Category Archives: Education

New Year wishes for sixth form education in 2016

A year ago I posted 5 New Year wishes for post-16 education. I thought they were modest, realistic and realisable while also offering tangible benefits. My 5 wishes were: Recognise that innovation does not necessarily require the creation of new … Continue reading

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Blogging as learning: review of 2015.

What went well… I’ve enjoyed my second full year of blogging and have continued to write about whatever interests me, resulting in a fairly eclectic collection of posts on a range of topics with education at the top of the … Continue reading

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The London Mayor’s Education Conference.

The Mayor of London and the Greater London Authority (GLA) have no statutory responsibilities for education, however they can use their convening power to bring people together, to advocate and call for action and to persuade. In many ways, the … Continue reading

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Educating after the November 13th attacks.

Philippe Meirieu on keeping the big questions open The French educationalist Philippe Meirieu reflects in Café Pedagogique on how the French education system should respond to the 13th November Paris massacre: “Our society’s response to terrorism must keep faith with … Continue reading

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Is collaboration the solution or the problem?

‘Collaboration between schools is now seen as an important way to improve educational performance yet little is known definitively about what impact this has for improving pupil attainment’. An interesting point which may well be worth looking into and luckily … Continue reading

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University progression for the NewVIc class of 2015

Every year, when we analyse our students’ university destinations, we conclude that the current year is our best year ever. And every year it’s true. Our class of 2015 is another great cohort, full of ambitious and determined young people, … Continue reading

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France: “teachers need to resist”

Following the terrorist outrages of November 13th , French sociologist Francois Dubet reflected on the Café Pedagogique website on the impact of such atrocities on the work of schools and on the role of schools in the aftermath of the … Continue reading

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Learning by walking about.

It was just a walk; teachers and students following a circular 20 mile route around central London. It was also a personal challenge for each of us; to keep going, to keep up, to map-read, to learn new things and … Continue reading

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Leadership for partnership

Published in the TES on 20th November 2015 as Forget your inhibitions and get in bed with a competitor As leaders we are expected to champion the interests of our institutions. It’s part of our core purpose, it helps hold … Continue reading

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Susan Robertson on private interests and public education

When private interests into public education simply do not go was the theme of this year’s excellent Caroline Benn Memorial lecture given by Professor Susan Robertson of the University of Bristol on 10th November at the House of Commons. Susan … Continue reading

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Cracking Oxbridge

Nationally, 93% of young people in England are educated in state-funded schools and colleges, but only 61% of Cambridge university undergraduates are drawn from the state sector, a figure which has recently fallen. At Oxford university the proportion is less than … Continue reading

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Reviewing post-16 education in London

Principals and chairs of governors from most of London’s colleges assembled at City Hall last week for a briefing on the post-16 area review process. It’s not often that this group meets and although it happened without any great fanfare … Continue reading

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Private affluence and public envy.

People who campaign for greater social equality sometimes get accused of ‘the politics of envy’. The idea being that anyone who keeps tediously pointing out the gap between rich and poor in our society is simply jealous, choosing to go … Continue reading

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The outstanding lesson

We were lucky enough to have Harriet Harper deliver a NewVIc lecture at Newham Sixth Form College on 14th October. Harriet is a former HMI and now helps to train teachers for the post-compulsory sector. We were delighted to be … Continue reading

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England’s engines of mobility

England’s sixth form and further education colleges are among the most significant engines of social mobility as measured by the number of 16-18 year olds eligible for Free School Meals (FSM) progressing to Higher Education. This contribution needs to be … Continue reading

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