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February 2005 |
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I'm starting this month in an unusual, but not unprecedented, manner with an article which would normally go into the main body of the newsletter.
Commenting on the news that the Connexions service may be wound up in its current form if proposals included in the Youth Green Paper are accepted, Carolyn Caldwell, Executive Director of the National Association of Connexions Partnerships, said she was shocked by reports in the press and has found it difficult to get any official view on what will be in the Green Paper. She said: "If they are seriously thinking of dismantling Connexions and running careers advice and guidance, we don't know any organisations that think it is a good idea. Young people want an impartial service that is holistic and not stigmatising. That is the whole point about Connexions – that is what it was set up to do." Elsewhere, John Dunford, general secretary of the Secondary Heads Association, said that Connexions was "doing a good job" with disaffected young people. He called for the current service, including staff, to be transferred to the Children's Trusts so that this work could continue. He also called for the funding for careers advice to go to schools and colleges so they could buy independent careers guidance from outside and provide careers education in schools.
Joy Ogden, Zero2Nineteen bulletin 8 February
I can only echo Carolyn Caldwell's "found it difficult to find out anything" – despite my twenty-two years in what is now the Department for Education and Skills.
I have managed to retain a number of friendly contacts with staff who didn't join the escape committee – and with several who did – but no-one is talking on this topic except to deny any knowledge of the original leak and to say that "the report will be published shortly". If shortly means on 12 March which is the date that has been suggested in the press then we'll know soon enough. If, however, the government (the DfES?) does what some suspect may be the case and delays for a couple of weeks we'll be into official pre-election mode and nothing gets published until after the new administration is installed. Judging by last time it will then be six months, even the administration is of the same political complexion, before anything happens.
If you missed the fact that the Education White Paper has been published by the government then you must have been living on a desert island – or not reading newspapers, watching television news, or getting news over the internet. The fact that several of the issues only affect England has not stopped the broadsheets in the other three countries of the UK commenting – mainly in a dismissive fashion. Mike Tomlinson is said to be "somewhat upset" – if it was me then "downright furious" would be nearer the truth but maybe he's more sanguine about having his advice ignored.
ADSET's wonderful proof reader put a question mark after the acronym RFID and indicated that it should be spelt out. There was no space on page 24 to do that – and anyway you all know that it's "Radio Frequency IDentification", don't you?
A survey in the USA has found that 78% of 1,000 individuals receive spam daily, 14% of those open it, and 4% actually buy something. If my arithmetic is correct then 109 supposedly mature people are, in my opinion, barmy and as for the 31 who actually support spam by making a purchase they must be round the bend. "Round the bend" is, perhaps, a polite way of saying "worse than barmy" and comes from the fact that the Victorians, when building institutions in which to house "the mad", curved the drive so that they were literally "round the bend".
Hazel Edmunds, Editor
The main points of the White Paper are:
The Guardian 23 February
Full paper (PDF 96pp): http://tinyurl.com/3t54q
Responding to the government's White Paper on the reform of education for 14-19-year-olds, TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said: "While it is disappointing that the Tomlinson proposals have not been fully adopted, the White Paper does at least lay the foundation for an improved vocational approach, which represents a real challenge for business. For years employers have been complaining that school-leavers of all ages lack the vital skills to succeed in the workplace. They will now have a much greater role to play, especially in providing a wider range of work placements for young people, and they must prove that they can deliver and make real improvements in areas they have been criticising for so long."
TUC press release 23 February
Skillset welcomes the government's 14-19 White Paper on the future of secondary education and the central role given to Sector Skills Councils in the development of a new breed of specialist Diplomas. These Diplomas aim to more suitably prepare students for the world of work by involving employers directly in curriculum and qualification design.
Skillset press release 23 February
Update comment: We'd better hope that "employer involvement" isn't just so much lip service then, hadn't we?
Phil Willis, Liberal Democrat Shadow Education Secretary, has said that the government had "failed at the first hurdle" in reforming 14-19 education. He said: "To undermine the integrity of the diploma for some ill-conceived electoral advantage is a betrayal of students, employers, and the country. For decades our education system has delivered `education for the best and skills for the rest'. As a consequence our skills base lags behind our major industrial competitors. Tomlinson has proposed a diploma framework that is supported by universities and employers. It would make unprecedented demands on our brightest students, whilst providing unrivalled incentives for those who are not as academically gifted. This should not be a narrow debate about the retention of A-levels. We should be talking about providing qualifications that reflect the country's need for skills at all levels."
politics.co.uk 23 February
Tim Collins, Shadow Education Secretary, has said that the White Paper on 14-19 education reform amounted to nothing more than a "vague promise" to re-visit the issue of examination reform in 2008. And it did nothing to address the urgency of the situation for many parents, teachers and children. Mr Collins said: "For several days Ruth Kelly has been hinting at radicalism to restore the rigour and integrity of the A-level after eight years of blind indifference. Today she offered precisely nothing except a vague promise to look at the problem again in 2008." He added that the Conservatives would ensure that GCSEs and A-levels are demanding by "ring-fencing the top grades and raising pass marks".
politics.co.uk 23 February
Cambridge University's Director of Admissions has called for the government to adopt the recommendations of the Tomlinson report and abolish A-levels and GCSEs. Geoff Parks argued that the current education system is in dire need of an overhaul, revealing that Cambridge had been forced to turn down more than 5,300 straight-A students last year. Mr Parks said that A-levels no longer help universities sort the wheat from the chaff, as they do not stretch the brightest of pupils, nor differentiate between the good and the brilliant. Mr Parks said: "We'd like the government to hold its nerve and implement the proposals rather than cherry-picking."
Polly Curtis, Education Correspondent, The Guardian 21 February
Update comment: Well, we now know the answer!
The CBI said that basic skills must be at the heart of the UK's education system and called for an end to pupils leaving school unable to read, write and add up. The business community regards poor literacy and numeracy levels as the current education system's greatest failing. Today's Education White Paper responds to last October's Tomlinson report, which proposed a major shake-up of UK qualifications. But the CBI has not been convinced by calls for radical reform. Director-General Sir Digby Jones said: "I'm delighted that A-levels and GCSEs are here to stay. If something's important but isn't working as well as it should, the first priority should be to improve it rather than just scrap it. This is what the government has decided to do with existing qualifications and I applaud them for it. Firms know and understand A-levels and GCSEs and are more concerned with what qualifications offer pupils than what they are called. Business wants higher standards, not dramatically different structures. Proposals for radical qualification reform threatened to divert resources, attention and political will from tackling poor basic skills."
CBI News release 23 February
Higher and further education leaders are united in their criticism of the government for "wasting the opportunity to reform 16-to-19 education". John Brennan, Chief Executive of the Association of Colleges, said: "The White Paper is a wasted opportunity. The government has once again underlined its commitment to academic above vocational education. The `radical transformation' of vocational education of which the Secretary of State talks fails to create a system that values the achievements of all our young people, especially those in the local colleges who cater for two out of three 16-to-19-year-olds in learning." Chris Humphries, Director-General of City and Guilds, described the decision as "a retrograde and damaging step". He said: "There has been a growing consensus that a system that only produces success for 50% of students – as GCSEs do – cannot be adequate in a competitive and economically inclusive society. … Every other country in the world that used to offer the British A-level system has changed to one that expects greater breadth and choice for all its young people – the UK needs to ask why it should remain the exception."
Alison Goddard, The THES 25 February
In an article for The Guardian (22 February), Peter Kingston discusses the proposals for a vocational diploma, which the government is reported to be considering making available alongside GCSEs and A-levels. He tells us that the rumblings from government suggest that such a diploma is intended to match GCSE/A-level provision, and will be offered to young people as an alternative to "academic" studies. Mr Kingston believes further education colleges are ideally placed to offer the vocational route in a dual educational system of this kind. He warns, however, that colleges need to stand up and be counted, as rumours abound that OfSTED will call for the government to establish vocational schools, as the FE sector is "inadequately funded and too focused on older students". Mr Kingston argues that, while obvious issues, such as the funding gap, remain, colleges should regard the proposals as "a call to arms", adopting a more pragmatic approach to change, rather than railing against it.
