At the chalkface
Tories to scrap poverty
“Tories would ditch pupil deprivation!” squawks a recent headline. Cripes! Rather. Abolish poverty? Get rid of paupers? My goodness, they’re cranking up the compassion. I unfurl the page. Whoops! There are two more words in the headline – “from tables”. Oh dear. Whence do they get this wheeze? Sir Richard Sykes. They’ve commissioned him to review the whole exam system. He pronounces it a shambles – lock, stock and module. Yo! Richard! We must ditch the “obsession with measurement”. Yo! Yo! Rich! And those league tables? Rubbish. Sir Richard! You the Man! Then he goes
and ruins it all. CVA – Contextual Value- Added – must go too. Its “implied precision” is “spurious”, its criteria woolly. League tables must only be judged on raw data. It’s the only level playing field, whether Eton or King Hell Comp. But that’s about as fair as footie. That’s like Barcelona v Bridport Bees. Daft. Beyond spurious. Deprivation is damaging. Even the Tory social policy tsar agrees. He’s just discovered that poor people can develop “smaller brains”. He read it in a book. No matter. Deprivation is
irrelevant, says Sir Richard. Most Tories perk up.
Especially the Gove – like one of those muppets you clobber with mallets at fairgrounds. He concurs. CVA? “Flawed! Flawed!” says
the Matthew Arnold of our age. Nevertheless, the plight of the poor exercises his massive brain. “We need to take several steps
back!” Again! Back? Whither? The
Victorian workhouse. Well, the weekend workhouse. I’m not sure if it will take. Saturdays? “Ere, Shaka, you comin’ out?” “Can’t, blood – got workhouse! Got the literacy innit?” “Shame, blood!” “Gotta get my
targets, man!” “Sidney?”
“Me too, man! I’m frightfully worried about
our league position!” “Shame, breh!”
Indeed. A crying shame.
Here are two cartoons. Cordelia Swansong – blueberries, broccoli, books, bedtime stories, the right culture, extended language
codes, privacy and a garden. A Russell Group university.
Sidney Lunk – crisps, cola, ketchup, no stories, few books, the wrong culture, restricted language codes, no privacy and King Hell Mansions. The Street. Two nations. The divide is
worse than ever. Class is still destiny. Poverty is often fate. CVA might be imprecise, but raw data is meaningless. We don’t need workhouses. We need small classes. Or one-to-one teaching. The Tories have just ditched that.
• Ian Whitwham is a former teacher. A book of his best ever columns is out now. For details, email
editor@sec-ed.co.uk
News
Premier League footballers help inspire boys to read
by Natasha Devan
Footballers from the English Premier League have teamed up with the National Literacy Trust to help motivate boys to read. The Premier League Reading
Stars (PLRS) project sees play- ers from the 20 Barclays Premier League football clubs nominated as “Reading Stars”. Each player,
Manchester United’s Gary Neville and Portsmouth’s David James, has helped to create a reading list by choosing their favourite book. Every Premier League team
will be receiving free copies of all the recommended titles, providing opportunities for families to take part in library sessions where it is hoped that meeting their football heroes will inspire them to read for pleasure. More than 100 Premier League
footballers have become Reading Stars since the project started in 2003. The outcomes to date have been
encouraging, with 93 per cent of children from the 2009 project say- ing they would read more regularly as a result of the scheme Sir Dave Richards, chairman
of the Premier League, said: “We hope to be able to use footballers’ favourite book choices as a way of inspiring families to read together. It gives players the opportunity to
act as positive role models and shows that by using the power of football we can successfully change people’s attitudes to reading.” The footballers selected an array
including
of titles. Chelsea defender Paulo Ferreira chose The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho; Stoke City defend- er Danny Higginbotham picked
Fantastic Mr Fox by Roald Dahl,
and Manchester United’s Gary
Neville opted for The One That Got
Away by Chris Ryan. England and Portsmouth goal-
keeper David James, who chose Mini Sagas by Carole Hartwell, said: “I truly believe in the power of the Premier League Reading Stars initiative and I am honoured to be the only player to have been involved in every year of the scheme. If footballers can help to inspire young people to read more, then projects like this really can make a difference.” The launch comes as a study by
the National Literacy Trust showed that around 30 per cent of second- ary-aged boys agreed with the state- ment “I can’t find anything to read that interests me”. Jonathan Douglas, director of the
Trust, said: “The Premier League Reading Stars initiative enables us to reach new audiences, inspiring them to read through their passion for football.” For more information, visit
www.premierleaguereadingstars. org.uk
Book-keeper: Manchester City goalkeeper Shay Given chose The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown as his book
Kent is bringing learning to life
Teachers
Great teachers know how to keep children from staring into space.
They use their own imagination to engage with their students. At Kent, we encourage you to do exactly that. One of the largest authorities in the country, we offer a huge range of schools, subjects and age groups to choose between. You’ll also have plenty of opportunity to move around and share your passion and creativity - just one of the reasons 80% of people who teach in Kent stay in Kent. Visit www.kent-teach.com
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SecEd • April 22 2010
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