Richard Jones-Nerzic

Finally, after three years...

The school did appeal and, I am pleased to report, lost again. This time the judge made them pay-out even more than the first time. In addition, Cheryl Boyce whose process for unfair dismissal started this whole affair back in 2003, has with the support of the SUNDEP union finally won her appeal. I calculate that with pay-offs and three lost court cases, Albiston has cost the IST well over 500,000 Euros since 2002. But I bet there is no-one in Airbus who actually knows this. My own case was heard (for the last time?) a couple of weeks ago. I await the result in mid January, exactly three years after all this started.

We have now received the final evaluation from Brussels. The report is very positive about our results (and our products), the evaluation and the dissemination (all Grade 5 out of 5 - this refers to "Very Good - Addresses the criterion with all aspects of high quality"). We have also received a positive response on the coherence between the work plan and the activities, partnership and project management (all Grade 4 out of 5 - this refers to "Good - Addresses the criterion with some aspects of high quality") Financial Management was accepted (Grade 3 out of 5 - this refers to "Acceptable - Addresses the criterion satisfactorily"). The criticism is easy to spot "The financial management of the first French coordinator [The International School of Toulouse] seem to have included some unclear information". Fortunately, it was not enough prevent the project from being approved. The e-Help project is at www.e-help.eu Congratulations to all project members and thanks to everyone who participated over the 3+1 years of the project. What this space for news about e-help 2.0

I was inspired by Peter's presentation to have a go myself. I had the idea of producing digital stories of a school trip. http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=X_tfjHWprhg The students pooled their hundreds of still images of the day and then produced their own digital account. The point of the activity was to demonstrate how interpretations of the same event could differ significantly even when produced by similar types of eyewitness.

Two observations that struck a note with me. When I joined the school in Bratislava 15 months ago every computer in the school was a thin client. They look great and are cheap, therefore everyone in marketing and management are delighted with them. But it effectively meant that the students were on the same diet of MS Office every lesson. In my recent Bratislava History Project, neither of the schools in the UK could fully participate because this forum and the student education forum were blocked by the local LEA. Even the intervention of the head teacher and the promise of a meeting with the Queen would not budge the LEA. Madness.

My IB Film students have completed an excellent short documentary about the Bratislava History Project and Nicholas Winton at http://www.internationalschoolhistory.net/BHP/film.htm and on YouTube at http://uk.youtube.com/user/BISBratislava

CBC this eveningNews report features BISB students interviewing Winton

This is the sort of email that makes the hours spend on the resource production worthwhile. I have always been interested in the Yalding project but have never had a chance to run it. And now I don't teach the subject anymore. Reading my comments above about RSS feeds etc. I was reminded of what I had envisaged. I thought it would be a wonderful project for a group of older students to coordinate. Without ever being in the classroom or even knowing the students involved, IB students could drip-feed information about the characters to the partcipants. I thought about there being a blog of village news, filmed reports (of course) and some sort of awards ceremony at the end of the year. I am always doing empathy and rolepay in bits, the idea of doing something this ambitious really appeals.

Yes, I agree and once again in Bratislava, Janos was full of good ideas and recommendations. I have been uploading the original Toulouse presentations and as a result had cause to watch Janos's presenentation again. One of the best we had I think. http://www.vimeo.com/1982805

Interesting Mike. I've been using forums with students for five years now and remain as convinced as ever about their utility and flexibility. For the recent Bratislava History Project, I considered using a Wiki for the students to contribute thier content and for others to edit. I decided against it simply because the forum needed no technical expertise at all, and the students were already familiar with the format. (Teachers however...) In the end they were able to work collaboratively in a very effective way, such as this thread shows. But of all the things I have done, it is my supervision of student Extended Essays that I have found most well suited (in terms of ICT value added) to the medium. http://studenteducationforum.ipbhost.com/i...hp?showforum=50 Both teacher and student write when they have something to say (just-in-time learning and teaching), it creates a virtual paper trail of support with exact times and dates, it creates a complete archive of a variety of sudent work (process not just product), it is hypertextual so allows direct linked reading to be included and it can unblock student impasse in seconds in the middle of a two month summer holiday.

Thanks. I was pleased with it. I had almost forgotten all about it.

