that just because a word has two meanings, that one of those meanings is unacceptable and that's really putting us backwards," Hillis said.</p><p>"Even if it's done for good intentions because 'gay' is being used in schoolyards as a slur, I think they need to use the word as a conversation rather than banning it."</p><p>Martin said his decision was a mistake made with the best of intentions, and he plans to speak to the students about how different words hold different meanings across generations.</p><p>He also plans to ask students to sing the original version of the song. But, he added: "We might not sing it that often now."</p><div class="related" style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/australia">Australia</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/schools">Schools</a></li></ul></div><br/><div class="terms"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> &copy; Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/help/feeds">More Feeds</a></div><p style="clear:both" /> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/jgn2PPagJ0dXI_GdtPkY0uG1P_k/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/jgn2PPagJ0dXI_GdtPkY0uG1P_k/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/jgn2PPagJ0dXI_GdtPkY0uG1P_k/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/jgn2PPagJ0dXI_GdtPkY0uG1P_k/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p> Australia World news Schools guardian.co.uk News http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/sep/02/australian-school-gay-kookaburra-song Thu, 02 Sep 2010 08:27:04 GMT http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/sep/02/degrees-lap-dancing/print <div class="track"><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.20.4/74353?ns=guardian&pageName=Degrees+in+lap-dancing%3F+%7C+Deborah+Orr%3AArticle%3A1446279&ch=Education&c3=Guardian&c4=Higher+education%2CWomen+and+women%27s+interests%2CLife+and+style%2CEducation%2CEducation+policy&c5=Policy+Society%2CNot+commercially+useful%2CEducation+Weekly+Education%2CWomen%2CHigher+Education&c6=Deborah+Orr&c7=10-Sep-02&c8=1446279&c9=Article&c10=Comment&c11=Education&c13=&c25=&c30=content&h2=GU%2FEducation%2FHigher+education" width="1" height="1" /></div><p class="standfirst">It seems qualifications in traditional subjects are no longer useful</p><p>Earlier in the summer there were rumblings of rage at the recent trend towards educating half the population to degree level. This expansion appears to have spawned the disagreeable but predictable consequence that university qualifications have been devalued. Then, more recently, the news that one in four lap-dancers have degrees was greeted in some quarters with suggestions that lap-dancing was, ergo, a perfectly respectable career choice for intelligent young ladies. Clearly, fewer degrees in English literature and classics should be offered, to make way for the range of degrees in sex work that must be swiftly established.</p><div class="related" style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/higher-education">Higher education</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/women">Women</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/education">Education policy</a></li></ul></div><div class="author"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/deborah-orr">Deborah Orr</a></div><br/><div class="terms"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> &copy; Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/help/feeds">More Feeds</a></div><p style="clear:both" /> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/5ucu1YrwnhZCMzwAe_q3DTMwwwk/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/5ucu1YrwnhZCMzwAe_q3DTMwwwk/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/5ucu1YrwnhZCMzwAe_q3DTMwwwk/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/5ucu1YrwnhZCMzwAe_q3DTMwwwk/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p> Higher education Women Life and style Education Education policy The Guardian Comment http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/sep/02/degrees-lap-dancing Thu, 02 Sep 2010 08:00:13 GMT http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/sep/02/reward-schools-poor-children/print <div class="track"><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.20.4/96603?ns=guardian&pageName=Schools+must+earn+poor+pupil+payment%2C+charity+tells+education+secretary+%3AArticle%3A1446371&ch=Education&c3=Guardian&c4=Education%2CSchools%2CPoverty+%28Society%29%2CAcademies+%28Education%29%2CUK+news&c5=Not+commercially+useful%2CEducation+Weekly+Education%2CCharities%2CSchools+Education&c6=Jeevan+Vasagar&c7=10-Sep-02&c8=1446371&c9=Article&c10=News&c11=Education&c13=&c25=&c30=content&h2=GU%2FEducation%2FSchools" width="1" height="1" /></div><p class="standfirst">Disadvantaged children would be expected to be given priority in order for schools to get incentive reward</p><p>Schools would be expected to give priority to poorer children when admitting new pupils and judged on the extent to which they narrow the gap between disadvantaged youngsters and their better-off classmates under plans submitted to government by an influential charity.</p><p>In proposals which are being studied closely by education secretary Michael Gove, the Sutton Trust has advised that only schools which agree to give priority to disadvantaged children should get the full benefit of the pupil premium, a new financial incentive to reward schools for accepting poorer pupils.</p><p>This funding should be set at £3,000 a child if it is to have an impact, the Sutton Trust's paper suggests.</p><p>Schools rated as outstanding by Ofsted should have poorer children automatically entered into their application process, the paper argues.</p><p>Ministers are expected to review the school admissions code in the coming weeks amid concern that schools have skewed intakes which do not reflect their neighbourhoods.</p><p>The best secondary schools in England take on average just 5% of pupils entitled to free school meals.</p><p>The Sutton Trust's paper also calls on government to ensure that academies and parent-led free schools declare how they will deploy resources from the pupil premium to benefit disadvantaged children.</p><p>As increasing numbers of schools opt out of local authority control, councils could find a new role monitoring the use of this funding, the charity suggests.</p><p>The Sutton Trust, which campaigns to improve social mobility and funds projects aimed at narrowing the gap between rich and poor in education, draws attention to concerns that the coalition's school reforms, by expanding academies and enabling parents to set up their own schools, "will lead to further social segregation among schools and hinder social mobility."</p><p>A spokesman for the Department for Education said: "This is a really interesting report that we will study in detail. We agree that the attainment gap in our schools is too wide and we need to ensure that children from poorer backgrounds enjoy far greater opportunities in life.</p><p>"That is why we are introducing a pupil premium so that extra funding is targeted at those deprived pupils that most need it, as well as reforming the admissions system to make it simpler and fairer for all."</p><p>Britain's biggest children's charity, Barnardo's, warned last week that impenetrable "clusters of privilege" are forming around the best state schools. Poorer families are losing out to better-off neighbours who move house or attend church to get a better education, Barnardo's said.</p><p>Proposals to make admissions fairer are being looked at as the government confirmed yesterday that more than 140 schools are expected to convert to academy status in the coming school year.</p><p>The schools, which are taking advantage of a new law allowing every school in England to opt out of council control, will take charge of their own admissions.</p><p>Some fear this will widen the gap between poorer families and their better-off neighbours. Gove said yesterday the reform would give head teachers more control over how schools are run.</p><p>"This will give heads more power to tackle disruptive children, to protect and reward teachers better, and to give children the specialist teaching they need."</p><p>Gove wrote to every primary, secondary and special school in England in May inviting them to apply for academy status as the government moved swiftly to pass a new law that enabled schools to convert.</p><p>The schools converting this year include the first primaries with academy status. Among them is Britain's biggest primary, Durand, in Brixton, south London.</p><p>Greg Martin, Executive Head of Durand Academy, said: "The freedom that academy status brings will allow us to deliver and develop a flexible curriculum to ensure that [our] children reach their full potential."</p><p>Meanwhile, business leaders will today call on the government to make it easier for the private sector to help run schools.</p><p>In a report published today, the CBI welcomed the expansion in the number of academies and plans to set up free schools.</p><p>The employers' group urged ministers to set out a clear strategy for business involvement in education. The CBI wants to see more federations of schools set up, in which good schools support struggling ones. These could be run by a business, the report suggests.</p><p>It also urged the government to broaden the range of organisations that can set up a free school. Currently, only parent and teachers' groups or charities are eligible.</p><p>Susan Anderson, CBI Director of Education and Skills, said: "Businesses have a key role to play in raising educational outcomes, not just by offering students work experience and career support, or acting as school governors, but also by bringing their vast, largely untapped, reservoir of experience to bear in advising, managing and partnering with schools."