ARE SCHOOLS BEING INSPECTED TO DEATH?

3/31/2008 7:11:00 AM

Melanie Reid :The Times 31 March

A culture of hypercriticism is bringing misery to schools

The death of Irene Hogg was, in the normal run of things, a very local tragedy. The popular and apparently devoted head teacher of a small rural primary school was found dead in a remote area, in an apparent act of suicide. The shock resonated within the familes of her 81 pupils; flowers were left at the school and her local authority chief spoke of losing one of his most experienced and valuable staff. “The word ‘love' keeps coming though,” he said. “She was so highly regarded.” And there, frankly, the story would usually have ended. The passing of a 54-year-old unmarried woman - a dedicated professional who lived for her job and a round of golf at the weekend - could easily be put down at the door of secret sadness, hidden depression: the myriad private disappointments and inner conflicts that can overcome people at a certain point in their lives. Very sad, of course, but none of our business, and of no larger significance. But the ripples from Irene Hogg's death, which would ordinarily have stopped at the borders of her community, have spread. Because in the week preceding her death, two school inspectors came to visit for five days. The head had spent weeks beforehand in preparation, ensuring the school, which she had run for ten years, was at its best. It seems her best was not enough. At the end of their visit, the inspectors told her verbally of their criticisms. No one knows officially what they are, for the report on the school, in the Scottish Borders, will not be published until June. A friend, however, has claimed that the criticisms were “silly”. They are believed to include that a wooded area at the back of the school was not used (when locals knew it was contaminated by dog dirt); and that Ms Hogg was to be reported to the council for not filling in a complaint form. Ms Hogg was apparently angered and “very disillusioned” by what was said to her, and she failed to reappear after the Easter weekend. Her body was found the next night in a lonely part of the hills. Bad enough that one admirable woman, with 30 years teaching experience, who had steered countless children on a good course in life, has been lost to teaching. But even worse is the possibility that she was driven to take her own life by what seemed like unnecessarily aggressive or petty bureaucracy. If this is indeed the case - and the conclusion is hard to escape - then Irene Hogg is not the first teacher to succumb to the modern culture of hypercriticism, but simply the most recent. A number of teachers have taken their own lives after negative inspections, destroyed by the institutional fault-finding that now passes as healthy standard-setting. It is what the NUT has described as an educational reign of terror. Times

Lead Story

GCSE AND A-LEVEL STUDENTS RELYING ON SOB STORIES TO BOOST THEIR MARKS

3/31/2008 8:36:00 AM

The Daily Mail 31 March

Students are telling an increasing number of sob stories to win extra marks in their GCSEs or A-Levels.Students are telling an increasing number of sob stories to win extra marks in their GCSE or A-levels. Excuses such as a favourite pet dying on exam day or a bout of hay fever can boost results by up to 5 per cent on appeal. The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority has reported a 9 per cent rise in successful claims last year, with only three in 100 turned down. Students are given a week after each exam to make a plea for special consideration through their school. There is even a tariff of appeal grounds, ranging from a 2 per cent upgrade for "serious hay fever" or a broken limb on the mend up to 5 per cent in "exceptional circumstances". In 2007, there were 300,378 requests for special consideration granted compared to 274,967 in 2006 and 255,200 in 2005. Nick Seaton, chairman of the Campaign for Real Education, said: "These figures are extremely shocking. "The very numbers suggest there is quite a lot of abuse taking place."Daily Mail

