The Wasting Mule once again uses "covering a story" to attack Welsh medium education.
They cover a story that "failings in the education sector are down to the “Welsh psyche” and students should be encouraged to leave Wales for university, the head teacher of a leading independent school has argued.
Emma Taylor, the first female head teacher of Christ College Brecon in the school’s illustrious 473-year history, has provoked controversy by claiming that some students are in need of being “rescued” from Welsh medium schools.
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| All the arrogance of a colonial Official looking down on the natives |
Asked why the education sector is struggling, Mrs Taylor said:
“There is something in the Welsh psyche which is a desire not to get above yourself.
“It seems that Welsh people prize modesty and humility and sometimes that can lead to a lack of ambition, and ‘I’ll settle for what I’ve got’ rather than thinking, ‘The world is my oyster and I can really aim high’.Mrs Taylor also said that she would encourage pupils to go elsewhere for university, adding that this was “better for Wales in the long run.”
“So there may be something about the teaching of resilience and self-esteem and self-belief areas of education that could be quite important as well as the three Rs.”
She explained:
“Sometimes students are a bit conservative and want to go to university in Wales because they are perhaps a little nervous about leaving. It is not one size fits all – there are some pupils for whom the very best course is actually in Wales.At least she adds come back But as an argument on the Welsh psyche the reverse could be said .
“But as a default option I would say if you have always lived in Wales – go somewhere else for university, experience new people and new ways of thinking, then come back.”
The idea that we have to leave our own country for the "Glittering Prizes" of a English University and that we can't provide first class education here is what is holding us back.
Mrs Taylor should be arguing for "Our Universities" to achieve top International status and to start this we should be encouraging our brightest and the best to remain here.
The idea that we can't do anything ourselves is why we are falling behind .
But Mrs James shows her true colours when commentating on Welsh medium Education
She questioned the basis for the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) scores, which ranked Welsh education the lowest in the UK, but conceded:
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I think there probably is some truth in them saying that Wales is lagging behind.
“Some research into the role to Welsh language plays would be good, as that is one difference between Welsh and English schools.
“We do encounter pupils who have really needed to be rescued from an environment where they were trying to learn through the medium of Welsh and just struggling, with literacy for example.
“If you have a specific learning difficulty and you are being asked to learn in a language that is not your mother tongue as well it can be detrimental, definitely.”
Mrs Taylor warned that parting with the English education system could lead to “unforeseen consequences” for teachers as well as students. She said: “I would counsel the Welsh Government not to diverge too radically from what is going on in England.“At the moment we can recruit teachers from England and indeed Welsh teachers can work in England. We will make that border much less porous.apprehensive about what effect diverges will have on us, and on education more generally.”
What utter rot I believe there was some research that children with dyslexia cope better through the medium of Welsh but this looks like some one who has no previous knowledge of Welsh medium education reacting with a gut feeling.
I would argue that ther's something wrong with Emma Taylors Psyche who has all the hallmarks of a colonial official who believes the natives can't do anything without English guidance.
She does not seem to have any connection to Welsh education before being appointed to the Public school in Brecon in 2007 any yet she appears to believe being the head of a posh school with 450 pupils makes her an expert on not only Welsh education but also welsh medium education in particular and the Mule seems to think she's worth quoting.
If I was marking her report I would giver an F and mark it " see me".
3 comments:
From where does the delightful Ms Taylor hail, I wonder?
Your response to Taylor misses the complexity of the problem. I'll say this as a native Welsh speaker who attended a Welsh-medium school, and who currently works in a private school in Wales (not Christ College Brecon). Other people have told me of the problem Taylor discusses. I saw it for myself in school growing up - some pupils attending Welsh medium schools do not come from Welsh-speaking homes, and their parents have sent them there not because they wish to encourage their use of Welsh, but to avoid sending them to the local English-medium Comprehensive school. Not being able to speak Welsh, their parents cannot actually help them very much if they have educational difficulties. This is an open secret about welsh-medium schools. It is a serious problem. I did indeed see some fellow pupils change school, often after GCSE, probably for this reason. Their parents had made a mistake in sending them to welsh-medium schools. However, of course, Taylor as a private school headmistress cannot afford to criticise parent power and parental freedom of choice in public, because her own livelihood depends upon it!
All this fuss really boils down to the problem of comprehensive schools, a major problem with our education system. It is quite useless to take pot-shots at private schools because they are not the real cause of these problems.
What is really needed is more discrimination in the state education system. There could be room for a Welsh test for pupils whose parents want them to attend Welsh schools, because at the moment, too many pupils in Welsh-medium schools don't actually use the Welsh language. The problem is that Welsh-medium schools are comprehensive schools, so the people who support them also cannot afford to be honest about these problems.
Its a pity you do not sign your name as it would add weight to your argument . But although you may be right in "some pupils attending Welsh medium schools do not come from Welsh-speaking homes, and their parents have sent them there not because they wish to encourage their use of Welsh, but to avoid sending them to the local English-medium Comprehensive school"
The idea that you can blame welsh medium Education when they fail does not . How different are parents who transfer children from a English Medium to school to a private one because their children do not prosper there and the parents blame the school?
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