Full article: http://tinyurl.com/49f8v
The Learning and Skills Council has welcomed the launch of the 14-19 White Paper and the central role it gives the LSC but stressed that it will be concentrating on ensuring 100% support and access to learning opportunities for 100% of the country's young people. Caroline Neville, National Director of Learning, LSC, said: "A key challenge will be to ensure that the proposed specialised diplomas are – and are acknowledged to be – of equal status and rigour as GCSEs and A-levels. We believe that challenge must be met. We will meet that challenge. We will drive the 14-19 agenda, working with local authorities, the DfES, and with schools, colleges and training providers, and we will very quickly begin to see a positive impact on the achievements and aspirations of young people." The LSC has four key priorities for young people in 2005-06, and these are:
LSC press release 23 February
Teachers and college heads issued "a chorus of disappointment" over the government's White Paper on education reform. They described the response as "a missed opportunity to improve education for 14 to 19-year-olds by rejecting proposals to scrap GCSEs and A-levels". Comments include:
Steve Sinnott, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers
John Dunford, the general secretary of the Secondary Heads Association
David Bell, the head of the schools' watchdog, OfSTED
Elsewhere, industry leaders welcomed both the retention of GCSEs and A-levels, and the news that A-levels are to be made more difficult. Miles Templeman, Director General of the Institute of Directors, echoed this opinion, and added: "The government is right to reject the Tomlinson proposals for a diploma to replace existing qualifications such as GCSEs and A-levels. Rather than initiating an upheaval in the qualification system we need better standards and results in schools. In particular, businesses expect pupils leaving school to be literate and numerate."
Polly Curtis, Education Correspondent, The Guardian 23 February
Chancellor Gordon Brown has announced plans to offer to help fund "gap years" for poorer students as part of the creation of a new national volunteer corps. Students will be offered reductions in their tuition fees and, in some cases, cash payments to spend a year volunteering. A pilot scheme which operated last year gave students £45 a week, and a £750 completion bonus. Mr Brown indicated that he is keen to extend this scheme across the country.
Francis Elliott and Andy McSmith, The Independent 20 February
The government's White Paper on secondary education, written in response to the Tomlinson report, is to recommend that the brightest A-level students start university courses whilst still at school. Education secretary Ruth Kelly said that high achievers will be encouraged to study modules for university courses in addition to conventional sixth-form studies. The modules will count towards a degree once the pupil is enroled at university. Ms Kelly's decision has received support from headteachers. John Dunford, general secretary of the Secondary Heads Association, commented: "Headteachers see it as an excellent way of meeting the needs of the brightest children, especially in maths and science. For very bright children the examination syllabus is not, and should not be, the whole of their education, and teachers look for both greater breadth and depth in their studies."
The White Paper is due out at the end of February
Richard Garner, Education Editor, Independent on Sunday 6 February
Paul Furlong
The Bologna process has attracted considerable attention and some misunderstanding. This article describes the development of the reform process since 1998, considers how it has been agreed and implemented and seeks to explain Bologna in the context of wider European Union responses to global issues of competitiveness and free trade. The article argues that the significance of Bologna lies not only in the reforms agreed and implemented, but also in the justification it provides for varying national adaptations in major states. These adaptations are driving a broader process of change amongst a large number of signatories, whose capacity to affect the detail of the reform is limited. The article identifies and analyses UK policy, and draws some conclusions about the implications of the process for the teaching of politics in UK universities.
Politics Volume 25 Issue 1 (February 2005)
Students who qualified for the new weekly Education Maintenance Allowance payment (EMA), and stayed on in education after age 16 last term, will receive their first £100 cash bonus. The bonus is one of a series which students will receive for performance and good attendance as agreed with their college. The bonus follows a student's return after their first term and is one of a series they will receive.
Skills and Education Network Newsletter (February 2005)
Leon Feinstein and Ricardo Sabates
Centre for Research on the Wider Benefits of Learning
Brief number: RCB01-05
January 2005
The paper utilises the variation introduced by the piloting of the EMA programme to estimate wider impacts of education in terms of reduced juvenile crime. The EMA programme was piloted in some LEAs in England, creating a quasi-experimental setting. It is possible to evaluate changes in crime before and after the introduction of the programme between areas where it was implemented and other areas of the country. Key findings include:
To obtain this report, visit the website www.learningbenefits.net, where it can either be downloaded free of charge or ordered in hard copy.
Copies of this research brief are available free of charge from DfES publications, PO Box 5050, Sherwood Park, Annesley, Nottingham NG15 ODJ; tel: 0845 602 2260
DfES research briefs and Research Reports can also be accessed at www.dfes.gov.uk/research
A new report from the Equal Opportunities Commission in Scotland (EOCS) warns that "endemic sex segregation" in Modern Apprenticeships could be damaging to the Scottish economy. The report argues that most young people are still faced with stereotyped choices when it comes to choosing a career. Findings include:
EOCS recommends that the Scottish Executive should take "urgent action" to address the problem which it claims poses a threat to Scottish productivity.
Calum MacDonald, The Scottish Herald 21 February
"Supposing a tree fell down, Pooh, when we were underneath it?"
"Supposing it didn't," said Pooh.
After careful thought Piglet was comforted by this.
A A Milne
The Learning and Skills Council (LSC) is turning words into action by raising the skills of England's young people and adults to world-class standards. Today it highlighted ten of its ground-breaking achievements detailed in its Annual Report and Accounts 2003-2004. In leading the learning and skills sector, the LSC has:
Chris Banks, Chair of the Learning and Skills Council, said: "Although these are all good achievements, we still have a huge task ahead of us. Our budget has greatly increased over recent years, but so too has the number of people whose education and training we fund. This means that resources are limited and we have to be absolutely clear about what is most important for the economy. … We need to build on the progress made so far. We will lead the learning and skills sector in achieving what is nothing short of a total transformation in outcomes for individuals, employers and the productivity of the country. Nothing less will do."
LSC press release 4 February
A survey conducted by Glasgow City Council reveals that almost 40% of former pupils from a number of its schools failed to find work or further education when they left. This is more than three times the national average. In addition, around 20% of the city's teenagers were unemployed four months after leaving school. The national average is 13%.
Stephen Stewart, The Scottish Herald 2 February
In an article for The Guardian (8 February), Peter Kingston examines the case for increasing spending on adult education and training to cater for an ageing workforce. Mr Kingston highlights a number of research papers which all suggest that more needs to be done to support older people in the workplace. The Institute for Employment Research argues that the British economy will gain 2.1 million jobs over the next few years. It will need some 13.5 million new workers to fill both these positions and those vacated through retirement, sickness, death or other reason. However, a report from NIACE (the National Institution for Adult and Continuing Education) suggests that just a third of these workers will come from "indigenous young entrants to the national workforce". Alan Tuckett, NIACE's Director, says that there are few realistic fields that the remainder can be drawn from. The proportion of women in the workforce could expand further; immigration could increase; or older workers could be retrained or persuaded not to retire. He argues that, with regard to older workers, the issue of upskilling is "just as important as pension discussions". This is an opinion that is shared by the OECD, which has recently launched a research programme – the International Assessment of Adult Skills – to try to establish, among other things, the feasibility of shifting the balance of education funding towards adults. Raymond Torres, Head of Employment Analysis at the OECD, explained that recent research has found that one year's additional schooling for young people adds an average 6% per capita to a nation's gross domestic product. "We would now hope to be able to say whether a country with a finite education budget should put more of this into initial or adult education," he said.
Full article: http://tinyurl.com/6njsh
Olivier Blanchard, The Class of 1941 Professor of Economics at MIT and Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research
Some Conclusions
"I have argued that Europe's economy has done better than is often perceived; that things are nevertheless far from perfect, and Europe suffers from inefficient regulation; that there is a reform process at work, driven by deregulation in financial and product markets; that this forces reforms in the labour market, although not without tensions; and that Europe may be converging to a more efficient European model rather than to a US model." Mr Blanchard goes on to explain that there are, despite his more upbeat diagnosis than many have presented recently, a number of challenges which must be faced – not least of which is the old-age dependency ratio which is already higher in Europe than in the United States with the differential increasing.
