Mr. K, whilst the trend is for tablet growth and PC decline I don't think it'll ever reach the stage where PCs simply cease to be.
I thought that as well a few years ago. I'm a bit of a power user (as software get more complex, so do the tools required to build and test it). But that's nothing: you should see the sort of hardware Mrs J uses for chip design.
IMHO we are going to see a four-way split: 1) Consumers of information will use tablets et al. 2) Producers of information will use laptops, if necessary with docking stations, screens and proper keyboards. 3) Power users, will use PCs, or rack-based computers along with low-powered workstations. 4) Gamers will increasingly use consoles instead of PCs.
Of the above, the only ones who *need* a traditional PC is the power user.
Than again, if my technology predictions were right I'd be a much richer man.
Latest ARSE 2015 General Election Projection : Con 301 .. Lab 276 .. LibDem 39 .. SNP 11 .. PC 2 .. NI 18 .. Ukip 2 .. Respect 0 .. Green 0 .. Ind 0 .. Speaker 1 Conservatives 25 seats short of a majority
Jack thanks for the bold clear forecasts. I do wonder if you have over-estimated the LDs and under estimated Labour. Your figures have LD losing a net 18. The LDs already have 7 retirements and we should expect a few more. They face 19 battles with Labour and 4 with non-Conservatives as the challenger. Add in a reasonable expectation of a net loss to the Conservatives of 10 (including retirements) and -18 looks low.
You appear to indicate all lost seats for retirees and the small number of viable LibDem/Lab battles too.
With their barnacle like status it's extremely important to look at each of the LibDem seats in turn. Run your thumb along their column and look realistically at potential losses.
Mr. Jessop, I definitely need a proper keyboard. Can't imagine hammering out a book on a touchscreen.
Not sure I agree with point 4, however. Consoles are becoming more PC-like, but PCs are, in many ways, better. You can have mods on PC games, games are cheaper etc. The advantage is/was that consoles were more convenient, you just turn on and play. Software updates and DLC have reduced that somewhat.
Give it another 13 years and the welsh will look back dewy eyed on the days they could add up like a Zambian.
Of course it won't hurt Labor by then as they'll all be too illerate to read the report and so innumerate the rankings might as well be a Chinese menu.
With maths, it's obvious what we should do: copy far-Eastern teaching methods. We don't, because the teaching unions think they're "Victorian", rely too much on rote learning, and stifle creativity.
I joined my first discussion site in 1997 after being on the web - terrible thing that it was from 1995 - I helped to set up Mercury's intranet where having a table on a page was considered awsome!
It's amazing how far things have moved on - I did web design/admin for a while when I was at BT [as a sideline to my day job] but my knowledge or javascript etc was totally overtaken by 2000.
Difficult to believe now but I was using the internet for 10 years before I posted a comment anywhere: from 1995 to 2005. Maybe something similar is true for a lot of people. It's as if the average person was conditioned to receive information only, not to broadcast it, and it took a big effort to get out of that mindset.
With maths, it's obvious what we should do: copy far-Eastern teaching methods. We don't, because the teaching unions think they're "Victorian", rely too much on rote learning, and stifle creativity.
Q. What is 2+2 ?
China: 4.
UK: Well I'll vote for 3, because I quite like the curvy parts... And I'll vote for 5 because Gary likes it...
Mr. Jessop, I definitely need a proper keyboard. Can't imagine hammering out a book on a touchscreen.
Not sure I agree with point 4, however. Consoles are becoming more PC-like, but PCs are, in many ways, better. You can have mods on PC games, games are cheaper etc. The advantage is/was that consoles were more convenient, you just turn on and play. Software updates and DLC have reduced that somewhat.
Which is why you'd be in the second category - you're one of the sainted producers of information (and very good information too (*) )
My console comment was based on two things: 1) Consoles are becoming increasingly convergent with PCs anyway. This generation of console is quite similar to each other, and to the current crop of PCs.
2) As the market for desktop PCs decreases, they will become more expensive and less affordable for anyone other than the most hardcore gamers. Games will be focussed on consoles rather than PCs.
The only console we have is a Wii. We both have laptops and (at the time we bought them) very over-specified desktops. We are going to be in the minority.
What these very poor results show is that Gove is right to challenge the status quo and the producer capture that dominates our education system. He is right to say that our education system needs to be more vigorous and challenging. he is right to say that a system where everybody passes is a system that fails far too many. He is right to say that our systems for weeding out inadequate teachers are grossly inept and need serious improvement.
Whether he is right to seek to expand the academy system is a different matter. He may be right or he may not. Academies could lead to better leadership and more dynamic schools. They can also lead to a lack of accountability. The jury will be out for 10 years or more on this one.
What we really need is what I fear we will not see. That is a teaching profession who take their profession more seriously, who are less defensive, who are willing to accept that we need to learn what works and what does not and that this requires rigour, observation and testing. At the moment the teaching profession is seeking to block or oppose reforms in the same way they successfully did under Labour. They should be driving the change, not opposing it.
Con 301 .. Lab 276 .. LibDem 39 .. SNP 11 .. PC 2 .. NI 18 .. Ukip 2 .. Respect 0 .. Green 0 .. Ind 0 .. Speaker 1
Conservatives 25 seats short of a majority
I find it very hard to understand why Jack is predicting that the SNP are almost going to double their seats. If you analyse the latest Scottish sub-samples from a range of pollsters you get, approx:
Westminster VI - Scotland (+/- change from UK GE 2010)
Lab 39% (-3) SNP 26% (+6) Con 19% (+2) LD 8% (-11) UKIP 4% (+3) Grn 2% (+1)
... giving seat distribution, approx:
Lab 43 (+2) SNP 8 (+2) LD 5 (-6) Con 3 (+2)
So, where are these 3 extra SNP seats coming from Jack?
Mr. Jessop, I definitely need a proper keyboard. Can't imagine hammering out a book on a touchscreen.
Not sure I agree with point 4, however. Consoles are becoming more PC-like, but PCs are, in many ways, better. You can have mods on PC games, games are cheaper etc. The advantage is/was that consoles were more convenient, you just turn on and play. Software updates and DLC have reduced that somewhat.
I've no desire to get a tablet - I just can't see how I'd operate using just a touch screen as most of my interweb use involves typing. My new laptop has a very irritating mouse cum pad that keeps scrolling me up/down at random/not highlighting text long enough for me to click on cut/paste etc.
When one thing tries to be another - and doesn't manage it very well - its blinking irritating. I had several early smart phone that were equally awkward to use so now I just rely on an ancient Nokia 6300 that is a phone with a few little extras.
Con 301 .. Lab 276 .. LibDem 39 .. SNP 11 .. PC 2 .. NI 18 .. Ukip 2 .. Respect 0 .. Green 0 .. Ind 0 .. Speaker 1
Conservatives 25 seats short of a majority
I find it very hard to understand why Jack is predicting that the SNP are almost going to double their seats. If you analyse the latest Scottish sub-samples from a range of pollsters you get, approx:
Westminster VI - Scotland (+/- change from UK GE 2010)
Lab 39% (-3) SNP 26% (+6) Con 19% (+2) LD 8% (-11) UKIP 4% (+3) Grn 2% (+1)
... giving seat distribution, approx:
Lab 43 (+2) SNP 8 (+2) LD 5 (-6) Con 3 (+2)
So, where are these 3 extra SNP seats coming from Jack?
Scotland I'd guess, unless Corby's going to spring a surprise.
Con 301 .. Lab 276 .. LibDem 39 .. SNP 11 .. PC 2 .. NI 18 .. Ukip 2 .. Respect 0 .. Green 0 .. Ind 0 .. Speaker 1
Conservatives 25 seats short of a majority
I find it very hard to understand why Jack is predicting that the SNP are almost going to double their seats. If you analyse the latest Scottish sub-samples from a range of pollsters you get, approx:
Westminster VI - Scotland (+/- change from UK GE 2010)
Lab 39% (-3) SNP 26% (+6) Con 19% (+2) LD 8% (-11) UKIP 4% (+3) Grn 2% (+1)
... giving seat distribution, approx:
Lab 43 (+2) SNP 8 (+2) LD 5 (-6) Con 3 (+2)
So, where are these 3 extra SNP seats coming from Jack?
