Although significant international trading, security and humanitarian agreements exist in the form of NATO, United Nations, Red Cross etc. none operate in the form of global governance. It would be impractical to consider the extension of their remit could be easily achieved due to political and territorial implications. But the non discriminatory function of education should have no boundaries and would benefit from global scaling advantages in teaching resources, building design and relevance of curriculum. There is nothing new in the concept of international standards. International trading associations first originated in medieval times. Epitomised by the Hanseatic League of merchants they spread throughout cities of northern Europe from 1120. They were incredibly well organised and opened offices throughout Germany, Holland, Norway and the UK flourishing in the import and export trade. The Hanseatic cities had their own judiciary system and furnished their own protection and mutual aid thus having a sort of a political autonomy and in some cases creating political entities of their own.

Hundreds of year later the Hanseatic League concept has been reiterated but the doctrine has never become global. The European Union determine rules and regulations for its 27 member states, whilst ASEAN the Association of South-east Asian Nations set the goals for Asia. But neither have a common policy in education. In Australia the curriculum is controlled individually by each of the seven states, an in the UK the educational standards are controlled differently in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Island and even examined by four different examination boards.

The opportunity for a global standard is massive, yet history proves the task is almost insurmountable. Benefits in modern teaching and classroom resources being applied in third world countries would install the educational standards that should be the birthright of every child. It is easy to understand the reluctance of many nations to breach far reaching cultural configurations but the goal of global education hold benefits of lowering costs, improving standards and the spread of education to the poorer countries of the world.

The evolution of world trading is advancing at an increasing rate. Led by advances in technology, market conditions and a shift in the centre of gravity of trade towards Asia emphasise the need for an educational system that can track with the times. Although many arguments surround the adoption of the International Baccalaureate at least this could be considered the start of the process. It still has a long way before becoming a global standard and ensures children in London, Sydney, New York, Beijing or Harare receive the ideal education.
The rate of change in the world will increase at an exponential rate. We have a duty to groom children for the future and equip them with the acumen to make the world a better place and deal effectively with the many changes that will emerge over the years to come.

FREE Technical Workshop on Renewable Energies with special focus on Hydrogen Fuel Cell Technology.

Heliocentris, leaders in innovative training solutions based on hydrogen fuel cell technology for science classes and technical training, will present their practical teaching products within a hands-on workshop.

The workshop will focus on the didactic training solutions designed to teach and explore the area of renewable energies in schools and universities and give you an insight into the functionality and application areas of hydrogen fuel cells.

The Workshop is hosted by Ted Lister* and jointly organized by Heliocentris GmbH of Berlin, Germany, and www.keen2learn.co.uk the UK distributor.

Who Should Attend? Science teachers in secondary schools and lecturers in renewable energy at universities.

Participation is free! A Certificate of Attendance and Information pack will be given to all attendees.

We are limiting places to this extremely popular event and recommend you reserve a place by 15th September 2010.

Venues

* Leeds: 1st October 2pm to 5pm (Novotel, 4 Whitehall Quay, Leeds LS1 4HR)

* London: 8th October 2pm to 5pm (London Institute of Education, 20, Bedford Way, London WC1H 0AL)

* Birmingham: 15th October 2pm to 5pm (Ramada Encore Hotel Birmingham NEC, Bickenhill Lane, Birmingham B40 1PJ)

To reserve your place please  contact:

Alistair Owens

Tel:  0845 634 0585

Fax: 01302 590030

Email: alistair@keen2learn.co.uk

After your reservation you will get a confirmation with detailed information including an agenda.

*After graduation from Warwick University (1st Class Honours in Molecular Sciences), Ted spent more than 20 years as a science teacher, and was Head of Science at the Trinity School, Leamington Spa. During this time he co-authored the best-selling Understanding Chemistry for Advanced Level, obtained an MEd, and was elected to Fellowship of the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC).

Every year children, teachers and schools await the results with trepidation.  The recognition of exam passes and attainment targets are negated by simultaneous claims the exams are being made easier to pass. An annual battle of quality versus quantity. Our children and their prospective employers meet with a stark dilemma.  The general range and quality of education falls short of the needs of universities and industry.  Exams should not be made harder per se but need to reflect a greater spread of education and relevance to the employment market.