</p><div class="related" style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/schools">Schools</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/poverty">Poverty</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/academies">Academies</a></li></ul></div><div class="author"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/jeevanvasagar">Jeevan Vasagar</a></div><br/><div class="terms"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> &copy; Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/help/feeds">More Feeds</a></div><p style="clear:both" /> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/R-XhN8eJTo_CCsWi_sdF9SdWs5Y/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/R-XhN8eJTo_CCsWi_sdF9SdWs5Y/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/R-XhN8eJTo_CCsWi_sdF9SdWs5Y/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/R-XhN8eJTo_CCsWi_sdF9SdWs5Y/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p> Education Schools Poverty Academies UK news The Guardian News http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/sep/02/reward-schools-poor-children Thu, 02 Sep 2010 06:00:21 GMT http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/sep/01/margaret-gray-obituary/print <div class="track"><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.20.4/67686?ns=guardian&pageName=Margaret+Gray%3AArticle%3A1446251&ch=Education&c3=Guardian&c4=Teaching&c5=Schools+Education&c6=Sean+Day-Lewis&c7=10-Sep-01&c8=1446251&c9=Article&c10=Obituary&c11=Education&c13=Other+lives+%28series%29&c25=&c30=content&h2=GU%2FEducation%2FTeaching" width="1" height="1" /></div><p>Margaret Gray, who has died aged 97, was head of the Godolphin and Latymer school in Hammersmith, west London, from 1963 to 1973. Her ability to listen to and empathise with the girls, especially the younger ones, made her the kind of head every school wants.</p><p>For all of us descended from the Gray family of Edinburgh, which still has its name above the door of the large hardware shop in George Street, Margaret was the undoubted star of&nbsp;her generation. She was the youngest child of Mary and the Rev Herbert Gray, a&nbsp;Scottish Presbyterian minister who founded the Marriage Guidance Council in 1938.</p><p>Margaret proved an apt pupil at St Mary's Hall, Brighton, and a&nbsp;diligent undergraduate at Newnham College, Cambridge, before taking a postgraduate fellowship to Smith College in Massachusetts. Her professional life began in 1937, teaching history at Westcliff high school for girls in Essex. She went on to head the history department of Mary Datchelor girls' school in Camberwell, south London.</p><p>In 1952 she took her first headship, at the Skinners' Company's school in Stamford Hill, north London. In 1963 she moved to Godolphin and Latymer. Soon after her official retirement, in 1973, the school lost its voluntary aided status and had to either amalgamate with another school as a&nbsp;comprehensive or go private. It chose the latter, but Margaret was left in a&nbsp;dilemma. She wanted the school to keep what made it special but strongly disapproved of entrance restricted to&nbsp;the wealthy. She launched, and for many years ran, a bursary scheme.</p><p>My first encounter with Margaret happened when she was in her 30s while I was doing national service at the air ministry and living in London with two of my great-aunts, strong admirers of their niece Margaret and particularly her "wonderful" driving. I was offered a trip and soon deduced, from her alarming speed between and up to traffic lights, that she was not a woman who wasted time. In Who's Who she listed motoring as a main recreation along with gardening and walking. Even at 91 she was driving around the Scottish Highlands, blessedly free of&nbsp;traffic lights. At school she had used traffic lights outside her office: green for "come in", amber for "please wait", red for "not free for ages".</p><p>Margaret was once asked if she had ever been in love. "Yes, but never enough to get married," she replied. She was always surrounded by friends, nephews and nieces, including the journalist Katharine Whitehorn. She finally settled in Kew, south-west London, with two other retired schoolteachers. She was a tireless correspondent and a regular assistant at&nbsp;the local Oxfam shop.</p><div class="related" style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/teaching">Teaching</a></li></ul></div><br/><div class="terms"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> &copy; Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/help/feeds">More Feeds</a></div><p style="clear:both" /> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/nvFqHPFuGI3FhuBOcmhfLz7PIZ0/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/nvFqHPFuGI3FhuBOcmhfLz7PIZ0/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/nvFqHPFuGI3FhuBOcmhfLz7PIZ0/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/nvFqHPFuGI3FhuBOcmhfLz7PIZ0/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p> Teaching The Guardian Obituaries http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/sep/01/margaret-gray-obituary Wed, 01 Sep 2010 16:55:07 GMT http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/sep/01/arts-science-degrees-equally-valuable/print <div class="track"><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.20.4/22932?ns=guardian&pageName=Arts+and+science+degrees+are+different+*+but+both+are+equally+valuable+%7C%3AArticle%3A1445903&ch=Comment+is+free&c3=GU.co.uk&c4=University+teaching%2CTuition+fees%2CHigher+education%2CScience%2CArts+%28Higher+education%29%2CUniversity+funding%2CEducation%2CLecturers&c5=Not+commercially+useful%2CEducation+Weekly+Education%2CHigher+Education&c6=Robert+Woolfson&c7=10-Sep-01&c8=1445903&c9=Article&c10=Comment&c11=Comment+is+free&c13=&c25=Comment+is+free&c30=content&h2=GU%2FComment+is+free%2Fblog%2FComment+is+free" width="1" height="1" /></div><p class="standfirst">Any student willing to engage will get good value for money</p><p>The <a href="http://hereview.independent.gov.uk/hereview/" title="Independent Review of Higher Education Funding and Student Finance">Browne review</a> into the funding of higher education has led to a debate on whether a university education provides value for money. In the last three months, there have been two comment pieces by arts students complaining about the <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/mortarboard/2010/jul/15/elite-universities-not-better-for-students" title="Guardian: Elite universities are better for students? I don't think so">"paucity of teaching"</a> within their degrees and suggesting that the <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/aug/28/non-science-students-tuition-contact-hours" title="Cif: Non-science students don't get much tuition for their money">disparity between arts and science contact hours</a> should be reflected in the fees.</p><p>I'm entering my third year of a chemistry degree at the University of Manchester and I would not be surprised if, as a result of the Browne review, science undergraduates are asked to pay considerably higher fees without any real debate about whether they actually get more value for money than arts students.</p><p>Last year, my fees "bought" between 15 and 20 contact hours a week. Eight hours of lectures, nine of labs, along with regular tutorials and workshops. I got the chemicals I needed to run my experiments, the support I needed to do them safely and the journal subscriptions necessary to place my experiments in context. So far so good.</p><p>And what experiments did I do? The same standard set of experiments that were performed last year and will be performed next year. That's not a complaint; learning the basic techniques is an essential part of any science degree. But it does preclude original thinking; all my assessments to date have involved "right" answers that can be logically deduced from the available knowledge.</p><p>By comparison arts students, if they are lucky, get six to eight hours of lectures, seminars and tutorials a week. Instead of labs and workshops, they get extensive reading lists: they are <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/aug/28/non-science-students-tuition-contact-hours" title="Guardian: Non-science students don't get much tuition for their money">"paying for the privilege of reading textbooks"</a>. So for three years and almost £10,000 in tuition fees, what do they really get?</p><p>Well, for one thing, they get a sounding board for their ideas. Once arts students have worked through their reading list, they're going to have ideas about what they've read and how these ideas fit into the grand scheme of things. At university, they get access to a knowledgeable faculty and, through discussions, can clarify and better express their ideas.</p><p>Their fees also pay for the supply and maintenance of the huge collection of books necessary to develop the required depth of knowledge – otherwise known as the library. It's a telling fact that at the main University of Manchester library, there is part of <a href="http://www.library.manchester.ac.uk/aboutus/librarysites/main/_files2/fileuploadmax10mb,136739,en.pdf" title="">one floor</a> devoted to science and nearly five wings devoted to the arts.</p><p>Another, more abstract, way of looking at value for money is by examining the skills learned through a degree. Again, arts students apparently don't get value for money. What do they learn? How to read a book? How to analyse a theme? Compare that to a science student who has potentially learned the basics of probing the nature of the universe.</p><p>Yet the majority of graduate <a href="http://www.bris.ac.uk/careers/grads/dept/sociology.asp" title="University of Bristol: What do Bristol Sociology graduates do? ">entry jobs</a> simply require a degree, irrelevant of specialisation, so there must be something valuable about an arts degree. All students are essentially taught the same skills; the ability to work self-sufficiently, a toolkit of problem-solving methods and the skills and confidence to apply it in unknown situations.</p><p>The more you put in to your degree the more you get out. Those who take the time to seek out lecturers and use all the resources their fees pay for get far higher value for money than those who simply cruise through. Also, whether you're studying 10th-century Norse poetry or the stereochemistry of heterocyclic molecules, degree-level study requires a stupendous amount of work to reach the standard required.</p><p>Arts and science degrees are different but equal, and equally valuable. So please, stop demonising science students because we spend more time in labs and less time in the library.