Diane Hofkins

What shall we tell the children?

2009-07-13T03:46:00.000-07:00

Article on bereavement in schools in the London Institute of Education's InstEd magazine

by Diane Hofkins

http://www.ioe.ac.uk/newsEvents/documents/News_and_Events_Magazines/London_InstEd_issue_8.pdf

Page 14

Public speaking for state schools

2009-04-28T03:36:00.000-07:00

Debating skills raise children's confidence and self-esteem, and it pays to start early, says Diane Hofkins

Diane Hofkins

The Guardian, Tuesday 28 April 2009

On BBC2's The Speaker, spinmeister supreme Alastair Campbell was hammering home his point: be absolutely clear about the objective of your speech. "Tony Blair was obsessed," he revealed, always asking: "What is the central argument?"

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/apr/28/schools-debating-skills

Links to articles in national papers

2009-04-26T07:29:00.000-07:00

Articles from The Sunday Times and The Guardian

http://www.journalisted.com/diane-hofkins

Why Early Years is an intellectual pursuit

2009-04-18T04:12:00.000-07:00

There is a commonly held myth that working with little children is not a job for the brainy. It is thought to suit people who like children but aren't academic.

Yet an ever-growing stack of research shows the importance of children's earliest educational experiences to their chances in life. Overwhelmingly, the best pre-schools have better qualified staff.

One government response to this evidence has been to announce plans for a pilot "Teach First" type of scheme to place top graduates in early years settings in disadvantaged areas. No details are available yet. It sounds like a good idea, but why would someone with a double first from Oxford want to work with under-fives? What makes early childhood education an intellectual pursuit?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/mar/10/early-years-education