To encourage creativity, Mr Gove, you must first understand what it is | Ken Robinson | Comment is free. During a recent appearance on BBC's Question Time, Michael Gove, the secretary of state for education, extolled the importance of encouraging creativity in schools. He's right. Creativity is essential to the success and fulfilment of young people, to the vitality of our communities and to the long-term health of the economy. The trouble is that his current plans for the national curriculum seem likely to stifle the creativity of students and teachers alike. Consequently, anyone with a serious interest in student achievement, cultural vitality and economic sustainability should be deeply concerned. We shouldn't be surprised when a politician says one thing and does another. The important issue here is that when he talks about creativity, Gove seems to mean what he says but to misunderstand what he's talking about.
I define creativity as the process of having original ideas that have value. Creativity is about fresh thinking. There are various myths about creativity. Secret Teacher: I'd rather leave the job I love than teach Gove's propaganda | Teacher Network | Guardian Professional. The Secret Teacher would rather leave the teaching profession than put up with the proposed curriculum changes. Photograph: Alamy I was once the sort of graduate that Teach First now aims to entice into teaching . Having studied history at Oxford and considered academic research I decided to teach instead.
People's reactions were sadly reflective of the status of teaching. One tutor sneeringly asked why I was "intent on pedagogy? " Plenty wondered whether it would be sufficiently intellectually challenging; some praised my supposed altruism or churned out the words "wasted as a teacher" while others put a positive spin on it saying: "at least you'll have long holidays". Now, some 17 years on, I know hardly anyone with greater job satisfaction than me. Yet none of these frustrations threaten the essence of the job.
My pupils are a constant source of intellectual challenge, especially now the information revolution has democratised history. But I won't put up with what's happening now. Headteachers pass vote of no confidence in education policies | Politics. Michael Gove has been accused of bullying headteachers into turning schools into academies. Photograph: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images Headteachers have passed a vote of no confidence in the government's education policies, declaring that Michael Gove 's policies are not in the best interests of children. Delegates at the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) conference in Birmingham raised concerns about the new national curriculum, major test and exam reforms and schools being forced into becoming academies . Tim Gallagher, proposing the motion, said: "Enough is enough. This motion's intention is to send the strongest message possible to this government that many of their education policies are failing our children, their parents and the very fabric of our school communities.
" The NAHT is the first headteachers' union to pass a vote of no confidence in the government's education reforms. "You cannot fail to be aware that the morale of the profession is at an all-time low. Gove's claims of teenagers' ignorance harpooned by retired teacher | Politics. The education secretary, Michael Gove, has come under fire for citing PR-commissioned opinion polls as evidence of teenagers' ignorance of key historical events. Gove's department has admitted he cited polls originating from Premier Inn and UKTV Gold press releases. Gove said in a Mail on Sunday article in March: "Survey after survey has revealed disturbing historical ignorance, with one teenager in five believing Winston Churchill was a fictional character while 58% think Sherlock Holmes was real. " The comments prompted Janet Downs, who describes herself as a grandparent and retired teacher, to send a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to the Department for Education asking for the evidence to support Gove's claim.
Three weeks later, the department wrote back to say "unfortunately, I am not able to provide you with the details of the survey as it was commissioned and conducted by UKTV Gold". "There is plenty of other evidence to support this argument. Govewatch: The curious case of Mrs Blurt: why Gove must go. Over the past few months, Michael Gove and his advisers have brought the Department for Education into disrepute through their use of private email for official government business. By neglecting to use their governmental email addresses, they had hoped to exploit a loophole which would prevent their correspondence being vulnerable to a Freedom of Information request.
In a scandal that is befitting of the cliched '-gate' suffix, Gove and his advisers have taken a number of measures to prevent the public from accessing this information. The first was the choice to use their private email addresses in the first place. In the case of Michael Gove, this meant a bizarre pseudonym called 'Mrs Blurt'. It would be laughable were it not so corrupt. The second was to claim that it was 'party political business', which is not covered by the FOI act. The third and final way, and perhaps the most dubious, has been to reveal that these emails are not available because they have been deleted.
Teachers speak out against Michael Gove's 'lists of facts' curriculum - UK Politics - UK. The unprecedented grass-roots revolt by teachers comes after 100 leading academics signed a letter to The Independent savaging the new curriculum's obsession with "lists of facts". The teachers' main concerns are over the contents and direction of the new curriculum – specifically its return to more rigid rote learning – and what they perceive as Mr Gove's dismissive attitude towards his critics, They are also angry at the restricted consultation period over the proposals of just over two months – which expires on Tuesday. The petition, which started as an informal post on one teacher's blog, will be presented to MPs and members of the Commons education select committee in Westminster tomorrow. Debra Kidd, a Manchester secondary school teacher who launched the petition, said those who had signed were "tired of a 'yadda yadda' approach" being adopted by Mr Gove to those who disagreed with his policies.
