It’s not long back that the return of the Taliban to power in Afghanistan and the disorderly withdrawal of British and American troops. At the time I wrote about being Afghan ready . I expressed concern that it was easy for us to virtue signal our concern for refugees and announce our readiness but harder… Continue reading Don’t forget about Afghanistan
Tag: education
Is Original Sin a terrible concept?
Katherine Birbalsingh, has got herself into hot water this week. Bibalsingh is a free school headteacher associated with an education philosophy that focuses on knowledge rich pedagogy and strict behaviour policies. She has also been appointed the chair of a social mobility commission recently. Her comments that have caused an outcry have been about the… Continue reading Is Original Sin a terrible concept?
More on not so obviously useful knowledge
The Education Secretary’s announcement that efforts would be made to encourage Latin in schools has divided opinion. Some people have immediately welcomes this as an important part of raising standards and removing the stigma of Latin as an elitist subject. Others have argued that this is a waste of time, learning a dead language is… Continue reading More on not so obviously useful knowledge
If you are going to troll Christians at least get some basics right!
Here is Professor Alice Roberts (Professor of Public Engagement with Science at Birmingham University) expressing her views on Christianity. She goes on in her thread to raise the typical humanist complaint about Christiasn engaging in education and public life. Now, leaving aside any major disagreements about theology or philosophy, here are the bigger concerns. First… Continue reading If you are going to troll Christians at least get some basics right!
Cancelling exams will not level up
One of my big questions about the new lockdown concerned the thinking of the Government in cancelling exams this summer. Last May/June, it was obvious why exams were cancelled, we were in the middle of lockdown and so it was theoretically unsafe to run the exams. I say “theoretically” because there were people who argued… Continue reading Cancelling exams will not level up
The responsibility of universities and the A- Level results scandal
So now the fall-out from the response to the fall out starts. Attention has moved from our concern about the impact of last week’s grading debacle on students to how it will affect Universities. Universities are now being presented as the new victims. They had no choice but to offer places to those who met… Continue reading The responsibility of universities and the A- Level results scandal
The A Level Results scandal – a political disaster
Whatever you may think of previous education secretaries, I suspect that even the most controversial (Ken Baker, Ken Clarke, David Blunkett or even Michael Gove) would not have made such a horrendous hash of exam grades during the pandemic. First of all, they would not have come out and said that exam grades based on… Continue reading The A Level Results scandal – a political disaster
The crucial difference between “at the earliest” and “at the latest”
“Don’t build up expectations, don’t get hopes up” “You will do better to air on the side of caution and pessimism” “Be realistic” These are the key messages that have been coming through from national church leaders involved in consultation with the Government over the past few weeks. It can be very frustrating if you… Continue reading The crucial difference between “at the earliest” and “at the latest”