The National Curriculum In Primary Schools

The National Curriculum In Primary Schools The aim of this assignment is to discuss the trends policy that took place in primary education from 1988 and 1997. The assignment will start with examining the rationale behind the changes introduced in those years. Then it will look at the changes themselves. The last section will talk about the advantages and disadvantages of those changes. It should be mentioned from the outset that I will not be mentioning reforms related to secondary and higher education, even though they came at the same time as the Primary schools. The term educational provision refers to the use of the equipment or tools with the intention of providing knowledge and skills, and includes things such as such as, classroom, textbook, chairs, pens/pencils and many more for students. Education is about the process of learning where knowledge, skills and information is transmitted. Yero (2002) believes that education is a procedure of improving the students or pupils knowledge, skills and character. So education can help to reduce inequality in society. In the United Kingdom, this concept of eliminating inequality was at the base of changes in education policy. Prior to 1988, education in the United Kingdom was completely different. The decision of the curriculum contents was in the hands of schools, with religious education being the only subject which was compulsory. This means that pupils had different attainment levels due to following different programmes. Education was ruled by the 1944 Education Act which handed the administration of schools and the formulation of school policies to local authorities; the only exception being Section 1 where control and direction of education were given to the Secretary of State. In fact, in the 1944 Education Act, the role of the Department of Education and Science was simply promotional and not one of giving direction, which means they could not supervise local authorities policies. This Act also fixed the age of leaving school at 15 and instituted free secondary education for all pupils. However it was noticed that the standard attained in basic skills by the UK population was low and poor compared to other European countries, and this could not satisfy the country national economic needs (Department of Education, 2011). To solve the problem raised by the falling standard, the Conservative Government came with the 1988 Education Act, sometimes referred to as the Kennet Baker reform which instituted a standardisation of all school programmes, and brought four main changes with a view to bringing back the level (Young, 2008). The first change was the introduction of the National Curriculum, which defines four Key Stages, moving from Key Stage 1 to Key Stage 4. In primary schools, two Key Stages, 1 and 2 were identified: Key Stage 1 for Year 1 and 2 up to age 7; Key Stage 2 for Years 3 to 6, meaning age 7 to age 11. Later on, a Foundation Stage which concerns children aged 3 up to reception year was introduced. The National Curriculum came with a new terminology related to two types of school subjects, core subjects and Foundation subjects. In Primary schools, that is Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2, the curriculum consists of the following subjects: English, Maths, science, information and communication technology (ICT), history, geography, art and design, music, design and technology (DT) and Physical Education. This was supplemented by the literacy and numeracy reforms in the 1990s taught everyday to improve children standard in those skills. Another change in the curriculum was the introduction foreign languages for children aged 7. This curriculum was later reconsidered for improvement. One advantage of National Curriculum is that all children in England and Wales have the same education programmes, and this makes comparison of levels easier and the transfer of children from one school to another is made easy. Actually the national Curriculum contains all the topics to be taught, in terms of knowledge, skills and expectations at the end of each key stage; it also determines how assessment has to proceed. The second change had to do with assessment of pupils. Here national standard tests such as SATs at age 11 (Standard Assessment tasks, and later Standard Attainment Tasks) were put in place, not only to assess whether they are up to the national standard expected, but also to put strategies in place to ensure improvement in those children learning. This led to the National Curriculum Council (NCC) as an advisory service to the secretary of State in matters related to the curriculum, and the School Examinations and Assessment Council (SEAC) in charge of assessments. The third change affected the administration of schools. As mentioned above, prior to 1988, Education administration was handled by local authorities. In London, for example it was in the hands of the Inner London Education Authority (ILEA), which was created in 1965, while outer London schools were directed by county councils and borough councils. The Education Reform Act of 1988 gave power to schools to opt out of local authority control and be funded by central government, so that schools could manage their own finances. The Local management of Schools meant that the role of head teachers included budget management as well (Powell and Edwards, 2003). This was the beginning of Grant maintained schools, which were later replaced by foundation schools. This led to the abolition of the Local Education Authority. The forth change concerned the creation of a league table where people could go and compare the performance of different schools. It was hoped that such a table would push schools to compete, and therefore provide better education to children. In 1993, another education act came into place. It aimed at increasing the number of Grant Maintained Schools; it replaced the NCC and SEAC with School Curriculum and Assessment Authority so that the curriculum content could be controlled by the government; more power was given to