e_education.txt

No matter how technology transforms the jobs market computer science expertise will be crucial.
We have the funds to make significant investments in public programs like early childhood education but first policymakers must change how they think about allocating future resources. 
View the ESEA law within the context of civil rights not just as an antipoverty effort.
The four Title I formulas are opaque complicated and have priorities that dont always align.
This lowpoverty district in Virginia recieves million from Title I. For more read our special report on how the governments K programincreases the inequality it was created to stop.
Three bills aimed at reining in private schools doing away with screening process in nursery admissions and scrapping of no detention policy till class besides bringing in overall systemic reforms in education sector were on Tuesday passed by Delhi Assembly. 
Delhi Government has started a school survey to identify the reforms needed in the present system in the backdrop of its recent proposal for a separate Education Board and syllabus for its schools in the city. 
Student protesters calling for education reform today defied an order to disperse in a tense standoff with hundreds of riot police in central Myanmar. 
Pitching for major reforms in the countrys education system noted banker Uday Kotak has he is ashamed to say that his children had to go overseas to study as he felt those courses were better abroad. 
Andhra Pradesh Human Resources Development Minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao said in Visakhapatnam yesterday that the government wants to establish the state as knowledge hub by bringing reforms in education sector. 
Thousands of students filled the central streets of Chiles capital city Santiago on Thursday in a march to remind President Michelle Bachelet that their patience is running out as to when she will deliver promised education reforms. 
We need a smartphone type of education system open and connected Rahul Gandhi today said pitching for sweeping reforms in education sector as he spoke to students through a webcast from Bangalore University. 
Blog by Aaditya Thackeray Yuvasena President. 
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said today there was need to improve the quality of education and much still remained to be done to reform Indias educational system. 
Student protesters in Italy clashed with police in the Sicilian capital Palermo on Wednesday as part of nationwide demonstrations over university budget cuts that are expected to be approved by parliament.Carrying placards bearing the name of famous books thousands of protesters marched through the streets some wearing helmets similar to those u. 
The Delhi High Court on Wednesday issued notices to the Director of Education DoE CBSE and the school on a petition filed by Soothwal challenging the failure of the school to implement the scheme of examination reforms and Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation CCE formulated by the Government of India. 
As part of his education reforms one of the things HRD minister Kapil Sibal moved fast on was to work on getting a national board to modernise education in madrasas. 
CBSE Class board exams will be optional from next year and a grading system will be put in place. 
For the first time since the new education minister promised a slew of reforms the Central Advisory Board on Education CABE is meeting on Monday in the capital. 
On Tuesday Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal tried to explain his plans to carry out education reforms. 
Kudos to Hillary Clinton. After some anticharter rhetoric earlier in the campaign she had the guts to .
Executive Director Education Post Former Assistant Secretary for Communications and Outreach U.S. Department of Education
Ensuring that every student has the opportunity to meet his or her full potential especially those dealing with the burdens and complications of living in poverty will require creative solutions from all sectors of our society.
President Voices for National Service Chief Strategy Officer and Executive Vice President City Year Inc.
One Supreme Court decision does not cure years of racism and in fact immediately after the decision it was clear that some in our society still dont get it.
The swift rise of coding bootcamps accelerated vocational schools that prepare students to become professional software developers has understan.
It is a story of phony choice not better schools. It is a warning of what can happen to education in the United States if the charter school movement is allowed to grow unchecked and unregulated.
That professional right to defend student needs doubles as a moral obligation to stand for those chained by the blight of poverty and silenced by the might of corporate greed public indifference and government corruption.
Historian professor education activist and author of Teaching US History Beyond the Textbook 
My father James my mother Lisa my sisters Alice and Sherry and me I was named Shawnta.
Ever since I can remember I have strived to be the perfect man. A destructive penchant it has often made me feel simply unworthy and left me unfulfilled as I felt ingenuine and hollow. Oddly only recently have I given the concept of perfection its deserved reflection.
The role of teachers is paramount to raising educational standards around the globe. In countries such as Finland Singapore and South Korea teac.
The worlds first ever winner of Integrity Idol has spoken to Apolitical about his victory and how he raised the pass rate of school pupils in his d.
The network for innovative public servants reporting on pioneering solutions to the complex new problems our societies face
As a student I got to know a man called Frank. He had lost his home and his neighborhood and was living on the streets and shelters. He wanted to go back to a world where he had a family a community. Yet he had no hope. His story of yearning to return home stayed with me for years.
Education Reform is a phrase that has been thrown around the political world for decades. Conventional wisdom dictates that any time the word education has been brought up you need to add reform to it to start a conversation.
GOP presidential candidates meet head to head in the last debate before the New Hampshire primary.
Kaya Henderson is stepping down after more than five years as chancellor of the District of Columbias public schools
The Republican candidates castigate the president for his use of executive overreach during the GOP debate.
Lets start with the economy in. And a basic fact. The United States of America. Right now. As the strongest. Most durable economy in the world. Where the middle of the longest streak a private sector job creation in history. More than. And fourteen million Newton. Jobs the strongest two years of
As the clock ticks down to midnight on Dec. members of Congress are probably hoping for better approval ratings in . A new CNNORC poll shows just percent of Americans approve of the job Congress is doing. Despite those dismal ratings was an eventful year on Capitol Hill . Heres a
The president fielded questions from reporters before leaving for vacation with his family.
Bhartiya Janta Part ys prime ministerial candidate and chief minister of Gujarat Narendra Modi be.
Mexicos air force flew tons of grain to the southern state of Oaxaca on Friday as protests by teachers opposed to education reform spread across the country and road blocks led to dwindling food supplies in some remote regions. 
Delhi government on Wednesday announced a new education reform plan seeking to check dropout of students and improve education quality with special focus on the weakest students. 
Mexicos government will fire more than teachers who skipped evaluations under a controversial education reform that has sparked protest in the countrys poorest states authorities said Monday. 
Student protesters calling for education reform today defied an order to disperse in a tense standoff with hundreds of riot police in central Myanmar. 
Student protesters calling for education reform said on Tuesday that riot police have ordered them to disperse within hours after surrounding them near a monastery in central Myanmar. 
Myanmar today said political forces were manipulating education reform protests to create unrest amid increasing unease over rallies across the country a claim rejected by activists. 
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said today there was need to improve the quality of education and much still remained to be done to reform Indias educational system. 
The Supreme Court said today that the education system in the country has failed to achieve its objective and it has to be reformed immediately. 
Facebooks Zuckerberg reportedly forming a political group to lobby for education and immigration reform
Zuckerberg is helping form a group to lobby for US political reform in areas such as education and immigration policy. 
Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg is helping form a group to lobby for US political reform in areas such as education and immigration policy according to US media reports spreading online Tuesday. 
Continuing his agenda for reform Sibal said a core science curriculum is ready and could be in all schools by next year. 
On Tuesday Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal tried to explain his plans to carry out education reforms. 
A wellfunctioning VET system that delivers the skills we need is fundamental to a strong and prosperous economy that delivers the jobs Australian families and industry want.
The Australian Government has embarked on a significant reform of the VET system. The objectives of reform are to improve the quality job outcomes and status of VET which are necessary for the system to adapt to future skills need.
Top quality providers and top quality courses enhance the contribution VET makes to the employment prospects of students and boost the status of VET amongst families students and employers industry and community.
Reforms focus on enhancing industry leadership in the development of training products to reflect emerging skills needs and support greater mobility between occupations strengthening the apprenticeships system and supporting increased participation in highquality training.
A range of VET reform measures reflecting the vision for VET reform and the objectives have already been introduced. More detailed information is available.
The Australian Government embarked on a VET Reform agenda and the VET Reform Taskforce was established in November to engage with industry and the training sector to develop and progress agreed reforms. In July with the VET reform process well underway the policy functions of the Taskforce were transitioned into the Department of Education and Training.
The process of VET reform has involved extensive consultations and engagement with stakeholders. Summaries of consultations undertaken by the VET Reform Taskforce prior to is available.
For further information such as VET Reform media releases speeches and interview scripts visit the media centreof theMinister for Vocational Education and Skills Senator the Hon Scott Ryan.
Bhartiya Janta Part ys prime ministerial candidate and chief minister of Gujarat Narendra Modi be.
As part of the Budget the Government announced an ambitious package of higher education reforms to address the challenges facing the higher education sector. These reforms were intended to strengthen the higher education system and ensure Australia is not left behind at a time of rising performance by universities around the world foster greater innovation in education offerings and to widen opportunity and access to support the growing diversity of student needs and aspirations.
Informed by the discussions of the last six months the Government has released a paper Driving Innovation Fairness and Excellence in Australian Higher Education which sets out options for reform that support the Governments vision of a stronger more sustainable system of higher education. The Government is seeking feedback on the individual elements of a new higher education reform package to be considered later in .
To facilitate this consultation the Government has taken the decision to delay implementation of the reforms by a further year to . The Government will also not be pursuing full fee deregulation for Commonwealth supported places. It will consider future arrangements including options for some form of fee flexibility as part of its consultation on the future of higher education.
The Government welcomes feedback on the ideas presented in this paper. The Government will continue to consult with students parents employers higher education providers and peak bodies on its reform proposals. To assist in this process the Government will appoint an expert advisory panel to provide advice on the content and implementation of the final package.
Please note that the Department intends to publish all submissions on its website once the call for submissions has closed unless the writer indicates that a submission is to be kept confidential.
MPs reject the governments choice for the next head of Ofsted saying they have significant concerns about her suitability for the job.
Academy trusts are no better than local authorities at raising school standards says an analysis of primary and secondary schools in England.
A pay rise significantly higher than will be required in future to ensure an adequate supply of good teachers in England and Wales the School Teachers Review Body warns.
The permanent revolution in political life has reached Ofsted as MPs turn down Nicky Morgans nomination for head says Sean Coughlan
Sherman Dorn Arizona State University and Amanda U. Potterton Arizona State University
Grigory Kliucharev Russian Academy of Sciences and William John Morgan University of Nottingham
Visiting Professor of Practice in Education Graduate School of Education Harvard University
Research Chair in Education and Director of the Centre for International Research on Education Systems Victoria University
Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies University of Texas at Austin
Director of Research and Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies School of Education University of Nottingham
Honorary Senior Research Associate Dept of Epidemiology and Public Health UCL
Researcher Center for Advanced Research in Education Sociology Department University of Chile
Michael Vuolo The Ohio State University and Jeylan T Mortimer University of Minnesota
Recognising and showcasing excellence in the vocational education and training sector.
The majority of the awards are the culmination of the state and territory awards with winners from aligned categories in each state and territory eligible to compete at the national level. There are also seven award categories available by entering directly to the Australian Training Awards.
Over industry government and vocational education experts discussed leading practice examples and shared their expertise and insights regarding effective ways to engage employers in skills development and workbased learning. Workshop sessions traversed a broad range of topics anchored around the premise that employers will be at the centre of global efforts to develop future workforce skills. Participants discussed the importance of building good employer relationships embracing differences at the business industry and regional level and designing policy responses that facilitate local solutions for local issues.
The Inclusion Support ProgrammeISP will commence from July . The ISP replaces the Inclusion and Professional Support Program IPSP which ends on June .
To ensure continued inclusion support for early childhood and child care services a number of transition arrangements have been put in place. Further detail is provided on the IPSP Transition page of the departments website.
Six teams of respected and eminent researchers have been announced that will assist in identifying Australian research infrastructure capability by assessing what we have and what the nation might need in the future.
This process is integral to the development of a discussion paper for the National Research Infrastructure Roadmap which will be released later in the year.
The list of the areas and respective capability experts is below. Their current position and employer have been included to show the range of expertise.
The Skilled Occupations List SOL has been registered on the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments by the Department of Immigration and Border Protection. The review of the SOL was conducted by the Department of Education and Training. The SOL identifies occupations that would benefit from independent skilled migration for the purpose of meeting the medium to long term skill needs of the Australian economy where such needs may not be more appropriately met by sponsored migration programs or upskilling Australians.
Following their announcement at the MidYear Economic and Fiscal Outlook MYEFO in December Senator the Hon Scott Ryan Minister for Vocational Education and Skills has released the Apprenticeship Training alternative delivery pilots guidelines.
Stream One pilots will trial broader industry adoption of alternative methods of delivering apprenticeships training. Representing industry sectors building and construction electrical and communications vital to the Australian economy Stream One pilots will be designed and delivered by the Master Builders Australia National Electrical and Communications Association and North East Vocational College in Adelaide.
Stream Two is an open grants process for a further two pilots. Applications will close on July .
New Research Block Grant arrangements for universities were announced in December last year and form an important element of the Governments National Innovation and Science Agenda NISA.
