#academy chains

[3diassociates]

Academies - Democracy, Autonomy, Choice, Privatisation - or none of the above.

Academies – Democracy, Autonomy, Choice, Privatisation – or none of the above.

Let’s be clear: the announcement that George Osborne is providing funding to convert all schools to academies is not about autonomy. Let’s also be clear about the additional funding that the chancellor is providing to secondary schools for extended hours. That’s not about autonomy either. The Tories had a very clear agenda to reduce the size of the state sector and its various infrastructures…

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[cumberbatchfoundhiscumbermatch]

What its like attending an academy chain school

So this has been bothering me since i left my sixth form and i just feel like i need to vent. My school got turned into an academy as i entered year 13, i had got 3 C grades for my AS levels and i was so happy with my grades. First day we get our target grades and i notice that all my targets are B grades, i voice a concern to my head of sixth form that it was way to pressure and if i could lower them to something more realistic. She laughed it off. Now target grades don't matter right? Why would that put too much pressure on me? Well this certain academy chain made it so that if you didn't reach your target in tests we had to do every other week, it was possible you could be kicked out of sixth form. I knew my own capabilities, 3B's was just unrealistic and it showed in my tests. Due to the pressure and shame that i wasn't reaching my unrealistic targets, i became mentally unwell. (Even my therapist agreed it was the pressure school had put on me that was the main cause of the strain on my mental health.) I was recently informed by a student who still attends the sixth form, that during an asembly on mental wellbeing, the teachers put the blame on the students, claiming it was not the work load but it was their fault for not managing their time. This just adds to the stigma surrounding mental health, making the sufferer less likely to open up about their issues because they are worried that it would seem they aren't working hard enough!

[3diassociates]

Tristram Hunt's Call for a Politically Independent Ofsted

Tristram Hunt's Call for a Politically Independent Ofsted - a commentary on his article in @guardian. #ofsted #hunt

Tristram Hunt has written an article about Ofsted in the Guardian.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/mar/12/school-inspections-political-meddling-gove-ofsted

Read it and wonder. Or weep. Or both.

He rightly says that Ofsted needs to be “free of political meddling”.

Nobody is going to disagree with that. Ofsted was set up as an independent “quality control”. Yet, it can neverbe truly…

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