The petition already has the backing of many teachers' leaders, particularly the NUT. Michael Gove 'Yada Yada' - Question Time 21/03/2013. Michael Gove attacks use of Mr Men in iGCSE history lessons | Politics. The education secretary, Michael Gove, has attacked a "culture of low expectations" in English schools, criticising the use of Mr Men characters in teaching 15 and 16-year-olds about Hitler. Too many teachers were treating "young people on the verge of university study as though they have the attention span of infants," Gove said. He said worksheets, extracts and mind maps had replaced whole books, sources and conversation in history and other subject lessons. "As long as there are people in education making excuses for failure, cursing future generations with a culture of low expectations, denying children access to the best that has been thought and written, because Nemo and the Mr Men are more relevant, the battle needs to be joined," Gove said.
Active History, the online resource for history teachers Gove was referring to, has a lesson plan in which iGCSE students depict the rise of Hitler as a Mr Men story. "Unless, of course, we write for Guardian Education. " Gove's boarding academy borders on the ridiculous | Catherine Bennett | Comment is free | The Observer. With his surname out of a Billy Bunter story and views on race dating even further back in British history, Mr John Cherry, Chichester and West Sussex Conservative councillor, has not been an easy character to believe in. Not that one doubts, for a second, the veracity of the Mail on Sunday but, even at their most unreconstructed, the lads at Greyfriars school never accused the Indian prince Hurree Jamset Ram Singh of having urges that would inevitably propel him into the "forest", wherein he would ignite a "sexual volcano".
Mr Cherry's views would be arresting at any time; they came to national prominence as residents of Stedham, West Sussex, mustered against a scheme by the Durand Academy to build a weekly state boarding school at a disused school one mile from their homes. For the Conservatives, as the Labour education spokesman, Stephen Twigg, gratefully reminded us, Mr Cherry is not a good look: "It's no surprise people still think of the Conservatives as the nasty party. " Headteachers mock Jesse Norman's claim Eton breeds best public servants | Education | The Observer. An attempt by one of David Cameron's policy advisers to defend the number of old Etonians in government backfired when he was lampooned by headteachers for claiming that Eton was better than other schools at promoting a "commitment to public service". Jesse Norman, the Tory MP for Hereford and South Herefordshire, himself an old Etonian, suggested on Saturday that its pupils received the best grooming for office because of the values the school instils in them.
"Other schools don't have the same commitment to public service. They do other things," said Norman, who was one of two old Etonians to be promoted to top policy roles by Cameron last week. He added: "It's one of the few schools where the pupils really do run vast chunks of the school themselves. So they don't defer in quite the same way; they do think there's the possibility of making change through their own actions. " The remarks met with incredulity among heads in the state sector. Deadline looming? How to write an essay in a hurry. Procrastination. The age-old nemesis of the student species. Lurking beneath desks, living inside your laptop and hiding in the library.
It teases you with Facebook, dangles your favourite TV show in front of you, and convinces you that now really is a good time to read the Song of Ice and Fire saga. Or, at least, that's what we want to believe. Instead procrastination is merely an inability to dedicate our time appropriately to the task at hand. It is something that many students, myself included, do. This advice is not meant to condone laziness or leaving things to the last minute but as a guide for if you do happen, for whatever reason, to be zeroing in on deadline. 1. Before you start writing, work out what textbooks are likely to be of help and find them in the library. 2. Yes, you want to get a good degree in the end. 3. Everyone works at a different speed and only you know how much is possible. 4. Speaking of the bibliography, do it while you write. 5. 6. 7.
Sal Khan: the man who tutored his cousin – and started a revolution. Sal Khan has a simple mission: a free, world-class education for anyone, anywhere. Naturally, people think he's crazy. The craziest part is not the "world-class education" part, because plenty of people want that. And it's not even the "for anyone, anywhere" part. It's the "free" part. Crazy or not, it's an idea that has attracted attention from Downing Street to Washington DC. Khan – working as a financial analyst in 2004 after earning degrees from MIT and an MBA from Harvard – started remotely tutoring his cousin, Nadia, in Louisiana, who was struggling with maths.
"YouTube? Since 2009, Khan has devoted himself full-time to his Khan Academy, a tutoring, mentoring and testing educational website at khanacademy.org that offers its content free to anyone with internet access willing to work through its exercises and pithy videos, the majority narrated by Khan himself. Using the internet to widen access to education is not itself revolutionary. But the Khan Academy is different. You can't be 'family friendly' if you're anti-child, Michael Gove | Suzanne Moore. In his whirl of "permanent revolution" – a term associated with Chairman Mao – Michael Gove, our frantic education secretary, has come up with yet another wheeze: the school day should be longer and children should have shorter holidays.
We have to compete with China, after all. Gove (Mastermind specialist subject: Looking busy) never lets up, even when half his projects are junked by that Trotskyite front of teachers, parents, exam boards and Ofsted inspectors. But like any working parent, I can see where he is coming from. Half-term always takes me by surprise, and I patch things together last minute. My life would have been far easier had my children been penned in for most of the time.
