Schools have been criticised for providing ‘easy’ vocational courses as a means of bumping them up the league tables. As a result, they were recently prevented from doing so as a large number of vocational courses were ‘devalued’ by the government.

Courses like nail technology services and horse care are given by BBC News as examples of courses deemed to offer little benefit to students but that serve as false indicators of a school’s academic prowess.

Now, there are two sides to this debate. Providing courses that offer little educational value to students just to bump up league tables is, of course, irresponsible and to be condemned. But there is also clearly some snobbery surrounding attitudes to some vocational courses – because who, ultimately, decides the worth of a course to an individual?

Would nail technology services, for instance, not be immensely useful to a young person hoping to one day set up their own beauty salon? And would horse care not provide a useful foundation for someone who wants to run stables when they leave school?

The focus should not be on the courses themselves, but on educating young people about the pathways to their preferred careers – because no, nail technology will be of little value to an aspiring lawyer. Helping young people to make informed decisions about the courses they choose – and their benefits and disadvantages – is crucial, and something that, clearly, many schools are ill-equipped to do.

This criticism of vocational courses is detracting from the real concern – and that is improving careers guidance in schools.  That needs to be the priority.

From uni’s not for me.

New research from our client Moodscope indicates that today is likely to be the gloomiest day of the year. This is consistent with the campaign launched today to 'mend not end marriages' - statistically more divorce petitions are filed immediately after Christmas than at any other time.

However, we agree with Jon Cousins, founder of Moodscope.com who says that the aim in releasing the results is to enlighten rather than depress: “On the face of it, discovering that today is one of the year’s gloomiest could be seen as yet more bad news, but we like to think that forewarned is forearmed. See it like a weather forecast. If you knew it was going to be cold and wet, you’d take a coat and umbrella when you went out. Knowing that people’s moods are likely to be low on January 3rd suggests you should do what you can to look after your own wellbeing, and also – certainly – expect others to be a bit glum that day too. Cut them some slack.”

So, here at Willow House, we're finding reasons to be cheerful. Christmas has been carefully wrapped up, ready for next year. The sweet scent of hyancinth and narcissus drifts through the office, the fruit bowl is full, smoothies have been blitzed and we find we're excited to be looking forward, not back. And to reinforce our optimism, as we sharpen our pencils and dust down our note books in the gloomy aftermath of a savage storm, the sun pierces through the bruised sky and shoots out a dazzling beam. Happy 2012.

We were inspired by the amazing work of Marc DuBois, executive director of Medecins San Frontieres when he spoke at the NHS Alliance Conference this year and decided this should be our Christmas charity. Click on our Christmas angel to find the green bauble and help us help MSF. A peaceful Christmas from us all.

I’m not really a fan of the exclamation mark, too often it is used unnecessarily. “Send me your home address please!!!” was one recent offending text message. And If I receive an email containing more than one or two, no matter how exciting the news, I am likely to be left feeling slightly deflated.

So when this year the NHS Alliance ran with the tagline Break through! and Dr Michael Dixon’s opening speech was titled No hiding place – it’s up to us now! my heart sank a little.

Within the first two minutes we had Lego animations, a room filled with music and Dixon breaking onto the stage through a paper screen. This was exciting, but it was also the staging equivalent of doing this: !!!!!!!!!!!!! What was he going to say to live up to such an introduction?

I needn’t have worried. Dr Dixon delivered a speech that showed he was not afraid of expressing his genuine opinion on the issues that mattered to his audience. He mixed high rhetoric, quoting from sources as varied as John Stuart Mill and T S Elliot, with the expected in depth knowledge and intelligent calls to action.

Dr Dixon’s speech was energised and peppered with exclamations of cautious positivity: “Ghandi warned us: ‘First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they attack you. Then you win’. You and your patients will win.” I wish I could tell you this captured the mood of the conference, but I am afraid it did not.

Delegates seemed deflated, and a quick show of hands instigated by HSJ editor Alastair McLellan showed that only a third of people in the hall felt any more enthusiastic about the reforms than they had a year ago. Many were concerned about cuts and continuing bureaucracy cutting into precious budgets. And judging a number of the high level speeches, who can blame them?

There were genuine highlights when Marc DuBois of Médecins Sans Frontières and Dr Ali Parsa of Circle Health took the stage, but inspiration from the higher echelons of the NHS was distinctly lacking. Sir David Nicholson, NHS chief executive and the Secretary of State for Health, Andrew Lansley, were impressive only in being able to speak for such a long time while saying nothing at all. Those of us who rushed away from genuinely interesting and inspiring workshops to listen deserved more.

