School Community

Hundreds of new Anglican schools could be created under plans to be unveiled by the Church of England. 

Children’s moral and spiritual development is being “pushed to the side” because of reforms that put an increasing focus on learning facts and figures, it is claimed.

In a major report, the CofE said that religious education was being marginalised in many schools but the Coalition “seems to have no will” to address the problem.

It criticised a decision to exclude RE from the English Baccalaureate – a new school leaving certificate that rewards pupils gaining good grades in five academic disciplines, including maths and English.

The Church also highlighted a decline in the number of new RE teachers being trained and a refusal to include the subject from a major review of the National Curriculum, which will set out the key facts pupils should learn at each age.

Dr Priscilla Chadwick, a former private school headmistress and chairman of the CofE’s education inquiry, said all schools valued the importance of assessment but insisted it should not be at the expense of “nurturing the whole child”.

Students began trickling in early. Some dressed up in button-down shirts. Nervous chatter and fidgeting arose around the room.

And then in walked Professor Ben Bernanke, also known as the chairman of the Federal Reserve.

The 30 undergraduates at George Washington University sent up a round of applause. It was, they’d been told beforehand, “appropriate, even encouraged, to politely applaud” Tuesday’s guest lecturer.

Few needed prompting. They were about to hear from perhaps the world’s best-qualified person to lecture their class, titled “Reflections on the Federal Reserve and Its Place in Today’s Economy.”

“We have a chance to speak one-on-one with a guy who’s arguably one of the most important people in the world,” said Sameer Iqbal, a junior finance major. “He’s taking time out of his schedule to speak to 30 college kids? I think that’s awesome.”

Also, unusual. In giving the first of his four scheduled lectures to the GW class, Bernanke became the first sitting Fed chairman ever to help teach a college course.

Reporters and news photographers nearly matched the number of students. Bags were searched. And security personnel stood guard.

Michael Feinberg, a senior finance major, said he normally doesn’t get to class a half-hour early. But “normally I don’t have my bag sniffed by a bomb-sniffing dog.”

Tuesday’s lecture focused on U.S. central banking dating to the panics of the 19th century and early 20th century, which led to the Fed’s creation in 1913. The second lecture, on Thursday, will involve the central bank’s actions after World War II.

In the final two, on March 27 and 29, Bernanke will review the roots of the 2008 financial crisis and the Fed’s response to the crisis and the recession that followed.

Anyone can view Bernanke’s lectures live. The Fed will maintain the four one-hour lectures on its site for later viewing.

The number of people viewing Tuesday’s lecture at the Fed’s website held steady at about 3,300 throughout Bernanke’s class.

The students seemed most engaged when the Fed chairman tried to convey macroeconomic concepts in real-world terms. He drew some laughs in describing the pitfalls of a gold standard for a nation’s currency.

It is costly, Bernanke noted dryly, to dig gold up in “South Africa or somewhere” and “put back in another hole.”

Mostly, students listen intently to the lecture, which Bernanke delivered with the aid of a 50-slide PowerPoint presentation.

Bernanke’s staff had approached GW late last year about the possibility of allowing Bernanke to give some lectures. The university and the Federal Reserve are within blocks of each other in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood of Washington.

GW assembled the class from 80 applicants who wrote essays on what they hoped to learn.

For Bernanke, the GW lectures serve a dual function:

They give him a chance to reprise the role of professor he played for more than two decades, first at Stanford and then at Princeton, where he eventually chaired the economics department.

And they give him a way to expand his mission of demystifying the Fed. As part of that campaign, Bernanke became the first Fed chief to hold regular news conferences and conduct town-hall meetings.

Tim Fort, a business professor who specializes in ethics, developed the GW course in consultation with Bernanke’s staff. Beyond Bernanke’s lectures, Fort has enlisted about a dozen GW faculty members to help teach the class.

Tisch spoke on a GothamSchools panel in 2011.

Breaking her silence on the citys plan to overhaul 33 struggling schools, Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch said late Wednesday that she believes turnaround is a political strategy, not an educational one.

Theres a fight going on here that has nothing to do with whats going on at the school, she said. Its a labor dispute between labor and management and has nothing to do with the kids.

Tisch was referring to the stalemate between the Bloomberg administration and the teachers union that gave rise to the citys turnaround plans. Bloomberg announced the plans in January as a way to get federal funds for the schools even though the city and union had not been able to agree on new teacher evaluations, a requirement of less aggressive strategies already in place. The turnaround strategy, which require the schools to be closed and reopened after changing their names and half of their teachers, has only deepened enmity between the city and UFT.

