Next Salon Discussion

First Tuesday current affairs discussion - Tuesday 3 September 7:00pm start

The Salon Recommends

Banner
Banner
Banner
Banner
Banner
Banner
Banner

Donate via PayPal

Donations to development costs of website very gratefully received

Opinion articles by Jane Turner
PDF Print E-mail
Jane Turner's opinion articles

Education as accreditation

A Day In The Life of An Exam Factory

Opinion piece by Jane Turner February 2014

 

In Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, Alan Sillitoe wrote of “the deadening treadmill” and “monotonous graft” of life on the factory floor, but today, we could apply this description to life in the classroom in many schools, colleges and even in the old bastions of Higher Education, universities. Just how did school, college and “uni” become so boring and so uninspiring that today’s university students would rather read a newspaper and don’t even want a First class degree according to 'A first-class degree? I'd rather get a job...'.

Read more...
 
PDF Print E-mail
Jane Turner's opinion articles

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

ADHD

Opinion piece by Jane Turner August 2014

 

I have recently discovered I have STDL syndrome (Sick to Death of Labels). It was as a bit of a shock to receive this diagnosis, as I am normally quite healthy, but now I know what is wrong with me, I can carry on complaining, because it is not my fault, I am properly ill.

 

I have been ill (complaining) for several years now because of the growing list of labels that get assigned to young people, who it seems to me, are mostly being just that – young, and of course, immature, and maybe with a bit of an attitude, as is the prerogative of many sullen and stubborn youngsters.

Read more...
 
PDF Print E-mail
Jane Turner's opinion articles

Travelling to Cattle Class. How low can it get?

Cattle Class travel: how low can it get?

Opinion piece by Jane Turner August 2013

 

I don’t swear much. I moan a fair bit about the many things that drive me mad, but usually in sentences of polite and passable English. But if there’s one thing that effs me off and makes me eff and blaspheme, it is traffic, transport and the slow state of travel. Anyone who has worked with me over the last ten years knows that I have moaned loudly and regularly about being stuck on the A556, the M56, M60 or the M6 at various points in the week. It’s a fact, that I have spent far too much of the last decade of my life on these effing four roads, stuck in a jam or crawling along at a speed as slow as a snail.

Read more...
 
PDF Print E-mail
Jane Turner's opinion articles

Chris Grayling looking to reform prisons

Prison: What is it good for?

Opinion piece by Jane Turner May 2013

 

The supremacy of imprisonment as a way of dealing with offenders has never been seriously challenged, even though there is plenty of evidence to show that it does not work, as either a form of punishment or a place of rehabilitation. But in the last few months, crime, punishment, and UK prisons have been in the news regularly. The Coalition government, has enormous and growing debts, and has been reviewing all public services to identify where they can make cuts, and as spending on prisons is high (c£50,000 per year, per offender) they have been taking a closer look. Highlighting the glaringly high re-offending rate and the failure of prisons to rehabilitate and prevent re-offending.

Read more...
 
PDF Print E-mail
Jane Turner's opinion articles

Class Size - does it matter?

Does Size really matter? Class Size that is!

Opinion piece by Jane Turner March 2012

 

When I first started teaching and ventured tentatively into the territory known as the staff room, it was like stepping into a society segregated by subject. The language of the Science site was alien to the habitat of the History faculty, Maths teachers shot quizzical looks towards their lesser-logical colleagues in the English zone, and nobody but the most determined countrymen ventured into the vibrant and colourful corner known as the Art area. But despite their cliquishness, there was one matter that united all staff, and which was a regular topic of staff room rants - student behaviour, and it was a frequently heard assertion that if only class sizes were smaller, behaviour would improve and an improvement in results would follow.

Read more...
 
<< Start < Prev 1 2 Next > End >>

Page 1 of 2
Join the Salon Email List
Youtube Video of discussion on Energy
RSS Feed for discussions
Manchester Salon Facebook Group
Manchester Salon Facebook Page
Manchester Salon on Twitter