Academics have become so frustrated by secrecy surrounding the research assessment exercise (RAE) that they are being forced to deploy the Freedom of Information Act against their own assessors.

RAE panels, which conduct an annual evaluation of the quality of academics' work, were recently instructed to destroy documentation showing how they reached their decisions, reports Times Higher Education (May 1). This would protect them from freedom of information requests and “the associated burden”, say instructions issued by RAE managers last November.

The University and College Union (UCU) is fighting back through an emergency motion from its Higher Education Committee. It will submit a monthly freedom of information request, for all RAE panel evidence including personal notes and draft minutes.

“The destruction of panel evidence destroys any argument that the RAE is somehow an objective and scientific measure of higher education research outputs,” argues the committee's motion.

Assessors wreathed in secrecy

Research assessment exercises are now so secretive that academics are using the Freedom of Information Act to view assessors' reports

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Maurice Frankel, director of the Campaign for Freedom of Information, agrees. “How can a complaints policy be effective if there is no trace of anything you have left behind?”

Concerns over information and secrecy have also driven a controversial website offline.

WillISeeMyTutor.com allowed prospective students to compare institutions by their staff-to-student ratios. However, its owners have been denied access to official statistics, following complaints that it skewed data.

The Higher Education Statistics Agency (Hesa) claims it refused to continue providing data because the site owners would not reveal their full identities. Such secrecy led Hesa to believe the organisation was not “operating on a basis of good faith”, according to a spokesman.

Why syntax is too taxing

In the phrase “ignorant teacher”, the word “ignorant” is an attributive adjective. Not many people know that. Not even English teachers who missed out on grammar when they were at school and are now struggling to teach it, according to a report commissioned by government.

Effective Ways of Teaching Complex Expression in Writing reviewed research on how best to teach secondary pupils, reports The Times Educational Supplement (May 2). It found their education may be suffering. “For English teachers, who themselves attended schools when grammar was not part of the English curriculum, there is a significant issue of a lack of assurance in grammatical subject knowledge, leading to difficulties in addressing grammar meaningfully,” says the Exeter University report.

Trainee teachers' subject knowledge was also called into question: they “may not have enough understanding of the writing process themselves to teach it effectively”.

Additionally, the pressure of testing and league tables can compel teachers to “reduce writing to a formula, stripping it of meaning and purpose”.

The report cites a need to “skill up' teachers in terms of both their subject knowledge and their understanding of effective teaching strategies”.

John Bangs, head of education at the National Union of Teachers, agrees that grammar can be a problem but points out: “The danger is that this will be seen as teachers' fault when it isn't”. He adds that teachers trained in the 1970s and 1980s were most likely to be affected. He also expects improvements for those trained following the introduction of the national literacy strategy.

MPs call for clear targets

It's probably not a matter that Santa can help with. The Children's Plan is in danger of becoming a mere wish list of ambitions, Community Care (May 1) reports. Without clear priorities and a timetable for action, the Department for Children, Schools and Families could be undermined, MPs say in a House of Commons report.

The high-profile plan sets out proposals on issues from play facilities to reducing child poverty. “[It] provides an opportunity to make a tangible and lasting difference ... to children's services across the board,” says Barry Sheerman, chairman of the committee. “We urge the Government to be clear about what it hopes to achieve through this ambitious plan.”

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