(to serve until 31 December 2013)
Biography
I started work for the public library service in 1994. I held a number of posts over the following 16 years, often focussed on diversity and inclusion, and am an active member of CILIP's Diversity Group. I have worked to provide valued library services for rural and urban communities, to schools, to people in sheltered accommodation and homes, for people with mental health concerns, prisoners, LGBT groups, and for migrant workers.
I have worked for a variety of branch and mobile public library services, worked with school librarians, the police service, health librarians, prison librarians, lifelong learning professionals, and been a grateful user at 2 academic libraries. I ran school libraries in Kenya and Jordan, and have made visits to public libraries in California, Eire and France.
I was made redundant in 2010, and currently I am completing my MCLIP, working in a second-hand book shop and as a waitress.
I am honoured to take on the role of CILIP Trustee. We are living in interesting times for libraries - responding to technological change, social transformation, and political developments.
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To submit electronically you should continue to follow the guidance in the appropriate handbook. However we also ask you to use these guidelines:
1. Put your documents in one clearly labelled folder. If possible include everything in one file or document
2. Use 'Hyperlink' in the Insert tab from the tool bar to link to documents in within the folder
3. Use 'Hyperlink' to link to URLs*
4. Use 'Bookmark' (also found in Insert tab) to link to sentences, paragraphs, sections and pages within documents
5. When you create a link please add a reciprocal link from the evidence to take the assessor back to the Evaluative Statement
6. If the documents can be easily and clearly included in one file then you can use the 'contents table', which may be found under the 'references' tab, to create a contents list that links to your evidence
7. Copy your portfolio on to three disks or USBs and return to CPD CILIP, 7 Ridgmount St, London WC1E 7AE with the appropriate submission form (see the individual qualification's page on the left hand menu)
Do not send large portfolios: With electronic submissions there is a temptation to include more material than necessary. There is no limit however good submissions have been made between 50 and 80 pages long. To help you decide what to include you should:
- Only use evidence that it is important for the Board members to read
- Ensure all evidence has been referenced from the statement
- Refrain from including long documents that can be summarized
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Reports to: Office of the President
Terms of Reference:-
(Information taken from General Regulation No.58)
Date Constituted: 1st January 2008
Secretary: Jill Colbert
Chair: Joanna Ball BA(Hons) MA MCLIP
Membership:-
Lynette Bailey BA (Hons) MLib MCLIP
Alison Jobey BA MCLIP
Thomas Kearns BA DipLib MCLIP
George Lilley MA PhD DipLib FCLIP
Bernard Naylor MA DipLib FRSA MCLIP
Jean Plaister OBE BSc FCLIP
Michael Saich FCLIP
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David Puttnam, Lord Puttnam of Queensgate, will consider the potential impact of a major, positive disruption to the way the world approaches learning and teaching at the JISC online e-learning conference on 22-25 November 2011.
Lord Puttnam, who is a renowned speaker and chairman of FutureLab following a highly acclaimed career in the film industry, will share with delegates his view on how pedagogy is going digital, in what is likely to be a controversial and challenging keynote.
Lord Puttnam is joined at the sixth annual JISC online conference by other expert speakers including:
Participants at the conference will be able to pose questions to the speakers and join in discussions from the comfort of their own workplace, using the Blackboard Collaborate platform followed by asynchronous discussions.
Sarah Knight, e-learning programme manager at JISC and event organiser said, “Taking part in an online conference is just as important as if you were attending in person. There will be ample opportunity to join in stimulating discussions and to share practice.
“This year the themes of ‘learning landscapes’ and ‘navigating pathways’ in the digital age, will be discussed focusing on the opportunities created by technology-enhanced assessment and feedback, digital literacy, open educational resources, lifelong learning and students as agents of change,” adds Sarah.
In order to help participants make full use of the networking and discussion opportunities, participants will be able to prepare for the event ahead of time in a pre-conference activity week. Sarah concludes, “This year’s conference is one of the best yet, offering a big conference experience in the most cost-effective way. At £50 per delegate, it represents significant value for money for organisations and education departments feeling the constraints of a tight budget.”
Register now to explore through live presentations and debate some of the latest thinking about enhancing learning and teaching with technology.
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Publishing a lay summary alongside every research article could be the answer to assisting in the wider understanding of health-related information, say the findings of new citizen science project Patients Participate!
Commissioned by JISC and carried out by the Association of Medical Research Charities, the British Library and UKOLN, Patients Participate! asked patients, the public, medical research charities and the research community, ‘How can we work together in making sense of scientific literature, to truly open up research findings for everyone who is interested?’ The answer came from patients who explained that they want easy-to-understand, evidence-based information relating to biomedical and health research.
Every day people are bombarded by health news, advice columns, medical websites and health products and making sense of this information can be difficult. Tracey Brown, Director of Sense about Science says, "We have been working with scientists and the public for some years to challenge misinformation, whether about the age of the earth, the causes of cancer, wifi radiation or homeopathy for malaria.
"It's often very effective but no sooner is attention turned elsewhere than misleading claims creep back up again. To make a permanent difference, we need the public to be evidence hunters. We are delighted to encourage patients to engage with the evidence for medical claims."
Alastair Dunning digitisation programme manager at JISC adds, "JISC believes that publicly-funded research should be made available for everyone and be easy to find. We have funded this work to show how making access to scientific literature enables citizen-patients to participate in the research process, therefore providing mutual understanding and better links between scientists, medic, patients and the general public."
Lee-Ann Coleman, Head of Science, Technology and Medicine, British Library says, "The British Library supports access for everyone who wants to do research, but providing access to information, through services like UK PubMed Central, is only the first part of the story. There is so much scientific literature – and it’s so complicated; developing ways to help people make sense of it has to go hand-in-hand with access."
Engaging with the wider community is increasingly important for researchers. Some universities now offer researchers training in communicating with lay audiences.
Dr Liz Lyon, director of UKOLN, University of Bath explains, "The Patients Participate! Project has demonstrated the potential value of lay summaries to make research more accessible to a wider audience. There is certainly an appetite for this information and we see the new How-to Guide for researchers as a positive step in helping academics and researchers to communicate their findings and to bridge the understanding gap."
Medical research charities have an important role in providing patients and the public with information about the research they fund.
Lord Willis of Knaresborough, chair of the Association of Medical Research Charities (AMRC) believes that the "Increasing volume of information about health and medical research available via the internet, the challenge for charities is to help their supporters make sense of it and distinguish the good from the bad. By translating complicated medical research information into language that is easy to understand, they can help researchers and patients talk to each other."
Find out more about why Patients Participate! is part of JISC's econtent programme
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Even falling and skulking cats obey the laws of physics, research shows
Cats may skulk, and cats may fall – but no matter what they do, cats must obey the laws of physics. Scientists have tried repeatedly to figure out how they manage to do it.
At the extreme, physicists analysed what happens to a dropped cat. That's a cat in free-fall, a cat hurtling earthwards with nothing but kitty cunning to keep it from crashing.
Continue reading...Even falling and skulking cats obey the laws of physics, research shows
Cats may skulk, and cats may fall – but no matter what they do, cats must obey the laws of physics. Scientists have tried repeatedly to figure out how they manage to do it.
At the extreme, physicists analysed what happens to a dropped cat. That's a cat in free-fall, a cat hurtling earthwards with nothing but kitty cunning to keep it from crashing.