In line with the aims of NISA the new arrangements are designed to drive greater researchindustry engagement by increasing incentives for collaboration with business and organisations which use the outcomes of research.
This will ultimately help translate our excellent research into benefits for the Australian community.
To support the implementation of Australias first ever National Strategy for International Education the Australian Government as part of the Budget has committed million over four years.
This funding will enable us to undertake projects in a range of areas by increasing opportunities for the sector to grow and diversify such as enhancing the employability of international students piloting innovative education delivery and borderless education models undertaking further international education research to inform better policy and practice raising community awareness of the benefits international students bring to Australia socially culturally and economically and further enhancing our reputation for quality student living and learning experiences.
The Australian Government delivered the Budget on Tuesday May . To find out what this means for education and training visit the Budget section of the website.
As part of the Budget the Government announced an additional . million to enhance the Quality Indicators for Learning and Teaching QILT website www.qilt.edu.au.
The QILT website supports the quality of learning and teaching in Australian higher education and ensures students have access to transparent and comparable information. QILT helps students and their families make informed choices about their higher education study options by bringing together survey data from all Australian higher education institutions about students experiences and graduate job outcomes.
As part of the Budget the Government announced an ambitious package of higher education reforms to address the challenges facing the higher education sector. These reforms were intended to strengthen the higher education system and ensure Australia is not left behind at a time of rising performance by universities around the world foster greater innovation in education offerings and to widen opportunity and access to support the growing diversity of student needs and aspirations.
It is envisioned that the paper will promote public discussion and inform the redesign of the scheme.
Senator the Hon Scott Ryan Minister for Vocational Education and Skills seeks feedback on the ideas presented in the paper which includes a series of questions to guide stakeholders in providing comment.
Minister for Education and Training Senator Simon Birmingham today launched the Early Childhood Resource Hubwhich provides over early childhood educators access to over digital resources including articles videos forums all linked to the National Quality Framework NQF.
The Hub is great news for child care educators to find quick and easy access to information on the NQF in one simple place.
Educators can use resources on the Hub to support their educational programming and share ideas about professional practice.
The Hub is a valuable tool to assist educators and services developing and implementing quality improvement plans and tackling specific issues such as the application of learning frameworks parental engagement and supporting children with specific needs.
Parents were given from January until March or a later date if previously notified by the Department of Human Services to meet the immunisation requirements to keep receiving Child Care Benefit and Child Care Rebate. Those parents who did not take steps to meet the requirements will no longer receive child care payments from May .
Due to the rise in the number of children vaccinated over the past few months there was a delay in processing vaccination records with some states and territories needing extra time to update the Australian Childhood Immunisation Register.
As the delay was beyond the parents control and may have resulted in their childs information not being uptodate child care payments continued to be paid to allow time for the register to be updated.
The Early Learning Languages Australia ELLA trial which commenced in has been formally evaluated by Deloitte Access Economics.
For more information about the findings of the report please visit the Evaluation of the ELLA Trial Final Report page.
The ELLA trial is being expanded in to allow additional early learning services to participate in the programme.
More than services that unsuccessfully lodged an expression of interest to participate in the programme were invited to participate in on a bring your own device BYOD basis.
This has resulted in more than preschool services being offered the opportunity to participate in ELLA in up from services that participated in the trial.
The Higher Education Standards Panel has released a paper calling for public submissions on how to improve transparency in higher education admissions processes.
The meeting was chaired by the Hon Scott Ryan Minister for Vocational Education and Skills and brought together skills ministers from across the nation.
The discussions focused on four priority areas in the vocational education system industry responsiveness funding quality and data.
Minister for Education and Training Simon Birmingham has announced the makeup of the Expert Working Group that is tasked with setting the future direction of national research infrastructure including through the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy NCRIS.
The Minister said development of this roadmap is critical if Australia is to build on its international reputation as a vibrant centre for innovation and research excellence.
The Expert Working Group led by Dr Alan Finkel AO the Chief Scientist for Australia will consult widely with researchers and other stakeholders such as end users of research including industry and business to develop a national ten year plan to underpin Australian research and identify future national research infrastructure priorities and areas for investment Minister Birmingham said.
School students around Australia have thrown their support behind a national move to address the problem of bullying and violence in classrooms and schoolyards across the country.
A total of students from over schools have taken part in the National Day of Action Against Bullying and Violence by sending a clear message that bullying and violence at school are not okay at any time.
The theme of the national day of action is Take a stand together and it gives students and school communities throughout Australia an opportunity to promote antibullying initiatives and strategies to a wider community.
Schools taking part have registered with the Bullying. No Way Website at bullyingnoway.gov.au that has valuable resources for workable solutions to address bullying harassment and violence.
A new book launched this week is proof of the profound contribution Australias university researchers are making not only to the lives of Australians but communities around the world.
Commissioned by the Department of Education and Training in collaboration with Universities Australia Worldleading research in Australias universities showcases how Australian universities are working with our international partners and building productive alliances with Australian and international businesses and industries.
The book also demonstrates in an engaging way the depth and breadth of Australias university research skills and ingenuity at a time when the rest of the world is looking to Australia for new ideas.
Education and Training Minister Senator Simon Birmingham said the book contains many examples where Australian research is transforming lives here and overseas.
On March Senator the Hon Scott Ryan Minister for Vocational Education and Skills announced the launch of the Preparing Secondary Students for Work website which includes the new VET selfassessment tool for schools developed in collaboration with key stakeholders from schools industry and training sectors. The website contains important information that will assist schools and employers to more effectively work together directly benefitting students both in the short and long term Minister Ryan said. To access the online tool and website visit www.pssfw.myskills.gov.au.
On March Senator the Hon Simon Birmingham Minister for Education and Training approvedthe guidelines for the allocation of NCRIS funds from July to June .
Sherman Dorn Arizona State University and Amanda U. Potterton Arizona State University
Grigory Kliucharev Russian Academy of Sciences and William John Morgan University of Nottingham
Visiting Professor of Practice in Education Graduate School of Education Harvard University
Research Chair in Education and Director of the Centre for International Research on Education Systems Victoria University
Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies University of Texas at Austin
Director of Research and Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies School of Education University of Nottingham
Honorary Senior Research Associate Dept of Epidemiology and Public Health UCL
Researcher Center for Advanced Research in Education Sociology Department University of Chile
Fron JacksonWebb The Conversation Michael Courts The Conversation Emil Jeyaratnam The Conversation and Wes Mountain The Conversation
John Barrick Brigham Young University and Jennifer Brown Arizona State University
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Now that the Conservatives have an overall majority Education Secretary Nicky Morgan can be confident of delivering on the pledge she has made that there will be no rowing back on the Governments reform agenda for schools during the lifetime of this Parliament.
In essence that will mean a major increase in the number of academies and free schools with an extra of the latter to be opened between now and the next election new tests and more rigour in Alevel and GCSE exams.
First off the blocks will be a crackdown on underperforming schools with ministers particularly keen to target coasting schools in more privileged areas of the country that should be achieving better results than they do. That is where the extra academies come in.
Early legislation is expected most likely in the Queens Speech later this month to give a network of eight Regional Commissioners established last September new powers to intervene in underperforming schools and organise for them to taken over by private sponsors and run as academies.
The new powers given to Regional Commissioners will open up the drive announced by Prime Minister David Cameron during the election campaign to compel up to schools currently rated by education standards watchdog Ofsted as requires improvement to become academies.
There is no doubt in education circles that coasting schools have been lucky to escape the Governments gaze so far Andreas Schleicher director of education and skills at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said low education standards were not just confined to areas of poverty and disadvantage.
Some schools in very disadvantaged areas have excellent results whereas some in more affluent neighbourhoods have soso results he said.
The Commissioners new powers though will equally apply to those failing to cut the Ofsted mustard in disadvantaged areas.
Lord Nash is particularly anxious to tackle the problem of intergenerational unemployment which was most prevalent in coastal towns and mining communities. 
One of the most controversial parts of the Conservative manifesto was to cut benefits for the working age poor by bn over the next three years. But during the campaign they only said where bn of these savings would come from. That leaves bn still to find. Some experts think the only way they can close that gap is by means testing child benefit with millions of families losing out
The Tories will increase the threshold at which the p rate of tax becomes payable to by . They havent said so but it is also likely that at some point in the next five years they will abolish that p rate of tax altogether for the highest earners. They also want to increase the effective inheritance tax threshold for married couples and civil partners to m
The next two years are going to be dominated by the prospect of a referendum on Britains membership of the EU. First off David Cameron has the daunting task of negotiating a deal with other EU leaders an acceptable deal that he can sell to his party so he can go into the referendum campaigning for a yes vote. This may be unachievable and it is possible that the Tories may end up arguing to leave. Opinion polls show Britain is divided on EU membership one poll this year showed said they would opt to leave compared to who would vote to stay in
Having won the election the Tories now have a mandate to go further and faster reforming the NHS. In order to make cost savings there is likely to be greater private involvement in running services while some smaller hospitals may lose services they currently provide like AE and maternity units
The Tories plans to create new free schools and make state schools become academies. They will also carry on reforming the Department of Education and remove more powers from local authorities over how schools are run
Government spending on renewable energy is under real threat now the Lib Dems are no longer in power with the Tories. Subsidies are likely to be slashed for offshore wind farm and other green energy supplies. Meanwhile there will be generous tax break for fracking as ministers try and incentivise the industry to drill for onshore oil and gas
In the campaign the Tories pledged to double the amount of free early education for three and fouryearolds from hours a week to . The extra hours would only be offered to working families where parents are employed for at least eight hours a week. However they have not said where the money will come from to fund the pledge
The Tories want to slash business regulation merge regulator and cut costs. The Lib Dems stopped them from reducing the employment rights of workers in power but these are now under threat
In some cases he added families had been unemployed for three generations. Its shocking that for generations weve allowed that to happen he added.
How successful the Governments drive will be may depend on the level of opposition it receives from teachers organisations and its own determination to push up the numbers. Teachers cite evidence such as a Commons education select committee report just before the election which said it could detect no link yet between academisation and rising standards.
Teachers minds are likely to be focused elsewhere. Their biggest worry amongst is over the cuts in education they expect to suffer in this Parliament bringing redundancies increased class sizes and reduced subject options in the sixthform. The Conservatives have promised to maintain spending for schools at its present level but have made no provision for a real terms increase to cover inflation. The highly respected Institute for Fiscal Studies estimates this could effectively mean a per cent for education when increased pay and national insurance contributions are taken into account. Expect strikes in the areas worst affected by the cuts.
One of the first controversial decisions though that Mrs Morgan will have to take is over the proposal to set up a satellite grammar in Sevenoaks Kent to compensate for the fact that it is the only area of the county not to have selective secondary education.
The decision was put off during the election campaign for fear that it was too toxic to take. If granted opponents of selective education would claim it opened the floodgates to similar proposals elsewhere in the country. If refused it would upset the right wing of the Conservative party.
The reality is that there is unlikely to be any return to wholesale selective education throughout the country but a favourable decision coupled with the Governments policy of allowing popular schools to expand could see an increase in the number of grammar school places during this Parliament.
Other reforms likely to cause controversy are the plans to introduce new baseline tests for fouryearolds which the NUT is threatening to boycott. It has urged its members not to take part in a national pilot of these tests this September and vote on a boycott of them if they are still introduced nationwide the following year.
Ministers claim they will give schools essential information about the performance of their pupils on arrival at school and allow them to rank schools on the progress they make with their pupils when they compare the baseline test results to the national curriculum tests taken when they leave primary school at . However teachers insist four is too young an age to test children.
The likelihood is that they and other controversial reforms in the Conservative party manifesto such as children who failed to reach the required standard in English and maths tests at being retested the following year will go ahead.
There will however be a sigh of relief in the more realistic of teaching circles that Mrs Morgan has been reappointed as Education Secretary rather than being replaced by an ideologue from the right of the party. She has already gained a reputation for being prepared to talk things over with teachers and has since the election said she is committed to seeing if there are further ways that the Government can reduce their workload.
One item which did not emerge during the election campaign but could come to pass is for higher education which currently come under the remit of the Department for Business Innovation and Skills to be returned to the Department for Education.
Former Education Secretary Michael Gove was keen on making the switch when in office but it never made its way to the top of the agenda. When Mrs Morgan was asked about it earlier this week she replied that it was a decision that would have to rest with David Cameron which would suggest it is on the Prime Ministers radar.
Many in the education world argue it would be logical particularly in regards to further education for which responsibility is currently split between the two departments.
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It was a question that many of us were asked repeatedly during university at family functions hanging out at the pub or making small talk during tra.
The world only spins forward wrote Tony Kushner. Schools on the other hand too often only spin. Or they get stuck altogether. When they do blame.