General

WE MUST END FREE EDUCATION FOR THE MIDDLE CLASSES

3/31/2008 8:39:00 AM

Dr Anthony Seldon: The Sunday Times 30 March

All week during our family holiday we wondered what might have happened to the father. Our children played with theirs, and we chatted to the mother. Had there been a separation, or worse a tragedy, we idly wondered? Only on the last night did the mother, a high-powered barrister, explain that her husband was at board meetings in Dubai. She spoke of their children’s schools: “We are so thrilled that they are all at grammar schools: we think it is so much better for them morally.” I had heard this before, and it troubled me. Stories are increasingly appearing of middle-class parents buying their way into the catchment areas of desirable state schools, discovering religion and in other ways manipulating their children into choice state schools. When such parents boasted of a moral superiority over parents who paid fees, it seemed even more wrong to me. At the time I was running Brighton college, and almost daily I was encountering parents who were finding it hard to pay. Like parents who used the sector everywhere, they were making financial sacrifices, forgoing holidays and cars, dipping into their savings and asking their own parents to help. Were such actions really worthy of moral opprobrium? The evidence has mounted of the middle classes dominating places at the top state schools. The Sutton Trust in 2005 found that the top 200 secondary state schools were disproportionately patronised by the better-off. It found that only 3% of children at these schools were eligible for free school meals, compared with 12.3% in their local areas and 14.3% nationally. Research this month by Rebecca Allen from the Institute of Education showed a similar dominance at faith schools by children from better-off backgrounds. Top sixth-form colleges, such as Hills Road in Cambridge, are also packed with middle-class children. It is clear that the present system of a fee-paying sector and a non-fee-paying sector is morally impossible to defend. The powerful and articulate will always find ways to manipulate a free system. There is nothing intrinsically wrong in this: they are doing what all parents would do – getting the best for their children. It is the system that is wrong. Yet the system can change. I believe that the state should charge fees for the well-off. Unpopular schools should be free to those of little means, and charge low fees to the well-off, of say £1,000 a year. Highly popular state schools should still be free to poorer families, but should be open to others on a sliding scale according to parental wealth up to a maximum figure of say £8,000 per year, possibly with tax breaks. Already countries abroad are adopting such a system. In Hong Kong, state schools apply to the government for the right to be able to charge fees. A new booklet last month from Policy Exchange, Helping Schools Succeed, cites state school head teachers arguing that “what is free is not valued” and that free education is not providing the incentive for parents to expect high standards. An independent commission should be set up immediately to examine this question. Fee paying by the well-off is not only morally but socially just, and would dramatically improve the schools and opportunities for all. Sun Times

General

PUPILS STILL FAIL TO SIT CORE GCSES

3/31/2008 8:38:00 AM

Daily Telegraph 31 March

One in 14 pupils left school last year without sitting GCSEs in English or maths, figures show. A total of 44,106 students in Year 11 - about seven per cent of the 656,000 pupils - were not entered for either subject. This is despite the Government bringing forward its deadline for schools to ensure 30 per cent of pupils get five good GSCEs. Hundreds of struggling schools have until 2011 to hit the targets or face closure. One in five schools did not meet this benchmark last year - with 36,620 pupils not even entered for five GCSEs.Of those who did sit exams, 15,955 failed to achieve a pass in any subject. And 355,000 who did achieve some qualifications failed to get five good passes, including English and maths. Only seven per cent of those eligible for free school meals achieved five GCSEs of grade C or above and 12,159 children did not take any GCSEs. The attainment gap between the poorest and richest widened from 28 percentage points to 43. Telegraph

Curriculum / Quality Assurance

HEAD TEACHERS WANT TO DROP NATIONAL CURRICULUM IN SCHOOLS

3/31/2008 8:37:00 AM

Sunday Telegraph 20 March

A range of school subjects could be swept away under new teaching proposals.The attack on the National Curriculum, which has dictated school timetables for 20 years, could spell the end of separate classes in history, geography, literature, languages, art and music.Instead, schools would be allowed to decide how they teach big themes such as global warming, conflict and healthy living.The present list of subjects would be reduced to little more than English, mathematics and computing. The National Association of Head Teachers, responding to a select committee inquiry into whether the National Curriculum is "fit for purpose", said its structure of 14 compulsory subjects should be replaced by a "minimum framework" that would be "skills and competence-based, rather than prescriptive and knowledge-based".Sun Telegraph

