Pannage

Practical ways for schools to become more sustainable

noreply@blogger.com (Angus Willson) — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 16:41:00 +0000

TOP TIPS FOR SUSTAINABILITY IN SCHOOLS

"This collection of top tips suggests practical ways for schools to become more sustainable, should they choose to, whilst at the same time saving money.

Sustainable development means meeting the needs of all people now – including protecting the natural habitats that are essential to our survival – without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Sustainable development is part of the Coalition Agreement, which states that we ‘need to protect the environment for future generations, make our economy more environmentally sustainable, and improve our quality of life and wellbeing’.

The Department for Education is committed to sustainable development and believes it is important to prepare young people for the future. Our approach is based on the belief that schools perform better when they take responsibility for their own improvement. We want schools to make their own judgements on how sustainable development should be reflected in their ethos, day-to-day operations and through education for sustainable development. Those judgements should be based on sound knowledge and local needs."

I am delighted to see this compendium updated and re-published (web only).

Source:
Department for Education (Feb 2012) Top Tips for Sustainability in Schools
http://media.education.gov.uk/assets/files/pdf/t/top%20tips%20for%20sustainability%20in%20schools%20feb%202012.pdf

The extraordinary becomes the everyday

noreply@blogger.com (Angus Willson) — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 11:37:00 +0000

The App Curriculum for 2014

Exclusive to www.mikebakereducation.co.uk by Roy Blatchford

"It is a truism of our age that the extraordinary becomes the commonplace - at a faster and faster rate. Imagine for a moment that a soon-to-be-revealed global brand donates an iPad to every 11 year-old in England. Let us say to the cohort starting secondary school in September 2014.

That brand might possibly be Harper Collins, whose chief executive has predicted that 50% of fiction sales by mid 2013 will be eBooks. Or it might be Pearson, the world's premier education publisher and, incidentally, owner of Edexcel. Or perhaps Samsung, intent on securing the mobile allegiance of a generation.

The iPad sells today for £399 in the UK. Technology giant Infosys predicts a similar portable device will sweep India within three years, retailing at $39. The extraordinary becomes the everyday."

Source: www.mikebakereducation.co.uk/articles/90/the-app-curriculum-for-2014

There is much sense in this complete article including assessment, potential for interactivity and the possible demise of the textbook.

However, it skates over the issue of knowledge: 'with slim prescribed content from age 5 - 16'.

How is this core or essential knowledge to be specified and agreed?

How much of it is deep and lasting knowledge - and how much is responsive to our times and the future?

How is it to be a slim prescription yet with age-specific milestones and progression?

Given that no-one is being paid to do this work (as a government policy), how will it come about?

And it doesn't square with this post of few days ago Curriculum review 2014 - the big anomaly

Place, image and branding

noreply@blogger.com (Angus Willson) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:54:00 +0000

Having a clear out means you come across old stuff. This is something I wrote before blogging was underway and it deserves inclusion here. It was a response to a survey reported in the local paper and was my attempt to persuade people to see their genuine concerns in broader terms - and to make connections between local context and the bigger picture.

Living Geography

Having a memorable slogan or catch-phrase for places seems astrange mix of advertising and end-of pier comedians but the media-smart agesays image is everything. No-one admits to being influenced by this pressurebut visitor figures and polls say otherwise.

When places are branded the well of cliché is usually plumbed.Another source is literature where descriptive powers can be used to build reputations.Kenthas Dickens to call upon and it suits the sought after heritage picture for thisto be 150 years old. An advert on South Eastern Trains uses this descriptionbased on a railway journey through Kent, I suspect, without irony:

“… haystacks, sheep, clover in full bloom delicious to sightand smell, corn-sheaves, cherry-orchards, apple-orchards, reapers, gleaners,hedges, gates, fields that taper off into little angular corners, cottages,gardens, now and then a church.”

Outrage, then, at the survey that suggests top place forcountryside and villages should go to North Yorkshire, and Kent was fifth after Devon,Derbyshire and Gloucestershire. The threat that the by-line ‘Garden of England’should be removed from Kentwas due to interpretation and not really part of the question posed.

In defence of her territory Kent a tourism spokesperson says‘to compare the two counties is ridiculous they are completely different.’ However,the geography in our heads does make the comparisons. It allows us to makejudgements about places and it affects all that we think and do. What questionsshould we ask about the opinions and images of different places?

Angus Willson

4 June 2006

A Canterbury Tale: fishy

noreply@blogger.com (Angus Willson) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 08:59:00 +0000

A lovely animation set in Canterbury involving students at St Anselms Catholic School(2008).

