Should Leonora Rustamova have been fired?
Yesterday on the Guardian website, my attention was grabbed by the headline – “I taught my pupils to enjoy books, and got fired.”
It seems that teacher, Leonora Rustamova, in an effort to engage with five teenage ‘rebels’ (the Guardian’s words, not mine) – wrote a book, chapter by chapter, week by week using their words and ideasin her own time; which had an incredibly positive effect:
“They were a really difficult-to-reach group: spirited, very intimidating to teach at first. We were all struggling to find a way of getting through to them and most of the time they were getting excluded. These were the kind of kids who really are cynical about education because they have never been engaged by it.”
“[Writing the book] boosted their self-esteem; it engaged them. We were having conversations and discussions,” said Rustamova. “For a group of boys like this, that was incredible.”
Initially, it seemed that her Headteacher was very supportive of what she was doing. But something went wrong. Rustamova (with the Headteacher’s permission) decided that a printed copy of her book would make a good leaving present for these five students. Rustamova’s husband used an online publishing website to get the books printed. However, seemingly unbeknownst to either her or him, the book was available to download.
A Little Love for our Libraries
I was an extremely lucky child – not in terms of material goods – but definitely in terms of love and attention. I remember clearly that mine was a house where there was always someone willing to sit and read to me. So much so, that way before I could actually read, I did a frighteningly good impression of being able to. Basically, I’d been read to so often that I had memorised most of the books in my possession. It was something of a party trick.
When my parents had friends round, I would be called upon to show off my reading. I would sit in the living room with my favourite book apparently reading aloud -I had the books so well memorised that I even knew when to turn the pages – much to the astonishment of my parents’ guests.
But once I’d learned to read for real, there was no stopping me.
Shout Out for a Sure Start
I’m a big believer in the importance of the Sure Start centres so I was really saddened to hear from one of our venues that the breakfast and after school clubs in Camden and Haringey will all be closing in September.
According to a press release from 4children.org.uk, 250 Sure Start centres are at risk of closure within a year, a further 2,000 will be cutting back the services which they offer and 1,000 centres are issuing ‘at risk of redundancy notices’ to staff.
In the Government Spending Review, you might remember that the Sure Start budget was protected in cash terms. However, since the ring-fencing of said budget has been removed, it’s clear to me that this ‘protection’ of funds is pretty meaningless.
On Having the Courage of Your Convictions
Parenting is undoubtedly tough. Whatever we do, there are books telling us we’re doing it wrong, family members telling us we’re doing it wrong, complete strangers telling us we’re doing it wrong…
Just a couple of weeks into the New Year, there’s some new and original parent-bashing. This time by author and Yale law professor Amy Chua in her book Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother.
In her article in the Wall Street Journal, she tells Western parents where they’re going wrong and how Chinese parents raise such ‘stereotypically successful children’ (her words – not mine).
Tuition Fees – The Fallout
It’s with great sadness that I’ve watched the various stories surrounding the tuition fees unfold. While I don’t condone violence in any form, I can’t help but feel that a unruly minority has over-shadowed what is a very valid protest.
As you’ll know, MPs voted in favour of the controversial rise to the student tuition fees, and while I understand that, of course, these universities need to be funded somehow, I can’t help but feel that it’s a very sad day for our country.
Yes, I do understand how the increase in fees will work. I understand that students will not have to pay these fees upfront; and that instead they will begin to pay these fees back once they enter the workplace and earn £21k or more per annum. I also understand that there will be enhanced maintenance grants for those students from the poorest families.
However, the point I most fundamentally disagree with is that this won’t put off people from going to university. In fact, I feel strongly that it will.
Measuring Happiness
Earlier this month I read an article in the Observer which shared the results of a research project which seemed to suggest that the fewer siblings a child has, the happier they are; and that only children are the most contented.
“Sibling bullying” seemed to be a key issue, as apparently 31% of children said the had been hit, kicked or pushed by a brother or sister either ‘quite a lot’ or ‘a lot’. Apparently others complained about having their belongings stolen by their siblings and/or being called hurtful names.
These findings are part of a study called Understanding Society which tracked the lives of 100,000 Britons. However, these particular results are from 2,500 questionnaires which have been analysed by Gundi Knies from the Institute for Social and Economic Research at the University of Essex.
Any parent with more than one child will likely be well used to refereeing the odd battle between their children. Sibling rivalry is normal – tiresome to deal with sometimes, sure – but normal.
In my mind, the real question this ‘study’ raises is something else altogether. After all, this isn’t the first research project that’s left me pondering its true value. Why would anyone feel the need to sit down and figure out how ‘happy’ different sorts of families are? Isn’t that a pointless exercise? Read more »
Is this the Beginning of the End for Child Benefit?
Well, the Chancellor’s child benefit cut announcement last week understandably caused something of an uproar .
While many people believe that it’s fairer that ‘wealthier’ families are targeted, there has been considerable anger regarding the anomalies within the proposal.
Essentially, households where both parents each earn slightly less than £44k (adding up to a combined income of nearly £88k) will retain their child benefit; whereas households where just one parent is earning over £44k will lose it. As such, the cuts are likely to hit lone parents and families where only one parent works.
The implementation and its obvious unfairness have been much maligned elsewhere and I’m not keen to go over old ground.
To be honest, I’m more concerned about what this decision means for the longer term. I fear that this may indeed be the beginning of the end for child benefit. And, if child benefit, then why not all universal benefits and services?
The Long & the Short of it…
Earlier this week I read with interest an article on the SchoolGate blog by Sarah Ebner.
I don’t want to re-hash the article here, but by way of giving a little background – the article detailed the experiences of another parent, Joanne Mallon who has a son who is small for his age.
She recalls a situation her son experienced at school. The class were playing a game whereby they had to describe a fellow classmate without describing them physically. One child blurted out “He’s small”. As Joanne recalls it: “The teacher came down on this like a ton of bricks, because it was outside the rules of the game…”
The article generated a number of comments and got me thinking.
The Vetting & Barring Scheme
October saw the launch of the new Vetting & Barring Scheme (VBS). The new scheme has come about as a result of the Bichard Inquiry which followed the murders of Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells in 2002. In it, Sir Michael Bichard recommended that:
“New arrangements should be introduced requiring those who wish to work with children, or vulnerable adults, to be registered. The register would confirm that there is no known reason why an individual should not work with these clients.”
Effectively the VBS is designed to ensure that anyone who presents a known risk to vulnerable groups is prevented from working with them. So, this begs the question, how does the VBS differ from the traditional CRB check? Read more »