Curriculum / Quality Assurance

TEENS TO GET £500 FOR STAYING IN SCHOOL

3/31/2008 8:34:00 AM

Daily Telegraph 31 March

Thousands of teenagers will be offered £500 to spend on paint-balling and other "positive hobbies" as a reward for attending school.Up to 15,000 13 to 18-year-olds are to receive the pre-paid debit cards worth £40 a month. The cards can only be used at approved locations such as bowling alleys, skating rinks, leisure centres and theatres.But they can also be used to pay for car and moped driving lessons. Money can also be rolled over from month to month to pay for more expensive activities.The cards are available to young people in care and those eligible for free school meals. The incentive comes on top of the £30 a week already given to many students from low-income families to stay on at school.The Government hopes the £10 million scheme will encourage youngsters off the streets and reduce anti-social behaviour. Cambridgeshire county council is one of nine authorities that will try 2,000 cards next month using chip and pin to minimise fraud.Jill Tuck, a councillor, said: "Some young people face disproportionate barriers to activities - a major one being cost. "Putting spending power in their hands can help them access new opportunities they may otherwise not have had. "Positive activities can help them seize opportunities and develop the skills they need to build positive futures."Telegraph

Secondary

RISE OF THE PRODIGIES: 50% INCREASE IN UNIVERSITY STUDENTS UNDER 18

3/31/2008 8:29:00 AM

The Guardian 31 March

The number of under-18s studying at English universities has gone up by over 50% in the past six years, according to figures that suggest that ambitious teenagers are taking advantage of new anti-discrimination laws to demand an early place. There are nearly 8,000 under-18s at university - up from less than 5,000 in 2002, figures obtained from the Higher Education Statistics Agency by the Guardian show. The overwhelming majority started only a year early, at 17, but official documents suggest there are up to 100 university students under 16. Universities have been forced to examine child protection laws that are usually the preserve of schools. Many universities have preferred to resist approaches from children under 18 for fear of the "in loco parentis" role they have to take. But a change to the age discrimination laws in 2006 now means they have to consider all applicants, regardless of age.Guardian

FE/HE/ Skills

ARMY OFFERS BURSARIES TO BOOST RECRUITMENT

3/31/2008 8:31:00 AM

The Guardian 29 March

The British army is to introduce a bursary scheme for thousands of school leavers in an effort to boost recruitment and raise the calibre of candidates, the Guardian has learned. The scheme, which mirrors the American model where many join up to acquire qualifications, will offer £1,000 to those who sign up but first wish to study courses in areas useful to the armed forces, such as IT and engineering. Recruits will receive a further £1,000 when they have completed their military training. The army further education bursary scheme, which has its first intake in September, is aimed at raising the standard of recruits; a Ministry of Defence survey in 2004 found that 41% of recruits had a reading age of 11. It is the first time the army has offered bursaries to private soldiers, although it already offers scholarships to officer candidates and children of officers. The move is one of several initiatives intended to address a shortage of manpower in some army trades and regiments.Guardian

FE/HE/ Skills

HOW JUNIOR COLLEGES HELP YOUNG PEOPLE FIND THEIR LEVEL

3/31/2008 8:30:00 AM

Letter: FT 31 March

From Prof Sir Robert Worcester.

Sir, With reference to David Turner’s article “Universities split on fast-track revolution” (March 24) and Prof Ian Barnes’ response (Letters, March 26): For many years American “junior colleges” have provided a two-year course leading to a certificate of completion, which some students have found sufficient for their needs, while others moved on to a university providing the full four-year course. Those “junior colleges” are mainly in urban areas allowing many students to live at home and many are subsidised by the local community. Those colleges promote diversity and enable less well-off students to see how they get on, and their urban locations provide students with employment if they need to work part-time, as so many do. Those who go on to university arrive well prepared for the typically tougher regime they encounter and seem to integrate easily, many taking the places of those who have decided that they are not cut out for a university four-year course.These are different from the British colleges of higher education. American universities expect to lose a proportion of their entrants. Universities in this country are penalised for too high a proportion of drop-outs.However, it just might be that there is room for local authorities to establish “junior colleges” that would both serve their communities and enhance the government's objectives to extend the opportunity of higher education to a higher proportion of young people to the benefit of all.

