Bad Science

Regular readers will know that I once founded a school, and when doing so, I made a program decision that Preschool and Elementary teachers would be generalists, ie they would teach all the core subjects, and that Middle and High School teachers would be specialists, ie they would teach one or two subjects only. I also implemented an Elementary program where the core subjects were all integrated, and "science" or "geography" as such did not exist. Things went well, very well in fact.

What's in your wallet? Not Capital One.

I was listening to the radio this morning and a commercial caught my ear. It reminded me why I will not go near Capital One.

Advocates say students should never be expelled

A report of a discussion about student exclusion in the UK, aka "expulsion", noted that the position being debated was that students should never be expelled, and that any expulsion is a mark of failure for that school. I beg to differ.

Addressing teachers

How should teachers be addressed? Sir? MIss? Ma'am? Teacher? Jo? Ms Brown? 

Does it matter?

Paying teachers 100,000 - too much or not enough?

A recent report that teachers in some English non-public schools received salaries above GBP 100,000 (USD 140,000) provoked some outrage. Whether real or a posture, the response and the stated reason for it are concerning and should be challenged in their own right.

Gifted, possibly not, but why can´t public school meet her needs?

UK parents claim that their child is gifted, that the public system cannot meet her needs and that their only option is to go to the private sector. This raises so many questions.

Failing up

Apparently my earlier posts on mediocre hires in education and the re-appearing of poor teachers may have hit a nerve. Today, I was sent a somewhat academic discussion of the phenomenon in the real world.

Teachers are people too

From the "do teachers have free speech?" and "does teacher appearance matter?" files : do teachers have private lives? Well, once again, it depends.

Teacher fired for being "old"

A UK teacher was recently awarded compensation for age-related discrimination in her dismissal. This seems like the right outcome, but as always, things are more complicated.

Why I left one of the top schools in the country

When I was new-ish to the profession, I lucked into a position at one of the top schools in the country. I did not know that at the time, in fact I really only realized this after I left. I needed a job, it was an experimental school with a great program and they wanted me. So why did I leave?