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Don Ledingham

Wednesday 30 August 2006

I've just watched a horrendous TV programme entitled Admission Impossible

The programme charts the progress of families who are attampting to ensure their child gets into the school of their choice - although it appeared to me to be more about not going to their local school.

In a small way this linked well with what I've been exploring in my last few posts - is this the future of education in Scotland if we devolve everything - good schools will get better but the lack of coherent improvement mechanisms mean that poorer schools get poorer. It also seems to set one school against another - as opposed to a professional partnership between schools where we share best practice.

Perhaps we have a real opportunity in Scotland to create something different and not necessarily follow the English model which seems to be route that some might see us take.

Last point - I respect the right of parents to send their children to an independent school but it would be my hope and ambition that no East Lothian parent would send their child to a private school because they were disatisfied with the local provision. In this sense I was impressed withe recent statistic from East Renfrewshire where hardly any children leave the authority to go to private schools.

Comments

Private Schools

Brian

Thursday 31 August 2006

Most people I know who send their children to state schools know that the educational provision in schools is usually very good. Many parents nowadays choose to send their children to private schools in the hope that they will have a better chance to fulfil their potential due to the improved atmosphere with fewer disruptive pupils.
I think if you asked the average parent what they were worried about it would be the behaviour of other pupils in the school and how that affects their child rather than the exam results.

Canaries in the schools?

David

Thursday 31 August 2006

Where East Lothian parents choose to send their child to an independent school, do we have any mechanism for capturing the reason for the decision? This is critical information for improvement - these children, like canaries in mines of long ago, may provide evidence of important but otherwise invisible problems.

If there are cases where the decision is driven by dissatisfaction with some aspect of ELC service, such parents are likely to represent the tip of a dissatisfied iceberg. But would it be easy to get an "open and honest" story from the parents? They might still have other children with us... and it's not as if this info could be provided anonymously. Perhaps the answer is to develop something like the (knowledge management) exit interview technique? (e.g. http://www.nelh.nhs.uk/knowledge_management/km2/exit_toolkit.asp)

Private Schools

Alan

Wednesday 30 August 2006

Sometimes you wonder how much knowledge of local provision is involved in the decision to go private - as opposed to, say, family tradition.
Moreover, for those tempted by the private sector, there is no shortage of choice in the Edinburgh area.

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