Fake News

“Fake News” is not new. Good comrades all my life have sat around analysing how the establishment has been lying to us. It was generally accepted that the news was fake, what the establishment wanted, and how we had to be careful what we believed, how we were conditioned. Sadly in my job as a …

EJW goes private

I am an Education Justice Warrior (EJW). I spent my life battling for education, and, whilst it was in general part of a waste of time as the world is far less educated now than it was when I started, it was worth doing. As an EJW I put the children first, so I never …

Better than me

I met an erstwhile teacher colleague and we were discussing a student of his who was a bit of a mathematical genius – now comfortable amongst the elite of the elite in Cambridge. The colleague’s attitude was unassuming, that he could still guide the students whether they were better than him. I replied with an …

Creativity

Here is a fluff piece from Seth Godin concerning the lack of discerning palates; it began with “The creation of worthwhile work is a duet. The creator has to do her part, but so does the customer.” He then placed the emphasis on the customer, and to my mind effectively trivialised a significant issue for …

Edufashion

Edufashion has a key diversionary function. To understand what it is, you have to understand the fundamental conflict that is education. First and foremost what happens in schools is not education it is conditioning for wage-slavery, it cannot be seen as education - the proper meaning of the word. For example the government passes laws, …

Dassa’s Grit

Dassa was a black woman. A pretty young baby she was born to a poor family whose father drank. Her mother did the best she could but she herself was an orphan so there was no-one to protect her from the drunk. But she loved Dassa intently. As a baby and only child Dassa was …

McKinsey report

LINK Finding 1 If students are motivated they work hard and do better irrespective of personal background. Earth-shattering, I’d have never guessed that. How much money did it cost to say that? OK the report is couched in “mindset” parlance, but what teacher doesn’t know that? The report does not investigate the connection between personal …

Growth Mindset Brianblog

Growth Mindset is one of a series of edufashions. Nothing new educationally except for mindset profiling. Appropriate mindset profiling in relation to the specific subject and institution might have some educational benefits. If applying growth mindset is producing good results, I would have to question what was happening before. Perseverance – if your institution is …

Assessing Growth Mindset

So far I have examined teaching practice, both my own and in general, within vague terms of “growth mindset” reference. Now I need more details of “growth mindset” so I listened to Carol Dweck’s TED talk. She claims to have a panacea for all educational ills but other than that claim she is offering little …

Teaching Practice

I have examined my first reactions to growth mindset, and other than the question of the student’s personal evaluation of the effects of a fixed or growth mindset on their motivation to learn it appears that it is just a fashion. To some extent it is of course worth having such fashions in order to …