The Journal of Economic Perspectives (Fall 2004)
The "comment" column in Education Journal (Issue 81 2004-9) picks up on two famous people named Charles. One, the Prince of Wales, likely to remain famous – the other, Charles Clarke, Secretary of State for Education, will be forgotten in a generation (and is, as you read this article, no longer Education Secretary). The point that was being made was that both these men rely for their public pronouncements on advisers. In the case of the heir to the throne these advisers are said to include Chris Woodhead. You would think, however, that the civil servants at the DfES would be advising their Secretary of State. Far more likely, says "comment", that policy is being made by pollsters and public opinion gurus in the Public Services Unit in Downing Street. "So the key concepts – at least until May – are family aspiration, diversity in delivery, responsiveness to needs, and opportunities for all to achieve." All very well, but the current policies in education, if continued to 2012 (that's only seven years away), will produce only half the flow of technicians and craftsmen the economy needs. Chris Humphries said, in a lecture to the Guild of Educators, that present spending priorities will produce thousands of unemployed graduates and 500,000 too few plumbers, engineers and hospital orderlies. So we will need to retrain older workers – but there's no money for that and so we go round the circle again.
The RSA has recently initiated a project to investigate whether the UK education system is effective at imbuing people with the skills they need to be successful in the modern world. The Visions of a Capable Society project has been developed in collaboration with Professor Sir Graham Hills.
For more information or to contribute suggestions or comments visit www.thersa.org/projects/visions_of_capable_society.asp
The RSA Journal February 2005
In the second part of an essay written for the RSA Journal (January 2005), Professor Sir Graham Hills argues that we must "free education from centuries of tradition and teach our children capability from nursery through to college and university". He highlights an RSA report that was written almost twenty years ago which pressed for radical changes to the way in which children access and participate in education. Education for Capability called for an holistic attitude to learning, focusing on what people can do as opposed to what they know. Sir Graham notes that the report has "gathered dust", even though the need for change remains. Sir Graham challenges the wisdom of current practices, and the way in which they "lock" schools into uniform patterns.
Full article (PDF 2pp) www.thersa.org/acrobat/hills.pdf
In an article for the BMJ website, Dr Raj Persaud examines the stress that relocating as a result of employment changes can have on doctors, and offers advice on how to minimise the impact of job relocation. While the article is directed at doctors and other health professionals, the advice offered can be applied universally. Tips on "how to relocate without losing your mind" include:
BMJ Career Focus 29 January
Full article: http://tinyurl.com/3kxca
The Equal Opportunities Commission's submission to a Commons Trade and Industry Select Committee investigation into the pay gap between men and women has highlighted a 40% pay gap between the sexes in part-time work, and an 18% gap for full-time workers. EOC Chief Executive Caroline Slocock argued that a significant contributory factor was the "inadequate" careers advice offered to girls while they are at school. Ms Slocock said that the advice given was gender biased, and presented "an inaccurate or out-of-date image" of the role of women in the workplace. Moreover, she argued that many girls express interests in non-traditional fields, but were not given enough help from careers advisers.
Jonathan Moules, The Financial Times 3 February
People in the UK can enter a competition to work in their "dream job" for a day. The competition is being run by the Campaign for Learning as an activity for Learning at Work Day on 26 May 2005. Entries must be in by 31 March, with the winner being selected in April.
Info@UK Issue 47 (February 2005)
The topic of an IAEVG conference in September 2004 was Guidance and Social Inclusion. In his keynote speech, Peter Plant, Vice-President of IAEVG, highlighted the potential roles of guidance in combating social exclusion. He suggested that there are three main "types" of social exclusion – economic, moral and cultural – and that guidance has a distinct role to play in each sphere. However, he warned that, for guidance to have a significant impact on social exclusion, it must change the way in which it operates. He said: "If in fact guidance is to counteract social exclusion, it needs to come out of the conventional boxes in which most guidance activities are caged, for example the bureaucratic settings of which guidance is an integral part. It is surprising how much guidance is based on the assumption that people will come voluntarily to the office. This may well be the case, but will this kind of guidance reach out to the marginalised? Hardly."
IAEVG Newsletter Number 51 (February 2005)
The speech is available in full in the Newsletter (PDF 6pp) http://tinyurl.com/464c9
Update comment: An interesting speech. Mr Plant makes some rather controversial points about the nature of social exclusion. Worth a read, even if only to say "I can't believe he just said that!" Dawn
Britain lags behind mainland Europe in helping families on low incomes to afford holidays, according to new research by the Family Holiday Association (FHA). The research revealed that around 25% of the British population does not take an annual holiday, largely because of low income, long-term illness, disability and family break-up. It noted practice in other European countries, in which governments sponsor "social tourism" schemes to provide and promote affordable holidays and recreation.
Liza Ramrayka, The Guardian 8 February
The government must not forget about the needs of the homeless when it considers how to get people back to work, writes Shaks Ghosh (The Guardian 3 February). Ms Ghosh, the Chief Executive of the homelessness charity Crisis, says: "In any programme to find and help people back into work we urge the government to recognise the significant needs of homeless people and to work with us. It is the voluntary sector that often works with the most vulnerable people. Our daily lives are taken up with direct contact that provides us with the experience of what will and will not work. By working in partnership with voluntary organisations the government will ensure that moves to put people back into work are sustainable in the long term."
Crisis: www.crisis.org.uk
Young people leaving care are still not being adequately provided for by the government, new research shows. In his book, Improving the health and well-being of young people leaving care, Professor Bob Broad of De Montfort University examines the promises that had been made by the government in the Children (Leaving Care) Act 2000. Professor Broad found that, while there have been some improvements, such as a renewed focus on vocational training and the introduction of EMAs, support services for care-leavers remain "hit and miss". He is highly critical of "useless target-setting", and accuses the government of spending too much time on attempting to have 70% of care-leavers gain at least one GCSE at grade C or above – a target which still has not been met. He also accuses the government of "penny-pinching" by ignoring the evidence which showed that a £40 EMA would get far more young adults back into education than the current £30. Professor Broad said: "For the sake of £10 a week the government is prepared to shortchange the most vulnerable members of society. It's always lecturing people on their responsibilities as parents, but for those in care it is itself the substitute parent. And it's letting them down. Many kids are staying at home until well into their 20s, but the government is kicking its children out into the world at 18 and failing to provide adequately for them."
John Crace, The Guardian 1 February
Improving The Health And Well-Being Of Young People
Leaving Care (ISBN: 1-903855-62-4 price £17.95) is published by
Russell House Publishing Limited, 4 St George's House, Uplyme Road Business
Park, Lyme Regis, Dorset DT7 3LS
tel: 01297 443948
email:
webhelp@russellhouse.co.uk
The number of firms finding it hard to recruit skilled workers has risen by 50% in a decade, according to a survey conducted by the British Chambers of Commerce. The survey found that 43% of employers report having difficulty finding suitable staff, compare with just 29% in 1994. Director General David Frost said employers were "frustrated" at young people "not equipped" with skills. Mr Frost said: "The system is simply not providing potential employees with the right skills for business and our figures show it has been failing for many years. The skills of our workforce are already lagging behind many of our global competitors. The government must implement lasting reform in its proposals next week or our competitive edge could be seriously harmed. Businesses cannot wait any longer."
BBC Online 15 February
A package of support to help lone parents move into jobs and ensure work pays was announced today (2 February) by Work and Pensions Secretary Alan Johnson, as new figures show the lone parent employment rate at its highest ever level. Pathways to Work for Lone Parents will give more choice and more help than ever before to lone parents to enable them to move off welfare and into work. The new pilots, announced in the Department for Work and Pensions Five Year Strategy, bring together extra support and childcare help with added financial incentives to look for and move into work. The new measures will ensure a clear gain from work for lone parents, as well as guarantees about childcare support and ongoing help of professional job advisers, in return for a commitment to search for and take up the offer of work. Pathways to Work for Lone Parents will pilot an additional payment of £20, on top of existing benefits, for lone parents with children at secondary school, in return for taking steps to find work.
DWP press release 2 February Client ref EMP2510-NDLP
The editorial in t magazine (February 2005) focuses on the launch of the Adult Learning Inspectorate (ALI) Chief Inspector's annual report. It argues that, while there are positive noises emerging from government with regard to adult learning provision, there is still a gulf between ministerial understanding and practitioner experience. It reads: "The Chief Inspector's commentary has a repeated theme – We are not there yet – and the same refrain was taken up in their speeches both by the ALI Chairman, Richard Handover, and Kim Howells, Minister of State for Lifelong Learning, Further and Higher Education (and possibly Lord High Executioner as well). The Chairman – was he perhaps a chemist once? – said at the start of his speech that the ALI has `a formula that works' (subtext to the Minister: so don't mess about with it), and at the end that we should be able to `do more with less' by applying a new formula, self assessment and inspection, in cycle 2 inspections. The Chief nailed his colours to the mast, as chiefs should, adding that although results this year were `decisively better' than last, a third of inadequate providers is not good enough and the target for the next three years is to get down to a 15% inadequacy rate. The Minister, as ministers can, topped it all by saying that he didn't see why he (by which he presumably meant we) should continue to pay for any inadequate provision at all. So we are not there yet."