</p><div class="related" style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/universityteaching">University teaching</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/tuition-fees">Tuition fees</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/higher-education">Higher education</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/arts">Arts</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/universityfunding">University funding</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/lecturers">Lecturers</a></li></ul></div><div class="author"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/woolfson-robert">Robert Woolfson</a></div><br/><div class="terms"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> &copy; Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/help/feeds">More Feeds</a></div><p style="clear:both" /> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/0FRcW5UERFjrrH41YF-Crpayo-w/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/0FRcW5UERFjrrH41YF-Crpayo-w/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/0FRcW5UERFjrrH41YF-Crpayo-w/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/0FRcW5UERFjrrH41YF-Crpayo-w/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p> University teaching Tuition fees Higher education Science Arts University funding Education Lecturers guardian.co.uk Comment http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/sep/01/arts-science-degrees-equally-valuable Wed, 01 Sep 2010 14:00:09 GMT http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2010/sep/01/six-to-watch-tv-schools/print <div class="track"><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.20.4/85007?ns=guardian&pageName=Six+to+watch%3A+TV+schools%3AArticle%3A1445951&ch=Television+%26amp%3B+radio&c3=GU.co.uk&c4=Drama+%28TV+genre%29%2CTelevision+and+radio+TV%2CTelevision+%28Culture%29%2CGlee%2CSchools&c5=Not+commercially+useful%2CTelevision+Media%2CSchools+Education%2CTV&c6=Stuart+Heritage&c7=10-Sep-01&c8=1445951&c9=Article&c10=Blogpost&c11=Television+%26amp%3B+radio&c13=Six+to+watch+%28series%29&c25=TV+and+radio+blog+%28television%29&c30=content&h2=GU%2FTelevision+%26amp%3B+radio%2FDrama" width="1" height="1" /></div><p class="standfirst">As a new term begins at Waterloo Road, which are the programmes it should it be taking lessons from?</p><p>This week the nation's kids return to school, all bright-eyed and smelling of hope. Ditto the cast of Waterloo Road – basically Holby City for former soap actors who don't have complexions that suit medical scrubs – which will also return for its sixth series tonight.</p><p>It's all change at the school, with Amanda Burton's fiery new headteacher replacing Eva Pope's fiery old headteacher, and the likes of Angela Griffin and Denise Welch replaced by <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2010/08_august/06/waterloo.shtml" title="">someone from Waking the Dead</a> and, later in the series, him out of Spandau Ballet. Still, at least <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-bkVYFf42Q" title="">Grantly Budgen</a> – the marvellously gloomy English teacher with a face that resembles a melting waxwork of Geoffrey Palmer with gout – is still around. That's something.</p><p>So let's ring in the new term – at Waterloo Road and elsewhere – by revisiting six of our favourite school-based TV shows. As ever, don't hesitate to remind me of any glaring omissions...</p><h2>Grange Hill (1978-2008) </h2><p>The definitive school-based show. Grange Hill ran for so long that several successive generations could each take their own iconic moments from it. Some loved Grange Hill for Tucker Jenkins, some for <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snm6tulJPqM" title="">Just Say No</a> and some for the time that little Kevin <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=paFNPWekUYM" title="">accidentally took LSD and got freaked out by a piece of chalk</a>. And the flying sausage. Never forget the flying sausage.</p><h2>Teachers (2001-2004) </h2><p>Post-This Life Andrew Lincoln vehicle that destroyed the myth of the teacher as the uptight fuddy-duddy. Instead, Teachers showed that educators could get drunk and have as much casual sex as anybody else. And what's more, they could do it to a soundtrack of forgettable millennial indie music, too.</p><h2>Please Sir! (1968-1972) </h2><p>Boasting a theme tune that rivalled even Grange Hill for catchiness, Please Sir! followed the adventures of John Alderton's idealistic new teacher Bernard Hedges in a school where all the pupils appeared to be in their mid-30s. Creepy.</p><h2>Saved by the Bell (1989-1993) </h2><p>Like a funnier Beverly Hills 90210, Saved by the Bell showed us how great life was at Bayside high school under the watchful eye of dumbly benevolent principal Mr Belding. Not always that great, as it turns out.</p><h2>Glee (2009-) </h2><p>The show that accurately describes what it's like to be a student. So long as you're needy and self-infatuated. And you can't go for more than five or six seconds without bursting into a semi-ironic rendition of a 1980s power ballad. And you mistakenly think that it's clever and cute to add the letters 'Gl' to the start of most things you say. And you're relentlessly annoying.</p><h2>The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show (1983-1985) </h2><p>Not entirely school-based, but memorable for its classroom scenes nonetheless. Charlie Brown's teacher refused to speak English to her students, preferring to communicate via a bizarre wordless method involving a wah-wah trumpet. The knock-on effect of this is that Charlie Brown and his friends failed to learn anything at school, dooming them to a lifetime of head-smackingly inane pseudo-philosophical conversations with each other. Let this be a lesson to teachers everywhere – it helps to use actual words during lessons.</p><h2>Honourable mentions</h2><p>Gloriously observed Australian import <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_O5U9irS3iA">Summer Heights High</a>, genuinely terrifying <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiW6DIRzvsM">The Demon Headmaster</a> and <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3goaKpDp-Y8">good old Sweet Valley High</a>. Also worth noting - despite their not-entirely-classroom-based nature - E4's <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fjhmFcyk_I">The Inbetweeners</a>, and Skins.</p><div class="related" style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/drama">Drama</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/television">Television</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/glee">Glee</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/schools">Schools</a></li></ul></div><div class="author"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/stuart-heritage">Stuart Heritage</a></div><br/><div class="terms"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> &copy; Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/help/feeds">More Feeds</a></div><p style="clear:both" /> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/JAZLd0cSlkGZxgCXUJJCVrXWwBo/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/JAZLd0cSlkGZxgCXUJJCVrXWwBo/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/JAZLd0cSlkGZxgCXUJJCVrXWwBo/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/JAZLd0cSlkGZxgCXUJJCVrXWwBo/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p> Drama Television & radio Television Glee Schools guardian.co.uk Blogposts http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2010/sep/01/six-to-watch-tv-schools Wed, 01 Sep 2010 12:15:07 GMT http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/sep/01/schools-converting-academies/print <div class="track"><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.20.4/69463?ns=guardian&pageName=Schools+converting+to+academies+in+September+2010%3AArticle%3A1445954&ch=Education&c3=GU.co.uk&c4=Academies+%28Education%29%2CSchools%2CEducation%2CEducation+policy%2CPolitics%2CMichael+Gove&c5=Not+commercially+useful%2CPolicy+Society%2CEducation+Weekly+Education%2CSchools+Education&c6=&c7=10-Sep-01&c8=1445954&c9=Article&c10=&c11=Education&c13=&c25=&c30=content&h2=GU%2FEducation%2FAcademies" width="1" height="1" /></div><p class="standfirst">A list of the 32 schools <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/sep/01/140-schools-academies" title="converting to academy status this month">converting to academy status this month</a></p><p>Queen Elizabeth's School, Barnet</p><p>Kemnal Technology College (part of the Kemnal Trust), Bromley</p><p>Brine Leas High School, Cheshire East</p><p>Fallibroome High School, Cheshire East</p><p>St Buryan Primary School, Cornwall</p><p>Seaton Infant School, Cumbria</p><p>Broadclyst Community Primary School, Devon</p><p>Uffculme School, Devon</p><p>Cuckoo Hall Primary School, Enfield</p><p>The Cotswold School, Gloucestershire</p><p>Watford Grammar School for Boys, Hertfordshire</p><p>Watford Grammar School for Girls, Hertfordshire</p><p>Lampton School, Hounslow</p><p>The Westlands School (in federation with The Woodgrove Primary School), Kent</p><p>The Woodgrove Primary School (in federation with The Westlands School), Kent</p><p>Heckmondwike Grammar School, Kirklees</p><p>Durand Primary School, Lambeth</p><p>The Giles School, Lincolnshire</p><p>Eaton Mill Foundation Primary School, Milton Keynes</p><p>Healing School, a Specialist Science and Foundation College, North East Lincolnshire</p><p>Tollbar Business Enterprise & Humanities College, North East Lincolnshire</p><p>Northampton School for Boys, Northamptonshire</p><p>George Spencer Foundation School and Technology College, Nottinghamshire</p><p>Arthur Mellows Village College, Peterborough</p><p>The Chadwell Heath Foundation School, Redbridge</p><p>Holyrood Community School, Somerset</p><p>Huish Episcopi School, Somerset</p><p>Westcliff High School for Boys, Southend-on-Sea</p><p>Hartismere School, Suffolk</p><p>Audenshaw School, Tameside</p><p>Urmston Grammar School, Trafford</p><p>Hardenhuish School, Wiltshire</p><p></p><p>Source: Department for Education</p><div class="related" style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/academies">Academies</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/schools">Schools</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/education">Education policy</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/michaelgove">Michael Gove</a></li></ul></div><br/><div class="terms"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> &copy; Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/help/feeds">More