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Why schools close in snow, but didn’t in 1972

Jan 222013

Yesterday was a typical British Winter day with travel chaos, power cuts, abandoned cars and school closures. We all know it happens every year, and we all are pretty fed up with it. This year though there has been a clamour of complaint against the school closures, after all, they didn’t shut when I was a lad.

This nostalgia is quite tiresome and also, I feel, ignorant of the context. Schools close for safety reasons. The safety of the Learners, on the way to the school site and moving around the school site during the day. Snow fall puts a huge pressure on the one or two school facilities staff to maintain access and safety and snowfall during the day is often impossible to cope with. Schools also close for the safety of their employees, teachers, dinner staff, administration and support staff and so on. Everyone is entitled to work in an environment which doesn’t endanger their health.

In 1972 this was exactly the same, so why didn’t schools close then?

In 1972 schools were very local, learners and teachers were pretty much gathered from a catchment area of about a 5 mile radius. In bad weather people could either walk, share cars, or risk a dangerous bus ride or stay at home. There were some pretty horrible accidents, does no one else remember the fatal school bus crashes in bad weather back in the day? Schools had on site caretaking staff and were generally smaller, they probably didn’t need to formally close because there was always someone close and the least they could do was open a hall for 5-a-side or run the library. We might not know if a school was closed because there was no local communication, if you couldn’t get to the end of the street you stayed at home regardless of whether the school was formally shut or not. You couldn’t check on the internet, local radio or even phone anyone up.

Then, along came choice and parents were looking to get their children in to schools 10, 20 or 30 miles away. Teachers also were choosing to travel huge distances. Now a school is not a local resource but a regional one and with every few miles added to the journey the more dangerous it becomes in bad weather. Health and safety is a completely reasonable reason to close any establishment and gung-ho heads who are demanding teachers and children should come in regardless of hazard are guilty of bullying, in my opinion. Let’s get a prosecution and an imprisonment, that should sort the thinking out!

Getting huffy on TV because your child care has broken down is not helping. Back in 1972 the mother was probably at home and there was no child care problem.

The snow is clearing today and normality has returned, work will be caught up, extra homework set and the panic will prove to be unnecessary…. again.

The Engineering Diploma lives…

Policy No Responses »

Nov 042012

Very interesting to see the engineers fighting back and arguing to keep their engineering diploma in face of the race to academia currently underway in English schools. If you missed the article it’s here.

Engineering was in the very first phase of diplomas that were introduced, at huge expense, by the last Government and sadly wherever I go I hear of schools and colleges dropping them and learners not wanting to take them. The diplomas were complex, weird, government designed, unusual, and new, not a single redeemable feature. Except, well, they were a breath of fresh air, they had great sector support, full employer buy-in, university progression, a modern approach and were a genuine alternative. It’s only natural, therefore for them to get squished.

Now, full disclosure, I was the director of a diploma development project and although ours never even had the opportunity of being launched, it had all the positives in place and was well on the way to being a great addition to the rather staid and bland A level curriculum. There was much talk of rescuing the bulk of each diploma and turning it into a separate stand alone qualification, we even had an offer from an awarding body, but the government now own the IP and it’s going to be stored in Warehouse 13 for evermore. Right next to the Ark of the Covenant and Edgar Allen Poe’s pen.

The diplomas were a wonderful first step, version 2, which was already being planned, would have been better still and version 4 or 5 could have made a real impact on education in England. So I salute the engineers and look forward to a similar response from the other 16 sectors.

No? Anyone? Dust….?

The story of “The Straight”

Information No Responses »

Oct 242012

I’m really happy to report that The Straight has received some praise recently and I want to quickly thank those who have commented and contacted me and asked some questions about it. We shoot a lot of video and make short films for clients and the website. In fact what started out as an idea for a weekly podcast has turned into a small video production company… The Straight was designed to be shown at a CPD session and be used to spark debate and discussion amongst groups of teachers and it works very well in that way and is an excellent ice-breaker.

We’ve been asked to do a few more and we will, as soon as we can get them made we will post them.

Yes, you can show it and use it in your CPD sessions as you can use all of the material we publish on the website. If you’d like us to make something else let us know. We make out money running CPD in schools and colleges and designing training events, if you would like us to do something for you do get in touch.

The Straight was filmed in Sprotbrough, Conisbrough and Edlington, South Yorkshire over a few days this Summer using JVC, Go-Pro and Panasonic Camcorders… all still work.

