U.K. National Lottery

The U.K. National Lottery (N.L.)have recently announced a 100% increase in the price of their tickets from £1 to £2.  This has handed it's competitor, The Health Lottery, (H.L.) a new advertising campaign.  The H.L. is now crowing about the fact that it still only costs £1.  Many people with a spare quid in their pockets will be tempted to play the H.L rather than the N.L. This was a serious mis-calculation on the part of the N.L.
The reason given for the price hike is that it is struggling to support the charitable causes that it supports.  My answer to this is to pay the shareholders less!  Also, the H.L. supports various Health charities up and down the country.  Given the parlous state of the N.H.S. who wouldn't want to support the N.H.S.?
This is a major P.R. disaster!

Syria......Part Deux

Today, following a debate in the House of Commons, the Government were defeated in their plans to take actions against the perpetrators of the chemical attack.  A lot of commentators have said that this weakens David Cameron's position and the position of Britain in the rest of the World.  Personally, I do not know if that is true, and I must be honest and say that I couldn't care less if Britain's position has been weakened.  As far as Syria goes, a military solution, I.M.H.O, will not change things at all.  Who in their right mind thinks that adding more military hardware to a situation awash with weapons is going to improve the situation?  I am not the only person that thinks that a Diplomatic Solution is the only sensible way to proceed.  The United Nations has many people skilled in the dark arts of diplomacy.  A discussion involving all interested parties, including Russia and all the Middle Eastern neighbours, should be held, under the auspices of the U.N. to discuss the way forward.
The obvious aim would be to have Syria come out the other side with a Western-style democracy, and a pro-Western outlook.  But what would happen if the population of the country voted for a single party state, possibly run by the Ayatollahs, or even worse, the Taliban.  What would the West do then?  My suggestion would be that nothing would happen.  The reason I say that is that Syria has no oil.  Am I an old cynic?  I would have to plead guilty to that one.

Syria, and all that........

Today we have the Western Leaders getting their collective knickers in a twist over the recent events that have occurred in Syria.  The latest 'twist' is the alleged use of chemical weapons by the Assad regime, during which attack thousands of people died.  Surely the point is that thousands of people died, not who caused their deaths. 
The U.N. weapons inspectors were fired on, presumably, to stop them finding out whether it actually was a chemical attack, what was the chemical used, and, if possible, who originated the chemical attack.  Who would want to stop the inspection?  Clearly the originators of the chemical attack.
The U.N. are clearly 'dragging their feet' by not coming up with a sensible suggestion to deal with the sorry situation in Syria, where hundreds of its' citizens are killing each other by the bucket load.  All attempts have to be used to stop BOTH sides.  America seems to be favouring 'surgical strikes' by  missiles, the American public being understandably unwilling to commit ground troops to a fight in foreign fields.  Britain has been making lots of troops redundant, and I doubt a sustained action by troops could be maintained.  America, with its' side-kick, Britain, should leave the role of the World's Police to the U.N., but until the Russians agree to a course of action, the options are severely limited,

I am confused..................

I would like to ask, with all the "new initiatives" and cash thrown at Education over the many years since OFSTED ,  why are there still kids that leave school hardly able to read and write?
I would also like to ask, what makes you think that "league tables" are the way to improve schools' performance?  Just because schools get '98% A* to C' does that mean that schools are turning out well-balanced, polite, graduates, able to think for themselves? 
Several years ago, more years than I care to remember, I started a P.G.C.E. to become a Secondary Science Teacher.  As part of the course, we had to pass a Literacy, Numeracy and I.T. Proficiency test.  As one of the Lecturers said, "You all have English and Maths qualifications.  If they do not prove that you are literate and numerate, then perhaps they should fix the English and Maths qualifications rather than make you do these tests."
Personally, my view is that Education is not fit for purpose.  Does the honourable Michael Gove, Minister of State for Education seriously think that turning back the clock and making Education the image of the Education he experienced, will fix all of the problems?
Only time will tell.
Perhaps we should take education out of the political arena all together and stop it being used as a political football?

Being on Supply

I am a skilled man.  I have 3 'A' Levels in Chemistry, Physics, and Zoology; an honours degree in Psychology; 16 years experience as a Registered Nurse; and 10 years experience teaching 'A' Level Psychology.  Since leaving my last job, I have been doing some Supply work, as well as Invigilating exams in a local Secondary School.  But it is the question of supply teaching that I wish to turn to.
I have been on supply at a Secondary School, covering a teacher that has been on long term sick.  Prior to me arriving at the school, the students had a succession of supply teachers.  While I was there, I had to give the classes a test on the stuff that they had been set while their teacher was absent.  All of the students said that they did not know the topic, I replied that it was important that they learn the stuff that supply teachers give them.
In the last weeks of my stay, I had to set them a project to do.  The hand in date coincided with my last day at the school.  Some of the students had obviously worked hard at the project, and I gave them praise and wrote nice comments in their books about the work that they had done.  Not surprisingly, some of the students had not done the work, I wonder what the consequences for those students will be?  What will those consequences say to the students that had worked hard at their projects and those that did not a lot?  I must say that in a previous stint as a supply teacher that I was at a school where the students told me that their teacher threw away the work that they do while he was off sick.  Is that what will happen to the students' work who had completed their projects?  I hope that the school will be able to look those students in the face and tell them that the work they did was valued!