Feeds</a></div><p style="clear:both" /> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/hgR5tXyNzNpI7PoQu_NQ6JwKxH8/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/hgR5tXyNzNpI7PoQu_NQ6JwKxH8/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/hgR5tXyNzNpI7PoQu_NQ6JwKxH8/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/hgR5tXyNzNpI7PoQu_NQ6JwKxH8/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p> Academies Schools Education Education policy Politics Michael Gove guardian.co.uk Editorial http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/sep/01/schools-converting-academies Wed, 01 Sep 2010 11:13:33 GMT http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/sep/01/imperial-college-medical-school-singapore/print <div class="track"><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.20.4/6014?ns=guardian&pageName=Imperial+College+to+establish+medical+school+in+Singapore%3AArticle%3A1445904&ch=Education&c3=GU.co.uk&c4=Imperial+College+London%2CMedicine+%28Education+subject%29%2CSingapore+%28News%29%2CHigher+education%2CEducation%2CWorld+news&c5=Not+commercially+useful%2CEducation+Weekly+Education%2CHigher+Education&c6=Jeevan+Vasagar&c7=10-Sep-01&c8=1445904&c9=Article&c10=News&c11=Education&c13=&c25=&c30=content&h2=GU%2FEducation%2FImperial+College+London" width="1" height="1" /></div><p class="standfirst">Joint teaching venture sees the London university forge presence in funding-rich Asia</p><p>Imperial College London is to set up a new medical school in Singapore in the latest move by an elite British university to establish a presence in Asia.</p><p>Jointly run by Imperial and Singapore's Nanyang Technological University, the medical school will teach over 750 students when it is fully established, the majority of whom will be local residents.</p><p>Professor Martyn Partridge, who holds Imperial's chair in respiratory medicine and is to be senior vice dean of the new school, said Imperial had developed an "innovative" course employing electronic learning and simulations of patient care, which the university hoped to develop further in Singapore.</p><p>The medical school will be publicly funded. Imperial, which was invited to set up the partnership by Singapore's government, will benefit financially from sharing expertise and the college hopes the partnership will lead to long-term benefits. The college aims to tap into "generous research funding" available in the Asian city-state, Prof Partridge said.</p><p>"I don't think anybody knows the exact bottom line, but I can categorically say that Imperial is not going to do this in any way at a loss."</p><p>International students are a significant source of revenue for British universities, and increasing numbers want to study here. Overseas applications rose from just over 55,000 last year to over 71,000 this February. At present the proportion of overseas medical students at UK schools is capped at 7.5%. A foreign medical student who starts at Imperial this autumn can expect to pay £26,250 a year.</p><p>Other top British universities which have expanded abroad include Nottingham, which has a campus in Malaysia, while Liverpool has set up a partnership with a Chinese university in Suzhou, near Shanghai.</p><p>The new medical school will admit its first 50 students in 2013. A British student who trained at the Singapore school would have no automatic right to practise in the NHS, as it is outside the EU. However, the college hopes to set up student exchanges between the UK and Singapore.</p><p>Sir Keith O'Nions , rector of Imperial College London, said: "We are extremely proud to be working with Singapore, a country we have long admired for its support and application of world-class science, engineering and medicine.</p><p>"We have many members of the Imperial family already in Singapore — the country is home to nearly 2,000 of our alumni."</p><p>Paul Madden, British High Commissioner for Singapore, said the partnership was a further example of the "deep linkages" between Britain and Singapore in science, culture and trade.</p><p>Imperial's school of medicine, formed in 1997, is one of the largest in the UK. Over 2,000 undergraduates and 500 postgraduates studied there in the last academic year.</p><div class="related" style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/imperialcollegelondon">Imperial College London</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/medicine">Medicine</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/singapore">Singapore</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/higher-education">Higher education</a></li></ul></div><div class="author"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/jeevanvasagar">Jeevan Vasagar</a></div><br/><div class="terms"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> &copy; Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/help/feeds">More Feeds</a></div><p style="clear:both" /> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/yrZu_9jRkwDiElzAsUV9iD0-UPc/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/yrZu_9jRkwDiElzAsUV9iD0-UPc/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/yrZu_9jRkwDiElzAsUV9iD0-UPc/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/yrZu_9jRkwDiElzAsUV9iD0-UPc/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p> Imperial College London Medicine Singapore Higher education Education World news guardian.co.uk News http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/sep/01/imperial-college-medical-school-singapore Wed, 01 Sep 2010 10:14:59 GMT http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2010/sep/01/school-dinner-lunchbox/print <div class="track"><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.20.4/90152?ns=guardian&pageName=School+dinners+or+a+packed+lunch%3F%3AArticle%3A1445643&ch=Life+and+style&c3=GU.co.uk&c4=Food+and+drink+%28Life+and+style%29%2CLife+and+style%2CEducation%2CSchool+meals%2CSchools&c5=Not+commercially+useful%2CEducation+Weekly+Education%2CFood+and+Drink%2CSchools+Education&c6=Karen+Homer&c7=10-Sep-01&c8=1445643&c9=Article&c10=Blogpost&c11=Life+and+style&c13=&c25=Word+of+Mouth+blog&c30=content&h2=GU%2FLife+and+style%2Fblog%2FWord+of+Mouth+blog" width="1" height="1" /></div><p class="standfirst">What do your children eat for lunch at school and why?</p><p>It may not have felt like much of a summer but school's back this week and in a few days the autumn term will officially start; new shoes are being bought, PE kit labelled, and unopened book-bags and forgotten homework unearthed from the deep recesses of children's rooms around the country. One thing you may or may not need to dig out is a lunchbox, depending on whether you, along with <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10552560">just over a third</a> of British parents, decide your child should eat school dinners.<br /><br />There is little doubt that it is essential for children to <a href="http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/uk/healthy+school+meals+boost+concentration/3255172?FORM=ZZNR4">eat a good lunch</a>, but what this is and how it is best delivered is contentious. When canvassing opinion from other mothers I discovered that one friend has such horrible memories of her childhood school dinners she refuses to inflict them on her own daughter. Another who is particularly nutritionally-savvy is adamant that school dinners are the best choice from a health perspective; having assumed she'd be packing additive-free lunchboxes I was somewhat surprised, but it <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/7888081/Parents-told-packed-lunches-too-unhealthy.html">has been suggested</a> that it's parents who are less likely to feed their children healthy food that prefer the packed lunch option. </p><p>Of course, <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/jun/29/healthy-school-lunches">cost is important too</a> and some people find the daily rate of around £2 per child prohibitive, making the lowest income group the segment of the community where take-up is at its lowest. Across the board time pressures also appear to be a deciding factor, with many I spoke to saying they opted for school lunches because they had enough to do in the morning without packing a lunchbox or three.</p><p>Since the 2005 <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/oliver">Jamie Oliver school dinners campaign</a> lifted the lid then nailed shut the coffin of the <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2005/mar/23/broadcasting1">Turkey Twizzlers</a> and other junk food being served to schoolchildren across the country, school dinners have enjoyed a far healthier reputation. Or at least they did until Andrew Lansley put the boot in by <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jul/01/jamie-oliver-school-dinners-andrew-lansley">denouncing the campaign</a> as an <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/jul/09/failure-school-meals-revolution">abject failure</a>. But Oliver <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/jun/30/jamie-oliver-school-meals-lansley">hit back equally hard</a> and in fact not only did the uptake of school lunches <a href="http://www.teachers.tv/news/66581">increase by over 320,000</a> in the past academic year alone, but research also indicates the meals are <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/mar/29/jamie-oliver-school-dinners-meals">improving children's performance</a> at school. So Jamie remains canonized by the public and probably deserves his <a href="http://www.jamieoliver.com/news/jamie-wins-prestigious-ted-prize">plaudits and awards</a>.