John Bald: Special Needs pupils are being let down by the system
When support is provided, the quality is often so poor that the pupil would be better off without it. Often the work is done for the pupil, preventing learning from taking place.
Posts by John Bald
John Bald began teaching in 1973, and has extensive experience as an adviser with Essex and Hackney, as a trainer of new and experienced teachers and as an Inspector. He has written two books on the teaching of reading and spelling.
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John Bald: What teachers can learn from tutors
Those who spend their time in classrooms and rigidly follow the handbook may fail to meet the individual needs of each pupil.
John Bald: Labour threatens to set our schools back by over a decade
The reality of local authority control of schools was not democratic, but rule by officers and party hacks.
John Bald: This year’s exam results are another milestone on the road to restoring rigour in education
At the local level, there is also good news in the successful reform of Great Yarmouth Charter Academy.
John Bald: It’s time to boost the Further Education sector
It is funded at a lower level than schools, and yet is expected to put right much that has gone wrong. Technical courses need higher esteem.
John Bald: Schools are still failing to exclude bullies
The perpetrators of school violence and disruption inflict more harm on the education of other pupils, and to the morale of teachers, than they do on themselves.
John Bald: It is becoming harder for Leftist academics to attack phonics
Teaching children to spell is not an act of cruelty – they have a large smiles on their faces when they get something right.
John Bald: Higher education should be free to everyone who gets the grades
Grammar school expansion should be focused on extending their sixth forms and opening them up to qualified entrants from other local schools to widen opportunity.
John Bald: Teachers are still groaning over the time they have to waste producing fake data
Conservative policies to date have done little to improve the situation, and have sometimes made it worse. These bureaucratic impositions must be lifted.
John Bald: How South Cambridgeshire was lost
The key issue was planning, and our fate was sealed before the first leaflet was delivered. Developers would steamroller the council to get unwanted schemes approved.
John Bald: Social mobility and education’s Angry Brigade
Rather than allowing the greatest opportunity for each individual to excel, the educational establishment want to hold them back – in the interests of “levelling attainment”.
John Bald: Yes, we need education research – but it must be competent
The Education Endowment Foundation is not impartial. It was an error to set it up and it should receive no more public money. Others are better suited to the challenge.
John Bald: Why is the Government wasting £100 million on a Quango that backs mixed ability teaching?
Free schools and academies have found that setting improves standards. It’s time to stop giving huge public funds to academics who disregard this evidence.
John Bald: Mixed ability teaching has come very close to killing the learning of foreign languages
Tougher exams are not to blame. Too often children’s time for the first three years of secondary school is wasted.
John Bald: The chance for a better system for teaching pupils with dyslexia
My advice to parents seeking help from local authorities is not to bother – as it would probably be worse than useless. Their methods ignore the way the brain works.