Journal Entries
Tis the season to be jolly (NaJoPoMo Pt.6)
Posted Nov 6, 2011
So, apart from a few extra fireworks from my friends, last nights festivities went pretty well. Spent some time chatting to a few people I don't see very often and the conversation turned to plans for Christmas. Thus begins my least favourite part of the year: they're all going home to family and I'm staying put, probably on my own.
I do my best to accept this as inevitable, after all people without families don't really get to have family celebrations and it's not like I can crash one of my friends families celebrations but it still really sucks. I can have a good time, in the same situation last year I had a blast but the fact remains I was making the best out of a bad situation rather than indulging in one I'm actually choosing. There's the added problem of my birthday, which is right before Christmas and people tend be skint or away for it. So two big celebrations and I don't get to enjoy either.
I'm generally fine so long as I've got some stuff planned and I'll be looking at making a few trips, buying myself a few treats and generally taking my mind off the situation and instead of this being a big whinge I thought I'd take the opportunity to ask my fellow researchers what they'd do for fun around Christmas.
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Latest reply: Nov 6, 2011
Baby you're a firework (NaJoPoMo Pt. 5)
Posted Nov 5, 2011
I've already had my fill of writing for today, so this is going to be journal somewhat lacking in coherence and structure. I'll try and do a better one tomorrow.
I'm currently watching Stargate: Universe. I'd previously written it off as a cheap and stupider version of Firefly or the new BSG because of reviews I'd read but over half-term I started watching it and I'm really impressed so far. It doesn't feel like a Stargate series, it's a lot slower and a lot more introspective - as much as I enjoyed Stargate it was always a bit shallow - and that really works for me. The characters, with one major exception, are well-drawn and well-acted and some really interesting shades of grey (Robert Carlyle's character is particularly good). I also like there's no clear villain yet, just people trying to get on.
Soon I'll be going to a friends and we'll be setting off some fireworks which should be good fun. I really like Bonfire Night, I'm not very sophisticated so pretty lights and loud bangs amuse me. Plus I love the smell of Bonfire Night. It normally marks the proper start of winter and I'm hoping we'll see the first snow fairly soon (I love snow).
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Latest reply: Nov 5, 2011
We don't need no education (NaJoPoMo Pt.4)
Posted Nov 4, 2011
So UCAS, the body that handles university admissions for all students in the UK, has released a report into how the system can be changed and hopefully improved.
For those who don't know how it currently works (especially you furriners) it's fairly straightforward: between September and January students complete one application for university, no matter how many different universities they want to apply to (there are a maximum of 5 choices). The form itself is actually a masterpiece in simplicity with clear and well-laid out sections and the only tricky bit is the personal statement where students have to sell themselves to universities (since demand far outstrips supply right now, universities can be very choosy) and have a restricted and restrictive word count to do it in.
Universities ask for minimum grades or UCAS points achieved at the end of 6th form/college (each qualification result carries a set number of points: an A* in an A level is worth 140 points whilst an E is worth 40) and students are told to apply for courses that ask for grades around their predicted grades. This is where the problem lies: predicted grades can be awfully unreliable and the actual results don't come out until the 3rd week of August, just a few weeks before a student would be expected to start university. To accommodate students who miss their predicted grades and universities who fail to fill their quotas, there's a scheme called Clearing where unsuccessful students call around universities and see what courses are available. It's a horrible situation where students have to make life-changing decisions in a matter of minutes and it causes all kinds of problems for universities too, as they suddenly have a bunch of unknown quantities coming to them, instead of the carefully chosen students they would ideally have. There are also logistical issues of sorting out accommodation etc in a matter of weeks.
UCAS' proposal is that students don't apply to university until they have their results. Now I like UCAS a lot, they're good mediators between schools and universities, and they're efficient and reliable (except on some results days, like this years and their entire server went down). But this proposal shows they've gotten a little bit out of touch with how it is for schools and universities alike.
UCAS is a simple process, but it's quite a time-consuming one. The personal statement often take 5-10 drafts before it can be sent off and it needs quite intensive staff support (I work 30 hours a week - between now and Christmas, I expect at least 15 hours a week to be taken up by UCAS alone) and there's also a school reference to be written which can easily take 4 hours per student. That's simply not available during the summer holidays or early September.
