Andy's Blog Assignment

Steve Gullick – 23/01/12

Due to Andy Reynolds being off sick for a number of months, we were introduced to several guest lecturers in order to aid our knowledge in ‘what is education’. Today’s guest speaker is Steve Gullick. His lecture was based around the roles of the governing body within educational institutions. The governing body is made up of several types of governors, whom are working for the school voluntarily and do not receive any type of income however travel costs etc, being an exception. The different types of governors are parent governors, staff governors, community governors, authority governors, and in some cases, mostly in Wales, there are student governors who are there to support the roles and needs of the students and to put their ideas across to the board of governors.

School Governors have various roles and duties to the school and to all involved. They are there to promote high academic achievements, to help the head make decisions about staff whether its pay or staff to children ratio in a classroom, they can also focus on problems concerning the curriculum. Another one of the roles of the governors is to manage the schools budgets, by doing so, they would have to ensure that the money being given to the school whether it by the government, or by fundraising etc. The money the school receives needs to be spent fairly and equally on equipment that is needed and on sufficient activities such as school trips, the maintenance of the school itself, etc.

There are different ‘types’ of governing body as stated by Peter Earley. There are ‘The Abdicators’ who are governors who like to leave a lot of the school choices up to the head teacher which is good because it should be the responsibility of the head to edit the school as necessary, however there would be no point in having governors if they were not needed.

There are ‘The Adversaries’ who always make sure the school is up to scratch and good quality teaching. However this causes pressure and an unpleasant atmosphere for the children and staff.

Then come the ‘supporters club’ who are friendly, supportive and make the head feel good about their work and the school, although this could lead to lack of criticism and the governors not always telling the head when they think he/she is wrong.

Finally is ‘the partners’ which are said to be the perfect governing body, they praise when the school is good, they criticise fairly and have equal say in the school and its teaching. The only bad point is there aren’t enough governors who are ‘partners’.

Peter Earley had done some research into governing bodies in London and their relationship with teachers.

‘The research found a clear association between effective schools and effective governing bodies, and that there were considerable benefits to be derived to a school, and in particular its head teacher, from having an effective governing body.’

(Peter Earley, 1999)

I do not think it is fair of Peter Earley to stereotype governors into those groups of people, the role of the governor is to help aid the headteacher into making the school a better place for children and to make sure it is a safe, enjoyable environment both for pupils and staff regardless of their methods.

References:

PETER EARLEY, M. S. J. E. Improving the effectiveness of school governing bodies, 1999.

Olive Hopker – 14/02/12

Todays guest lecturer was Olive Hopker, Head of planning and development for Swansea Metropolitan University. Her educational policy she was discussing was Collaboration v competition. She discussed with us about the collaboration between academic institutes such as colleges, universities, schools, etc and how they are collaborating and merging together and ‘joining forces’. However with collaboration can come competition. In all schools or further education is competition:

·         Recruiting students

·         Competing for funding for different subjects

·         Competition for the best staff when recruiting

·         Restricted places on certain courses

·         Also reputation and publicity

There are certain benefits for collaboration such as shared expertise and knowledge, enhance of reputation, it can also be cost efficient. The benefits of competition are that it helps promote and motivate the institute to do better and to become a better academic level, it also provides a choice of alternative products and services.

She also discussed about the planning and delivery of higher education which is directed and controlled by the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW). This ‘planning and delivery’ involved a lot of competition between the three regions on who gets what amount of funding, this also is where collaboration between institutes will become necessary.

‘The credits to be used to support successful bids for additional funded credits and to reward regional redistribution were to be generated through a top slice of 5% of funded credits for AY 2011/12. A separate circular W10/29HE was also published in July 2010 inviting the submission of proposals for Foundation Degrees to support the implementation of the regional plans.’ (HEFCW, 2011/12)

This suggests that credits are used to ‘successful bids’ which may not necessarily be the most deserving of institutes. It was only recently in 2010 that foundation degrees were included in this aswell which also suggests they may not have been good enough or deserving enough to receive such funding and credits. I think that competition and funding between institutions are discraceful and they should concerntrate on schools and further education in less built up areas and in less affluent areas so children and learners can have the same opportunity throughout wales.

Refrences:

HEFCW. Regional dimension to the planning and delivery of higher education., 2011/12.

Alice Davies – 13/03/12

Today’s guest speaker was Alice Davis, Senior Member of South West Wales Reaching Wider Consortium. Her lecture was on widening Access in the welsh context. This basically is about widening access and increasing opportunities for people of all backgrounds, race, sex, etc to benefit their higher education as they may not feel they can have.

 ‘to increase the number of people from ‘under-represented’ groups in higher education’ (WIMD, 2000) Their aims are also for people from black/ethnic minority communities, disabled individuals, low income families, families from less affluent areas and so on.

The Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation focus on:

·         Income

·         Employment

·         Health

·         Education

·         Housing

·         Geographic access to services

HEFCW had discovered that because of all their improvements there was a 10% rise in the proportion of Welsh students studying in further education institutes. There were also a number of Widening Access Funding ideas introduced these included the Fee Planning, WA Premium which is an annual teaching grant given to higher education institutes so that they recognise the extra costs that may occur when recruiting students who may be from under-represented groups.

‘A review of Welsh HEIs' widening access strategies is being undertaken. The review will provide a UK-wide perspective on disability and widening participation. The work involves analysis of the widening access strategies of all Welsh institutions and the Reaching Wider plans of the four regional consortia.’ (Academy, 2012)

The idea of Reaching Wider (RW) was established in 2002 by the HEFCW it was introduced so as to break down the barriers that arise when trying to receive an education and tries to widen the access to learning. Their plan was to sustain the economic up-skilling and to support the theory of social inclusion regardless of class.

