Yesterday's debate between Elizabeth Truss MP, Justin Thomlinson MP (Chair of the Parliamentary Committee for Financial Education) and Nick Gibb (Minister of State for Schools) is available here:
http://www.parliamentlive.tv/Main/Player.aspx?meetingId=9518&st=16:42:20
Here are some of the key insights they lacked:
1. Removing calculators from students will NOT create improvements in mental maths. There is an intermediate step missing and this is the nurturing of mathematics teaching which uses the core structure and axioms of mathematics and does not teach algorithms and quotable facts without deep structural understanding. Removing calculators could lead to more teaching of algorithms without structure which would compound current problems.
References: Elementary Mathematics by LiPing Ma.
http://mathseducationandallthat.blogspot.com/2011/05/how-do-chinese-do-it-introduction.html and subsequent posts
http://osiriseducational.co.uk/maths/transforming-maths-2010.html
In essence overuse of calculators (where it occurs) is a symptom of the problem more than being a cause of it.
2. Developing fluency in tables has very limited benefit unless students do it in the context of developing scaling and other structurally sound semiotic structures for multiplication.
http://mathseducationandallthat.blogspot.com/2011_04_01_archive.html
3. Both splitting and chunking are essential primitive structures for division. It's also of great benefit for students to be aware of the scaling structure for division.
(Think - if you do 264 / 2 you use splitting - pulling 264 apart into two equal parts. If you do 39 /13 you will probably chunk - thinking how many 13s are there in 39 rather than splitting 39 into 13 equal parts. Different real life situations prompt different structural uses of division).
4. The issue of questions which should have been on non-calculator SATS papers appearing on calculator SATS papers had been identified by QCDA and they were in the process of addressing it by replacing those questions with appropriate calculator questions. Appropriate uses of calculators include the use of calculators for questions where the results on the calculator demand interpretations and understanding that students could not access with non-calculator techniques and to assist the subordination of complex calculations in extended multi-stage functions which students could not otherwise access.
(contact me for further justification of this claim and more insight).
5. There are plenty of teenagers who are not experts on an appropriate variety of functions of smartphones and internet searches. Yes they use smartphone but many of them only use them for a limited range of functions and they need the opportunity to reflect on the results internet searches generate to use them wisely in academic analysis.
(widely understood in education).
6. Yes it is important to focus on core skills but we have been doing this. Some of the National Strategy has worked extremely well, other aspects have been seriously flawed. Without insight into what has worked and what has not worked and why you cannot create an effective policy which will improve things.
Post Script:
At the beginning of the discussion Ms Truss asks why the issues of calculators in school has not been debated in parliament for so long.
The answer is because the quality of insight explored was far below that which would have been possible had the ministers involved attended a relevant consultation at ACME or WEF, which is what has been happening instead under the last government.
Thursday, 1 December 2011
Wednesday, 9 November 2011
Cyberrhetoric
I now devote part of my time to developing the academic discipline of analysing the processes and outputs of mass online discussion (that's conversations in forums and the comments threads to blogs, news articles and so on).
My passion for this subject started in maths education - see for example this article:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/55142332/Exploring-Discussion-Forums
And I am delighted to have been asked to manage and moderate the inspirational group:
Math, Math Education, Math Culture on linkedin.com, a role which I love and I would warmly invite any enthusiast of maths education to join this warm and vibrant group.
But my interest in forums has now grown beyond education and so I've started a separate blog specifically for it. The first post in my new blog (which I shall run in parallel with this one) contains my notes on cyberrhetoric - which is the ways in which participants in forums can post to help conversations which are stuck or abusive become productive and respectful -from the session I ran at the Mozilla Festival in Grenwich on Sunday. As well as developing this study further, I will also post on the analysis of the ways in which mass online discussion can enhance democracy and generate intellectual capital and I hope to link to other articles about mass online discussion. Here's the link:
http://cyberrhetoricbyrebeccahanson.blogspot.com/
I shall keep this blog for maths education and related issues in education.
