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Experts are divided over controversial proposals to change the school curriculum and the way pupils are assessed
England's national curriculum review, which is to produce a new map of "core knowledge" that millions of five- to 16-year-olds must be taught from September 2013, has been relatively low-profile so far. But this seems about to change, with potential arguments about major changes likely to come out into the open.
Already there has been a delay in the planned "pre-release" of the new curriculum for English, maths, science and PE, as experts and ministers grapple with the details. The reforms are also likely to herald a radical and controversial change in how pupils' progress is directed and assessed.
England's national curriculum dates back to 1988, when the Conservative government judged that our traditional system of leaving teachers and local authorities to decide what pupils should be taught had to be replaced. The current review, the fifth, aims to address the perennial criticism that it is overloaded with content. The plan is to define only "core knowledge" and concepts expected of pupils. This is widely known and has proved relatively uncontroversial so far.
But what is expected of pupils by way of mastering these concepts, and particularly how these expectations are expressed, is poised to change radically. And this is where contention may begin.
For the review, which began in January, has been considering plans to scrap the system of national curriculum levels – the eight-point scale through which millions of children have progressed in their learning since 1988 - in favour of a new structure. This would lay down expectations of what all children should know as they get older. The review is likely to propose setting down year-by-year expectations.
The key difference is that the current structure is not directly age-related: a child can be deemed to have reached level 3 in reading, for example, at the age of seven or at the age of 14. Children are therefore supposed to progress through the levels at different rates according to their abilities. The philosophy behind the new system would be that all children should be mastering key aspects of each subject at specified points.
Tim Oates, director of research at the exams group Cambridge Assessment, who is leading the review, gave a flavour of the thinking at a conference in Bournemouth last month. He said the levels system, though set up with good intentions, had become "defective". He argued that the numerical levels did not communicate meaningful information – to pupils or parents – about what children actually understand.
Oates believes the very act of assigning individual levels to each child can serve to lower teachers' expectations of many pupils, especially low-achievers. The review is looking at international evidence, and Oates contrasted the English approach of focusing on individual levels with that in Asian countries such as South Korea, where teachers concentrate on the whole group making progress together.
This philosophy is cautiously backed by some teachers. Alison Peacock, head of Wroxham primary in Potters Bar, Hertfordshire, says that primary schools have long grouped pupils around tables according to their national curriculum level. She likes the idea of stressing high expectations for all, rather than gearing expectations according to pupils' perceived abilities.
She says: "Ability groupings quite often put limits on what children can do. As soon as you are assigned to a group, it is natural for children to just work to the level that they are expected to work to."
However, the review is not going to advocate completely undifferentiated teaching – teachers will still need to tailor provision for those above or below the national expectations.
The proposed system is already provoking debate. One source says: "This will effectively result in uniform targets for pupils for the end of each year, with children possibly adjudged either to have passed or failed them. There are going to be quite a lot of kids failing all of them one year, then the following year, and so on. The effect of that needs to be considered."
Subject teaching experts are wary of the influence of Nick Gibb, the traditionalist minister for schools. He is said to be keen on the teaching of long division in primary schools, despite near unanimous opposition from maths teaching experts consulted by the review. Another source said the teaching of speaking and listening looked like it would also have a traditionalist flavour, emphasising "standard English". Questions are being asked about the right of a review influencing the education of millions to be shaped by the personal views of one minister.
Timing is another problem. In June, Michael Gove, the education secretary, pledged that first drafts of the programmes of study in English, maths, science and PE would be sent to teachers' subject associations in August. This was put back until early October, and now apparently until later in the autumn. A notice on the website of the National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics said last month: "The department has decided to delay this pre-consultation phase until the programmes of study have been developed to a more advanced stage."
Formal consultation on the draft curriculums for these subjects is scheduled to begin in January 2012, with the details finalised with schools in September, for first teaching a year later. A new curriculum for other subjects will follow a year later.
Oates, who says a well-designed curriculum should last 30 years, concedes that the implementation timeframe is tight, and it it is still unclear how the curriculum is to be phased in: whether all school years will begin it from September 2013, or whether some will start later.
Annette Smith, chief executive of the Association for Science Education, says decisions need to be made very soon. "Is it going to completely wipe out the old [science] curriculum from 2013, in which case it would be a huge change for schools, or not?" she asks. "These decisions need to be taken urgently because of the support that will need to be put in place to enable schools to make the transition. We do not, either, know the nature of the support that is going to be made available to teachers. This concerns us a great deal."
With many other issues for the review to consider, including the relationship between the curriculum, assessment and league table pressures on schools, the coming months are going to be challenging for Oates and his team.
At least 25 universities confidently assert they are in the 'top 10'. Let's move away from 'tribes' and encourage solidarity, says Peter Scott
Kate Pickett and Richard Wilkinson's The Spirit Level: Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better, published two years ago, hit neoliberal economics – and neo-conservative politics – where it hurt. For three decades after the election victory of Margaret Thatcher, the lucky and the privileged had consoled themselves that equality simply could not work – so they were off the hook.
Then Pickett and Wilkinson's book convincingly demonstrated, with graphs piled on charts piled on tables, not only that equality could work, but that it did work. More equal societies were not just fairer but more efficient – and everyone, rich as well as poor, did better.
But still the message has been resisted. Maybe there are two reasons for this. The first is that wealth generation, growth and efficiency were always a cover story. Instead of being a cruel necessity, the sad price that had to be paid, inequality is the end, not the means. Power, privilege, hierarchy – they are the whole point.
The second, perhaps more forgivable, reason may be that, post-Thatcher and post-Blair, acceptance of inequality has become a mindset from which it is difficult to escape. It has seeped into our collective view of the social fabric. Certainly something like this seems to have happened in higher education.
A new vocabulary has been invented – "top" universities, as opposed to the rest; "world-class" research, as opposed (presumably) to lousy research; and now "top" students, in other words those with AAB grades at A-level (who in fact often under-perform at university compared with their ungilded peers).
Such language was hardly used in the past – although there has always been a pecking order of universities; successive research assessment exercises have identified research excellence for more than a quarter of a century; and universities have always used A-level grades as a self-congratulatory sieve.
