Search results for ""author philip dixon""

The Welsh Government's Department of Education was famously called 'dysfunctional', by its own Minister. In Testing Times, a forensic and devastating critique of the Welsh Government's strategies and initiatives since devolution, the respected educationalist Philip Dixon argues that this is still the case, stating: 'If you want to find the weakest link in Welsh education today then look no further.'A strong supporter of devolution, and a firm believer that Wales has the capability to create a world class educational system, Philip Dixon is brutally and refreshingly honest when identifying the major failures in the Welsh Government's creation and implementation of educational policy. He criticises a culture which he describes as overly complacent and occasionally reckless.The first detailed analysis of education policy and delivery in Wales since 1999, Testing Times critically examines Welsh Labour's 17-year continuous tenure of the education portfolio under various different Ministers.He scrutinises the collective grand narrative, from the 'Learning Country' to 'Qualified for Life', and he investigates their impact on the foundation blocks of any education system: curriculum and assessment, qualifications, and accountability. Essential reading for teaching professionals and education policy researchers, as well as for parents and school governors, Philip Dixon also perceptively describes the educational journey made by modern-day Welsh children as they move through school, and the major implications of the 2014 Donaldson Review. He pulls no punches in examining key statistical data to judge the effectiveness of Wales' education system.Finally, following the 2016 National Assembly elections and the appointment of a new Education Minister, Philip Dixon, in the guise of a 'critical friend', outlines a number of essential questions that need to be addressed if Wales is not to languish for ever at the lower end of international comparison tables, and with a system that is noticeably worse than its immediate neighbours in Scotland, Northern Ireland and England.Testing Times will ruffle the feathers of the political peacocks who've ruled the educational roost since 1999 and presided over numerous debacles and fiascos.

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As a city boy, all Philip Dixon wanted to be in life was a farmer, but achieving that ambition would be a lot less straightforward than he had anticipated! Starting work on a farm at the age of fifteen, Philip finds himself handling some highly temperamental bulls, meeting some very `witchy' women and encountering mysterious country ways. Later he gets married, raises a family, acquires his own farm and, along the way, becomes part of the Round Table team that invented the charity plastic duck race! Enjoy Philip's story as he makes progress in his farming career in the north east of England from the 1960s to the mid-1980s, and meets some remarkable characters, many of whom belong to an age all but lost to us. Philip's story will, at times, have you laughing out loud and weeping tears of sympathy, and will lift your spirits as you read how he overcomes all life's setbacks to make plans for a brave new future.

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Having worked as a dairy farmer in the UK for 30 years, and achieved the top job in his profession, Philip longed to put a lifetime of experience into practice for himself, instead of being at the beck and call of the landed gentry and their land agents. The opportunity presented itself in an unusual fashion; the estate he ran was to be split up and sold off, and he was made redundant. Follow Philip's wonderful adventure into the centre of France, to the beautiful dairy farm of Les Marais; 75 hectares of softly undulating land with woods and a 5-hectare lake filled with coarse fish and ragondin (or coypu). Read on as he tackled the differences in agricultural techniques, whilst learning the language, mastered cooking acceptably for his French neighbours, and found out that falling in love with France was not the same for everybody. In this sequel to his highly entertaining first book, Dairy Cows and Duck Races, Philip Dixon shares the next chapter of his eventful farming career.

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