Posted by: James Wright
on Feb 17, 2010
When I read the front page from the TES last Friday, I initially didn’t know which part of the story to take issue with first and would call into question the credibility of the reporting.
"The program, also known as spyware, has been installed on computers in schools up and down the country to keep tabs on what pupils are looking at online."
Really, spyware? This e-safety software is installed to protect the students and spyware is traditionally used to refer to maliciously installed software. Like many others I applaud schools and LAs who take the issue of e-safety seriously.
“A lot of teachers bring their work laptops home, but they have no idea that they are being monitored,” the source said. “More often than not these laptops are being used by the whole family, and a teenage son or daughter could be viewing all sorts of sites that are being monitored.”
Where to begin. On the one hand we have professionalism, as allowing a family member access to equipment that potentially contains data about students is absolutely reprehensible and should not be condoned in any way.
The other angle is that of the economy. In my family we have a number of teachers and associated educators and not one of them uses a school laptop for the social computing needs of their family. Given the tough economic situation that will be facing Directors of Children’s Services over the next few months, the notion of the public purse providing for the home computing needs of teachers is an anachronism.
Whilst NQTs earn less than the national average, a teacher in their third year is in line with the median (average salary source: ONS), therefore it does not seem inappropriate that they might be able to commit a few hundred pounds to purchasing a netbook in order to fulfil their Facebook needs. This would bring them into line with a large chunk of the rest of society.
Posted by: James Wright
on May 27, 2009
Having just returned from a spending a few days in the Latvian capital, Riga, I found striking the disparity between the economic have’s and have not’s.
As it happens a couple of days before travelling I caught a piece of the PM Programme where reporter Jonny Dymond had visited the country as part a series of reports about the forthcoming European Elections. What I found interesting was the high level of unemployment and the feeling that the country had been let down by the EU in some way.
Most tourists to Riga will probably stay somewhere in the old town, but we had booked in to a very nice hotel off the beaten track. The walk between the hotel and the old town gave an insight into a microcosm of Latvian life and left me wondering if the path from USSR to independence to EU membership had been worth it for many. Most striking was the level of poverty that appears to manifest dramatically in the elderly, with old ladies rummaging in bins for food and selling a couple of bunches of flowers in the market in order to make ends meet. Presumably no state pension for them. Given the wealth in the EU, and the large sums of money that the MEP gravy has at it’s disposal surely this should be able to be sorted?
Rise of nationalism
I suppose what is of most concern is if this disillusion with the EU ultimately leads to a rise of nationalism across the various member states, as over the last decade we have already witnessed an increase in far right parties and neo-Nazi rallies.
A introverted Europe will be no good thing and as a society we must do all that we can to ensure that there is no repeat of the 1930s as clearly there are already parallels with the global economic situation.
Posted by: James Wright
on May 22, 2009
Every year I am involved with a door to door charity collection. Very pleased to say that this year the amount collected was broadly in line with last year, something to be pleased about given the economic situation and in particular
how it is impacting charities.
Superficially this suggests that despite increasing job losses and rising prices, people are still able to show compassion for those in even more challenging situations.
Posted by: James Wright
on May 16, 2009
We live in difficult and uncertain times and unfortunately I have a number of friends who have either recently been made redundant, or are facing imminent redundancy. Having worked for a company back in 2005 that went into administration, I know how it feels to be in receipt of some unexpected additional holiday…
Technology has moved on a bit since then, and as Eileen highlighted in her blog post from Thursday about the power of social networking, it is possible to reach out quickly to friends and colleagues who may be in a position to help.
If you think that you are likely to be in this situation, then there are a few bits of key advice with using social networking that might help;
- Make sure you have a backup of your contacts. If possible use a service such as Plaxo to keep your corporate email account in sync with an online service. Failing that, export to csv for future use.
- Sign up to LinkedIn and make sure that your information is full and accurate. Register all of your own email addresses including that of your present employer – even though this will not be your main contact address, having it registered and verified will make it easier for people to find you. Also, get a personal LinkedIn URL e.g. www.linkedin.com/in/jameswwright as this will give greater prominence to your account. Lastly, import that list of business contacts that you have and get networking!
- If you have a Facebook account make sure that the information you have on public display is what you really want to be there. Consider restricting the ability for friends to tag photos of you and change most settings to be ‘friends’ only.
- Consider writing a blog around your area of expertise as this will help demonstrate your skill set and areas of knowledge to any prospective employer.