I agree, I don't know anyone who has watched without struggling to keep back the tears. I'll pass on your comments to Matej, I am sure he will be pleased to hear it.By the way, I did wait to be spoken to but Vera Gissing interrupted me to give a copy of her book to the Queen. I edited that bit out of the film.

Thanks for that Mike. The students had a fantastic three days. The only down side was the BBC throwing the students out of the room they had prepared for the Winton interview. The scene on the BBC news item with Winton was actually lit with our rig, because the BBC crew didn't have one. And they almost didn't get Winton. They were about to do an interview with Alf Dubs one of the Winton 'children' thinking he was Winton, until one of the students pointed out their mistake. Anyway, we got about 6 hours of tape with all of the children and some of the veterans. One of the students sneaked in a 10 minute slot with Winton after the Queen left. The website is coming on. I added a video of the kids meeting the Queen today. http://www.internationalschoolhistory.net/...royal_visit.htm Will be adding some of the photos over the coming days. At the moment, I am working flat out with the film students trying to put together a short documentary for the annual confernec of the company that runs the school. We also have two of the veterans coming in next week to be interviewed.

Some questions have come in from the students at: http://studenteducationforum.ipbhost.com/i...p?showtopic=635 Whether it is alright to ask really personal questions, maybe about their parents? Also what are there any questions we shouldn't definetely ask or do or say? Do we actually contribute to the discussion or just ask questions without commentaries? How do we conclude after the last question? Thinking about questions from the period of WW2, what can we expect elderly people to remember from their childhood? And when does a question become too personal? Do you think it would be too uncomfortable to ask about Winton children's parents? As in whether they have ever found out anything about them or for how long did they have contact with them...? To what extent can we express sympathy towards interviewees and to what extent should we try to keep it 'professional'? 1. is it wise, appropriate or useful to ask questions which have already been asked, let's say in the film 'the power of good' or in any other well-known interview. Won't that just feel repetitive to them? 2.it will probably be inevitable to ask a personal question, as the whole topic is pretty personal and probably hurtful.. but is there anything you think could improve the way we ask these personal questions? language? etc.

And of course the same was argued by the ancients in their opposition to written communication. And of course it is true. This is one of those interesting indirect consequences of technological development that we can only just begin to appreciate. Teleprompts that mean that potential presidents and singers alike no longer need to learn their lines, mobile phones that memorize numbers and addresses, and pocket organisers that do everything else, what happens when we don't have to remember any more? Should we be worried about this?

£20,000 payout for teacher sacked after sending a rude email to Year 9 News | Published in The TES on 10 October, 2008 | By: Irena Barker A teacher who was unjustly sacked from an international school for accidentally forwarding a rude email to Year 9 pupils has won around £20,000 in compensation. A French employment tribunal found that Tanya Carlile’s dismissal from the International School of Toulouse was “disproportionate” to what she had done, and ordered the school’s sponsors, Airbus Mobility, to make the pay- out. In an interview with The TES, Mrs Carlile said her sacking and subsequent legal ordeal had made her look at “how precarious life is, especially with the internet”. She also expressed concerns for other British teachers abroad who might be vulnerable to unfair dismissal because they did not know local employment law, belong to a union or speak the language. The tribunal ruled that although the email had been of “dubious humour”, the pictures it contained were not pornographic and it was unlikely that 13 or 14-years-old pupils would be shocked by them. The email, titled “Why Women don’t Take Men on Vacation”, featured six photos, including one of a fully clothed man pretending to be sodomised by a gorilla statue. Others used perspective to make holidaying males appear to have enormous manhoods. One picture showed a man in jeans and a T-shirt sitting astride a huge phallic cactus. Mrs Carlile had immediately gone to the pupils who received the email and told them to delete it. Only three pupils actually saw the images and there were no complaints from parents, some of whom called for her to be reinstated after her dismissal. She also informed the IT technicians and the headteacher, and confessed her mistake. Less than a week after the incident, she was escorted off the premises of the anglophone private school, which caters largely for the children of workers at the nearby Airbus A380 factory and charges fees of EUR16,000 a year for Year 12 and 13 pupils. In its dismissal letter to Mrs Carlile in October 2006, the school alleged that she had attempted to conceal the true content of the email from management, something she successfully contested at the hearing. Richard Jones-Nerzic, a history teacher and union rep at the school, was also dismissed after informing other staff of the reason for Mrs Carlile’s sacking. He will hear the outcome of his own claim for unfair dismissal next week. Mrs Carlile, a special needs teacher, said: “The victory is knowing that I had done nothing wrong and that I had been as honest as I could be. The money means nothing as I have not been able to work for two years. No one in France would employ me because there has been this hanging over my head. I’m even renting out my house to pay my daughter’s university fees. “I really enjoyed working at the school. The children were good, with small classes, and I enjoyed the international atmosphere. I would have liked to have stayed on.” Mr Jones-Nerzic, who now works in Bratislava, Slovakia, said he believed the affair to be a case of “union bashing” by the International School of Toulouse. “Teachers at international schools can be particularly vulnerable in these kind of situations,” he added. The International School of Toulouse declined to comment on the case. The school has the right to appeal against the decision.