Scotland I'd guess, unless Corby's going to spring a surprise.
Do SNP gain Danny Alexander's seat with JackW's ARSE ?
If Vietnam can improve significantly, why can't Wales?
If only Wales was a Marxist-Leninist, one-party state...
Feels like it very often, with privileges for the ruling elite that are denied to the rest of the population and suppressed/hidden facts that are awkward if do not follow the party line.
Con 301 .. Lab 276 .. LibDem 39 .. SNP 11 .. PC 2 .. NI 18 .. Ukip 2 .. Respect 0 .. Green 0 .. Ind 0 .. Speaker 1
Conservatives 25 seats short of a majority
I find it very hard to understand why Jack is predicting that the SNP are almost going to double their seats. If you analyse the latest Scottish sub-samples from a range of pollsters you get, approx:
Westminster VI - Scotland (+/- change from UK GE 2010)
Lab 39% (-3) SNP 26% (+6) Con 19% (+2) LD 8% (-11) UKIP 4% (+3) Grn 2% (+1)
... giving seat distribution, approx:
Lab 43 (+2) SNP 8 (+2) LD 5 (-6) Con 3 (+2)
So, where are these 3 extra SNP seats coming from Jack?
Are you really quoting Scottish sub samples to me and then moaning that I'm +3 on your own "approx." estimate ....
This smearing line of defence is hysterical in all the senses...
PoliticsHome@politicshome1m .@TristramHuntMP on OECD results: "I'm disappointed the Education Sceretary is making this a partisan, party-political knockabout" @BBCNews
Mr. Jessop, I definitely need a proper keyboard. Can't imagine hammering out a book on a touchscreen.
Not sure I agree with point 4, however. Consoles are becoming more PC-like, but PCs are, in many ways, better. You can have mods on PC games, games are cheaper etc. The advantage is/was that consoles were more convenient, you just turn on and play. Software updates and DLC have reduced that somewhat.
I've no desire to get a tablet - I just can't see how I'd operate using just a touch screen as most of my interweb use involves typing. My new laptop has a very irritating mouse cum pad that keeps scrolling me up/down at random/not highlighting text long enough for me to click on cut/paste etc.
When one thing tries to be another - and doesn't manage it very well - its blinking irritating. I had several early smart phone that were equally awkward to use so now I just rely on an ancient Nokia 6300 that is a phone with a few little extras.
Why has Gove chosen to follow the Free School model that has led to catastrophic falls for Sweden down the tables?
Why is Labour very happy for all children to be equally average and for them not aspire to excellence? More equality of outcome that satisfies the producer interests and not equality of opportunity that would mean more work for the producers and a better result for the consumers.
This smearing line of defence is hysterical in all the senses...
PoliticsHome@politicshome1m .@TristramHuntMP on OECD results: "I'm disappointed the Education Sceretary is making this a partisan, party-political knockabout" @BBCNews
ROFL pure desperation from a man with no defences.
Feels like it very often, with privileges for the ruling elite that are denied to the rest of the population and suppressed/hidden facts that are awkward if do not follow the party line.
Perhaps Wales needs a Plaid government?
'Scotland leads the way in the UK in maths and reading, while England is ahead in science... The figures, published by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), show 15 year olds in Wales scored 468 points on average, compared with 498 in Scotland, 495 in England and 487 in Northern Ireland.'
One feature worth noting in the PISA tables is that Scotland, England, Northern Ireland and Wales have performed differently. The differences between the first three are fairly minor, but Wales's model is performing considerably worse and should therefore be substantially overhauled.
Given that we have yet to find a way of reversing our educational decline, we need more variation in approaches, not less. And we need to jump hard on the educational forces of conservatism, wherever they are found - what we are doing now is just not good enough.
If anyone's interested in following me on Twitter, my address is ANDYJSAJS. About 90% of my tweets are to do with election statistics, selections, target lists, etc.
It is useful to note these PISA results, how can the population at large be expected to comprehend something like the national debt and deficit - if they can't answer a simple question about a revolving door -, nevermind the differences between them.
One feature worth noting in the PISA tables is that Scotland, England, Northern Ireland and Wales have performed differently. The differences between the first three are fairly minor, but Wales's model is performing considerably worse and should therefore be substantially overhauled.
Given that we have yet to find a way of reversing our educational decline, we need more variation in approaches, not less. And we need to jump hard on the educational forces of conservatism, wherever they are found - what we are doing now is just not good enough.
There were recent reports that in Wales, students are just not used to taking tests. Interestingly, to the extent rehearsing test technique helps, it also provides a (no doubt partial) explanation of grade inflation at GCSE and A-level.
The assertion that we need more variation is a non sequitur, albeit one popular with politicians of both parties. What we need is more research to find what works, and training to promulgate it. No-one would say that because people are still dying of cancer that we need to introduce more unproven treatments. (Well, maybe Prince Charles.)
One feature worth noting in the PISA tables is that Scotland, England, Northern Ireland and Wales have performed differently. The differences between the first three are fairly minor, but Wales's model is performing considerably worse and should therefore be substantially overhauled.
Given that we have yet to find a way of reversing our educational decline, we need more variation in approaches, not less. And we need to jump hard on the educational forces of conservatism, wherever they are found - what we are doing now is just not good enough.
Ah but the rulers in Wales say that they are offering more variety as they are offering the Welsh Way (including the Welsh Bacalaureat) that got rid of educational league tables and now have brought back "bands" which allow for users of free school meals.
On BBC1 this morning (c6.45 am), it was said that the schools from China etc do not make any allowance in a child's performance for any degree of financial deprivation. It is about time that the UK stopped using that excuse as well.
It's notable that in Northern Ireland, where there is still a strong grammar school system, the results are worse than for England and Scotland, where there is not.
Obviously, much will be made about the overall results. And Gove is absolutely right to demand better. But why on earth look to a system that is failing catastrophically to produce results? Finland seems to be a much better model for us to follow, given that the learning by rote systems used in Asia are not actually producing great onward results in terns of innovation and entrepreneurialism.
'but Wales's model is performing considerably worse and should therefore be substantially overhauled.'
Er.. education is a devolved welsh power. There is nothing the English can do.
Education in Wales is Labour education in practice over the long term. Nothing more, nothing less.
No free schools and no academies allowed, thank you. It is a massive policy failure and a catastrophe for the young people of Wales, for whom education is the only way out of a very, very gloomy situation.
The coalition should be shouting this from the rooftops. And labour should hang their heads in shame.
*furious at what has happened in homeland under labour*
It's notable that in Northern Ireland, where there is still a strong grammar school system, the results are worse than for England and Scotland, where there is not.
Obviously, much will be made about the overall results. And Gove is absolutely right to demand better. But why on earth look to a system that is failing catastrophically to produce results? Finland seems to be a much better model for us to follow, given that the learning by rote systems used in Asia are not actually producing great onward results in terns of innovation and entrepreneurialism.
The NI system has been on dumb down for the last 10 years since SF decided to do away with the 11 plus and not ask for higher standards. The results are now coming through.
Finland seems to be a much better model for us to follow, given that the learning by rote systems used in Asia are not actually producing great onward results in terns of innovation and entrepreneurialism.
There will be good bits everywhere and bad bits everywhere. We need to identify the things that are done well and steal / borrow them. One clear example highlighted on Today this morning was the Singapore system of early stage / foundation maths....
That works because it allows children to visualize the problem. And one thing I've noticed with children unable to cope with maths is an inability to very roughly estimate whether a picture contains 5 pigs or 9 pigs or 20 pigs or 60+ pigs....
There is actually no evidence of decline. We are flat-lining - average at maths and English, just above average in science. The OECD has specifically said that the 2000 and 2003 results for the UK cannot be compared to later results because the data set was flawed. That's no reason for celebration, but if we are serious about making things better we have to be honest about where we are.
