Holiday, half-empty or half-full?

2024 August 9 Friday 14:55

So far so good. A bit of bicycle maintenance done. A bit of clothes (wardrobe) maintenance done. A bit of reading done. Too much games (https://www.online-go.com), also done.

In honesty, wish that schools would end the year earlier (June? A dream admittedly; maybey first week July after assessments and reports issued), the week earlier (Friday to become "learn from home" and make use of "ed-tech") and the day (fewer lessons, longer duration). Unfortunately, all of the above is highly unlikely, due to much political (and parental) preference for children to be in school for as long as possible. The government wants schools to remain primarily as low cost baby-sit services. Meanwhile, p-16 provision remains lowest in priority, despite contrary claims. For another post.

On the topic of p-16 provision, it has been a surprise to read about recent gce a "performance" data for schools of precedent employment. Have fun to speculate whether the school has improved/declined since you departed! :)

Advanced British Standard (education): dead at inception stage

Without much surprise, the extant government has been quick to blame (in advance) any reductions in future public expenditure, on their predecessors. One casualty is the proposed "advanced" p-16 qualification to replace gce a and t-level™ qualifications. This was a proposal of interest, because there had been international comparison of teach hours (for example see variation within usa alone. Generally, gce a courses are relatively cheap (fewer subjects and about 30 % fewer teach hours. Therein lies the problem with education at this level. Other countries do better, thus other countries' private industries have better access to a pool of labour that is better educated, better able to be trained, higher productivity, etc.. Once again, short termism at the heart of government.

It has been nice...

2024 August 30 Friday 16:37

Tought to accept that the pleasant holiday has concluded. At the time to write, the alarm has to be activated. Clothes prepared. Bicycle maintenance achieved. The mind has done no chemistry thoughts for weeks. In actual truth, some chemistry journal articles have been read for the joy, but nothing related to any curriculum. An advantage of total "switch-off" will be some expression of empathy for the students as they return to learn. All of us need to accept a slow rate of resumption.