</p><p>What I would most love to see is a bit of <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marlene-h-phillips/school-lunches-around-the_b_206802.html">European savoir faire</a> when it comes to school lunch culture. In France and Italy pupils and teachers sit down together for a three-course meal of fresh, seasonal food; in Japan manners are emphasised as pupils serve the midday meal of rice, soup, fish and milk to their peers and teachers alike. </p><p>Although our school meals conform to stricter nutritional guidelines than in the past the culture is still bolt and run. Once, the the youngest children ate before the general rabble hit the canteen and dinner ladies watched over them to make sure they ate some vegetables. Not any more, and at secondary schools the temptation is to avoid the cafeteria completely and buy (often less healthy food) elsewhere, though there are <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/aug/10/healthy-school-meals-attract-pupils">heartening reports</a> of some secondaries offering healthy meals that pupils genuinely want to eat. </p><p>But what of the packed lunch? I remember feeling smug as can be the day I carried my new pink Barbie lunchbox into school aged about 11, but I can't remember what was inside, probably because it was exactly the same as everyone else's lunch. Not so the recollections of a friend whose Spanish mother packed him long rolls filled with ham she'd imported from her native Catalonia, rice and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chickpea">garbanzos</a> and other very un-English delicacies. He says having to open that box with all its accompanying smells has scarred him for life - well, almost. From what I have gathered the same holds true today - foodie parents beware if you're thinking of offering anything other than plastic ham sandwiches on <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2010/jul/13/consider-cheap-white-bread">cotton-wool bread</a>.</p><p>On balance, I incline more towards a hot meal in winter than in summer and confess to sometimes finding the morning lunch-packing too much of a grind. But for me the worst part is that unless your child is a speedy eater, before much more than the second bite his or her mates will be off to play, at which point the food will be forgotten. What do your children eat for lunch at school and why?</p><div class="related" style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/food-and-drink">Food & drink</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/schoolmeals">School meals</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/schools">Schools</a></li></ul></div><div class="author"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/karen-homer">Karen Homer</a></div><br/><div class="terms"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> &copy; Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/help/feeds">More Feeds</a></div><p style="clear:both" /> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/s7GLPE2icESJE-b3vW2jqA5l-tU/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/s7GLPE2icESJE-b3vW2jqA5l-tU/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/s7GLPE2icESJE-b3vW2jqA5l-tU/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/s7GLPE2icESJE-b3vW2jqA5l-tU/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p> Food & drink Life and style Education School meals Schools guardian.co.uk Blogposts http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2010/sep/01/school-dinner-lunchbox Wed, 01 Sep 2010 10:10:00 GMT http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/sep/01/140-schools-academies/print <div class="track"><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.20.4/97245?ns=guardian&pageName=140+schools+to+convert+to+academies+this+school+year%3AArticle%3A1445868&ch=Education&c3=GU.co.uk&c4=Academies+%28Education%29%2CSchools%2CEducation%2CPrimary+schools%2CSecondary+schools%2CEducation+policy%2CPolitics%2CMichael+Gove&c5=Not+commercially+useful%2CPolicy+Society%2CEducation+Weekly+Education%2CSchools+Education&c6=Jeevan+Vasagar&c7=10-Sep-01&c8=1445868&c9=Article&c10=News&c11=Education&c13=&c25=&c30=content&h2=GU%2FEducation%2FAcademies" width="1" height="1" /></div><p class="standfirst">In response to Michael Gove's education reforms, 32 schools will open as academies this month out of 2,000 that have expressed interest since May</p><p>Over 140 schools are expected to convert to academy status in the coming school year after the <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/jul/27/mps-pass-academies-bill" title="government passed a new law to allow every school">government passed a new law to allow every school</a> in England to opt out of local authority control.</p><p>A total of <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/sep/01/schools-converting-academies">32 are expected to open</a> as academies this month. It is understood that the majority of those opening are "outstanding" schools, or involved in federations with such schools.</p><p>Gove wrote to every primary, secondary and special school in England in May inviting them to apply for academy status while the coalition government moved swiftly to pass a new law to allow schools to take up the offer.</p><p><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/jul/19/michael-gove-schools-academies-plan" title="The speed at which the legislation moved">The speed at which the legislation moved through parliament</a> led to accusations that ministers rushed the reforms using a timetable usually reserved for emergency laws, such as anti-terror powers.</p><p>Official figures from the Department for Education will today show that six weeks after the legislation became law, only 32 schools have completed the process to open as academies this month, with 142 in total expected to convert over the coming academic year. More than 2,000 schools have <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2010/jul/19/academy-schools-list-applied" title="expressed an interest in becoming an academy">expressed an interest in becoming an academy</a>.</p><p>Announcing that every school could apply for the freedoms in May, Gove said academies could become "the norm" in England's education system, adding he anticipated a high take-up of his offer. He insisted it was down to individual schools to make the decision.</p><p>Schools rated "outstanding" by Ofsted were pre-approved, meaning that those under this category who applied immediately are the most likely to open as academies first.</p><p>A spokesman forGove said today: "This is part of Mr Gove's overall vision – that teachers and heads should control schools, not politicians and bureaucrats."</p><p>The announcement comes as children across the country prepare to return to school after the summer holidays.</p><p>Among the schools which have converted is Durand, Britain's biggest primary, in Brixton, south London. Jim Davies, chair of governors at Durand primary school, said: "For Durand, gaining academy status gives us freedom to develop and structure education tailored to our intake, supporting each and every child to reach their full potential.</p><p>"The Durand Academy will provide excellence in education for children from one of the most socially disadvantaged areas of the UK."</p><p>Chris Keates, general secretary of the NASUWT teaching union said there were concerns that schools had not properly consulted with staff, parents and their local community over decisions to convert.</p><p>She said: "However, despite the unacceptable tactics to seek to tempt schools into becoming academies and repeated claims by the secretary of state for education of widespread interest in academy status, only a handful of schools it seems will convert on 1 September."</p><p>The reason for "low take-up" is because the government has "misjudged the situation", Ms Keates said.</p><p>"Those promoting academy status are bankrupt of strong, persuasive arguments. Assertions of vast amounts of additional money for academies have proved to be gross exaggerations.</p><p>"The fact that on becoming an academy a school becomes a charitable company limited by guarantee sits uneasily with many governors and parents. The unseemly manner and speed with which the Academies Act was bludgeoned through parliament has left important points of detail unaddressed.</p><p>"But the killer blow is that there is no evidence to present that academy status is the key to raising standards."</p><div class="related" style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/academies">Academies</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/schools">Schools</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/primary-schools">Primary schools</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/secondary-schools">Secondary schools</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/education">Education policy</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/michaelgove">Michael Gove</a></li></ul></div><div class="author"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/jeevanvasagar">Jeevan Vasagar</a></div><br/><div class="terms"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> &copy; Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/help/feeds">More Feeds</a></div><p style="clear:both" /> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/0Zv-62ri2JOEmIRsFa-T7jhj6QU/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/0Zv-62ri2JOEmIRsFa-T7jhj6QU/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/0Zv-62ri2JOEmIRsFa-T7jhj6QU/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/0Zv-62ri2JOEmIRsFa-T7jhj6QU/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p> Academies Schools Education Primary schools Secondary schools Education policy Politics Michael Gove guardian.co.uk News http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/sep/01/140-schools-academies Wed, 01 Sep 2010 09:32:02 GMT http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2010/sep/01/archive-obituary-dr-wa-spooner/print <div class="track"><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.20.4/19224?ns=guardian&pageName=From+the+archive%2C+1+September+1930%3A+Obituary%3A+Dr+WA+Spooner%3AArticle%3A1445850&ch=From+the+Guardian&c3=Guardian&c4=UK+news%2CWords+and+language%2CBooks%2CEducation%2CLinguistics+%28Education+subject%29%2COxford+University&c5=Not+commercially+useful%2CEducation+Weekly+Education%2CHigher+Education&c6=&c7=10-Sep-01&c8=1445850&c9=Article&c10=Obituary&c11=From+the+Guardian&c13=From+the+archive+%28series%29&c25=&c30=content&h2=GU%2FFrom+the+Guardian%2FWords+and+language" width="1" height="1" /></div><p class="standfirst">Originally published in the Manchester Guardian on 1 September 1930</p><p>The death occurred at Oxford on Friday evening of Dr. William Archibald Spooner, who was for twenty-one years Warden of New College, Oxford.</p><p>Dr Spooner was born on July 22. 