At the chalkface
News
And so it goes...
The recenT cambridge the bearded Miss hodges in art.
review of primary education is Playtime was paradise. Skipping
Romeo and Juliet go online
a bit of a belter. The curriculum round Maypoles. Jumping at hop-
is, among other things, “overly scotch. Forever kicking a football.
prescriptive”, “overly politicised”, Bliss. We played marbles – we by Chris Parr
“fundamentally deficient”, didn’t lose them.
“philistine and utilitarian”, and Literacy schemes? We had romeo, romeo. Wherefore art
a “micro-managed” hell. The alphabet bricks and Thomas the thou romeo? The answer, it would
tots are “tied to a desk”, tested Tank engine. numeracy Schemes? seem, is on a social networking site
to destruction and rendered We had number bricks and sang aimed at key stage 3 students.
illiterate by Literacy Pogroms our tables off the board. easy The Playing Shakespeare site,
and innumerate by peasy! no child twitched developed by Globe education at
numeracy Pogroms. or blasphemed or had Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in
It makes them stupid, ADhD or suggested London, allows pupils to explore
ignorant, incurious, “your mum” performed key characters from Romeo and
unkind, and the unhap- unnatural sex acts in the Juliet in the same way as they might
piest children in the bike sheds for money. browse Facebook or Bebo.
world. It kills imagina- happy days! I couldn’t The site has sections on lan-
tion, creativity and any tell the difference between guage, character and motivation,
“love of learning”. It learning and larking. themes and issues, and the per-
blights young lives and If the good Professor formance text, and uses a social
has “failed generations ever gets round to second- networking-style layout to show the
of children”. ary schools, he’ll find things relationships between the charac-
Apart from these far worse. We’ve got more ters, giving each one a profile made
provisos, we seem to be targets, more government up of quotes from the play.
on the right track. wheezes. everybody knows. There are also interviews with
carpet-bombing stuff! everybody despairs. Like the the actors as they develop their
And it’s not written by callow children’s laureate, Michael characters in rehearsal, and sound
firebrands, left wing loonies, rosen. Did you see recently him files of actors performing extracts
or meringue-headed hippies. on TV? he told the pupils stories. from key scenes. Students can
This is robin Alexander, emeritus This was new. They did “litera- upload their own opinions to a dis-
Professor of education at ture” not “literacy”. They wrote cussion board as well. Bank schools’ project. This week,
cambridge, and 29 other academ- their own. They laughed. It makes Director of Globe education, as part of the project, five pro-
ics, and thousands of children, you want to weep. Patrick Spottiswoode, told SecEd: fessional full-scale productions of
parents and teachers. They know. nothing will change. There’ll “Shakespeare would have relished Romeo and Juliet will take place
And you do too. I know. Any fule be a review to review this review. the web as an accessible forum at the Globe Theatre and will be
kno these things. Government Big cheeses – Sir for discussion and play. The site attended by around 10,000 year 9
It doesn’t have to be like this. Jim rose and Screaming Lord will offer insights into the process pupils from across London.
It wasn’t in my primary school Woodentop have already been of creating a character and a pro- To access the website, visit
days in chalfont St Peter. The drafted. Big Jim has pronounced duction and will promote discus- www.playingshakespeare.org
divine Miss eden told us fabulous things “rubbish”. Their delibera- sion about the issues that the play
stories and sang Greensleeves and tions will all go to Balls and we explores. Playtime:ScenesfromMuch
gave us stars for “kindness” and will proceed as we have done for “It will be an invaluable resource Ado About Nothingatthe
took us on “nature rambles”. years. And so it goes. for teachers and students but will Globe,whichwasthefocus
We fell out of trees, made daisy crucially, I hope, enrich their expe- oftheschools’projectin
chains, caught frogs and put them • Ian Whitwham is a former rience as playgoers.” 2007(right)and2008(top).
in powder paints and set them on secondary school teacher. The website is part of the wider Thisyearitistheturnof
Playing Shakespeare With Deutsche Romeo and Juliet
EarlyYears Primary Secondary Inclusion Leadership CPD
New focus area for Assessing
Pupils’ Progress (APP)
The National Strategies has created a new focus area for Assessing Pupils’ Progress (APP).
This brings together essential information and guidance to establish APP in your school
in Key Stages 1, 2 and 3 and help secure rigorous, robust assessment.
To view the APP materials and a wide range of other free resources to support teaching
and learning in all schools and settings, please visit our new web area.
The National Strategies’ web area, find it, use it, share it.
www.standards.dcsf.gov.uk/nationalstrategies
24 SecEd • March 12 2009
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