A significant proportion of the population has low levels of basic skills, and improving these is socially and economically vital. Studies have demonstrated a link between poor basic skills and social and financial exclusion as well as crime and unemployment. Several New Deal for Communities partnerships have set up projects that address this issue. These areas tend to have high levels of unemployment and economic inactivity, and a relatively high proportion of people with poor literacy and numeracy skills. The three projects examined here vary in their approaches to improving basic skills, but all of them build basic skills training into other courses, and all of them rely heavily on local outreach work to recruit learners.
Renewal.net email update 11 February
Full document: http://tinyurl.com/4s2t4
The BBC has released details of a major new campaign which will launch in October this year. Called RaW (Reading and Writing: read more, write better), the campaign is aimed at improving the literacy skills of the nation. It will be directed at intermediate readers in the UK aged between 25 and 54, and will offer "tailored steps to learning that will engage the passions and interests of its audience and, by doing so, inspire and motivate them to read and write more". The BBC will collaborate with other groups, including libraries and national literacy organisations, and would like to alert people to its RaW Stories project which will be running from April to July as a forerunner to the RaW campaign. The BBC is keen to hear from organisations that can host practical workshops for adults aged 25-54, designed to build confidence in communication and self-expression through telling stories. Workshops will be offered free of charge and there will be an opportunity for some participants to develop their work for broadcast.
Interested community venues and groups which might want to take part should send an email to: literacy@bbc.co.uk
Vital Link Issue 4 (February 2005)
The Institute of Directors is to lobby the government to recruit more teachers and reduce classroom sizes to improve education standards. Miles Templeman, Director General of the IoD, said levels of literacy and numeracy among school-leavers has to improve to ensure that British companies are able to recruit good staff and remain competitive. The IoD is also urging the government to abandon its expansion plans for higher education. Mr Templeman described the 50% "aim" as "unrealistic" and called for an increase in the number of people taking vocational courses instead.
Guy Dixon, Scotland on Sunday 6 February
Government plans to expand a pilot scheme to help people receiving Incapacity Benefit back into work announced in the Chancellor's Pre Budget Report received the support of the Disability Rights Commission today. Pathways to Work – a scheme offering mandatory work-focused interviews in conjunction with rehabilitative help and financial incentives – has produced impressive results in the seven areas of the country where it has been piloted. Initial data on the effectiveness of the pilot have found that:
Speaking after the release of the data Bert Massie, DRC Chairman, said: "We have always said that more disabled people would be able to work if they were given the support to do so. The success of the Pathways to Work pilot programme vindicates that opinion. I welcome the decision to extend the programme to other areas of the country and to continue them where they have already proven successful. The way forward is not to attack the social security benefits of those who need them but to support disabled people so they can achieve the economic and social independence that they aspire to."
DRC press release
Reacting to the DWP's five-year plan in which more detail has been given of the government's plans to reform Incapacity Benefit, TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said: "There has never been any disagreement that many people claiming Incapacity Benefit want to and could work. The dumping of large numbers on to IB in order to keep unemployment figures down was always a national disgrace. On the other hand many people claiming IB – such as the terminally ill – genuinely cannot work. Others face real barriers such as employer prejudice in successfully getting a job. It is right therefore that the government should reform IB so that those seeking work get more help to find work, and those who cannot work get more financial support. … But the government made a mistake in allowing the impression to gain ground that these reforms were about a crackdown, and needed to be tough to punish the workshy. This has caused real alarm among IB claimants, whose support is needed if positive measures are to work."
TUC press release 2 February
The Federation of Small Businesses has taken the Treasury to task over its failure to identify a timetable to the way in which Working Tax Credit is paid. Despite an announcement in last year's budget that the government would pay the tax credit through the Inland Revenue rather than employers, the FSB is disappointed that there is no date for the implementation of this change. Neil Hamper, FSB Tax Chair, said that administering benefits such as the Working Tax Credit and Statutory Maternity Pay places a huge burden on small businesses which, unlike most large firms, do not have separate payroll departments. He said: "At the last budget, the Chancellor said that he accepted the case for the Inland Revenue paying the Working Tax Credit directly to claimants. But almost one year on we still have no idea when this change will take place. The FSB is taking the Chancellor to task because the state, not employers, should pay benefits. Not only has the government let employers down by failing to act, it has also disappointed employees, many of whom object to their boss knowing personal details about them such as their family income."
HRLook Daily News 22 February
The £6.2 billion programme to build an integrated IT system for the NHS in England is in danger of catastrophic failure due to a collapse of confidence among the doctors who are supposed to use it, a poll by The Guardian of GPs and consultants has revealed. The poll found that the government has "squandered the support of clinicians" because it failed to consult them about the new system. Findings include:
Paul Cundy, Chairman of the GPs' committee on IT at the British Medical Association, commented: "It's increasingly difficult to remain optimistic about NPfIT (the National Programme for IT in the NHS), given the collapse of enthusiasm for it in the profession. It's fallen over a cliff edge."
John Carvel, Social Affairs Editor, The Guardian 8 February
American IT services company Electronic Data Systems (EDS) has reported improved end-of-year profits, boosted by new contracts with the Ministry of Defence and Barclays Bank. Mike Jordan, Chair and Chief Executive, said that EDS ended the year as a "fundamentally stronger" company. He said: "We are off to a solid start in 2005 while continuing to be disciplined in our approach to contract signings."
Joe Bolger Times Online 9 February
Update comment: Dawn's comment deleted. I (Hazel) didn't even make one in case you all thought we were waging a vendetta.
An application under the Freedom of Information Act has revealed that Whitehall has ordered four enquiries over the last three years into the finances of American computer services group EDS, one of the government's leading ICT contractors. Two of the investigations were requested by the Office of Government Commerce, the independent body that oversees government procurement and acts as a standards "watchdog" for government contracts. The OGC refused to publish the results of the enquiries, or any related correspondence, arguing that to do so may reveal trade secrets and would be a breach of confidence. Both EDS and the OGC maintain that the investigations were nothing more than routine checks on suppliers. However, the timing of the enquiries coincided with a period of financial difficulty for EDS.
Dominic O'Connell, Sunday Times 13 February
Former head of the Office of Government Commerce Sir Peter Gershon has told a parliamentary committee that, contrary to the impression often created by the media, the UK public sector is running successful IT projects. Giving evidence to the Public Administration Select Committee, Sir Peter said that, while large-scale failures make the most interesting stories for the media, there are many successful projects that are not given any attention at all. He highlighted the rollout of new technology in JobCentre Plus, Customs and Excise undertaking one of the most complex IT projects in the world, and the development of NHS Direct. He also argued that the success of the DWP project that enabled thousands of people to receive benefit payments into bank accounts was ignored. He said: "There are lots of IT success stories in government. It's just that we live in a country where the press basically only writes about failures and never writes about success. Success doesn't sell newspapers in this country."
Source, Kablenet
via ITProPortal Midweek Roundup 9 February
Commenting on the tendency of government IT projects to go disastrously wrong, Daniel Finkelstein (Times Online 9 February) argues that the system developers are in a "win-win" situation. If the system that they have designed does the job it was required to do, then they are conquering heroes. If it fails, then it is the fault of the end user, or the unrealistic demands of the purchaser, or the vague brief they were given. Mr Finkelstein wonders why it is that organisations that were paid in excess of £12 billion last year cannot make a decent fist of the job they have been given. As Mr Finkelstein offers by way of example: "Last week, when I was trying to file my tax return online, I found it almost impossible to log on. The day after the deadline expired, the Inland Revenue acknowledged the problem, extended the deadline and (to give it credit) apologised. But a spokesman added: `The moral is, don't leave it until the last minute to file your tax return.' Well, no. That is not the moral. The moral is that the Inland Revenue should buy a computer that works."