In 1969, TR Kane and MP Scher of Stanford University, in California, published a monograph called A Dynamical Explanation of the Falling Cat Phenomenon. It remains one of the few studies about cats ever published in the International Journal of Solids and Structures. Kane and Scher explain:
"It is well known that falling cats usually land on their feet and, moreover, that they can manage to do so even if released from complete rest while upside-down … numerous attempts have been made to discover a relatively simple mechanical system whose motion, when proceeding in accordance with the laws of dynamics, possesses the salient features of the motion of the falling cat. The present paper constitutes such an attempt."
And what an attempt it is!
Kane and Scher neither lifted nor dropped a single cat. Instead, they created a mathematical abstraction of a cat: two imaginary cylinder-like chunks, joined at a single point so the parts could (as with a feline spine) bend, but not twist. When they used a computer to plot the theoretical bendings of this theoretical falling chunky-cat, the motions resembled what they saw in old photographs of an actual falling cat. They conclude that their theory "explains the phenomenon under consideration".
In 1993, a professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz, applied some heavier-duty mathematics and physics tools to the same question. Richard Montgomery's study, called Gauge Theory of the Falling Cat, leaps and bends across 26 pages of a mathematics journal. Then it mutters that "the original solutions of Kane and Scher [are] both the optimal and the simplest solutions".
But cats rarely fall from the sky. More commonly, they skulk. And skulking cats are just as provocative, to a physics-minded scientist, as plummeting cats.
In 2008, Kristin Bishop of the University of California, Davis, together with Anita Pai and Daniel Schmitt of Duke University in North Carolina, published a report called Whole Body Mechanics of Stealthy Walking in Cats, in the journal PLoS One.
They studied six cats, three of which "were partially shaved and marked with contrasting, non-toxic paint to aid in kinematic analysis". They discovered "a previously unrecognised mechanical relationship" between "crouched postures", "changes in footfall pattern", and the amount of energy needed to produce those crouched-posture footfall patterns.
Cats that intend to skulk, in Bishop, Pai and Schmitt's view, are hemmed in by the laws of the physical universe. They must make "a tradeoff between stealthy walking", which uses a lot of energy, and plain old, energy-efficient cat-walking.
• Marc Abrahams is editor of the bimonthly Annals of Improbable Research and organiser of the Ig Nobel prize
Even falling and skulking cats obey the laws of physics, research shows
Cats may skulk, and cats may fall – but no matter what they do, cats must obey the laws of physics. Scientists have tried repeatedly to figure out how they manage to do it.
At the extreme, physicists analysed what happens to a dropped cat. That's a cat in free-fall, a cat hurtling earthwards with nothing but kitty cunning to keep it from crashing.
Continue reading...The Association of Senior Children’s and Education Librarians (ASCEL), the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) and the School Library Association (SLA) want everyone to start SHOUTING ABOUT School Libraries and Schools Library Services.
While recent media focus has been on the closure of public libraries, ASCEL, CILIP and the SLA are asking people to lend their voices to a major new campaign to lead the fight to ensure children and young people across the country have access to proper library resources whether on-site, as part of a cluster of schools or through local authorities’ Schools Library Services.
School librarians and Schools Library Services expertise are essential in helping children navigate the digital world and improve information literacy skills. What use is a classroom of PCs connected to the internet if children don’t know how to use them effectively?
CILIP Chief Executive Annie Mauger, who represents librarians working in both the public and private sector explains, "A library is more than a room full of books. It should be run by trained professionals who encourage reading, advise on using information and help children develop essential literacy and research skills. All children and young people should have access to the benefits they bring. Currently this is not the case. We are launching this campaign to SHOUT ABOUT the great job librarians in school libraries and school library services do and the threats they are facing."
A recent study for the Times Education Supplement (TES) found that some 600, 000 children no longer had access to a Schools Library Service.
Gillian Harris, Chair of ASCEL said, “Teachers need a wide range of stimulating, up-to-date and relevant learning resources to deliver an exciting and vibrant curriculum. I want to SHOUT ABOUT Schools Library Services because they are an amazing cost-effective way for schools to make sure children of all abilities have the best quality materials in the classroom to inspire their learning. Add to this the professional support, advice and books Schools Library Services can provide to those wanting to build a reading culture and an excellent library, then they should be at the top of every school’s list to buy in.“
SLA Director Tricia Adams adds, “School librarians are often the lone practitioner in their school; the importance of a campaign like this is in its ability to bring together all the messages that need to reach a wide constituency of government and local decision makers, including head teachers, governors and parents. We all need to join together to SHOUT ABOUT school libraries and Schools Library Services.”
The campaign will run until late 2012 and aims to raise awareness of the value of school libraries and Schools Library Services to their communities (at both primary and secondary school level) amongst key stakeholders including government, head teachers, governors and parents.
To get involved in the campaign visit the SHOUT ABOUT webpage. From now until the end of the year campaigning resources will be developed and added to the website for anyone want to help SHOUT ABOUT their own school library or Schools Library Service.
CILIP in Wales is currently undertaking similar campaigning work around school libraries.
While, in Scotland, school library provision is determined by the COSLA School Library Standards and school libraries are considered as part of school inspection by Education Scotland. We would like everyone across the UK to recognise the value of school librarians and librarians working in Schools Library Services.
Website: www.cilip.org.uk/shoutabout
Twitter hash tag #SHOUTABOUT
For more information email: media@cilip.org.uk
Tel: 0207 255 0650
Notes for editors
1. What makes a good school library?
A good school library will have qualified and experienced library staff who work with teaching staff to provide learning resources that will support the curriculum. Questions to ask about your school library.
Is your school library:
• run by a qualified librarian?
• a fun and exciting place to be with lots of things happening?
• equipped with a wide range of printed materials such as books, magazines and newspapers?
• providing access to the internet and electronic resources?
• available for children’s private study and reading?
Does your school library:
• allow children access before, during and after school hours?
• allow children to regularly borrow books?
• cultivate children’s research and enquiry skills?
• encourage reading for pleasure?
2. What is a Schools Library Service?
Schools Library Services are run by experienced qualified librarians who have knowledge of the curriculum and of children’s literature. The service is run by local authorities although the way it operates varies considerably. Schools subscribe to their local service on behalf of all their teachers. Some authorities pay for the service from central funds, so it is free at the point of delivery to schools. A Schools Library Service will:
a) Advise schools and provide training on managing and developing their own school libraries and teaching resources in schools, on teaching information and digital fluency to enable children to become independent learners and on helping schools create a reading culture.
b) Lend or make available for purchase carefully chosen resources to support teaching and learning in the classroom and to support wider reading for pleasure and enjoyment.
3. About the Association of Senior Children's and Educational Librarians (ASCEL)
ASCEL is a national membership network of Senior Children's and Educational Librarians, who work together to stimulate developments and respond to initiatives relating to children and young people in public libraries and educational services. www.ascel.org.uk
4. About the School Libraries Group (SLG) of CILIP
The School Libraries Group (SLG) is a special interest group of CILIP and affirms that school libraries and Schools Library Services are fundamental to the development of a literate population able to participate fully in a thriving democracy, culture, civilization and economy. SLG is committed to enabling its members to achieve and maintain the highest professional standards and advocating on their behalf. www.cilip.org.uk/slg
5. About the School Library Association (SLA)
The School Library Association is an independent charity that believes that every pupil is entitled to effective school library provision. The SLA is committed to supporting everyone involved with school libraries, promoting high quality reading and learning opportunities for all. www.sla.org.uk
6. Times Educational Supplement (TES) article:
Books denied to 600, 000. Full TES article available here: http://www.tes.co.uk/article.aspx?storycode=6082582
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This week on the Guardian Teacher Network you can find a wealth of resources for teaching children about energy consumption and renewables
As the nights draw in, the heating and lights go on and it's too damp to hang clothes on the line. So what better time to focus on energy consumption?
