Recently in Education Category

by Helen Bonnick
Jamie's Dream School (Wednesdays, Channel 4) has received a lot of predictable flak - it's exploiting the students who are manipulated by the cameras' presence, it places unfair levels of expectation on teachers and the degree of foolishness on Jamie Oliver's part to imagine it would work.

I would counter such criticism by pointing out that while the original aim was to see if it was possible to re-interest disengaged students in the education process through inspirational teaching, there are also other politically timely lessons here.

Firstly, that there is more to teaching than being an expert in your field. Teachers everywhere should take comfort in this, in the face of proposals that only top class degrees would be acceptable, or failing that, a stint in the army (ex-squaddies have been suggested to deal with the appalling lack of discipline, allegedly rampant in all our schools).

Secondly, there is a lesson in David Starkey's emotional justification of his own bullying behaviour (episode 2). He had been painfully humiliated by just such an approach in his own school days, but knew of no different way to instil respect and obedience - for which read absolute compliance.

Another one for the teachers - in the end honesty and respect in discussion and approach can trump spectacle and extravagance. The overall plea from the youngsters was to be treated with respect. By the end they appeared more ready to understand this as a two-way process.

Amid all our developing understanding of different learning styles, of social exclusion, and of what makes a good school, it seems to me that we continue to ignore the fundamental questions which determine the whole direction of the education system and the engagement, or otherwise, of these young people.

What should education be about, and who is it for? The individual child, the good of society, or the masters of industry?
 
Answer that one wrong and all the Dream Schools in the world will have taught us nothing.
Helen Bonnick is a school-based social worker

by Helen Bonnick, a supervisor of school-home support workers and a social worker

My work takes me into four separate London boroughs but when I was invited to attend common assessment framework training, the comments of the schools workers I support ensured that I knew exactly where I wanted to go to train. They were right - it was one of the best training sessions I have attended, despite my turning up in provocative mood, "ready to rant".

For that three hours all made sense, the forms - with prompts - appeared straightforward and easy to navigate; the rationale was clear; and my misgivings about so full an enquiry disappeared as I was convinced that power and ownership lay with the young person or family. Then I went back to work.

by Helen Bonnick, a supervisor of school-home support workers and a social worker

Ok, I put my hands up. You could describe my family as rather obsessive when it comes to language. There is always space at the dinner table for the dictionary, which is, incidentally, currently considered too small and about to be replaced with several volumes.

We pass the time in traffic jams hunting for the "white van typo" and gazing at shop fronts, spotting the misplaced apostrophe. And my husband has been known to interrupt quizzes to correct a figure of speech. This doesn't make us bad people - just difficult to live with!

by Helen Bonnick, a supervisor of school-home support workers and a social worker

Monday: A cheese and ham sandwich.

Tuesday: The weekend's leftovers will need heating up to make them remotely edible. Luckily I am working near home so I can race in for lunch and out again.

Wednesday: No-one went to the shops yet so I make do with peanut butter sandwiches.

Thursday: Still not been shopping. Two pork pies on the way home from the supermarket.

Friday: The last thing I feel like is another sandwich but can't think of anything else.

Well, all this says to me is that I am singularly unqualified to cast the first stone!

We have to assume that government ministers have read the full final report of the Cambridge Primary Review: Children, Their World, Their Education, since they apparently have already found so much with which to disagree. Sadly, I have only seen the media coverage, so I must take care in reading the reports, understanding the agenda behind the choice of quotes, trying to balance the analysis with opposing views ... before I launch into a measured and entirely dispassionate tirade.