1844, and was the son of a Staffordshire County Court judge. He was educated at Oswestry and New College, of which he became a scholar in 1862 and a Fellow in 1867. Ordained a deacon in 1872 and a priest in 1875, he became chaplain to Archbishop Tait in 1878 and was examining chaplain to the Bishop of Peterborough from 1809 to 1916. He became Warden of his college in 1903 and held that office till he retired in 1924. A lecturer and teacher of ability, he devoted himself to the college and its members.</p><p>He published little, and the outside world knew him only from the scholarship of the well-known edition of Tacitus' "Histories" and his memoirs of Butler and William of Wykeham.</p><p>But to a series of generations of his countrymen Dr. Spooner was known not for his administrative abilities nor his scholarship but for the "Spoonerism." A "Spoonerism" is defined as "a ludicrous form of metathesis or the transposing of initial letters to form a laughable combination."</p><p>In 1879 it was a favourite Oxford anecdote that Spooner from the pulpit gave out the first line of a well-known hymn as "Kinkering Kongs their titles take."</p><p>The anecdote is well enough authenticated, but according to most people who knew Spooner well that was the only "Spoonerism" he ever made – the essence of a "Spoonerism" being, of course, lack of intent, – though later when, thanks to indefatigable undergraduate and alas! graduates and dignified Fellows of colleges, the legends had become legion, he often used deliberately to "indulge in metathesis," to live up to his reputation.</p><p>All sorts of stories, probable and improbable, were invented, the most of which have only to be heard to be recognised as unauthentic. Of the well-worn ones the best are those which made Spooner declare that he was leaving Oxford by "the town drain," that some unauthorised person was "occupewing his pie," that at a marriage it was "kistomary to cuss the bride," and that he was tired of addressing "beery wenches." Much better authenticated and not even a Spoonerism is his famous reply to a young lady who asked him if he liked bananas. He is said to have retorted, "I'm afraid I always wear the old-fashioned nightshirt."</p><p>Although other famous men have been guilty of "Spoonerisms", it was the doctor who had to bear the brunt of most of them and to be honoured by having his name enshrined in a word that is a permanent addition to the English language.</p><div class="related" style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/wordsandlanguage">Words and language</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/linguistics">Linguistics</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/oxforduniversity">University of Oxford</a></li></ul></div><br/><div class="terms"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> &copy; Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/help/feeds">More Feeds</a></div><p style="clear:both" /> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/_vdW_0gnHvasRP70eGuE6ht8VsM/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/_vdW_0gnHvasRP70eGuE6ht8VsM/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/_vdW_0gnHvasRP70eGuE6ht8VsM/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/_vdW_0gnHvasRP70eGuE6ht8VsM/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p> UK news Words and language Books Education Linguistics University of Oxford The Guardian Obituaries http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2010/sep/01/archive-obituary-dr-wa-spooner Wed, 01 Sep 2010 09:02:35 GMT http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/sep/01/headteachers-literature-children-education-training/print <div class="track"><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.20.4/41233?ns=guardian&pageName=Why+demon+heads+of+children%27s+fiction+are+role+models+for+trainee+teache%3AArticle%3A1445632&ch=Books&c3=Guardian&c4=Books%2CChildren+and+teenagers+%28Books+genre%29%2CTeacher+training%2CTeaching%2CEducation%2CRoald+Dahl%2CJK+Rowling+%28Author%29%2CHarry+Potter+%28Books%29%2CFiction+%28Books+genre%29%2CUK+news&c5=Not+commercially+useful%2CEducation+Weekly+Education%2CSchools+Education&c6=Jeevan+Vasagar&c7=10-Sep-01&c8=1445632&c9=Article&c10=News&c11=Books&c13=&c25=&c30=content&h2=GU%2FBooks%2FChildren+and+teenagers" width="1" height="1" /></div><p class="standfirst">Roald Dahl's Miss Trunchbull or Gillian Cross's Demon Headmaster demonstrate the exercise of power, study finds</p><p>They may be sadistic figures who hate children, but a study suggests that the savage portrayal of headteachers in children's literature possesses a grain of truth and may even be helpful when it comes to training teachers who aspire to lead schools.</p><p>Characters like Miss Agatha Trunchbull, from Roald Dahl's Matilda, or the Demon Headmaster, from the sequence by Gillian Cross, can teach children to think about power and how it can be used for malign purposes, Professor Pat Thomson, director of the centre for research in schools and communities at Nottingham University school of education, has found.</p><p>The study of 19 fictional headteachers found that nine are portrayed as evil or authoritarian, a further six are remote figures of power, and just one - JK Rowling's Professor Albus Dumbledore - is a positive role model.</p><p>The study traces the origins of school stories to 19th century British fiction which – in stories aimed at boys – focused on the muscular discipline and militarism required for empire building.</p><p>The books in the study were published between 1975 and 2009, and included Robert Cormier's The Chocolate War and Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events as well as Matilda and Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.</p><p>Many of the books show power can be used corruptly, according to Prof Thomson.</p><p>Sometimes this can have a contemporary, political twist: in The Inflatable School by Peter Wynne-Willson, the "evil, messianic" Mr Stemple plans to turn his school into an academy sponsored by a business with whom his family has a profitable relationship.</p><p>Miss Trunchbull is one of only two female heads in the books studied and is described, as "formidable and repulsive". Thomson says Matilda's triumph over Miss Trunchbull – who is replaced by the forgiving Miss Jennifer Honey – as "designed to show the benefits of the gentle use of pastoral power".</p><p>In a study to be presented to the British Educational Research Association's annual conference at Warwick University today, Thomson says the books' willingness to encourage children to think about power may help to make the stories more truthful than many adult discussions about school leadership. The books encouraged children to take responsibility and overturn unreasonable social conventions. The stories also acted as cautionary tales, warning that children who made the wrong choices must learn to be responsible.</p><p>Children were encouraged to acquire self-discipline "not because of the need for adult citizens to serve God and empire as in the traditional school story, but rather because the … modern citizen needs to serve and save themselves in a world where adults are often fallible, self-serving and myopic, and sometimes venal, corrupt and brutal."</p><p>Power is often regarded by real headteachers as a dirty word not to be discussed,says Thomson, while serious texts on school management often avoid identifying the head's central task as the exercise of power. Children's books could be used as part of school leadership courses to address this gap.</p><p>"Children's stories come clean about headteachers' work in ways that mainstream educational leadership texts often do not," Thomson concludes. "The implied reader of children's books is a child who recognises that power can be used wisely and to ethical ends – or not; who understands that pupils can use their individual and collective power to challenge authority."</p><div class="related" style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksforchildrenandteenagers">Children and teenagers</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/teachertraining">Teacher training</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/teaching">Teaching</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/roalddahl">Roald Dahl</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/jkrowling">JK Rowling</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/harrypotter">Harry Potter</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/fiction">Fiction</a></li></ul></div><div class="author"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/jeevanvasagar">Jeevan Vasagar</a></div><br/><div class="terms"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> &copy; Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/help/feeds">More Feeds</a></div><p style="clear:both" /> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/vGzQeQbsYMAYiz8fYg7liXYo83E/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/vGzQeQbsYMAYiz8fYg7liXYo83E/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/vGzQeQbsYMAYiz8fYg7liXYo83E/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/vGzQeQbsYMAYiz8fYg7liXYo83E/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p> Books Children and teenagers Teacher training Teaching Education Roald Dahl JK Rowling Harry Potter Fiction UK news The Guardian News http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/sep/01/headteachers-literature-children-education-training Wed, 01 Sep 2010 06:00:10 GMT http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/sep/01/girls-boys-schools-gender-gap/print <div class="track"><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.20.4/91820?ns=guardian&pageName=Girls+think+they+are+cleverer+than+boys+from+age+four%2C+study+finds%3AArticle%3A1445651&ch=Education&c3=Guardian&c4=Schools%2CEducation%2CGCSEs%2CGender+%28News%29%2CUK+news&c5=Not+commercially+useful%2CEducation+Weekly+Education%2CSchools+Education&c6=Jessica+Shepherd&c7=10-Sep-01&c8=1445651&c9=Article&c10=News&c11=Education&c13=&c25=&c30=content&h2=GU%2FEducation%2FSchools" width="1" height="1" /></div><p class="standfirst">Teachers' expectations may reinforce gender gap in school performance</p><p>Girls think they are cleverer, more successful and harder working than boys from as young as four, a study has found.</p><p>Boys come round to this view by the age of seven or eight and assume that girls will outperform them at school and behave better in lessons, research from the University of Kent shows.