The second item today that I have reblogged on Gove and the crisis in UK state education. This is a well-argued look at how the escalating industrial action amongst teachers is about so much more than pay. Having been in several teaching unions I know that traditionally the greatest ire is reserved for the other teaching unions. Uniquely, in my experience, we have a government who have unified teachers in a common cause – that of saving universal state education for UK children by trained practitioners!
It really is about ‘standing up for standards’ – and much, much more.
Month: Apr 2013
Curriculum ‘consultation’ – 1 week to have your say
This is so typically ‘democracy’ – Gove style. There is a timelined ticklist, give minimum notice, set given (non-negotiable) dates, tick the item off the list, next item. This is how academies have been driven through – in plain sight and under our noses.
All above board, all ‘democratic’ and with consultation, all due diligence observed.
Argue, protest, resist, strike.
Best of all remove them from office in 2015.
The ‘consultation’ on Michael Gove’s back-of-a-very-large-envelope curriculum is due to finish on Tuesday 16th April. The online forms for doing so are not user friendly and have some leading questions (quelle surprise) so the attached documents have been created by campaigners over the primary and the secondary history curriculum to help.
Then we will need to discuss where next for the campaign. A great chance will be the Defend School History Seminar on Saturday 20th April, with speakers such as Tristram Hunt MP, Kevin Courtney and Louise Raw (see facebook group for more details and to sign up: https://www.facebook.com/events/260473070756644/ )
Andy
Birmingham Bedroom Tax Actions: Sat 13th and 20th April
The next two weekends in Birmingham will see more action taking place over the bedroom tax which will see people charged for “spare” bedrooms such as those of the visiting children of separated parents, or rooms adapted for disabled children. On Saturday 13th, UK Uncut have a national day of action and the following weekend sees a national day of demonstrations with the Birmingham Benefits Justice Campaign organising an event assembling outside Waterstones near the Bull Ring.
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Government scraps plans for society to pay for Thatcher funeral after realising it doesn’t exist
(satire – or is it?)
The UK government has scrapped plans for all of UK society to come together and pay for the ceremonial funeral of ex-prime minister Margaret Thatcher after realising there is in fact no such thing as society.
The dramatic U-turn came after research by the Daily Mail and the Sun newspapers revealed there were so many illegal immigrants and feckless work-shy scroungers in the UK, that there would not be nearly enough hard-working, striving bankers left in the country to pay for the funeral.
In a short statement, a spokesperson for the coalition government explained the reasons for the decision:
Obviously it would be wrong to expect the funeral to be paid for by society if – as Lady Thatcher herself confirmed – it doesn’t actually exist.
So we’ve asked the many diligent bankers in the UK who selflessly keep the country afloat with their…
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PIP faces Legal Challenge!
Reblogged from:
Diary of a Benefit Scrounger
A site to share information on Welfare cuts, illness, disability and general, current, political thought.
Cameron – Trident Needed to Prevent Strike by NUT
Casting NUT as N Korea – does this mean the role of S Korea would be taken by NASUWT? Discuss.
(satire – I think)
UK should not be left defenceless against ‘highly unpredictable and aggressive’ teachers, says Prime Minister
David Cameron has issued a stark warning against any move to abandon Britain’s Trident deterrent in the face of the growing threat of a strike from the National Union of Teachers and other unions.
The Prime Minister said it would “foolish” to leave the country defenceless at a time when “highly unpredictable and aggressive” school teachers were planning a possible strike in UK schools.
His comments come not long after the Education Secretary Michael Gove urged the United States to deploy an advanced missile system to the channel island of Jersey as a deterrent against “Marxist teachers hell-bent on destroying our schools“.
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Related articles by Tom Pride:
US Warning To Mayans Over Threats Of World Destruction
Government ministers announce plan to deter immigrants to UK by making it shit
West Mulls Military Strikes Against IKEA
Tories…
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‘Bedroom tax’ – study the alternative?
Like this. Subversive. We could also dub these arrangements ‘Study Tax’ – which in truth they do represent.
Whether it is a teenage student doing their homework, or a student engaged in study for a first degree, or an adult engaged in other lifelong learning the need for space in which to study is very important, often overlooked. Studying at the kitchen table while people cook and eat; studying in the living room while children play, people watch television or talk are both situations not conducive to effective learning.
Both situations are sadly too often all that is available. These changes are yet another break on the ability of those on benefits to find a route out.
Many people living in social housing in the UK are worried about losing benefits as new arrangements are being introduced this week. Welfare reforms will see tenants’ housing benefits cut if they are deemed to have a spare bedroom in their council or housing association home.
Whatever subtle distinctions politicians are making between the notion of a ‘bedroom tax’ or ‘removal of the spare room subsidy’, the proposals will affect an estimated 660,000 working-age tenants in social housing – 31% of existing working-age housing benefit claimants in the social sector. The majority of these people have only one extra bedroom and there’s a reported shortage of single bedroomed accommodation for people to move into.
The Government doesn’t define what the term ‘bedroom’ means, leaving the decisions to landlords. The bedroom tax makes no distinction between a single or a double bedroom. A room either is a bedroom or is not…
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ATOS declare George Osborne unfit for work as Chancellor
Ha! If only.
(satire – sort of)
ATOS – the private contractor paid by the government to carry out work capability assessments of disabled people – has declared George Osborne is unable to carry out his duties as chancellor due to “severe disabling conditions such as not being able to count”.
Mr Osborne recently defended parking his car in a disabled parking bay, explaining he is so severely handicapped by his inability to function as Chancellor of the Exchequer that he should himself be parked on disability benefits somewhere far away from the nation’s economy where he can’t do it any more harm.
Some medical experts however, have disputed the results of the assessment. One influential doctor with long experience of assessing disabilities said:
Osborne’s not unfit for work. He’s just a git.
However, a spokesperson for ATOS denied accusations that they had failed to assess the chancellor adequately:
During the assessment, Mr Osborne was…
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Educational Thinkers’ Hall of Fame – Mary Wollstonecraft
Excellent sketch. Good choice and worthy of inclusion.
It’s hard to imagine what life was like when Mary Wollstonecraft wrote her ground-breaking book, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, published in 1792 – and to understand the leaps of thought that she made as a self-taught woman of her time. Her book has become a landmark document in the development of women’s rights and education. She suggested that culture rather than nature determines many perceptions about gender difference and her work provided a basis for later feminist theory. Her writing was truly remarkable for a woman born in 1759 as the first daughter of an abusive handkerchief weaver from Spitalfields in London.
Showing a strongly independent mind, she refused to accept the inequalities that she experienced between men and women, reasoning that they began with a ‘false system of education’ that valued ‘delicacy’ above all in girls’ development. Women were expected to focus all their attention…
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A year of domestic abuse in photos
View. No further comment.
The woman, who is Croatian, has titled this: ‘One photo a day in the worst year of my life’, and relates to events during 2012.
Gogwit's Blog 