Update comment: Indeed.
Ian Watmore, head of the e-Government Unit, has staged the first meeting of the government's Chief Information Officer Council. The Council was formed as part of Mr Watmore's campaign to promote the role of CIOs in government. It aims to produce an IT strategy for government which will consist of:
Mr Watmore said: "We can't go on having another big story every few months about a failed IT project." The Council hopes to publish the strategy in November 2005.
Government Computing
Volume 19 Number 2 (February 2005)
Every council chief executive in England is set to receive a prospectus on 28 February for Government Connect, a new government-funded scheme which aims to join up computer networks between all areas of local government. Sub-projects within Government Connect will include secure email, online authentication, and mobile working.
Details will appear in March at www.localegov.gov.uk
E-Government Bulletin Issue 180 (18 February)
Children's minister Margaret Hodge has dismissed claims that a planned computerised database of details on every child in England could become another costly government IT failure. Speaking to the Commons Education and Skills Select Committee, Ms Hodge rejected a suggestion that the project could cost £1 billion as "absurd". She said that the cost of the scheme would be "in the very low hundreds of millions". She also assured the committee that she would not issue a contract until she was convinced the terms were appropriate.
Lucy Ward, The Guardian 10 February
Update comment: It's not the cost that many people are concerned about – it's the project itself and information security.
The European Commission has approved a new set of model contract Clauses for the transfer of personal data from the European Union to other countries. By incorporating the Clauses into a contract between the organisation exporting the data and the data importer, the parties can ensure adequate safeguards for data transfers as required under Directive 95/46/EC of the European Parliament on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data. The Directive prohibits the transfer of data to a country that does not have "adequate" levels of data protection embedded in its legal system. The Clauses will be available for use as of 1 April 2005.
Karin Retzer and Cynthia Rich, Morrison & Foerster LLP
via Mondaq newsletter 15 February
Full details at http://tinyurl.com/5ukko (requires registration)
A new register of UK institutions approved for visa applications by overseas students is having problems. The web-based register was developed by the DfES as a way of clamping down on bogus colleges. However, a number of students report that they have had their visas refused because genuine centres' addresses are not all listed in the register. This has been a particular problem for institutions which have multiple addresses for their component buildings.
BBC Online 4 February
Local authorities in England expect to meet the target to be 100% e-enabled by the end of this year, Local e-Government Minister Phil Hope announced today (3 February). Speaking at a National Projects EXPO 2005 event in London, the Minister also outlined that authorities expect to deliver £1.2 billion in efficiency savings by 2007/08 directly as a result of e-government investment. Additionally, councils were encouraged to utilise the Local e-Government National Projects, which can help councils deliver service improvements and efficiency benefits.
ODPM press release 3 February Client ref 029
The government has published the results of annual returns from local councils on "implementing electronic government". Local e-government minister Phil Hope has predicted that by 2006-07 efficiency savings from implementing e-government will outweigh what local authorities need to spend on implementing the technology to support it. However, before anyone waves a flag and cheers, Michael Cross (The Guardian 10 February) takes a look at the small print. He writes: "In 2006-07, councils will be running e-government at a profit only in the sense that British Airways ran Concorde at a profit: the balance sheet ignores millions of pounds spent upfront on hardware and software. Also, not every local authority will be in profit by that year. Finally, not all the efficiency savings will be `cash releasing' – in other words, council tax bills will not necessarily fall as a result."
Ah yes, the website of conflicting reports. Is it a disaster that should never have had public money invested in it, or will we all soon be wondering how we ever managed without it? In the interests of fairness and balance, I have been and had a bit of a play on this site and I have come to the conclusion that … it's great! I'm sure that it will have its fair share of teething troubles, but it got me from my front door to my local shops on foot, my brother's house by bus (and foot) and London by train (and bus and foot). It even got me to my mother-in-law's house by car, but I shall forgive it for that. All in all, this has the potential to be an extremely useful tool.
URL: www.transportdirect.info/TransportDirect/en/
Internet Resources Newsletter Issue 125 February 2005
Management Today, in its regular column on the use of words in business parlance, picks "to liaise". Once used only in military parlance to liaise has come to mean a bit more than working with. You can liaise with anyone, but beware – suggest a liaison and sexual harassment rears its head.
Football should be regarded as an equal art form to opera and ballet, according to the newly appointed chair of the Scottish Arts Council. In his first statement since the appointment, Dr Richard Holloway criticised the "snobbish" attitudes that he believes pervade Scottish arts, saying that they were divisive and contributed to social exclusion. Dr Holloway insisted that sports such as football should be embraced as being part of artistic culture. He said: "Anything that we do for the love and beauty of it is an art. I think we need to get away from this name-calling approach and celebrate the fact that Scotland is enormously rich in its responses to life, which is what art should be. The word art produces a lot of snobbish reactions in people. Almost everything can be art, from football to high opera."
Martyn McLaughlin, The Scottish Herald 14 February
Funding of £1.3 million to help boost the Dumfries and Galloway economy was announced today (7 February). The funding – which is part of a wider £8 million investment package – aims to help regenerate the communities of Gretna, Lockerbie and Annan. It forms part of an ambitious five-year action plan designed to attract industry to the area following the forthcoming closure of the Chapelcross nuclear power plant.
For further information about the Gretna, Lockerbie, Annan Economic Regeneration Plan, contact Bill Shaw on 01592 643200.
Scottish Executive press release 7 February
The Guardian newspaper is to write to the Information Commissioner seeking clarification about the remit of the Freedom of Information Act. The Guardian is concerned about the Ministry of Defence's refusal to supply a copy of the staff directory for the department's arms sales unit, DESO (the Defence Exports Services Organisation). The MoD said that handing over this information would break the law in three ways:
The directory, which contains around 600 names, is available to commercial arms companies and banks who opt to receive DESO's publications. The Guardian is to ask Richard Thomas to investigate whether it is permissible to withhold public officials' names, so diminishing the impact of the Act.
David Leigh, The Guardian 19 February
The DfES and the LSC have jointly commissioned an independent review into the future role of colleges in the FE sector. It is being conducted by Sir Andrew Foster, Deputy Chairman of the Royal Bank of Canada, and former Chief Executive of the Audit Commission for England and Wales. The review aims to identify the distinctive contribution colleges make to the learning and skills market. It will look at their long-term contribution to economic development and social inclusion and what more needs to happen to transform the sector in order to realise the vision set out in the DfES's Five Year Strategy for Children and Learners. Sir Andrew is expected to report by Autumn 2005.
Further information and how to get involved with the review is at www.dfes.gov.uk/furthereducation
Success For All Newsletter Issue 14 (January 2005)
In an interview by Peter Kingston for The Guardian (22 February), Sir Andrew Foster, the man charged with conducting the first national independent survey of further education, seeks to reassure the sector that his brief is not to find ways of breaking it up and handing it over to the private sector. Sir Andrew insists that FE is "vital to the workforce", adding that the purpose of the survey is to "optimise what currently exists". He is keen to point out that the review will, indeed, be independent. He says: "I'm determined that it's going to be independent, objective, analytical and evidence-based. I don't have the Department for Education and Skills holding my arm up my back."
For more information, or to get involved in the review, visit www.dfes.gov.uk/furthereducation/fereview
Colleges should be judged by the public value they add to the social, cultural and economic life of the nation, says the Learning and Skills Development Agency (LSDA). The agency's paper, Public Value and Learning and Skills, suggests that colleges' "vital contribution" in these fields is as important as qualifications and performance targets. It argues that there needs to be "a closer fit between what people value about the services they receive and how the government measures their effectiveness".
Joe Clancy, TES FE Focus 11 February
Full paper: www.lsda.org.uk/files/pdf/PV_pamphlet.pdf
Sir Mike Tomlinson has warned the government that colleges and schools must be given the same amount of money per pupil if the 14-19 reforms are to work. While Sir Mike acknowledged that the planned reforms will take up to 10 years to come into effect, he argued that the current funding gap must be closed "as a matter of urgency". He said: "The previous Secretary of State made it quite clear that he wanted a 14-19 phase. Implicit in that idea is to have a level playing field of funding for all institutions in that phase of education. We don't have that playing field now."