For me, Dr Dixon earned his exclamation mark, and next time I see him using one I will be sure to get excited. But what about Break through!? The failings of Nicholson, Lansley and some others meant that as a tagline to the conference, it didn’t quite earn its exclamation mark. However, as a call to action to all the speakers and delegates sharing good practice and excellent advice? I’m with Michael Dixon: Break through!

Communication, localism and action – or lack of – at the NHS Alliance Conference 2011

In his opening speech at this year’s NHS Alliance Conference, chairman, Dr Michael Dixon, seemed to suggest that yes, we are having a revolution. And yes, I did think that beginning a conference by punching your way through a paper wall was pretty revolutionary. Break through! Good start.

Along with ‘revolution’ we heard a number of other exciting words such as ‘innovation’, ‘integration’ ‘change’ and ‘liberation’, but throughout the two days the big name speakers struggled to maintain the exciting rhetoric with which that the conference began. There was repeated suggestion that this innovative revolution should come from the bottom up / next generation – which is just as well, as the view at the top – (or the ‘bridge’ as NHS chief executive Sir David Nicholson referred to it in what we can only assume to be a private joke) – was decidedly uninspiring.  Both Sir David Nicholson and Andrew Lansley (in speeches attended en masse by the hopelessly optimistic) talked general nonsense about how they were in favour of the reforms and hit all the buzz words – ‘quality’, ‘efficiency’, ‘productivity’ ‘ensuring excellence for all’ – and we heard that in a few days we would be seeing a ‘draft guide to clinical commissioning’ – all slightly patronising considering we had been hearing excellent examples of innovation and change on a local level all day.  Sadly, there weren’t many ‘bottom uppers’ present – perhaps they rightly thought they’d be out of place among the generally pale, male and stale audience. Or perhaps they were at home – actually making changes in their areas.

One noteable exception was an excellent presentation delivered by Helen Chapman, locality service manager and Sarah McCarthy, community matron, from Sheffield Teaching Hospitals Community Services. The pair talked about how a relatively small telehealth operation in Sheffield was making a difference to the lives of elderly people with long term conditions. In nine months of the programme running, they had seen a reduction of 64% in unscheduled admissions and a 48% reduction in A & E attendances.  It was encouraging and inspiring to see that a community matron can be a conduit for change, and I hope that the 15 – 20 or so people present felt inspired to try something new in their own areas (because we can be assured that the hundreds of people who watched Lansley and Nicholson didn’t).

This brings me to another big theme of the conference – communication, or lack of.  Several speakers, including Andrew Donald, director of commissioning development, Staffordshire PCT Cluster, and Dr Hugh Reeve, chair, Cumbria Clinical Commissioning Group, referred to the importance of communicating with a variety of audiences in order to make the changes happen smoothly (again, a poor example of this was set by those on the bridge).  Since the people expected to lead the change from the bottom up weren’t at the conference, we can only hope that their betters have by now delivered the messages to them. But I remain cynical that the conference will have inspired real revolutionary spirit in those who are expected to make changes on the ground.

So the X Factor is dominating Saturday evenings once again. New judges, new faces, new tone deaf weirdies, Kelly Rowland’s incredible weave. One person that really has us talking, though, is 18 year old Frankie Cocozza. Not because we think he’s cute, or because of the seven girls’ names tattooed on his bum (you might live to regret that decision, Frankie lad). No, because of what he said when asked why he had entered the competition. Because he wanted to be a singer, maybe? No:

“I want to try and sleep with as many women as possible”

We get where you’re coming from, Frankie, but while we respect your honesty we can’t help but be a bit worried by your response. It plugs into an idea that is becoming more and more widely accepted – the idea that success is all (or only) about money, hoes, and fame – rather than doing something that you really believe in and are good at. It’s easy to see where this belief has come from – just turn on MTV and you’re in a spangly world of diamonds, bikinis and spaceship-sized cars. But is this attainable – and is this really what success is about?

Not to get all literary on y’all, but take a moment to read this poem if you will:

To laugh often and much;

To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children;

To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends;

To appreciate beauty, to find the best in others;

To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition;

To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived.

This is to have succeeded.

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

A few words from Jon Cousins, who founded our special client, Moodscope:

“You may remember a couple of weeks ago that I told you about a UK Department of Health website which is asking people to vote for their favourite health ‘apps’.  As their project begins to draw to a close, I have to confess to being delighted and awed by the comments that have been made by many many Moodscopers. We’ve also occupied the No 1 position for a considerable period of time.