Of course, it has its funny side. At least 25 universities confidently assert they are in the "top 10", and 25 more aspire to be there in the very near future. Methodologies that would be rejected in an undergraduate essay are uncritically accepted in league tables, provided they produce the "right" result. The main attraction of the Russell Group (of "top" universities – naturally) and other so-called mission groups, as of all clubs, is not what happens inside them – invariably dreary – but that they keep other people out.
But, returning to The Spirit Level, this enthusiasm for inequality has its darker side. First, inequality featherbeds the fortunate. So we are expected to believe that Newcastle is better than Durham or Liverpool than York, simply because Newcastle and Liverpool are members of the Russell Group. Similarly, supposing that historically determined hierarchies are orders of contemporary merit is silly. Of course, Cambridge is "better" than London Metropolitan; it has had seven centuries' start.
Second, and more seriously, enthusiasm for inequality undermines the solidarity of higher education which, following Pickett and Wilkinson, is a source of strength not weakness. Most obviously, it allows politicians (and Treasury cost cutters) to divide and rule. It is truly remarkable – and shameful – that the armed services, despite being divided into three warring branches, work together better than universities, which have much less to separate them in the competition for resources.
But, more fundamentally, the efficiency, success and strength of higher education depend on habits of solidarity. The standard of degrees is maintained by a cat's cradle of external examiners. The quality of research applications, and of books and other publications, relies on academic referees. Lectures and seminars also depend on this culture of academic altruism.
There is already alarming evidence of the breakdown of these habits of solidarity. Altruism no longer applies outside narrowing "tribes" of universities. Russell Group universities are beginning to choose only referees from other Russell Group universities on appointment or promotion committees, or as external examiners. Other "tribes" also favour their own (or, if they go outside, trade up – but hardly ever down).
If these habits become entrenched, everyone will be a loser – "top" universities and ex-polytechnics alike – just as both rich and poor suffer in unequal societies. Too late, perhaps universities may discover that people are more willing to go the extra mile for the common good, whether of their academic peers or professional community, than they are on the orders of corporate bosses in the Brave New World higher education market.
• Peter Scott is professor of higher education studies at the Institute of Education
School leavers could do worse than use economic theory to decide if going to university is worth the massive debt they will rack up
When I started studying economics at school, I was delighted to be handed a textbook called An Introduction to Positive Economics by Richard Lipsey. Fantastic! After all, I didn't want any of that negative stuff.
It was only as a graduate student in philosophy that I realised the contrast to "positive" was not "negative", but "normative". Lipsey was going to tell us how things are, not how things ought to be. Economists are straight talkers, not peddlers of values. But curiously, when economists do tell us how things are, it never looks good.
Thomas Carlyle famously called economics "the dismal science". I saw this in action when on a panel, interviewing health economists. We decided to ask all candidates an amusing "unexpected" question at the end: "Which concept from economics should be better known by the general public?"
Any economist reading this will already know how they all answered: "opportunity cost". In judging whether it is right to spend money in a particular way, you should first think what else you could be doing with it. Could you squeeze out a little more value or enjoyment? Health economics is dominated by considerations of opportunity cost. When the government created a new fund for cancer treatments, for example, economists immediately asked what we would have to give up to pay for it.
Worrying about alternatives foregone is fair enough, but also pretty joyless. Imagine living your life under the shadow of opportunity cost. Any time you want to go to the cinema, you'd have to ask whether there is some other way of getting more out of your time and money. If there is, then you'll make a net loss, even if you'd really enjoy your evening out.
Economics didn't start out trying to spoil our fun. A key idea from Adam Smith is "gains from trade", explained to me at primary school. My teacher told us that when we handed over our shilling for a packet of sweets, we were better off because we would rather have the sweets than the shilling, and the shopkeeper was better off because she would rather have the shilling than the sweets. Trade is a little miracle.
Try as I might – and I did try because even at the age of nine I was pretty argumentative – I couldn't find any major flaw in this reasoning. Of course, you might not like the sweets. Nevertheless, the general case that trade makes both sides better off without harming anyone else seemed to be secure, even if there are exceptions.
The notion of gains from trade should be called "positive economics" and opportunity cost "negative economics". A sensible life is probably to be found somewhere in the middle. Life is too short to fixate on opportunity cost and seek out the best all of the time. Good enough, for most ordinary purposes, is good enough.
With this deep understanding of economics, we now turn to the future of undergraduate education. From now on, students will acquire large debts in coming to university, and typically they will start to pay back in their mid-20s and possibly even into their early 50s, depending on how much they earn. In return, they will acquire new skills and knowledge, a qualification to put on their CV, an expanded address book of potential wedding guests, and if they are lucky or subsequently unlucky, have the best three years of their lives.
Writing this column shortly after attending our graduation ceremonies, I'm still convinced that going to university is the right thing for many school leavers, even given the debt they will incur. But I also know that it is not for everyone. At the moment too many school leavers just drift in, and have a thoroughly frustrating three years. Thinking about the opportunity cost of the time and money spent on a degree might well help them to focus. The dismal science, I have to admit, can have its uses.
• Jonathan Wolff is professor of philosophy at University College London. His column appears monthly
A new take on Shakespeare and Pinter's political plays are among the highlights of this term's theatre offerings
A new term and a new adventure awaits those intrepid enough to brave the stalls with children in tow. The autumn seasons at the majority of UK theatres offer a fairly traditional diet of Shakespeare, novel adaptations and family Christmas shows. However, there are still a few bold options for the brave theatregoer: a new production of The Tempest that restores the original music to Shakespeare's text and a site-specific staging of some of Pinter's political plays. If it's a production of a set text you're after, here are our top picks.
George Orwell, adapted by Peter Hall
Theatre Clywd, Mold, Flintshire
CH7 1YA. Tel 0845 330 3565
13 Oct to 5 Nov. Tickets £10 to £19.50
Carol Ann Duffy
Hampstead Theatre, Eton Avenue, London, NW3 3EU. Tel 020 7722 9301
1 Dec to 7 Jan. Tickets £12 to £24
Last year's hit Christmas show is back at the Hampstead Theatre for another outing: sensitively and wittily staged, Beasts and Beauties puts a contemporary spin on much-loved children's stories.