A Fish's Tale from Animate & Create Workshops on Vimeo.

Source: http://animateandcreate.com/workshops/work/a-fishs-tale/

Curriculum review 2014 - the big anomaly

noreply@blogger.com (Angus Willson) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 09:31:00 +0000

Dear Mr Gove: Michael Rosen's letter from a curious parent
Michael Rosen has some questions for the education secretary

"There's a bit of an anomaly though, isn't there? This curriculum will only apply in England and only in schools working within local authorities. So central government is going to lay down a compulsory curriculum for the schools that it's trying to turn into schools where the curriculum won't apply – academies, free schools and indeed any other kinds of schools you might invent."

Brilliant. What we have all been thinking...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2012/feb/06/michael-rosen-gove-curriculum-schools

Rock and choc: two books with global perspectives

noreply@blogger.com (Angus Willson) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 13:11:00 +0000

I have read two books recently with an unexpected connection. Well, the thought is common as filtered through my geographical mind.

It is not news to me that Keith Richards is a genuine co-credited songwriter and that he resents what he calls lead-vocalist syndrome. In Life he lays his love-hate relationship with Mick Jagger on thick The other key point he repeats is on his drug abuse: 'don't try this at home'. It is also very interesting on the importance of the record producer, other musicians involved and the studio. In this, he is generous to others.

What really struck me was the globe-trotting. Keef is known for news stories in particular locations such as the drug busts in his home-base called Redlands in Sussex and on tour in Toronto. He also de-bunks the press version of when he was seriously injured from a tree fall on Fiji which required brain surgery in New Zealand. It is also a feature of the creative jumble of recording of 'Exile on Main Street' (in 1971) that the Stones were tax-evaders living in different areas in the South of France. His respect for the American blues musicians is poignant. He also makes frequent references to the ordinary beginnings in Dartford, Kent as he moves home-base to Switzerland and Jamaica. Not to forget Chelsea, New York and Los Angeles, of course.

Being seriously rich affords a rootless existence in the modern era if you travel in comfortable style between four or more luxury homes on different continents and earn your living travelling the major cities. However, what does it mean in terms of gaining a world view?

The other book is Chocolate Wars by Deborak Cadbury. This is largely set in the nineteenth century and involves the global confectionary industrialists of Cadbury, Rowntree, Fry, Hershey, Lindt, Suchard. And this means the named people not just their companies. It is fascinating that in a pre-railway era these entrepreneurs travelled the countries of Europe to find out about the new processing techniques being developed by others. Industrial espionage, if you like. It also involves transatlantic journeys.

Ripe cocoa pods Flickr CC
Originally uploaded by IITA Image Library

It is also mind-boggling that the cocoa pods which is only grown in specific climatic conditions and, to this day, has little or no consummer value in those countries. When William Cadbury heard rumours in 1901 that a small percentage of their cocoa source came from two Portuguese colonies where slavery was still taking place he headed off to find out for himself.

Also in 1901, George Cadbury said "Just now it seems to me that speculators, trust mongers, and owners of enormous wealth are the greatest curse of this world and the cause of most of its povertY!"

Overall it is a fascinating story of highly principled and wealthy power-brokers with much of it speaking to our times. It spans morality in supply chains, factory villages, a range of social concerns, responses to war and political newspaper ownership.

Two books: worlds apart, yet universal concerns.

Both recommended.

Richards, Keith (with James Fox) (2010) Life, Phoenix/Orion.
Cadbury, Deborah (2010) Chocolate Wars: from Cadbury to Kraft: 200 years of sweet succes and bitter rivalry, Harper Press.

Also
The third wave of globalisation, Alex Glennie and Will Straw, IPPR. 26 Jan 2012
www.ippr.org/images/media/files/publication/2012/01/third-wave-globalisation_Jan2012_8551.pdf

Funding precipice: baby and bath water

noreply@blogger.com (Angus Willson) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 20:15:00 +0000

I attended two different development education conferenceslast week. Both were interesting in their own way but confirming two sides of the coinof what development education means to me.

The first was a big university event: 120 people.Intro-lecture-lecture. Good stuff. Only a few questions which are treated by the audience as ‘look at me’opportunities. Break into five large groups for two more presentations. Littledialogue, no conversation. Lots of academic language. The panel session at the end had abit of verbal sparring (but less than half the attendance of the morning session). It wasn’t exclusively about formal education and therewere few teachers in attendance but it was mostly opinion (sorry, research) about what other peopleshould do.

