Earlier this month, I was contacted by my son’s school for permission to allow some of his examination papers (GCSE) to be sent off for re-marking. He had done pretty well in them (a B grade, and then a 4 and a 6 in the new system) but was only three marks or less from… Read More Assessment Obsessions
One of the false assumptions inherent in turning a ‘public service’ or ‘privilege’ into a ‘personal right’ is the belief that choice will drive up standards and, to coin the crass phrase used by the DfE during the Brown tenure, lead to ‘economic well-being’ for all. Choice, when applied to education, risks fuelling inequality, mendacity… Read More Choices, choices, too many choices.
Has the societal obsession with ‘choice’ now infiltrated the zone of children’s rights and, if so, is it leaving parenting in peril? I pose this question because I am increasingly sure that many parents are feeling feeble and impotent as they fail to apply their own beliefs and preferences to their children’s lives. They are,… Read More Choice 1: Can rights lead to wrongs?
I spent a couple of weeks of August in Marbella. This is not a good place for someone who has been reading ‘Mammon’s Kingdom’ by David Marquand. The book is affecting me deeply from any number of angles, but its general theme of how acquisitiveness and unfettered capitalism have worn away our ‘public realm’ is… Read More Marbella
Bald Headteacher 