Jonathan Harvey
Royal Exchange Theatre, St Ann's Square, Manchester, M2 7DH. Tel 0161 833 9833
9 Nov to 3 Dec. Tickets £9 to £33
CP Taylor
Royal Exchange Theatre, St Ann's Square, Manchester, M2 7DH. Tel 0161 833 9833
12 Oct to 5 Nov. Tickets £9 to £33
CP Taylor's rarely-revived play about an academic struggling to remain "good" in Nazi Germany is staged at the Royal Exchange. Ideal for students of history and theatre studies.
Charles Dickens, adapted by Neil Bartlett
The Watermill Theatre, Newbury.
Tel 01635 46044. www.watermill.org.uk
Until 5 Nov. Tickets £14.50 to £26
William Shakespeare
Young Vic, 66 The Cut, London, SE1 8LZ
Tel 020 7922 2922
28 Oct to 21 Jan. Tickets £10 to £29.50
Harold Pinter
Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, CV37 6BB. Tel 0870 609 1110. www.rsc.org.uk
Until 15 Oct. Tickets £5 to £32
A top-drawer production of Pinter's play about chickens coming home to roost.In the intimate setting of The Swan Theatre, David Farr's production brings one of modern drama's most fascinating families to vivid life.
Tim Crouch
Swan Room, Stratford-upon-Avon, CV37 6BB. Tel 0870 609 1110. www.rsc.org.uk
19 to 23 Oct. Tickets £5 to £10
Tim Crouch's Shakespeare shows for young people are always a thoughtful treat: his new piece I, Malvolio examines the workings of Twelfth Night from the perspective of one of its most intriguing characters. I, Peasebottom runs at the same venue over the same dates.
Oscar Wilde
Old Rep Theatre, Station Street, Birmingham, B5 4DY. Tel 0121 236 4455
Until 22 Oct. Tickets £10 to £28.50
William Shakespeare
West Yorkshire Playhouse, Playhouse Square, Quarry Hill, Leeds, LS2 7UP
Tel 0113 213 7700. www.wyp.org.uk
Until 22 Oct. Tickets £11 to £27
Tim Pigott-Smith takes to the stage in Leeds to play one of Shakespeare's most demanding roles.
William Shakespeare
Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, CV37 6BB. Tel 0870 609 1110
Until 6 Nov. Tickets £14 to £58
William Shakespeare
Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, CV37 6BB. Tel 0870 609 1110
Until 5 Nov. Tickets £14 to £58
Harold Pinter
Shoreditch Town Hall, 380 Old Street, London, EC1V 9LT. Tel 020 7638 8891
16 Nov to 11 Dec. Tickets £18
Brighton-based company Hydrocracker bring their pioneering site-specific work based around a selection of Pinter's short political works to the stunning surroundings of Shoreditch Town Hall. Ideal for students of English and theatre studies.
William Shakespeare
Crucible Theatre, 55 Norfolk Street, Sheffield S1 1DA. Tel 0114 249 6000
Until 15 Oct. Tickets £12 to £25
Daniel Evans's new production of Othello reunites The Wire's Clarke Peters and Dominic West in what promises to be a fascinating examination of jealousy, insecurity and naked ambition.
Jane Austen, adapted by Tim Luscombe
Salisbury Playhouse, Malthouse Lane, Salisbury, SP2 7RA. Tel 01722 320 333
20 Oct to 12 Nov. Tickets from £12 to £21
Bertold Brecht
Playhouse Theatre, Williamson Square, Liverpool, L1 1EL. Tel 0151 709 4776
Until 22 Oct. Tickets from £12 to £21
Edward Bond
Lyric Theatre, King Street, London, W6 0LQ. Tel 0871 22 117 29. www.lyric.co.uk
6 Oct to 5 Nov. Tickets £12.50 to £30
A rare revival for Bond's seminal and shocking play. Saved isn't suitable for younger audiences, but more mature groups are sure to be engaged by the boldness and ambition of this modern classic.
William Shakespeare
St Giles Cripplegate, Fore Street, London, EC2Y 8DA. Tel 020 7638 8891
Until 22 October. Tickets £21
This production of The Tempest aims to restore much of the original music that Shakespeare's audience would have enjoyed to the theatre experience. For those who prefer their productions a little more traditional, Ralph Fiennes plays Prospero at The Haymarket.
Caryl Churchill
Trafalgar Studios, Whitehall, London, SW1A 2DY. Tel 0870 060 6644
Until 29 Oct. Tickets £20 to £45
Kenneth Grahame, adapted by Alan Bennett
The Lowry, Pier 8, Salford Quays, M50 3AZ. Tel 0843 208 6010
2 Dec to 14 Jan. Tickets £8.50 to £18
Federico García Lorca, adapted by Anthony Weigh
Gate Theatre, 11 Pembridge Road, London W11 3HQ. Tel 020 7229 0706
9 Nov to 17 Dec. Tickets £10 to £20
A new version of Lorca's play about longing and loneliness promises to fill London's tiny Gate Theatre with colour and life.
• This article was amended on 4 October 2011. The original said The Wind In The Willows will be at the Library Theatre, Manchester. This has been corrected.
Read the survey in full
Nearly 2,000 teachers responded to a Guardian Teacher Network survey asking how they feel about their jobs. Many wrote: 'I love teaching but...'
Disrespected, often bullied, fed up with governments that don't trust them and despairing of the decline in parenting skills, you'd think teachers would be scouring the jobs columns for other careers, but, according to the Guardian Teacher Network survey published today, the reason they aren't in larger numbers is because so many of them still love teaching.
If there is a single message that sings out loud and clear, it is a plea from teachers to be treated as professionals, rather than infantilised by short-termist governments and political philosophies.
Teachers who have come from other professions wonder openly about the lack of trust in their professionalism. One former solicitor, now questioning the sense of the career switch, said: "There is a profound lack of respect by senior staff and parents for the quality of work and quantity of work undertaken by teachers.
"I have never before worked in a place where I have not been treated as a professional. My every move is monitored. I am not trusted to do the job I have trained and gained qualifications to do. It has had a great impact on my confidence to do the job. As a solicitor I was trusted to do my job once I had the qualifications and experience, why is this not the case in teaching?"
Nearly 2,000 teachers – most of them members of the growing Guardian Teacher Network – filled in the survey during late August and September. There was a free text box at the end for extra comments and it was here that teachers, like that former solicitor, poured out eloquent testimony of what it feels like to be a teacher in the UK today. In the first five hours after the survey went live, 600 forms were returned, many with very detailed comments.