Give students real problems with real stakes that their communities face. If they are not creative there have to be stakes to lose. Give them something to engage with thats worth their time and creative capacities.
If our individual and collective decisions whether political social or economic were based on this fact we would be living in a far different world one where consumption was not cancerous one without poverty or pollution one where peace was more than a pipe dream.
Have you noticed that when politicians in the U.S. and Canada talk about education reform they say its what the economy needs. They tell us the only way to do that is for schools to produce the kinds of workers that corporations want. Given the fact that there can be no economy without a healthy environment isnt this focus on what the economy needs a bit shortsighted
There is a great deal of debate about whether or not technology will revolutionize education. To me the debate itself points out a problem. With the number of free and lowcost educational resources that technology has made available it should have at least to an extent. The fact that it hasnt points to a problem with the system overall. If we want to get the most out of our schools the education system should be designed exclusively for children and for the world in which we currently live.
If you are an entrepreneur be proud to hold this title and live up to its name. Also understand that you are leading a long overdue generational shift across sectors and it will take some time before your path may be embraced by all. Dont let the resistance discourage you from your ambitions.
Understanding Ontarios financial woes is critical to understanding the need for real change. The province has been in deficit since accumulating more than billion in debt. In the deficit was . billion. The provinces debt now stands at almost billion it was just billion at the start of the s.
For many years there was no educational Louis Pasteur for reformers to rally round and so educators have been able to cling to their unfortunate philosophies. This is no longer the case. Unfortunately many education leaders are ignoring these new findings. Why is that
Learning is not just about retaining knowledge its about understanding how to relate that knowledge to other people in a meaningful way. And you cant do that if you are distracted stressed or lack emotional intelligence.
In Canada organizations like the Society for Quality Education have been fighting for improvements. But Ontario Quebec and British Columbia have resisted efforts by them and others to return to traditional methods of teaching mathematics despite the fact that Canadian students are falling behind according to OECD global results in nations.
Its and youre six years old. Youre in a classroom that hasnt changed much since your parents sat there despite the welcome lack of nuns in .
The current postsecondary education system is failing not only the new economic paradigm but those individuals who are searching for how to acquire the knowledge to effectively compete in todays economy. How is the current postsecondary education system failing Here are the numerous reasons.
Governor Bush was well aware that he was taking a big political risk in championing such big bold changes but he was willing to take this risk for the sake of the children. And as it happened Governor Bushs risk paid off handsomely both in terms of his own popularity at the polls and also in terms of student success.
Parents are really fed up. They are sick of paying for Kumon sick of struggling with ridiculous homework assignments and nutty textbooks and most of all tired of seeing doors slammed in their childrens faces because they cant do math. In Ontario an election is coming soon. Its time to make a change.
I like to call us resolutionaries. We are the people who have the best intentions and make great plans for the year to come. We will quit our bad habits and develop new and healthy ones. Today we are sending our children back to school for the first week of . Lets make a resolution to help them develop healthy habits and stick to those new habits.
Somewhere along the way weve adopted some goofy misguided idea that childrens psyches are inherently staggeringly fragile prone to devastating and irreversible damage from any number of relatively benign phenomena like honour rolls sporting activities where only the winning team gets a trophy or track and field days with actual competition oh the horror.
Remember a company called Blockbuster What about Sam the Record Man Think of those companies and what became of them and their industries in the digital world. Now turn your thoughts to learning. Digital technologies are disrupting it in the same way that they disrupted Blockbuster.
Importantly Canada and nations like America have entered a new phase in which promoting creativity and innovation represent the only option for boosting global competitiveness. Canada or any country desirous of succeeding in an interconnected world must aggressively adopt the idea that creativity is the single most important ingredient to reinventing itself.
There are many misconceptions about black Canadians and where they belong. For this reason I am a strong supporter of the Toronto District School Boards TDSB decision to open an Africentric high school for this coming September. What better institution than our public schools to dispel the widely held misconceptions that black people are inherently violent criminal loud aggressive hypersexed unintelligent and lazy
Around two hundred thousand Quebec students were out in the streets of Montreal protesting tuition hikes Thursday. Their claims are unfounded or at the very least misguided but one thing I must concede is how this movement is getting Quebeckers out of their bubble of indifference relating to public affairs.
Over time hiring promotion and tenure committees have favoured grant writers and grantsmanship over other perhaps more creative and innovative scholars who dont toe the line. There are serious consequences when as in the current system you invest in projects and not people.
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In a commission appointed by President Reagan released A Nation at Risk a report announcing that public education in the U.S. had seriously deteriorated. Without improvement we wouldnt be able to compete with other countries in the future. If an unfriendly foreign power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre educational performance that exists today the report declared we might well have viewed it as an act of war.
In response many states raised teachers salaries and searched for ways to evaluate their schools effectiveness. In his State of the Union address President Bush announced national education goals and challenged America to raise its students to number one in the world in science and math by the year .
The Clinton administration pressed states to establish standards in core subjects and to test students to measure their progress.
This movement toward testing and accountability culminated in the No Child Left Behind Act of or NCLB which requires states to test students annually on basic skills in order to qualify for federal funding. The law was proposed by President George W. Bush as a remedy for what he called the soft bigotry of low expectations and passed with strong bipartisan support in Congress. NCLB includes an escalating series of measures to improve schools that fail to make Adequate Yearly Progress. See below for more detail on NCLB.
President Obamas Race to the Top shifted the focus to encouraging reform by offering generous funding to states that proposed to implement changes preferred by the administration.
Though spending on public education from kindergarten through high school has doubled since A Nation at Risk came out the gains have been relatively small. The U.S. now spends more on education per pupil than any other country in the world except Switzerland but our students performance on international math science and reading tests is poor to mediocre as compared with other industrialized countries. On the most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress only a third or fewer of eighthgrade students achieved a grade of proficient in reading math or science.
Testing has revealed a persistent gap in academic performance between minorities and white students. Black and Latino students have improved in math and reading but they still lag behind white studentsby about two grade levels on national tests in math and reading for thand thgraders. According to one study it will take between and years to close the AfricanAmericanwhite achievement gap in reading among thgraders if we keep doing what were doing now.
For a report on what testing reveals about the achievement gap see the Christian Science Monitor.
Many teachers and commentators point to the impact of outside factors including poverty and family dysfunction on student achievement and say the difference a teacher can make in the classroom is limited. But there are many examples of schools that successfully teach even the most underprivileged students proving that demography is not destiny.
Merit pay to reward and inspire excellence. The current salary system in most school districts links pay mainly to how long a teacher has worked with no financial reward for excellence. While the idea of merit pay seems sensible many including teachers unions argue against it saying that measuring merit is hard to do objectively and that merit pay could become a way for principals to reward their favorites and punish those they dislike. Teachers warn that merit pay based on test results would encourage them to focus even more on standardized test preparation leaving less time for creativity and deeper thinking and would turn what has been a collegial professionin which teachers freely share tips and ideas with colleaguesinto a more competitive one with teachers guarding their best methods in order to outperform peers. Finally researchers have found no significant difference between students test results in schools that offer merit pay and those who dont. For more on this debate see Debatepedia.
Higher salaries especially during the early years of teachers careers to help recruit the best and the brightest. A study by McKinsey and Company found that the worlds top school systems recruit their teachers from the top third of university graduates a different study found that very few U.S. teachers come from that highachieving pool. In order to compete with betterpaying professions for the most qualified job applicants schools need to offer higher salaries.
More observation and evaluation of teachers in the classroomespecially when they are identified as needing improvementby experienced professionals who can make constructive suggestions and recommend either further training or dismissal.
Tenure reform to make it easier to fire the worst teachers. Once teachers have tenure typically after three years in the classroom its extremely difficult to fire them. In New York City administrators only succeed in dismissing a handful of teachers for incompetence each year out of tenured teachers despite strenuous efforts to get rid of the least effective ones. The other side of this argument is that teachers deserve protection from firing for personal or political reasons such as personal conflict with a principal. And without tenure school districts facing budget crises would dismiss experienced teachers and hire rookie teachers to save money. For more on the pros and cons of teacher tenure see ProCon.org.
Changes in pension schedules. Because many school districts allow teachers to collect their full pensions only after they have taught a minimum number of years in New York Cityand teachers get much smaller pensions if they retire sooner many stay in the classroom long after theyve burned out. If the rules were changed to eliminate that pensionbump at the end of a long career more teachers would change careers once they lost interest in teaching.
School choice. Before NCLB there was little incentive for failing schools to improve. If every student had at least one alternative choice of school reformers say that would pressure underperforming schools to do better because they would lose their students if they didnt.
Charter schools. A charter school is an alternative public school that is freed from certain rules governing other public schools for example the rule that teachers must be union members. Charter schools serve as laboratories where promising strategies can be tested. By rigorously evaluating the results we can choose successful models to replicate. But critics point to studies showing that students at many charter schools perform no better than those who attend traditional schools. Also most charter schools enroll a smaller percentage of students with disabilities or limited English skills than public schools which contributes to their impressive test results. Still some charters have made a tremendous impact on their students. At the Harlem Success Academy in New York for example lowincome minority students score at levels equal to students at the citys giftedandtalented schools which have admissions requirements. For more on charter schools see PBS.
Reducing class size. Reformers have long fought for smaller classes in order to give teachers more time with individual students or small groups. Although average class sizes have fallen somewhat over the past years recent budget crises have pushed school districts to reverse the trend. Most research confirms that smaller classes lead to higher achievement especially in the lower gradesbut the improvements seem to be most marked when classes are limited to or fewer students a goal thats far out of reach for most American schools which now average students per class.
Offering more online instruction. Excellent interactive courses could be created by teaming the best teachers with software developers. Students could move at their own pace and classroom teachers could supplement the online learning as needed. Unions oppose this change because it would eventually mean fewer teaching jobs but reducing staff size would allow schools to offer higher salaries to the teachers that remain. For an article about cyber charters that already offer fulltime online instruction to American students as an alternative to public schools see the Wall Street Journal.
More resources in the classroom. There are huge gaps in perpupil spending between the richest and the poorest school districts in the U.S. As a result poorer classrooms lack textbooks computers and other supplies and many teachers have to pay to photocopy teaching materials. More funding for disadvantaged districts would reduce these obstacles.
More time spent in the classroom. Many reformers believe we need a longer school day or more days in the school year so teachers can cover the material theyre supposed to teach. German teens spend hours on their core curriculum as compared with in the U.S. Students in China and India also put in far more hours than Americans in the classroom.
Addressing the effects of poverty outside of school. Skeptics say you cant educate lowincome kids until you address the impact of poverty. Reformers say that argument lets schools off the hook too easily. Bridging the divide are charter schools that try to address povertys effects in order to help students learn. The bestknown example is the Harlem Childrens Zone created by Geoffrey Canada which provides not only highquality education but support services too. The program now serves kids in a block area. For an analysis of the results achieved by the Harlem Childrens Zone go here.
The No Child Left Behind Act of requires that states test students in math and reading every year from third through eighth grade and once in high school. The law further requires schools to raise the percentage of students achieving proficiency every year with the goal of reaching proficiency by . That goal was ambitious at the time but now seems hopelessly unrealistic. Schools that fail to achieve Adequate Yearly Progress or AYP have faced an escalating series of penalties eventually including the loss of funding.
Its focus on standardized test results to the detriment of indepth learning creative thinking and subjects that arent tested including science social studies art and music.
Putting so much pressure on schools to improve performance that it led to cheating by teachers and school officials.
Letting states design their own standardized tests. There is no national standard for proficiency and some states have dumbed down their tests to avoid penalties for failure.
Forcing schools to focus on teaching lowachieving students and thereby shortchanging those who are already proficient or gifted.
Addressing school failure with punitive measures. The law was originally supposed to include funding to help fix failing schools but that part of the bill didnt survive.
Studies of the impact of NCLB on student achievement have shown mixed results. One study found improvement in math achievement as a result of the law but no significant impact on reading.
In the Obama Administration proposed major changes to NCLB. Instead of targeting wellrun schools as failing because they havent reached nearperfect levels of student proficiency the changed law would focus on fixing the worst schools. And instead of requiring that every student reach academic proficiency by the revised law would mandate that all students be prepared for either college or work by the time they left high school. A draft of the revised law is working its way through Congress as of December but reformers have already criticized the draft version for letting states off the hook and endangering the progress students have made since . To learn more about this bill see the Huffington Post.
With of Americas schools on track to be graded as failing by President Obama said in September that he would allow states to seek waivers exempting them from provisions of the current law if these states agree to overhaul their worstperforming schools and adopt systems for evaluating teachers.