The “teach to test” is demeaning of the teaching resources and reflects a system that is imploding. The concentration towards ticking boxes and hitting targets has overshadowed the changing needs of industry, opportunities and demands of a now a global market.  Targets are short term measures that can be manipulated by skilled players.  We cannot relax thinking the number of A level grades passes actually reflect actual attainment and the current needs of industry and universities.  We have slipped down in our international ranking. Many other countries have now surpassed our educational system once heralded as one of the best in the world. Our educational systems and curriculum need a radical overhaul.  At the moment the manipulated exam grades give the impression we have won the battle but in reality we are clearly losing the educational war.

A recent survey revealed some interesting facts about the life of a modern student. Around 37 per cent work part time during term time, of which 62 per cent of them have three part time jobs. However this industrious acumen has an adverse factor. To maintain their work commitments a quarter of all working students are guilty of missing an average seven hours per week of lectures and some as high as 10 hours per week are lost. This amounts to a concerning total of 252 course hours lost per year and an untold effect on the final class of degree.

The favourite enterprises are working as mystery shoppers or selling goods on eBay and a courageous 6 per cent of students learn what its like to be a guinea pig in medical tests.

Central funding from parents amounts to £3,617 per annum, totalling around £10,851 over the full degree course. Six per cent of parents provide up to £9,000 per year ( £ 27,000 over the whole degree course) to support their offspring. To pay for all this 20 per cent of parents take out a loan, 10 per cent take a second job and 24 per cent work overtime to raise the funds.

Although we learn of the sizable student loan debt students amass by the end of the degree a surprising 45 per cent do not apply for the loan. Those who do 37 per cent say it is immediately consumed by debt, nine per cent say they have blown it within three days and 49 per cent have exhausted the funds within one month. Honesty does not necessarily score highly with over half of all students claiming to have lied to parents as to what they have used the grants and loans for. Eighteen per cent have used to buy a car, 25 per cent have enjoyed a holiday and 10 per cent have blown some on eating in Michelin starred restaurants.

Inevitably the rites of passage involve alcohol and unfortunately drugs. Fifty three per cent spend the majority of funds on alcohol and regrettably 10 per cent claim to have used it mostly to buy drugs.

Boys can at last outperform girls at university. Thirteen per cent of boys have part time jobs compared to seven per cent of girls. And 32 per cent of boys bought designer clothes compared to a surprising 18 per cent of girls! Yes- you would have bet the other way round!

Life at university does have additional elements to the academic content. It does teach students the reality of financial management and that money, despite years of ardent research, unfortunately does not grow on trees. Irrespective of the degree grade or subject speciality the experience does seem to generate some savvy individuals, and those whose learnt the hard way that if you borrow money it has to be paid back. Perhaps we should offer a new degree option, how to generate income and control expenditure. A reality check to the real world.

The survey was commissioned August 2010 by shopping website Voucher Codes.

Whether the advert had an educational link or not seemed immaterial. Many advertisers merely seizing the seasonal opportunity to promote their wares. The positive elements to many that soon kids will off the streets is countered by an opposite force – increased traffic as we choose to use cars to ferry kids to school. Shops heralded the process with essential teaching and schooling resources being paraded alongside uniforms, stationery, and  the of course the ubiquitous Oxford set of maths instruments supplied in the same tin box 40 years after its introduction!

The Back to School slogan hovers over the idyllic existence of a school child on the long summer break.  Returning to school means enforced routines, falling light levels as autumn approaches, odd smells from damp children, the appearance of the magic sawdust bucket for the odd vomiting child and the exchange of a cricket and athletics markings for football and rugby posts.