Once the full results are released it will be interesting to see whether our private sector has improved from its very poor performance the last time around.
When I was at primary school in Scotland, we used to get a little spelling and arithmetic test each morning plus a bigger exam at the end of each year.
It's notable that in Northern Ireland, where there is still a strong grammar school system, the results are worse than for England and Scotland, where there is not.
Obviously, much will be made about the overall results. And Gove is absolutely right to demand better. But why on earth look to a system that is failing catastrophically to produce results? Finland seems to be a much better model for us to follow, given that the learning by rote systems used in Asia are not actually producing great onward results in terns of innovation and entrepreneurialism.
The NI system has been on dumb down for the last 10 years since SF decided to do away with the 11 plus and not ask for higher standards. The results are now coming through.
Besides Singapore which of the top countries have selection? Germany and Poland have reduced selection and risen, ther is no evidence that selection increases results
as ever the english get carried away by education as class war by other means. The simple facts remain that an education system needs to have an academic route for those that way inclined and a vocational route likewise, where all can meet at the top. England's weird fascination with everyone being average produces the mediocrity we see today.
Still look on the bright side, it will put the Poles off coming here as their kids will end up thick.
It's notable that in Northern Ireland, where there is still a strong grammar school system, the results are worse than for England and Scotland, where there is not.
Obviously, much will be made about the overall results. And Gove is absolutely right to demand better. But why on earth look to a system that is failing catastrophically to produce results? Finland seems to be a much better model for us to follow, given that the learning by rote systems used in Asia are not actually producing great onward results in terns of innovation and entrepreneurialism.
What a retarded statement. Hong Kong and Singapore are two of the richest city-states on the planet. They also do exceptionally well in other indicators, besides education - they have low crime, good health, etc
Who gives a tinker's wank if they don't do well at "innovation"? And who are you to decide what constitutes innovation, anyway? And what's this bollocks about East Asians being no good at entrepreneurialism? Have you not noticed the rise of enormous, globally successful companies in Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, and now China?
If entrepreneurs didn't do that, who did? Civil servants? Elephants? The tea lady?
Yes, I'd say the state played a pivotal role in developing the big conglomerates in all the countries you mention. We will have to disagree about the importance of innovation in sustaining long term growth.
There is actually no evidence of decline. We are flat-lining - average at maths and English, just above average in science. The OECD has specifically said that the 2000 and 2003 results for the UK cannot be compared to later results because the data set was flawed. That's no reason for celebration, but if we are serious about making things better we have to be honest about where we are.
Once the full results are released it will be interesting to see whether our private sector has improved from its very poor performance the last time around.
So at best we flatlined from 2000-2013, and ten of those 13 years were under Labour, who promised to be The Education Government before all else, and who poured vast resources into schools and teaching. Result: zero improvement. Stagnation. Nuffink.
That's an epic failure, by any standards: even an average Welsh schoolboy could figure that out.
No we've flatlined since 2006. We don't know how well we were performing before that. We could well have improved, then hit a wall as far as the ability to do PISA tests is concerned.
Finland seems to be a much better model for us to follow, given that the learning by rote systems used in Asia are not actually producing great onward results in terns of innovation and entrepreneurialism.
There will be good bits everywhere and bad bits everywhere. We need to identify the things that are done well and steal / borrow them. One clear example highlighted on Today this morning was the Singapore system of early stage / foundation maths....
That works because it allows children to visualize the problem. And one thing I've noticed with children unable to cope with maths is an inability to very roughly estimate whether a picture contains 5 pigs or 9 pigs or 20 pigs or 60+ pigs....
That rings true with my experience. My son, who is much more numerate than either of his sisters, was very comfortable with such estimates and indeed concepts like half or a quarter from a very early age. It is a good early indicator but it can also be taught.
My kids school is going to have ipads for each child from the start of the new year. What could be done with various apps in maths in particular was incredible. Simple ideas like pi and various mathmatical analyses of triangles frankly became obvious when you could visualise it on the ipad and instantly show that they worked regardless of the size of the circle etc.
There are real opportunities in using modern IT to improve learning but this needs a serious investment in teacher training so that they are au fait with the technology and how it can be abused as well as used.
"It is around twice as much spent in Shanghai, meaning that China’s performance would be even better if it invested the same sums seen in the UK."
I'll agree with most of that, Sean, but not the last paragraph.
It was precisely this line of thinking that chucking money at a problem would bring better results that was at the heart of Labour's flawed philosophy.
"Britain's poor showing overall comes despite the fact that it spends more than the international average on a child’s primary and secondary education.
Some $98,023 (£59,921) was invested by the UK on each child – bettered only by seven nations. It is around twice as much spent in Shanghai, meaning that China’s performance would be even better if it invested the same sums seen in the UK."
"Britain's poor showing overall comes despite the fact that it spends more than the international average on a child’s primary and secondary education."
Maybe it isn't depressing Sean. Maybe it will finally nail the mendacious labour orthodoxy that the amount you spend on something alone determines how it will perform.
Besides Singapore which of the top countries have selection? Germany and Poland have reduced selection and risen, ther is no evidence that selection increases results
Selection doesn't increase results. Aspiration and a desire to rise to the top does...
Its remarkable how many of the parents of our children's friends don't care if homework isn't done or if they aren't trying their hardest.... Heck over 50% of them picked a secondary school on the basis of a particular school's perceived lack of academic pressure....
There is actually no evidence of decline. We are flat-lining - average at maths and English, just above average in science. The OECD has specifically said that the 2000 and 2003 results for the UK cannot be compared to later results because the data set was flawed. That's no reason for celebration, but if we are serious about making things better we have to be honest about where we are.
Once the full results are released it will be interesting to see whether our private sector has improved from its very poor performance the last time around.
So at best we flatlined from 2000-2013, and ten of those 13 years were under Labour, who promised to be The Education Government before all else, and who poured vast resources into schools and teaching. Result: zero improvement. Stagnation. Nuffink.
That's an epic failure, by any standards: even an average Welsh schoolboy could figure that out.
No we've flatlined since 2006. We don't know how well we were performing before that. We could well have improved, then hit a wall as far as the ability to do PISA tests is concerned.
Many other statistics also show long-term flat-lining, especially in terms of the scandal of illiteracy and innumeracy levels.
One of the few (the only?) statistic that seems to show a brilliant increase are the exam results. Which I would argue makes the exam results suspect.
The problem we (and many other developed countries) face in education is the same problem that we face in most other areas - producer capture. Education is run for the benefit of teachers. The teaching profession / LEAs are the ones with control. If we arranged things to put the customers of public service in control (parents, patients, etc) then the outcomes would trend towards what they wanted.
This is, of course, a polite way of saying that public sector failure is a failure to introduce markets. A failure to recognise that central planning / control doesn't deliver.
For education the best ultimate answer would be for the government to introduce vouchers for all children and do NOTHING to deliver education. Get the state out of education delivery completely. A market for schools paid for either wholly or in part (for those who wanted more) with vouchers would rapidly deliver significantly better outcomes.
''But why on earth look to a system that is failing catastrophically to produce results?''
Do you mean the system labour is championing in Wales?
No, I mean Sweden. But as Antifrank says, the Welsh Labour party needs to take a long hard look at its performance and then do something about it.
SO
You have to change the whole educational thinking in Wales. For instance to be able to put down Welsh as a language on your CV to an international employer is viewed as an asset in Wales.
So many schools and teaching staff are happy if your child is rated as average for their year.
There is no aspiration for excellence in many schools and certainly not at Cardiff Bay where is the Assembly is composed mainly of amateurs.
There is actually no evidence of decline. We are flat-lining - average at maths and English, just above average in science. The OECD has specifically said that the 2000 and 2003 results for the UK cannot be compared to later results because the data set was flawed. That's no reason for celebration, but if we are serious about making things better we have to be honest about where we are.
Once the full results are released it will be interesting to see whether our private sector has improved from its very poor performance the last time around.