Next week (24-28 October) is Energy Saving Week and the Energy Saving Trust has some useful resources on the Guardian Teacher Network, including top tips on how to save energy at home, a poster full of practical ideas (such as installing water-displacement devices) and up-to-date fact sheets on solar power, microgeneration and renewables.
There is also a Guardian interactive on climate change, plus lessons on renewable energy, energy use around the world, carbon footprints and recycling.
To help secondary school-aged children and sixth-formers understand the bigger picture, our Guardian interactive on everything you need to know about climate change is a must. It's an up-to-date guide to the facts of global warming, from the science and politics to economics and technology.
To get to grips with the basics of renewable energy try our interactive science lesson designed for 11- to 14-year-olds on how renewable resources are used to generate electricity and on how solar energy can be used to produce hot water. After completing the lesson, children should be able to understand the advantages of using renewable and non-renewable energy as well as make predictions and find patterns in results.
In geography lessons for ages 11-14, try this lesson, which uses Guardian articles to find out about the different types of energy and the environmental consequences of using energy in a non-sustainable way, and this on the main forms of energy used in Britain http://teachers.guardian.co.uk/ViewLesson.aspx?id=2113.
The UK Association of National Park Authorities has produced some useful activities and factsheets exploring the pros and cons of windfarms here http://teachers.guardian.co.uk/ViewLesson.aspx?id=5135.
For upper primary age-children, try this resource designed by the Saving Squad, which helps children to understand what their carbon footprint is and how to save energy.
And we have some educational materials and lesson plans for 8- to 13-year-old students from Recolight, a not-for-profit organisation that funds the recycling of energy-saving light bulbs. They've commissioned specialist teachers to create a series of practical lessons for their Big Light Project, which includes an investigation of light bulbs, an energy audit and recycling. All the PDFs can be downloaded.
Professor Danny Dorling has a knack for making statistics sexy, whether it's to show that Labour widened university intake, or that life is better in Barnsley than Chelsea. Martin Wainwright meets him
You don't need many minutes in the company of Danny Dorling to lose reservations about statistics being dry and dull; his face lights up as he transforms the world of denominators and numerators into one of surprise and delight.
Most young women in the UK (18/19-year-olds) now go to university; the biggest concentration of step-children is in the Cotswolds; the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has announced the 60 millionth UK citizen three times in the last 15 years. And that's just the human side. You should hear him describe the excellence of global data about rare toads.
Professor of human geography at Sheffield University, with a bouncy website that asks MSc applicants "Have you ever wondered where your life could have taken you if you had been born somewhere else?", Dorling is the current darling in his field. That status, earned through 30 books by the age of 43, will only increase with the publication today of his magnum opus Fair Play.
Dorling describes it as "an autopsy on New Labour", but it is a post-mortem that includes optimism rather than just confirming depressing causes of death. Especially interesting among the 400 pages, 52 chapters, multiple graphs and generous "further reading" links is proof that increased spending on schools in Labour's last five years raised standards and widened university intake.
"I've included two previously unpublished papers, the first co-written in 2005 with Mark Corver of Hefce [the Higher Education Funding Council for England], which argued that progress was not being made," he says. "We concluded that the government's aim of increasing the number of less-well-off entrants to university could not be realised.
"The second, written last year, proved that we were wrong, which is never a bad thing to have to accept. The findings came as a shock to me, and presumably as a pleasant surprise to Labour ministers."
The data show three almost identical upward curves: one for a 4% rise in university entrants from deprived areas; the second curve plots the improvement in GCSE passes by the same students three years earlier; and the third marks the increase in relevant school spending through such measures as the now largely abolished education maintenance allowance.
Bingo! And Dorling is as pleased with the results as any social reformer would be – or indeed any benevolent person, since the increase was not at the expense of the better-off, whose university entrants also rose, by 2%. But his real satisfaction is in the quality of the data: the denominator comes from stats for child benefit, which is claimed for more than 99% of UK children, and the numerator from postcodes on university applications which, as he says wryly, "applicants tend to make sure they get right".
"It's beautiful," he says, face wreathed in a blissful smile. "Beautiful. For that reason alone I had to put it in." Another example is his use of stats to show the quality of life outside London, a famous phrase which those of us who enjoy it know to be true, but only in that vague, gut way that is anathema to statisticians.
With his colleague Bethan Thomas, he searched for gold-standard data that might apply and came up with benzine air pollution, crime figures, electricity consumption and malicious calls to the fire brigade. This partly playful but exceptionally reliable quartet made the City of London and Kensington and Chelsea the least desirable places to live in the UK, and Rotherham, Redcar and Barnsley the best.
The attitude demonstrates his armour against critics who try to sideline him as partial or politically motivated, or gentler commenters such as the Guardian's own Simon Jenkins, who calls him "the Geographer Royal of the left". Ever since buying the first micro-computer to be seen at Newcastle University and loving its power to harvest facts, he has followed the figures, not started with a theory and then looked for data to support it.
Dorling is of the left, in the broadbrush terms of media discourse that are so different from the precision of academic work, especially in statistics. His parents met at Oxford and were "60s hippies" in his words – admiringly meant, and not just because they are alive and well in retirement in west Wales. His mother taught maths and his father became a GP in east Oxford and Cowley, working to improve things and, Dorling says, "driving his Mini to the car works every year to tell them that the noise levels were too high." It was a patient, Fabian approach.
"Dad carried me on his shoulders on the Aldermaston march and I did try to join the Labour party twice, once when I was too young and the second time when I walked into a branch meeting in Newcastle [his university town] and everyone went silent. I didn't actually say anything – southern accent, with Margaret Thatcher in power and half the town on benefits – but it clearly wasn't going to work. I've come to realise that I'm not a party person. We need them, don't get me wrong, but I can't toe the line."
Thus his summons to spend half an hour with Nick Clegg, conveniently a Sheffield MP, and his emails from Andy Burnham's office don't turn his head with notions of becoming a guru. Neither, refreshingly, do interruptions such as calls from BBC Radio 4's Today programme and al-Jazeera during our chat. He says: "I want to communicate and it's nice to be asked, but academic books really are very hard work, not just in the writing, but checking and checking that your figures are right. Best to stay just under the media horizon and pop up occasionally."
He means it about hard work. He could not read until he was eight or write until he was nine. He is grateful to his father for not telling him until his 20s, when he had fought his way through without special treatment, that he had dyslexia.
He has a longing for everyone to be "connected" with society for the benefit of all. Most eloquently expressed in Donne's "No man is an island", this was hard-wired into him in Oxford, through experiences such as waiting for ages while the Cowley carmakers cycled past before he could cross the road to go to school. His book So You Think You Know About Britain?, published earlier this year, attracted much attention for its dispassionate data on inequality, the geographical nature of poverty and wealth and a general upending of the Daily Mail view of the world.
Dorling is wary of the emotion surrounding private, or independent, education, on which the UK spends more per capita than any other country apart from Chile, but he does criticise it. Not from mean-mindedness – he is certain that the "tall poppy" argument, arguing that greater equality must level down, has no statistical basis. He simply says: "It makes me unhappy to watch people being unnecessarily stupid."
The "stupidity" lies in spending money on resources which the state provides equally well for families with busy, highly motivated home lives whose daily stimulation provides ample private, or independent, education. He recommends any human geographer or statistician in search of a project to study families that can afford private school but choose not to (including his own, his parents' and the present writer's). The results, he predicts, would indicate common sense, not sacrifice.
