[Sundae]

We (the school I volunteer for) had an OFSTED inspection a couple of months back (an Orwellian abbreviation to do with office and education I think)

It's not enough to teach the children; evidence has to be available to check. I spent a whole morning today glueing worksheets into science books. Not because of this year's inspection, just because that's the way education works now. Of the three topics I was glueing in, one a "mini-beasts" hunt. In other words we went looking for insects. It was numeracy and identifying and drawing and writing. But it only counted if it was written up with a heading and a date and the objective was clearly stated and achieved and the work is shown and is marked and a comment made by the teacher. A thirty minute session in school time and an added thirty minutes out of school time for a teacher/ TA/ Parent Helper.

I understand that the need for evidence can be used to judge sub-standard schools. But I'm lucky enough to work in a superb school and I still know they could not function as well as they do without parent commitment. That seems terrible to me. If a good school needs 4-5 parents (and me, a non-parent) a week to meet the targets of reading and recording and practice and art, what about the schools that don't have that?

Well, I know what happens to those schools. Or local estate school is failing. Our Councillor blames the parents for not being engaged. He's probably right, but it seems like a double bind for the children involved. One of the issues is how to motivate parents from different cultural backgrounds, especially when English is not spoken at home. He's appealed to the community to take more interest in education, and I hope he succeeds - we don't need ghetto education in a town this size.

Sorry, wandered off subject. But I was being a post whore so I forgive myself. St Cherry, patron saint of thread-drift-non-drift.