So at best we flatlined from 2000-2013, and ten of those 13 years were under Labour, who promised to be The Education Government before all else, and who poured vast resources into schools and teaching. Result: zero improvement. Stagnation. Nuffink.
That's an epic failure, by any standards: even an average Welsh schoolboy could figure that out.
No we've flatlined since 2006. We don't know how well we were performing before that. We could well have improved, then hit a wall as far as the ability to do PISA tests is concerned.
Many other statistics also show long-term flat-lining, especially in terms of the scandal of illiteracy and innumeracy levels.
One of the few (the only?) statistic that seems to show a brilliant increase are the exam results. Which I would argue makes the exam results suspect.
There has also been a sustained improvement in primary literacy and maths, which may indicate that had the PISA tests been done in the 1990s we may have done even worse.
When I was at primary school in Scotland, we used to get a little spelling and arithmetic test each morning plus a bigger exam at the end of each year.
Has that stopped now? There were no SATS then.
My son's class (L6) does quota every day where you get tested on spelling. Each time you get 100% you get an extra word added to your quota for the following test. It is incredibly competitive and frankly a big step up on when I was at school when spelling seemed to be thought a matter of taste.
One feature worth noting in the PISA tables is that Scotland, England, Northern Ireland and Wales have performed differently. The differences between the first three are fairly minor, but Wales's model is performing considerably worse and should therefore be substantially overhauled.
Given that we have yet to find a way of reversing our educational decline, we need more variation in approaches, not less. And we need to jump hard on the educational forces of conservatism, wherever they are found - what we are doing now is just not good enough.
There were recent reports that in Wales, students are just not used to taking tests. Interestingly, to the extent rehearsing test technique helps, it also provides a (no doubt partial) explanation of grade inflation at GCSE and A-level.
The assertion that we need more variation is a non sequitur, albeit one popular with politicians of both parties. What we need is more research to find what works, and training to promulgate it. No-one would say that because people are still dying of cancer that we need to introduce more unproven treatments. (Well, maybe Prince Charles.)
No one would say that we should continue with cancer treatments that are proven to have at best indifferent results when methods used elsewhere seem to do dramatically better. The time has come to allow for some proper trials of a variety of other methods tried in different countries to see what works in the British ecology. If the Finnish method works best, great. If the Singaporean method works best, great.
But we know that the current methods being used in the UK are pretty ho-hum and need some serious improvements.
It's notable that in Northern Ireland, where there is still a strong grammar school system, the results are worse than for England and Scotland, where there is not.
Obviously, much will be made about the overall results. And Gove is absolutely right to demand better. But why on earth look to a system that is failing catastrophically to produce results? Finland seems to be a much better model for us to follow, given that the learning by rote systems used in Asia are not actually producing great onward results in terns of innovation and entrepreneurialism.
What a retarded statement. Hong Kong and Singapore are two of the richest city-states on the planet. They also do exceptionally well in other indicators, besides education - they have low crime, good health, etc
Who gives a tinker's wank if they don't do well at "innovation"? And who are you to decide what constitutes innovation, anyway? And what's this bollocks about East Asians being no good at entrepreneurialism? Have you not noticed the rise of enormous, globally successful companies in Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, and now China?
If entrepreneurs didn't do that, who did? Civil servants? Elephants? The tea lady?
Yes, I'd say the state played a pivotal role in developing the big conglomerates in all the countries you mention. We will have to disagree about the importance of innovation in sustaining long term growth.
"Asia has no entrepreneurs". You read it here first. Southam has told us.
Oh, wait:
"China’s remarkable economic growth has been achieved through the rapid emergence of a dynamic private sector. Linda Yueh explores what we know about the generation of self-employed entrepreneurs who have driven this transformation....
"Since the late 1990s, China’s entrepreneurs have been the key driver of growth. They are the creators of the de novo firms that are forming a dynamic and innovative private sector – an essential force in any developing country (see, for example, Wu, 2002, and Zhang)"
Were you, by chance, educated in a Welsh comprehensive, Southam?
There's not much point in debating with someone who makes quotes up. We could have a long discussion about entrepreneurialism in China, the way it has developed and its long-term limitations, but I suspect you are not very interested in that. You are simply in a wind-up the lefties frame of mind. So maybe we can return to this another day.
There is actually no evidence of decline. We are flat-lining - average at maths and English, just above average in science. The OECD has specifically said that the 2000 and 2003 results for the UK cannot be compared to later results because the data set was flawed. That's no reason for celebration, but if we are serious about making things better we have to be honest about where we are.
Once the full results are released it will be interesting to see whether our private sector has improved from its very poor performance the last time around.
So at best we flatlined from 2000-2013, and ten of those 13 years were under Labour, who promised to be The Education Government before all else, and who poured vast resources into schools and teaching. Result: zero improvement. Stagnation. Nuffink.
That's an epic failure, by any standards: even an average Welsh schoolboy could figure that out.
No we've flatlined since 2006. We don't know how well we were performing before that. We could well have improved, then hit a wall as far as the ability to do PISA tests is concerned.
Many other statistics also show long-term flat-lining, especially in terms of the scandal of illiteracy and innumeracy levels.
One of the few (the only?) statistic that seems to show a brilliant increase are the exam results. Which I would argue makes the exam results suspect.
There has also been a sustained improvement in primary literacy and maths, which may indicate that had the PISA tests been done in the 1990s we may have done even worse.
It's notable that in Northern Ireland, where there is still a strong grammar school system, the results are worse than for England and Scotland, where there is not.
Obviously, much will be made about the overall results. And Gove is absolutely right to demand better. But why on earth look to a system that is failing catastrophically to produce results? Finland seems to be a much better model for us to follow, given that the learning by rote systems used in Asia are not actually producing great onward results in terns of innovation and entrepreneurialism.
The NI system has been on dumb down for the last 10 years since SF decided to do away with the 11 plus and not ask for higher standards. The results are now coming through.
Besides Singapore which of the top countries have selection? Germany and Poland have reduced selection and risen, ther is no evidence that selection increases results
as ever the english get carried away by education as class war by other means. The simple facts remain that an education system needs to have an academic route for those that way inclined and a vocational route likewise, where all can meet at the top. England's weird fascination with everyone being average produces the mediocrity we see today.
Still look on the bright side, it will put the Poles off coming here as their kids will end up thick.
So how many top countries have selection, almost none and the ones who are improving fastes are doing so by getting rid of it. Fixation on selection here is a red herring, and that's not a consequence of Sinn Fein somehow
The selection between schools is a fig leaf. Streaming within schools is almost the same, just within the same school building and same identity.
What matters is the attitude and aspiration to success.
That is what is missing from school, and maybe even importantly households/parents.
It's notable that in Northern Ireland, where there is still a strong grammar school system, the results are worse than for England and Scotland, where there is not.
Obviously, much will be made about the overall results. And Gove is absolutely right to demand better. But why on earth look to a system that is failing catastrophically to produce results? Finland seems to be a much better model for us to follow, given that the learning by rote systems used in Asia are not actually producing great onward results in terns of innovation and entrepreneurialism.
The NI system has been on dumb down for the last 10 years since SF decided to do away with the 11 plus and not ask for higher standards. The results are now coming through.
Besides Singapore which of the top countries have selection? Germany and Poland have reduced selection and risen, ther is no evidence that selection increases results
as ever the english get carried away by education as class war by other means. The simple facts remain that an education system needs to have an academic route for those that way inclined and a vocational route likewise, where all can meet at the top. England's weird fascination with everyone being average produces the mediocrity we see today.
Still look on the bright side, it will put the Poles off coming here as their kids will end up thick.
So how many top countries have selection, almost none and the ones who are improving fastes are doing so by getting rid of it. Fixation on selection here is a red herring, and that's not a consequence of Sinn Fein somehow
well now you're back in to your little class rant. In the UK you have overt streaming, elsewhere it's less so but still there - a Gymnasium is still different from a Realschule. The weaknesses in the NI system has always been at the bottom not the top, not enough effort goes in to integrating the secondary system to produce skilled pupils.