Why the Apple event on Wednesday matters to teachers…

Ideas, Information, Technology 1 Response »

Sep 102012

Not a fanboy. Please try to keep that in the back of your mind. Yes, I’m typing this on a Mac, yes I have an iPod. BUT I have an android phone, several windows PCs and a healthy understanding of the real world. So please, don’t think this is just a fanboy rant, it’s not. What it is, is an attempt to point out that we’re at a tipping point in education technology and that the next step, probably made by Apple at their product launch in San Francisco on Wednesday, could change everything.

We’ve had the iPad since the Summer of 2010, an incredibly thin device which uses a touch screen and can fit in an A4 envelope. It can access the web, seamlessly handle your email, manage your media content and a host of other tasks through a wealth of apps. As Steve Jobs used to say it’s “insanely great”. The iPad launched an industry wide rethink of what IT is, what it’s for and who should have it. Now just about every IT manufacturer has a tablet device, there are a variety of operating systems, and app development is a major growth industry. If you still think IT is sitting behind a massive grey box and a 15 inch CRT monitor or that Microsoft Word and spreadsheets is what the IT curriculum should teach you have missed this revolution completely.

Many schools have ridden the crest of this wave and already brought tablet computers into the classroom. Schools which issue their learners with their own iPads do exist. Units are being written as we speak allowing you to use tablet computers and mobile devices in art, music and media exams. Companies are already writing apps for classroom teaching, classroom management, assessment and support. The education tablet revolution has started but it it is, at the moment, in the hands of the enthusiast.

It is widely expected that Apple will launch a smaller version of their iPad on Wednesday (I’m not an Apple pundit myself, but Engadget and Macrumors will back me up here) as well as a larger phone, refreshed iMacs and iPods. It could be quite a day. The smaller iPad is a very interesting idea as it comes hot on the heals of the Kindle Fire and a host of other Android based tablet devices. A smaller screen would bring limitations but it would also bring a cheaper price and perhaps a price so compelling that buying a class set, or indeed one for every learner is financially wise. In the UK you can get an iPad for £329 from the apple store, it’s not the latest model but it’s cheaper than a typical PC laptop. The kindle Fire is £129, just how much would a smaller iPad cost?

The Apple argument will be that the iPad is the only real tablet proposition for schools as there are apps in place, robust app quality control and apps in every subject and for every use. Guaranteed learner engagement in a sleek, brushed aluminium case. Android and the new Windows operating system (which is just around the corner) might argue with that, but the condition is clear. If Wednesday goes the way the pundits are telling us, we may well be seeing the argument crashing on our desks this week.

If you are not going in this direction, parents will want to know why.

Briefing – Episode 58, The JamHub

Ideas, Personal Productivity, Technology No Responses »

Aug 142012

My experience of rehearsal rooms when I was young was that the equipment would be ropey, your ears bled afterwards and would ring for days, and that you shouted so much that your throat was ruined for at least a week. Oh, and there was always a disgusting old sofa in the room somewhere.

I think those days might thankfully be over. This means you can rehearse with headphones on and control the mix you get without ruining everyone else’s experience. And no shouting, talk through the microphones at all times. That way you need never take them off while you rehearse.

The secret is “headphone busses”, normal mixing desks will provide you with one, maybe two or three headphone outs, which have their own controllable mixing sections. This device designs that feature up front. Each headphone out, has it’s own mini-mixer section allowing individuals to set exactly what they want to hear. without changing anyone else’s mix. These individual busses, yes, that is the word, give the JamHub its USP. Each feature is colour coded as well, meaning that if you are plugged into green, your sound will be on green right the way through the unit. Once you see the colour coding, it speaks for itself, not that the manual isn’t pretty good as well.

I’m guessing that cheaper versions will crop up soon, but I would council against trying to save money on these devices and urge you to teach how to use them safely and carefully before you let anyone rip them to shreds. They are solidly built, but tape two of them together any you’ve got a frisbee. As I’ve said elsewhere before, run a little course that trains people how to use them and rewards the right to have access to the equipment in lessons, breaks and lunchtimes. Having clued up and trained learners in the classroom will repay itself in no time.

Have a look at the JamHub website here for ideas on how they can be used in the classroom and experiment yourself. I much preferred using the JamHub to my Behringer mixer for practicing and I would be very interested to hear how you do use these in the classroom.

No money has changed hands and no promises made to JamHub or its distributors, but I would like to thank Steve, Andrew and Tony for the loan of the equipment.