The battle between unions and reformers has become so acrimonious that its hard to say anything about education reform without inviting attack from one side or the other. As the New York Times put it false dichotomies seem to have replaced fruitful conversation. If you support the teachers union you dont care about the students. If you are critical of the teachers union you dont care about the teachers. If you are in favor of charter schools you are opposed to public schools. If you believe in increased testing you are on board with the corruption of our liberal societys most cherished educational values. If you are against increased testing you are against accountability.
Teachers unions have steadily gained power since the early s. The American Federation of Teachers AFT and the National Education Association NEA now have a total of . million members and they have contributed about million to political campaigns in the last years most of it to Democrats. Because teachers unions are the largest single source of funding for Democratic Party candidates and will punish those who vote against their perceived interests by funding challengers in the next election promoting reforms the unions disagree with has been extremely difficult. For example when New York City schools chancellor Joel Klein tried to use student test results as one factor in the decision to grant tenure union opposition persuaded state legislators to forbid the change. Teachers unions have also resisted changes in contracts that would make it easier to fire incompetent teachers.
From the unions point of view teachers do a difficult job that doesnt end when school lets out for the day for salaries that rarely match their effort and dedication. The median salary for public school teachers in the U.S. was per year in registered nurses earn an average of. And tenure is needed to protect teachers from principals who might fire teachers unfairly if given the chance. 
Recently however reformers and unions in some districts have managed to work together and compromise. In Washington D.C. the union worked with thenSuperintendent Michelle Rhee usually viewed as a union enemy to create a teacher evaluation system and compromised to accept a meritpay plan and a loosening of tenure rules.
No factornot class size not perpupil funding not curriculumaffects learning nearly as much as which teacher a student is assigned to.
Teachers working in the same school with the same pool of students achieve markedly different results. This holds true whether the students are rich poor or middleclass.
A student with strong teachers for three years in a row will score higher on average than a student who has weak teachers for three years in a row.
The best teachers raise their students one and a half grade levels in a single school year. The least effective ones only raise their students by half a grade level in the same time.
A different approach involves widely disseminating the techniques that master teachers use. Doug Lemov a former teacher has studied the countrys highestperforming teachers and distilled his observations into a list of the methods that make them effective. He believes that underperforming teachers can improve by learning to use these methodsand that this is our best hope for improving educational outcomes because there arent enough star teachers to fill all the classrooms in the country.
For an indepth report on Lemovs work see the New York Times Magazine. Or to read his book on teaching techniques Teach Like a Champion click the link near the bottom of this page.
Articles about school reform often mention Finland as the nation with the worlds most consistently effective public schools and ask why we dont learn from their example.
Three times as much recess in elementary school as American schools provide.
Higher pay for teachers and more rigorous standards for teacher certification. All teachers are required to have a Masters degree. Teaching is seen as a desirable profession with high status only of applicants to Masters programs in teaching are accepted.
School autonomy. Each can plan its own curriculum. Researchers observe and evaluate experimental programs.
More learning by doing including classes in art music cooking carpentry and other classes that let students work with their hands.
After primary school students choose either a vocational or academic track.
Less standardized testing. High school seniors who want to go to college have to take a standardized test other than that standardized testing is only done with small samples of students to make sure theyre learning as they should.
No repeating of grades for underachievers. The Finns believe that the stigma of being held back outweighs the need for remedial learning. They offer tutoring to help these students catch up.
No grouping of students by ability also known as tracking until th grade.
On a test given every three years to yearolds around the world the PISA exam or Program for International Student Assessment Finnish students have scored at or near the top four times in a row while U.S. students rank in the middle of the pack.
Finland is a small homogeneous nation. Its total population is . millionless than New York Citys. Only of Finns were born elsewhere. Finally there is far less poverty in Finland. In other words everything that makes education a challenge in the U.S. is absent in Finland. But critics answer that Norway which resembles Finland demographically uses an education model much like ours with similarly mediocre results. In other words simply having fewer people and less poverty doesnt automatically produce better educational outcomes.
If you only count the scores of middle and upperclass American studentsi.e. those whose background resembles the Finnsthen the difference in performance disappears. Whats wrong with some American schools is poverty not the quality of teaching. 
Ken Robinson a British author and advisor on arts education says the current model of education was designed to produce workers for an economy that no longer exists. He argues that most schools kill creative thinking and that the needs of the st century economy demand that we restructure education so that schools help students discover what they love to do and then cultivate their creativity. To watch an animated video of his lecture on remaking education visit YouTube.For a video of his talk on the need for an education revolution visit TED.com.
Studies suggest that no amount of education reform can make up for the effects of poverty in early childhoodespecially the lack of stimulation infants and toddlers in poor families receiveand that enriching their environment in these crucial early years yields far more benefits than struggling to repair the damage in school later on. For more on this see James J. Heckmans oped Catch em Young in the Wall Street Journal.
Former NYC Schools Chancellor Joel Klein on The Failure of American Schools from The Atlantic
For a report on a study of student test scores that showed how some teachers get excellent results even in lowincome neighborhoods see the Los Angeles Times.
Our once unchallenged preeminence in commerce industry science and technological innovation is being overtaken by competitors throughout the world We report to the American people that while we can take justifiable pride in what our schools and colleges have historically accomplished and contributed to the United States and the wellbeing of its people the educational foundations of our society are presently being eroded by a rising tide of mediocrity that threatens our very future as a Nation and a people. What was unimaginable a generation ago has begun to occurothers are matching and surpassing our educational attainments.
If an unfriendly foreign power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre educational performance that exists today we might well have viewed it as an act of war. As it stands we have allowed this to happen to ourselves. We have even squandered the gains in student achievement made in the wake of the Sputnik challenge. Moreover we have dismantled essential support systems which helped make those gains possible. We have in effect been committing an act of unthinking unilateral educational disarmament.
Our society and its educational institutions seem to have lost sight of the basic purposes of schooling and of the high expectations and disciplined effort needed to attain them. This report the result of months of study seeks to generate reform of our educational system in fundamental ways and to renew the Nations commitment to schools and colleges of high quality throughout the length and breadth of our land
Knowledge learning information and skilled intelligence are the new raw materials of international commerce and are today spreading throughout the world as vigorously as miracle drugs synthetic fertilizers and blue jeans did earlier. If only to keep and improve on the slim competitive edge we still retain in world markets we must dedicate ourselves to the reform of our educational system for the benefit of allold and young alike affluent and poor majority and minority. Learning is the indispensable investment required for success in the information age we are entering.
Our concern however goes well beyond matters such as industry and commerce. It also includes the intellectual moral and spiritual strengths of our people which knit together the very fabric of our society. The people of the United States need to know that individuals in our society who do not possess the levels of skill literacy and training essential to this new era will be effectively disenfranchised not simply from the material rewards that accompany competent performance but also from the chance to participate fully in our national life. A high level of shared education is essential to a free democratic society and to the fostering of a common culture especially in a country that prides itself on pluralism and individual freedom.
As part of the Budget the Government announced an ambitious package of higher education reforms to address the challenges facing the higher education sector. These reforms were intended to strengthen the higher education system and ensure Australia is not left behind at a time of rising performance by universities around the world foster greater innovation in education offerings and to widen opportunity and access to support the growing diversity of student needs and aspirations.
Informed by the discussions of the last six months the Government has released a paper Driving Innovation Fairness and Excellence in Australian Higher Education which sets out options for reform that support the Governments vision of a stronger more sustainable system of higher education. The Government is seeking feedback on the individual elements of a new higher education reform package to be considered later in .
To facilitate this consultation the Government has taken the decision to delay implementation of the reforms by a further year to . The Government will also not be pursuing full fee deregulation for Commonwealth supported places. It will consider future arrangements including options for some form of fee flexibility as part of its consultation on the future of higher education.
The Government welcomes feedback on the ideas presented in this paper. The Government will continue to consult with students parents employers higher education providers and peak bodies on its reform proposals. To assist in this process the Government will appoint an expert advisory panel to provide advice on the content and implementation of the final package.
Please note that the Department intends to publish all submissions on its website once the call for submissions has closed unless the writer indicates that a submission is to be kept confidential.
As thousands ofhigh school graduates enter universities onSaturday ahotly debated bill toreform thenations education system is inching forward. 
Acontroversial plan already three years inthe making thebill promises thebiggest shakeup ofschools anduniversities since thes giving students more choice over thesubjects they study andchanging how universities are funded.
Inlate July Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev sent thebill tothe State Duma. It is expected tobe signed intolaw bythe end ofthe year.
The law must not only resolve theproblems ofeducation but become thebasis forthe development ofhuman capital inthe country Medvedev said ina recent blog post. 
Thebill aims tocut thenumber ofhigher educational institutions leaving asmaller cadre ofbetterfunded universities that pack amore powerful punch ininternational rankings.
Currently Russia features nowhere inthe worlds top universities onbenchmark rankings byQuacquarelli Symonds or QS andTimes Higher Education.
Only onthe Shanghai Jiao Tong listing does Moscow State University rate th but even this reflects past Nobel glory rather than citations inacademic journals thecurrency ofmodern academia.
Theeducation bill has been knocked bythe University Professors Union forfailing toincrease teachers salaries andcriticized byCommunists fornarrowing thecurriculum allowing students todrop subjects inthe ninth grade.
Many gripe about theUnified State Exam thecommon university entrance exam introduced inthe last decade with theintention ofgiving every student anequal chance atthe best institutions.
But thebill has supporters among those seeking tomodernize higher education. 
It is very good that thegovernment is trying tomake higher education more open tocompetition andmore modern although it is not going tobe easy Sergei Guriev rector ofthe New Economic School said inan interview.
Thebill legitimizes many progressive practices that some universities have already been experimenting with he said such as online teaching andjoint programs between universities.
Ivan Kurilla head ofthe international relations department atVolgograd State University is skeptical about thegovernments ability toachieve its goals.
When President Vladimir Putin speaks about education he usually speaks inthe same vein as he speaks about pensions. Forhim education is aburden Kurilla said. I think that education should be considered part ofthe economy if you want toensure that Russia is more than anoil andgas exporter.
Kurilla worries that thereforms will fracture society anddeepen regional divisions. Plans toreduce thenumber ofstudents mean that poorer children will be less able togo touniversity thus increasing social tensions he said.
Meanwhile focusing ontoptier universities means that some good departments could close andsome regions risk losing their institutions altogether. 
There are alot ofregions with neither federal universities nor national research institutes Kurilla said. We have something regions inRussia but we dont have something with universities that meet all thecriteria. 
To get abetter education people will leave theregion he added and it is unlikely that they will come back.
Russia spends less oneducation than theEuropean average andeven less than its BRIC peer Brazil . percent ofnational income compared with . percent spent byits South American peer although it still outspends China.
Many argue that professors salaries will have torise if universities are toattract thebest people.
Theaverage wage fora Russian academic is amonth while peers inCanada andthe United States earn almost times more according toresearch byBoston University andthe Higher School ofEconomics. 
Inthat survey of countries Russias professors were thepoorest only slightly better off than their counterparts inArmenia. 
Low salaries make it harder toroot out corruption. Bribes togain entry toan educational institution including grade schools or forbetter marks amounted toabout billion in according tothe Higher School ofEconomics.
Corruption is agreat problem foruniversities which cannot trust their students grades said Professor Mark Levin head ofmacroeconomics atthe Higher School ofEconomics. 
If students bribe inone field they will continue after university andif knowledge is bad we will get bad doctors government engineers andprofessors it is thereproduction ofinefficiency he said. 
It is necessary toreduce corruption inthe whole country. If theatmosphere is corruptible it is very difficult toeliminate corruption inone field.
Thesuccess ofRussias educational reforms will depend not only onthe quality ofthe legislation andits implementation but also onthe social andpolitical climate.
The new education minister Dmitry Livanov is progressive reformminded andvery motivated todo theright thing said Guriev atthe New Economic School. But the record ofthis government ingeneral though has so far not been good when it comes toopenness andcompetition.
This government doesnt seem tolike freedom ofspeech this government is not known forits international cooperation this government doesnt like feedback fromsociety so we dont know whether it can achieve its educational reforms.
When not asingle Russian university was included onthe Times Higher Education list forthe second year ina row Russias theneducation minister said it was time tocome up with anew system ofranking universities.
Now theuniversities rather than thelistmakers are back infocus after Putin announced inMay that five Russian institutions were expected tobreak intothe top by. 
Everybody including Putin himself understands that it is not realistic said Zoya Zaitseva director ofCentral Europe andCentral Asia atQS.
Seven years is not enough time toimplement all thethings that need tobe done she said although four or five institutions could be incontention forspots inthe top .
Russian universities are relatively low inthe QS rankings because those institutes lack kudos among their international peers anddo not have their research cited often enough inacademic journals two ofthe criteria that QS uses torank universities.
Russian professors need tolearn English andparticipate ininternational conferences toshare their ideas Zaitseva said. 