When I was at primary school in Scotland, we used to get a little spelling and arithmetic test each morning plus a bigger exam at the end of each year.
Has that stopped now? There were no SATS then.
My son's class (L6) does quota every day where you get tested on spelling. Each time you get 100% you get an extra word added to your quota for the following test. It is incredibly competitive and frankly a big step up on when I was at school when spelling seemed to be thought a matter of taste.
There is actually no evidence of decline. We are flat-lining - average at maths and English, just above average in science. The OECD has specifically said that the 2000 and 2003 results for the UK cannot be compared to later results because the data set was flawed. That's no reason for celebration, but if we are serious about making things better we have to be honest about where we are.
Once the full results are released it will be interesting to see whether our private sector has improved from its very poor performance the last time around.
So at best we flatlined from 2000-2013, and ten of those 13 years were under Labour, who promised to be The Education Government before all else, and who poured vast resources into schools and teaching. Result: zero improvement. Stagnation. Nuffink.
That's an epic failure, by any standards: even an average Welsh schoolboy could figure that out.
No we've flatlined since 2006. We don't know how well we were performing before that. We could well have improved, then hit a wall as far as the ability to do PISA tests is concerned.
Many other statistics also show long-term flat-lining, especially in terms of the scandal of illiteracy and innumeracy levels.
One of the few (the only?) statistic that seems to show a brilliant increase are the exam results. Which I would argue makes the exam results suspect.
There has also been a sustained improvement in primary literacy and maths, which may indicate that had the PISA tests been done in the 1990s we may have done even worse.
When I was at primary school in Scotland, we used to get a little spelling and arithmetic test each morning plus a bigger exam at the end of each year.
Has that stopped now? There were no SATS then.
My son's class (L6) does quota every day where you get tested on spelling. Each time you get 100% you get an extra word added to your quota for the following test. It is incredibly competitive and frankly a big step up on when I was at school when spelling seemed to be thought a matter of taste.
Two of my formative memories are from primary school testing. I can still remember as if it were yesterday the shame of the day that I didn't get 10 out of 10 on my maths test because I carelessly wrote down that 3x9=29. I have always had the burning desire to be right, and to be wrong on something so simple was mortifying.
And conversely I can remember the day when a supply teacher asked the class a yes/no question: every other pupil stuck up their hand for yes and I stuck up my hand for no. The rest of the class started laughing, and the teacher said "laugh all you like, but he's right". I have always remembered the message that I drew that it doesn't matter if you're in a minority of one if you're right.
Well education standards seem to be stable, not declining, so no need for too much soul searching.
I certainly think the Tory obsession with Grammar schools comes under antifranks "forces of conservatism" thing, they would do more harm than good. Nothing wrong with flexible setting within schools, but cleaving off a small chunk of the population for an elite education at 11, fairly arbitrarily, is insane.
I don't think free schools are particularly the answer either. Like elsewhere you'll have some good, some bad, with little or no overall net effect, whilst draining (unknown) resources from the far more important State sector.
Perhaps we need to rethink teacher training. Not that we have poor teachers generally, just that there may be more innovative methods we need to incorporate.
And increasing public investment is a necessary, though not sufficient, condition for overall improvement.
There is actually no evidence of decline. We are flat-lining - average at maths and English, just above average in science. The OECD has specifically said that the 2000 and 2003 results for the UK cannot be compared to later results because the data set was flawed. That's no reason for celebration, but if we are serious about making things better we have to be honest about where we are.
Once the full results are released it will be interesting to see whether our private sector has improved from its very poor performance the last time around.
So at best we flatlined from 2000-2013, and ten of those 13 years were under Labour, who promised to be The Education Government before all else, and who poured vast resources into schools and teaching. Result: zero improvement. Stagnation. Nuffink.
That's an epic failure, by any standards: even an average Welsh schoolboy could figure that out.
No we've flatlined since 2006. We don't know how well we were performing before that. We could well have improved, then hit a wall as far as the ability to do PISA tests is concerned.
Many other statistics also show long-term flat-lining, especially in terms of the scandal of illiteracy and innumeracy levels.
One of the few (the only?) statistic that seems to show a brilliant increase are the exam results. Which I would argue makes the exam results suspect.
There has also been a sustained improvement in primary literacy and maths, which may indicate that had the PISA tests been done in the 1990s we may have done even worse.
The illiteracy and innumeracy rates are a national shame. I trust independent results more than in-school test results.
Got it - you just want to ignore evidence that does not sit well with what you would like to believe.
No, not at all. And that accusation could easily be thrown straight back at you.
These PISA results are shocking, and so are other independent results. In-school testing shows a very different picture. You trust the latter. I trust the former.
We should ask why in-school testing gives such a different picture.
It's notable that in Northern Ireland, where there is still a strong grammar school system, the results are worse than for England and Scotland, where there is not.
Obviously, much will be made about the overall results. And Gove is absolutely right to demand better. But why on earth look to a system that is failing catastrophically to produce results? Finland seems to be a much better model for us to follow, given that the learning by rote systems used in Asia are not actually producing great onward results in terns of innovation and entrepreneurialism.
ts? The tea lady?
Yes, I'd say the state played a pivotal role in developing the big conglomerates in all the countries you mention. We will have to disagree about the importance of innovation in sustaining long term growth.
"Since the late 1990s, China’s entrepreneurs have been the key driver of growth. They are the creators of the de novo firms that are forming a dynamic and innovative private sector – an essential force in any developing country (see, for example, Wu, 2002, and Zhang)"
Were you, by chance, educated in a Welsh comprehensive, Southam?
There's not much point in debating with someone who makes quotes up. We could have a long discussion about entrepreneurialism in China, the way it has developed and its long-term limitations, but I suspect you are not very interested in that. You are simply in a wind-up the lefties frame of mind. So maybe we can return to this another day.
You claimed Asian education "does not produce great onward results in entrepreneurialism"; I gave you hard evidence, from an LSE study, that the enormous growth in the Chinese economy in the last 30 years - the greatest economic change the world has witnessed - has been driven PRECISELY by entrepreneurs in the private sector. By Asian entrepreneuralism.
You have made yourself look a fool. So, yes, you'd best run away from the argument. Indeed I'd advise you to shut the F up, lest you say something even more idiotic.
And that entrepreneurialism in China was not fostered within the education system they now have in Shanghai. But, as I say, you are not interested in a proper discussion of this.
The Singapore method of teaching children to count is nothing new - I recall it being used at my infant school (in the days of yore) and by my father.
We need both learning by rote (and so including the strugglers) and creatvity but it is difficult to be creative without knowledge of the necessary facts. Life is difficult and some things just have to be learned.
When I was at primary school in Scotland, we used to get a little spelling and arithmetic test each morning plus a bigger exam at the end of each year.
Has that stopped now? There were no SATS then.
My son's class (L6) does quota every day where you get tested on spelling. Each time you get 100% you get an extra word added to your quota for the following test. It is incredibly competitive and frankly a big step up on when I was at school when spelling seemed to be thought a matter of taste.
Two of my formative memories are from primary school testing. I can still remember as if it were yesterday the shame of the day that I didn't get 10 out of 10 on my maths test because I carelessly wrote down that 3x9=29. I have always had the burning desire to be right, and to be wrong on something so simple was mortifying.
And conversely I can remember the day when a supply teacher asked the class a yes/no question: every other pupil stuck up their hand for yes and I stuck up my hand for no. The rest of the class started laughing, and the teacher said "laugh all you like, but he's right". I have always remembered the message that I drew that it doesn't matter if you're in a minority of one if you're right.
When I was at primary school in Scotland, we used to get a little spelling and arithmetic test each morning plus a bigger exam at the end of each year.
Has that stopped now? There were no SATS then.
My son's class (L6) does quota every day where you get tested on spelling. Each time you get 100% you get an extra word added to your quota for the following test. It is incredibly competitive and frankly a big step up on when I was at school when spelling seemed to be thought a matter of taste.