Time and time again, they began: "I love teaching but …" or "This is the best job in the world but …" And they were big buts – government targets and interference, senior managers who bullied colleagues to achieve those targets, Michael Gove and Conservative party policy, league tables, Ofsted, bureaucracy, unsupportive parents, declining parenting skills, deteriorating student behaviour, disappearing pensions and lack of respect.
There are relatively few references to wanting more money for the long hours teachers work – a third cited working weeks in excess of 50 hours – more often there is a straightforward recognition that they have a vocation to teach and they came into teaching because of that drive.
The despairing voices are there – those who can't wait to retire ("Three years to go and counting...") and those who yearn to get away ("I am an NQT. I'm already looking forward to a way out") – but they are not the loudest. Most simply feel frustrated that they are not trusted to do their job.
Cary Cooper, professor of organisational psychology at Lancaster University, who has done major studies on workplace stress, is not surprised by the findings. "Global evidence is clear – lack of control and autonomy in your job makes you ill. It is stressful to be in an occupation where you feel you have people looking over your shoulder and where you can be named and shamed. All those characteristics were there in teaching 10 years ago, but it is worse now because jobs in the public sector are no longer secure.
"Teachers want autonomy and respect – the people who go into it have a real vocation; they don't do it for the money.We should train all our headteachers in engaging their staff in the decisions that affect their jobs, and the government needs to stop dictating top-down to teachers and instead discuss ideas with teachers. It should then undertake systematic pilots of ideas, which are evaluated. It needs to start treating teachers as professionals."
So, to some of the key statistics. Around 85% of respondents felt teachers had less respect from society in the UK than in some other countries. Just over half of the sample had considered leaving teaching and of these, 62% quote excessive government interference in schools as the reason; 50% blamed student behaviour; 44% workload or exhaustion; 30% parent behaviour; 25% lack of career prospects and just 22% had considered leaving for a job where they could earn more money.
A massive 90% complained of teacher bullying – nearly two-thirds cited bullying from senior management, just over half cited parents as the aggressors, 40% students and 35% colleagues.
Around 60% of the teachers said that student behaviour had become worse during their teaching career, with teachers outside London more likely to say it.
And the theories offered for the decline in student behaviour? Teachers point a sharp finger at the shape of British society. 81% blamed a decline in the nuclear family and 75% the growing influence of dubious and negative role models for young people.
Just under half felt parents had become less supportive of teachers during their time in the profession, with teachers in the south-west of England and in Scotland most likely to say it.
Asked why they felt they had less parental support, 79% of this part of the sample pointed at declining parenting skills; 65% said parents' perceived value of education had diminished; 59% said that long hours at work had affected the time parents spent with their children.
A picture of some senior management as unsure of their rights, or not wanting to get into trouble, also emerged, with 68% blaming worsening student behaviour on lack of support in imposing discipline from senior staff.
But care for their students shines through, with appeals for more vocational opportunities and concerns that some students are put on courses that will meet school targets rather than their individual needs. Only 10% in the survey wanted to see GCSEs abolished, but 65% wanted to see an end to Sats.
Just 22% thought their career prospects were good. Only 14% wanted to be headteachers ("Many are very reluctant to aspire to headteacher posts because too much is now expected") and 44% had considered teaching abroad.
A DfE spokesman said: "We're making teachers' lives easier and stopping breathing down their necks – by slashing bureaucracy and thousands of pages of statutory guidance; we're giving them greater freedom over the curriculum; and transforming the quality of career development training. Good schools know best – not politicians or bureaucrats."
Daniel Hartley has been teaching for three years. He studied for his PGCE in secondary history at the University of Exeter and is head of history and religious studies at Chulmleigh community college in Devon
"There is so much that frustrates many teachers. It feels as if we face a constant tide of change, forced on us from above.New governments always feel they have to put their own stamp on education – for me this means that while we wait for the new curriculum to come out in 2014, I am wary even of spending cash on text books – there is no certainty. Everything seems to change at a rate of about 200mph so it is a constant struggle to keep up with new initiatives, which are often just regurgitated old ones with a sexy new name.
My school is pretty good so I don't suffer with many of the problems that I know other teachers do. What I find annoying is that the government and others don't take into account the hours of paperwork, the re-jigging of schemes of work, professional development sessions and effort that go into reacting to these changes … that then suddenly are made worthless by a white paper. It can be totally exhausting. I also find alarming the focus on league tables and targets. For my GCSE students we use a computer program to predict grades. This takes no account of social problems the students might face and so can often spit out a grade that might not be achievable. For example, if you have a student who just doesn't turn up, you still have to give him/her a grade and when they don't achieve that, the quality of your teaching is scrutinised. It is tough on them, too, to be given expectations they can't meet.
You still can't help but look at your targets sometimes after the exams and question if you still have the ability to teach. That constant feeling that you have to defend yourself can be demoralising. Teachers can feel totally undervalued and even bullied when targets aren't met.
I feel we're missing a trick. Surely if we support colleagues rather than berate them, and focus on delivering engaging lessons, we will have a much happier staff whose love of what they do will rub off on the pupils.
I feel sad that many teachers are now, more than ever before, expected to be social workers, parents and teachers all rolled into one as there is a lack of parental support. Children are hoofed into schools and we have to do the groundwork of teaching them manners and how to behave properly.
Surely the school should just be one link in the chain? Parents, teachers and society at large all have a role to play in producing rounded, responsible members of society."• For more details or to join the Guardian Teacher Network, see http://teachers.guardian.co.uk/
Wendy Berliner is head of the Guardian Teacher Network
Swearing provokes a physical stress response, researchers have found … even when it's an accident
I have a friend who can't say "fuck". She never has been able to and shakes her head helplessly when teased and dared to give it a go. She's not a prude. But she has such a strong reaction to the word that she cannot bring herself to utter it.
Using the f-word in the first sentence of this article wasn't done for gratuitous effect. But how did you react to reading it? Would it have been more agreeable to see the euphemism "the f-word" instead? Do some "bad" words make you more uncomfortable than others?
It has been known for a while that people fluent in two languages respond far less strongly to swear words in their mother tongue than in their second language.