</p><p>The study – Gender Expectations and Stereotype Threat – will be presented to the British Educational Research Association's conference tomorrow.</p><p>The paper argues that teachers have lower expectations of boys than of girls and this belief fulfils itself throughout primary and secondary school.</p><p>Girls' performance at school may be boosted by what they perceive to be their teachers' belief that they will achieve higher results and be more conscientious than boys, the academics claim. Boys may underachieve because they pick up on teachers' assumptions that they will obtain lower results than girls and have less drive.</p><p>The findings come just over a week after exam results revealed that the gap between boys and girls at GCSE is widening. This summer, the pass rate for girls was 72.6% at A* to C, compared with 65.4% for boys. Last year, the rate was 70.5% for girls and 63.6% for boys.</p><p>The gender gap has been the focus of public and academic concern for at least 20 years.</p><p>The study's findings are based on detailed questioning of 238 children aged between four and 10. The researchers presented the pupils with statements such as "this child is really clever" and "the teacher is taking the register and this child sits very quietly". They asked the children which the statement best fitted – a picture of a girl or one of a boy.</p><p>The academics, Bonny Hartley and Robbie Sutton, also asked the children to point to one of the pictures in answer to the question "who do you think is cleverer" and "who is better behaved".</p><p>Girls at all ages said girls were cleverer, performed better and were more focused. Boys aged between four and seven were evenly divided as to which gender was cleverer and more hardworking. But by the time boys reached seven or eight, they agreed with their female peers that girls were more likely to be cleverer and more successful.</p><p>In a separate experiment, 140 of the children were divided into two groups. The academics told the first group that boys do not perform as well as girls. The second group were not told this. All the pupils were tested in maths, reading and writing.</p><p>The academics found the boys in the first group performed "significantly worse" than boys in the second group, while girls' performance was similar in both groups.</p><p>Teachers should be discouraged from using phrases such as "silly boys" and "schoolboy pranks" or asking boys why they can't "sit nicely like the girls" because this may help break the cycle of lower expectations of boys, the researchers argue.</p><p>"By seven or eight years old, children of both genders believe that boys are less focused, able and successful than girls – and think that adults endorse this stereotype," Hartley said. "There are signs that these expectations have the potential to become self-fulfilling in influencing children's actual conduct and achievement." Hartley said that while it was unacceptable to divide classes by the race of their pupils, this was not the case for gender.</p><p>"This is likely to be due to gender bias being represented as much more socially and normatively acceptable in society," Hartley said. "In this way, it is widely acceptable to pitch the boys against the girls or 'harmlessly' divide the class in this way for practical ease."</p><p>Jenny Parkes, senior lecturer in education, gender and international development at the Institute of Education, University of London, said there had been marked changes in girls' achievement in the UK in the latter half of the 20th century, in part thanks to feminism's influence on the way girls view themselves.</p><p>"This seems to be particularly the case for middle-class girls. Some studies have looked at how academic work is seen as 'feminine' and so for some boys achieving highly at school risks being labelled as feminine," Parkes said.</p><p>"At the same time, this differs across different countries, ethnic and social class groups and from subject to subject. Adults do have an important role in helping children – whether they are girls or boys, high or low achievers – to have confidence in themselves as learners."</p><div class="related" style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/schools">Schools</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/gcses">GCSEs</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/gender">Gender</a></li></ul></div><div class="author"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/jessicashepherd">Jessica Shepherd</a></div><br/><div class="terms"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> &copy; Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/help/feeds">More Feeds</a></div><p style="clear:both" /> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/ZrG3pYbweiHy1O_TqUN4SGF31l4/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/ZrG3pYbweiHy1O_TqUN4SGF31l4/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/ZrG3pYbweiHy1O_TqUN4SGF31l4/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/ZrG3pYbweiHy1O_TqUN4SGF31l4/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p> Schools Education GCSEs Gender UK news The Guardian News http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/sep/01/girls-boys-schools-gender-gap Wed, 01 Sep 2010 05:00:08 GMT http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/aug/31/gove-obsession-tory-academy-charter/print <div class="track"><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.20.4/45895?ns=guardian&pageName=Michael+Gove%27s+odd+schools+obsession+%7C+James+Plunkett%3AArticle%3A1445734&ch=Comment+is+free&c3=Guardian&c4=Academies+%28Education%29%2CEducation+policy%2CEducation%2CMichael+Gove%2CConservatives%2CSchools%2CPolitics%2CUK+news%2CUS+news&c5=Not+commercially+useful%2CPolicy+Society%2CEducation+Weekly+Education%2CSchools+Education&c6=James+Plunkett&c7=10-Aug-31&c8=1445734&c9=Article&c10=Comment&c11=Comment+is+free&c13=&c25=CIF+America+%28Blog%29%2CComment+is+free&c30=content&h2=GU%2FComment+is+free%2Fblog%2FCif+America" width="1" height="1" /></div><p class="standfirst">If US charter schools have inspired Tory reforms, academic excellence can't be the reason</p><p>The new school year was supposed to bring a great wave of new academies. In the event, it will be a trickle. In June Michael Gove claimed that 1,100 schools had applied for academy status. <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/jul/29/michael-gove-academies-schools-claims" title="">Then it turned out the true number was 153.</a> Take away those not yet approved, and it looks like fewer than 50 academies will open this year. Gove's obsession with school freedom is not being driven by demand from headteachers.</p><p>So what is driving Gove's reforms? It is ideology all the way. Look first at his changing justifications: back in 2009, he claimed that his inspiration was Sweden, where a system of free schools was giving parents new choices and driving up results for the poorest. Then the evidence came out. Even in that most equal of countries, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10376457" title="">free schools had benefited only the children of wealthy parents</a>, widening opportunity gaps.</p><p>Since then Gove has quietly shifted his attentions to the US charter school movement. Run by independent providers, charter schools are free to set their own curriculums, and operate outside local controls. Speaking to MPs in June, Gove praised them for doing a <a href="http://www.michaelgove.com/content/academies_bill" title="">"fantastic job, free from bureaucratic control, of transforming the life chances of young people"</a>. The reforms he planned were "exactly analogous".</p><p>Watching from the US, that still seems a strange star to be chasing. Yes, the best charter schools are thriving: freed from constraints, they're fighting in the ditches – with 10-hour days and Saturday school – to buck trends for disadvantaged kids. But with over 5,000 of the schools now serving 1.5 million children, it's not enough to talk about a handful of successes.</p><p>The hard truth is that, the more you look at the US charter school movement, the more the glow fades. Stanford University found that fewer than one in five charter schools were outperforming comparable state schools; about half were performing at a similar level; and 37% were doing "significantly worse".</p><p>So yes, Gove can point to successes, but for every one there are two hidden failures. Indeed, of the 5,250 charter schools that have opened here since 1992, one in eight has closed. Last year, nine out of 10 schools in the Texans Can group were rated "academically unacceptable" by the state. On one campus, slated for closure, not a single freshman had gone on to graduate. Yet the <a href="http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6833260.html" title="">Can chief executive still drew a salary of $236,000 (£150,000)</a>.</p><p>Elsewhere, charter providers have been charged with serious financial mismanagement. Several have been caught excluding huge numbers of students to boost results. Serious concerns are growing over the large, for-profit industry that has sprung up around this lucrative sector. One school offered students $100 to recruit friends, chasing the public money that would come with them.</p><p>The point is not that additional freedoms are bad but that, on the basis of evidence, they're a curious obsession. As the US experience shows, schools are not all helium-filled balloons, tethered by government and straining to soar. But nor are they all lead weights, destined to sink without support. Instead, cast adrift, some thrive and some fail; they simply float apart.</p><p>Gove may talk of charter schools as a system forging ahead of the pack, but in reality they're a roll of the dice from one that's falling behind. On international tests in reading, science and maths, US students made no gains from 1964 to 2003. On almost all measures the US school system now trails the UK's. Many in a school system paralysed by toxic union relations, perpetual funding crises and fragmented governance have given up on improving from within. Charter school leaders have become vigilantes, going it alone.</p><p>That's not an ambitious reform agenda for the UK, any more than it is one based on evidence. In June Gove told school leaders: <a href="http://www.education.gov.uk/news/speeches/nationalcollegeannualconference" title="">"Government action has held our education system back"</a> – and that basic disbelief in government – tired old Tory ideology – is driving this destructive experiment.