Oh they still get gold stars alright. And various animal shapes with "well done" and "excellent" etc.
One of the biggest differences we saw when my son went to a private school, however, was that such rewards were restricted to work that was genuinely good. In his state school everything seemed to get a commendation which he got pretty cynical about, even at 7.
His science teacher is a terror. David got 88% in his science. His report said that it was a pity he had not taken up the extra teaching he had been offered because he may not be completely without ability. Other parents were stunned at this level of praise. Definitely the Snape method of teaching.
When I was at primary school in Scotland, we used to get a little spelling and arithmetic test each morning plus a bigger exam at the end of each year.
Has that stopped now? There were no SATS then.
My son's class (L6) does quota every day where you get tested on spelling. Each time you get 100% you get an extra word added to your quota for the following test. It is incredibly competitive and frankly a big step up on when I was at school when spelling seemed to be thought a matter of taste.
What an interesting notion. When I was a school, our Latin teacher who was a complete battleaxe set us a test to learn 2000 words/verbs and their declensions/genders. That was basically what she'd taught us the previous year and she wanted to make sure it was bedded in.
By golly did we knuckle down and learn them from our own notes. If your notes were crap - you had to fess up and get her own. Fortunately for me - I was a keen blackboard copier and had an enormous day book with them all in. I've never learned more details more thoroughly than that exercise.
There is actually no evidence of decline. We are flat-lining - average at maths and English, just above average in science. The OECD has specifically said that the 2000 and 2003 results for the UK cannot be compared to later results because the data set was flawed. That's no reason for celebration, but if we are serious about making things better we have to be honest about where we are.
Once the full results are released it will be interesting to see whether our private sector has improved from its very poor performance the last time around.
So at best we flatlined from 2000-2013, and ten of those 13 years were under Labour, who promised to be The Education Government before all else, and who poured vast resources into schools and teaching. Result: zero improvement. Stagnation. Nuffink.
That's an epic failure, by any standards: even an average Welsh schoolboy could figure that out.
No we've flatlined since 2006. We don't know how well we were performing before that. We could well have improved, then hit a wall as far as the ability to do PISA tests is concerned.
Many other statistics also show long-term flat-lining, especially in terms of the scandal of illiteracy and innumeracy levels.
One of the few (the only?) statistic that seems to show a brilliant increase are the exam results. Which I would argue makes the exam results suspect.
There has also been a sustained improvement in primary literacy and maths, which may indicate that had the PISA tests been done in the 1990s we may have done even worse.
The illiteracy and innumeracy rates are a national shame. I trust independent results more than in-school test results.
Got it - you just want to ignore evidence that does not sit well with what you would like to believe.
No, not at all. And that accusation could easily be thrown straight back at you.
These PISA results are shocking, and so are other independent results. In-school testing shows a very different picture. You trust the latter. I trust the former.
We should ask why in-school testing gives such a different picture.
They are not "shocking". They are average. That is not good enough, but it is not a disaster. Improvement is obviously necessary, but before we can improve we have to be honest about where we are; and that is with most of the rest of Europe and the developed world outside of East Asia. What the PISA tests measure is the ability to do PISA tests. If we started teaching kids to do them - which is what they do in many other countries - we would probably get better results, but what would that tell us?
In school testing is not the same as outsourced examinations. I trust it because there is no reason for it to be anything less than transparent. I also trust it because you can compare like for like - assessment criteria has not changed. When that happens and results improve I see that as good news.
When I was at primary school in Scotland, we used to get a little spelling and arithmetic test each morning plus a bigger exam at the end of each year.
Has that stopped now? There were no SATS then.
My son's class (L6) does quota every day where you get tested on spelling. Each time you get 100% you get an extra word added to your quota for the following test. It is incredibly competitive and frankly a big step up on when I was at school when spelling seemed to be thought a matter of taste.
What an interesting notion. When I was a school, our Latin teacher who was a complete battleaxe set us a test to learn 2000 words/verbs and their declensions/genders. That was basically what she'd taught us the previous year and she wanted to make sure it was bedded in.
By golly did we knuckle down and learn them from our own notes. If your notes were crap - you had to fess up and get her own. Fortunately for me - I was a keen blackboard copier and had an enormous day book with them all in. I've never learned more details more thoroughly than that exercise.
Are you sure our Latin teachers were not related? We had daily Latin vocab tests. First one wrong: stand up; second one wrong: stand on your chair; third one wrong: bend over for a whack with a PE shoe. Fortunately as I found the order of Latin quite mathematical and was good at Maths, then I escaped the PE shoe.
BTW if you need a USB mouse, I can post you one from our IT spares.
The only time I ever cheated on my homework was when I was lost in first year French and asked my mum. She'd never spoken a word of it at her convent school - it was drummed into her as a subject, but 40yrs later - she did my simple homework and I got an A!!!!! from my infamously hardnosed teacher.
I still remain guilty about it - and never asked for help again as it was just embarrassing. How could I pretend to answer questions in class with the perfection I'd done in my exercise book when I had no idea what was going on?
I've absolutely no affinity for languages = I was taught French when I was 7yrs old and had no idea what I was saying as I repeated phrases parrot-fashion. I'm sure I said my eyes were blue or had red hair as I copied the kid who went before me...
When I was at primary school in Scotland, we used to get a little spelling and arithmetic test each morning plus a bigger exam at the end of each year.
Has that stopped now? There were no SATS then.
My son's class (L6) does quota every day where you get tested on spelling. Each time you get 100% you get an extra word added to your quota for the following test. It is incredibly competitive and frankly a big step up on when I was at school when spelling seemed to be thought a matter of taste.
They are not "shocking". They are average. That is not good enough, but it is not a disaster. Improvement is obviously necessary, but before we can improve we have to be honest about where we are; and that is with most of the rest of Europe and the developed world outside of East Asia. What the PISA tests measure is the ability to do PISA tests. If we started teaching kids to do them - which is what they do in many other countries - we would probably get better results, but what would that tell us?
In school testing is not the same as outsourced examinations. I trust it because there is no reason for it to be anything less than transparent. I also trust it because you can compare like for like - assessment criteria has not changed. When that happens and results improve I see that as good news.
Oh Lordy, are you really this stupid? 13 years of "education, education, education", and massive amounts of wasted money, and if anything we're going down. We are failing our children.
Reasons why in-school assessments might not be telling the truth: 1) It is in teacher's interests to get good results. 2) Teachers get increasingly skilled at teaching for the examination, which is different to teaching for knowledge and skills. 3) It is politicians' short-term interests to get good results.
What you cannot face is that Labour failed. Hopelessly, utterly failed. We discussed this about eighteen months ago, and you said that improved results would start coming through. I said I hoped you were right.
The illiteracy and innumeracy levels are a disaster, and that's just at the bottom end.
Well, you're utterly wrong and hopelessly complacent.
My take on this is, the TV debates are going to be just as crucial in 2015?
If they even happen. If Farage wins in 2014 then it will be hard to have a debate without him. I suspect Cameron would rather have no debate than stand on a stage getting beasted by Farage for 90 minutes.
When I was at primary school in Scotland, we used to get a little spelling and arithmetic test each morning plus a bigger exam at the end of each year.
Has that stopped now? There were no SATS then.
My son's class (L6) does quota every day where you get tested on spelling. Each time you get 100% you get an extra word added to your quota for the following test. It is incredibly competitive and frankly a big step up on when I was at school when spelling seemed to be thought a matter of taste.
What an interesting notion. When I was a school, our Latin teacher who was a complete battleaxe set us a test to learn 2000 words/verbs and their declensions/genders. That was basically what she'd taught us the previous year and she wanted to make sure it was bedded in.
By golly did we knuckle down and learn them from our own notes. If your notes were crap - you had to fess up and get her own. Fortunately for me - I was a keen blackboard copier and had an enormous day book with them all in. I've never learned more details more thoroughly than that exercise.
I think there is a lot to be said for rote teaching. It encourages memory, concentration and discipline. Clearly it cannot be enough on it's own but it is an important part of the school curriculum and it has been under used.