Russian academics have alot ofgood things tosay she said. They have good labs andgood projects but they dont know how topromote themselves.
The Moscow Times . . 
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In the Ontario government began to focus on issues of educational improvement. The government instituted a series of reforms that have proven incredibly successful with elementary achievement results rising from in to in and high school graduation rates rising from to in the same amount of time. This past summer I spoke with Mary Jean Gallagher Ontarios Chief Student Achievement Officer and Assistant Deputy Minister of the Student Achievement Division and Richard Franz Ontarios Director of Research Evaluation Capacity Building to learn more about their experiences with this reform effort thus far and their plans for the future. As this conversation was so informative we have decided to post it in two parts. In part one we focused on aspects of the reform that have been key to its success thus far. Here in part two we explore Ontarios approach to moving forward with an expanded reform agenda. 
In Ontarios Ministry of Education MOE set a renewed vision for the education system. This process allowed them to identify critical information about what they have achieved and share this information with parents business leaders community members teachers and students. As Gallagher explained as a result of Ontarios success over the past decade we have a newfound respect for our ability to set goals and measure progress and achieve them so we are more careful about goals we set. By engaging in a broadly based month collaborative consultation process they engaged both qualitative and quantitative research methods to determine their next steps.
As Gallagher and Franz explained the process of determining these goals helped them to understand that in the future they need to heighten the relevance of what people are learning increase experiential learning and use the community more broadly. By engaging community members in the process they were able to learn that those members felt they had valuable information and experiences to offer the educational system and were being underutilized. As a result the MOE is now thinking of better ways to reach out.
Another key aspect that emerged is the importance of student voice. Since the consultation process included schoolage students the MOE was able to learn more about what the students felt needed to be changed about their own education. The MOE for example developed a program called Students as Researchers which invites students to formulate questions about how to make their schools better places and trains them in research skills and ethics so that they can design and implement their own research projects which are then shared with the MOE.
Looking ahead Gallagher and Franz explained that there is some tension around the notion that good teaching and learning must be measured. New challenges include thinking about ways in which the system might be able to broaden the measures of success and what counts as success so that the emphasis is not only on test scores. This is particularly relevant since one of their new goals is to improve student wellbeing. In setting the goal the MOE also must consider how to measure something that has no history of measurement or policy focus.
Another concern is the additional demands of the bureaucracy that might be added once new goals and new measurement systems for those goals are implemented. As Gallagher and Franz noted one of the reasons for the success of the education reforms so far has been attributed to the narrow focus on a small number of goals. With a focus on the renewed four goals how can they be incorporated into a successful system without overburdening it As Franz explained the new tension is about how to do it all is such a way that gets you the insight and information needed to guide the practices of all involved in the system in addressing the new goals while continuing to build coherence such that actions in the name of one goal also support achievement of the other goals.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons AttributionNonCommercialNoDerivatives . International License.
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In the Ontario government began to focus on issues of educational improvement. The government instituted a series of reforms that have proven incredibly successful with elementary achievement results rising from in to of elementary students performing at or above the provincial standard in in reading writing and mathematics in and high school graduation rates rising from to in the same amount of time. This past summer I spoke with Mary Jean Gallagher Ontarios Chief Student Achievement Officer and Assistant Deputy Minister of the Student Achievement Division and Richard Franz Director of Research Evaluation Capacity Building for the Student Achievement Division to learn more about their experiences with this reform effort thus far and their plans for the future. As this conversation was so informative we have decided to post it in two parts. Here in part one Gallagher and Franz share some of their thinking on aspects of the Ontario reform effort that have been essential to its success.
In Gallagher was the leader Director of Education of Canadas southernmost school district when she was selected for her new position at the Ontario Ministry of Education MOE. This position Chief Student Achievement Officer and Assistant Deputy Minister of the Student Achievement Division was envisioned as an innovation. While MOE officials were typically promoted from public service positions Gallaghers experience was in schools as a teacher a principal superintendent and Director of one of Ontarios school districts. With the creation of this Division and position and the hiring of Gallagher the MOE demonstrated that it valued the expertise of educators. This went along with the MOEs renewed emphasis on valuing the work of educators particularly in positions that focused on student achievement. At that time the MOE wanted to ensure that all of their work was based on valuing educatorsseeing improved learning as a result of improved teaching.
With this new effort to bring educators into the policymaking realm the MOE also made sure that approximately twothirds of staff within the Student Achievement Division was comprised of practicing educators who had already proved themselves to be strong instructional leaders. In order to do this they created new positions in which practitioners such as teachers and school leaders could work for up to three years with the MOE. The theory behind this model was that working closely with frontline educators would build the capacity of both those who worked in the field as well as those who worked in the central offices. Franz pointed out that working with educators on the creation of new policy helps the MOE officials by providing perspective on how such policy might land in schools. Additionally once those educators complete their temporary positions in the MOE offices and return to their schools they arrive with more knowledge and understanding of how such policies were developed and created. This new blended model builds appreciation in both spheres. As Gallagher and Franz explained this effort helps create alignment between goals priorities methodologies and implementation and over the past years it has proven a formula for wonderful results.
Gallagher and Franz also attributed Ontarios success to the MOEs narrow focus on a limited number of educational goals specifically increasing student achievement closing educational gaps and increasing confidence in public education. As Gallagher and Franz explained these are the goals that everyone working in the Ontario education system can recite as well as the targets associated with them. By focusing closely on a limited number of goals they have seen a huge difference in their ability to keep focused on what is important.
In addition to knowing these goals educators have become increasingly aware of the ways in which they can measure improvement and identify success as they work to achieve them. This allows teachers to develop an understanding of their own efficacy and agency which as Gallagher and Franz noted excites and motivates educators. Ontarios focus on provincewide testing standards in literacy and numeracy and a set curriculum has promoted clarity about what students are expected to know understand and be able to do.
Starting in the mids Ontarios government began implementing a set of tests based on Ontarios Curriculum Expectations and Standard of Achievement for grades and in reading writing and math as well as in grades math literacy. As Gallagher explained Ontario holds very high standards for their students. Student work is identified as level and the provincial standard of success is level the equivalent of a letter grade of B which is higher than what is expected on the Program for International Student Assessment PISA.
Ontarios assessment organization is an armslength organization of the government funded by the MOE but separate from it with its own board of directors. This organization has become over timean opportunity for professional learning as well as teams of educators are assembled to devise test items and mark assessments over the summer months. As a result teachers become well versed in the standards and measurement of performance and thereby build their own assessment literacy.
Gallagher and Franz note that these assessments are not standardized and are not proprietary. Instead they are criterion referenced assessments of the curriculum. The tests are used to gather information about the degree to which the students are able to demonstrate what they have learned from the curriculum. As a result Ontarios teachers feel less pressure to teach to the test instead the teachers are teaching to a curriculum they approve of and which teachers have had a hand in developing. The overall sense is that the tests are used to assess the entire educational system rather than individual teachers and students. This collective focus also encourages teachers to work collaboratively and use assessment for learning for student achievement efforts.
Ontario has also moved to a common data system across the province as well. Starting in the late s the government created a tracking system in which all students were assigned an ID number. This allows the MOE to track individual schools assessments of student performance and compare those results to provincewide results. The ID number is also now being used to track students from early childhood education through to college or apprenticeships. As Gallagher and Franz noted this ID number is not linked to student names but is used to analyze trends and patterns to understand what is happening systemwide.
Teachers in Ontario regularly work together to analyze student work and plan new instructional strategies. These practices are articulated in an assessment policy called Growing Success and have been put into practice through a collaborative inquiry model of professional learning. Professional learning through collaborative inquiry has been so successful that it has replaced the old model of professional learning in which teachers were corralled in banquet hall style training sessions where experts presented and teachers broke out into workshops. As Franz explained We assume that teachers come now with a certain level of skill and we work with teachers on how to use a collaborative inquiry approach to examine student work thinking about how to move students and making that the object of their inquiry.
As Gallagher explained one of the things that everyone has learned is that the ideal classroom is less about teaching strategies and more about teacher thinking and behavior. This process starts in the assessment domain with deep teacher knowledge of the students the curriculum and the learning goals. Then the teachers can utilize any of the strategies they might have in their backpack to help the students progress. Generally in an ideal classroom one might see high levels of engagement individual and group work and differentiation however there is no particular reliance on any specific strategies or programs throughout the period. The aim is to allow teachers the space to try out their own strategies and to develop their ideas through collaborative discussion with other teachers. This way teachers feel accountable to one another and the classroom becomes a deprivatized place.
Be on the lookout for part two of this post in which we focus on how Ontario plans to move ahead with an expanded reform agenda.
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Pak Tee Ng is Associate Dean of Leadership Learning and Head of the Policy and Leadership Studies Academic Group at the National Institute of Education NIE Nanyang Technological University NTU in Singapore.
I would like to see that teachers will believe even more strongly that they are not merely doing a job in school but they are as a whole teaching fraternity contributing to nation building and the longterm well being of Singapore. Teachers willalso change their mindsets towards teaching and learning so that we will succeed in teaching less so that children may actually learn more.
A scanofonline news reports published in countries around the world over the past month found that current reports on the topic of early childhood education show a range of economic concerns. While the news insome countries focuses on early childhood education as it relates to childcare others focus on the connection between education in the early years and economic development.For example reports from China focus on education as one aspect of wholechild development and similarly reports from Thailand India and Australia emphasized that early childhood education can be a crucial factor in lifting individuals out of poverty.Other reportsfocus on the ways in which early childhood education can be an overall investment in a countrys future.
In a recent article titledHousehold income and preschool attendance in China Xin Gong Di Xu and WenJui Ham found a positive association between household income and preschool attendance in both rural and urban settings. By showing thathousehold income is influential in determining which children access early childhood education this article relates with findings presented ina recent report on early childhood developmentby UNICEF. The UNICEF report points out that millions of children especially the most marginalized are excluded from schooland findsthat international funding for education is on the decline. Yet according to an article inWant China TimesChina has increased spending on early childhood education budgeting billion yuan billion for athreeyear project to provide access to quality education.
Singapore presents the example ofa countrythat according to the World Bank placed education at the core of the nationsdevelopment. Yet as an article in The Huffington Post explainedearlychildhood education is one of the few spots where Singapore is not yet a world leader. However in response to the Economist Intelligence Unit whichranked Singapores early childhood education system th in the world the government has announced funding initiativesfor subsidies for parents and childcare centers new sources of scholarship money for teachers and the creation of new preschools and kindergartens.
Tagged Australia China early childhood education funding education reform Singapore 
In Karen Hammerness and Kirsti Klette reported on the efforts to improve teacher education in Norway. In this post following recent conversations with members of the Ministry of Education in Norway Hammerness puts the work on teacher education in historical perspective and describes some of the latest developments.
Norway is a particularly interesting country to follow in terms of teacher education policy. Questions about the quality of education came to the forefront in with the publication of the first PISA results what some Norwegians refer to as the PISAshock. Those results showed that Norwegian students had not performed as well as many had hoped or expected. In fact along with students in the United States Norwegian students outcomes were slightly lower than the average of the OECD countries measured. Concerns continued to mount when the second round of PISA revealed Norwegian students performance declining further.
A weak system of teacher education was considered to be one of the key problems.Policy makers and educators pointed to several key challenges. First teacher preparation was organized around a generalist conception of teaching. At the time the Norwegian system of teacher certification allowed teachers to teach all subjects at all grade levelsa conception captured by the term allmenlrerroughly translated as teacher of all. Next the qualityand sizeof teacher preparation programs varied considerably throughout the country. Furthermore teacher education coursework in the programs seemed disconnected from teaching practice and was not tightly tied to current research on teaching and learning. Finally reports suggested a steady decline in applications to teacher education institutions amplifying concerns about a lack of qualified teachers in the near future.
In response over the last five years Norway has invested heavily in funding for work on teacher education and teaching and made a number of important policy changes. In building upon a white paper that had summarized key concerns about preparation of teachers Norway transformed their system of certification and established two lines or streams of certificationa stream that prepares teachers for grades somewhat similar to a primary school certification in the US and another that prepares teachers to teach grades when lower secondary school ends in Norway. A new national curriculum framework for teacher education was also developed and came into effect in . The framework required more coursework on pedagogy and learner knowledge including an emphasis upon researchbased subjectspecific methods learners development and classroom management. The new framework also created new graduation requirements including the completion of a bachelors thesis related to teaching and learning. In addition new regulations stipulated that teacher education programs would need to increase the percentage of faculty who have completed doctoral studiesultimately requiring programs to ensure that of faculty have PhDs.
