Conclusion

Conclusion

To conclude, I have enjoyed hearing from many different aspects of the education system. There are many key things that I have learned and that have been a benefit to me from these lectures. There are many other aspects I could have shared about such as: - The role of the governors, sustainable education and the history of education and many more. However, these are the lectures I feel I have been the most useful to my development and learning.

The forth guest lecture

Jane Davidson

The forth guest lecturer I will be discussing is from the former Minister of Education in Wales Jane Davidson. In her lecture she outlined the history of education in the UK and her role in the National assembly. Jane also spoke about her books 'The learning country' and 'The learning country vision into action' and her aims for education in Wales.

History

In 1983 the national curriculum was introduced into the UK. Children were divided at the age of 11. The O levels stream would go on to higher education. CSEs can’t go on. Margret Thatcher wanted everyone to do one curriculum. SATs were introduced at age 7, 11 and 14.

The whole education system at that time was about structure. Teachers were angry about the lack of freedom to teach pupils what they want. In 1997 the new Labour Government was introduced ‘Education, Education, Education.’ Between 83 and 97 there was an improvement to the structure (training them not teaching them) but there was no freedom to learn. However, there were increasing ideas that the national curriculum was too restricted and had to change. In 1997 there was a National Assembly referendum in Wales.  In 1999 the National Assembly came into being. The set of members determined for change. There were two committees set up pre age 16 and post age16. From 1999-2000 there were two education ministers, however, the National assembly realise that this did not make sense and there became one First Minister of Education Rhodri Morgan (2000).

Policies and Vision

Jane Davidson believed that education is about skills and life-long learning. All policy on education was passed through England before the National Assembly was developed. Devolution has had a massive impact on education in Wales. Jane Davidson believed that Education is the root out of poverty. In order for us to be a wealthy country she believed that we need education.

Davidson, J (2001) ‘Education and training are of the first importance for Wales- they liberate talent, extend opportunity, empower communities and help create wealth.’ (p.1)  

Jane Davidson set out a new agenda in ‘Learning Country’. This new agenda was to help support teachers and to promote life-long learning. This would now be a link from primary and secondary schools. In secondary schools and other further education centres the Welsh baccalaureate was a highway of access for 14-19 year olds. Jane Davidson believed that this would help the schools, colleges and universities to work together. The new agenda set out the ‘pupil voice’ by creating school councils. This increased the participation of the learner. The learning country stated that income in Wales is lower than that of the rest of the UK. This would explain why Wales has fewer people with NVQ 4 degrees. However, the ‘Learning Country’ emphasises that it doesn’t matter the background of a person, that everyone should have equal opportunity to learn. This would not only help people to move into the education system but also allow them to have a better way of life and it would raise standards.

Jane Davidson introduced new ideas and frameworks into her policy. These are:-

·         To be more investment in schools.

·         The foundation phase introduced. This would be the new curriculum framework for those aged 3-7 years old. Jane Davidson set this up as she believed that “Habits are formed early”.

·         Free breakfast for all

·         Welsh baccalaureate

·         Bring class sizes down

·         Additional grants for poorer people

Jane Davidson stated that there were various principles that outlined each key aspect of education. These are:-

·         High standards

·         Purity of esteem

·         Teaching inequality

·         Encouraging innovation

·         Helping teachers

·         Being distinctive

·         Evidence based

This philosophy was well accepted in the education sector particularly in Wales. This strategy was to last for ten years 2001-2010. Much of which is still part of the education system today. Jane Davidson believed that with this strategy, people will have a passion to learn for life. The learning country and her strategy was to develop vision, and use opportunities given to us, and put action into place.

Learning country still underpins where education is going. However, the new First Minister of Education and skills, Leighton Andrews has placed the emphasis now on education and skills. He believes that, “Education is always political”.

It was once stated by Plato

 “Do not train children to learning by force and harshness, but direct them to it by what amuses their minds, so that you may be better able to discover with accuracy the peculiar bent of the genius of each.”

The third guest lecture

 Mike Day

What Education policy is.

The third guest lecturer I will be discussing is from Mike Day. Mike is a cabinet member for education in Swansea. The lecture was based upon the role of education authorities, policies and politics.

Policy is the guidelines for action achieve goals and objectives.  This reflects: Political options, tradition and values, socio-economic objectives, over a long time scale and fundamental choices. Education policy is needed to ‘guide operational decisions and actions.’ Nevertheless, the question is who should develop it? Should it be politicians or practitioners? Politicians are elected to represent the people. Politicians ‘hold the purse strings’ and they are not subject experts. Practitioners know how it works in practice and can see things from their perspective; however they are unable to take a wider view. I believe that it should be developed by the practitioners and reviewed by the politicians. The Policy is then developed and involves consultation at all levels from UK level to Local schools and governing body. Here are examples of education policy at different levels.