Otherwise, he would dearly like to see the ONS become fully independent, on the Canadian model, and he predicts that this will happen "following a mighty scandal over duff statistics, especially if the government does away with the census. It can be inaccurate to half or even a whole million, but it has been a wonderful statistical tool since 1801. I am hoping that Britain's army of family historians will rise up and save it."
Dorling's work is globally admired – Fair Play's US co-publishers insisted on the subtitle A Daniel Dorling Reader on Social Justice – and it draws muscle from time he spends as a professor at Canterbury University in New Zealand and in Japan. The latter fascinates him. "It is one of the most equal countries in the world, just as the UK is one of the most unequal. Status comes from age, which most of us are likely to achieve. It is in its 20th year of falling house prices. It is famously entrepreneurial and productive, but industrial relations are quite different." Anyone who has been to the corporate mini-Japan of Nissan in Sunderland, where the sense of common purpose recalls the Quaker chocolate factories of Rowntree and Cadbury, will take the point.
"It also makes a change from the usual academic comparisons with Scandinavia," says Dorling impishly. He is well aware of how to keep ahead of the academic game, as well as needing constant fresh and interesting material for his student lectures, which are predictably popular. Up pops another of his nice statistics, which won't harm him in university circles: "The most disconnected of the UK's elites is the judiciary. The most connected are the vice-chancellors, who have had to work hard and be generally engaged to win appointment."
He has the facts from the Sutton Trust to prove this, with a lifelong belief in keeping his data to hand. A vast map of Reunion, for instance, covers the hall of his house – whose two separate front doors naturally start you wondering, statistically, how many other UK houses share this odd feature. The Indian ocean island was where he honeymooned with Ali, who works for Natural England. "Beautiful, beautiful," he murmurs again, pointing out how the permanently erupting volcano sends lava conveniently, and very connectedly, only into the sea.
• Explore the Dorling data
• This article was amended on 18 October 2011. The original described Reunion as a Caribbean Island. This has been corrected.
• Fair Play: A Daniel Dorling Reader on Social Justice (The Policy Press, RRP £24.99). To order a copy for £19.99 with free UK p&p go to guardian.co.uk/bookshop or call 0330 333 6846
The government may find that it needs local education authorities after all, suggests Mike Baker
Last week's approval of another batch of free schools was a reminder that the market revolution in schools is still in full swing. It was hardly a surprise. Earlier this month, the prime minister won acclaim from his party conference by promising many more academies and free schools. Mind you, his audience was easily pleased; they lapped up his promise to restore "proper teaching, good discipline and rigorous exams" as if no one had ever suggested these were good things.
But would he have won such enthusiastic backing by promising to "nationalise" schools? I suspect not. Yet that is exactly what he is doing. Academies and free schools are wholly dependent on central government for their money; they are accountable to Whitehall, and they are controlled by seven-year rolling contracts, or funding agreements, determined by the secretary of state.
When there were only a handful of academies, mainly replacing unsuccessful local authority schools, this degree of central control was less worrying. The old system had failed these schools, and an experiment was worth a try. But now that the great majority of schools – successful, unsuccessful or "coasting" – are becoming academies, do we really trust a remote team of civil servants in Whitehall to monitor thousands of schools from widely varying localities?
Now, of course, ministers insist they are not running schools, but are creating a market in which consumer satisfaction determines which will flourish and which will have to change their ways. But markets need regulation to ensure that standards are met and to prevent a few big players creating a monopoly by forcing out smaller providers. The question the government is avoiding, at least in public, is whether Westminster can effectively provide that regulation once it is responsible for several thousand schools.
However, behind the party conference rhetoric, there is growing awareness in Downing Street that local education authorities are still needed. For example, policy advisers are worried about how to tackle coasting schools, a topic that increasingly figures in ministerial speeches. In his conference speech, the prime minister referred to schools in "affluent" Sussex, Cambridgeshire and Hampshire being outperformed by some inner-city counterparts. Cameron's advisers now recognise that some external agency may be needed to prompt coasting schools into raising their game.
Some believe the monitoring process can be achieved simply by Whitehall analysing performance data. But is that really any substitute for local experts, with an ear to the ground in the neighbourhood? Others argue it can be left to Ofsted. But the inspectorate's "wham bam thank you M'am" method means it is not around to pick up the pieces as old-style local authority school inspectors were.
The spread of academy chains brings another problem. Some have big ambitions. The charity E-ACT, for example, wants 250 academies. Others, such as ARK and Oasis, plan chains running well into double figures and the Harris Federation already has a powerful concentration of schools in south-east London.
The big question is this: what happens when one academy chain runs the majority of schools in an area? At what point does this become a monopoly undermining the intended market reforms?
So, now policy advisers are privately mulling the tricky question of whether central government should impose a limit on the percentage of schools one academy chain is allowed to run in any locality.
The rise of school brands also raises awkward questions about the much-vaunted autonomy of individual schools. I'm beginning to hear complaints from headteachers that their academy's "head office" is interfering in the day-to-day management of their school, for example telling them which curriculum consultants they must employ, or imposing senior staff appointments. This sounds like the very thing local authorities were criticised for: heavy-handed, top-down, monopolistic diktats.
In fact, despite what many believe, local authorities have not controlled schools for many years. Their main task has been the strategic functions that individual schools cannot easily or efficiently do themselves: admissions, attendance, special needs provision, and ensuring there are neither too many nor too few school places to meet fluctuating demographic demand. But how can local authorities reduce expensive surplus places if they have no control over whether academies will expand or free schools open?
If the government does not want to waste money on surplus places, and wants to raise standards at coasting schools, it will need a strong local monitoring body. It increasingly looks as if it must accept, however quietly, that it really does need those very local education authorities that it has spent so long bashing.
• www.mikebakereducation.co.uk
A new scheme offers the antidote to nasty online ratings: a chance for students to praise their lecturers
"I wouldn't say she's the worst professor I've ever had, just not terribly inspiring," writes one student on RateMyProfessors.com's UK website. Others describe various individual lecturers as: "patronising and not very bright", "nice person, but worthless teacher", "supremely egotistical", "mad as a box of badgers", and simply "awful, awful man".
Never before have students had such opportunities to let off steam when they feel their university teaching has failed to come up to scratch, and never before have lecturers been so publicly at their mercy. RateMyProfessors, used in the US for the last 12 years, started soliciting comments from UK students five years ago and covers well over 1,000 UK lecturers, rating them for easiness, helpfulness, clarity, interest, and whether or not they are "hot". Then there is the National Student Survey, which for the last seven years has asked final-year students to rate qualities such as teaching, feedback and organisation on their course. This year's annual report from the Office of the Independent Adjudicator, set up in 2004 to handle student complaints, showed that these had risen by a third in the last year, and predicted that they were likely to rise even more sharply following next year's increase in tuition fees.
The government's white paper, "Students at the Heart of the System", also seems to envisage students speaking out if they are unhappy with their learning. In a Guardian online chat last week, the universities minister, David Willetts, urged students to raise concerns about practical aspects such as getting work back and contact time. He predicted: "Our finance changes will strengthen the student voice on these issues."
But this Thursday sees the launch of a project that takes a more positive approach to student involvement.
The Student-Led Teaching Awards, organised jointly by the Higher Education Academy and National Union of Students, is an award scheme run entirely by students, based on a Scottish pilot. When the pilot began two years ago, eight institutions were involved. Last year, this had grown to 13, with students making more than 11,000 nominations.