But a new study of people's reactions to a "bad" swear word – fuck, for example – compared a euphemism that they understood to mean the same thing, now suggests our strong emotional reactions to swear words happen as a result of early verbal conditioning, rather than the meaning that is conveyed. This raises the possibility that young children may note their parents' reactions to taboo words before they understand what the words mean.
All sorts of emotions are associated with the sound of swear words as we are growing up, says Jeff Bowers at the University of Bristol, who carried out the research.
The results of his study, Bowers says, throw some light on a question often debated by linguists and psychologists: do the words you say affect the way you think and perceive the world?
Bowers wired volunteers up to a machine that would assess their stress levels by measuring their sweat. He then asked them to say swear words and their euphemisms aloud.
Even though everyone involved had volunteered for the study and was fully briefed as to what was involved, and therefore presumably not likely to be offended, participants showed higher stress levels when they were asked to swear than when asked to state the common euphemism.
Bowers says the difference in stress levels between swear words and euphemisms shows that we don't only respond to the meaning of a swear word. The furore in December last year when James Naughtie made an unfortunate slip of the tongue while introducing culture secretary Jeremy Hunt on the Today programme demonstrates his point.
After the slip-up went out live on air at breakfast-time, the BBC was inundated with complaints. Presumably nobody imagined the presenter had intended to use the c-word, but many were still so shocked that they called, wrote and emailed to tell the broadcaster of their dismay. The BBC felt bound to apologise.
"In our view, euphemisms are effective because they replace the trigger – the offending word form – with another word that is similar conceptually," says Bowers.
A conversation reported in one of John Pilger's books, Bowers says, gives a good example of how word forms, rather than their meanings, affect how we think and act. At an arms fair, Pilger describes asking a salesman to describe how a cluster grenade works.
"Bending over a glass case, as one does when inspecting something precious, he said, 'This is wonderful. It is state of the art, unique. What it does is discharge copper dust, very, very fine dust, so that the particles saturate the objective …'''
What was that "objective"? asked Pilger. "Whatever it may be," replied the salesman. "People?" asked Pilger. "Well, er … If you like" was the salesman's response.
Pilger observes that salesmen at these events "have the greatest difficulty saying 'people' and 'kill' and 'maim'".
It's doubtful there is any confusion in the minds of buyers or sellers about the function of weapons, notes Bowers. "Nevertheless, the argument we'd make as a result of our research is that the euphemisms allowed business to be conducted with minimal discomfort."
If people feel uncomfortable with certain words – it doesn't have to be swear words; it might be bodily functions or the names for genitalia, or indeed, saying "kill" and "people" at an arms fair – they may go to great lengths to avoid using them, Bowers explains, including not entering into discussion of a particular subject at all.
This, he says, is a perfect example of how what you say – or what you find too excruciating to say – affects the way you think and act.
In demonstrating that taboo words can create a physiological effect, Bowers's study highlights how two words that mean the same thing can provoke different responses from us, and, he says, in terms of human relationships, how "subtle differences can make all the difference in the world".
• Swearing and Linguistic Relativity is freely accessible at www.plosone.org
On the Guardian Teacher Network this week you can find resources from the Global Campaign for Education, and a chance to enter the Steve Sinnott Award and win a trip to Africa
In 2000, world leaders promised universal primary education by 2015. At that time more than 100 million children were out of school. The number has been reduced to 67 million, but there are only four years to go to meet the pledge. More than half of the children missing school are girls – it's expected that 50 million girls will be out of school 2015.
The Global Campaign for Education (a coalition of international aid agencies including ActionAid and Oxfam, teachers' unions and civil rights groups) has created some powerful resources to help children explore and understand the issues at home and in the classroom as part of their Send My Friend To School campaign. This year they have rebranded the campaign Send My Sister to School to highlight the barriers that girls in the developing world have in accessing education. You can find all their resources on the Guardian Teacher Network hereSee the Voices of Tanzania resources to look into the particular benefits of educating girls and the Class of 2015 lesson and accompanying activity sheets exploring the reasons why girls in Nigeria miss out on education.Also find a fascinating lesson here aimed at KS2/KS3 citizenship, geography and history lessons which compares and contrasts the access to education in Victorian Britain with education in Nigeria, including the powerful personal stories of Nigerian girls Kaltume and Hadiza.
You can get more information on all these teaching resources and view videos here Two year-10 pupils and their teacher could win an amazing opportunity to visit Africa in February 2012 with the charity ActionAid and the Global Campaign for Education if they enter the Steve Sinnott Award. UK schoolchildren aged 14 and 15 are invited to apply through their school.
The winners, and their teacher, will get the chance to investigate for themselves the barriers to education that many children face. They will meet children who are missing out on school completelyand those who are struggling to attendand hear from them about the challenges they are facing. They will also meet project workers, community leaders and politicians.
On their return to the UK the young campaigners will help spread the word by speaking at conferences and to the media. They will also feature in a short film, which will form the centerpiece for next year's Send My Friend to School Campaign, organized by the Global Campaign for Education, to inspire schools across the country to help get free, quality primary education worldwide by 2015. This year thousands of UK pupils in over 5,000 schools took part in the campaign.
To enter You can enter here and for more details go to www.sendmyfriend.org. The closing date is 14 November2011.
• The Guardian Teacher Network has more than 70,000 pages of lesson plans and interactive materials. To see and share for yourself go to teachers.guardian.co.uk. There are also hundreds of jobs on the site and schools can advertise free: schoolsjobs.guardian.co.uk
Baffling medical mystery of the poultry worker who stank for five years
Four doctors in Wales rose to fame because of a man who pricked his finger and smelled putrid for five years.
The doctors were hit nose-on with one of the most baffling medical mysteries on record. It all started with a chicken. The case ended happily – yet mysteriously – half a decade later, the stink having vanished. The Lancet published an account of this called, accurately, A Man Who Pricked His Finger and Smelled Putrid for 5 Years.
The report, written by the relieved but puzzled physicians, ends with a plea: "We ask assistance from colleagues who may have encountered a similar case or for suggestions to relieve this patient's odour."
Here's what happened. In September 1991, a 29-year-old man who dressed chickens for a living cut his finger with a chicken bone. This fateful prick cause his finger to soon become reddish and smelly. The man got himself to the Royal Gwent Hospital, in Newport, Wales, where Drs Caroline Mills, Meirion Llewelyn, David Kelly and Peter Holt took him under their care.
