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Monday, December 20, 2010

Briefing Note December 2010

Dear Colleagues,

Just a brief note to wish everyone well and to hope you have a good Christmas break after what seems to be an interminably long and fraught term. It seems that next year will herald change on a variety of fronts although it is still difficult to tell where it will all end up. I have been very busy this term and have not really had time to write much about art education and the changes - perhaps I will catch up over the break. But the possible demise of 'Specialism' as a force for good and the pursuit of the English Baccalaureate which does not include art is perhaps a concern. 

I have not had time to read it, so cannot endorse it, but I know that John Steers of the National Society for Education in Art and Design has published a critique of the White Paper. If you are interested the link is http://www.nsead.org/downloads/White_Paper_commentary.pdf

But the good news is that there will continue to be good schools with good teachers working hard in the best interests of their pupils. As always the system works on their good, professional common sense.

Best wishes

Dan

PS I did publish some stuff on assessment earlier, which I think is important earlier this term and this is having an impact in some schools (https://sites.google.com/site/assessmentpapers/)