I wonder why the USA is so low too . . .

As for Turkey, I´m not sure why but on my trips to Istanbul I stay with teachers who work in a private school.  I did some voluntary work in the school and found the discipline lacking.  Class sizes around 25 to 30 and a lack of stimulating resources or ICT .

Whilst I was there, a fortnight ago I spoke with a  Turkish teacher who teaches English in a state school. She said the children lacked motivation to learn.  I wonder if the children feel there is no point if their social prospects aren´t promising . . . I don´t know.  One thing the teacher said was that in her high school, in Istanbul,  there are 55 students in a class! No teaching assistants and the possibility of at least 2 children with some kind of disability such as autism.  She went on to say that some primary school classes may have as many as 70 children in a class.  I guess , if this is the case, teachers as well as students will become demotivated.

I´m surprised that literacy isn´t better.  I would have thought that having such a phonetic language, reading and spelling would present less difficulty than, say english.  Although, perhaps it´s a struggle to cope with some of the longer words that can occur due to suffixes/

n.b.   sorry of there are any typos . . . I left my glasses at work and can´t see a thing!

I think the key thing to remember here is that the companies weren´t nominated for their ethics, they entered themselves.  There must be thousands of more ethical companies out there that haven´t bothered to enter.  I would say this is the only way some of the companies on that list are ever going to get an award for ethical issues . . . what a joke .

I am going off topic now but regarding the BNP.. IN my opinion they have dreadful views.  Whilst I understand all people should have a voice, what annoys me about the BNP is this .  They are allowed to use a National flag as their party´s emblem.  I think there should be a law to ensure no party can do this.  It´s no wonder that the St George flag doesn´t get flown as often as it might.  I think it is now mostly associated with a bunch of racists.

On a lighter note, the mention of Jack Straw reminded me of a funny incident, which the staff at my school were actually laughing about yesterday.

Some years ago, Jack Straw was due to visit our school and the head was quite excited (can´t think why personally).  She is retired now.  Our Headteacher was a lady who always got people´s names incorrect.  In Jack Straws case she referred to him as Jock Strap (http://images.google.co.uk/images?q=Jock%20strap&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi  for those who aren´t familiar with a jock strap). 

How I wish she had saved her error for the day she met the man himself  .

Warning: content may offend 

I guess the answer isn´t simple, as usual.

I am a teacher in Blackburn, where this incident happened.  I saw the headline on the billboard outside a shop.  My first reaction was that the ban wasn´t necessary.  The reason I thought this was because I work in a primary school and as such, staff have daily contact with parents as they collect them from school.  In such a situation, I would say a ban would not be necessary because we would be very familiar with all parents and thus we would recognise her, even fully covered. 

In most primary schools, parents´ evening is conducted within the classroom, whereas in High Schools (which is what the school in question is) parents´ evening is generally conducted in the main hall.  All staff are seated around the edge of the hall, at a table, and chairs for waiting parents are in the centre.  It is a very crowded situation.  Also, high school staff do not come into contact with parents very often.  I remember going to my daughter´s parents evenings and some of the staff had trouble recalling who my daughter was, never mind who I was!!! (And this was at a relatively small school of 600 . . . many high schools are double that size). 

So in such a high school situation I would say the staff are in the same position as Jack Straw believed he was, vulnerable if they can´t even see whether the person is male or female.  A while ago a suspected terrorist escaped the country by posing as a fully covered Muslim woman . . . I don´t remember the exact details, but the incident has caused people to be cautious perhaps. 

What I would say to Jack Straw and this school is . . . you  don´t know really anyone who walks through your door, covered or not . . . anyone could be a danger.  Look at recent news articles where people, even students, have returned to their schools and killed. 

Maybe Members of Parliament, when they are conducting their constituency clinics, andhigh  schools, when they are conducting their parents´ evenings, should have general security measures in place, for all parents.  Rather like airports?  (tongue in cheek)

I think there is a degree of compromise needed here.  If a woman chooses to fully cover herself, then she must expect to meet some difficult situations with regard to security.  So, is it acceptable for schools to ensure there is a room, staffed by women, who can check out the face of the covered Muslimas?  To do this they would have to have the photo of every parent on record and, as far as I know this is not procedure.  Or perhaps the child could have accompanied his/her parent?

It is one of those situations that does not have a clear cut answer, but it definitely does divide opinion, especially when reported by the Daily Mail .

If the decision has been made for security reasons, then I think a whole battery of security measures would need to be implemented because danger comes from all walks of life these days.

No veil? ok she can enter . . . What about the stock of ammunition she may have under her clothing? What about the knife any parent may have secreted about his person?  What about the parent who had a very bad experience of school and harbours a grudge?  In high schools, the ist of reasons for security would be endless.  High school teachers do not know the parents so well and may have never even met them. 

The sad thing is, I have heard that the government is planning to close down some high schools across the country and create new, even larger institutions.  Logistical nightmares.

Without knowing the full details, I wou;d say the school hasn´t done enough to accommodate the needs of the parent or the child.  Nowadays, schools have policies for everything and there should be a policy in place in this instance, but not just to state who they will ban, but how they can best accommodate the needs of all parents/children.  The buzz word of  Blackburn with Darwen Education Authority is ´inclusion´, as it is throughout the country.  I don´t see how this incident illustrates inclusion.  I wouldn´t say that certain sectors of society need special treatment.  If security is of such importance then perhaps measures should be all inclusive, with all parents subjected to some form of security measure at the entrance (for reasons I have already stated). 

We are living in different times I guess.

One of the children at school was very annoyed because his friend called him . . .

"egg on fish kebab" . . .    

you had to be there

Exhausted, relieved, happy, feverish . . . all assessments completed and parents´ evening out of the way.  Just the small matter of supervising the sawing of 60 wooden axle rods by my lovely 5 and 6 year olds.  Oh what fun!! 

Excited too!  Istanbul here I come . . .

 Absolutely not, it was my attempt at mocking Cynic . . . I obviously failed miserably.

I believe someone in Istanbul is developing an alternative. 

http://fizy.org/

Cynic is alive and well . He is using his enforced sabbatical to travel the world tand carry out research about donkeys. 

His remit?  To prove that a donkey´s behaviour is affected by the environment in which it lives.

Even away from TLC, he is determined to discredit theH.