The doctors treated the man with the antibiotic flucloxacillin. His hand still smelled.
Then they tried a different antibiotic, ciprofloxacin. His hand still smelled.
Next came erythromycin. Still his hand smelled.
Next up: metronidazole. The smell persisted.
The doctors delved into the hand surgically, but found nothing there of interest. They did a skin biopsy and cultured the microorganisms from it, hoping to discover some noxious bug. Here, too, they found nothing of interest.
Meanwhile, the man continued to stink.
The doctors took stool cultures. These stank, too, but only in the ordinary way.
The doctors tried everything they could think of: isotretinoin, psoralen, ultraviolet light treatment, colpermin, probanthene, chlorophyll, and even antibiotic withdrawal to allow restoration of normal flora. All to no avail.
As they put it: "Although the clinical appearance improved, the most disabling consequence of the infection was a putrid smell emanating from the affected arm, which could be detected across a large room, and when confined to a smaller examination room became almost intolerable."
After five years the man still stank. The doctors wrote up a description of this curious case, and published it in hopes that some physician somewhere had encountered a similar problem and could suggest a way to relieve the patient's distress.
For treating, and of necessity smelling, the unfortunate man who pricked his finger and smelled putrid for five years, the doctors – together with their unnamed patient – won the 1998 Ig Nobel prize in the field of medicine.
Their acceptance speech spoke of their hope to advance medical knowledge: "We published this case to seek help. Despite enormous amounts of correspondence, nobody had ever seen anything like this before, and no suggestions were effective. Our story, however, does have a happy ending.
Our patient no longer smells putrid. Thank you very much."
• Marc Abrahams is editor of the bimonthly Annals of Improbable Research and organiser of the Ig Nobel prize
Policy statements and briefings issued by CILIP 2005-2008
2008
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Open access research is now more accessible as JISC has developed a new search engine to help academics, students and the general public navigate papers held in the UK’s open access repositories.
JISC has funded the Open University’s Knowledge Media Institute (KMi) to create an innovative new search facility which searches not just the abstract but the full text of the article.
When researchers use current systems like Google Scholar to search academic papers they can find themselves denied access to the full article, particularly when subscription fees are required. They also typically have to search across a number of open access repositories or use searches that harvest data from different sources.
But now, using the COnnecting REpositories tool or CORE, people can search the full text of items held in 142 approved Open Access repositories.
“UK repositories contain a wealth of high quality research papers. This service should help make it easier for researchers to discover and explore this content. CORE is an exciting demonstration of how JISC’s investment in emerging semantic technologies is being harnessed to benefit researchers.”
Once they’ve found what they’re looking for, the CORE system stores these downloads, so that people can still get access to the papers they have found useful even if the original repository is offline.
Andrew McGregor, JISC programme manager, said: “UK repositories contain a wealth of high quality research papers. This service should help make it easier for researchers to discover and explore this content. CORE is an exciting demo
nstration of how JISC’s investment in emerging semantic technologies is being harnessed to benefit researchers.”
CORE is accessible via an online portal, via users’ mobile devices or through repositories and libraries that have integrated CORE with their own search features.
Senior Research Fellow at the Open University, Zdenek Zdrahal, who led the project, said: “The Open University is at the forefront of producing new and innovative advancements in educational resources. CORE is an exciting addition to this history and we believe it will be beneficial to the academic research community and to the OU. There are plans to develop systems further, to aid research.”
CORE is already integrated into The Open University’s research repository, Open Research Online (ORO) which includes more than 18,900 research publications.
Search CORE with your research question.
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Some of the books date back as far as the 1500s and, due to their fragile nature, would not be freely available to researchers, but thanks to this digitization project, musicians from around the world can now source the original music free of charge using the Early Music Online website.
Paola Marchionni, programme manager at JISC, said: “The value of this new resource isn’t just in putting the music online – it’s allowing researchers to find the music at their convenience from different access points, such as the project’s website, library catalogues and music databases. The project has also put great effort in opening up the background information, or metadata, behind the individual pieces of music, thus ensuring that researchers can more easily discover these internationally significant compositions.”
Highlights of the collection include church music by the Flemish composer Josquin des Prez and the English musicians Thomas Tallis and William Byrd; drinking-songs from Nuremberg and love-songs from Lyon; lute music from Venice and organ music from Leipzig.
JISC EMBEDDED OBJECT Dr Stephen Rose, from the Department of Music at Royal Holloway, said: “This is an invaluable resource for any musician as it offers many insights into how these early works were originally sung and played. For the first time, musicians now have immediate access to more than 9,000 individual compositions.”
Dr Sandra Tuppen, from the British Library, added: “It's wonderful to be able to share such fantastic musical treasures at the click of a button and make the works available to anyone in the world.”
Dr Rose explained that the British Library had worked with the College’s music department on previous database projects and they were keen to make use of the College’s expertise again.
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The Libraries APPG provides MPs and Lords with information and opportunities for debate about the role that libraries play in society and their future, with Justin Tomlinson MP as its Chair.
The APPG exists to promote and discuss themes in the wider information and knowledge sector including the impact of technology, skills and training, professional standards and broader issues.
Library and information services exist in a variety of places including schools, prisons, universities, government, private companies, law firms, colleges, health and public libraries.
By developing literacy skills, providing access to information and enabling the transfer of knowledge libraries and staff help build a fair and prosperous society. It is important they are run by skilled staff with the right expertise.
The launch
The APPG was officially launched on the 14 December.
At the launch comedian and bestselling author Tony Hawks and the Libraries Minister, Ed Vaizey MP were special guests.
Tony Hawks said: “Libraries are something I am very positive about. I was recently asked what made me proud to be British and I said it was our libraries. Free public libraries and free museums are some of the things we have been world leaders in and other countries have followed us.”
Libraries Minister Ed Vaizey commented: “I think it’s very important that we have a core library service and professional librarians have to be at the centre of that. I think libraries are here so stay and every community will have a library at their heart, and long may that be so.”
Justin Tomlinson MP
Tony Hawks, author and comedian
Official entry in the Parliament All Party Groups Register
For more information contact:Mark Taylor, Director of External Relations, CILIP: mark.taylor@cilip.org.uk or 020 7255 0654.