headteacher in their exclusion decisions of unruly pupils; changes were introduced for pupils with special educational needs; and the establishment of referral units. An inspection body called Ofsted came into existence to inspect schools in LEAS. Finally the SCAA and NCVQ formed the QCA. In 1997, the Labour Government introduced another reform. The Government introduced specialist schools such as Business, Sport schools so as to diversify education and the types of schools. So doing parents could have a variety of choices to make for their children. Failing schools were reopened under academies administered by churches or businesses. In deprived areas, the Government created Education Action zone in order to help improve education standard in those areas. Parents were given power and a voice to decide on the choice of schools for their children; they were given power to be represented in the school governing body. Further, a system of exam league table was introduced where parents could easily spot schools that are doing well, and those falling behind. Be it as it may, parents had the duty to ensure that their children attend schools. School funding was linked to the number of pupils a school had in its roll. The implication was that schools had to compete to improve their performance so as to attract parents and their children, and thus good funding as well. This is termed the market reform introduced by Conservative governments in the 1980s and 1990s, where schools were seen as a service and the parents and children as the clients. As a matter fact, education should provide valued forms of knowledge and equip children for life (James and Pollard, 2012) In the 1997 White Paper, Excellence in Schools, the rights of parents to information were extended including sending them the child progress annual report, their part in the inspection process, annual meeting, allowing them to have access to the childs school record. Schools were further obliged to publish an annual report about their management and a prospectus. Teachers were also given power to restrain pupils By so, doing the government, say the Department of Education gained new power, because they are in charge of the school curriculum, not the local authorities any more, the types of tests to administer to pupils, the types of qualifications to be awarded, the funding to give to schools, the nomination of members of the National Curriculum Council to plan the curriculum. The approval of schools that want to opt out, the change of school status is given by the State Secretary, even though the involvement of parents should be sought for. He has the administration of grants. The role of head teachers also changed as they became budget managers as well. The question one might ask at this point is to know whether those reforms were successful. Two views can be expressed here. On the one hand, the introduction of the national Curriculum should be appreciated, because it helps to have children expected to have the same knowledge and skills. The tests would help schools to work hard to improve their results, and research has revealed that more people are now going to university. The league table gives a better view to parents as to which school is doing better, so make an informed choice of schools for their children. On the other hand, it would appear that testing is not good enough to assess the performance of schools, and learning should not be limited to passing tests. With the league table, teaching has turned into preparing pupils to pass exams, and not a preparation for life. The league table has also been criticised as it ignores some areas such as Art and sport. Further, the league tables make some schools more popular than oth ers, and this raises difficulties for some parents to get a school of their choice for their children. Ball (2006) examined the concepts of markets in the context of education only to find that more needs to be discussed, and that such concepts as competition, supply and demand, producer and consumer behaviour, privatisation and commodification, values and ethics and distributional outcomes should be addresses as there is a paucity of research in this field. In Primary schools, teachers complained of the increased workload imposed by the National Curriculum, especially at the end of Key Stage 2 with the preparation of SATs, and this lead to Dearing Report which brought the load down by 20% (Alexander, 2012). The system of inspection also came into fire by various teachers unions who find the Ofsted as a problem, not a solution. Another problem concerned the introduction of foreign language teaching at age 7. This raised problems in a country such as the United kingdom where secondary schools teach various languages, French, German, Spanish. So a child could learn one language in primary school and have a different language in secondary schools. This means there will be no continuity as noted by the Guardian (2012). The structure of Key Stage 2 has also been criticized as it takes four years which the Framework for the National Curriculum found too long (DE, 2011). To conclude, it can be said that there have been one main Education reform Act, the 1988, and many education acts from 1988 to 1997. The changes in educational policies in those reforms can be regrouped in three categories: changes to do with centralisation, as education moved from local authorities to the government with the introduction of the National Curriculum; assessment by outcomes with the use of national assessment and the establishment of league-tables to compare the performance of different schools, and the quasi-market reform where schools are the manufacturers and children and their parents as consumers who have choices to make between different schools. In primary schools, the reforms could be noticed with the introduction of Key Stages 1 and 2, the national Curriculum with Maths, English and science as core subjects, while others were considered as foundations and religious study as statutory, the introduction of SATs and the literacy and numeracy strategies.

