Handwriting – Neither Here nor There
Published Scotland on Sunday, 17th October, 2010 When I was wee, and at the local primary school, handwriting was not taught. In fact, it wasn’t even discussed. This was in the early days of ‘open plan’ comprehensives, where we all wore white polyester polo necks and fetching purple jumpers and where the teachers were either hippies or dyed-in-the-wool dinosaurs. It was a strange mix of people, of methods and of general educational philosophy. So did the lack of being taught a formal...
Read MoreSt. Margaret’s Demise a One-off
Published as an interview, Scotland on Sunday, 12th September, 2010 Small Schools – The Issues The demise of St. Margaret’s School in Edinburgh has often been perceived as the result of being a small school. This is to hugely simplify the real situation, which was actually to do with a progressively falling roll coupled with an increase in costs. Actually, most small schools, are completely financially secure because their rolls are static or, in most cases, seeing a gradual increase....
Read MoreCurriculum for Excellence 3
Published, Edinburgh Evening News, 14th June, 2010 When Is a Curriculum not a Curriculum? Curriculum for Excellence is the most divisive debate in education in living memory. Its introduction has polarised opinion both in local communities and in education circles. It has regularly been vilified for its vagueness, for its lack of clarity and for its lack of prescribed content. But, for me, these criticisms miss the point entirely. However, they have come about as a result of expectation: an...
Read MoreThe Problem with Risk
Interview Published, The Scotsman, 6th July, 2009 I was born in 1964, so my childhood covered the 60s and 70s. When I think back I am struck by the differences between my era and the world in which children grow up today. When I was young there were no Play Stations, no X-boxes, no internet, no mobile phones, no hand-held computers, no digital or satellite television, no credit or debit cards; we didn’t even have a remote control for the T.V. or the C.D. player (oh, and of course we didn’t...
Read MoreUniversity Entry Requirements
Published, The Scotsman, 31st May 2010 Am I alone in questioning the importance our Universities attach to the subject of Mathematics? I can understand the need to be numerate, the need to be arithmetically confident and assured, but I am less convinced that we need to aspire to all students achieving success at Maths. I find it incomprehensible that you need Standard Grade Mathematics to study Acting at the University of Central Lancashire, or to study Fashion Design at the University of...
Read MoreCurriculum for Excellence 2
Parents often ask me what the priorities should be within education. I usually remind them of Skinner’s quote, that is to say, ‘Education is what remains after what has been learned has been forgotten’. This quote makes parents, and teachers too, of course, reflect on what the function of a good school truly is. When we think back to our own school days our memories are of those instances when we found something to be funny, challenging or, at worst, humiliating. Today, I believe, the...
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