Any Answers?

I find the comment Michael Gove made about making state schools indistinguishable from independent Schools very infuriating and the subsequent comments made by Tory politicians and others backing him up even more so.

I worked in the independent sector as a teacher for 4 years and have now transferred to the state sector. I decided to make this transition as I do not support the independent school system. If it ceased to exist, the standards in state schools would be driven up by pushy parents who no longer have the option of private schools and money could be spread more fairly across children in the country. And importantly it would break down the social barrier and the class system in the UK which leads to arrogance, narrow mindedness and the Tory party!

However, the main point I want to make is that teaching in state schools and behaviour management systems are already far superior to that in the independent sector. It is laughable that Tory politicians say that independent schools have it 'right on discipline'. It you swapped the students in a state school with those in an independent school for a term, the independent schools would be beyond hopeless at dealing with the behavioural issues. The only reason independent schools APPEAR to have it right on discipline is because they have selective intake.

On teaching, I want to make the point that it was very difficult for me to transfer to the state system as it has much more rigorous screening process. The independent sector's admittance criteria is broadly were you privately educated yourself and can you play hockey. It is a bit of an exaggeration but not that much. The state sector interview process was highly demanding, hence why it took me 8 attempts to get a job. The Ofsted criteria for good teaching is hard to achieve. I've had to work very hard to reach it. I've worked in two independent schools and compared to the state schools I have worked in, there is much less pressure on independent school teachers to raise their standards of teaching. Much of the teaching in the independent sector is purely didactic, chalk and talk, low on group work and discovery learning and lacks regular formative assessment and differentiation. But it doesn't really matter as the children are selected so are bright enough to get the results anyway.

I'm just making the point that it is ridiculous that the Tory politicians are saying we need to get the state sector to match the independent sector on quality of teaching and behaviour management policies. If they did, we'd have a much bigger problem in the state sector than there is at the moment!

My Doves by Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888)

Such a beautiful poem. It seems divinely inspired.

MY DOVES

OPPOSITE my chamber window,
On the sunny roof, at play,
High above the city's tumult,
Flocks of doves sit day by day.
Shining necks and snowy bosoms,
Little rosy, tripping feet,
Twinkling eyes and fluttering wings,
Cooing voices, low and sweet,--

Graceful games and friendly meetings,
Do I daily watch and see.
For these happy little neighbors
Always seem at peace to be.
On my window-ledge, to lure them,
Crumbs of bread I often strew,
And, behind the curtain hiding,
Watch them flutter to and fro.

Soon they cease to fear the giver,
Quick are they to feel my love,
And my alms are freely taken
By the shyest little dove.
In soft flight, they circle downward,
Peep in through the window-pane;
Stretch their gleaming necks to greet me,
Peck and coo, and come again.

Faithful little friends and neighbors,
For no wintry wind or rain,
Household cares or airy pastimes,
Can my loving birds restrain.
Other friends forget, or linger,
But each day I surely know
That my doves will come and leave here
Little footprints in the snow.

So, they teach me the sweet lesson,
That the humblest may give
Help and hope, and in so doing,
Learn the truth by which we live;
For the heart that freely scatters
Simple charities and loves,
Lures home content, and joy, and peace,
Like a soft-winged flock of doves.

Just another reason why intensive farming of animals has to stop...

Infectious diseases spread rapidly in amongst intensively farmed animals which is leading to the over-use of antibiotics by farmers on their animals. This has raised fears that antibiotic resistant strains of bacteria might develop which could infect humans. This is especially bad, as farmers are using some of our most potent antibiotics that we use as out last line of defence when others fail. If these antibiotics become useless then that is very bad. And the farmers are buying these antibiotics in off vets and using them in an unregulated way!

New technology makes cat and fish invisible...

http://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/jun/10/insibility-cloak-animals

Dear Lord...

Study shows genetically modified salmon that breed with wild trout can produce a fast-growing, competitive fish

These salmon are both the same age! The big one is just the GM version!

Copper Mine in Afghanistan

Underneath some historical ruins in Afghanistan lies a vast copper mine. It is miners vs archaeologists at the moment debating whether the copper should be mined at the cost of the ruins. I understand that Afghanistan is very poor and needs the money, but they should not have to find fortune at the expense of their cultural heritage, especially to sell copper to the developed world that totally over uses resources as it is. I know we have a global shortage of copper, but there are other ways to get copper (bioleaching, phytomining, recycling etc.) or they could just start using an alternative metal or better yet stop making so much unnecessary stuff!!! This is a sad sad story.