My passion for this subject started in maths education - see for example this article:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/55142332/Exploring-Discussion-Forums
And I am delighted to have been asked to manage and moderate the inspirational group:
Math, Math Education, Math Culture on linkedin.com, a role which I love and I would warmly invite any enthusiast of maths education to join this warm and vibrant group.
But my interest in forums has now grown beyond education and so I've started a separate blog specifically for it. The first post in my new blog (which I shall run in parallel with this one) contains my notes on cyberrhetoric - which is the ways in which participants in forums can post to help conversations which are stuck or abusive become productive and respectful -from the session I ran at the Mozilla Festival in Grenwich on Sunday. As well as developing this study further, I will also post on the analysis of the ways in which mass online discussion can enhance democracy and generate intellectual capital and I hope to link to other articles about mass online discussion. Here's the link:
http://cyberrhetoricbyrebeccahanson.blogspot.com/
I shall keep this blog for maths education and related issues in education.
Friday, 30 September 2011
Busy, busy, busy....
Just to explain the lack of posts, I've been busy working, writing and sadly positing on political blogs about issues in education.
I wish I didn't feel I had to but I feel that someone should and if not me then who?
Hey ho.
But on a much more positive note one of my jobs has been to research and write this course:
http://osiriseducational.co.uk/maths/transforming-maths-2010.html
It's given me a context within which to focus my attention on re-analysing the emerging technological infrastructure which can support mathematics education.
What I see being reality in 3-5 years time inspires me.
In my crystal ball I see the integration of systems which track students progress with both axiomatic and personal skills in mathematics and to which all stakeholders can contribute together. I see interactive teaching systems which can automatically populate elements of this system. And I see accreditation based on such a system which can replace SATs with much more worthwhile, robust, diverse and meaningful low-stakes accreditation.
The fundamental elements are all now in place...... now I just have to figure out how to make others see what I see.
I wish I didn't feel I had to but I feel that someone should and if not me then who?
Hey ho.
But on a much more positive note one of my jobs has been to research and write this course:
http://osiriseducational.co.uk/maths/transforming-maths-2010.html
It's given me a context within which to focus my attention on re-analysing the emerging technological infrastructure which can support mathematics education.
What I see being reality in 3-5 years time inspires me.
In my crystal ball I see the integration of systems which track students progress with both axiomatic and personal skills in mathematics and to which all stakeholders can contribute together. I see interactive teaching systems which can automatically populate elements of this system. And I see accreditation based on such a system which can replace SATs with much more worthwhile, robust, diverse and meaningful low-stakes accreditation.
The fundamental elements are all now in place...... now I just have to figure out how to make others see what I see.
Tuesday, 6 September 2011
Ofsted part 9: A tough reality of the job.
When there is substantial failure, as there will sometimes be in public services no matter how hard we try, there is always great personal pain which is most effectively dealt with if somebody carries the can by being prepared to lose their job. When individual inspectors defend their jobs too actively when there has clearly been substantial failure on their watch a regulator loses credibility.
For all sorts of reasons, schools have become overly deferential to the process and conclusions of inspection to the extent where judgements of doubtful validity with potentially very negative consequences are not properly challenged. We need processes which expect there may be challenges to potentially contentious judgements and plan to allow such challenges to be constructive processes of growth in understanding for both the school and the inspector.
In essence I am saying here that the recruitment process for the inspectorate should actively seek out those who would not be afraid to leave their jobs should that appear to be the right thing to do. There are plenty of such people in education and I have known many who have become inspectors. But sadly they seem too often to rapidly leave inspection and there is little evidence of their presence among those who define policy direction at Ofsted.
Ofsted should only employ people in core roles who can command the personal and professional respect and trust of our most dedicated and able headteachers. If that trust breaks down and cannot be properly restored within a reasonable time the inspector be removed, preferable of their own volition. In other words they should be accountable to the very best in education rather than to themselves.