A proposal was also made to address some larger structural issues that affected the quality of higher education. In particular in the government released a report calling for a reduction in programs in higher education including teacher education. Correspondingly some policymakers expected that the new requirements might lead to significant restructuring particularly among smaller and more remote teacher education programs. Conceivably such programs might decide to focus upon one degree they might start to share students collaborate or even merge with other local institutions or the programs might determine that they could not meet the new demands and might voluntarily choose to close.
These moves to streamline programs are not easy in a country like Norway. Teacher preparation has been central to the identity of many of the smaller institutions throughout the countryreflecting a social policy that has been supportive of small institutions in a country in which the population has been somewhat spread out across a wide geographical area. The existence of such small local academic institutions and teacher preparation programs reflects a national investment and policy support for the deeply held value of living and working locally. This support for living in in widelydispersed regions throughout the country in fact has been a historical Norwegian valueand it seems understandable given that Norway spans about miles from north to south and with miles of rugged coastline it is among the ten countries with the longest coastlines.
However the debate develops Norwegian policymakers are not considering the development of alternative routes into teaching as a policy lever for improving teacher preparation. For a related argument on why policy makers might not consider alternative pathways into teacher education see Pasi Sahlbergs post on why there is no Teach for Finland. Senior Advisors in Norway were quite clear that the focus of policy was improvement of current programs not on adding new or alternative pathways. Although Norway does have a Teach First program it is the only alternative program in the countryit is offered at the University of Oslo and has only students. As Fredrik Dalen Tenne Deputy Director General Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research noted The main focus has been improving the teacher education programs which are there already not introducing new pathways into the schools.
For the next several weeks I will be sharing a few posts from Chile where I have been visiting and talking with several educators and policymakers who shared their reflections on where the Chilean education system may be headed. The Chilean system has seen some remarkable educational improvements since at the same time that income inequality and segregation has increased. I am particularly interested in learning more about the Chilean system as Mario Waissbluth President of the Chilean citizens movement Educacin has described it as almost the opposite of the Finnish approach which I wrote about during my visit to Finland with my family last spring. For background Waissbluth wrote a series of posts for Diane Ravitchs blog that chronicle the development of recent policies in Chile. The election of Michelle Bachelet as President earlier this year and her endorsement of many of the changes that were demanded in significant student protests led some in the US to conclude that a massive change was underway. At the time we talked with Waissbluth and Dr. Beatrice AvalosBevan Associate Researcher at the Center for Advanced Research in Education at the University of Chile both explained that while some changes were being proposed much was left to be done. 
Just this week the Chilean legislature passed several key proposals designed to change key aspects of the education system. The proposals included requiring the conversion of forprofit schools into nonprofit schools the elimination of fees or copayments that private subsidized schools can charge parents and the enforcement and expansion of bans on primary and secondary schools selection of students. While many see these initiatives as a critical step forward those I spoke to point out that these are just a few steps among many that need to be taken to improve performance and contribute to greater equity in what has been a largely unfettered promarket voucher system. At issue in particular is how fast and in what order the government can move ahead on these and a related slate of proposals.
The governments choice to focus first on requiring forprofit school operators to convert into nonprofits has been particularly controversial and has taken center stage in the public and political debates since March. Several aspects of the conversion plan have proven problematic particularly the issue of ownership of school facilities which has also been a critical issue among charter school advocates and critics in the United States. Thus the plan requires both forprofit and notfor profit schools to give up ownership of their school buildings. Since many of these organizations rely on the facilities to generate revenue the conversion plan has significant legal and financial implications for the school owners as well as those banks and other institutions that have money tied up in school buildings.
Further the proposal for a new more centralized selection process has also faced some opposition. Although Chile passed legislation several years ago banning primary schools from selecting students through their own application processes for the most part that ban has not been enforced. Therefore the new legislation extends the ban to most secondary schools and establishes a new set of reporting requirements that should make it easier to enforce the ban.
Combined with the potential loss of revenue from the elimination of the copayments that subsidized private subsidized schools have been able to charge parents all of these proposals have generated a heated political debate since March. Amongst those opposing the proposals have been several powerful constituencies including some members of the Catholic Church who have large numbers of notfor profit schools that are often highly selective and many of which own their own buildings the forprofit school owners guild who are very wellconnected politically and new middle class parent groups that have formed because they want to preserve their ability to choose to send their children to selective schools. The result has been a series of protests ad campaigns and public statements warning parents that hundreds of schools could be closed and they could lose their chance to send their children to schools of their choice all of which reminded me of recent protests in New York City over the newlyelected mayors campaign promise to limit the growth of charter schools DeBlasio and Operator of Charter School Empire do Battle. Thus as Waissbluth explained it this first slate of legislative proposals in Chile is managing to incubate a middle class revolt that some worry has the potential to block further reforms.
Despite the controversies with a number of compromises which include allowing for a very gradual shift in ownership in school buildings and allowing some highly selective schools to continue to screen their students making them somewhat akin to the highly selective exam schools in New York City the proposals will now go for debate in the Chilean Senate. Some think that the Senate will pass some version of the proposals before the end of the year or the spring at the latest.
Yet these initial reforms are only a small part of the reform proposals. Committees are already at work developing reports suggesting initiatives to strengthen teacher preparation and the teaching profession as a whole and a crosssection of institutions presented the government on Monday with El Plan Maestro a play on words suggesting the Teacher plan and the Master plan simultaneously. The government is expected to present their proposals to strengthen teaching in the coming months.
In relatively short order the government is also expected to fulfill campaign promises to propose changes to the municipal structure of public schools. These will likely include the development of a position similar to the superintendent in school districts in the United States. Currently the schools are at least nominally the responsibility of the mayor though many mayors have not made schools a particular priority.
The most contentious issue when and how to reform higher education looms as well. Creating free high quality higher education has been a key concern of the students who led the protests in and that ignited this reform cycle in Chile and many are continuing to press for immediate action. At the same time others are concerned that pushing for reforms in higher education in particular is so contentious that it could halt the progress on other issues.
In short Chile may be in a cycle of political negotiations punctuated by protests. Right now what some see as radical reforms have been proposed but negotiations have led to some compromises that make political passage possible. But if the changes end up being too limited or fail to address the core concerns of the students in particular then students may withdraw their support or take to the streets again. Further protests could create a backlash that contributes to political stalemates or might create enough space to push slightly more radical reforms that are again likely to be tempered in political negotiation and compromise. Adding to the pressure all sides have to take into account the fact that a change in Chilean law about ten years ago means that Presidents can no longer serve consecutive terms. As a consequence the current President Michelle Bachelet has only until the end of this fouryear term to accomplish her objectives.
Despite the urgency however the evidence from countries like Singapore and Finland suggests that comprehensive efforts to create highquality education systems takes decades even in countries with relatively stable political environments. Chile has to pursue such efforts in the context of an educational system that was imposed by a violent dictatorship that has contributed to increased segregation and that fosters competition rather than cooperation among individuals and organizations. Given those conditions it will not be easy to forge the social relationships common purpose and cooperation that have supported the development of education systems in countries like Finland. Chile may well transform its educational system but to do so it may have to rely on a mix of protest political negotiation and compromise until it develops the social bonds that can support collective commitment and shared responsibility for education for all.
To get a handle on the extent of reforms introduced in England by Michael Gove the former Minister of Education we asked David EddySpicer to share with IEN some of what he has observed while he has been a Senior Lecturer at the University of Londons Institute of Education. EddySpicer returned to the US recently to take a position as Associate Professor at the Curry School of Education University of Virginia. 
This summer I left one academic post for another returning to America after six years in England. The person who had the greatest influence on my experience of education policy and schooling over that time also traded in one post for another this summer. In a Cabinet reshuffle the former UK Minister of Education Michael Gove stepped down after four years to take up duties as Chief Whip. The post of Chief Whip was made most famous fairly recently in the original British House of Cards a TV series that went viral when Americanized with Kevin Spacey in the leading role. Sentiment about Gove and his legacy are about as heated and mixed as the sentiment the protagonist of House of Cards managed to stir. Gove had few friends among my academic colleagues in the education establishment whom he referred to as The Blob a term popularized by a former Chief Inspector of Schools in England. The school leaders I was fortunate to work with were for the most part perplexed confused and anxious about the changes that Gove introduced. In an Ipsos MORI State of Education survey carried out this spring threequarters of school leaders expressed dissatisfaction with the current governments performance on education with almost half saying they were very dissatisfied and only saying they were satisfied. The reaction among teachers has been even more pitched against recent government policies especially changes to the curriculum and the mandatory adoption of performancerelated pay.
As unpopular as Gove has proven to be among academics and educators he and his Department were extraordinarily effective at initiating widespread change in the structure of schooling in England. I was astounded at the pace and extent of change the Department for Education managed to orchestrate since he assumed his duties with the election of the Coalition Government in . There is no doubt that the changes he oversaw have radically altered the landscape of English education in a span and to a degree that is unimaginable in a country like the US where the power resides at the district and state levels.
The policies that were of greatest concern to school leaders in the Ipsos MORI poll had to do with the rapidity with which and the ways in which school autonomy has been promoted. The recalibration of the relationship between the state and schools began several decades ago however the current government has greatly accelerated the push for schools and school groups to become independent of local government control. The Department for Education has encouraged schools graded as outstanding and good to convert to statefunded independent schools known as academies in England similar to charter schools in the US. The promotion of academies occurred through a relatively modest financial incentive as well as the promise of greater operational freedoms including hiring and firing of staff the school timetable and even to some extent control of the curriculum. But it also entailed diverting funds from the middle tier the local educational authorities so that good schools converter academies would have direct access to state funds in exchange for their entering into a direct relationship with the Ministry. At the other end of the educational quality spectrum the lowest performing schools were required to become sponsored academies that is schools under the sponsorship of an outstanding school or more frequently a nonprofit academy chain or educational management organization. Forprofit academy chains are not allowed under current law. Government policy also gave groups of parents educators or nonprofits including religious organizations the possibility of creating new schools free schools modeled after a similar initiative in Sweden. The net effect of these changes resulted in the development of a significant number of academies particularly at the secondary level.
It is too early to tell what the impact on student outcomes school performance and system dynamics will be over the long haul. I have been part of a group of researchers funded by the British Educational Leadership Management and Administration Society to look into the effects of these structural reforms. Initial results so far published in a special issue of the journal Educational Management Administration and Leadership raise concerns about equity access and control of the educational system now in a new era in which local government has a far more constrained role in education.
With national elections looming in the spring of its clear that the current coalition wont hold but its not clear what will arrive in its place. Will Michael Gove be remembered for his hubris akin to the House of Cards protagonist or will he be remembered for spawning a selfimproving school system Some aspects of change appear to be irreversible at this point especially changes to local government. One thing is certainstructural reform in England brings into sharp focus a host of questions about stateschool relations the professional responsibilities of school leaders and educators and the role of nonstate institutional actors in what has been a public service. How to learn from these lessons is the good work that my colleagues in The Blob are undertaking as we speak.
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Its been a rocky second term for New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo D. According to a Siena Research Institute survey a record low percent of New York .
Where is the public oversight when state ethics laws are apparently being circumvented Private funders of Common Core advocates for governmental action that includes spending tens of millions of dollars for professional development and instructional materials tread perilously close to the line.
According to an October study from researchers at MIT and Duke the central focus of Mayor Bloombergs education plan smaller schools is showing s.
School choice has been a positive development in public education in New York but sometimes the citys Department of Education makes the wrong choice.
President Obama gets it. Governor Cuomo gets it. Now we need a mayor who recognizes the need for a gamechanging overhaul of our schools that starts with getting early education right. Anything less and we are leaving our kids behind.
Students seeking admission to SUNY schools of education should be required to have gradepoint averages of at least . with the aim of boosting teac.
If critics of standardized tests think its lack of finances or lack of access to resources that prevents certain races from performing to the stated benchmarks I want to put an end to that delusion.
Why does New York City have these special schools where the teaching and curriculum are just not that special
The status quo is unacceptable. We need to shift the paradigm in education in general. Even our top performers need to be taught that a love of learning will foster lifelong learning a necessity in this era of increasing disruptive innovation.
Choice is a hallmark of our country. It is synonymous with freedom. We live in a country where we have choice in our leaders our religion our food our housing our lifestyles. Choice in education is not only necessary it is crucial for our countrys future.
Just weeks after President Obama awarded New York State a reformfriendly waiver to onerous federal No Child Left Behind education rules forprofit education firms are threatening to strangle the new reforms.
In a divisive education policy conversation which pits one set of schools and politicians against another educators must lead the charge to learn from other schools. We must stand on the shoulders of those who work alongside us.
Increasingly privatized education with charters consultants and competition offers more opportunities for investment and profitmaking. Its proponents have a special and vested interest in the policies they promote.
