Recent figures published by KCC show that there are very high levels of permanent exclusions throughout the county. The statistics have alarmed the politicians and a countywide review is currently taking place. This is likely to be very much data driven and will take some considerable time to complete.

From the published data, there are some very interesting headlines

• The…

'Education is about preparing young people to make the world

better than it is'…

Millions of questionnaires from SHEU have been completed by pupils since the Unit was founded in 1977.

They have the answers to thousands of questions, including:

• What did our pupils have for breakfast this morning?
• What are they worried about?
• How much money do they have to spend, and what do they spend it on?
• Do they think our PSHE lessons are useful?…

The Howard League for Penal Reform has published a new report developed by young people in the criminal justice system which reveals how punitive responses to youth crime are failing, as evidenced by the highest reoffending rates of any age group, with almost three quarters of under 18s going on to reoffend after leaving prison.

It's not really surprising that so many disenfranchised young people…

I just thought you'd like to have an update on this element that seems to pass many teachers and policy-makers by.  The idea that many classrooms are just too slow and that learning has become a test-passing exercise, rather than an work-out exercise for the brain.  Many kids are turned off from being creative and thinking in a challenging way, because their lessons are often so prescriptive that there's no room left for the creative and fast thinking ones.

Here's some research that…