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Feeling safe in school – a widening gap across the UK

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Professor John Robertson OBA In the Guardian today: Girls in England say they feel less safe at school and are more disenchanted with their education, research has found. Using data from an international study of pupils at primary and secondary schools, researchers said the steep fall in girls’ “emotional engagement” compared with the years before the Covid pandemic has become a pressing issue for schools. While the results from the international survey showed pupils’ feelings of belonging, safety and pride have fallen in many countries since the pandemic, researchers from University College London (UCL) found that England had one of the biggest drop-offs among … Continue reading Feeling safe in school – a widening gap across the UK

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Vetting call over ‘asshole’ PhD examiners, ‘trial-by-fire’ vivas

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Professor John Robertson OBA, former Faculty Research Ethics Chair This happens in Scotland too and it’s made worse by the common sense of inferiority toward some English academics. In the Times Education Supplement today: A new study of more than 300 PhD examiners found that most think the UK’s “closed-door” vivas should be reformed, with three quarters calling for examiners to be more carefully selected and two thirds advising more precise guidance on examiners’ behaviour. And the respondents felt pretty strongly on the matter: one said known “assholes” need to be kept “away from our students”, while another called for … Continue reading Vetting call over ‘asshole’ PhD examiners, ‘trial-by-fire’ vivas

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Scotland’s schools – better staffed, better funded and improving outcomes in a society where youth violence has plummeted

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Professor John Robertson OBA, former schoolteacher, education lecturer, Associate Dean I was only a classroom teacher for three years (11 year-olds) before moving into higher education, but 18-24 year-olds can be hard work, scary at times, too. I was a bit lucky as well. I ran a winning school football team (cynically based on the Catenaccio – look it up) so if they crossed me they were oot! I’m not, under any circumstances downplaying how awful the experience can be, at some times, for some teachers but I am, really, questioning the idea that things are now worse than they … Continue reading Scotland’s schools – better staffed, better funded and improving outcomes in a society where youth violence has plummeted

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Youth violence plummets across society yet increases in schools according to union survey of less than one in a hundred teachers ‘seen’ by BBC Scotland

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in classrooms across Scotland, according to a survey of nearly 500 ‘union members’ seen by the BBC. By Professor John Robertson OBA, former teacher, education lecturer, Associate Dean for Quality Assurance and Research Ethics Chair, UWS BBC Reporting Scotland Down are off with a top story to give the elderly and vulnerable, maybe more of us, a dose of their ‘Too anxious to ever vote for real change‘ drug (take 7 times a day). They have scary prisoner release next as a back-up to get your worries up. There are 54 000 teachers in Scotland so that’s a self-selecting, ‘squeaky … Continue reading Youth violence plummets across society yet increases in schools according to union survey of less than one in a hundred teachers ‘seen’ by BBC Scotland

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The other SNP iPad story you won’t hear – a game-changer in education, the narrowing of the attainment gaps and the increased attainment of the most disadvantaged

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The Talking-up Scotland fund raiser primarily to enable the recruitment of some research assistance, in order to take pressure off me [74 in June and tiring] and hopefully to further improve the blog, has made a good start. To contribute, only if you can (!) go to: Talking-up Scotland – a Politics crowdfunding project in Ayr by Professor John Robertson Professor John Robertson OBA, former Associate Dean (Quality Assurance) Faculty of Education, UWS No doubt, you’re thinking of the Michael Matheson iPad story thoroughly plastered across moronic media for months on end but there’s another SNP iPad story, getting local press coverage but, as far … Continue reading The other SNP iPad story you won’t hear – a game-changer in education, the narrowing of the attainment gaps and the increased attainment of the most disadvantaged

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Labour Government to force cuts that further widen the staffing spending and consequently the attainment gap between schools in Scotland and England

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The Talking-up Scotland fund raiser primarily to enable the recruitment of some research assistance, in order to take pressure off me [74 in June and tiring] and hopefully to further improve the blog, has made a good start. To contribute, only if you can (!) go to: Talking-up Scotland – a Politics crowdfunding project in Ayr by Professor John Robertson By Professor John Robertson OBA, former Associate Dean (Quality Assurance), Faculty of Education, UWS From the Guardian today: Cash-strapped schools plan to lay off teachers in blow to Labour’s promiseDespite government pledge to recruit 6,500 new teachers, headteachers are under renewed pressure … Continue reading Labour Government to force cuts that further widen the staffing spending and consequently the attainment gap between schools in Scotland and England

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‘Tawdry’ Labour spin doctor pretends to know something about education to undermine Nicola Sturgeon, SNP and Scottish schools

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The Talking-up Scotland fund raiser primarily to enable the recruitment of some research assistance, in order to take pressure off me [74 in June and tiring] and hopefully to further improve the blog, has made a good start. To contribute, only if you can (!) go to: Talking-up Scotland – a Politics crowdfunding project in Ayr by Professor John Robertson By Professor John Robertson OBA former school teacher, education lecturer, Associate Dean (Quality Assurance) Faculty of Education, Research Ethics Chair and Research Methods Tutor to BA Journalism (!) UWS Peter MacMahon is in the Herald with: Has anything changed since Sturgeon’s education pledge? Not long after she became First … Continue reading ‘Tawdry’ Labour spin doctor pretends to know something about education to undermine Nicola Sturgeon, SNP and Scottish schools

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Privately-educated Alex Massie of the Times with more fake news on Scotland’s state schools

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Professor John Robertson OBA, former schoolteacher, education lecturer and Associate Dean (Quality Assurance) Faculty of Education, UWS Alex Massie of the Times and Spectator, today claims: Scotland’s schools are failing, but it doesn’t have to be this way He’s right. It doesn’t have to be this way because it isn’t. Massie knows little of anything but of education, even less. Massie was educated at St. Mary’s School, Melrose, Glenalmond College in Perthshire and at Trinity College Dublin but offers no detail of degree subject or classification. Given the kind of guy he seems, a first would have been mentioned. What he doesn’t know: From Literacy and numeracy standards reach record high, published … Continue reading Privately-educated Alex Massie of the Times with more fake news on Scotland’s state schools

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The Idiocrat

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By Professor John Robertson OBA, former Associate Dean (Quality Assurance) Faculty of Education, UWS In the Herald today, recycling the recent lies of Prof (sic) Lindsay Paterson, Neil Mackay has: The debasement of Scottish education is turning us into an idiocracy. Takes one to know one I suppose but I guess he’s not that daft, just desperate to keep his job. The facts: First, in Secondary schools: At SCQF level 7 (Advanced Higher), the gap in 2009/10, two years after the SNP first came to power, was 24.1 and by 2021/22 it was 22.2, though down from 25 in the previous year but more important … Continue reading The Idiocrat

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Scotsman blames SNP for balancing books on teacher numbers but still keeping best conditions in world and best staffing level in the UK as pupils numbers plummet

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By Professor John Robertson, OBA Every year, the Scottish Government monitors the number of teachers and pupils in the system, predicts future demand and adjusts teacher training place numbers to take account of this, with a view to not having too many teachers or overspending in one area of its fixed budget. Sensible? Last year, they were able to say: In Scotland, the number of primary school pupils peaked in 2017 at around 400,000 pupils before decreasing to around 390,000 in 2021. Estimates using 2018-based population projections show a continued decrease each year to around 355,000 in 2027. 1 and have … Continue reading Scotsman blames SNP for balancing books on teacher numbers but still keeping best conditions in world and best staffing level in the UK as pupils numbers plummet