Schools should only employ headteachers who can command the personal and professional respect and trust of their most dedicated and able teachers. If that trust breaks down and cannot be properly restored within a reasonable time the headteacher should leave and our inspectors should be there to help in that process if necessary. At present too often it is the case that a school falls to rock bottom at which point the staff and governors organise the removal of the head. Then Ofsted turn up and hang around for the next couple of years in order to take the credit for the improvement the staff then bring about.
It's not blooming rocket science. Is is? Let's strip out all those processes of inspection which protect inspectors who are not up to the job and which are not needed by those who are and replace them with structures used by credible regulators.
For all sorts of reasons, schools have become overly deferential to the process and conclusions of inspection to the extent where judgements of doubtful validity with potentially very negative consequences are not properly challenged. We need processes which expect there may be challenges to potentially contentious judgements and plan to allow such challenges to be constructive processes of growth in understanding for both the school and the inspector.
In essence I am saying here that the recruitment process for the inspectorate should actively seek out those who would not be afraid to leave their jobs should that appear to be the right thing to do. There are plenty of such people in education and I have known many who have become inspectors. But sadly they seem too often to rapidly leave inspection and there is little evidence of their presence among those who define policy direction at Ofsted.
Ofsted should only employ people in core roles who can command the personal and professional respect and trust of our most dedicated and able headteachers. If that trust breaks down and cannot be properly restored within a reasonable time the inspector be removed, preferable of their own volition. In other words they should be accountable to the very best in education rather than to themselves.
Schools should only employ headteachers who can command the personal and professional respect and trust of their most dedicated and able teachers. If that trust breaks down and cannot be properly restored within a reasonable time the headteacher should leave and our inspectors should be there to help in that process if necessary. At present too often it is the case that a school falls to rock bottom at which point the staff and governors organise the removal of the head. Then Ofsted turn up and hang around for the next couple of years in order to take the credit for the improvement the staff then bring about.
It's not blooming rocket science. Is is? Let's strip out all those processes of inspection which protect inspectors who are not up to the job and which are not needed by those who are and replace them with structures used by credible regulators.
Monday, 5 September 2011
Ofsted part 8: How could a purpose-led inspectorate effectively report on the quality of provision?
A purpose-led inspectorate of the type described here could report on the extent to which schools are reaching the high floor standard specified.
It could also provide detailed qualitative reports on innovative and exemplary practice, which is currently often barely acknowledged. To have access to such published information would be of great benefit to many stakeholders in education.
Where there is a clear argument for their being specific high standards to which schools could or should aspire, these could be provided by other agencies and quality assured and reported on by an education inspectorate.
Pages with lists of numbers would be lost. Academic and political reviews of practices in inspection and regulation conclude that this would be beneficial to the quality of the services being provided by the organisations being inspected.
It could also provide detailed qualitative reports on innovative and exemplary practice, which is currently often barely acknowledged. To have access to such published information would be of great benefit to many stakeholders in education.
Where there is a clear argument for their being specific high standards to which schools could or should aspire, these could be provided by other agencies and quality assured and reported on by an education inspectorate.
Pages with lists of numbers would be lost. Academic and political reviews of practices in inspection and regulation conclude that this would be beneficial to the quality of the services being provided by the organisations being inspected.
Sunday, 28 August 2011
Ofsted part 7: How could a purpose-led inspectorate effectively drive quality improvement?
By mandating, as part of the minimum standards criteria (discussed in parts 5 and 6) that schools participate in a quality assured improvement programs.
You'd neeed someone exceptionally bright (highly experienced in education with at least an MEd and a recent MBA as well) organising the regulation of the frameworks for such programs at the inspectorate.
They'd need a small team of people who worked to quality assure improvement programs (individual schools might be quality assured or bodies which groups of schools worked with may be).
The at last schools would have the freedom to select who they worked with to mentor them on quality improvement. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could have PRUs being mentored by bodies with specialist expertise in running PRUs for example?