Individual student unions decide on different criteria for assessing their lecturers – from "most organised module" to "best 21st-century teaching". They then encourage students to nominate teachers, and to explain exactly why they think the teacher they have picked is so good. A student committee assesses the nominations, noting not only the number an individual lecturer receives, but also their quality, and there is an annual "Oscars" award ceremony.
Elizabeth Bomberg, a senior lecturer in politics, who won Edinburgh University Student Association's first Overall High Performer Award in 2009, says: "Students like feedback, but so do staff. To receive that constructive feedback – there's nothing to match that in terms of encouraging good teaching. I was thrilled."
She says it has made herself and her colleagues more aware of the criteria for which her award was made – enthusiasm, feedback and the ability to prompt questions and critical thinking. "Sometimes in the rush to deliver our teaching and get work done we forget that it's really about interaction with students," she says.
The NUS and HEA are offering grants of £1,500 to help up to 20 other student unions in higher and further education colleges across the UK to set up their own schemes, and want to bring together those with existing schemes to share ideas.
They are also publishing a report on what effect the scheme has had on universities. It has made clear that students particularly appreciate good feedback, going the extra mile, and innovative use of technology in their teachers. But the report's author, Alastair Robertson, says the scheme has also had unexpected benefits, strengthening a sense of community on campus, empowering students and making them reflect on their learning.
Helen Thomas, head of teacher excellence at the HEA, says: "The demand for good teaching is on the political and student agenda. These awards help students to recognise what good teaching is so they know what to ask for and they also know that teaching is felt to be important because it is being rewarded."
Mike Williamson, vice president, academic affairs, at Edinburgh University, says the scheme at his university developed from concern that too much emphasis was being put on research over teaching. Now staff cite the fact that they have won an award when going for promotion. "You see senior members of staff, top dogs in their field, wearing the pin badge they get and being really proud," he says.
Simon Bates, professor of physics education at Edinburgh, who won an award for innovative teaching last year, says: "It's always nice to get any kind of recognition in your professional life but from students it's particularly gratifying because they're the reason why you teach in the way you do."
At Edinburgh, the awards ceremony is followed by an Inspiring Teaching conference, in which winners are invited to give workshops to share their ideas. Heriot-Watt University Student Union has found comments made in the nominations so useful that it plans to categorise them to show what students appreciate about specific aspects of teaching.
Its president, Mike Ross, says that it is a way of students being able to influence their own learning. Whereas the National Student Survey only allows students to comment once their course is over, this gives them the chance to influence teaching methods while they are still studying.
Both students and staff insist that it is not a popularity contest and often staff who most challenge their students receive most nominations. And in tough economic times it is a way of giving academics the kind of boost anyone would get from a heartfelt nomination such as this: "Through her genuine care for her students and passion for the subject, she has inspired many … In her classroom we are academics, not students. Her support in identifying the help I need has made the difference between me dropping out and staying on."
University leaders must tackle the inequality that hinders black and minority ethnic staff, says Harinder Bahra
At a time when the government is encouraging white families to adopt black babies, sadly the latest report on diversity in higher education shows that universities have not exactly been keenly adopting black and minority ethnic (BME) staff.
Despite 40 years of equality legislation, the new report by the Equality Challenge Unit (ECU) confirms that there are still very real barriers faced by BME staff and that they are under-represented in UK universities. Within professorial grades, only 0.4% of black academics, 1.6% of Asian academics and 1.1% of Chinese academics are professors, compared to 11% of white academics. There are 50 black professors – that's not even one per institution. We have one BME vice-chancellor, and he was not home-grown, but imported from South Africa. With a BME student population approaching 20% – albeit skewed towards new universities rather than Russell group – the staff data is pitiful and unrepresentative.
The research identifies some of the key issues: a gap between policy and practice, poor recruitment practices and few sector initiatives. It also mentions the importance of workload allocation.
The allocation of workload and its constituents, eg research time, teaching load (and type), course management and development (courses, conferences and committee work) can shape promotion outcomes. Institutions should monitor workloads to see what activities are valued as key success factors, and ensure that there is equal opportunity.
Sympathy and understanding or glossy publications alone do not bring about change. What is required is the political will, a multi-partnership approach and operational objectives with clear key performance indicators. This needs the involvement and agreement of all the main players: from the funding councils to the Higher Education Statistics Agency (Hesa), Universities UK and the unions.
We need to look at what has – and mostly hasn't – been achieved by the bodies concerned. It is unclear to me what impact the ECU itself, a publicly funded policy thinktank, has made for its £1.4m annual budget. It also remains unclear how we use the equality data gathered by Hesa or what good the data-gathering has done.
This is not about apportioning blame, but asking some difficult questions. The report confirms there is a problem. Many reports are gathering dust, but where many fail is in placing responsibility for implementation lower down in organisations. If we truly desire change, we need to place accountability for equality and diversity within the governance and leadership framework.
As the sector embraces marketisation, it becomes crucial to provide data to help student choice. A national league table could be developed covering the various equality strands such as race, gender, disability etc. This should include staff at various levels, promotion data, average salaries, disciplinary, grievances and legal settlements. Student attainment data could also be included. This performance data could then be used by staff and students to make informed choices.
What is clear is that progress on BME access to both Russell group student places and employment in HE falls well short of what it should be. At a time of crisis, it is even more important for leaders to challenge received wisdom, and have the courage to tackle inequalities.
• Professor Harinder Bahra is emeritus professor of management and diversity at Leeds Metropolitan University and visiting professor at the University of Hertfordshire. He was deputy chair of the HE race forum from 2008-11, which contributed to the ECU project. He writes in a personal capacity
For high-flying RAF medics, an online degree course offers the chance to study anywhere in the world
For a medic on deployment overseas, on-duty shifts may be dangerously fraught, but there's not an awful lot to do on base in the long stretches of downtime between bursts of frenzied activity.
Recognising that service personnel were finding it hard to fill their off-duty periods, the RAF recently teamed up with Anglia Ruskin University to give its medics a chance to use those empty hours to stretch their brains and improve their qualifications.
As of this September, medical personnel have been able to study on three degree-level courses from wherever they are in the world. Prospective students can opt for a BSc in health and social care, a BSc in management and leadership in health and social care, or a foundation degree course – and every lecture, seminar and tutorial is delivered entirely online.
Doing a standard course on a part-time basis can be tricky for service personnel on active duty, explains flight sergeant Chris MacKay, who worked with Anglia Ruskin to get the first 21 RAF medics enrolled. Even "blended" degrees that are delivered mainly online tend to require intensive workshop sessions and tutorials at certain points in the learning process.
For an RAF medic this is not a practical way to gain a qualification. You might plan to complete a couple of modules of a course that includes contact time with your tutor or fellow students, says MacKay, but then be sent overseas at short notice: repeatedly missing out on group study sessions or face-to-face tutorials clearly doesn't help any student's morale or ability to study productively.
"The problem we have is that predicting where we'll be in 12 months' time is difficult – we could be in Scotland, the Falklands or Afghanistan," he says. None of the students who've just enrolled are currently deployed overseas, but they're only a month into their course and can be sent abroad at any time if the need arises.
Encouraging continuity of study may be a positive step, but is doing a degree over the internet really as good as having proper contact time with subject experts and fellow students who share your interests? At Anglia Ruskin University, Tony Howard, head of the employer- liaison department Higher Skills At Work, who persuaded the RAF of the merits of this approach, says that it can be.
