Home / Posts tagged education
Gender issues in school need to move up the agenda. I tried really hard not to mind what I saw at my school’s Sports Day. But it is no good. I really do mind, and this really does need talking about. In the secondary school I was teaching at in the summer, four houses competed […]
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Of course we need a common sense approach to term-time holidays. The Local Government Association has called for a common sense approach to be applied to parents in England taking children out of school for holidays. It was two years ago that Michael Gove introduced strict new rules on term-time holidays to crack down on […]
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When I tell people I’m a home educator, one of two things usually happens. Either the horrified person steps back with an audible gasp, or they ask conspiratorially whether it’s legal and look around as if expecting Michael Gove to jump out ready to drag me off to prison. The latter doesn’t bother me. In […]
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After recently reading Carolyn Lazarus’ article in The Daily Mail, it made me reflect about various things surrounding women, work and parenting. When I got married back in 1998 we both had, what I would call, decent jobs. I didn’t have the same high flying career as Carolyn, but whilst mine was office-based, my husbands’ required frequent […]
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I was told the other day by an acquaintance that Eton is income blind. Her son has been given a place and she was waxing lyrical about how Eton really does offer the financial support needed for “poorer” families to send their children there. Really? I doubt many children from “poorer” families even sit the […]
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A mother’s perspective on her daughter leaving home to go to university and the importance of letting go. During the summer two years ago my daughter was about to turn 18 and find out her A-level results along with her destiny for the following few years. She’d worked so hard and had consistently ‘done the […]
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A daughter’s perspective on leaving home to go to university… As I recall, going to university wasn’t so much ‘flying the nest’ as it was falling, flapping and whacking into great big branches. If I was going to be torn away from my comfy home, my contented, quiet life in suburban London, reliable friends and […]
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Patricia Woodhouse, Headmistress of Malvern St James, considers the question afresh. The single sex vs. co-ed debate is, in my opinion, a bit of a clichéd and out dated one. It is not as straight forward as arguing for or against. For me it has to be about personal choice, and who can offer your […]
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Patricia Woodhouse, Headmistress, Malvern St James, has firm opinions on how we can spark an interest in science that lasts a lifetime? “It is more than 35 years since the Sex Discrimination Act came into force and 42 years since the introduction of the Equal Pay Act. Since this legislation was passed the number of women in […]
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It is the law that your child should be educated, but it is not the law that your child has to go to school. For one reason or another, you may find that your child isn’t happy at school. This can have a domino effect on the family, and stunt your child from learning. It […]
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Having a gifted child is not always easy, as one mother explains I am definitely NOT a pushy mother. I know that most hothouse parents say that but, believe me, I would have loved to have had a ‘normal’ child. I knew that my daughter was a bit different when she was two and a […]
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A short story reflecting on the hidden impact of the shooting of Malala. Malala Yousafzai…everyone knows her name. Everyone knows her story. I’m trying not to think about her, trying not to hear her name. Fingers in my ears. We were best friends. I called her Lala. Fingers in my ears again, but I still […]
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A letter from Malala The basic right to education is under attack around the world. We need change now and I need your help to achieve it. You can help me and girls and boys across the world. We are asking the United Nations General Assembly to fund new teachers, schools, books and recommit to […]
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Is it worth returning to studying after a first career? I did not arrive at a career until I was in my mid-thirties. I took a degree in History in 1975 and thought I wanted to be a social worker. Three years as a support worker in two residential homes convinced me that this was […]
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Stephanie Sergeant discovers how one woman went from air hostess to neuroscientist and realised that it is never too late to start learning. In the Seventies Dr Lynda Shaw was an air hostess, flying high in the skies for British Airways and loving the adventure. Today she is one of the UK’s most respected neuroscientists, […]
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