University admissions tutors (the people making the decisions) also don't have enough time under the current system. There are some departments at some universities that receive tens of thousands of applications and August is when university staff tend to take their holidays too, as they're too busy at other times. They've got to read forms, liaise with academics, make decisions, make contact with students. Some arrange addition tests and some courses need things like medical and criminal records checks. 3-6 weeks isn't enough to get that done.
Then there's student finance: student finance is unrelentingly awful. They're inefficient, their form is confusing even to people who use it regularly, their staff are usually rude and hopeless, they're incredibly slow and they have a tendency to lose things. In my experience a student who has simple student finance needs and is prepared can be lucky to get their application done in 2 months. 4 months is more normal from my experience and 15 months isn't unheard of. There is no way, with the current student finance system/provider that university applications could be done in such a short space of time.
While I like the idea of students applying only once they've got their grades, as it saves a lot of hassle and stress for everyone, the current timetable doesn't allow it to happen. So here's my solution - either get exam results out much quicker (say mid-July), or move the exams forward so results can come out earlier. A few schools (including mine) are trialling a system whereby GCSE (exams at the end of compulsory education) students don't get a long summer and instead start 6th form within a week of their final GCSE exam. This give the A Level teachers a whole extra six weeks to teach, which could offset the time they lose to early exams. I'm going to a consultation meeting in a couple of weeks (feels very high level for me, but I got picked) and we'll see what happens.
Apologies if this was too dry/technical but it's something that would have a major impact on my job if it happens and I thought you guys might be interested.
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Latest reply: Nov 4, 2011
It was love at first sight (NaJoPoMo Pt.3)
Posted Nov 3, 2011
I'm having an aggressively bad day (lot of people shouting at me for things that aren't my fault, 5 buses driving past in the space of 10 minutes, not stopping, and getting home to find the fuse for the lights has gone and I can't replace it) so I thought I'd tell the story of my first love, just to cheer myself up.
The funniest part about it was I didn't even notice him the first time we met, I was too busy crushing majorly on his mate (who was extremely pretty). For some reason he clearly noticed me and arranged another meet-up. We were chatting for a bit and it hit me like a brick to the face - I'm not sure what changed but all of a sudden he was gorgeous, intelligent, insightful and really fun. He was breathtaking.
The time I spent with him was all glowy and shiny but, as Friar Laurence warns "violent delights have violent ends" and it seemed to disappear as quickly as it started and the glowing started to be more like radioactivity. Can't really remember how or why it fell apart but I went home from Uni at Christmas in a relationship and by the time I got back after the holidays I wasn't any more. We didn't run into each other for another two years, which is quite a trick given how village like the Manchester gay scene is, and when we did we both smiled, shrugged and went back to our boyfriends.
Might not have lasted long, but while it did it was like something out of a really bad film: thought about him pretty much constantly, was always texting him and wondering what he was doing. It was fun while it lasted.
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Latest reply: Nov 3, 2011
What I go to school for (NaJoPoMo Pt.2)
Posted Nov 2, 2011
My job throws up some fairly strange stuff on most days and it forces me to adopt a lot of different roles from the standard teacher, counsellor or careers advisor to the more unusual animal welfare person, social worker or travel agent.
Today it was my time to be a copper, investigating a horrendous crime. A member of staff had some property damaged beyond repair, a gang of students were seen entering the room where the deed was done but no evidence of who actually did it. The member of staff who had their stuff broken is someone we desperately want to keep onside because she makes our lives so much easier. First step is isolating the students so they can't collude and work out an agreed story where nobody did it. That's relatively easy
Then, as they each starts shopping the other in, we have to focus on the bits they all have in common as the truth probably lies somewhere in there. Through a little bit of interrogation we discover one of our little Einsteins has taken a photo of the entire thing. Success! Except the guy in the photo is only admitting to part of the damage and refusing to say who did the rest so we go to our next stage - barely veiled blackmail: tell the lad in the photo we have enough evidence to get him and him alone for all the damage. Miraculously his lips become unstuck and the true story emerges.
Next stage is the punishment: I was all for public humiliation but was over-ruled by the Head of 6th Form (she ruins all my fun) so we decide on a simple repayment, backed up with the promise of suspension if they don't agree. It seems like the worst bit for the students is the telling of the parents, but that's not going to happen until after Eid (we're not monsters).
So I got to live the movie cop cliche. I do love my job at times.
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Latest reply: Nov 2, 2011
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