"The virtual learning environment simulates a classroom and you can network with others doing the same course," he says. "Most of what's available on campus is available online."
A degree that has been designed for every element to be delivered via a web portal, he points out, means that students can be very well supported by specialist tutors whose time is dedicated to offering online or telephone advice and guidance. They are recruited specifically to work with students on these courses and are available virtually around the clock.
Providing staff with the chance to do an online degree isn't just about helping them to pass their off-duty time when on deployment. The services are facing swingeing redundancies, so helping staff to gain qualifications that will be recognised when they leave the RAF is becoming more of a priority. It's certainly one of the factors motivating medics to sign up.
Isabel Stone, 39, who works as deputy medical practice manager at RAF Leuchars, St Andrews, says that with the uncertainty surrounding the armed forces because of the Strategic Defence and Security Review, "it is encouraging that the RAF are actively investing in and encouraging medical service personnel with valuable learning opportunities such as this degree." Meanwhile, until redundancies start to bite, the RAF will benefit, too. Part of the idea of offering these particular courses, says MacKay, is "to develop what we're doing, to look at Civvy Street practice, and bring that into military practice".
Learning at a distance has considerable plus points, but there are downsides too, as students who have just embarked on their course explain.
Victoria Butler, 31, an instructor for the RAF's trainee medics and one of the first cohort to enrol, says the advantages for her include being able to study "at my own pace in my free time, giving flexibility and autonomy in my studies", but adds that she senses "it would be possible to feel quite alone if you have any real problems with the IT or subject matter".
Having himself just started the BSc in management and leadership in health and social care, MacKay says that being able to fit his studies around his family life is another major advantage, but observes, too, that considerable self-motivation is essential when there is absolutely no face-to-face contact time during the entire period of study.
Given that self-discipline is a quality that can hopefully be taken as read within the armed forces, it may be that interruptions to an online study session may come from less easily disciplined sources.
"I will be studying mainly at home, which at times can be distracting, especially when my three-year-old son wants my attention," says Stone.
"This said, my line management have been extremely helpful and understanding, and I have been given study time within my working day."
Even the cool boys are queueing up to take up the latest trend at school – knitting
Leaning back into the beanbag, dreadlocks swept away from his face, Remar Fulton is deep in concentration. The 11-year-old is knitting what looks like a scarf in black, green and yellow stripes. "The colours of Jamaica, my family's country," he says.
Remar is one of 20 members of the knitting club at Dog Kennel Hill primary school in Peckham, south London. As knitting fever has swept through the school, there are now almost 100 pupils on the waiting list – just under a quarter of the pupil population – and around half are boys from year 2 to year 6.
Young pupils like Remar and his classmates don't fit with the conventional image of knitters. Even in its recent renaissance among crafty twentysomethings, knitting is still considered feminine – a tradition passed down through generations of women. But boys across the country are now taking up their needles.
Boys now make up around 50% of primary pupils involved in Craft Club, the campaign run by the Craft Council and UK Handknitting Association, which supports schools to run knitting clubs led by community volunteers. Since it was set up in April last year, there are now over 350 groups around the UK, mainly in primary schools, and many more knitting groups run independently by teachers.
Stephanie Laing, trainee teacher at Dog Kennel Hill primary, can't quite believe how popular her knitting club has become among the boys. A knitting enthusiast herself, Laing set up the lunchtime club three years ago and the first four members were year 6 boys. "I was surprised by the ones who signed up – not only the boys, but it was the cool kids," she says. "I thought they weren't going to last, but it has become the cool thing to do."
Laing was a learning mentor when she started the club, working one-on-one with pupils who had emotional or behavioural problems. "I wanted them to be able to advance their skills, but it was also a way of opening up what I did for the whole school," she says. "For them, coming into a quiet room with bean bags and sometimes music playing: it's quite comforting and non-threatening."
Boys in the knitting circle agree that the club is one of the few relaxing parts of the school day. "It's peaceful, no shouting. It's different to other things in school," says 10-year-old Sam Otufale. "I usually play football – it's mad."
Another reason for the knitting club's popularity is the end-results. At today's lunchtime session, there is no sign of tea cosies or cardigans. Instead, boys proudly show off their wrist-bands, phone-holders and fingerless gloves.
The UK-wide Craft Club is keen to capitalise on this opportunity to introduce boys as well as girls to knitting, not just as a pastime, but as a technical skill that helps cognitive development.
Incorporating knitting into school life and throughout the curriculum has also been a successful way of getting boys involved. As well as teaching knitting within art, Kathryn Hitchings, classroom teacher at Bucklesham primary in Ipswich, used knitting to teach pupils about the second world war "make do and mend" campaign. This year she launched a sponsored knit, encouraging pupils to unleash their competitive streak. One boy managed to knit 75 metres in one day and pupils also took part in yarn bombing, covering a tree with their knitted garments.
The teachers involved in knitting groups have also noticed that the craft appeals to children who don't normally achieve in other areas, or who tend to misbehave. This is because there is an immediate and visible reward directly linked to the effort put in, says Katy Bevan, the Craft Council's participation and learning manager. "If you have a difficult child who's constantly misbehaving and being told off, suddenly they have knitted half a scarf and are given heaps of praise," she says.
As the boys at Dog Kennel Hill primary finish up before the bell rings, they are evidently proud of their knitting skills. They revel in advising their classmates and show off what they have made. But for one year 6 pupil, the appeal of knitting is more personal. "If you're angry, it calms you down," he says.
The new Kate Winslet film, Contagion, is a boost for academics striving to understand how diseases spread
Kate Winslet proclaims the line with a purposeful clarity. "The average person," she tells Matt Damon in the trailer for the forthcoming film Contagion, due for release this week, "touches his or her face three to five times every waking minute. In the meantime, we're touching doorknobs, water fountains, each other." Winslet plays Dr Erin Mears, one of the medics struggling to contain a pandemic that is threatening civilisation.
The film could hardly have come at a more opportune time for researchers at Warwick and Liverpool universities. "It focuses on how many contacts we make during each day and how highly infectious diseases spread through the population," says Matt Keeling, professor of maths and biology at Warwick. "That's exactly what we're looking at."
His colleague Dr Leon Danon, a research fellow in the university's Mathematics Institute, says Contagion will provide a much-needed boost to their attempts to track our interactions with other people. "Already we're getting responses from those who have seen the trailer," he goes on. "We've even discussed getting students to stand outside cinemas and hand out flyers."
Respondents are asked to think back to the previous day and recall what they did, who they met and talked to, how they were greeted, how far they travelled and by what means. "This important research will give us a better idea of how to control infections and understand who the main at-risk groups are," says Keeling. Danon puts it rather more starkly: "This stuff will save lives and, at the very least, fewer people will catch the flu." Flu viruses are passed on in various ways. "Physical skin-to-skin contact, not just kissing, is important, says Danon. "So you can catch flu through shaking hands with someone already infected. Flu can also spread through the air with no physical contact necessary, which is why we ask respondents to tell us about those people they had conversations with. It's also possible to catch flu by touching an item that has been touched by an infected person, but only for a few hours afterwards. How well the virus survives and is still able to infect depends on the environmental conditions, including temperature and humidity."
By tracking thousands of patterns of human interaction, the researchers hope to be able to predict more accurately the spread of pandemic flu and therefore provide healthcare agencies with the information to monitor and tackle outbreaks with the most cost-effective solutions.
The project started soon after the avian flu scare of 2008 and will end in March next year, when funding of £679,294 from the Medical Research Council runs out. One of the more prestigious medical journals will be offered the chance to publish the results but, before then, the researchers are hoping to at least double the 6,000 respondents.