Steve Hook, TES FE Focus 11 February
Lecturers in Scotland are calling for the right to academic freedom to be upheld in the law for all universities and colleges. The right to voice controversial or unpopular opinions was granted to academics at universities as part of the 1988 Education Reform Act. However, institutions that have gained university status since the bill came into force do not have the same rights and currently just eight universities are protected. The Educational Institute of Scotland and the Association of University Teachers (AUT) Scotland have called for the legislation to be amended to cover all universities and the further education sector.
Andrew Denholm, Education Correspondent, The Scottish Herald 22 February
The first "outstanding" grade for education and training provision for 14-19-year-olds has been awarded to the Knowsley area, Merseyside. A report published today (14 February) by education watchdog OfSTED and the Adult Learning Inspectorate highlights significant achievements made in transforming learning for young people in the area.
Knowsley's 16-19 inspection took place in summer 2000. The report was published at the end of March 2001. The 14-19 inspection took place in autumn 2003 with the report was published on 14 February 2004. Both reports can be accessed at www.ofsted.gov.uk/
DfES press release 14 February Client ref 2005/0020
A Basden, M E Burke
Documents as we encounter them in everyday life are complex and diverse things, whether on paper, computer disk or on the World Wide Web. They play many roles vis-à-vis human beings, and the humans engaged with them have diverse responsibilities that are not always easy to fulfil. Added to this is the issue of how a document or literary work can change and yet retain its identity, as found in maintenance, drafting and versioning [sic] of documents. This paper explores how the meaning-oriented philosophy of Herman Dooyeweerd may be used to understand the complex nature of documents, to throw light on the roles, responsibilities and culture surrounding them, and to tackle issues of identity and change.
Journal of Documentation Volume 60 Number 4 2004
An independent tariff comparison firm has accused BT of increasing prices by stealth. From 16 February 2005, "daytime" hours are being extended to include the previously off-peak spell from 06: 00 to 08: 00. While BT insists that the changes will have only "a minor impact on a vast majority of customers", uSwitch.com believes that more than three million customers will have to pay more for their calls from this date. Indeed, anyone making calls during this two-hour time period will face on average a 110% increase on current BT prices.
NFP Techno Issue 69 February 2005
The CBI is concerned that the EU may restrict companies' freedom to restructure, insisting that it would threaten many companies' long-term viability by undermining their ability to adapt to changing conditions. The employers' organisation fears the EU will resurrect damaging proposals which would mean firms could only make redundancies when they are on the verge of bankruptcy. The CBI argues that restructuring does not occur just as a result of financial crisis. It can, for example, be a means of creating a more entrepreneurial culture by reducing management or incorporating new technologies. It is specific to the company and not suited to one-size-fits-all legislation. Other proposals on the social policy agenda, announced today (8 February), could result in EU proposals to:
CBI press release 8 February
The government is set to allow workers over 65 to claim for redundancy payments if they lose their jobs. The Department of Trade and Industry's new policy will mean that workers over the age of 65 will be able to make redundancy claims in the same way as younger staff. However, details of the level of financial compensation have not been confirmed. The proposal is part of the government's drive to comply with the European Employment Directive, which prohibits age discrimination in employment and vocational training.
Michael Millar, Personnel Today 7 February
Delivering change is made even more of a challenge for public sector leaders by the political environment in which they work, said Lord Richard Wilson, CIPD President. Speaking at a CIPD event comparing the challenges facing leaders in the public and private sectors, Lord Wilson said that, while both the public and private sector must cope with change, it is only the public sector that has to cope under a political spotlight. He noted conflicts in the way that changes are perceived by the population, and the additional pressures this causes on public sector bodies. For example, wholesale redundancies in the private sector are regarded as "a bad thing" for the economy. In the public sector, not only is it considered a "good thing", it is generally communicated to the outside world via "deliberately engineered media coverage" and praised above all else. But Lord Wilson argues that it is still about people losing their jobs. He said: "The management of change and selection of jobs to be cut does not actually happen at the centre of Whitehall. It happens in hundreds of dispersed departments, agencies and local bodies. It has always been this way. Between 1979 and 1997 the civil service reduced in size from 746,000 to around 465,000 – a reduction in size of nearly 40%. But these dramatic changes took place over a long period and were not announced as such. They were managed progressively by the department in question with relatively little media coverage to unsettle the workforce."
CIPD press release 22 February
Schools Minister Stephen Twigg has welcomed OfSTED's confirmation in its annual report that the government has made significant progress in education in recent years. Mr Twigg also noted the following key points from the report:
The Ofsted Annual Report is at www.ofsted.gov.uk
DfES press release applies to England 2 February
Client ref 2005/0012
Update comment: I sat and seethed as I read, yet again, that "the government has achieved"! Schools and colleges may have achieved – or more likely the staff within them – but NOT the government.
The Department of Trade and Industry is to add intellectual property law to the list of new rules to be introduced on common commencement dates. The move follows industry calls to ease red tape by limiting the introduction of new regulations to two days of the year. These common commencement dates, on 6 April and 1 October, were launched in 2004 to cover all employment legislation. The announcement goes beyond Gordon Brown's pledge in December to add health and safety, work and pensions, consumer and company legislation to the list of rules. Stephen Alambritis, of the Federation of Small Businesses, welcomed the extension saying the dates offered practical benefits to small businesses and "provide a sense of certainty and stability".
Jonathan Moules, The Financial Times 11 February
The UK Patent Office has published a new guide on intellectual property (IP) in the UK, designed to give entrepreneurs the knowledge they need to start managing their intellectual property effectively. The guide has been published as part of the "What is the Key?" campaign, launched by the Patent Office, The Chartered Institute of Patent Agents and the Institute of Trade Mark Attorneys in June last year in an effort to encourage business owners to profit from their IP assets. The booklet, What is the Key? Your Guide to Intellectual Property, provides background on managing and exploiting intellectual assets. It also introduces business owners to simple IP audits, methods of monitoring and enforcing rights, research methods and handling IP at an international level. "Business owners need to be aware that they own intellectual property and how best to use it," said Lawrence Smith-Higgins, Head of Marketing at the Patent Office. "Like all assets, IP is worth looking after and we hope that this publication will go some way to making the subject clearer. It's not just an issue for high-tech businesses but for all enterprises."
OUT-LAW.COM 8 February
The use of the colour orange is at the centre of the dispute between new no-frills mobile company easyMobile and rival mobile operator Orange. Orange is suing the Stelios-owned company, claiming easyMobile is attempting to "pass itself off" as Orange and so infringing the company's trademark.
John Oates, The Register
ITProPortal Midweek Roundup 23 February
Update comment: I'm not sure that you can trademark a colour but surely their consumers are not so stupid as to confuse the company Orange with the orange colour used on all easy's company trademarks from easyJET onwards.
William Kingston
Intellectual property rights have been driven relentlessly towards a unitary system for the entire world, originally through passive copying of flawed United States arrangements, but more recently as a result of determined lobbying by American interests. But diversity and competition have the same beneficial potential for institutions themselves as they have for the economic development they can foster or hinder. A financial dimension in measuring grants, protecting innovation directly, compulsory technical arbitration of disputes, and some positive discrimination in favour of smaller firms could contribute to moving the balance back towards the diversity in rights that other countries need.
Prometheus Volume 23 Number 1 (March 2005)
The Copyright (Educational Establishments) Order 2005 (SI 2005/223) has been published, and comes into force on 1 April 2005. It lists the educational establishments which are able to take advantage of copyright exceptions such as the making of multiple copies for visually impaired persons or the lending of copies by educational establishments. The Order is also accompanied by an explanatory memorandum which claims that the list does not expand the definition of educational establishments.
Full details are at http://tinyurl.com/4pco2
A new report has called for a fresh look at legislation that covers copyright disputes on the internet, describing current intellectual property protection as "a square peg being rammed uneasily into the circular space of the internet". The report's author, Simon Moore, argues that much of the conflict is caused by the opposing views of established publishing houses and smaller, newer ventures. Whereas the large publishers believe internet publishing to be a simple extension of their print publishing, smaller publishers are more prepared to "take advantage of the opportunities offered by the web". Mr Moore also points out that UK law does little to protect small publishers from challenges by large organisations. Under current legislation, an ISP can revoke a contract with a customer following an allegation of copyright violation. The only recourse to this termination is to seek legal redress through the courts, something that many small ventures will be unable to afford. The report recommends the introduction of an independently-funded ombudsman to judge copyright infringement complaints, with the power to administer "ICANN-style fast, fair and cheap out-of-court resolutions".