Robert Worcester,
London SE1 1FY

FE/HE/ Skills

DAME SUZI LEATHER NOT WAGING A CLASS WAR ON PRIVATE SCHOOLS

3/31/2008 8:40:00 AM

The Sunday Times 30 March

Dame Suzi Leather tells why she’s asking the public to tell her how fee-paying schools can prove they deserve their charitable status – and the tax breaks that go with it Are you living near a private school? Would you like to use its swimming pool, or rowing lake, or chapel? Do you fancy the idea of your child getting free Latin lessons there? Or can you think of some other way the school could serve the community? It doesn’t have to be a famous school like Eton or Harrow – you might live near a small one that isn’t a household name. But if you have any good wheezes – Suzi Leather would like to hear from you. Leather, 51, is the woman at the sharp end of one of the most contentious Labour policies, an attack on the financial basis of private schools that some see as little more than class war. When the government recently changed the law – scrapping the automatic and historic charitable status of private schools – it delighted leftwingers, who had long asked what on earth was charitable about schools that charge up to £28,000 a year and enable rich children to dominate top universities. Okay, some might have been set up to educate paupers, but that was centuries ago. From next spring private schools will have to prove they are still charities – by publicly detailing enough good works – if they want to keep their charitable status, which carries with it tax breaks estimated at £100m across the sector. Leather, as head of the Charity Commission, is the woman leading the organisation that will have to judge whether a school is doing enough to meet the new test. Sitting behind her desk in the commission’s London offices, she frowns as she explains why the job is so important. “At the end of the day there is a monetary value on charitable status in the form of tax breaks,” she says. “If a charity is unable to demonstrate any public benefit value but is enjoying these tax advantages, the public might well ask: is this a body that deserves this status?” And that’s why she wants to hear from you. “I am really keen to hear from anyone with views on what private schools could do to justify charitable status,” she says. “There will be a lot of ideas we have not thought of.” “We are not saying that schools have to ask parents to pay more. We are giving a range of ways schools can do this,” she says. But she does reveal that she has ruled herself out of final decision-taking about whether an individual school is allowed to remain a charity because she feels that her daughter’s position creates a potential “conflict of interest”. After a few more weeks of consultation, in July the commission will issue its final guidelines to schools. Next spring they will have to set out their charitable activities alongside the value of their tax breaks. “I think that for some this will be the first time schools have seriously sat down and thought, okay, what is it that we do do?” says Leather. She pauses. “I think it will be of considerable interest to the public.” Sun Times

Independent/ Private Sector

ARE SCHOOLS BEING INSPECTED TO DEATH?

GCSE AND A-LEVEL STUDENTS RELYING ON SOB STORIES TO BOOST THEIR MARKS

WE MUST END FREE EDUCATION FOR THE MIDDLE CLASSES

PUPILS STILL FAIL TO SIT CORE GCSES

HEAD TEACHERS WANT TO DROP NATIONAL CURRICULUM IN SCHOOLS

TEENS TO GET £500 FOR STAYING IN SCHOOL

RISE OF THE PRODIGIES: 50% INCREASE IN UNIVERSITY STUDENTS UNDER 18

ARMY OFFERS BURSARIES TO BOOST RECRUITMENT

HOW JUNIOR COLLEGES HELP YOUNG PEOPLE FIND THEIR LEVEL

DAME SUZI LEATHER NOT WAGING A CLASS WAR ON PRIVATE SCHOOLS

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