5 Comments

  1. Jarlath O'Brien
    April 21, 2016 @ 2:51 pm

    Although I make reference to the various different types of schools in this country, it does not follow that I support their existence. Single gender schools did not come into being on the back of a strong research base. They are a legacy of the preferences of generations past and they will never be removed. The evidence base that either girls or boys fare better in single gender schools is, I understand, extremely weak.
    Churches of any denomination or other religions are involved in the management and organisation of schools also on the basis of a legacy of generations past. No-one seriously asserts that they are better placed than others to take responsibility for the education of children. As with single gender schools their removal would be political suicide and will never happen.
    Their existence owes more to inertia than to any strong belief that children learn better without the opposite sex or in a school of a religious character.

    Reply

    • Teachwell
      April 21, 2016 @ 2:56 pm

      That’s not the spirit in which the link was made but I will adjust it in the post if it did come across that way. It was made more as a reference to the current reality.

      Reply

  2. Tim Taylor
    April 21, 2016 @ 6:12 pm

    Hi, my reference to the French Reovution wasn’t an analogy about the conflict between traditionalist and progressives. I was making a point about how ideas matter, so people get passionate about them, and then factions develop. I actually think there is more that binds us than separate us and (this is the point of my final paragraph) that we should concentrate on dialogue, rather than trying to win the argument. Hopefully Homerton will be a start.

    Reply

    • Teachwell
      April 21, 2016 @ 6:26 pm

      Still don’t agree with your idea about factions, even put like that.

      I think teachers pre-1960s were teaching in the best way they thought they knew how.

      They have been painted as ideological because it suits the progressive argument.

      Neotraditionalists I would agree are ideological in their stance.

      Any airing of the debate will result in a fuller understanding of the different positions.

      Reply

      • Tim Taylor
        April 21, 2016 @ 6:37 pm

        I’m sure we disagree, but I would like to be represented fairly, perhaps you would consider revising your first paragraph?
        And, who is painting teachers before the 1960s as ideological? Certainly not me, my point is most teachers are pragmatic not ideological.

        Reply

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