Tony Kinner, ITProPortal
ITProPortal News Roundup 31 January
March of the Spiders - Policy Challenges for Copyright in the Digital Publishing Environment (PDF 52pp) is at www.itproportal.com/pdf/MarchOfTheSpiders.pdf
Emotive Alert is a voicemail system that can recognise callers' emotional state from their tone of voice. It can interpret: urgent/not urgent, formal/informal, happy/sad, and excited/calm. The messages are then labelled accordingly. Emotive Alert was designed by Zeynep Inanoglu and Ron Caneel from the Media Lab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA.
More at www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn6845
Info@UK Issue 47 (February 2005)
A growing number of computer scientists and psychologists are studying the problem of diminished attention caused by sitting in front of a computer screen. They believe that computers, and the internet in particular, exacerbate the human tendency to be distracted. In deference to people who suffer from clinically diagnosed attention deficit disorder, Harvard Medical School Professor John Ratey calls this phenomenon "pseudo-A.D.D". Professor Ratey argues that the internet has opened up so many possibilities for diversion that people are spoilt for choice. Whereas once, distracting oneself was achieved by "sharpening a half-dozen pencils or lighting a cigarette", people can now check and respond to email, chat using instant messenger, buy music, play games, book a holiday or any one of a host of other diversions. Computer scientists are attempting to find a way to rectify this phenomenon. They believe that by developing a particular type of user interface, distractions can be kept to a minimum. Unfortunately, it is too difficult for a computer to guess when an interruption can be a good thing, or when it will destroy the user's momentum.
Katie Hafner, New York Times
via Shelflife Number 194 (17 February)
Harry Potter author JK Rowling has warned fans to beware of an internet phishing scam claiming to sell electronic copies of her latest book, Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince. Ms Rowling said that the claim is entirely unfounded. "Please, please protect yourselves, your computers and your credit cards and do not fall for these scams," she said.
Washington Post 2 February
Update comment: Due for release on 16 July, if anyone is interested. Dawn
Dawn, If anyone is interested then they will already know this, and if not then they don't want to know! Hazel
A glossary of information security and computing terms and phrases. "Genuinely informative, with a certain amount of attitude."
URL: www.yourwindow.to/information-security/
Neat New Stuff 11 February
http://marylaine.com/neatnew.html
© Marylaine Block 1999-2005
The leading article in ASSIGNation (Volume 22 Number 2 (January 2005)), written by the editor, Heather Dawson, provides a selection of blogs for libraries and social science researchers. The US dictionary publishers Merriam-Webster Inc say that "blog" topped the "Top 10 Words of the Year" for 2004. The main impetus for this sudden rise is thought to be the large number of online logs associated with the presidential election but "blogging" is a growing trend. Ms Dawson says that immediacy and alternative voices are good points. However, the ease with which a blog can be set up encourages low quality and biased materials. Check your source, do your homework, ask questions. Actually the questions are not different from those you should (and we all do, don't we?) be asking of any source. Where does it come from? Who created it? Is the information current? Is this same information available in more than one place?
Voting is under way for the annual Bloggies which recognise the best web logs of the year. The nominations can be found online, and the winners will be announced some time between 13 and 15 March.
Source, BBC News
via ITProPortal Midweek Roundup 2 February
Update comment: I have been told by She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed that I am to stop being so scathing about blogs and start reading the decent ones. So my question is this. Can you, dear member, recommend a blog that you find interesting and informative? If you would send details of such rarities – sorry, such founts of wisdom – to the office, I would be very grateful. Please save me from the perils of having to search for them myself. Dawn
In an article for The Observer (6 February), John Naughton considers the battle between Microsoft and Google over who will be the dominant force for internet searching. The recent launch of Microsoft's MSN Search tool led to a media flurry in which the two organisations were presented as combatants in a gladiatorial punch-up. Mr Naughton believes that, while the bulk of coverage demonstrated Google's superiority over Microsoft, people would do well to remember that, like most search engines, Google is still "exceedingly primitive". He describes it as "a promethean idiot savant who can memorise a million pages a second and never forget a word – but who doesn't understand a single thing". Mr Naughton argues that, until a search engine can "do more than online fact-checking and retrieval", there will be little to distinguish between providers.
Full article: http://tinyurl.com/5w7qn
Yahoo has unveiled its Y!Q search tool that combs the internet for "contextually relevant" content based on what the user is reading. Users download a toolbar which they click on to generate a menu of alternative sources of information for whatever is on the page they were looking at. Alternatively, users can copy and past text into a searchbox on the Y!Q home page.
Dan Lee, Mercury News 3 February
URL: http://yq.search.yahoo.com/
A consultation paper issued by Bangor University states that as part of an effort to save itself from a "precarious" financial position, the university needs to axe subject librarian posts and remove a layer of library management. The paper states: "The support given to academic and student communities from qualified subject librarians, whatever its contribution to the teaching and research roles of the institution, is hard to justify in value-for-money terms at a time when the process of literature searches is substantially de-skilled by online bibliographical resources." The information management community has responded in disbelief. Many believe that this move will be the start of a slippery slope, with more universities opting to replace skilled librarians with lower-grade staff. CILIP Chief Executive Bob McKee said: "The consultation paper does not appear to take into account the modern mission of a university library service. It is taking a very old-fashioned view of a library as a book and document supply service, and ignores academic liaison and issues like widening participation. The suggestion that subject librarians are not needed and that Google can do it all is simply facile."
Tony Tysome, The THES 11 February
Recommended websites from Phil Bradley this month include:
Offers more than 10,000 out-of-copyright e-books. The e-books have been formatted to be read on a number of PDAs.
URL: www.manybooks.net
Enables users to enter the name of a favourite musical artist and search for recommendations of other musicians and bands that are similar.
URL: www.musicplasma.com
Enables users to upload photos to a webspace, creating a free online gallery. The photos can be made available to other users via a password system, and the owner of the photographs is released from having to purchase their own webspace.
URL: www.fotopic.net
Library and Information Update
Volume 4/1-2 (January-February 2005)
The International Children's Digital Library is a five-year project funded by the National Science Foundation and the Institute for Museum and Library Services in the USA to create a digital library of international children's books. It aims to create a collection of more than 10,000 books in at least 100 languages that is freely available via the internet to children, teachers, librarians, parents, and scholars throughout the world.
URL: www.icdlbooks.org/
Info@UK Newsletter mid February update
Update comment: WARNING! Do not go near this website unless you have time to spare – or detest children's books. I found it sheer delight looking at the Victorian illustrations in "Aesop's for Babies" and other wonders.
NHS Direct Interactive provides access to NHS accredited health information via interactive digital TV. Currently the service is only available to digital satellite viewers, but will be rolled out to other digital television platforms, such as Freeview and cable, during 2005. NHS Direct Online is also available on the web.
More information at www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/
Info@UK Issue 47 (February 2005)
Jackie Shane, a science librarian at the University of New Mexico, writes, in The CyberSkeptic's Guide to Internet Research (September 2004), that Wikipedia is "the best thing to hit the Net since Google". If you've not experienced this yet do please go and try – you'll be amazed.
URL: www.wikipedia.org
The Learning and Skills Council (LSC) has created a guide to help employers choose a suitable training provider. The guide provides employers with questions to ask and issues to consider when looking for training provision. There is also a search facility to help employers find providers in the right geographical and subject areas.
Employer/Goodtraining.htm
Skills and Education Network Newsletter February 2005
A new website has been launched allowing members of the public to send emails or faxes to MPs, councillors and other elected representatives free of charge. Users of Writetothem.com can type in their postcode to find details of their councillors, MPs, Members of the European Parliament, and Northern Irish, Welsh and London Assembly members, as appropriate. They then select who to write to, type their message into an online form, click and send, and the service emails or faxes the representative as appropriate.