Weve now moved into an era in which politicians philanthropists and a school of education reformers now believes the only way to education salvation is to literally close schools and fire teachers. 
A proposed state law would give New York parents significantly more power over their childrens schools.
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The goal of changing public education for the better has been one that many education professionals and politicians have been striving to achieve for decades. Specific objectives and methods can differ depending on location interest group opinion and approach but education reform has overarching objectives that apply to all. This includes making the education system more effective and raising standards. It also includes strategies that are better at focusing on the needs of students. Improving academic achievement particularly among sections of society that historically perform poorly is also a common objective. This means developing policies that close achievement gaps.
It is a huge topic so is the subject of continued debate. To stay part of the conversation and get key information on the latest developments register today for the Wiser education reform news email.
Next week is pivotal for the future of artistic diversity in the UK. On July Parliament will debate whether the EBacc should include expressive arts subjects with the result having potentially huge ramifications for who the arts are for in Britain are they for everyone to practice and appreciate or are they the preserve of a wealthy and culturally homogenous elite
I had the pleasure today of speaking with a young man who had once been my intern and who has since gone on to far bigger and better things. I was thrilled to find out from his progress update that he now has a wonderful position at JPMorgan where hes clearly working hard and doing well.
Endless reports have referred to an imbalance in funding between higher education and vocational education and the traditional stigma that is associat.
Remain or Leave next Thursday will be a day of decision and whichever way the vote goes the watchword of the winners will be Reform. What that mean.
A pledge to do all in their power to achieve such reforms both from those currently in governance and from those seeking to move into governance in the future would on a continuing basis contribute to the protection of our most valuable national resource each successive rising generation of citizens.
In the last week of May my school Bedales held an education conference as part of its series of Leading Independent Thinking events. Two years ago .
There is a direct correlation between getting a decent education while in prison and being able to live a productive lawabiding life on the outside. We must enable our prisoners to do this or we are failing them and the communities to which they return.
Over the last few months Ive decided to dust off my PhD proposal. As Ive contemplated returning to the academic world Ive reflected on the last fe.
Its a sign of the desperation of Parents that the only way they can claim power is to take their children out of school. Taking students away from learning should be a last resort and yet for many it has become the only option. Without proper accountability it always will be.
This attack on teachers is also an attack on the entitlement of all children and young people to be taught by a qualified teacher and the right of parents to have that expectation when they send their child to school. The NASUWT will be challenging these proposals vigorously.
No man is an island and this is true not only as a life quote but also at the workplace. Therefore we must adopt a teamworkbased curriculum for schools to prepare students adequately for the real world and this curriculum begins with emphasising histories of teams rather than biographies of individuals.
The spirit of entrepreneurship is already evident in the way young people interact with technology and in the way they communicate create music art and interchange experiences. We just need to find a way of harnessing it.
Four days before International Day of Happiness the World Happiness Report Update has been issued analysing answers from approximately re.
Without a serious rethink about how we encourage new teachers to get into the profession perhaps coupled with a radical change in approach to the education system as a whole it is sadly likely that the shortage of teachers England will only become more of a problem.
I have watched the video you posted on Twitter with interest and it has added to my growing concern.
I have spent the last few nights almost apoplectic at the injustice of it all How can this be right How can the police get away with it Two innocent men face life imprisonment for a crime they surely did not commit. Where is the justice
I began as a boy from a home broken by divorce and raised within the deprivation of one of the UKs poorest areas where half the adult population has a primary school level of numeracy. Now I have a PhD from a Russell Group university and teach chemistry in a top independent school I might be considered a poster boy for the importance of education to social mobility.
Creativity should be celebrated within schools. Creative people invent problemsolve discuss and communicate in fresh exciting ways we dont want this to be lost during school. Whatever the industry whether its medical science engineering academic research technology business entrepreneurial they all require creative thinkers to progress.
Apprenticeships are attracting a huge amounts of interest from across the political spectrum. Weve come a long way from the days when Tony Blair is said to have joked that political interest in vocational education was such that he could make a declaration of war in a speech about skills and noone would ever notice.
Methods of studying for students have changed very little for many years though The Internet has given us access to a wealth of unfiltered information traditionally the university experience has revolved around sitting in lectures sitting in the library cramming revision in rewriting notes and highlighting textbooks.
The problem is that in the past we have not been doing enough to encourage young people to look at cybersecurity and tech as a viable career option. And with few youngsters studying related subjects at school and university there are not enough qualified candidates to fill the vacancies.
As the dark evenings gather perhaps Tweeting Teachers or teachers who tweet should not feel bound to a litany of could do better. Perhaps the cacophony of negative headlines which dont seem to attack other professions with such crushing regularity should turn its volume down.
After meeting at the One Young World Summit in Johannesburg in Vugar Adigozalov from Azerbaijan and Tamila Mukhamedyarova from Tajikistan combin.
At a critical point in the learning life of young people GCSEs and Alevels should be about breadth and wider skills not ticking boxes. The onesizefitsall approach is not working it is failing our young people.
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Federal funding for universities has become a key election issue with Federal Education Minister Simon Birmingham confirming the Government is sticking with its plan to cut university funding.
Senator Birmingham said the Government needed to find savings from higher education.
The growth in higher education spending over the last years or thereabouts has essentially gone at double the rate of the economy so that is not of course a sustainable trajectory for higher education to continue on he told Sky news.
Senator Birmingham confirmed the Government intends to implement the university deregulation plan announced in the controversial budget from next year.
We only ever said that we were deferring implementation of those reforms by months he said.
That is what is reflected in the midyear economic update and has been crystal clear ever since I made that announcement.
The Education Minister said the Government was still committed to finding savings from the university sector.
We know that we have to make sure that that is done in a way that does not stop universities from accessing the funding they need to be able to provide high quality education high quality research and contribute to Australias future which is why this is it is not just a funding cut it is a reform program he said.
Labors Higher Education spokesman Kim Carr said the Governments deregulation program meant it would cut billion from the sector.
The hope is they can slide through to the election without proper scrutiny and then come back after the election and claim a mandate to slash and burn our university system he told AM.
Senator Carr has committed to spending billion which is extra money in our universities to restore the budget cuts.
He argued Labors policy would increase the number of students that complete their degrees.
We can restore quality assurance to the university system by restoring the cuts that have occurred to the tertiary education regulator he said.
Senator Carr declared Labor had already outlined the savings measures it would implement to fund its promise.
The downfall of NSWs greyhound racing industry began last year when a Four Corners investigation revealed trainers were secretly using live animals to blood their dogs.
It was not until an old friend and casual punter spoke candidly about live baiting being used to train his greyhounds that Four Corners producer Sam Clark realised the full extent of animal cruelty within the industry.
The Chilcot report is a step in the right direction for Britain but it will not mean much to Iraqis chief foreign correspondent Philip Williams writes. 
This service may include material from Agence FrancePresse AFP APTN Reuters AAP CNN and the BBC World Service which is copyright and cannot be reproduced.
AEST Australian Eastern Standard Time which is hours ahead of UTC Greenwich Mean Time
It was a question that many of us were asked repeatedly during university at family functions hanging out at the pub or making small talk during tra.
The world only spins forward wrote Tony Kushner. Schools on the other hand too often only spin. Or they get stuck altogether. When they do blame.
Give students real problems with real stakes that their communities face. If they are not creative there have to be stakes to lose. Give them something to engage with thats worth their time and creative capacities.
If our individual and collective decisions whether political social or economic were based on this fact we would be living in a far different world one where consumption was not cancerous one without poverty or pollution one where peace was more than a pipe dream.
Have you noticed that when politicians in the U.S. and Canada talk about education reform they say its what the economy needs. They tell us the only way to do that is for schools to produce the kinds of workers that corporations want. Given the fact that there can be no economy without a healthy environment isnt this focus on what the economy needs a bit shortsighted
There is a great deal of debate about whether or not technology will revolutionize education. To me the debate itself points out a problem. With the number of free and lowcost educational resources that technology has made available it should have at least to an extent. The fact that it hasnt points to a problem with the system overall. If we want to get the most out of our schools the education system should be designed exclusively for children and for the world in which we currently live.
If you are an entrepreneur be proud to hold this title and live up to its name. Also understand that you are leading a long overdue generational shift across sectors and it will take some time before your path may be embraced by all. Dont let the resistance discourage you from your ambitions.
Understanding Ontarios financial woes is critical to understanding the need for real change. The province has been in deficit since accumulating more than billion in debt. In the deficit was . billion. The provinces debt now stands at almost billion it was just billion at the start of the s.
For many years there was no educational Louis Pasteur for reformers to rally round and so educators have been able to cling to their unfortunate philosophies. This is no longer the case. Unfortunately many education leaders are ignoring these new findings. Why is that
Learning is not just about retaining knowledge its about understanding how to relate that knowledge to other people in a meaningful way. And you cant do that if you are distracted stressed or lack emotional intelligence.
In Canada organizations like the Society for Quality Education have been fighting for improvements. But Ontario Quebec and British Columbia have resisted efforts by them and others to return to traditional methods of teaching mathematics despite the fact that Canadian students are falling behind according to OECD global results in nations.
Its and youre six years old. Youre in a classroom that hasnt changed much since your parents sat there despite the welcome lack of nuns in .
The current postsecondary education system is failing not only the new economic paradigm but those individuals who are searching for how to acquire the knowledge to effectively compete in todays economy. How is the current postsecondary education system failing Here are the numerous reasons.
Governor Bush was well aware that he was taking a big political risk in championing such big bold changes but he was willing to take this risk for the sake of the children. And as it happened Governor Bushs risk paid off handsomely both in terms of his own popularity at the polls and also in terms of student success.
Parents are really fed up. They are sick of paying for Kumon sick of struggling with ridiculous homework assignments and nutty textbooks and most of all tired of seeing doors slammed in their childrens faces because they cant do math. In Ontario an election is coming soon. Its time to make a change.
I like to call us resolutionaries. We are the people who have the best intentions and make great plans for the year to come. We will quit our bad habits and develop new and healthy ones. Today we are sending our children back to school for the first week of . Lets make a resolution to help them develop healthy habits and stick to those new habits.
Somewhere along the way weve adopted some goofy misguided idea that childrens psyches are inherently staggeringly fragile prone to devastating and irreversible damage from any number of relatively benign phenomena like honour rolls sporting activities where only the winning team gets a trophy or track and field days with actual competition oh the horror.
Remember a company called Blockbuster What about Sam the Record Man Think of those companies and what became of them and their industries in the digital world. Now turn your thoughts to learning. Digital technologies are disrupting it in the same way that they disrupted Blockbuster.
Importantly Canada and nations like America have entered a new phase in which promoting creativity and innovation represent the only option for boosting global competitiveness. Canada or any country desirous of succeeding in an interconnected world must aggressively adopt the idea that creativity is the single most important ingredient to reinventing itself.
There are many misconceptions about black Canadians and where they belong. For this reason I am a strong supporter of the Toronto District School Boards TDSB decision to open an Africentric high school for this coming September. What better institution than our public schools to dispel the widely held misconceptions that black people are inherently violent criminal loud aggressive hypersexed unintelligent and lazy
Around two hundred thousand Quebec students were out in the streets of Montreal protesting tuition hikes Thursday. Their claims are unfounded or at the very least misguided but one thing I must concede is how this movement is getting Quebeckers out of their bubble of indifference relating to public affairs.
Over time hiring promotion and tenure committees have favoured grant writers and grantsmanship over other perhaps more creative and innovative scholars who dont toe the line. There are serious consequences when as in the current system you invest in projects and not people.
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If we want America to lead in the st century nothing is more important than giving everyone the best education possible from the day they start preschool to the day they start their career.
The strength of the American economy is inextricably linked to the strength of Americas education system. Now more than ever the American economy needs a workforce that is skilled adaptable creative and equipped for success in the global marketplace.
Americas ability to compete begins each day in classrooms across the nationandPresident Obama knows we must comprehensively strengthen and reform our education system in order to be successful in a st century economy. The case for the link between the strength of American education and the strength of our economy is a simple oneand it is one that all Americans can agree on. Ensuring that every student in our country graduates from high school prepared for college and a successful career is central to rebuilding our economy and securing a brighter economic future for all Americans.
Race to the Top marks a historic moment in American education. This initiative offers bold incentives to states willing to spur systemic reform to improve teaching and learning in Americas schools. Race to the Top has ushered in significant change in our education system particularly in raising standards and aligning policies and structures to the goal of college and career readiness. Race to the Top has helped drive states nationwide to pursue higher standards improve teacher effectiveness use data effectively in the classroom and adopt new strategies to help struggling schools.
