tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-376232002009-11-28T19:03:19.981ZA blog about burning witches. Oops, I mean, govt changing the way home education is regulated in the UK.Gillnoreply@blogger.comBlogger543125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37623200.post-14310995166721945972009-11-24T10:43:00.006Z2009-11-25T05:58:36.439Z

- and will be promoting it, for what good it'll do, given that this government no longer seems to be taking input. The petition is here and the wording is as follows: We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to uphold that parents have the primary responsibility for the upbringing and development of their child, to not undermine parents legitimately fulfilling their fundamental duties, and

Gillnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37623200.post-69624004413080343082009-11-21T14:26:00.009Z2009-11-25T05:59:12.037Z

First, I want to link to Dani's leaflet: “Parents bring up children, not Government” If you think this is New Labour policy, think again. It explains the current situation for home educators, and contains some ideas regarding what we can do about it. I'll be linking to it from my sidebar: email me if you want the code for that and/or any of my other buttons there. But today we're all talking

Gillnoreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37623200.post-40237457348391423812009-11-20T06:48:00.007Z2009-11-25T05:59:52.351Z

From yesterday's House of Commons debate following the first reading of the CSF Bill:Barry Sheerman: As I understand it, the hon. Gentleman has supported Every Child Matters and the five outcomes for children. Does he really believe, as he implied in response to an earlier intervention, that the five outcomes should apply to 99 per cent. of schoolchildren but not to the home educated? [link] -

Gillnoreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37623200.post-6290703573214058852009-11-19T14:03:00.004Z2009-11-25T06:00:30.544Z

Children, Schools and Families BillSchedule 1 — Home education: EnglandIt's everything Badman threatened, before we've even had a response to the latest consultation, which only closed a month ago.

Gillnoreply@blogger.com26tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37623200.post-34622684446162694442009-11-19T05:06:00.008Z2009-11-25T06:01:13.844Z

Then I know who they are, and I know where they're coming from. I put my name to this blog, and to everything else I publish and distribute. Neil T has put his name to this post, with which I am inclined to agree: I said in the comments on my previous one that I thought the parliamentary petition might be a trojan horse. There are all kinds of quangos and other questionable interests sniffing

Gillnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37623200.post-36701222295657655432009-11-15T07:35:00.004Z2009-11-25T06:01:55.209Z

"Maintaining the status quo is out of the question," said Graham Badman to a home educator back in March. He wasn't necessarily being truthful. He was staking a claim: marking out the territory that he had been instructed to conquer. His words were designed to have a certain effect in the minds of home educators: Get used to the idea of change, because it's coming - whether you like it or not, to

Gillnoreply@blogger.com26tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37623200.post-42638545757232173682009-11-06T08:40:00.007Z2009-11-25T06:02:43.046Z

I've thoroughly enjoyed reading this transcript of the Home Educated Youth Council's August meeting with Penny Jones at the DCSF. Some of my favourite highlights:PENNY JONES: So at the moment, anything we do on home education depends on the responses to the consultation, so I can’t sit here to you today and say “We’re going to do this, we’re going to do that.” But it’s really really important to

Gillnoreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37623200.post-17634398284260128162009-11-05T02:44:00.008Z2009-11-25T06:03:56.580Z

I thought Graham Badman could go no lower in home educators' estimation, but this takes the biscuit. At our first interview Mr Badman was interested in what I had to say. His opening question was to ask me if home educating mothers suffered from Munchhausen's by Proxy. I thought this to be a curious starting point - that of questioning whether home education is a symptom of mental illness. I am

Gillnoreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37623200.post-89387465554830991072009-10-28T05:49:00.009Z2009-11-25T06:05:02.323Z

We've nearly finished working through the [uncorrected] transcript of the Monday's oral evidence for the House of Commons Children, Schools and Families Committee short inquiry into The Badman Review [opens pdf], thank goodness, because I'm finding it very tedious now and would prefer to be blogging about other things! Ah well: this might be the last stretch of this section. (Please note that the

Gillnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37623200.post-49921217750154672572009-10-25T08:08:00.005Z2009-11-25T06:05:58.388Z

Before anything else, there are two very exciting blog posts I want to tell you about. The first is Consequences and conclusions (part two) on the Dark Lord Badman blog and the second is Just Say No - Neil T's response to the recent consultation, copied to the home education forums. Again today I'm continuing with my notes on the [uncorrected] transcript of last Monday's oral evidence for the

Gillnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37623200.post-11265770531334090652009-10-24T06:15:00.007+01:002009-10-24T13:43:11.929+01:00

Again today I'm continuing with my notes on the [uncorrected] transcript of last Monday's oral evidence for the House of Commons Children, Schools and Families Committee short inquiry into The Badman Review [opens pdf]. (Please note that the quoted sections below are excerpts from an an uncorrected transcript and therefore neither witnesses nor Members have had the opportunity to correct the

Gillnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37623200.post-6789878777229932392009-10-23T08:42:00.004+01:002009-10-23T16:01:10.522+01:00

Today I'm continuing from yesterday's post, which was based on [uncorrected] transcript of last Monday's oral evidence for the House of Commons Children, Schools and Families Committee short inquiry into The Badman Review [opens pdf]. (Please note that the quoted sections below are excerpts from an an uncorrected transcript and therefore neither witnesses nor Members have had the opportunity to

Gillnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37623200.post-63593590700679009912009-10-22T07:45:00.005+01:002009-10-22T10:55:09.691+01:00

Continuing with [uncorrected] transcript of last Monday's oral evidence for the House of Commons Children, Schools and Families Committee short inquiry into The Badman Review [opens pdf]: (Please note that the quoted sections below are excerpts from an an uncorrected transcript and therefore neither witnesses nor Members have had the opportunity to correct the record.)Andrew Pelling (Independent,

Gillnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37623200.post-75863539112891091132009-10-20T08:10:00.006+01:002009-10-20T11:10:41.568+01:00

Hmm. I really want to be blogging about a transcript from yesterday's round table meeting with 20 home educators and the Select Committee, but as we don't have one of those (and aren't ever likely to get one, sob! [UPDATE: I've just found a write-up of the meeting here. Thanks so much, Imran]) I'll get back to last Monday's far more boring one instead. But first, about yesterday's consultation.

Gillnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37623200.post-69188281533400608692009-10-19T10:46:00.002+01:002009-10-19T10:51:22.655+01:00

Taken from here:Barry Sheerman: "Maggie Atkinson is a very competent woman, but we just didn't think she had the independence of mind to stand up to a Secretary of State who loves to get his own way. I mean, you know, most of us know that Ed Balls is a bit of a bully and he likes his own way and we've seen a track record of, you know, we saw the problems over Ken Boston QCA, we saw Sir Bruce

Gillnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37623200.post-15866863278201458822009-10-19T05:48:00.004+01:002009-10-19T09:20:06.201+01:00

Here it is. Oh, but first, check this out - a 1929 Conservative election poster. They weren't kidding, were they?! And this: "What it feels like: to be homeschooled" - oh, and the fact that there are nearly 4000 responses in to the consultation already. That's quite some vociferous minority, Mr Badman. I gather from someone who knows that most public consultations yield less than 50 responses.

Gillnoreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37623200.post-64853972004637422652009-10-18T18:24:00.003+01:002009-10-18T20:31:26.717+01:00

Step up Mr Graham Stuart, MP for Beverley and Holderness. Here is the part, in the [uncorrected] transcript of last Monday's oral evidence for the House of Commons Children, Schools and Families Committee short inquiry into The Badman Review [opens pdf] in which he nailed Graham Badman well and truly to the flagpole on child abuse statistics: [Please note that the quoted sections below are

Gillnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37623200.post-76430656092523442282009-10-18T08:03:00.004+01:002009-10-18T14:44:56.438+01:00

First, I want to tell you that there's another post on the Dark Lord Badman blog, about the ghost of education past and the ghost of education present, both depicted in a startlingly realistic way! I'm really looking forward to meeting the ghost of education future in the next episode. So we've seen Badman as Fagin [opens YouTube] and now Badman as Scrooge. I hope he can manage to rise above his

Gillnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37623200.post-49580750272917388102009-10-16T19:47:00.006+01:002009-10-17T08:24:31.486+01:00

The transcript of Wednesday's hearing is now available (thanks again Maire) which is very good to have, but in addition to the one from Monday, it makes for a lot of points to blog. Carrying on from my first post on this, then: (Please note that the quoted sections below are excerpts from an an uncorrected transcript and therefore neither witnesses nor Members have had the opportunity to correct

Gillnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37623200.post-85513487684034107582009-10-16T08:41:00.007+01:002009-10-16T11:59:45.407+01:00

Although it's an uncorrected version and its terms of use indicate that I should "make clear that neither witnesses nor Members have had the opportunity to correct the record", which is an interesting protocol in itself. Before I go on, I'd like to post a link here to Right To Reply, A Response to Graham Badman‟s Report to the Secretary of State on the Review of Elective Home Education in England

Gillnoreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37623200.post-57093654130414696752009-10-15T09:07:00.004+01:002009-10-15T09:38:09.034+01:00

.. to the Select Committee hearings. I can't find one on Hansard yet and am wishing I'd written one on Monday evening now. Yesterday we were very busy with home ed group activities all day and visitors in the evening, so I didn't get around to watching the day's events in London until late last night. My immediate impression was that most of the home ed witnesses did very well considering the

Gillnoreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37623200.post-27840854403625886262009-10-13T07:21:00.004+01:002009-10-13T12:26:43.576+01:00

- to add to the very long list. He assumes that home educators have the spare, free time to spend hours with their local authorities, sitting on panels (in addition to campaigning against the likes of him) and having meetings. My local authority, having read the Badman report [opens pdf], now assumes the same thing. What am I supposed to do with my children? How am I supposed to educate them

Gillnoreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37623200.post-59075924543326783152009-10-12T17:51:00.005+01:002009-10-13T23:50:31.596+01:00

I've just been watching the live feed from the first day of the Select Committee Inquiry. Tom taped it for me and I will write a transcript later if one doesn't appear elsewhere first. But initially, I just wanted to highlight something Graham Badman said that particularly worried me, about autonomous learning. I'm paraphrasing from memory at this stage, but it went something like this: "Whether

Gillnoreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37623200.post-42395106549708203322009-10-10T15:03:00.009+01:002009-10-14T00:06:56.835+01:00

Jax wonders where to start with the plethora of stuff that emanated from DCSF yesterday, presumably in a bit of frantic last-minute scene setting for this coming week's Select Committee Inquiry, which starts taking oral evidence on Monday. I know our politicians and civil servants are just human beings and all, but I still can't help expecting better from them than these kind of messy and

Gillnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37623200.post-9328941709918772312009-10-05T17:46:00.001+01:002009-10-05T17:48:20.667+01:00

This and this. Thanks! (You know who you are..)

Gillnoreply@blogger.com0