All of these would help the well being and welfare of the students who are looking to carry on into further education. It would help their aspirations, as most of them would be from less economically profound backgrounds, they would not have sufficient funds to go to university and higher education and do a degree or diploma, etc. Also it would help individuals who may have a disability to ensure they have help attending and getting around university.

References:ACADEMY, T. H. E. Widening access, 2012. http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/wales/ourwork/wideningaccess.

WIMD. Welsh Index Of Multiple Deprivation, 2000.

Jane Davidson – 20/03/12

Today’s speaker was former education minister, Jane Davidson who came to discuss education policies and key aspects and turning points throughout the years that have affected education and it is because of theses aspects that make the education system today what it is.

In 1983 the national curriculum was introduced by Margaret Thatcher which meant that now pupils had the same educational experience and lessons and every other pupil throughout the country. Many felt that their freedom to help and teach children would be jeopardised. SATS were also introduced at this time for children aged 7, 11 and 14.

In 1999 The Welsh Assembly Government came in with intent to change education. The first welsh education minister was Mr. Rodrey Morgan who also had the longest rein as minister. Before the WAG, English education system was the same in wales the only difference was that it was just translated into welsh aswell as being in English.

Currently there is a scheme going on called ‘The Learning Country –Vision into Action’ which is written by the WAG and also some by Jane Davidson. Their objectives and aims are to give children the best start in life and in education.

‘Vision into Action is also intrinsic to the delivery of our Child Poverty Implementation

Plan and we shall drive both strategies with vigour and commitment.’ (Davidson, 2001)

I think what the WAG are doing with ‘The Learning Country’ and what theyre trying to do is really inspiring.

‘Taking forward the Flying Start programme for children aged 0-3 living in disadvantaged communities, supported by other complementary

programmes including Cymorth, Sure Start, the Basic Skills Strategy, the Parenting Action Plan and the Childcare Strategy – to target the needs of young

children and parents and improve outcomes for the most disadvantaged.’ (Davidson, 2001)

there are alot of people and strategies in wales currently which are trying to get the most out of education for children less able whether there be funding issues, disability, illness, etc its because of activities such as The Learning Country that children are able to get the best they can out of education and they have equal opportunities as any other child.

Refrences:

DAVIDSON, J. The Learning Country. [S.l.]: [s.n.], 2001.

ICT and Visual Communication 'A Sense of Place'

When I first heard our assignment was going to be on 'a sense of place' I initially had issues thinking about what I could do. After several brainstorms and squiggly lines and annotations, I came up with three words, Belonging, Home and identity.

I felt that all of those words and the meaning behind those words can be put together and just under the one word of ‘Home’. My home is very important to me and as my hometown is approximately 180 miles away from my current town I feel it is important for me to do. Also my house back in Aldershot had been sold and my dad is moving house whilst im here. This made me think about what home is and what it means. A house is a house, but a home is made by the people in it. A home can be moved but a house cannot.

The development of my ideas were mainly ICT based, I used pictures and media such as newspapers and leaflets. I also used ICT programmes such as ‘Wordle’ and ‘tagxedo’ in order to help me develop and discover my ideas. Wording and lettering became apparent to me after doing these research and development tasks, which made me think of newspapers, articles and writing.

Also after researching different artists and how they use newspapers and wording in different ways allowed me to explore my ideas clearly and openly. Knowing that media can be varied and can be used very differently made me realise that I have no real limits to my ideas and theories. One artist, Barbara Kruger gave me the idea of filling a room, or a house with lettering. She had done that as one of her pieces and as my idea is ‘home’ I thought I could cover a so called home, or house in newspaper. Shortly discovering this was nearly impossible I decided to improvise and use a cardboard box to represent the house. After much experimenting and deliberation and various ideas later I decided to have the word ‘home’ in my box to represent the home within a house, I though it best to have it swinging to also show a home can move with you but a house is stationery.

Going back to my research of words and media I thought to cover the box in welsh newspaper and the ‘home’ in a newspaper from back home in Aldershot. To show that both home and a sound may look the same until you look closer and ‘read the small print’ so to speak, you will see there is much difference between the two.

Suzies

We had to take pictures reflecting an emotion, I chose loneliness.
Here are my pictures.

Guest lecturers

Steve gullick was one of the guest lecturers who came in, he talked about the role of governors in schools and their importants. The seminar included detail such as the types of governors and why some are harder to get than others.

Haven't been able to get to a computer so I downloaded the blogger app, just coz I'm cool. No other reasons.
Bit late but suzies first seminar, Monday 23rd we introduced ourselves and stuff and watched a short film by Martin scorsese called a close shave or something along those lines, it represented the war at the time and the reflection of propaganda in society.
Also, suzies following session, we were to bring 3-5 objects of sentimental value to us. We had to explain why they are special, etc

Placement...

For Placement week I was sent to Townhill Community School.
It was a bit of a kerfuffle to begin with as I was only placed there at last minute and the teacher they put me with had run away! to the depths of the playground.

I was in a year 4 class and was only helping kiddies put up christmas decorations and help them with reading, I was also helping out the teacher with laminating and printing. I enjoyed it alot, I got on well with the children but also kept authority and I did raise my voice in some circumstances so the children knew I wasnt there to play with them.

I didnt get the chance to work in the foundation phase classes which was a bit dissappointing however I did have the oppotunity to watch the infant christmas production which I loved.

What I found in the year 4 class which was different to what i was used to was their use of the welsh language, they had specific welsh lessons but also at the beginning of the day they would take it in turns to use the interactive whiteboard to say what day it is today, what the weather is today,and what it was like yesterday. I also had to help the kiddies on the class computer and they learn to copy and paste pictures.