A bus drove past me on my bike, pulled up to the bus stop cutting me off so I had no option but to pull up quickly onto the footpath. That was bad enough but wait there’s more!

As I was wobblingly trying to right myself and get back on to the road, he OPENED THE DOOR RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME and I only narrowly missed being knocked out.

BUT WAIT THERE’S MORE!

He then shouted at me for being on the footpath!

I wonder if the Christchurch City Council needs to do some serious training for their drivers or even rethink their recruitment process. It might help if they employ drivers who understand how a bike works.

I have had the opportunity to chat in depth with two learning managers of large organisations recently. A continuing problem they both expressed was the lack of useable skills in new recruits. In particular, a gaping lack of literacy and communication skills. They observe this as being paired with an unrealistically high expectation of starting salary, conditions and options for career progression. This is not only from secondary school leavers, but those with degrees. This is also being observed in the   UK.

It is their job to then take these employees and foster a sense of the need for life long learning and development and to create a learning pathway for them. We as educationalists need to be talking more and learning from people dealing with this kind of teaching and learning. We can help each other. How often do we communicate though?

It strikes me again, how important is the ‘enterprise’ strand woven throughout the  new curriculum. Becoming more ‘enterprising’ teachers and fostering more ‘enterprising’ students is part of the answer to the issues described here. The  two projects I’m involved with that focus on authentic learning for students and meaningful, mutually beneficial relationships between business and community groups are making significant steps towards bridging the gap between schools and the world of employment.

Told to me by my pilates instructor early this morning…

We will help you make the impossible, possible…
The possible, easy…
The easy, elegant…

That surely applies to anything worth doing well. It ought to become CORE’s aim in our facilitation work.

I continue to work with all
the materials I am made of,
with feelings, beings, books, events,
and battles. I am omnivorous.
I would like to swallow the whole earth.
I would like to drink the whole sea.

Pablo Neruda (thanks Anthony)

I was walking back from CDC today through the Square. There was a men’s choir singing ‘Ain’t Misbehaving’, swinging from side to side. People were milling around smiling and listening. I felt just one little bit closer to New Zealand; one little bit more at home.

Last night while I was sleeping
I dreamed - blessed illusion! -
I had a beehive
inside my heart,
and from my old bitterness
the gold bees
were contriving white combs
and sweet honey.

Last night while I was sleeping
I dreamed - blessed illusion! -
a fiery sun glowed
inside my heart.
It was fiery, giving off heat
from a red fireplace.
It was the sun throwing out light
and made one weep.

Last night while I was sleeping
I dreamed - blessed illusion! -
that it was God I had
inside my heart.

Antonio Machado (1875-1939)

Machado had to flee Spain when Franco came to power, dying a month later an exile in France

January of this year saw CORE and Middlesex University embark on a partnership to deliver the Learning Through International Partnerships postgraduate module for UK teachers.

We kicked off the module with a conference at the Middlesex campus. The students hooked up to me in Christchurch ten thousand miles away, via skype and I lasted until about 1.30am with strong coffee and chocolate.

It’s been a fabulous year! We have never met face to face, but together we have gathered and analysed data to examine the impact of international partnerships on their students, staff and school.

This year’s impact evaluation report from Midwheb (Middlesex University’s teacher education programmes) shows that this kind of study has resulted in 30% of teachers gaining a promotion as a result of the work they have done through these modules.

Next year I will continue as associate lecturer with Middlesex to tutor another module in partnership with the UK’s Specialist Schools and Academies Trust.

This little fellow is very cool. He was referenced in an assignment submitted by one of the teachers studying on the Learning Through International Partnerships module, through Middlesex University.

I wonder why the creator chose a wombat?