[See update below] Paul W. Bennett, the director of Schoolhouse Consulting, and Nova Scotia's best known educational policy critic, shares Bert Lewis's skepticism about Sir Ken Robinson's TED talk. With the advent of TED Talks, Sir Ken Robinson, the current, undisputed rock star of public education, has been, or will be, coming to a School Board near you, so it's wise to be forewarned and perhaps even forearmed. Sir Ken puts on quite a show, especially with that snazzy RSA animation. Very few can match him when it comes to the British accent, rhetorical flourish, and sardonic humour. Having listened to him many...

01 November, 2011

Educational consultant Paul W. Bennett, a former principal of Halifax Grammar School, thinks we should not be too quick to dismiss the connection between unsnowy snow days and the provisions of the teachers' collective agreement. [T]he key factor [in school closures] is the collective agreement which has been in place in Nova Scotia since the mid-1970s. In that sense, the Education Department is just as culpable as the NSTU. The teachers' agreement originally included an understanding that about five days a year would be written off as "throw-away" snow days. The Agreement with the NSTU also stipulates...

07 March, 2010