Indeed, some people pay for this: it is called boarding school. Bizarrely, though, I like seeing my children sometimes – and what I see is that at the end of the day, and certainly by the end of term, they are tired. But why pretend this is about education or even pastoral care? Michael Gove proposes longer school day and shorter holidays | Politics. Schoolgirls evacuated during the second world war gather their potato crop harvest in Buckinghamshire. The education secretary said that the current structure of terms and days reflects that of an agricultural economy. Photograph: Harry Shepherd/Getty Images/Hulton Archive Education secretary Michael Gove has called for longer school days and a cut in the length of holidays, which he said would improve performance and make life easier for working parents. The reforms could allow state schools to choose to stay open until 4.30pm and introduce a shorter, four-week summer holiday for pupils from September next year, representing a profound change for parents used to tailoring their working hours to the classroom timetable.
Gove said the school system had been designed for a 19th-century agricultural economy and risked leaving British children trailing those in Asia. Under the current system, the school year is 190 days long. Michael Gove's disdain for experts is typical of the laissez-faire ideologues | David Priestland. Michael Gove's 'determination to dismiss informed opinion is typical of a government that has been one of the most hostile to expertise since the second world war'. Photograph: Eddie Mulholland / Rex Features The public consultation on Michael Gove's plans for a new school curriculum closed on Tuesday. But don't worry too much if you've forgotten to reply. For I think we all know where most responses will end up: either the bin, or in some filing cabinet under "I" for Ignore, along with the recommendations of teachers, professors and other experts.
The education secretary's determination to dismiss informed opinion is typical of a government that has been one of the most hostile to expertise since the second world war. The Design and Technology Association, meanwhile, has called the proposed curriculum "unambitious and incoherent", and likely to make England the "laughing stock" of the western world. So where does this hostility to expertise come from? Irate teachers threaten 'civil disobedience' | Education | The Observer. A growing grassroots movement of teachers threatened "civil disobedience" on Saturday in protest at education reforms. Classroom teachers at the National Union of Teachers' annual conference in Liverpool told the Observer their profession had reached a turning point in its relations with Michael Gove, the education secretary, and calls for radical action were widespread. Last week the Association of Teachers and Lecturers overwhelmingly carried a motion of no confidence in Gove, in the first motion of its kind against an education secretary in its history.
NUT members will vote on a similar motion on Sunday. Teachers have described Gove as showing "abject failure to improve education or treat teachers, parents and pupils with respect". They claim that for almost three years, since the coalition government came to power, they have been subjected to unprecedented levels of criticism and repeatedly been undermined. Ofsted judgments are too harsh and data-driven, teachers have warned. More schools hiring unqualified teachers 'to save money' Gove curriculum will 'dumb down' education, say academics | Politics. Stop bullying tactics, say parents fighting school academy ‘chains’ - Education. Lancashire Tories attack education secretary Michael Gove over academy 'bribes' Top Tory accuses Michael Gove of 'bully boy tactics' over academies | Politics. Michael Gove defends himself over bullying accusations against adviser | Politics. With threats and bribes, Gove forces schools to accept his phoney 'freedom' | George Monbiot.
The educational charities that do PR for the rightwing ultra-rich | George Monbiot. Plan for history curriculum is too focused on Britain | letters | From the Observer | The Observer. This is a Ladybird curriculum. Is anyone ready to teach it? | Nicola Sheldon | Comment is free | The Observer. 'Old school and old-fashioned': historians turn their fire on Gove | Politics | The Observer. Historians attack Michael Gove over 'narrow' curriculum | Politics | The Observer. Oxford University apologises after false claim in 'selection by wealth' battle | Education | The Observer.
Michael Gove appoints US management consultancy to oversee education cuts | Politics. Lawyers and accountants need not have degrees, says minister. Britain's qualification spiral is beginning to unravel | Peter Wilby. Selling Schools Out | Corporate Accountability. Michael Gove's new curriculum: what the experts say | Panel. Michael Gove is not just a bungler, he's a destructive ideologue | Seumas Milne. Michael Gove's reform agenda: some good school work, but must do better | Comment is free | The Observer. Secret memo shows Michael Gove's plan for privatisation of academies - Education News - Education.
Michael Gove 'misled parliament' over claims of bullying by advisers | Politics | The Observer. Gove statement on GCSE U-turn: Politics live blog | Politics. Michael Gove reveals the surprising inspirations behind his reforms. Michael Gove is destroying our school system | Suzanne Moore. 'So, minister, do you really think you could care for eight children at once?' | Money | The Observer. How do you fit six toddlers into a buggy? Ask Liz Truss | Polly Toynbee. Childcare restrictions to be relaxed, minister announces | Money. A-level overhaul could cripple school system, say critics. Shake-up of A-levels rejected by heads.
Teachers' pay rises to be based on performance, Michael Gove confirms.