Reminisences of College - No. 1

When I worked in a College, I taught A Level Psychology.  One of my students used to come to my lecture at 10 a.m. on time, because she set her mobile to remind her at 9.30 a.m.  On the same day as my lesson, she had an exam at 9.00 a.m. when her Mum woke her up.  At 9.30 a.m. her mobile phone, still in her pocket, went off.  It is normal exam invigilation technique to remind students, more than once, to hand in their mobile phones.  This obviously fell on deaf ears as far as this student was concerned.  The result was that she was disqualified from the exam, and all other exams in the series.  When other people found out about this, and no doubt said something to her, she decided to leave College.
I wonder what happened to her?
Answers please in the box below.

Housing Benefit changes

The current Government are seeking to cut the benefits budget by cutting the amount of money that people are paid via Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit.  In places where it is expensive to live, rents are correspondingly high.  Before today's change, people would merely offset their high level of rent against Housing Benefit, and the money would be paid direct to the landlord.  This represents a transfer of Government money direct to landlords who could charge what they liked and the government would cough up the cash.  I do not have the figures, but I would imagine that Housing Benefit payments started to spiral out of control once rents were deregulated back in the years of the Iron Lady.
Part of Ian Duncan Smiths rhetoric is to deprive people of Housing Benefit to 'force them' into work.  What planet does he live on?  'Ere in 'Ull there are 50 to 60 people chasing every job.  This is just further proof the the Government are out of touch.

Nurse! Nurse! I'm getting worse!

Because of the disaster at the Mid-Staffordshire N.H.S. Trust, there are a number of suggestions on how to 'fix' the problem.  On the Beeb this morning there was an 'ex-nurse', a gentleman who had lost his son as the result of a medical accident, and someone from an organisation called A.M.A. The 'M.A.' stood for 'medical accidents', but I can't remember what the first 'A' stood for.  They were calling for the creation of a duty of 'honesty' i.e. when you made a mistake you confessed rather than try and sweep it under the carpet.  Good luck with that one unless you do something about the countless firms that will help you get the compensation 'you deserve' after medical negligence.  What has happened that 'accidents' no longer happen?

The point that I wish to make is one that is not mine, but I think that it has enough merit for it to be repeated.  Since I trained as a nurse, nurse training has undergone several changes, and still things happen that make people want to change nurse training again.  The latest is to make people work in hospital wards for a year before they can apply for training, a kind of internship.  But the idea I want to put forward is to have nurses licensed.  The license will be awarded as long as nurses can carry out 'basic nursing care' to an acceptable standard.  This is not as easy as it sounds.  The license will also cover them to administer medication safely (you only need to get five things right: the right patient; the right time; the right drug; the right dose; and the right route of administration.).  To get a job in Cardio-Thoracic Care, for example, you would have to complete a conversion course, where the specifics of cardio-thoacic care are dealt with.  Years ago the English National Board ran loads of these courses, and I think that they should be extended into the normal pattern of nursing qualifications.  The result of this is that when your relative is admitted to the Heart Unit after having a 'Heart Attack' there will be nurses there who are licensed to care for your relative, and have been trained in the specific needs that their condition presents.  Like I say, not my idea, but I think that it has merit.

Job Hunt

Rather brazenly, I applied for a para-legal job with a firm in Hull.  I have no qualifications in Law so I really had to pull the finger out to even get them to look at my C.V.  this is the cover letter that I wrote:

"Please accept this letter as my application for the post as Legal Assistant/Para-legal at your firm. There is no doubt, from looking at my C.V., that my chances of getting an interview are very slim. (That ticks the 'sense of humour' box, I think.) However, in the next few sentences, I have to persuade you to give me a chance. Yes, I am on the wrong side of 50, but that brings life experience that people with “no snow on the roof” will not have. Unusually, for my age, I have quite good computer skills, and run web sites, one for a community group that I am a member of. I am well educated, I have a degree from the University of Aberdeen, and I have trained as a nurse, and I can explain to anyone that will listen how fridges and air-conditioners work. I have a thirst for new knowledge that is, sadly, not being exploited to the full, and I would like that to change before I become old and decrepit.

So, how have I done? Will I get the chance to further persuade you of my suitability for the post, or are my documents shredded and sent off with the re-cycling? I will, no doubt, find out in the fullness of time."

I enclosed a copy of my C.V., obviously, and waited, expecting to hear not a peep.  However, a reply did come, and here it is........

 "Thank you for your application for our paralegal post.  I am sorry to have to tell you that on this occasion your application has been unsuccessful.  We did very much enjoy your covering letter and for the record I shall myself very shortly be radically altering my own opinion as to which side of fifty is the right side to be.  We were also very impressed by your CV and the range of life experience you have had.