Challenges that working women face today Essay

Introduction In today’s culture where individualism is emphasized and especially that women are encouraged to assume equal roles as men would normally take, two or three decades ago, it is very difficult to see eye to eye with how women are during biblical times. â€Å"Girl power† or women empowerment is the rule of the day for women nowadays. Although, of course, all women as all men have the right to lead in the sense that they have the same intrinsic capacity to influence, the role of leadership has been blown out of proportion by feminist groups as they apply it to women. The result of this over blown leadership role of women has been the constant battle between members of opposite sexes in many significant areas within society. It has affected the homes, government and non-government institutions, down to the smallest entity that has within its membership men and women. The Challenges Today, despite the liberty afforded to women since their right to suffrage had been granted, myriads of problems assails them as they exercise many of their freedoms. These include sexual harassment and abuse, balancing family life and, still being debated to a degree is the issue on an equitable salary or pay. Generally, the women today have double jobs not to mention the close attention they pay towards their children’s schooling. This is usually true in urbanized and highly educated centers in the mainland USA. Despite these changes of traditional roles of women in the cities, there are yet rural areas where women assume roles that are still traditional. Women in these areas are still known to be subservient to their men; oftentimes abuses are the rule not the exception. Abuses come in the form of incest, rape, lure of prostitution, cybernet prostitution, abortion, domestic violence, sex tourism, and mail order brides among others. However, without exception, more less educated women are abused than their more educated counterparts who also have more access to social services. In other words, the abuses mentioned characterized women, though the incidence and degree are comparatively higher in the less educated and misplaced/marginalized areas (Malveuax et al., 2002). ~ Salary Equity Despite the provision by law that there should be equal remuneration standards for men and women, many firms and workplaces continue to abuse women of this right (Equal Employment Opportunity Act). This law precisely was originally intended for women to receive equal pay and be protected against anomalous employers who make whimsical decisions regarding their women employees. It provides against employers who may lower wages from either sex or labor organizations that will attempt to influence employers against employees’ wages (Taber, 2008). The question is how prevalent is the discrimination or abuse on employee salaries? Basically, most occupations still show discrepancy with women versus men wages, although various explanations are put forth. However the factors may be explained, the fact still remains that women lose around 20 to 30 percent to that of men’s income (77cents to one dollar for men) as reported by The Washington Post (2007 July). ~Balancing Work and family (Work-Life Initiatives) Work-life initiatives are strategies implemented by firms to reduce turnover and increase productivity and overall firm performance. Studies were made to examine the influence and effects of work-life initiatives on employees and the organization in general. Workplace diversity which incorporates the concepts of work-life initiatives does indicate that it is inevitable that when a company introduces work-life initiatives, there is a resulting increase in diversity. Substantial evidence point to the effectiveness of workplace diversity hence, many institutions encourage and promote this in their particular milieu (http://www.cmdronline.com/workshops.htm). It is inevitable that juggling work and family life will be one of a person’s demanding experiences. The rationale for having a job is not only to have a livelihood, achieve personal satisfaction in the expression of his abilities and trainings, and receive his remuneration and perks on the side. Preparation for family stability to be able to provide and thus create an atmosphere of care, for bachelors/maidens, is also the foremost and logical reason for having a job. However, the thin thread that separates between the two polarities becomes blurred, and there lies the tension that pulls a person in different directions. The Center for Mediation and Dispute Resolution opens its website with the following quote: â€Å"Our life is one giant balancing act (http://www.cmdronline.com/workshops.htm).