On Wednesday, Tisch visited one of the schools, William E. Grady Career and Technical Education High School, and said she was impressed by the changes underway, which she attributed to its principal, Geraldine Maione. The school received millions of federal dollars in the last two years while undergoing transformation, which funded extra tutoring, additional programs, and new technology.

This is a school that is moving in a really fine direction, Tisch said of Grady, which received a B on its most recent city progress report. This is the wrong message to this school at this time. Dont be so dismissive of the efforts going on in that building.

It was Tischs second visit to the school. Last week, she brought fellow Regent Kathleen Cashin for a visit that was scheduled after she met Maione in February at a principals union event featuring Diane Ravitch. On Wednesday, Maione said, Tisch and Cashin brought State Education Commissioner John King along with them.

Tischs support would be a boon to the school, whose teachers and students have been protesting the citys plans for weeks. But Kings presence was especially significant because he must sign off on the citys turnaround plans in order for the schools to receive federal funding. So far, he has only commented on the technical viability of the citys strategy, calling the concept approvable.

The city has not yet submitted formal turnaround applications to King and has said that it will go through with the turnaround plans with or without the federal funds. Still, if King denies or pushes back against a turnaround application, it would strike a blow to the Bloomberg administration and could leave the city on the hook for paying for school improvements it has promised.

Maione said she is hopeful that the officials presence would help her school get a fair consideration as the citys turnaround plans move forward.

I enjoyed having them and I think they saw a Grady they didn’t think they would see, Maione said Wednesday. I think they were pleasantly surprised.

In the past, Tisch has said other schools on the turnaround list were not improving quickly enough under the citys interventions. When she visited Automotive High School last fall, she said the city was using the school as a warehouse for high-needs students. Now, Automotive is set to be closed and reopened just as Grady is.

I believe in closing schools, Tisch said. I will not defend failure, but Im also not going to sit back and watch a school such as Grady be closed.

Almost half of places to train as maths teachers have not yet been filled, according to the TDA. 

Figures show 46 per cent of places are empty around six months before courses start.

The Training and Development Agency for Schools, which administers the process, insisted numbers were up on last year but admitted there was “still an urgent need for even more high quality recruits”.

It also emerged that courses in other subjects such as science and foreign languages – seen as vital to the country’s economic competitiveness – are also lacking trainees.

According to figures, some 70 per cent of places on physics courses are still unfilled.

The disclosure comes despite the introduction of generous bursary packages designed to pull graduates with top degrees into the teaching profession.

Accidents and injuries happen almost every day. People may be injured due to negligence, product defects or even a car accident, to name a few. Many times a day, a person can just go on their way and be totally fine but what if that isn’t the case? What if you are severely injured, then what?

Personal injuries are big business in the society. The economy is not stable in the present times and even missing just a day of work in a week, or having one doctor’s appointment to pay for can cause severe financial hardship for a family. It just makes good business sense to get personal injury lawyers to be sure that you, your family and your assets are protected. Here are a few tips to help you find a personal injury lawyer that is right for you.

• FINDING A LAWYER: You will want to research lawyers carefully. It is possible to get recommendations from co-workers, family or friends, but a website such as injury lawsuits at Totalinjury.com can also help you find a right fit. Be sure to investigate more than one potential lawyer to investigate your case. However, it is best to meet with a personal injury attorney within the first few weeks after an injury occurs so do not delay your search.
• QUESTIONS TO ASK:  Be sure the attorney you choose is at a minimum and registered with the bar association in their state.  Check bureau reports to be sure there are no complaints. Ask the attorney how many successful personal injury cases he or she has handled successfully.
• EVIDENCE FOR YOUR CASE: A personal injury lawyer should be able to give a client a good estimate of what their injury is “worth” and be experienced in investigative tactics. The attorney should handle gathering medical records, police reports, etc.
• SETTLEMENT GOALS: Be sure that before you sign on the dotted line or hand over a hefty retainer fee that you have discussed settlement goals with a potential attorney. Be sure you agree on at least a ballpark figure or stipulations such as an open ended medical settlement.

No one wants a personal injury to occur, but if you experience a personal injury of some sort and experience a loss from that injury, it is smart to know your rights and further investigate if you are due some sort of compensation. It is better to investigate and be told you have no case than be left to wonder and suffer unpleasantries.

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