The second was the project finale by a small local organisationwith information about the project and the evaluation process in a group ofschools. It had a reflective and modest tone. The real purpose, though, was tohear the young people (Year 9) involved in the project give theirpresentations. These were very impressive, confident and articulate, with onegroup of five delivering off-by-heart. It deserved a much larger audience.

I feel the first category is still being indulged with funding whilethe second type is seriously under threat throughout the country. I feel the first hasonly slight impact on the second but could not exist at all without the genuinehands-on support and guidance work at a grass roots level. I know which is most important and which is most under threat from the lack of funding.

But how is this vital local work tobe sustained?

Development Education Research Centre (DERC), University of London Institute of Education
Development and development education conference
www.ioe.ac.uk/research/150.html
See also
London Global Teacher Network www.lgtn.org.uk/

World Education Development Group (WEDG), Canterbury
"My Dad says..."
www.wedg.org.uk/index.php/news/111-qmy-dad-saysq-conference-and-student-competition-final

Ten places that should exist but don't

noreply@blogger.com (Angus Willson) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 20:49:00 +0000

Ten places that should exist but don't
Lonely Planet

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/england/travel-tips-and-articles/28288

Footpaths and walkways in Great Chart with Singleton

noreply@blogger.com (Angus Willson) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 17:00:00 +0000

View Footpaths and walkways in a larger map

Knowledge navigation for numpties

noreply@blogger.com (Angus Willson) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 14:50:00 +0000

Well, the title is actually

Establishing a Personal Learning Network (PLN) through Social Media

but I have published this 68-page hands-on manual. Further purchasing details here http://www.pannage.com/now/pln-sm/

Please buy copies and write a supportive review here
http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/establishing-a-personal-learning-network-%28pln%29-through-social-media/18812140

Continuing professional development in a fast-changing world needs to be individual and flexible for teachers' requirements. Needs now, and for the future, are specific and wide-ranging. The potential for a personal learning network (PLN) is in your hands.This manual will be applicable for all phases, subjects, aspects of learning and leadership. It will be appropriate for those familiar with or new to social media.It concerns professional participation and engagement. It is actively hands-on.Many examples are given to explore and decide what would be most effective for a continuing plan of action.

Other promotion points you might like to comment on include:

How to cope with what you should know

Get you teaching inspired by people like you

What do you think?

The best-seller I never wrote

noreply@blogger.com (Angus Willson) — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 15:32:00 +0000

It is called "Stability: the new dynamic"

See www.pannage.com/2011/12/the-best-seller-i-never-wrote/

Fisherman's Beach, Hythe - artefact 40

noreply@blogger.com (Angus Willson) — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 19:43:00 +0000

Fisherman's Beach, Hythe. Water colour.

We have had this painting on our wall for about twenty years having bought it at an art exhibition. By chance, Margaret recently visited someone whose name was familiar and there paintings on the wall. It was the same person and they were later delighted to see this photograph of the painting.

We have another painting of boats on a beach which also gave rise to a story of an extraordinary coincidence. That's for another time.

For the sequence of artefacts click here

Creative Cartography and Photography

noreply@blogger.com (Angus Willson) — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 08:42:00 +0000

Creative Cartography: 7 Must-Read Books on Maps
http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2011/01/07/must-read-map-books/

I should just like to add that, just as maps at their best require the high-resolution of printing, this website deserves the size of screen larger than a hand-held device!

I would also like to make it eight...

The Atlas of Experience by Louise van Swaaij and Jean Klare (English text by David Winner)
Pub 2000 by Bloomsbury
Amazon http://www.amazon.co.uk/Atlas-Experience-Jean-Klare/dp/1582341001

"Scale: unimaginable, Projection: subjective"

Also, more web-distraction from Brain Pickings
The 11 Best Photography Books of 2011
http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2011/12/05/best-photography-books-2011/

Enjoy!

Mark Zuckerberg: Inside Facebook

noreply@blogger.com (Angus Willson) — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 14:50:00 +0000

Well, do you trust Mark Zuckerberg?

Or anyone?

I think I will remain a Facebook sceptic and continue to keep my 'liking' of products and services to a minimum. Meanwhile, I will carry on using Blogger and you can comment, if you like, or subscribe if you want more. The Google ads occupy a little screen space and they are generated by Google related to words it finds in the posts. I have excluded most of the options for different types of adverts. It is clear what is happening if you click on one of those, it gives you their content.

Trust no-one.