† Perhaps, no person will ever disagree with that statement. The goal then is to know how to do the balancing act, to gain competencies in achieving a rewarding, flourishing kind of life that holds work in one hand, while maintaining a well-nurtured and healthy family on the other hand. ~Sex Harassment What is perhaps most important to women’s well-being is their security against abuse of any form from employers, fellow employees and other people as they conduct their day-to-day affairs. Sex harassment is defined by the Women’s Justice Network as â€Å"Sexual harassment is any unwelcome sexual advance, request for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature. Whether sexual harassment is from a supervisor, co-workers or customers, it is an attempt to assert power over another person. The harassment may take place in your work setting, outside of your work setting, in your home, while traveling on business or at business functions† (20002). Conclusion While at the moment, the common cry of women is equality to both genders as it is reflected in women’s roles in the family, in public places, and the obliteration of the stereotyped designation of females in past decades which until now has its bearing in the minds of the general public the consequent outcome of this campaign is prevalent in almost every area where function is concerned. In the late 1960s, women’s movement began to blossom. It was stirred by the then sentiment of repulsion to the tasks being typecasted among women. Women’s movement of the 60s aimed to question the menial duties relegated to women such as getting married, becoming a housewife and afterwards attending to household chores (including raising children), and when outside opportunity comes for them to work, they’re consigned to answering phones, photocopying, etc (Encarta, 2006). The scenery has been changed and is no longer the same as in the past 30 or 40 years. The typical woman today is one that is among the working class – no longer confined to house premises, but working and providing as much as her male counterparts. She can be the manager or an executive of an established firm where most of the male employees are under her command. Equality in roles has now been achieved. Whereas this status and depiction of women in itself is not outright negative, the undercurrent force that it has created is the programming of the minds of today’s women to be resistant to the biblical description of their role as they are teamed with men. Instead of seeing male and female partnership as complimentary to both sexes, the danger of too much emphasis on equality especially when it is defined merely in domestic and public functions is the threat that masculinity poses to womanhood. It is good for women to fight for their basic equal rights with men as members of this global community, but if it results in certain imbalances because the aim has become the dethronement of the opposite gender, then the battle for equality has now turned into fight for superiority of the female sex. Reference: 1. Encarta Dictionary 2006. (DVD). 2. Malveaux, Julianne, Deborah Perry, Deborah L. Perry. 2002. Unfinished Business: A Democrat and a Republican Take on the 10 Most Important Issues Women Face. Penguin Group USA. 3. Halonen, JS and JW Santrock, 1996. Psychology: Contexts of Behavior, Dubuque, IA: Brown and Benchmark, p.810. 4. __________ â€Å"Values: what are they?†2007. Family Works : University of Illinois extension. Accessed November 10. 2007. http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/familyworks/values-01.html 5. _________Centre for Mediation & Dispute Resolution, accessed in http://www.cmdronline.com/workshops.htm 6. Taber, Loren. The Law in the Workplace. Accessed February 28, 2008. http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:2K4rLBDHP90J:www.cbi-cc.org/PowerPoints/The%2520Law%2520in%2520the%2520Workplace.ppt+women+issues+on+discrimination+in+salary/wages&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1 7. _________ â€Å"Men vs Women: Asking for more Money. The Washington Post. July 30, 2007. Accessed February 28, 2008 http://ocouha.com/weblog/tags/earnings-income-salary-wages-wealth/ 8. _________ â€Å"Sexual Harassment in the Workplace. Toronto Harassment support Group. Retrieved February 28, 2008.

