Watchdog calls for shake-up in English

No not Australian, but British. Good to get another perspective now and again. It looks as though the poor brits are being pushed the same way we have with the VELS/ELS, New Basics stuff. The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) has released a 'Futures' paper reflecting on the nature of schooling and current curriculum modes.

Perhaps compared the the National Literacy Strategy this rhetoric seems welcome? What say the brits?

There are also a series of 'think peices' tied to the same 'futures' thinking, written by some interesting people. Among them such luminaries as Angela McFarlane, 'Assessment for the digital age' and Cary Bazalgette, 'Literacy and the media'.


Also looks like professional teaching standards are catching on there too. And opportunities to comment on the draft standards are being advertised in the National papers! How bizarre! Check out the 'professional threshold standards' categories: 'Senior teacher' (right that one is an oldie), 'Advanced skills teacher' (yep, that one's been used before too) and wait for it ... 'Excellent teacher'.

Ummm ... ?