The PISA scores measure competence but creativitity is not an alternative. You cannot be usefully creative in maths, for example, until you are competent. Holistic approaches and the need to inspire creativity has been used as an excuse for poor results by the education profession for far too long.
When I did Latin at school I spent the best part of a year learning a book of the Aeneid off by heart in Latin and English. I had a serious panic shortly before the exam when I discovered that I was not very good at tying the two together and was at risk of "translating" the wrong bit!
My take on this is, the TV debates are going to be just as crucial in 2015?
If they even happen. If Farage wins in 2014 then it will be hard to have a debate without him. I suspect Cameron would rather have no debate than stand on a stage getting beasted by Farage for 90 minutes.
My own hunch is that the debates won't happen either, if they do, they will be in a vastly different format than last time.
Should we not be looking at parental influence as well?
Some kid gets sent home from school for dying their hair purple against the school dress code and the parent runs to the Daily Mail decrying the injustice of it.
We get average results, yet we spend more per child than almost any other country. That's Labour's fault. That's Labour's failure. They spent billions and billions, and achieved: nothing.
Hardly surprising really. Einstein, Rutherford, Newton, all of the greats got their education with nothing more than a blackboard and some chalk. It's the tuition and the attitude that count - not the facilities. Shiny new schools staffed by fu<kwits will achieve just as little as grotty schools staffed by fu<kwits.
It looks like our private schools are continuing to under-perform too:
Schleicher said there was little difference between the UK's state and independent schools in terms of their quality of education, according to Pisa's findings. "Our data doesn't show much of a performance difference between public and private schools, once you account for socio-economic background," he said. "Much of the advantage that comes from private schooling is confirmed by the social-economic context, not necessarily in value added."
On average across OECD countries, privately managed schools display a performance advantage of 30 score points on the PISA reading scale (in the United Kingdom even of 62 score points). However, once the socio-economic background of students and schools is accounted for, public schools come out with a slight advantage of 7 score points, on average across OECD countries (in the United Kingdom public schools outscore privately managed schools by 20 score points once the socio-economic background is accounted for).
The Lefties are on the back foot again today..The disastrous Education figures..The construction numbers and finally Eds complete capitulation to Unite..ouch
My take on this is, the TV debates are going to be just as crucial in 2015?
If they even happen. If Farage wins in 2014 then it will be hard to have a debate without him. I suspect Cameron would rather have no debate than stand on a stage getting beasted by Farage for 90 minutes.
My own hunch is that the debates won't happen either, if they do, they will be in a vastly different format than last time.
Personally, I'd like to see who they'd send to a Chancellor's debate though. The last one didn't have much impact beyond confirming that the left like Vince Cable (more then than now). But who on earth is UKIP's shadow chancellor? And is he even vaguely good enough to compete for 60 minutes with Osborne?
Comments
IMHO we are going to see a four-way split:
1) Consumers of information will use tablets et al.
2) Producers of information will use laptops, if necessary with docking stations, screens and proper keyboards.
3) Power users, will use PCs, or rack-based computers along with low-powered workstations.
4) Gamers will increasingly use consoles instead of PCs.
Of the above, the only ones who *need* a traditional PC is the power user.
Than again, if my technology predictions were right I'd be a much richer man.
Bit of a red herring then..
With their barnacle like status it's extremely important to look at each of the LibDem seats in turn. Run your thumb along their column and look realistically at potential losses.
Not sure I agree with point 4, however. Consoles are becoming more PC-like, but PCs are, in many ways, better. You can have mods on PC games, games are cheaper etc. The advantage is/was that consoles were more convenient, you just turn on and play. Software updates and DLC have reduced that somewhat.
Of course it won't hurt Labor by then as they'll all be too illerate to read the report and so innumerate the rankings might as well be a Chinese menu.
http://www.gridwatch.templar.co.uk/
It's amazing how far things have moved on - I did web design/admin for a while when I was at BT [as a sideline to my day job] but my knowledge or javascript etc was totally overtaken by 2000.
China: 4.
UK: Well I'll vote for 3, because I quite like the curvy parts... And I'll vote for 5 because Gary likes it...
My console comment was based on two things:
1) Consoles are becoming increasingly convergent with PCs anyway. This generation of console is quite similar to each other, and to the current crop of PCs.
2) As the market for desktop PCs decreases, they will become more expensive and less affordable for anyone other than the most hardcore gamers. Games will be focussed on consoles rather than PCs.
The only console we have is a Wii. We both have laptops and (at the time we bought them) very over-specified desktops. We are going to be in the minority.
(*) send me the fiver in the post. ;-)
Whether he is right to seek to expand the academy system is a different matter. He may be right or he may not. Academies could lead to better leadership and more dynamic schools. They can also lead to a lack of accountability. The jury will be out for 10 years or more on this one.
What we really need is what I fear we will not see. That is a teaching profession who take their profession more seriously, who are less defensive, who are willing to accept that we need to learn what works and what does not and that this requires rigour, observation and testing. At the moment the teaching profession is seeking to block or oppose reforms in the same way they successfully did under Labour. They should be driving the change, not opposing it.
If only Wales was a Marxist-Leninist, one-party state...
Westminster VI - Scotland
(+/- change from UK GE 2010)
Lab 39% (-3)
SNP 26% (+6)
Con 19% (+2)
LD 8% (-11)
UKIP 4% (+3)
Grn 2% (+1)
... giving seat distribution, approx:
Lab 43 (+2)
SNP 8 (+2)
LD 5 (-6)
Con 3 (+2)
So, where are these 3 extra SNP seats coming from Jack?
CCHQ Press Office@CCHQPress18m
12-month rolling UK government borrowing, as a % of GDP >>> pic.twitter.com/Gid7rM6u6s
When one thing tries to be another - and doesn't manage it very well - its blinking irritating. I had several early smart phone that were equally awkward to use so now I just rely on an ancient Nokia 6300 that is a phone with a few little extras.
Aha the irish directions line of spin....
a tourist in Ireland who asks one of the locals for directions to Dublin. The Irishman replies: ‘Well sir, if I were you, I wouldn’t start from here’
http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/446515/Man-arrested-for-shining-powerful-laser-beam-directly-at-police-helicopter
Gawds sake, what do you want blood ?!?!
So, if Sweden is the worst performing system in the OECD, why is Michael Gove trying to copy it for the English education system?
PoliticsHome@politicshome1m
.@TristramHuntMP on OECD results: "I'm disappointed the Education Sceretary is making this a partisan, party-political knockabout" @BBCNews
Probably for the same reasons that Adonis did though. It emphasises the importance of leadership. As I say, the jury is out.
statistics are wrong...
no infidel tanks in Baghdad...
'Scotland leads the way in the UK in maths and reading, while England is ahead in science...
The figures, published by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), show 15 year olds in Wales scored 468 points on average, compared with 498 in Scotland, 495 in England and 487 in Northern Ireland.'
http://tinyurl.com/qfvh3l3
Given that we have yet to find a way of reversing our educational decline, we need more variation in approaches, not less. And we need to jump hard on the educational forces of conservatism, wherever they are found - what we are doing now is just not good enough.
The assertion that we need more variation is a non sequitur, albeit one popular with politicians of both parties. What we need is more research to find what works, and training to promulgate it. No-one would say that because people are still dying of cancer that we need to introduce more unproven treatments. (Well, maybe Prince Charles.)
On BBC1 this morning (c6.45 am), it was said that the schools from China etc do not make any allowance in a child's performance for any degree of financial deprivation. It is about time that the UK stopped using that excuse as well.
Obviously, much will be made about the overall results. And Gove is absolutely right to demand better. But why on earth look to a system that is failing catastrophically to produce results? Finland seems to be a much better model for us to follow, given that the learning by rote systems used in Asia are not actually producing great onward results in terns of innovation and entrepreneurialism.
Er.. education is a devolved welsh power. There is nothing the English can do.
Education in Wales is Labour education in practice over the long term. Nothing more, nothing less.