"We need at least 10,000," Danon says. Women and retired people are over-represented. The academics are working with a marketing company on ways of targeting men and have started taking survey forms into schools. Keeling is keen to get more schoolchildren and people under 30 to take part. "They're currently under-represented in the survey yet they're probably the most important groups in spreading the infection," he says.
Schools have rightly been pinpointed as breeding grounds of infection. Says Danon: "The swine flu outbreak of 2009 died down once the school holidays started, and one proposition for containing future epidemics and pandemics could be the closure of schools at critical moments. That way you'd buy a couple of weeks to roll out vaccines."
Preliminary results suggest that teachers are high on the list of professions in greatest need of preventative measures. "It may be intuitive that certain people and occupations have higher numbers of contacts than others," Danon accepts, "but the most important part of our work is quantifying these effects and differences. How much more are teachers at risk than cleaners? Without the numbers, we can't accurately model epidemics and predict their future characteristics. Accurate predictions are the key for this work to be useful for public health."
Outside the Mathematics Institute, a bus pulls up, packed with people under 30. Plastered the length of it is an advertisement in stark letters: CONTAGION.
• To take part, go to www.contactsurvey.org
JISC is pleased to announce the second in its new series of free online seminars in which experts share advice on technology issues for education and research.
The regular ‘webinars’ are short one hour sessions focused on providing practical advice on topical issues. Participants can join the session without having to travel anywhere, using just a computer, headset and internet connection.
Register now for the second webinar in the series ‘Curriculum Design – Changing the Paradigm’ on Wednesday 2 November 2011 at 14.00. The webinar will share advice from Marianne Sheppard, Researcher/Analyst at JISC infoNet and Helen Beetham, eLearning consultant.
Helen and Marianne will discuss how a strategic approach to curriculum design and course information can lead to better outcomes for learners and other stakeholders in the curriculum.
By exploring the emerging outcomes from the JISC Institutional Approaches to Curriculum Design programme it is the aim that all participants will have a greater awareness of resources available to support curriculum innovation.
Find out more about the webinar and register now here.
#jiscwebinar #jisccdd
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This morning the outcome of the Brent Libraries Judicial review was published. It found for Brent Council and ruled that the process Brent Council followed in reaching a decision to close six of its libraries had been reasonable.
Commenting on the judgment CILIP’s Chief Executive, Annie Mauger, said “We will be studying this judgment carefully for its national implications. However there can be little doubt of the immense disappointment thousands of users in Brent and elsewhere will feel. Once again this has shown how much libraries mean to local people and once again both national and local politicians need to understand the depths of this feeling. Libraries should be seen as part of the way out of the recession and not as an easy service to cut”.
CILIP acknowledges the difficult financial position Councils are in and that tough decisions are being made in regard to all public sector services. However it is concerned that public libraries are not expected to bear disproportionate cuts and that there is effective public consultation and engagement in regard to future public library provision. It supports genuine ways of saving costs through improved efficiency and the exploration of imaginative new ways of delivering services.
CILIP also believes that the national and local debates on library provision would be improved with a modern national vision for the library service underpinned by proper standards. We note that in its Open Public Services White Paper the Government proposes that, for the national services it procures, the Government should establish and enforce core entitlements, set floor standards enforced by independent regulators or published data and ensure fair access to services. “This is what should exist for public libraries” explains Annie Mauger. “The public library service is a national service shaped and delivered locally by Councils. We need a national vision for the service, a set of standards such as those that exist in Wales and Scotland, and a Secretary of State willing to enforce such standards where necessary. The powers already exist in the Public Libraries & Museums Act (1964)”.
Read the full judgement here
EndsPress contacts:
Kasey Butler, Communications & Campaigns Manager, CILIP
Email: kasey.butler@cilip.org.uk
Tel: 0207 255 0653
Guy Daines, Head of Policy
Email: guy.daines@cilip.org.uk
Tel: 0207 255 0632
Mob: 07837 534990
Notes to editors:
CILIP: the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals is the leading professional body for librarians, information specialists and knowledge managers. CILIP’s vision is a fair and economically prosperous society underpinned by literacy, access to information and the transfer of knowledge. CILIP is a registered charity, no. 313014.
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CILIP's Annual Buyers' Guide Directory is the most comprehensive information source for suppliers' products and services, available to key buyers and users in the Library and Information sector.
Published each year in December, this colour publication is distributed to over 4,000 procurement officers in Universities, Colleges of Higher and Further Education, Local Authority libraries, Specialist and Corporate libraries.
The Buyers' Guide is now accessible in digital format to all CILIP members on the CILIP website.
The content from this valuable publication is also available online at www.buyersguideonline.co.uk. If you miss out on the print publication, it is still possible to take a listing on www.buyersguideonline.co.uk. Contact us for more information.
The site includes listings on companies and products ranging from book preservation to library management systems. This online and offline combination results in the most cost effective method of reaching the key buyers in the Library & Information Sector, all year round.
If you are a Suppliers' Network member you can simultaneously renew your membership and your entry in the Directory, making significant savings.
To be included in this incomparable resource contact Angela Krzyzanowska or Gary Allman on 020 7255 0553/2.
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Read the latest blog post from CILIP's Head of Policy Guy Daines
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CILIP is campaigning for school libraries and school library services as we believe they make an important contribution to society. We all benefit if the next generation is well educated, highly literate and have the necessary understanding and information literacy skills to navigate our increasingly digital world.
How can CILIP members get involved?
This campaign will keep the effectiveness of library support for teaching and learning at the forefront of Head teachers’ and other decision makers’ thinking.
We will be building up a range of web resources for the campaign and hope colleagues from all sectors of the library and information profession across the UK will add their voice to it. While the focus is obviously on school librarians, it will undoubtedly raise the profile of librarians and information professionals overall with the government, the media and the public.
Watch this space. We will be adding campaigning resources to this section of the website from November onwards. Some materials will be focussed on supporting school libraries and individual school librarians while others will be to help support Schools Library Services.
What can you do to support the campaign?
1. Tweet your support and promote the value of school libraries and schools library services by using the hashtag #SHOUTABOUT
2. Find out if your children have access to a well resourced school library and/or Schools Library Service.
3. Speak and/or write to your local authority, head teacher or school governor about ensuring children have access to proper library resources.
4. SHOUT ABOUT the positives – we are also keen to hear any positive case studies and examples of school librarians and Schools Library Services making the difference in children’s lives. Share your stories by emailing campaigning@cilip.org.uk
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Here are some answers to the membership questions we are most often asked. If your question isn't answered here please contact the Membership team.
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On the Guardian Teacher Network this week you will find resources related to Amnesty International's third annual Young Human Rights Reporter of the Year competition
From bullying to the treatment of refugees to political prisoners, there are so many human rights stories to be told, and young people want the chance to tell them. This has been shown by the hundreds of entries to the Amnesty International Young Human Rights Reporter of the Year competition, now in its third year, which the Guardian Teacher Network is proud to support.
The award encourages young people to find out what's going on in their world and write about it. This year's competition asks young people from upper primary to sixth form to write a compelling human rights story. This can be from their personal experience or their interpretation of a news story.
Winners, runners-up, their teachers and guardians are invited to a special awards day in London and the winning entries will be showcased at the Amnesty International UK prestigious Media Awards ceremony.
