ideasfarm.net

Ironically what appears to be very bad news is really the opposite. This article in the independent seems to have triggered considerable interest.  A few years ago it may have raised an eyebrow but we then had a financial crisis and the country woke up to the fact that Britain had become too reliant on the City at the expense of manufacturing and technological creativity.

.

“Although there are other backbenchers with scientific backgrounds, Dr Huppert is the sole MP to have practised past PhD level, specialising most recently on DNA structures.

He said it was a real concern that the Commons – which is full of career politicians, lawyers and economists – lacked scientific expertise. Dr Huppert, a fellow of Clare College, Cambridge, argued that all MPs should be obliged to take a short science training course, covering areas such as how research is conducted, numeracy and the use of statistics.” The Independent

Julian Huppert

We have a Civil Service, Judiciary and Legislature which, to use fashionably blunt Prime Minister speak, are technically ignorant. Very few and I stress, very few, have a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering Maths) background.

If an unqualified electrician carries out electrical installation work they can be awarded a prison sentence. Some have been, even though no injuries resulted. Yet key decisions for our country are often taken by people who are ill equipped to understand the subject matter and its significance. Our history is peppered with bad political decisions on science and technology – are we surprised? We are famous both  for our creative genius and sadly,  for allowing others to reap the profit from it.

If this all seems like a rant please read on.

In the last ten years or so I was privileged to attend a number of Parliamentary Science and Technology Committee meetings in the Commons and in Portcullis House. One of those centred on the crisis over expert evidence in court cases. Helena Kennedy was the main speaker. The case of Roy Meadows was discussed in some detail.  I found the discussion chilling. Roy Meadows had provided and opinion based on a flawed understanding of statistics – an area in which he did not have expertise.  The error he made was not noticed by the defence even though it was fundamental. Those who attended the meeting included lawyers and politicians. They admitted and expressed concern about the narrow background not only of lawyers but also of the legislature.

Dr Ian Gibson M.P. for Norwich, prior to the last election, had an academic research background similar Dr Julian Huppert.  Ian Gibson also had similar views to Julian Huppert and gave the 2006 Owers Lecture.

Julian Huppert we desperately need your expertise and energy to bring about change. We hear many MPs demand that Shakespeare and the Kings and Queens of England should be taught in schools but few who fight the corner for STEM subjects.

You are right Julian, MPs who demand that doctors, teachers and electricians are properly qualified should set an example by  passing a competency test themselves. Their SATs results should be also be published for the electorate to see!

Water, water, every where, And all the boards did shrink ; Water, water, every where, Nor any drop to drink. Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

Derek Wenmoth points out an Albatross, the bird of good omen, and I share his frustration at being becalmed.

He says, “But consider the following…

• a global shortage of skilled science and maths teachers means that we’ll never be able to staff all of our schools with specialists in these areas (and other areas besides!)”

We are on a planet which is mostly covered in water but still we cry drought when we are in the wrong place.

Derek raises the opportunity that technology provides to alleviate the drought.  I just wanted to expand on the HOW.

In the ‘Connate Model’ (combined in one) outlined in my blog post here I describe how the model is centred on the examination system. That is for two key reasons. Most teachers are involved in some external assessment process with their students. Insisting that communication, including some assessments,  happens in one place ensures that teachers have a purpose and are regularly engaged in the online community. It also serves another purpose it allows teachers to identify and communicate with others who can support students in specific ways. That same platform could be used by teachers and students for sharing expertise.

Computer education, for example, in the UK is in a dire state. In 2005 there were 7242 students sitting (815 were female) A Level computing exams. By 2014 that is predicted to drop to around 1500 and all of them will be male, based on figures released by the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ).

It ‘s wasteful to have one teacher to one school with the skills necessary to alleviate the drought when the thirsty are scattered around them. Even more unforgivable is the fact that other experts working day to day in that area of knowledge are only a mouse click away.

All this is obvious when pointed out but that still needs a mechanism for it to happen. It needs that utility, a common national or international grid which all can self manage and exploit.  If the grid is to endure it must be like the internet and have many interconnected nodes ensuring that the network remains robust even when one node fails. Many government initiatives along these lines are innately fragile because they are short term and localised. We need boldness and soon.

One final point, Derek raises the topic of Higher Education. The ‘Connate Model’ suggests participants could be rewarded with qualifications which recognise their expertise and the extent to which they share it. HE has to change too. Most degrees are instruments of selfish endeavour they reward students for what only they know not for how well they share and exploit that understanding. Radical change in H.E. regulations, systems, assessment and attitudes is needed.

A possible model to support the ideas outlined in previous posts. This version is suited to 11-19 education sectors. I also have a possible funding model for this which uses existing resources and would only need finance for the initial setup. The description is brief but a fuller model description is available.

The Practitioners are at the heart of the structure with their own community (or several) facilitated and supported by the HE sector. The practitioners have integral links to other specialist communities such as subject associations or an opportunity to enter dialogue directly with the DCFS. That would enable direct and democratic consultation by DCFS, QCA, TDA and others when necessary.

The model requires that every practitioner is required to be a member and that is reinforced by providing a clear unavoidable purpose. In this model all communication for student examinations uses the same platform. It also supports the notion of online learning and examination for students with the teacher/facilitator interacting with their own students and even other students they are assessing or supporting. These students need not be in the same country. It also provides a mechanism for sharing the knowledge and support of specialist teachers and others both with students and practitioners.

An example:

Some ‘subjects’, computing and electronics are but two, are struggling to survive as taught entities. That may be because of a shortage of specialist teachers and or low students numbers making a class in a school unviable. The specialist teacher need not be in the school. This approach also supports the notion of an expert supporting a teacher new to a subject or one wishing to develop expertise in that subject while in post. That teacher or learning facilitator could take the plunge confident that an expert was on hand to support them with difficulties and insight. The sharing of insight, experience or tacit knowledge depends, crucially on direct, timely and non-judgmental communication. Without this, research consistently shows, real change in learning and teaching is very limited.