August24
Before the days of Reading First, and NCLB, and all the fraudulent “reforms” that came to education, you had initiatives for site-based decision making and having more democratic input from stakeholders (parents, teachers, etc.) These came because of initiatives started by our unions. Now school site councils are a rubber-stamp for decisions made at district hq, which are based mainly on the input of handful of consultants selling the “new” thing. Things were not perfect, but they were heading in the direction we’ve always wanted from our schools, being a community resource and a democratic institution, not job training centers for future workers. School can be so much more than that. They once were. They could be again.
As soon as I started watching that I thought “This seems really British.” I then wondered for a while about whether being in Scotland for two weeks made me start reading things as British by default. Then I saw it WAS British. So… ? Nice piece.
Our council staff is staging a one day industrial action tomorrow.
Enjoying your posts from abroad. I’m hearing word of a teacher strike in Britain is coming. Any word?