Victoria Najifi, teacher of last year's lower secondary category winner, 14-year-old Angus Kirk from The King Edward VI school, Morpeth, says: "The … competition was literally the catalyst in the discovery of an abundance of journalistic talent and the realisation by the school, the community and beyond that actually many of our young people know more about human rights issues than the adults."
You can read more from Najifi on the experience of entering and winning the competition in the Guardian Teacher Network blog page. Find all the winning entries from last year's competition.
Amnesty International has created a set of lesson plans and resources, including a simplified version of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
To enter the competition on behalf of your class or your child, go to www.amnesty.org.uk/youngreporter. Please do download the terms and conditions before entering the competition. This year, teachers are asked to choose the top three entries for their school to enter. The deadline is 31 January 2012.
The Guardian Teacher Network offers more than 70,000 pages of lesson plans and interactive materials. More than 50,000 teachers have registered. There are hundreds of jobs on the site and schools can advertise free.
What is the justification for private schools to be given free-school status, thus saving the parents thousands a year in fees?
When it was announced last year that Batley Grammar school, a private school near Leeds, was to become a free school – meaning parents would no longer have to pay fees of up to nearly £9,000 – some were understandably delighted. One excited parent told Channel 4 news that it was "like winning the lottery".
Batley Grammar, an elegant Victorian building with many original features and a slightly shabby feel about it, is one of five independent schools out of the total of 24 that opened as free schools last month.
Others are keen to follow suit. According to the Department for Education, 40 of the 281 proposals in the second wave of applications were from private schools. Only two of these were among the schools approved for conversion by the DfE today. But a spokesman said others could follow later on.
While Christmas has come early for previously fee-paying parents, critics say that the policy is in effect using public money to fund private education. "State money is being used to better the education of a minority, a small number of children and their parents, and that is wrong," says Alasdair Smith, of the Anti-Academies Alliance. "Some of these new free schools are boasting class sizes of 15, but not everyone benefits. Essentially, this is about private education cornering a market for themselves at the expense of the taxpayer."
But Brigid Tullie, headteacher of Batley Grammar, in West Yorkshire, disagrees. She argues that her school is in an area with "one of the highest levels of deprivation in the country" and is meeting local need. Until Batley Grammar became a free school last month, there were no mixed secondary schools nearby.
Now, says Tullie, more local children have the chance to experience what Batley Grammar has to offer: "an excellent reputation for pastoral care and for discipline, behaviour, conduct, state of dress".
Batley Grammar, which had been a state school until 1978, began to struggle to attract pupils in the late 1990s when the assisted-places scheme (government-funded subsidies for children who couldn't afford to pay fees for independent schools) was abolished. "I have never seen us as a typical independent school," says Tullie. "The reason we started looking at things like academies and free schools in the first place was because we were undersubscribed … there just wasn't a fee-paying population in the local area and the demand for bursaries and financial assistance was increasing phenomenally."
Converting to a free school has enabled the school to increase its numbers from around 400 to 600, and Tullie says that the long-term aim is to bring numbers up to around 700 over three years.
Having more pupils (who are funded "per head" by the government) has helped the school to raise the cash to refurbish its food technology room and introduce new subjects, including Spanish to key stage 3 students (in addition to Latin and French).
In Tullie's office, the shelves are heaving with box files labelled "free school applications" (she received 124 applications for just two places in one year group, she says) and the only sign of the school's past is a black academic gown hanging on the back of the door.
Now Batley Grammar is a state-funded school, class sizes will increase, but Tullie says small class sizes can be overrated. "You tell parents how wonderful it is that they are getting all this attention, but in actual fact it is about the effectiveness of the teacher. Some people can be less effective in front of 10 than someone else in front of 25."
While keen to stress that free schools should not be seen as "some kind of lifeboat" for failing independent schools, Andrew Cook, headteacher of the Moorlands school in Luton, Bedfordshire – a fee-paying primary that also became a free school last month – has a similar story to tell. He describes his school – which charged fees of around £6,000 a year – as being in an "area of deprivation" and untypical of the independent sector. "We had a database of over 700 parents who wanted to send their children to the school, but couldn't afford the fees. Around a third of our students were already paying concessionary fees. There was clearly a demand."
Like Tullie, he argues that the school's conversion enables more children in an "impoverished area" to benefit from what Moorlands has to offer – namely, "a smaller scale, village-style school".
His aim is to keep class sizes at around 18. And critics who say it is unfair for some state-funded schools to be offering small class sizes when others are not are missing the point, he says. "If you look at the independent sector, you will find a great deal more is spent in pounds and pennies on individual students. If they can sustain that, why can't state-funded schools make the figures work so they can teach in classes of less than 30? I'm not saying that with a magic wand, all schools could reduce classes to 18, but there would be mass street parties from parents if they could just get that figure down to 25."
Moorlands hopes to increase its student numbers from 200 to 500 and Cook is quick to defend himself against accusations of exclusivity by pointing out that over the next three years – by his calculations – just 7% of parents will be what he calls "rollover parents", that is, parents who used to pay fees. As far as admissions go, the school prioritises children with a statement of educational need, looked-after children and siblings. It also has a priority admission area made up of six Luton wards which, Cook says, are "amongst the 10% most deprived in the east of England".
At Batley Tullie admits not all parents were happy about the conversion to free school status. Some even removed their children as a result. "You are always going to get one or two parents who have no problems paying the fees, and to them it is more important to say their child goes to an independent school. There were one or two who were like that, but it was a small minority."
Some pupils were anxious, too. "The children would make comments and they would say things like, 'Oh, you're going to let anybody in'," says Tullie.
One year 8 student tells me: "We did worry that new people coming in wouldn't be able to follow the rules or would be naughty." But a month in, she is pleased to report that the school hasn't been overtaken by riff-raff and that having more people in a class is "lots better actually".
But not all the independent schools that have converted to free school status are putting cash back in parents' pockets. Sandbach school in Cheshire was in the unusual position of being an independent, state-maintained comprehensive – a former independent school where the local authority used to "buy" a number of state-funded places each year. The practice had been phased out by the 1960s, but the school's status was never changed. This meant that although it was state-funded, Sandbach missed out on some of the perks enjoyed by other state schools; for example, it could not become a specialist school (and benefit from any extra funding) or an academy, despite being judged as outstanding by Ofsted. "Becoming a free school was the only way for us to access some of the additional freedoms," says the headteacher, Sarah Burns. "But on a day-to-day basis nothing really has changed."
The Priors school in south Warwickshire is another unusual case. The tiny village state school was threatened with closure in 1996. For the last 15 years, parents have kept it open through fundraising and volunteer work – hosting charity balls and garden parties, running a charity shop and divvying up the cleaning, gardening and administrative work between them.
Becoming a free school has allowed the school to get a cleaner, pay a music and French teacher and employ a full-time administrator. It has also been able to expand from two to three classes, which means pupils from just two rather than three year groups can be taught together.
But while parents don't miss the burden of trying to raise over £100,000 a year, the head of trustees, Tony Porter, says he doesn't want the fundraising to stop. "It really galvanised two villages with just a pub, a restaurant and no shop. The school became the focal point of the community and we wouldn't want that to change."
At a fringe event at the Conservative party conference last week, the schools secretary, Michael Gove, spoke of his ambition for a further 50 free schools in London in areas such as Kingston, Sutton and Richmond, where there is said to be a shortage of places.
A DfE spokesman said: "The government is allowing independent schools to become free schools so that high-quality education can be accessed by all – not just those who can pay or pass an entrance exam. As free schools are required to follow fair, transparent and inclusive admissions policies, independent schools entering the state sector will not be able to retain any existing academically selective admissions arrangements."