No I didn’t relish school days. Coupled with attending boarding school for a large chunk of my schooling added a further downer.  But I’m not alone.  Clinical psychologists explain that many children feel apprehensive when returning school – especially if it involves a move up to a new secondary school.  Adverse reaction to the new larger environment, the physical scale of the new school in class size, and numbers of teachers can be frightening. Children  move from the comfort zone of their old school where they were top dog with years of experience. The obvious outward signs are children who become anxious and find it difficult to fall asleep, feel sick, cry easily and have gone off their food.  These are clear signs of anxiety triggered by the unknown.  We also suffer from the syndrome as adults in a new environment so it is not age related. They say the condition is the reason why so many adults remain in jobs they dislike.  The thought of changing job or career is beset with the unknown.  We opt to stay put.  Maybe the emotion stirred by seeing our children in some distress activates latent emotions and concerns in adults.  But there is light at the end of the tunnel.

The clingy child whose life is devastated by attendance at the new school slowly adapts to the new environment.  Day by day the angst dissipates.  By day seven things are inevitably easing.  By day fourteen they start to feel comfortable.  The trick is to reassure the child that their feelings and concerns are very natural and that most children feel concerned at the start of term and especially at a new school.  Giving comparisons to their feelings become positive in their previous class, year and school helps to reassure that the anxiety will ease.  Self awareness of the symptoms and comparison with past experience will help to reassure.

Not every child can be expected to favourably respond, but the majority do.  As parents, seeing the situation and concerns through the eyes of a child can help quell the fears of this unknown territory, especially relevant in the move to secondary school.

And once we have consoled our children, perhaps it’s time to look in the mirror and reconsider that move we need to take to reorientate our job and career. A staggering 80 per cent of adults are in jobs they dislike, But a move and that new challenge is as just as daunting as that experienced by the child and the new school. Time to reflect on applying the guidance given to your child and allay your own fears and make that move to enhance your opportunities. You know the one -  you have always put off because of your concerns over a move to a new company with a new environment, new people and the feeling of being new and isolated. We have a lot to learn from children!

The record number of disappointments is a combination of recessionary effects. Universities  had  to cut back the number of places, coupled to an increase  of applicants, who concerned by the level of student unemployment, sought a degree to improve their long term chances.

We have all suffered that sinking feeling when something didn’t go to plan. But a new learning curve is about to start for many of you; what to do next. Many will be lucky to get an alternative place in the clearing process, maybe be a difference course at a different  university. Some will be left  beached, and to those children we offer our wishes  you develop the knowledge, wisdom and resolve to make something else happen. Could be about taking a year out to pursue a dream, return to the treadmill of the sixth form to  improve your grades or seek employment in career you find rewarding.

The greatest opportunity is to realise you have a choice perhaps wider than if you got onto your first choice degree. There are a multitude of clearing helplines at UCAS, BBC and many of the national newspapers. But take a moment to catch your breath, open your eyes and see a dream can emerge from some unexpected quarters – that right up to now you would never have contemplated. Resolve is answer and take look on the bright side; less than 20 per cent of graduates pursue a vocational career in their degree subject area. And you have probably saved an absolute fortune in student debt that would have been hanging around your neck for decades !

The Department for Education has also cited the exemplary educational system  based in Finland as a shining example of what can be achieved. Key difference is the starting age, where children do not start school until they are six years old. The extra year allows children to develop and become more receptive to learning. This can be demonstrated by the fact the children overtake those who started at five years within 18 months. The  schooling drop-out level to age 15 is virtually nil.

Something we have mentioned before, but if we are to turn things around in the UK we need a radical review of our schooling. Maybe the example of Finland’s educational system can be a model we could adopt. At least it has been well developed and would avoid “redesigning the wheel.” Clearly it works wheras our system is spluttering  at the moment. With the cost cutting evident in all government departments here is a potential solution that would avoid the inevitable vast consultant fees needed to review our own system.

The Newsweek survey reviewed many facets on the standard of living in individual countries. It placed Switzerland and Sweden in second and third place. The USA dropped into 11th place, and dear old Blighty, the UK came in 14th position. Any reluctant UK educational authority need to reflect on our disappointing achievement. Our schooling system has helped us slide down to the also rans. Time to smarten up and perhaps use a well tried educational system that clearly works.

