Gogwit's Blog

Governors, Headteachers, and above all the new administration at Birmingham City Council take note – West Heath parents have shown there is everything to fight for.

On 26th September West Heath parents learned that they had won their campaign against forced academy. Sadly the Headteacher and Governors fell at the first post, caving in to pressure from the DfE, but parents simply refused to accept what was being imposed upon them and stood up to Gove. Congratulations to Edna Dawson and all the parents who have campaigned long and hard for their school.

Parents had been campaigning to save their community school since May 2012, but the good news came when they were least expecting it. The fortnight leading up to their victory had been a rollercoaster of emotions for parents.  On 13th September they were informed by  their Councillor Brett O’Reilly that the Head Teacher and Chair of Governors…

Here’s a guest blog by Mary Hunter. Mary has a voluntary role in our senior governance as the WEA’s Association Committee Representative from the West Midlands Region.

About Mary

I started teaching, after a career in banking, a few years after the publication of Gagne’s “Conditions of learning”. As a linguist I have been involved in the development of language courses, worked at the (then) Schools Council on the Normal and Further Level Proposals for a new Sixth form curriculum, so worked across the subject spectrum. Later I was heavily involved in developing with my colleagues courses  run under the aegis  of the City and Guilds, B/Tec , GNVQ s, CPVE – ie. working with Sixth formers on the more pre-vocational path. During two years work with the Technical and Vocational Education Initiative I worked extensively on the development of the relevant skills curriculum, providing courses for teachers .

I continued my involvement in these areas after my formal…

Disabled Remploy workers who are being made redundant as the government closes factories demonstrated outside the Tory party conference yesterday, calling on the government to stop the closure and privatisation of the Remploy Factory sites and to enter into meaningful discussion on the structure and future of Remploy and the whole of supported employment programme in Britain with a view to introducing a new vision based on public procurement work.

This government attacks disabled people on benefits, cutting support and declaring as many as possible to be fit for work and not entitled to any support at all. They say they are doing this to help people back into work but at the same time they close Remploy, which was set up after world war two to provide supported employment for returning soldiers disabled in the war.

In the West Midlands the factories in Birmingham and Coventry supply the automotive…

Over the past year scores of Primary Schools in Brimingham, all situated in economically deprived areas, have come under intense pressure to convert to sponsored academy status as part of Michael Gove’s drive to expand the number of academies. This pressure, which has been described by MP Richard Burden as bullying, has typically been applied by the combined efforts of a DfE official accompanied by a Local Authority officer. But  in May a Labour administration took office, and in July the new cabinet member for Children and Families, Brigid Jones, gave hope to this campaign and to school communities across the city in a letter to Headteachers that outlined a new vision for a co-operative model for the city’s schools. Crucially the model would include as one of its fundamental principles that no school should be forced to convert – the option to stay with current arrangements would be…

I spent last Friday morning at the launch of the WEA’s “Women Leading Learning” project in Nottingham. It was one of those mood-boosting days that happen in adult education when people share their stories. Students gave their testimonies about how learning had transformed their lives for the better. Occasions like this are almost evangelical. Each person’s story could be the makings of a novel, drama or film. Some women had got jobs, some had overcome depression and some had gone into local politics as a result of adult education courses. One had done all three. It was a joyful celebration.

Antonia Zenkevitch was an expert compère as WEA tutors, staff, volunteers and people from partner organisations added their voices and took part in creative activities. There are more details about the event, links to photos, including the one above, and some video clips at http://womenleadinglearning.wordpress.com/5th-october-launch-event-programme-and-details/ You can also scroll down ‘Other WEA Blogs’ in the…