Mark Zuckerberg: Inside Facebook
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b017ywty/Mark_Zuckerberg_Inside_Facebook/
On BBC iplayer for six more days only

Also
Facebook's problem: how to make money without annoying people
BBC programme offered a few choice insights into how Facebook is still miles away from solving the puzzle of how to generate substantial advertising income without enraging puntershttp://www.guardian.co.uk/business/nils-pratley-on-finance/2011/dec/05/facebook-making-money-annoying-people

And more on those 'mistakes'
Mark Zuckerberg: Facebook founder admits 'bunch of mistakes' amid privacy u-turnhttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/facebook/8924714/Mark-Zuckerberg-Facebook-founder-admits-bunch-of-mistakes-amid-privacy-u-turn.html

CD album of the year 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Angus Willson) — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 10:30:00 +0000

We have just been to see the marvellous St Agnes Fountain again and bought the new Best of... double-CD (2011). See post from last year
http://pannage.blogspot.com/2010/12/st-agnes-fountain-concert.html

Of course, CD purchase is a bit archaic. Increasingly, I am prompted to listen to music, old and new, on Spotify or YouTube - and often it will be listened to once only. A CD purchase is more often where we have seen a live act, and most likely it is not on Spotify at all.

I have been tempted by the Pink Floyd re-issue mega-box-sets but the opportunity to listen to a live performance of Darkside of the Moon for a limited period on their website meant I could satisfy my curiousity and save my money.

The surprise this year for big-act output was the joyous variety of Superheavy - which is a purchase deserving of frequent listening in the car. I also bought the excellent Adele 21 chuffed at my 2008 prediction that she showed more potential than Duffy. REM's Collapse into Now, billed as a return to form, is good but falls short of providing some distinctive new sounds from REM.

My choice for CD this year comes from Broadstairs Folk Week:

Runner up is Robb Johnson - two topical offerings Man Walks into a Pub (2010) and Some Recent Protest Songs (2011),

but my album of the year goes to... "young alternative folk quartet, from Manchester" 4Square's new album Chronicles (which is a play on chronic Les). Talent!

So much music goes unheard - and I knew none on this list, but the internet makes search, listening and finding commentary and background information so much easier. See

BBC Music Writers' Top 25 Albums of 2011
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/bbcmusic/2011/12/bbc_music_writers_top_25_album.html

I liked the Drive-By Truckers.

Boots CRTV50 - artefact 39

noreply@blogger.com (Angus Willson) — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 10:38:00 +0000

This black and white television and radio is still used everyday and recently I had to glue one of the switches together: you can't do that with digital. Unfortunately the tape-player is kaput.

The digital switch-over will see its demise soon as it is connected to the UHF aerial.

See also Grundig Music Boy Radio - Artefect 8

For the sequence of artefacts click here

A banker, a school teacher, a Tory MP and a Daily Mail reader...

noreply@blogger.com (Angus Willson) — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 14:47:00 +0000

A banker, a school teacher, a Tory MP and a Daily Mail reader are sat around a table.In front of them is a plate, on which there are ten biscuits.

The banker scoffs nine of the biscuits, then the Tory turns to the Daily Mail reader and whispers in his ear, "Watch out - that teacher is after your biscuit."

With thanks to Simon Colbeck and Nora McQuaid via Facebook)

Nora also offers this quote:

"Unions: the people who brought you the weekend. And capped working hours. And employment rights and protections. And fair wages. And pensions. And ended child labour. What a bunch of greedy bastards." - Priyamvada Gopal

Who pays the piper? #UKedchat

noreply@blogger.com (Angus Willson) — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 20:48:00 +0000

The online community of school teachers (and others) using Twitter, one of the 'free' tools of the internet, got into a spat this week over who helps run the weekly hour of discussion using the hashtag #UKedchat.

It's good to find that many teachers are still principled and understand that companies pay for a reason. They love the independent, free-spirit of collaboration online. It's CPD on the level and unmoderated.

Meanwhile, companies are struggling to find ways of controlling and monetizing the 'free' areas of social networking. They want to occupy the void from the collapse of LA CPD and advisory services.

Turf wars, of a sort.