Thanks for your comments so far. One of the people the students will be interviewing is Vera Gissing, a 'Winton child' and author of Pearls of Childhood which is based on the diaries she kept during the war years. She is also wonderful on camera. She is memorable in the Matej Minac film but also had a significant impact on the students who have seen her in the UK Teachers TV programme The Kindertransport - Goodbye Home. http://www.teachers.tv/video/17842 I also read that Maybe we could use our e-Help Swedish contacts to try to track these people down? That could make an interesting project in its own right.

Thanks John The students are ready to begin their research now. I have created a thread for them to pose general questions about doing oral history. http://studenteducationforum.ipbhost.com/i...p?showtopic=635 Can you create a thread somewhere on the forum that is likely to be noticed by people likely to respond to their questions? Is there any chance that we could send out an email to all members asking for their contributions?

The details of the decision: Fairly conclusive I'd say. So will Airbus and the Directors of the school finally admit their error and reinstate Tanya?

Nearly 5 years ago, I had cause to reflect on why I had started to build a website a few years earlier. Much of my thinking at the time reflects what has been said already:

Maybe we could use our e-Help Swedish contacts to try to track these people down? That could make an interesting project in its own right. I will see what I can find out... I would have thought a couple of your students IB1(?) might be looking for an IA or EE idea. We could ask the questions on their behalf. The man is 100 years old next year and the knowledge about the Swedish connection might die with him. In addition, do you think you might be able to provide a little advice for students preparing for the oral history? I want to put an experts panel together to enable students to ask for advice.

The extract from the film about Nicholas Winton is http://www.powerofgood.net/ I am hoping that some of you might be able to help out on the student forum as historical experts. In particular, I thought that the oral history specialists might be able to give some practical advice and maybe respond to student questions. I had a phonecall this evening from the British Ambassador who has confirmed that Winton will attend. We also have the names of about 10 of Winton's children and Slovak veterans. I will have at least 1hr 30 with them and three teams of student interviewers. I also read today that Maybe we could use our e-Help Swedish contacts to try to track these people down? That could make an interesting project in its own right.

Great news Janos. The hotel is booked for you (IBIS) and I have ordered secure parking. It is a bit of a challenge to drive to, very central and all one-way streets but I'm sure you'll be ok!

Today, Halloween, seems an appropriate time to begin the updating of the case for members of the Education Forum. This afternoon Tanya's case was heard in the courts and I'm sure there are a lot of people here who will wish her the best of luck. It has always been my view that she was unfairly dismissed (a belief that ultimately got me in to trouble) and I am yet to meet someone other than Albiston and his lawyers who disagrees with me. I was interviewed for a significant number of positions before the British International School of Bratislava decided to take a chance on me, and in every interview with a head teacher the case of Tanya came up. Not one head teacher considered Albiston's actions remotely appropriate. And neither, at last, does the French Justice system consider his actions to be appropriate either. After nearly two years since Tanya was dismissed from the IST, I am pleased to announce that she has finally won her case for unfair dismissal. The result in my own case is due later next month.

As a long-term IWB sceptic, I have recently enjoyed a number of IWB Damascus moments in my new position of teaching without the (enormous) benefits of a laptop classroom. I was considering my conversion to SmartBoard pedagogy might be worthy of some e-Help time. Good luck with the research, hopefully we can discuss it in Bratislava.