The draft primary national curriculum

Information No Responses »

Jun 252012

It has arrived. You will find the recently published draft primary curriculum here on the DfE website. I would recommend all primary and secondary teachers to have a quick glance and see what is on the way for them in the future.

Its layout is quite simple and I welcome that, for example:

on the left the Programme of Study

NUMBER
Number and place value

Pupils should be taught to:

identify using objects and pictorial representations and use the vocabulary of: equal to; more than; less than (fewer); most; least

and on the right some notes and guidance

Number and place value

Ensure pupils practise counting in ones, twos, fives and tens from different multiples to develop their recognition of patterns in the number system.

Do have a look and let us know what you think.

The thing I would ask you to read carefully though is the letter from you know who. It does have some strange use of language, for example “There must be a stronger emphasis on reading widely for pleasure”, stronger emphasis? “Hakim! you will enjoy Wuthering Heights or it’s back to detention!”. Read it while you listen to Nimrod or Land of Hope and Glory it just sounds weird. But if you put on Deutschland, Deutschland über alles and start goose-stepping around the staffroom it becomes quite stirring.

Chalk 5 – Derby Mini Maker Faire

Inspiration No Responses »

Jun 042012

As promised some short clips from the Mini Maker Faire held in Derby yesterday. Despite the rain it was excellent and pretty well packed. Lots of great things to see not least the venue itself, Derby Silk Mill, some say, the oldest factory in the world… some say. It’s a place full of great stuff, well worth a class trip out for science, art, geography and probably everything else as well.

As you can see there was lots going on, The Dalek was great – apparently he answered to the name of “Jim” – and the ‘Portal’ themed crazy golf was popular. Check out Anna Krystyna Casey and Angel Eden for loveliness and Nottingham Hackspace for awesomeness.

Already looking forward to next year…

Briefing – Episode 52, The A* to G website

Ideas, Information, Inspiration 1 Response »

May 212012

Our final celebration for the year, back to normal service next week!

Is there anything we’re not covering that you would like us to? We’ve explored a few things and had to jettison them because they were just impractical but on the whole we’re up for just about anything. We’d like to do more interviews but trying to get people to talk on camera is a problem. We would also have liked to bring examiners to you, but again, there is a certain amount of sensitivity to examiners talking to media companies at the moment.

We’ve been asked for paper versions of the posts as not everyone is comfortable in viewing video and we’ll be bringing something to you in the next few months which will hopefully help there. In the mean time do please subscribe, tweet, Facebook and youTube us and we’ll see you soon.

Briefing – Episode 51, Maker Faire

Information, Inspiration, Technology 5 Responses »

May 112012

O’Reilly are great supporters of the maker movement in the US and the UK as well and I’m sure they will be at the Derby Mini Maker Faire on Sunday 3rd of June. I can also highly recommend the Radar section of their website which is a great source of discussion and debate on publishing and the business side of O’Reilly publishing. I think there is lots there to occupy the mind for the future of text books, open source publishing, digital rights management and the like.

Another book I can strongly recommend from O’Reilly is The Best of Instructables Volume I which was a book almost exclusively written with me in mind!

Will we see you at Maker Faire Derby? Do let us know and share your pics on line in the comments section below or over at YouTube and don’t forget to subscribe.

Briefing – Episode 44, Headphones

Information, Technology No Responses »

Mar 232012

Just like most of us I use headphones every day when listening to music and podcasts on my iPod, so comfort is a very important feature for me. I find the ones that sit on my ears really uncomfy, and the expensive closed-back, over the ears ones are too heavy. So the small in-ear buds are my workhorse. In a recording studio you would never use ear-buds, the higher audio quality of the over-the ear, closed back BeyerDynamic ones are an industry standard.

A recent feature which you may have come across are “noise cancelling” headphones such as those made by Bose. These listen to the noise outside the headphones and reduce that by cancelling it out using reverse phasing. The headphones noty only sound lovely but they effectively get rid of the rest of the noise that might creep into your head from the outside world. Try them out at a Bose retailer.

There’s no need to pay huge amounts of money for headphones which are going to be used in a club, for example by a DJ. Go for a mid range price over the ear model such as these by Sennheiser.

Beware educational suppliers who are offering you everything you dream for and only charge you a few quid for them, they will need extreme care and loving tenderness to get them to last longer than a term.

Got any headphones advice or recomendations? Let us know in the comments section below and please subscribe here or over on YouTube.

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