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denischovivh

October 3, 2010 Cold War-Period 1 Ivan Denisovich Shukhov was sent to a Soviet concentration camp, he was accused of being a spy after being captured by the Germans. He was not a spy but was still falsely punished by the government. My favorite quote of the book is, â€Å"Can they even tell what the sun to do? † This portrays that when the Communist Party declared that the sun reaches its high point of the day at one instead of noon. He is saying that the Soviet Union controls everything such as: the sun’s zenith, religion, and clothes.The Soviet Union treated prisoners of war(POWS) very harshly and the system itself was also very corrupt. Alexander Solzhenitysn was a POW himself. In February of 1945 when he was serving in East Prussia he got arrested for writing insulting comments in multiple letters to Nikolai Vitkevich. The first camp they took him to be in Lubyanka, and they beat him there and questioned him on many things. In the middle phase of his concealment he was sent to Sharaska.The last place in which he was imprisoned in was Ekibastuz, Kazakhstan were he worked as a bricklayer, miner, and a foreman for small building projects, this is in which he got the idea and the base of the book One day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich Shukhov. All the information in his book was acquired by actual experiences with the hardships Shukhov faced in the book. From the mouth of Benjamin C. Gardner One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovic is indeed a powerful book. Were it merely the grim testimonial to life in the Soviet Gulags or a witness to infringed liberties, its force would be staggering.Were it a testimony to the indomitableness of human nature, it would be crushing. As it is, it shatters our perception of man and ourselves as no other book, save Anne Franke`s diary and the testimony of Elie Wiesl, could ever have done. However, it is more than all the above. â€Å"One Day† is actually a searching look at human nature. The biting wind, jagged wire, frigid climate, watery soup, and the warmth provided by an extra pair of mittens or an hour of hard physical labor all find matches in the colorful rowd of characters that parades through this narrative – from the prison guards to the prisoners themselves to the prison director to the turncoat prisoners who sold their integrity for the favor of their oppressors. This is a book to be read, first of all, for its historical value – a tribute to those who were imprisoned but whose voices were never heard, and a silent plea to commit all our forces to the proposition that such vileness will never reach our liberty-loving shores.No less importantly, this is a book that should prompt us to turn our eyes inward and question ourselves whether, in our own way, we are capable of committing the same atrocities against our fellow man, and whether, if subjected to the same suffering, we would have the strength of character to find as much comfort in a bowl of soup as we do no w in the transient, unfounded knowledge that such inhumanity will not touch us. † He summarized the life of an average POW in the Soviet concentration camps.This book to me was a very interesting read giving me foresight into the life of an average, innocent, hard working man in a concentration camp. This book helped me too understand how the world was in turmoil during the Cold War and how people in the Soviet Union were treated. As Shukhov says, â€Å"I’m not a beggar I work for everything I get and not I’m about to change that now. † I liked this quote because I believe this is a good way to live your life.

Analysis Of Julia Gillard s Misogyny Speech - 918 Words

It is argued that Julia Gillard’s ‘misogyny speech’, delivered before Parliament on the 9th of October 2012, was the result of systematic gender bias present in the Australian psyche. The ‘misogyny speech’ was launched against the then Opposition Leader Tony Abbott, highlighting sexist and misogynistic observations the leader had made in the past. Since the second-wave feminist movement of the 1970s, renowned commentators have discussed the negative contrast between the depiction of men and women in the public sphere. Examining the representation of women in politics, combined with their negative portrayal in the media, it is clear gender inequality is thriving. It can be argued that women in the public sphere, especially powerful women, are rigidly assessed through the male gaze, while men are not. According to Mary Rogers, the male gaze evaluates women according to the institutionalized interests of heterosexual men (Rogers Garrett, 2002 p. 3). Kate Legge’s satirical article highlights Australia’s fixation with Gillard’s earlobes during a debate in 2010, rather than her campaign themes. She mockingly remarks on the lack of commentary about the appearance of male politicians during debates of the past (Legge, 2010). Another demonstration of the sexism Gillard repeatedly endured appeared on a menu for a Queensland Coalition candidate’s fundraiser, as the Former Prime Minister’s genitalia became a matter of public concern. One of the main courses read ‘Julia Gillard