Unfortunately, however we received nearly fifty applications and many of those people had very relevant HR experience which really was the sort of background we were looking for.  we had toyed with the idea of inviting you to an interview merely on the basis that it would probably be quite interesting to meet you but that in reality would probably not be fair!"

If I come across anyone who is interested in Employment Law, I would, in the strongest terms possible, advise them to work for the author of the reply.  In my search for work, it is the norm. not to receive even an acknowledgement that my application has been received, but the author here has not only replied, but has taken the time to think about what to write in reply to my frankly outrageous application.

The firm?  GOSSCHALKS

Sexual Politics & Education.

Although this situation has probably existed for millenia, it was brought into sharp focus recently.  I was 'on supply' at a school, covering a Year 7 English class.  Their regular teacher was there at the start, and he explained that he was letting them watch a film as it had relevance to some work they were doing in the next half term.  He then left to attend a meeting.  The film started and some of the students were not interested and decided to get some paper and draw, which I allowed.  I then noticed that all the tables were either all male or all female, except one.  On this table, a lone boy sat with, and I don't mean to sound lecherous here, with some of the prettiest girls in the class.  He started 'playing up' so I told him off.  He continued to 'play up' so I went over to give him a stern talking to.  He complained that this happened in every class.  He pointed to a girl sitting opposite and said that 'she threw something at me.'  I said that was unfortunate, but if I saw her misbehaving, I would deal with it, appropriately.  'But Sir!  This happens in every lesson!' was the boys complaint.  'Then you have to be careful of who and where you sit' I said trying to be helpful.
The next time I looked in the direction, he was on his feet, trying to squash his tormentrix between the table and chair.  'Right! Come here!'  I was ready to throw the book at him, but as there was only 10 minutes left of the lesson, I could not have him standing outside, so I made him sit an another, all male, table.
This has certainly happened to me in Junior school, and is probably the reason that some schools teach boys and girls separately.  There are some people that do not possess a 'Y' Chromosome that can make a possessor of a 'Y' Chromosome do some things that he may not want to, which leads to the owner of the 'Y' get into trouble.

Being unemployed..........................

One word that I could use to fill in the gap is 'Sucks'!  I took Voluntary Redundancy from my last place of work and have been unable to find work since.  I have a casual job at a local Secondary  School invigilating. I have joined a teaching agency, but the amount of work coming my way is not very much.  I have been unemployed for six months and my J.S.A. stops in a few days.
I am an educated man, I have 10 'O' Levels (Yes, I am that old), 3 'A' Levels, and a University degree.  I have trained as a Psychiatric Nurse.
Sorry that last bit was a bit muddled.
Anyway, I have a choice.  Do I carry on with the path that I am travelling, or do I choose another path?
I could return to nursing but I have to work in a care environment for 6 months and then do a 'return to nursing' course, but there have been redundancies in the N.H.S. and will working in a 'care environment' be a step back?
I have a mad plan, which involves returning to College.  My choice would be accounts.  I am going to put this plan into motion early next week.  Watch this space!

The halcyon days of my youth.

Walking around today started me thinking about my youth, when I would have enjoyed rather than endured the recent fall of snow.  Growing up in the London Borough of Barking things were very different to how they are now.  Every street had a street-sweeper, a man that pushed a trolley that had two bins on it, various brushes and a shovel, and picked up the detritus and carted it away in the trolley. In the winter, particularly when there was show and ice on the ground, the bins for rubbish were replaced of bins with grit, which would be spread on the pavements.  Now, I am not saying that everything in the garden of the past is rosy, life expectancy was lower than it is today, cigarette smoking was tolerated, and long distance communications were very poor.
Today, the council has a legal responsibility to put ramps for wheelchairs which now act like mini ski-slopes for anyone a bit 'wobbly' on their pins.  So not every advance made in modern days is advantageous, and not everything in the past was brilliant, but I have to tell you that my Mum did  make the best apple crumble and baked rice pudding, in the world.

More Reflections on Education.

Education has certainly changed since my day, no longer is corporal punishment allowed, which is a good thing, and education remains a political football, which is a bad thing.
Primary teachers are now allowed to leave their class in the hands of an 'untrained person' for a few hours a week to allow for Planning and Preparation.  These 'untrained persons' are usually experienced Teacher's Assistants, who have received extra training.  So, on balance, I think that is a good thing.
Recently, while on supply at a Secondary School in Hull, I met an 'Intervention Teacher' in a Maths class.  The role involved taking kids from class that were struggling and give them extra help.  Not a bad thing?  "So, you are a Maths teacher then?" I asked.  "No" came the reply.  "You have a Maths degree then?"  "No, I am just good at Maths" and the conversation ended.
I applied for a job at a different Secondary School as a Cover Supervisor.  I did not get the job.  The job went to somebody who had been working in the role, and was not qualified.  A second post, available until the end of the academic year, was also not a job that I got.  That went to a spotty youth who had been a teaching assistant at the school, and 'ran a football team'.
The question that bothers me is, with all these untrained individuals working in education, what is the point of a degree and a P.G.C.E? Answers on a Post Card please.