</p><div class="related" style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/academies">Academies</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/education">Education policy</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/michaelgove">Michael Gove</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/conservatives">Conservatives</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/schools">Schools</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/usa">United States</a></li></ul></div><div class="author"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/james-plunkett">James Plunkett</a></div><br/><div class="terms"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> &copy; Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/help/feeds">More Feeds</a></div><p style="clear:both" /> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/gh1hXmewgAlQEo7KRc5ExrVWGJ0/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/gh1hXmewgAlQEo7KRc5ExrVWGJ0/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/gh1hXmewgAlQEo7KRc5ExrVWGJ0/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/gh1hXmewgAlQEo7KRc5ExrVWGJ0/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p> Academies Education policy Education Michael Gove Conservatives Schools Politics UK news United States The Guardian Comment http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/aug/31/gove-obsession-tory-academy-charter Tue, 31 Aug 2010 20:30:08 GMT http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/aug/31/stephen-wall-obituary/print <div class="track"><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.20.4/8682?ns=guardian&pageName=Stephen+Wall+obituary%3AArticle%3A1445665&ch=Books&c3=Guardian&c4=Literary+criticism%2CBooks%2COxford+University&c5=Not+commercially+useful%2CHigher+Education&c6=Christopher+Ricks&c7=10-Aug-31&c8=1445665&c9=Article&c10=Obituary&c11=Books&c13=&c25=&c30=content&h2=GU%2FBooks%2FLiterary+criticism" width="1" height="1" /></div><p class="standfirst">Literary historian, academic and longstanding editor of Essays in Criticism</p><p>The achievements of Stephen Wall, who has died after a lung infection aged 79, were exceptional for their humane generosity. As a literary historian and a critic of the Victorian novel, pre-eminently of Trollope and Dickens; as a reviewer – at once welcoming and discriminating – of new fiction and of theatre; as a director not only of Shakespeare but of Henry Purcell, informed by a love of enduring music; and as the author of a novel rewardingly patient in its nocturnal rhythms and chequered crosscurrents, he exercised an influence always benign and never sentimental. Likewise, as editor for 40 years of the quarterly journal Essays in Criticism, he was gently exacting, attentive to the very wording in a manner that contributors never forgot; and he was an inspiring teacher of English at Oxford University.</p><p>"Of joy in widest commonalty spread" – Wordsworth spoke to Wall as no other poet did, while there was added something for which this poet was not notable: a vivid sense of humour, together with a laconic wit, a sidelong glance endearingly free of anything furtive, a gift for offering advice in a way that made it a pleasure to take it and a mischievous delight that was the opposite of mischief-making. In his happy possession of these qualities, Wall was always keen to acknowledge how much he owed to the character of his friends FW Bateson, founder of Essays in Criticism, and Ian Hamilton, poet, wit, and founder of the Review. And, lifelong and supreme, to the love and the loving kindness of Yvonne, his wife of more than 50 years, and his daughters, Alisoun and Cassandra.</p><p>Not every obituary should be a tribute, but this one should. For it is necessary to speak here of that which Wall himself judged it his responsibility not to invite attention to: his having been struck down by polio 54 years ago and lived since then from a wheelchair. Confined to a wheelchair is not the right way of putting it, though, since, thanks to courage, self-discipline and indomitability, his life was in so many respects unconfined.</p><p>He travelled to the dramatic and musical performances that he loved and needed, to the professional occasions that helped him to help others to think, and to the country that meant almost as much to him as England did: France. Widest of all was the circle of his friends, particularly of those who having been his pupils, or contributors to Essays in Criticism, became for ever his friends. But whereas Yeats could say "and say my glory was I had such friends", for Wall it was not a matter of glory for anyone, but simply a happiness. Wordsworth, again: "The best portion of a good man's life,/His little, nameless, unremembered acts/Of kindness and of love." For unremembered, read unforgotten.</p><p>Wall was not concerned to make a mark, still less to make <em>his</em> mark; secure in his sense of his own self, he especially valued the opportunity that writing, teaching and editing gave him, the opportunity to help others to be, or to become, themselves. His sense of succinctness was an art and not just an economy, and he valued humour not as a diversion but as a mode of persuasion against the absurd, the pretentious or the professionalised.</p><p>Born in London, Wall had a Quaker background and schooling that fortified him despite changes in his beliefs, and an Oxford education at New College that confirmed him in the liberal humanism by which he lived. His research at Oxford in the late 1950s gained from the supervision and friendship of John Bayley, and led to his becoming, first, a tutor at Mansfield College, and then a fellow of Keble College, a post that he held from 1964 to 1991. In the 1970s, for the Oxford University Dramatic Society and at the Oxford Playhouse, he directed several Shakespeare productions, and for the Oxford Operatic Society, Purcell's The Indian Queen.</p><p>At the invitation of Bateson, in 1969, he joined the editorial board of Essays in Criticism, becoming in 1973 its editor, a responsibility that he exercised with fervour until his final illness. The editor of Charles Dickens: A Critical Anthology (1970), of Trollope's Can You Forgive Her? (1972) and (with Helen Small) of Little Dorrit (1988), he was the author not only of Trollope and Character (1988) but of many pieces that have greatly affected editorial enterprises (for instance, his essay on the claim that classic novels should have annotation on the substantial scale that has long been usual for classic poetry) and also of the novel Double Lives (1991).</p><p>He is survived by Yvonne, Alisoun and Cassandra.</p><p></p><p></p><p><strong>Seamus Perry writes: </strong>Stephen was an editor of genius. He brought to Essays in Criticism the very highest academic standards, but also something of the spirit of the literary journalist. An issue of the journal was not a catch-all of recent submissions, but a paperback book that someone ought to enjoy reading, and everything had to be right.</p><p>Having a piece edited by Stephen, consequently, was an experience no one forgot. Preferably, he would invite you to his flat in north Oxford, a little before tea. After a long and anecdotal chat – he was a brilliant raconteur, though he never hogged the stage – Stephen would come to the matter in hand. Out would come your typescript, now decorated extensively in his filigree strokes of pencil or fine black ballpoint pen, every page – often every sentence – tightened and tuned: inelegances and stock expressions would be trimmed, jargon discarded, jokes improved, ease added.</p><p>When I had the honour of being appointed the baby editor of the journal, there were, in the least constrictive of ways, serious editorial dicta to be learned: every essay should join a conversation and take it a step further; a theory should be used to elucidate what mattered about a text, and not a text deployed to exemplify the general truth of a theory; there was no article that could not be improved by losing a few hundred words. His judgments were kindly, catholic, discursive, firm.</p><p>He enjoyed especially the company of younger members of the profession and saw a key role of the journal as encouraging new talent. Even rejection could be a form of encouragement. The first piece I sent to the journal when still a graduate student, a comparative account of Wordsworth and Seamus Heaney, earned the gentlest of rebukes for its structural incoherence: "I liked it very much, but felt it had a bit too much 'meanwhile back at the ranch' about it." Magisterial surveys of the critical scene did not win favour either: "The trouble with a tour d'horizon is that there is just so much horizon."</p><p>The strength of an Essays in Criticism essay, by contrast, lay in the humanity of its response and the agility of its voice, its independence from formulae and its specific eye for textual detail. With Christopher Ricks, he presided for almost four decades, in the least showy of ways, over one of the most remarkable literary periodicals to appear since FR Leavis's Scrutiny, with wonderful wisdom and humour and self-deprecating grace.</p><p></p><p>• Stephen de Rocfort Wall, literary scholar, born 29 July 1931; died 6 August 2010</p><div class="related" style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/literary-criticism">Literary criticism</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/oxforduniversity">University of Oxford</a></li></ul></div><br/><div class="terms"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> &copy; Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/help/feeds">More Feeds</a></div><p style="clear:both" /> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/yI-Bbjzlb-BNzcGb-Ccf5yGXVo8/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/yI-Bbjzlb-BNzcGb-Ccf5yGXVo8/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/yI-Bbjzlb-BNzcGb-Ccf5yGXVo8/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/yI-Bbjzlb-BNzcGb-Ccf5yGXVo8/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p> Literary criticism Books University of Oxford The Guardian Obituaries http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/aug/31/stephen-wall-obituary Tue, 31 Aug 2010 16:51:31 GMT