What is education - Guest lecture 9

Our ninth guest lecturer was Jane Davidson, she was once the Minister for Education and who is now part of Trinity College. She spoke to us about the history of education within the government, this lecture was very interesting as she was once a very influential person on education. 
Firstly she went through the national curriculum that was brought out in 1983, she explained the different areas that were to be studied and the exams and SAT’s that pupils were to undertake due to this.
Jane then discussed the change of government which led to the curriculum being criticised for being structured and not very educational for children, due to this the referendum for the Natioanl Assembly was brought out in 1999.

What is education - Guest lecture 8

Our eighth guest lecturer was Alice Davies who is part of the South West Wales reaching wider partnership project. She spoke to us about increasing opportunities for people with different backgrounds that may be at a disadvantage of furthering their education due to various reasons. Their main aims are to encourage progression to higher education by assisting children through certain stages of school, for example GCSE, A levels and Ucas applications. She explained what the teams do with each age group to help them to further their education, for example, setting up extra revision classes where pupils can express their personal concerns.

What is education - Guest lecture 7

Our seventh guest lecturer was Nick Bennett who is the principle of gower college. He discussed further education policy in Wales with us. He gave us various statistics of students in further education now, once we had viewed the statistics he then taught us the key factors within the program set up by the Welsh assembly government in 2011. He explained how improving on our own education can help us with our employment opportunities and offers. 
He also discussed the priorities from Leighton Andrews on further education, some of these are maintaining the volume of learning, increasing the amount of welsh speakers and promoting individual progression.

What is education - Guest lecture 6

Our sixth guest lecturer was Mike day, he is the cabinet member for education in Swansea university, he discussed educational policy with us. He explained what it is and what it aims to achieve by being in place, he also discussed the various areas that the policy covers. Once he had explained this he then questioned us about education, questions such as why is an education policy needed? And should there be a certain age a child should have to go to school?
We did not get to finish the full powerpoint so we were told to look at the rest of the powerpoint in our own time which was to be found on moodle.

What is education - Guest lecture 5

Our fifth guest lecturer was Graham Allen, he is the environmental manager at Swansea university. He lectured us about education for suitable development, we learned about the different responsibilities and what it involves, one of these is the coroporate responsibility. Once we had discussed this he then began to discuss sustainable development, he discussed the three components which are environment, economic and social sustainability. 

What is education - Guest lecture 4

Our fourth guest lecturer was Olive Hoper, she is the head of planning and development in Swansea university. She taught us about collaboration vs. competition, some of the main points that she taught us about were the benefits and limitations of a higher education institute, the issues of collaboration and competition and  employment in Wales.

What is education - Guest lecture 3

Our third guest lecturer was Steve Gulluck, he taught us about governors within a school. He explained the role of governors in a school and what they do specifically to help the school run efficiently and progress. He also explained the difference between schools in England and Wales and how being a governor is different due to the different governments. He also explained how a person becomes a governor, he explained how a person has to be voted to become a school governor which will then put them into that position for 4 years.
We also had a second session with Steve where he done a recap of what we done in the lecture, he went into some of the previous topics in more detail and allowed us to ask questions. We were also given a handout which explained the different types of governors, along with this we also got a handout which explained the contact between the governors and the school.