As states move forward with education reforms some provisions of No Child Left Behindthe most current version of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act which is five years overdue for reauthorizationstand in the way of their progress. Although NCLB started a national conversation about student achievement unintended consequences of NCLB have reinforced the wrong behaviors in attempting to strengthen public education. NCLB has created incentives for states to lower their standards emphasized punishing failure over rewarding success focused on absolute scores rather than recognizing growth and progress and prescribed a passfail onesizefitsall series of interventions for schools that miss their goals.
In March of the Obama Administration sent Congress a Blueprint for Reform of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act addressing the issues created by No Child Left Behind while pursuing high standards and closing the achievement gap. But because Congress has not acted to reauthorize ESEA the Administration moved forward in providing states flexibility within the law as authorized by provisions in the law itself to pursue comprehensive plans to improve educational outcomes for all students close achievement gaps and improve the quality of teaching. To date states and the District of Columbia have received ESEA flexibility.
The President has consistently called for improvements in STEM education to move Americas students to the top of the pack by enabling all students to learn deeply and think critically in science and math expanding STEM education opportunities for students from all backgrounds and building partnerships among educators businesses and community partners to support advances in STEM education. This Administration has promoted several successful STEM initiatives including prioritizing STEM education in Race to the Top and the Investing in Innovation Fund improving the coordination of STEM education initiatives between the Department of Education and NSF and promoting over industry partners in their efforts to boost STEM learning through Change the Equation.
The President has issued a national challenge to prepare effective STEM teachers andhas requested million for a competition by the Department of Education to support effective STEM teaching preparation programs.
Also in advancement of this goal the President has proposed the creation of a new national Science Technology Engineering and Math STEM Master Teacher Corps comprised of some of the nations finest educators in STEM subjects. The STEM Master Teacher Corps will begin with exceptional STEM teachers established in sites and will be expanded over years to reach Master Teachers. These selected teachers will make a multiyear commitment to the Corps and in exchange for their expertise leadership and service will receive an annual stipend of up to on top of their base salary. The Administration will launch this Teacher Corps with the billion from the Presidents budget request currently before Congress.
President Obama believes that education is a cornerstone of creating an American economy built to last. Building a worldclass education system and highquality job training opportunities will equip the American economy to advance business growth encourage new investment and hiring spark innovation and promote continued economic growth and prosperity. Through several critical investments at the K level the Administration is fostering the type of growth innovation and transformation that is needed to improve our schools and achieve better outcomes for highneed students.
Since the beginning of his Administration the President has dedicated over billion to implement the bold reforms needed to transform the lowestperforming schools in America. Title I School Improvement Grants provide up to million per school over three years to dramatically transform these lowestperforming schools into safe learning environments where students can thrive. The funding has been awarded to school districts in all states as well as the District of Columbia Puerto Rico and the Bureau of Indian Education to turn around the lowestperforming schools in each state. More than schools across the country are undertaking one of four options for dramatically changing the way they serve students all requiring schools to institute farreaching changes to improve student learning. School leaders teachers and community members are working together to build schools where teachers and students want to be and want to learn.
The Investing in Innovation i Fund supports researchbased programs that help close achievement gaps and improve outcomes for highneed students. The i program invests in innovative practices in school districts nonprofits and institutions of higher education that are demonstrated to have an impact on improving student achievement closing achievement gaps decreasing dropout rates increasing high school graduation rates or increasing college enrollment and completion rates. These grants allow educational innovation to expand and develop working in partnership with the private sector and the philanthropic community to identify and document best practices that can be shared and taken to scale based on demonstrated success. To date million in funding has been provided to more than grantees to develop validate and scale up innovative reforms with million additional available in the competition.
The Promise Neighborhoods program takes a comprehensive approach to ensure that children have access to a continuum of educational and community supports. Modeled after the success of the Harlem Childrens Zone the Promise Neighborhoods program supports cradletocareer services to improve educational outcomes for students in distressed highpoverty neighborhoods. These grants provide critical support for the planning and implementation of comprehensive services ranging from early learning K to college and career including programs to improve the health safety and stability of neighborhoods as well as to boost family engagement in student learning and improve access to learning technology. The Promise Neighborhoods program fits into a broader agenda for neighborhood revitalization a strategy to focus not just on programs and policies but on people and places by knitting together all of the possible assets of a neighborhood. To date the Promise Neighborhoods program has put million into the community to make these initiatives come to life and in million is available to support up to grants.
Effective Career and Technical Education CTE programs are aligned with college and careerreadiness standards as well as the needs of employers industry and labor in order to provide students with curricula that combines integrated academic and technical content strong employability skills and workbased learning opportunities that connect learning to reallife career scenarios. Last April the Administration articulated a vision for strengthening and reforming CTE nationwide through the release of a Blueprint for Transformation of the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act. In the Blueprint the Administration laid out a plan to educate our way to an economy built to last by graduating more of our high school students prepared for college and career through effective CTE programs. These programs equip students with the skills they need to succeed in highgrowth highwage jobs of the st century and they empower American employers with a skilled experienced and sustainable workforce to support economic growth.
This Administration is committed to taking on the ambitious work of closing the achievement gap and turning around Americas lowestperforming schools while providing flexibility to states to develop new and innovative policies that will better drive better outcomes in their schools and to prepare their students to achieve the high standards weve set out. Secretary Duncan and the President have both called education the civil right issue of our generation. And we know that only by strengthening and expanding educational opportunities for all students from cradle to career can we reach the goals that the President has set out for us and provide a wordclass education to all of Americas students.
In February the Department of Education established the Equity and Excellence Commission comprised of members from a range of backgrounds including education law tax government business and civil rights that is tasked with examining disparities in meaningful educational opportunities that give rise to the achievement gap and recommending ways in which federal policies could address such disparities. The Commission will release a final report summarizing findings and recommendations to inform policies aimed at gaps in student learning outcomes and strengthening public education for all students.
President Obama knows that teachers matter. The Administration has worked across several initiatives to support teachers including by recruiting top talent to the profession increasing accountability of teacher preparation programs supporting the rethinking of traditional compensation and advancement models promoting educator collaboration and reengaging communities in their schools.
Together with Education Secretary Arne Duncan President Obama launched The RESPECT Project which stands for Recognizing Educational Success Professional Excellence and Collaborative Teaching with the goal of working with teachers school and district leaders teachers associations and unions and state and national education organizations to spark a dialogue that results in strong policy and a sustainable transformation of the teaching profession. To implement the principles of The RESPECT Project the Administration is proposing a new billion grant program to support states and districts that commit to pursuing bold reforms at every stage of the teaching profession.
Developing effective evaluation and support systems has been a central part of the Administrations work to strengthen the teaching profession. Our ESEA reauthorization proposal ESEA flexibility package Race to the Top initiative School Improvement Grant program and the Teacher Incentive Fund all support the development of strong systems of educator evaluation and support. Once fair rigorous evaluations for teachers and leaders are in place they can serve as a foundation for connecting educator performance with differentiated professional development compensation and career advancement.
To better support the preparation and development of successful teachers the Department has also proposed setting aside percentof Title II funds under No Child Left Behind roughly million to improve teacher and leader recruitment preparation and professional development. The setaside would support programs that recruit talented candidates into the teaching profession and provide them with rigorous training to prepare them for highneed schools. It would also support programs that recruit and train principals and school leadership teams to turn around the lowest performing schools.
East Asian countries have been actively pursuing education reform over the past two decades. Largely goals of such reforms have included studentcentered learning teaching with technology schoolbased management and teacher empowerment ideas that have originated in either the US the UK or Australia and travelled around the world on what Hallinger calls the winds of globalization. As Hallinger explainedwhere Asian societies years ago were once much more isolated cultural and national boundaries today are permeable. While this policy borrowing can be interpreted as a move to build a more modern education system it belies a cultural mismatch that can render the policy ineffective in practice. As Hallinger suggests where educational changes conflict with fundamental cultural values the process is likely to encounter even greater resistance and require a longer time frame for implementation p. .
Hallingers recent article written with Darren A. Bryant focuses on Thailand and identifies lessons that can apply broadly to the region and beyond. As Hallinger and Bryant explain Thailand aimed to expand access to education during the s by increasing compulsory education from six to nine years and finally to years of free schooling in an effort to improve the knowledge and skill level of the labor force. However with the increase in access came concerns over educational quality and in the National Education Act was passed setting ambitious new goals for teaching and learning that many today feel the country has not attained in the ten years since the initial implementation of the reform. Some have also linked the countrys recent social unrest to the perception of unequal access to quality education.
Hallinger and Bryant also note that in countries such asMalaysia Hong Kong Singapore China and Taiwan there is a similar gap between the vision of educational change and the reality on the ground. In Thailand for example despite the government directive that all teachers implement studentcentered learning a survey of principals found that only about a onethird reported that their teachers actively engaged the reforms in their teaching practice. Hallinger attributes this disappointment to overpromising rather than faulty strategy and explains that a successful implementation would require more than a decade in any country. In Thailand local factors such as budget constraints cultural mismatch and political instability have further tested reform efforts.
This will bring about advancement in the education of the East Asian region of the continentwhich is a great development in the educion sector.
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The recent reforms to special educational needs which aim to help children who have specific requirements to learn effectively have been described as the biggest for a generation.
They will affect . million children and young people across England and will give parents more control over their childs education. 
However there have been concerns from teaching unions who say the changes are coming too fast without enough support from government.
The Department for Education has called the reform a landmark moment which will result in more children achieving their best. 
yearold Robert Bailey has high functioning autism and is one of those children who will be affected by the changes. 
Robert and his mum Justine Bailey spoke to disability affairs correspondent Nikki Fox.
Universities look set for a volatile turbulent ride thanks to falling student numbers but the future may not be as bleak for students according to .
A group of academics have warned that Michael Goves national curriculum proposal will severely erode education standards by dumbing down teaching a.
Education Secretary Michael Gove is to bring back traditional twoyear Alevels with endofcourse exams in a major overhaul of the system.
Schoolstyle reports could replace traditional degrees in future under a shakeup of the awarding system it was suggested today.
Talented students will be denied places at highly regarded universities due to the governments education reforms a university group has warned.
School reforms may cause more than two thirds of secondary school headteachers to leave the profession according to a survey.
Students have clashed with police again over education reforms in Santiago Chile.
Welsh education minister Leighton Andrews hit back at claims his reaction to international criticism over Wales school standards was kneejerk sayin.
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The Education Secretary said the last Government had marginalised teachers and created a toxic target culture that forced pupils into taking simple subjects of little value to employers. 
In an interview he warned that England was being left behind over developed nations that educated children to a much higher standard. 
The comments came as the Coalition prepared to publish a White Paper today that will toughen up exams overhaul the national curriculum reform teacher training and give staff more power to discipline pupils. All schools will be forced to meet tough new targets or face being taken over. 
In one of the most radical changes league tables used by parents to rate state secondary schools will be tightened up to stop teachers pushing pupils onto soft subjects to inflate their ranking. 
For the first time schools will be rewarded for the number of pupils with good GCSEs in five core subjects English maths science a language and one humanities subject. 
A slimmed down National Curriculum will specify the core knowledge children are supposed to master at each key stage but give staff and pupils more time for culture sport and the arts. 
Speaking on BBC Radio Fours Today programme Mr Gove said the newstyle curriculum would only specify English maths and science syllabuses suggesting the content of other subjects may be left to individual schools. 
I want to slim the National Curriculum down he said. I want to slim down the bit that is absolutely mandated from the centre. 
I think there are certain core subjects where we should give parents a clear understand of the knowledge children are expected to have English maths and science certainly but I think we should then have a debate about which additional subjects we mandate from the centre and then after that you free it up. 
The original intention behind the National Curriculum was that it shouldnt cover everything in the school day and our Coalition partners the Liberal Democrats have made the case very powerfully that what schools should follow is a minimum curriculum entitlement that takes up perhaps per cent of school time. 
Mr Gove said the current National Curriculum a document specifying how certain subjects should be taught had become hugely bureaucratic under Labour. 
The comments come just days after Tim Oates the head of research at the Cambridge Assessment exam board warned that schools had been overloaded by curriculum reforms in recent years. 
You have had a National Curriculum which was initially intended just to specify how to impart knowledge in the core subjects its grown to occupy all the space during the teaching day. 
A shake up of league tables will see schools rated by the number of pupils gaining at least a C grade in five vital subject areas. 
In the past schools could effectively climb the tables by pushing pupils onto subjects such as media studies and vocational computing qualifications which are worth up to four GCSEs. 
We are going to reform league tables so that in the future they measure achievement in five academic GCSEs. So in order for schools to do well they will have to ensure that more and more students are studying not just English and maths but science a modern or ancient language and a humanity like history. 
If you look at European countries and if you look at America and east Asia they expect that all children up to the age of will be studying these rigorous subjects whether or not they go on to university.