No free schools and no academies allowed, thank you. It is a massive policy failure and a catastrophe for the young people of Wales, for whom education is the only way out of a very, very gloomy situation.
The coalition should be shouting this from the rooftops. And labour should hang their heads in shame.
*furious at what has happened in homeland under labour*
Do you mean the system labour is championing in Wales?
That works because it allows children to visualize the problem. And one thing I've noticed with children unable to cope with maths is an inability to very roughly estimate whether a picture contains 5 pigs or 9 pigs or 20 pigs or 60+ pigs....
Once the full results are released it will be interesting to see whether our private sector has improved from its very poor performance the last time around.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-25197921
(Okay, I know it's poor, but it's the best I could do)
Maybe Ed Miliband should do something, or say something. He is after all the leader of the labour party.
Has that stopped now? There were no SATS then.
Still look on the bright side, it will put the Poles off coming here as their kids will end up thick.
My kids school is going to have ipads for each child from the start of the new year. What could be done with various apps in maths in particular was incredible. Simple ideas like pi and various mathmatical analyses of triangles frankly became obvious when you could visualise it on the ipad and instantly show that they worked regardless of the size of the circle etc.
There are real opportunities in using modern IT to improve learning but this needs a serious investment in teacher training so that they are au fait with the technology and how it can be abused as well as used.
It was precisely this line of thinking that chucking money at a problem would bring better results that was at the heart of Labour's flawed philosophy.
Maybe it isn't depressing Sean. Maybe it will finally nail the mendacious labour orthodoxy that the amount you spend on something alone determines how it will perform.
Its remarkable how many of the parents of our children's friends don't care if homework isn't done or if they aren't trying their hardest.... Heck over 50% of them picked a secondary school on the basis of a particular school's perceived lack of academic pressure....
One of the few (the only?) statistic that seems to show a brilliant increase are the exam results. Which I would argue makes the exam results suspect.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/7691919/Fifth-of-school-leavers-illiterate-and-innumerate.html
This is, of course, a polite way of saying that public sector failure is a failure to introduce markets. A failure to recognise that central planning / control doesn't deliver.
For education the best ultimate answer would be for the government to introduce vouchers for all children and do NOTHING to deliver education. Get the state out of education delivery completely. A market for schools paid for either wholly or in part (for those who wanted more) with vouchers would rapidly deliver significantly better outcomes.
You have to change the whole educational thinking in Wales. For instance to be able to put down Welsh as a language on your CV to an international employer is viewed as an asset in Wales.
So many schools and teaching staff are happy if your child is rated as average for their year.
There is no aspiration for excellence in many schools and certainly not at Cardiff Bay where is the Assembly is composed mainly of amateurs.
http://www.poverty.org.uk/25/index.shtml
But we know that the current methods being used in the UK are pretty ho-hum and need some serious improvements.
Is it rote learning v creativity?
The illiteracy and innumeracy rates are a national shame. I trust independent results more than in-school test results.
What matters is the attitude and aspiration to success.
That is what is missing from school, and maybe even importantly households/parents.
And conversely I can remember the day when a supply teacher asked the class a yes/no question: every other pupil stuck up their hand for yes and I stuck up my hand for no. The rest of the class started laughing, and the teacher said "laugh all you like, but he's right". I have always remembered the message that I drew that it doesn't matter if you're in a minority of one if you're right.
I'm sure others have similar memories.
I certainly think the Tory obsession with Grammar schools comes under antifranks "forces of conservatism" thing, they would do more harm than good. Nothing wrong with flexible setting within schools, but cleaving off a small chunk of the population for an elite education at 11, fairly arbitrarily, is insane.
I don't think free schools are particularly the answer either. Like elsewhere you'll have some good, some bad, with little or no overall net effect, whilst draining (unknown) resources from the far more important State sector.
Perhaps we need to rethink teacher training. Not that we have poor teachers generally, just that there may be more innovative methods we need to incorporate.
And increasing public investment is a necessary, though not sufficient, condition for overall improvement.
These PISA results are shocking, and so are other independent results. In-school testing shows a very different picture. You trust the latter. I trust the former.
We should ask why in-school testing gives such a different picture.
We need both learning by rote (and so including the strugglers) and creatvity but it is difficult to be creative without knowledge of the necessary facts. Life is difficult and some things just have to be learned.
One of the biggest differences we saw when my son went to a private school, however, was that such rewards were restricted to work that was genuinely good. In his state school everything seemed to get a commendation which he got pretty cynical about, even at 7.
His science teacher is a terror. David got 88% in his science. His report said that it was a pity he had not taken up the extra teaching he had been offered because he may not be completely without ability. Other parents were stunned at this level of praise. Definitely the Snape method of teaching.
By golly did we knuckle down and learn them from our own notes. If your notes were crap - you had to fess up and get her own. Fortunately for me - I was a keen blackboard copier and had an enormous day book with them all in. I've never learned more details more thoroughly than that exercise.
In school testing is not the same as outsourced examinations. I trust it because there is no reason for it to be anything less than transparent. I also trust it because you can compare like for like - assessment criteria has not changed. When that happens and results improve I see that as good news.
The Chinese have better outcomes with half the spending. Only 7 countries spend more than we do and yet we are way down the tables.
Are you actually reading the news that's being reported on this?
Are you sure our Latin teachers were not related? We had daily Latin vocab tests. First one wrong: stand up; second one wrong: stand on your chair; third one wrong: bend over for a whack with a PE shoe. Fortunately as I found the order of Latin quite mathematical and was good at Maths, then I escaped the PE shoe.
BTW if you need a USB mouse, I can post you one from our IT spares.
I still remain guilty about it - and never asked for help again as it was just embarrassing. How could I pretend to answer questions in class with the perfection I'd done in my exercise book when I had no idea what was going on?
I've absolutely no affinity for languages = I was taught French when I was 7yrs old and had no idea what I was saying as I repeated phrases parrot-fashion. I'm sure I said my eyes were blue or had red hair as I copied the kid who went before me...
Reasons why in-school assessments might not be telling the truth:
1) It is in teacher's interests to get good results.
2) Teachers get increasingly skilled at teaching for the examination, which is different to teaching for knowledge and skills.
3) It is politicians' short-term interests to get good results.
What you cannot face is that Labour failed. Hopelessly, utterly failed. We discussed this about eighteen months ago, and you said that improved results would start coming through. I said I hoped you were right.
The illiteracy and innumeracy levels are a disaster, and that's just at the bottom end.
Well, you're utterly wrong and hopelessly complacent.
The PISA scores measure competence but creativitity is not an alternative. You cannot be usefully creative in maths, for example, until you are competent. Holistic approaches and the need to inspire creativity has been used as an excuse for poor results by the education profession for far too long.
When I did Latin at school I spent the best part of a year learning a book of the Aeneid off by heart in Latin and English. I had a serious panic shortly before the exam when I discovered that I was not very good at tying the two together and was at risk of "translating" the wrong bit!
You're wasting your time. Labour posters hold the link between spending and performance to be sacrosanct. It cannot be challenged.
Some kid gets sent home from school for dying their hair purple against the school dress code and the parent runs to the Daily Mail decrying the injustice of it.
Schleicher said there was little difference between the UK's state and independent schools in terms of their quality of education, according to Pisa's findings.
"Our data doesn't show much of a performance difference between public and private schools, once you account for socio-economic background," he said.
"Much of the advantage that comes from private schooling is confirmed by the social-economic context, not necessarily in value added."
http://www.theguardian.com/education/2013/dec/03/uk-students-education-oecd-pisa-report
It was the same in the 2009 study:
On average across OECD countries, privately managed schools display a performance advantage of 30 score points on the PISA reading scale (in the United Kingdom even of 62 score points). However, once the socio-economic background of students and schools is accounted for, public schools come out with a slight advantage of 7 score points, on average across OECD countries (in the United Kingdom public schools outscore privately managed schools by 20 score points once the socio-economic background is accounted for).
http://www.oecd.org/pisa/46624007.pdf (Point 53)