#ukedchat #fail: TES attempt takeover cover-up whilst Pearson muscle-in on grassroots Twitter teacher CPD.
http://dougbelshaw.com/blog/2011/11/24/ukedchat-fail/

Guest Post by Pooky – Just to put your minds at rest about #ukedchathttp://www.creativeeducation.co.uk/blog/index.php/2011/11/guest-post-by-pooky-just-to-put-your-minds-at-rest-about-ukedchat/

For more on the deal that is #UKedchat see
http://ukedchat.wikispaces.com
and
http://ukedchat.wordpress.com/

predetermination

noreply@blogger.com (Angus Willson) — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 16:06:00 +0000

A plain English guide to the Localism Act - Update15 November 2011
http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/localgovernment/localismplainenglishupdate

"Through the Localism Act, the Government has abolished the Standards Board regime. Instead, local authorities will draw up their own codes, and it will become a criminal offence for councillors to deliberately withhold or misrepresent a financial interest. This means that councils will not have to spend time and money investigating trivial complaints, while councillors involved in corruption and misconduct will face appropriately serious sanctions. This provides a more effective safeguard against unacceptable behaviour.

Clarifying the rules on predetermination

In parallel with the abolition of the Standards Board, the Government has used the Localism Act to clarify the rules on ‘predetermination’. These rules were developed to ensure that councillors came to council discussions - on, for example, planning applications - with an open mind. In practice, however, these rules had been interpreted in such a way as to reduce the quality of local debate and stifle valid discussion. In some cases councillors were warned off doing such things as campaigning, talking with constituents, or publicly expressing views on local issues, for fear of being accused of bias or facing legal challenge.The Localism Act makes it clear that it is proper for councillors to play an active part in local discussions, and that they should not be liable to legal challenge as a result. This will help them better represent their constituents and enrich local democratic debate. People can elect their councillor confident in the knowledge that they will be able to act on the issues they care aboutand have campaigned on." (page 8)

we have not built enough new homes

noreply@blogger.com (Angus Willson) — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 19:16:00 +0000

Laying the Foundations: A Housing Strategy for England
"The problems we face are stark – we have not built enough new homes for more than a generation and the impact of the credit crunch has simply compounded this challenge."

http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/housing/pdf/2033676.pdf

Ashford's M20 pedestrian bridge: "Eureka Skyway"

noreply@blogger.com (Angus Willson) — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 18:39:00 +0000

What's in a name?

Place-making is an in-exact science. Would it have been better to wait for a preferred name to emerge by community consensus?

Ashford M20 footbridge named as the Eureka Skyway
"the judges selected Eureka Skyway – one of no less than 76 namesput forward by sports journalist Neil Wolfson – feeling the namewas striking, modern and easily recognisable."
http://www.kentonline.co.uk/kentonline/news/2011/november/17/ashford_m20_footbridge.asp x

The comments under this item continue to snipe at the cost - and the need.

I am sure they missed a trick by not making the bridge a big A-shape. Instead, it's a lop-sided V-shape. It's a V-sign from or to Ashford. Which?

See also blogpost http://pannage.blogspot.com/2011/10/ashford-m20-suspension-bridge-opened.html

Music that is on a different plane

noreply@blogger.com (Angus Willson) — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 22:06:00 +0000

Archive piece

Letter to The Guardian, 6 December 1999
Music that is on a different plane
http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/1999/dec/06/guardianletters1

NB email account no longer valid.

Most viewed on Flickr

noreply@blogger.com (Angus Willson) — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 21:54:00 +0000

This cliff-fall is the most viewed image in my photostream - Barton on Sea (September 2008)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/angus-willson/2902951910/

Ashford M20 suspension bridge opened

noreply@blogger.com (Angus Willson) — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 19:47:00 +0000

The much-delayed pedestrian bridge opened this weekend. At last!

Iconic or ironic?

It provides a mighty-fine route from the town centre into the Eureka Leisure Park.

This is the same view as those taken in May 2011 when the bridge sections were lifted into place.
See more on Flickr photostream from here

See May 2011 post Ashford M20 suspension bridge installed
http://pannage.blogspot.com/2011/05/ashford-m20-suspension-bridge-installed.html

Tragic footnote 6 November 2011
A motorway closure was last night was reportedly caused by the first attempted suicide from the bridge.

Eight radical solutions to the housing crisis

noreply@blogger.com (Angus Willson) — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 08:34:00 +0000

Thanks to Rob Chambers @RobGeo for this link

Eight radical solutions to the housing crisis

By Tom de Castella, BBC News Magazine, 25 October 2011
Pressure to address the UK's housing crisis grows ever stronger, with a number of radical solutions being put forward to ease the strain.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-15400477

Encourage elderly out of big houses
Freestyle planning
Contain population growth
Force landlords to sell or let empty properties
Ban second homes
Guarantee mortgage payments
Live with extended family
Build more council homes

173 comments at the time of posting - and counting.
However, there's not much sign of self-less understanding!