Research shows around 50 per cent of learning is retained from listening to the teacher and this can be increased to 75 per cent through practising what the teacher is saying. Unfortunately lessons in a busy classroom leave very little time where children can actually practice what they are learning. To offset this deficiency children are set homework, but using conventional text and exercise books for homework can be very one dimensional and often frustrates both child and parent. Name any child that actually likes homework! But there is a great solution that supports learning and involves parents in fun educational activities with their children.

As time is short in class teachers use a range of educational games and toys to encourage children to have fun and start to practice the lesson. Now these same teaching resources are available for use at home. www.keen2learn.co.uk is dedicated to providing educational games to schools and parents. The range covers essential learning support in numeracy, literacy, maths, science, and ICT. Alistair Owens managing director at keen2learn explained “We launched the site four years ago to provide a fun way for children to learn in school and at home. The games are all matched to the National Curriculum and ideal for children aged 3 – 15 years.”

Keen2learn soon caught the eye of Intel who gave a national award for their entrepreneurial learning approach. A year later the site won a design council award. The product range is continually expanding and used by schools and now parents throughout the UK and overseas. The teaching resources come in the form of board games, bingo games, educational software and puzzles. “As the whole family can join in the games they are providing a great interface with parents and siblings at home. This new form of homework is welcomed by teachers who see the benefits to the child back in school” said Alistair Owens.

Technology is helping to extend the scope of educational games and whilst many manufacturers claim some educational content the best recommendation of quality is whether the product is used by teachers. Online games have huge potential to use technology to support children. “Our latest addition to the keen2learn range is an on-line revision system called Pagabo. For an annual subscription of £29.99 children can revise any subject in key stages 1- 4 and GCSE at any time online. The educational games format of Pagabo makes the experience hugely enjoyable” explained Alistair Owens.

The Pagabo package also lets parents see how their child is progressing and where further help may be needed. Children suddenly are looking forward to homework and equally parents and teachers see positive results from the increased practical learning support from parents. Educational games at home and hands on parents can prove vastly more productive that the end of term report – where help may be a little late.

A notable critic from the world of science and chemistry believes too many people have vested interests in maintaining low educational standards.  Dr. Richard Pike, chief executive of the Royal Society of Chemistry, condemns politicians, examination bodies, schools and educational quangos of collectively lowering the educational standards.  He believes corporate bodies do not want to upset middle class parents who recognise exam results as a primarily measure of society’s expectations rather than true academic performance.

Many schools, hounded by league tables, see quantity rather quality as their prime objective.  Although the exam regulators have twice recently attempted to install tougher GCSE exams through the examination bodies little has been enforced. Proving educational quangos have little real benefit or clout Dr Pike believes the needs of universities and industry has failed to be incorporated in the curriculum. “This is not a broken system that has to be fixed it is a corrupt edifice that must be razed to the ground and rebuilt” he said.

Stern words from an eminent leader in the science educational world.  If we accept the future destiny requires the UK to evolve in a rapidly changing world such significant observations from the likes of Dr. Pike cannot be ignored.  Criticism of the standard of GCSE and A levels has been widespread for years, yet little corrective action has been achieved.  No wonder, if school league tables and parental expectations continue to be the focus rather than the demands of industry, we are unlikely we can expect change.  This will be a disaster. To continue as we are we would end up with every child being awarded a grade A in all subjects – just by being there.

The GCSE and A level results could end up as a junk bond; a worthless qualification and as much use as the MBA degree offered on line in two weeks.  The exam boards such as Edexcel, although willing to work with Ofqual to get the balance right, need to review their position.  Rather than maintaining  a conciliatory position and clearly floundering in their duties they must opt to take a fundamental leadership role.
A significantly higher qualification standard needs to be introduced. We cannot afford to let universities and industry criticise the standard and relevance of the exams. We at keen2learn believe this move needs expediency.  Many children parents may reel at the significance of such a move, but the changes in global employment opportunities may otherwise leave our children out in the cold. We need a Department of Education that strategically has the courage to seize the initiative and adopt the moves to introduce the changes quickly despite the cost cutting era we are in.  We are duty bound to provide our children with continuing education that is fit for purpose and  avoid the continuation of the faltering soft option where exam questions can be answered by reading yesterday’s newspaper.