Today. Guardian: Blow for literacy drive as English standard at 14 falls: "Key Stage 3 results show teenagers' command of English is slipping."
A month ago. Guardian: SATS results miss targets: "This year's Sats results for seven-year-olds are down on 2005, while at age 11 English scores were the same."

What's happening here?

# Posted by Steve Hooker at 14/9/06; 11:03:44 AM to the Education news dept.
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More literacy falls

I attended my first Keeping Up with Children (literacy) course yesterday. First I heard of it. Apparently I missed the last term's numeracy which I'm cross at. As both my kids need numeracy help more than literacy... (This was my first reaction on being told I missed it, after the 2 hours course I'd realised that I needed both. That's ME not the just the kids!)

Out of the whole school, only six parents turned up. I wish they'd have promoted this differently. I wish they'd have said that the things kids are learning these days is far and away different from what my generation learnt at school. My daughter Esme, started on about alliteration last year, which surprised me, obviously. And 'number lines' blow my mind!

I've just done a little Googling on KUC and there's very little useful info for me. I've found:

• a dull, LSC 52 page Word doc (Stupid for parents as Word is an expensive application.) This doc says, I'm too qualified and shouldn't be allowed to attend. (See below.)
  
• a 404 for reading more than a basic paragraph at The Basic Skills Agency
• several other local LEA pages which suggest I'm an illiterate mum and I should do a reading course myself! Maybe pass an O' level? Humph! >:-(

I enjoyed the course, it was good to hear other real mum's real strategies for reading to their kids. Real voices! Real stories! A much better way to learn ;-)

All I want out of the course, is to find out what my kids are learning. I know what connectives are, adjectives and adverbs etc. But I need to know what they're working on, what they should and couldn't yet know. So, when I'm reading or doing their homework with them I can talk the same language as their teachers, be on the same page. (When I hear, "that's not the way Miss Linforth does it," I know I've lost respect, and Miss Linforth has lost mine.)

From the LSC's Word doc...

What if parents/carers who already have plenty of qualifications want to attend?

If parents/carers do not meet these criteria they should not be offered a place but be signposted to other appropriate learning opportunities. Parallel opportunities may be available in wider Family Learning. Link with the Adult Education, Adult and Community Education, Further Education and Information Advice and Guidance Service so you can give information on alternative courses and advice on other learning opportunities.

If anybody has any links that may help me, please, add them to the comments below.
# Posted by Steve Hooker at 14/9/06; 10:40:47 AM to the Education news dept.
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Keeping Up with Children

Guardian: Young face tougher drink, smoking laws: "Age-related legal curbs on buying drink and tobacco are flouted by large numbers of young people, prosecutions of those who sell alcohol and tobacco to underage customers are very rare."

What if they raise the legal age for buying cigarettes to 18 this year, 19 next year, 20 the year after... And so on. Thus, it would stop those under 18 now from ever being legally able to buy them. Come the time they're 65, still they're unable the buy fags legally. Heh!

And, police should arrest, or spot fine those under the legal smoking age, caught smoking. I started smoking to look 'ard and be more grown up, and attract the girls. If I was caught, fined and belittled by the police and made to look not grown up at all, I'd not have taken up the evil addition.

# Posted by Steve Hooker at 14/9/06; 9:09:04 AM to the Politics dept.
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Raise smoking age to 18, then 19, 20, 21, 22...