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During JISC's transition period to move the organisation towards a new legal entity, a Shadow Board is being formed to help manage the process.
After successful recruitment of four of the six Shadow Board members, JISC is seeking two additional experts: a further education principal and a university vice chancellor to complete the Board's membership.
Professor Sir Timothy O'Shea, Principal and Vice Chancellor, University of Edinburgh; Chair of JISC and Chair of the Shadow Board says: "We are very pleased to be able to announce the appointment of four members of JISC's Shadow Board and welcome their insight and expertise in taking a reshaped JISC into the future. We are, however, still seeking two additional members so that all of JISC's interest groups are represented. If you think you have the drive, enthusiasm and passion to support the UK's education and research communities with their teaching, learning and research aims we'd like to hear from you."
The Shadow Board will be in post for the length of JISC's transition period which could be between one and two years.
Richard Boulderstone is the British Library's e-strategy and information systems director. Richard brings with him nine years experience of working at the British Library including leading their efforts to create a large-scale digital object management system that will become the primary repository for the Library's, and hence the UK's, legal deposit collection of electronic resources. Formerly a Chief Technology Officer and Product Development Director at a number of international information providers, he has led the creation of many information-based products - both in the UK and USA.
Professor Paul Jeffreys is IT director at the University of Oxford where he drives the overarching IT strategy which enables the University to make optimal use of IT in a rapidly-developing environment. He sees his role as ensuring that the University's IT services continue evolving to meet new needs, whilst providing a secure and reliable service which maximises energy efficiency and value for money.
Professor Noel Lloyd CBE is retired Vice Chancellor at Aberystwyth University. He was awarded the CBE for Services to Higher Education in Wales. Prior to holding the posts of Vice-Chancellor, and Registrar and Secretary, he was previously Pro Vice-Chancellor, Dean of Science and Head of the Department of Mathematics at Aberystwyth University. He has served on various Research Council committees and editorial boards, and was editor of the Journal of the London Mathematical Society from 1983 to 1988. He has been a member of the HEFCW Quality Assurance Committee, and was a member of the board of the mid-Wales TEC and then of the mid-Wales ELWa Regional Committee. At present he is Chair of HEW (Higher Education Wales), and a Vice-President of Universities UK. He is a member of the board of the Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA), chairing its Health and Safety Committee, and serves on the board of the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA), chairing the Access Recognition and Licensing Committee.
Professor Celia Duffy is director of academic development at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. Before joining the Academy in 1999, she lectured in music at Goldsmiths College, University of London, worked in commercial software design and started the Performing Arts Data Service at the University of Glasgow. Celia sits on a variety of national boards and committees. She is an elected member and former chair of the National Association for Music in Higher Education, a board member of the Red Note Ensemble, member of the Scottish Funding Council's Research and Knowledge Transfer Committee and was recently invited to be part of an international panel for arts-based research financed by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Science and Research.
If you are interested in applying for one of the two vacant positions and to contribute towards taking JISC into the future, please contact Dr Kathryn Turton, JISC's board and transition manager: k.turton@jisc.ac.uk or apply direct for the role here.
Deadline for applications is 14th October 2011.
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Here you can find information on CILIP's support of the Campaign for the Book's Make School Libraries Statutory Campaign
CILIP supports the call for statutory school libraries
In September 2009 Council unanimously approved the recommendation from the Policy Forum that CILIP should endorse the Campaign for the book’s call to "make school libraries, run by properly qualified staff statutory and sign the Number 10 petition to that effect".
CILIP signed the Number 10 Downing Street petition. The e-petition to make school libraries statutory has now ended and was signed by 5,707 people. The Government's response to the petition stated that it had no plans to change legislation to make school libraries statutory.
Media release: CILIP calls on PM Gordon Brown to make school libraries statutory
The (then) President of CILIP responded to the Prime Minister on behalf of CILIP:
Read the letter
School Libraries - A Right
This is a statement from CILIP issued in February 2011. It sets out the core entitlements that every child, school's teaching team and wider school community should expect to receive. It provides an overarching case for a properly resourced, professionally staff school library.
The statement came out of the Making school libraries statutory campaign. It was written by the Youth and School Libraries Joint Committee and the School Libraries Group.
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JISC is pleased to announce the launch of a free online seminar series in which experts will lead discussions and share advice on technology issues for education and research.
The regular ‘webinars’ will be short sessions of 45 minutes to 1 hour focused on providing practical advice on topical issues and participants can join the session without having to travel anywhere, using just a computer, headset and internet connection.
Register now for the first webinar in the series on how to meet the research data challenge on Wednesday 12 October 2011 at noon. The webinar will share advice from Sarah Porter, JISC’s head of innovation, and Simon Hodson, JISC’s programme manager.
Sarah and Simon will give an overview of the key points for universities on managing research data, then discuss what managers can do now and how JISC can help.
The following seminar is on ‘Curriculum design – changing the paradigm’ on Wednesday 2 November at 2pm and will discuss how to join up information about different courses, and how to engage stakeholders in the curriculum.
Register now and find out more
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Cost of CILIP membership 2012
Most personal members of CILIP pay a membership fee based on their income.
Membership fees are considerably discounted for students, job seekers, people on low incomes and people living overseas.
If you are employed and live in the UK
| Band | Category | Earnings | Subscription | Cost per instalment by Direct Debit |
| T (P) | Affiliates, Associates, Chartered Members & Fellows | More than £17,501 | £194 | £19.40 |
| I | Affiliates, Associates, Chartered Members & Fellows | £14,001 - £17,500 | £160 | £16.00 |
| J | All categories | £12,001 - £14,000 | £130 | £13.00 |
| K | All categories | £10,001 - £12,000 | £107 | £10.70 |
| L | All categories | £8,001 - £10,000 | £79 | £7.90 |
| M | All categories | £5,001 - £8,000 | £53 | £5.30 |
| N | All categories | Less than £5,001 | £38 | £3.80 |
If you are unwaged and live in the UK
| Band | Category | Subscription | Cost per instalment by Direct Debit |
| Q | All categories | £38 | £3.80 |
| O | Student | £38 | £3.80 |
| R | Retired | £70 | £7.00 |
If you live overseas
| Band | Subscription |
Cost per instalment by Direct Debit |
| OV | £70 | £7.00 (if debited from a UK bank account) |
Other subscription categories
Choosing the right membership category
Not sure which category you should select? Find out which category is right for you
Claiming back tax
Find out how UK tax payers can claim back the tax on their CILIP subscription
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Life membership of CILIP is open to retired members over the age of 60 with a total of 20 years in membership, of which the last 10 years should be continuous immediately before application.