You'd neeed someone exceptionally bright (highly experienced in education with at least an MEd and a recent MBA as well) organising the regulation of the frameworks for such programs at the inspectorate.
They'd need a small team of people who worked to quality assure improvement programs (individual schools might be quality assured or bodies which groups of schools worked with may be).
The at last schools would have the freedom to select who they worked with to mentor them on quality improvement. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could have PRUs being mentored by bodies with specialist expertise in running PRUs for example?
Thursday, 25 August 2011
Ofsted part 6: How could a purpose-led inspectorate effectively identify and eliminate unacceptable practice? (part 2)
In part 5 of this section of my blog I pointed out that there could be considered to be two contexts in which a purpose-led inspectorate may need to intervene to protect against unacceptable standards.
The first (where specific issues have arisen which do not raise concerns about the leadership at the school) I considered in part 5. In this section I shall consider:
What happens in cases where there is concern regarding the leadership at a school?
One of the most important ways in which our children can be protected from unacceptable standards in education is by planning to ensure that headteachers who are not performing well are replaced.
Dealing with this issue is extremely difficult and complex, as the same headteacher behaviour may be productive at one school and destructive at another.
It is also natural that the style of leadership exhibited by a headteacher and the decisions they make will not suit all parties at all times. Such alienated parties may raise concerns which are sincere, but when should they be deemed to require the replacement of the head and when should the head be endorsed despite the concerns raised?
Despite these very difficult issues, the replacement of failing headteachers should be one of the functions of a purpose-led education inspectorate if one of its purposes is to protect against unsatisfactory standards in education.
It is therefore absolutely essentials that inspectors are exceptionally credible to the member of the school community they are inspecting. They should be credible headteachers with substantial experience which is relevant to the type of school they are inspecting. Inspection should be a natural options for career progressions for a well reputed headteacher who is seeking to move from full time work to part time work in the later stages of their career.
Consideration of the issues here leads to the conclusion that there will be instances where it is necessary for inspectors to monitor and mentor schools over a period of time. Questions also arise as to who would be responsible for supporting an incoming replacement head given the current uncertainty regarding the provision of local authorities.
In part 7 of this section of my blog I will consider how a purpose-led education inspectorate body could deliver on the purpose of:
2. Ensuring that schools are working in a professional way to improve the quality of their provision
In part 8 I will consider how the purpose of:
The first (where specific issues have arisen which do not raise concerns about the leadership at the school) I considered in part 5. In this section I shall consider:
What happens in cases where there is concern regarding the leadership at a school?
One of the most important ways in which our children can be protected from unacceptable standards in education is by planning to ensure that headteachers who are not performing well are replaced.
Dealing with this issue is extremely difficult and complex, as the same headteacher behaviour may be productive at one school and destructive at another.
It is also natural that the style of leadership exhibited by a headteacher and the decisions they make will not suit all parties at all times. Such alienated parties may raise concerns which are sincere, but when should they be deemed to require the replacement of the head and when should the head be endorsed despite the concerns raised?
Despite these very difficult issues, the replacement of failing headteachers should be one of the functions of a purpose-led education inspectorate if one of its purposes is to protect against unsatisfactory standards in education.
It is therefore absolutely essentials that inspectors are exceptionally credible to the member of the school community they are inspecting. They should be credible headteachers with substantial experience which is relevant to the type of school they are inspecting. Inspection should be a natural options for career progressions for a well reputed headteacher who is seeking to move from full time work to part time work in the later stages of their career.
Consideration of the issues here leads to the conclusion that there will be instances where it is necessary for inspectors to monitor and mentor schools over a period of time. Questions also arise as to who would be responsible for supporting an incoming replacement head given the current uncertainty regarding the provision of local authorities.
In part 7 of this section of my blog I will consider how a purpose-led education inspectorate body could deliver on the purpose of:
2. Ensuring that schools are working in a professional way to improve the quality of their provision
In part 8 I will consider how the purpose of:
3. Reporting on what is going on in schools / the quality of provision.
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