E-Government Bulletin Issue 180 (18 February)
URL: www.writetothem.com
Despite soaring use of the internet, online politics is still "very much a minority sport", according to new ESRC-sponsored research showing that emails and websites have so far done little to bring us closer to our parliaments and politicians. In stark contrast with the upsurge of the internet, interest in politics in Britain remains flat, says the study, revealing that fewer than 2% of regular internet users have visited the personal websites of their MPs. The study found that numbers contacting Britain's legislative bodies over the internet are small and mainly existing political activists, already well-known in parliamentary circles. Findings include:
ESRC press release 24 February
England's school examination system was described as a "tragic waste of national resources" after it emerged that it cost schools £610 million in 2003/04 to run GCSEs and A-levels. The figure was calculated by the accountants PricewaterhouseCoopers for the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority. Commenting on the findings, John Dunford, General Secretary of the Secondary Heads Association, said: "Young people are subjected to far too many external examinations – many more than in other countries. Now we have official confirmation of the huge cost to the nation of the present system. This is a tragic waste of national resources, which could be put to far better use in school and college budgets." In response to accusations that the QCA itself had "vigorously led the path downhill", Ken Boston, the QCA Chief Executive, said the study demonstrated the "extreme complexity of the exam system in England and the large costs involved". He said that "a great deal of progress had been made already in the modernisation programme".
Matthew Taylor, Education Correspondent, The Guardian 14 February
Europass is a new initiative from the European Commission. It aims to make qualifications and competences clearly understood in order to facilitate mobility of employees for both occupational and lifelong learning purposes. Europass brings together several existing tools for the transparency of diplomas, certificates and competences. Helping citizens to better communicate and present their qualifications and skills throughout Europe, Europass will promote both occupational mobility, between countries as well as across sectors, and mobility for learning purposes. Europass consists of five documents, available in all official EU languages:
Europass CV – the CV is the backbone of the Europass portfolio. It is an improved version of the common European CV that was defined in the Recommendation of the Commission in March 2002 and which has already been downloaded more than 2 million times.
Europass Mobility – the purpose of Europass Mobility is to record in a common format experiences of transnational mobility for learning purposes, so that the achievements of such experiences are easier to communicate. It is filled in by the home and host organisations involved. It will replace Europass-Training, which has been in operation for five years and was issued to about 100,000 persons.
Europass Diploma Supplement – the diploma supplement is a personal document developed jointly with the Council of Europe and UNESCO which records the holder's educational record. It is provided by the same establishment that issues the diploma and should in principle be provided to all new higher education graduates from 2005.
Europass Certificate Supplement – this is a supplement to a vocational education and training certificate, clarifying the professional qualifications of all individuals holding such qualifications.
Europass Language Portfolio – the language portfolio is a document in which citizens can record their linguistic skills and cultural expertise. It was developed by the Council of Europe and is based on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages that is becoming the European standard to identify the level of language skills.
HRLook 4 January
More information is at http://europass.cedefop.eu.int
A dance association that registered more than 200 pupils for a bogus GCSE is to be investigated by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA). The QCA said that the GCSE in Dance offered by the International Dance Teachers' Association was "worthless", as the association had never been granted accreditation as an exam board.
Adi Bloom, The TES 25 February
The Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment (CCEA), Northern Ireland's examinations body, has launched a consultation on developing a new qualifications framework. The framework is intended to replace the present National Qualifications Framework, which includes over 4,000 qualifications offered by more than 100 awarding bodies. CCEA Chief Executive Gavin Boyd said that the new system will "make it easier for both learners and employers to understand and recognise the value of qualifications and their learning outcomes."
The consultation lasts until 29 April. Further information is on the CCEA website: www.rewardinglearning.com
Claire Regan, The Belfast Telegraph 8 February
Universities have been warned to clamp down on students who cheat because of fears that they are devaluing the status of British degrees. JISC, the Joint Information Systems Committee, has issued guidelines to all universities warning that plagiarism is likely to rise given the amount of easily accessed work on the internet and growing external pressure from the need to work part-time while studying.
Sarah Cassidy, Education Correspondent, The Independent 17 February
More than half of Britain's university academics have turned a blind eye to students they suspected of cheating, according to a paper due to be published later this year. Research by staff of University College London and Hertfordshire University found that 51% of tutors admitted they had taken no action when they feared their students were guilty of plagiarism or collusion. The study also revealed a wide gulf between what academics believe cheating to be, with up to a quarter regarding student collusion as "acceptable" practice. Collusion was taken to indicate that some effort was being made to learn, whereas plagiarism was widely regarded as unacceptable. However, both are cases of academic misconduct.
At Least They're Learning Something: The Hazy Line between Collaboration and Collusion will be published in April in the journal Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education
Phil Baty, The THES 18 February
In the Fourth Quarter 2004 issue of IPI Global Journalist (the magazine of the International Press Institute), there is a top ten listing of websites on plagiarism. Sites listed include:
Information Law Newsletter 71
E-learning company PrimeLearning has launched a new online training resource which is being rolled out across Ireland and the United Kingdom. Here2Learn.com offers accredited adult training across a range of subject areas, including IT, stress management, financial basics, and project management. Terry O'Brien, CEO, commented: "Our research indicates a gap in the adult learning market for those who do not have the time or resources to attend night school or whose employers have not subscribed to an online teaching resource. … A complete, fully accredited Here2Learn.com course costs around one-third of the price of an evening course or high street equivalent."
(Advertisement Feature) The Independent 23 February
Results from Cambridge Online Learning's (COL) 2004 Annual Training Survey reveal a major growth in blended learning (a mixture of face-to-face and online delivery) in management training within the UK. Of the 250 UK training buyers surveyed, 57% still prefer face-to-face while 42% expressed a preference for blended learning. All the signs show that blended learning is fast becoming the preferred form of delivery in management training. The overall results show a strong recovery and a very confident mood in the management training market with every sign of this continuing into 2005.
Full report (PDF 12pp): http://tinyurl.com/4sy8c
HRLook Daily News 1 February
Holly Glenzer
In My Fair Lady (Lerner & Lowe, 1956), based on the play by GB Shaw, the renowned linguistics professor, Henry Higgins, attempts to instruct the common flower-vendor, Eliza Doolittle, in proper English etiquette and speech. Revisit the colourful story from the perspective of a 21st century instructional designer. Set in the 1910s, but written in the heyday of behaviourism, the play reflects the idea that behavioural change is the evidence of learning. As we analyse Professor Higgins's applied theory of learning and instruction, we find unique examples of behaviourism, cognitivism and constructivism at work in the instructional strategies and activities and in the good professor's interpretations of Miss Doolittle's actions and attitudes toward learning.
British Journal of Educational Technology
Volume 36 Issue 1 (January 2005)
Update comment: Sounds as though this could be fun. Dawn
Don't leave us in suspense – where can we read the article (apart from finding a library with a copy of the journal)?
Michael Stoller
To address the need for dialogue between librarians, teachers and scholars in research institutions, as the information environment becomes increasingly complex.
A discussion of the impact of technology, budgets and collection storage practices on library users and their research patterns; and examination of the methodologies for assessing that impact and continuing to meet user needs in a changing environment.
Despite trends toward shared collections and a library of access rather than ownership, it is still necessary to develop careful knowledge of one's patrons and to shape one's collections and services to meet local needs.
Libraries must aggressively use focus groups, surveys and above all the personal relationship between faculty and library subject specialists to shape the development and management of their collections and the services they offer. These methods must shape not only one's title-by-title selection but one's larger, policy decisions and the overall configuration of one's collections.
A broad assessment of the relationship between the new information landscape and the manner in which librarians and users communicate.
Collection Building Volume 24 Number 1 (2005)
Update comment: This is first time I've seen an abstract in this format.
David Curtis, Helen Dean
For libraries, best value began by making judgements about the quality of services and the processes that underpin their delivery to local people. The inspections and value-added work identified much that was good about libraries and much that needed to improve. Subsequently, the research report Building better libraries aroused national interest and offered a number of challenges to the profession on its present and future position in relation to changing national, regional and local contexts. Performance measurement and social impact have emerged as major factors in the Audit Commission's work on improvement in public services, and the paper focuses on the need to engage with the impact and outcomes of library services rather than its procedures, processes, aims and policies.
Performance Measurement and Metrics
Volume 5 Number 3 (2004)
Emma McCulloch
An issue currently at the forefront of digital library research is the prevalence of disparate terminologies and the associated limitations imposed on user searching. It is thought that semantic interoperability is achievable by improving the compatibility between terminologies and classification schemes, enabling users to search multiple resources simultaneously and improve retrieval effectiveness through the use of associated terms drawn from several schemes. This column considers the terminology issue before outlining various proposed methods of tackling it, with a particular focus on terminology mapping.