In this first blog post I feel it is incumbent on me to attempt some sort of manifesto or mission statement that explains what I hope to achieve from this project…after all we love a good mission statement  in education.

This blog is my take on Education issues. In stating that, I mean to steer away from deep pedagogical theory or the more political battles fought by the good people in teacher unions. There are thousands of sources of commentary on these and I don’t think they need my contribution urgently. Instead, I feel there is a long list of topics that are significant and universal but don’t get a fair public airing.

Even writing that last paragraph leaves me cold. Part of me thinks I’m mad to do this. I mean, even though I’ve spent most of my life in schools all teachers could say as much and a fair slice of the world’s population between the ages of 5 and 18 could too. Does all that time make me an expert? Or anyone else for that matter?

Still, I’m committed to this thing now and will just have to take a deep breath and soldier on.

Am I an expert? No, probably not. If anything, 20 years teaching experience in three countries and a Masters degree in Education Policy have clarified for me just how inexpert I am. Still, I will hazard to claim that I’m less inexpert that most.

Anyway, I’ve never met anyone who let a lack of credentials stop them from expressing forthright views on what’s wrong with schools/teachers/students/parents/government budgets/teacher unions/exams/holidays/spelling/etc these days.

So here’s what I propose. I think the bloggesphere has a lot to offer as a forum for expressing earnest opinion on issues that are (arguably) fundamental to the industry devoted to teaching and learning. I freely admit that the posts that follow will be based more on personal experience and subjective supposition than peer reviewed research based investigation. But I will do my best to be objective and accurate. My hope is that everyone finds the posts interesting and (with any luck) entertaining whether they are teachers or not. I especially hope people find the topics and opinions worthy of comment and discussion so please feel free to reply with your observations, questions, suggestions for future posts.

Enjoy the blog.