Big Garden Birdwatch Results 2018

What employees say about working for Brent Council

A survey of Brent Council employees that will be reported to the Equalities Committee presents a mixed picture showing that although there are areas of strength there is still much to be done. Below I present the 'Headline' findings and those relating to employees with a disability. The latter is particularly concerning. The full report can be accessed at the end of the article and deserves close scrutiny

It will be discussed at the Equalities Committee on Monday 12th September, 6pm, at the Brent Civic Centre.

Figures in brackets are the Council average

SATS plunge is not children's or teachers' failure - it is the Government's responsibility

Nicky Morgan cried crocodile tears this morning over children losing a day's education because of the NUT strike.  What the SATs results proved, when they were released this morning, is that she has wasted a whole year of thousands of children's education in which teachers have had to sacrifice real learning to 'teaching for the test'.  Tests which are based on a hastily and poorly revised curriculum with no evidence base, lambasted by expert educationalists and far too difficult for the majority of children.

With local reports of reading results down as much as 30% it is no wonder that Morgan quickly moved to say that the results were not comparable to last year.  She had to escape blame for the sudden drop in pupils' performance and instead congratulate herself and the government on their 'higher expectations'.

On top of the stress children and teachers suffered in the Gradgrind weeks before the tests and the stress of the tests themselves which saw many children reduced to tears, I now hear of children feeling deeply distressed and despondent because they 'haven't reached the required level' - some have gone weeping to their headteachers seeking comfort.

Eleven year olds seeing themselves as failures was something that happened in my childhood as a result of the 11+ examination - now Morgan and the Tories have introduced it to a new generation. That sense of failure can carry on throughout life.

At the same time Year 6 teachers and teaching assistants, headteachers and deputies, will also be feeling that they have somehow failed - although they know the demands were unrealistic, the preparation time inadequate, and the educational justification for the tests non-existent.

Worse some will be feeling guilty about the pressure they exerted on children in order to try and get them through the tests, knowing that it was unreasonable and unjustifiable in terms of their own professional integrity. They will feel that they colluded in something that damaged children even though they tried their hardest to protect them.

Then there are the parents left trying to comfort their child, persuade them that there is more to life that SATs, and perhaps worrying that somehow their child is just not capable of making the grade.

Today's strike was officially about funding, pay and conditions, and workload. Teachers cannot legally strike about the curriculum or the heartless ill treatment of children, but that was clearly a concern demonstrated in the many placards carried by the marchers today.

The long-term impact of Morgan and Gove's education policies will take years to emerge but I am right behind teachers, headteachers, governors and parents who are working together to ensure that the next cohort of pupils will not have to go through a process that amounts to mental cruelty.

Now is is time in the last weeks of term to pick up the pieces and rebuild children's confidence so that they do not start secondary school with low self-esteem and an expectation of further failure.

Detailed General Election results for Brent

GCSE affair "morally repugnant" senior examiner

The legal action undertaken by Brent Council, other local authorities and many schools,  seeking a judicial review of the GCSE marking fiasco has received unexpected backing from a senior figure in AQA, the examination board.. This report from the BBC:

A senior exam board figure has resigned over the shifting of English GCSE grade boundaries which left thousands of pupils with lower grades than expected. Stephen McKenzie quit the exam board AQA on Wednesday after 16 years as a GCSE English moderator. In his resignation letter Mr McKenzie said the grade boundary shift was "the worst decision ever made by AQA". He said the AQA board’s handling of GCSE boundary changes was "morally repugnant"  He told BBC News: "I could not go on working for them - to be frank AQA English has fallen apart." 

 Mr McKenzie's resignation came as the exam boards and the exam regulator Ofqual were given more time to consider a legal challenge from teaching unions, schools and local authorities asking them to regrade English GCSE papers.  The alliance has written formally to Ofqual and the exam boards AQA and Edexcel challenging the refusal to regrade GCSE English papers in England. They are threatening to seek a judicial review after thousands of pupils scored lower-than-expected results when grade boundaries were raised midway through the year. 

In his resignation letter Mr McKenzie called the handling of the affair "morally repugnant" and "disingenuous". He said that claims that teachers had marked controlled assessments too generously were based on "paltry evidence" and called the moderation of the qualification "poor, stressed and chaotic". He added that AQA had reneged on guidance to schools about the standard needed to achieve a C grade and said that this had hit the most vulnerable part of the student population hardest.

 "We have in this whole sorry business the classic social disaster scenario; mismanagement succeeded by chaos, hurt innocents succeeded by collusion between official bodies to suppress the reality of the disaster.  The various AQA English specifications have as their spine texts - To Kill a Mockingbird, Of Mice and Men, The Crucible, An Inspector Calls - where ordinary but principled people stand up for social justice at whatever cost. If I see anyone at AQA English do this any time soon, I will reconsider my decision not to work for them. Otherwise I mourn the passing of a once fine institution."

In his letter Mr McKenzie quotes emails from a senior English assessor at AQA who states that the changes to grade boundaries between January and June did "massive damage" and "instantly hit the most vulnerable" pupils. In particular the assessor's emails focus on the raising of the grade C boundary on the lower tier English 

Mr McKenzie, vice principal of Morley Academy in Leeds, says this paper is marketed at the students who would have had to work the hardest to achieve a C or better and who needed the grade to enter apprenticeships, employment or further education. 

Earlier this month letters between another exam board, Edexcel and the regulator Ofqual, were leaked to the Times Educational Supplement. These showed that Ofqual ordered the board to make grade boundary changes against its will just two weeks before the results were published. 

The TES says the Mr McKenzie's resignation letter and the emails reveal "that assessors from AQA, the board with the biggest market share in GCSE English, were just as concerned as their Edexcel counterparts about the grading changes". AQA said it was unable to comment because of pending legal action over GCSE English.

Who would you back,  the principled Stephen McKenzie or Michael Gove?