The one off fee for Life Membership is £575.00.
To renew as a life member please return your renewal form with the appropriate fee or contact the membership team.
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Cost of Organisation membership
Organisation members in the UK, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man pay subscriptions based on the organisation's budget providing Library and Information Services.
This should include the amount the organisation spends each year on staff, premises and materials.
Budget |
2011 Subscription |
2012 Subscription |
No. of representatives |
| Over £1,000,000 p.a. | £675 | £700 | 3 |
| £100,001 - £1,000,000 p.a | £410 | £425 | 2 |
| Less than £100,000 p.a | £225 | £234 | 1 |
| Overseas | £115 | £120 | 1 |
The number of representatives varies according to the membership category you choose. You can purchase additional representatives (above the number included in the membership) for £215 each.
The annual subscription for overseas organisations is £120. This entitles you to nominate 1 representative.
Benefits of Organisation Membership
Join CILIP as an organisation
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(to serve until 31 December 2012)
Postnominals
OBE BA MCLIP
Biography
Director of Culture, Libraries and Lifelong Learning for Newcastle City Council.
Before moving to Newcastle in 2002 Tony worked for Gateshead Library and Arts Service, as Assistant Director, and latterly as Head of Libraries, Arts and Information. Before that he had a variety of roles with Derbyshire Library Service, from Trainee to District Librarian.
Public library priorities in Newcastle have been to work with colleagues to modernise services, and to create a positive profile for the Library Service. The service is now held in high regard by both the Council and external stakeholders.
One of Tony’s major projects has been the development of the new Newcastle City Library through the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) route. The Council opened its new city library, with a very positive, and sustained public response, in June 2009.
Tony was President of the Society of Chief Librarians from 2007 until 2009. He currently chairs SCL’s Books and reading group. He was a member of the former Advisory Council on Libraries, and a Board member for the 2008/9 Public Libraries Modernisation Review.
Outside of his Newcastle role, Tony is also the inaugural chair of the Durham Cultural Partnership.
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(to serve until 31 December 2012)
Postnominals
BA (Hons) DipILS FCLIP FRSA
Biography
Liz is Director of Library and Information Services at Teesside University. Previously Liz was Associate Director (Services and Operations) in Information and Learning Services at the University of Salford. She has held departmental senior management positions at East London and London South Bank Universities and has also worked at Huddersfield, Leeds Metropolitan, Lincoln and Manchester Metropolitan Universities.
Liz is a Fellow both of CILIP and the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA).
Liz has been Chair of the University, College and Research Group and President of the Career Development Group and has represented these Groups on CILIP’s Council and Policy Forum. She was a member of the Defining Our Professional Future Steering Group. Liz is currently a Trustee and Executive Board Member of SCONUL, the Society of College, National and University Libraries.
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(to serve until 31 December 2013)
Postnominals
BA (Hons)
Biography
Prior to entering the library and information profession Katy had over 15 years experience in the IT industry, working in local and central government and as a consultant. She progressed from programmer to Project Manager. Latterly she led mixed economy teams of civil servants, consultants and private sector staff delivering IT systems for DSS. This gave her a lasting interest in management issues.
Katy then went to Manchester Metropolitan University, undertaking the BA (Hons) Library and Information Management degree. After graduation she worked in the Lancashire County Schools Library service as temporary Project Loans Team Leader. The opportunity arose to return to Manchester Metropolitan for one semester as a lecturer on Information Users and Providers. This renewed Katy’s interest in LIS education and the changes in the profession brought about by advances in technology.
Katy then moved to Herefordshire College of Technology where she remained for several years, becoming Learning Resources Centres Manager. She became increasingly involved in information literacy teaching for students at all levels . She believes everybody needs these skills as information is more easily available in a wider range of media than ever before and that librarians and information professionals are ideally skilled and trained to deliver training in, and development of, these skills.
Katy was Project Manager for the Study Methods and Information Literacy Exemplars blended learning project at University of Worcester, part of the JISC RePRODUCE programme. She is currently completing a consultancy with Glasgow Caledonian University on SMILE.
She believes there is a growing need for advocacy and a strong unifying presence on behalf of a varied and diverse profession and wants that to be CILIP. For that reason she decided to stand for Council.
Katy’s other interest include motorcycling, photography (http://www.flickr.com/photos/smilylibrarian) and social media (http://twitter.com/smilylibrarian).
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(to serve until 31 December 2011)
Postnominals
BA MBA FSA(Scot) HonFCLIP
Biography
Bruce Royan has worked in Public, Academic, National, and Government Libraries and is now a Principal Consultant at Concurrent Computing Ltd, whose clients have included Cumbria Libraries, the British Council, Tate Galleries, the Department of Health and the BBC.
He has served as University Librarian and Director of Information Services at the University of Stirling, and Interim Director of Knowledge and Information at Robert Gordon University.
His earlier career in Librarianship and Information Technology has included British Telecom, the London Borough of Camden, The British Library, the National Library of Scotland, the Department of Trade and Industry, and as founding Director of the Singapore Library Network (SILAS).
Outside Singapore, he may be best known for founding SCRAN, a networked multimedia learning resource base of millions of objects, digitised from libraries, museums, archives and the built heritage, and licensed for educational use.
Bruce has provided library networking consultancy to clients in Japan, Hungary, the Czech Republic and the Philippines, and has lectured on library management issues in 40 countries across 6 continents.
He has served on the boards of several educational charities, as well as the Councils of the Library Association of Singapore, the Institute of Information Scientists, and the Library Association. He was Chair of the LA IT Group for several years, facilitating its evolution into MMIT.
Bruce has been awarded the Royal Charter Centenary Medal and the Jason Farradane Award, and is an Honorary Fellow of CILIP. He serves on the Art Libraries Standing Committee of IFLA and is Chairman of the Coordinating Council of Audiovisual Archives Associations and Visiting Professor in the School of Creative Industries, Napier University.
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