Thanks so much if you’ve voted and/or commented (and if you haven’t, there’s still a little time left to do so).  More than anything though, please read through those incredible comments to get a sense of what others are saying about Moodscope.

When I record my own Moodscope score every morning there’s something inside me which scarcely ever allows me to pick ‘Extremely’ on the ‘Proud’ card but I have to confess that our Moodscopers’ comments really did make my chest swell a little.  Well, alright, quite a lot. I thank you.”

http://www.moodscope.com

Thought for today: Shun the ‘superman’ or ‘superwoman’ syndrome. No one is perfect.

You’d get in trouble at Asda if  you jumped on the conveyor belt (fun as it might be). So why should you do it when it comes to your life? Chris Woodhead (ex-school inspector for the queen, don’t cha know), says that not going to – or getting into – uni shouldn’t be seen as a bad thing:

You stepped onto a conveyor belt when you went to school and you have never had the chance to get off. You have it now and the best thing you could do might be to take it.

Chris’s words may ring a few bells for some of you, who might feel like you’ve been carried along throughout your school career without necessarily having any say in the matter – or feeling particularly engaged. Last year 19 year old Anya Reiss became the youngest person EVER to stage a play in London, when her play Spur of the Moment debuted at the Royal Court Theatre. University educated? No, actually. Anya too felt like her education was becoming a bit of a treadmill, and decided to jump off and do her own thing:

I’d had enough of being told what to read and having to revise for exams that you are told don’t actually matter only after you’ve taken them… It’s always the next lot that they tell you are really going to count… There’s always another hoop to jump through.

Bells still ringing? Well, either you’ve got tinnitus or it’s time to have a think about your relationship with education. Education, despite what your own experiences have been, should never feel like a treadmill. It should stimulate, enrich and inspire you, and leave you with a fresh perspective on life. Some people just don’t get that from academic education – and there’s nothing wrong with that. There are many ways to be educated, and this is something that people are really starting to become aware of right now (open any newspaper and you’ll see). There’s vocational education. There’s apprenticeships. There’s on the job experience. There’s the good old school of life that’s there to teach you so much.

So if you feel like you’re on a conveyor belt, maybe it’s time to checkout (see what we did there?) – and have a think about alternatives to university that just might suit you better.

uni’s not for me has landed – the one stop shop for young people thinking about alternatives to university. Looking for information, ideas and inspiration about what to do next? Or got some advice or experiences you’d like to share with others? Grab yourself a cuppa and drop in…

Anyone who hasn’t been living in a cave for the past couple of years will be aware of this transient craze with staying power: the pop-up. From pop-up galleries to pop-up shops and even pop-up restaurants, this new breed of installation is slowly but surely colonising all of the city’s nooks and crannies.

Bored on Saturday, I took myself to one of the latest to spring up – this one a bar and ‘space’ that had been built under a flyover in Hackney. As to be expected from something that markets itself as a ‘space’, Folly for a Flyover attracted its fair share of people in eye wateringly tight trousers and non prescription lenses. But strip away the pretence and here was something quite amazing. Over a period of months, a group of architecture graduates had crafted painstakingly what looked like a children’s storybook house, entirely from salvaged blocks of wood. By the house was a stage for live music performances, and by the canal (oh yes, this was by a canal) a jetty had been created from which boat rides were being offered at £2 for half an hour.

The scene, to look at, was not breathtaking – in fact, the construction blended very subtly into its surroundings – but there was something unusual about the place. And that is the fact that there were people around. What would otherwise have been an insalubrious, empty piece of waste ground, had become a hub, a community. By virtue of a few kids getting their heads together, dead space had been brought entirely to life. And that is what is so great about the pop-up. In our age of disposability, the pop-up is all about recycling what’s already there – more than that, reinventing what’s already there – and having a bit of fun in the process. Not a bad idea.

I think saga is a fair word, here, considering the definition provided by one dictionary: ‘A story about what happens to a group of characters over a long period of time.’ One can’t help but wonder if the ‘characters’ of this particular episode are overshadowing the conclusion it is working towards. I recall Mike Farrar’s words last month, who argued that coalition tensions were hampering the practicalities of reform: ‘We are realistic about working in a politicised environment, but this is about as extreme as it gets’.

To justify the ‘saga’ comparison further, nobody can deny that ‘a long period of time’ is even an understatement. If it ever does, will this all come to a heroic conclusion, with the protagonists riding into the sunset? The toppling of Babel seems a long way off.