Delivering subject content through nine life themes
‘Nanny state’ is a politically loaded term, used tendentiously to make an ideological point, namely that it is not the job of government to interfere (another loaded term, of course, as is ‘red tape’) in our everyday lives and decision-making. Expect to hear the… Continue Reading “Unimaginative nanny-state rhetoric”
It didn’t trouble the headline-writers but the National Trust’s just-published annual audit of how the year’s weather has affected nature ought to be at the forefront of our minds as we assess the year that is ending, formulate new year’s resolutions and generally look… Continue Reading “Review of the year”
Education was briefly back in the headlines this week with the hype ahead of the prime minister Rishi Sunak’s ‘Building a better future’ speech that all young people should be learning mathematics up to the age of 18. His argument is that a growing… Continue Reading “New thinking in education”
It is fair to say that former world champion rower and Olympic medallist Cath Bishop is unimpressed by the recent government promises regarding school sport. She questions how much of what was announced is actually new and bemoans another missed opportunity “to connect PE… Continue Reading “A real vision for school sport”
England’s schools inspectorate, Ofsted, faced calls last week to pause its programme of inspections. It follows the suicide of Ruth Perry, a primary school headteacher. Ruth’s family linked her death to “intolerable pressure” following an Ofsted inspection. Now the inspectors find themselves under the… Continue Reading “Ofsted under the microscope”
The Ofsted approach to inspecting England’s state schools has evolved over the last thirty years. Read our blog Ofsted under the microscope for more on this. But its high-stakes nature – and the costs it incurs – remains essentially unchanged. Let us for a… Continue Reading “Alternatives to Ofsted”
References to ‘the nanny state’ and ‘nanny statism’ have been much in the UK news since last Friday (21 April) following the resignation of Dominic Raab from the government. The justice secretary and deputy prime minister resigned after a bullying inquiry found that he… Continue Reading “A strategic approach to tackling obesity”
A key phrase in the Institute for Government article on obesity that was the focus of last week’s blog was ‘political squeamishness’. Though the article’s headline referred to “ministers’ fear of nanny statism”, the phrase was there in the standfirst (the brief summary below… Continue Reading “Shifting the Overton window”
This is the third in a short series of blogs (see below) prompted by the recent report from the highly respected Institute for Government, which argued that past governments have failed to effectively tackle rising obesity’s root causes, that politicians’ fear of the charge… Continue Reading “Collective action on obesity”
‘Apparently the arts and humanities aren’t important’ – so tweeted architectural historian and broadcaster Jonathan Foyle at the weekend alongside a photo like the one above of the vast Glastonbury crowd. His ironic tweet hints at widespread concern about the downgrading of creative subjects… Continue Reading “Creativity and the arts”