At the UK level they set policies such as: Compulsory school ages, teacher’s pay and condition and the responsibility of the local education authorities, parents and schools.

The Welsh Government are responsible for policies such as; The use of welsh medium, Foundation Phase, No SATS, No academies/Free schools, Higher Education fees and the pupil deprivation grant.

The Local authorities are responsible of policies regarding; the organisation and number of schools and places improving standards, advice guidance to schools and the making arrangements to identify children and young people of compulsory school age (aged between 5 and 16) missing education within their area.

The school and governing body level are responsible for; uniforms start and finish times, the raft of policies on personal and social education, child protection, charging, equal opportunities, SEN and The school improvement plan.

Regional groups

Wales has four regional groupings, South West and Mid Wales (swamwac) with a ‘common goal of improving outcomes for young people.’ This is developed by the policy borrowing approach which searches the international experience for examples of unique transferable skills. Policy learning the supports the development of tailored national policies rather than policies taken of the-peg.

In the Swansea district, it has clear aspirations. This is to raise standards of achievement, improving the quality of the learning environment and to make the best of human, physical and financial resources. This is an all, inclusive and structured process.

To conclude, Mike Day outlined education policy and described education policies as guidelines for actions to achieve goals and objectives.

The second guest lecture

Russell Grigg

The second guest lecture was delivered by Russell Grigg who is from the Education inspection institution Estyn. Here he outlined the role of estyn and the various aspects entailed in inspections.

What does estyn do?

Estyn inspects quality and standards in education and training providers in wales. Estyn visit many different types of schools such as nursery, primary, secondary, independent and special schools. They also visit pupil referred units, further education facilities, they inspect adult community learning centres. Estyn are also involved within local authority services for children and young people. Estyn provide teacher education and training, work-based learning, careers companies and offender learning. They provide advice to the Welsh assembly government on quality and standards in education and training in Wales. Estyn operate in a 6 year cycle. Their aim is to promote the spread of good practice in Education and training. Estyn have three fold purposes: Accountability, Improvement and Informing. They provide Thematic reports, state of nation reports and reports on institutions.

What is Inspection like?

Estyn believe that inspection is about relationships between the inspectors, learners, teachers, parents and governors. Estyn base their results upon Achievement and Attainment. Finally estyn make their judgements upon four standards: Excellent, good, adequate, unsatisfactory. 

The first guest lecture

Dean of Humanities at SMU, Ken Jones

The first guest lecturer for policy and practice was taken by the Dean of humanities, Ken Jones. The lecture was based on the Policy of education in Wales and how it differs from that in the other British countries.

    Within Wales 20% of primary pupils and 15% of secondary pupils have the Welsh language as the sole or main medium of instruction. However, there is now a potential shortage of Welsh-medium head teachers with The NPQH qualification. This is possibly because 50% of the population live in the South or South east of Wales. In the North, Central and South West there are only small rural schools which suffer as there is not enough access for teachers to develop in leadership. In Wales there were previously 8 local authorities. Following a re-organisation in 1999, there are now 22 unitary authorities. As a result there is an issue of size and capacity of the local authorities. The response is to move into 4 consortia.

      The Welsh assembly Government response to the 2006 PISA results was to set up a school effectiveness framework. This "Represents the commitment of the Welsh Assembly and the Local Authorities to apply this knowledge in the particular circumstances of Wales..." They sought to change system leaders; there would be a localized focus through professional learning communities. They believed that this would bring teachers together on one particular area such as maths etc. Nevertheless, in the 2010 PISA Wales had dropped in Maths, Reading and Science compared to the 2006 results and were now bottom out the Home Nations.

      In February 2011, the new Minister for Education in Wales, Leighton Andrews stated "Teaching Makes a difference." We will now wait and see what the Education system and policies will look like over the next year.

ICT AND VISUAL COMMS PROJECT

This my the mind map i used to plan my initial project topic. For this i used bubbl us.

ICT AND VISUAL COMMS PROJECT

After many weeks and late nights of hard labor, i have finally handed in my project! So relieved my internet is back to update all my blogs! It has been a tough couple of weeks, but i have really enjoyed putting these two tasks together. I hope that through viewing these blogs and assignment, you might be able to feel a part of my sense of place and that i have portrayed The Church in a fresh way to you. I hope it shows what Christianity means to me, How the Church has given me a sense of place and how Jesus has impacted my life which will never be the same again because of all hes done for me! I hope that you to may find a sense of place in Jesus!