This isn’t likely to be the most popular blog post I’ve written, but I believe that in amongst Gove’s idea to buy the Queen a yacht are some genuinely good ideas.

Here’s what happens in my mind…

Before the much scorned memo is circulated, someone at the Department for Education gets hold of it and makes a few minor amendments.

1. The ship is named RV QE2 – yep that’s right, it’s a research vessel

2. The cost of the vessel – proposed £60 million is split between the cost of a research vessel (£30 million) and a national endowment of the other half to run the good ship RV QE2

3. The RV QE2 circumnavigates Britain on an ongoing basis with a rotating crew of scientists, teachers and pupils learning about the oceans

4. The UK becomes the most-aware nation on this blue planet – spinning out great research, ideas and technologies for more sustainable seas

5. HM Queen Elizabeth II launches the ship on behalf of the country for her Diamond Jubilee and calls for a renewed sense of ourselves as an island nation and the value of our marine resources and the importance of the oceans to humanity

In terms of funding, reckon we could get a good lot of private money behind this – not a bad PR opportunity.

But that’s just in my mind. Not a bad idea in itself, just not quite the right focus. Who knows, this idea could have made this country the first in the world to have a floating academy.

Chris Jordan: Polluting Plastics from PopTech on Vimeo.

A very moving account of the issue of marine plastics by the photographer Chris Jordan. If you haven’t seen his work, take a look at the Running the Numbers series, a emotive take on our attitude to ‘stuff’.

It’s not that I am necessarily against the teaching of computing in schools. Running an organisation called Digital Explorer, it would be pretty contrary if I were. However, statements such as Ed Vaizey’s comment that knowing how a computer works should be “on a par with a knowledge of the arts and humanities” don’t really help.

It would be great if this latest fad in the national education conversation actually highlighted the good practice that exists in UK schools rather than repeating how poor everything is.

There needs to be a three-pronged approach to the issue of ICT in schools:

First, a decision about which items of ICT usage should be taught through other subjects (if they still exist in a years’ time). Examples could include:

• Use of word processing in English
• Use spreadsheets and databases in Science and Maths
• Internet research and analysis of reliability of sources in History
• Video conferencing with partner schools in MFL
• Digital photography and video in Art
• Online and social media safety in PSHE
• Blogs and digital mapping in Geography
• Use online campaigning tools in Citizenship

You get the idea. Pupils use digital tools to learn and communicate their ideas throughout the curriculum, a bit like previous national strategies on literacy and numeracy. This is already happening in many schools. It may well save time and energy for teachers if levels of competence in using various tools were agreed between departments. This would mean that as a Geography teacher you would know what your GCSE class should know about using spreadsheets and creating and interpreting graphs (they learnt this in Key Stage 3 Maths of course!).

Second, decide what should go into a computing class. ICT is probably a misnomer as this subject develops. This is where I become a bit stuck. What would I expect an intern to be able to do, when they come to work for Digital Explorer?

• An understanding of how to write a blog post and use html tags
• Formatting a range of digital media for use online, using tools such as image and video editing software
• An understanding of media sharing platforms and their relative benefits
• Use of digital mapping
• Basic coding (I taught myself how to write simple games in Basic using a Spectrum many moons ago and I think that this introduction made it easier for me to pick up using coding languages such as kml later in life)

I would like to be able to adapt and fix hardware in the same way that I would like to be better at car maintenance. I would love to be able to write little scripts that made life easier for me. In short, computing appeals to my creativity. I want to be able to make stuff. I find joy in the translation of lines of code into a wondrous digital environment.

The third aspect is rather more prosaic: infrastructure. Are there enough computers in working order for ICT to become a regular facet of teaching and learning across the curriculum? Will our attitudes to mobiles change with most students bringing a pocket to computer to school every day? Who will come to teach coding? Out of 28,000 new teachers in 2010, just 3 had computing-related degrees. I don’t blame them, when they can be out making a mint in the digital economy. Gove, do something clever, like subsidise company NI contributions if digital employees volunteer in schools once a week.

A caveat to end: technology is a tool not an end in itself. Digital Explorer uses technology because it enables us to share stories from the far-flung corners of the planet with classrooms across the world. Technology allows us to create and share content with a new ease. It cannot and does not replace the physical, personal and emotional journeys that lie at the centre of our work. This new emphasis on digital literacy in education must remember that young people still need to communicate and learn about ‘something’. My favourite example of innovation in ICT was the example of a school a few years ago now that had scrapped ICT classes completely and instead taught the Citizenship curriculum full-time, using ICT as a tool to support and extend the development of young people as engaged citizens. Now there’s an idea.

Here are some personal highlights in no particular order (I missed lots, I know, so please feel free to add comments on what I should have seen, who I should have spoke to, etc.)

1. Janapar film screening

Much praise to Tom Allen for having the courage to put his emotions and journey on the big screen for all to see. Delighted that this private screening was a part of Explore. Do sign up to hear more about the next part of this adventure – bringing the film to festivals and the public.

2. Atlantic Rising

A wonderful, humorous and thought-provoking talk from the Atlantic Rising crew, recipients of the Land Rover Go Beyond Bursary. Great that they had the platform they deserve and fantastic to see a continuing educational legacy on their new website.

3. foldedsheet

It’s simple, elegant and packs a huge communications punch. I hope you had the chance to meet Luce and see the examples of her work. Here’s an example of Al Humphreys’ latest book using foldedsheet…

4. Pangaea Expedition

I was sorry to miss Emily’s talk but managed to catch up afterwards to hear more about this fantastic oceans expedition project. They are looking at oceans plastic at the moment and hope to be able to work with them in the future.

5. The fact that this happens at all

Massive thanks to Shane, Amy and all the team at Geography Outdoors at the RGS. It’s an annual highlight, meeting with old friends, making new ones and finding out that exploration in the UK and beyond is in rude health. A huge achievement!!

Oh and I’ll never think about hippos in the same way…

As large and prominent as the Muslim world is, significant Islamic events can sometimes be overlooked by some Westerners. Fortunately, without having to look too hard, anyone can find news on what’s current in Islam. Lane Turner’s recent collection of photographs on this year’s Hajj and Eid-al-Adha events depicts Muslims from around the world observing and honouring one of the most important times in the Muslim lunar calendar.

Every year millions of Muslims make the Hajj, or pilgrimage, to Makkah in Saudi Arabia. This November was no different, with hours of praying and walking around the Kaaba of the Grand Mosque followed by other rituals, like Jamarat and the Eid-Al-Adha feast. Living in places as varied as Thailand, Palestine, Indonesia, Yemen, Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan, the Philippines, Russia, Bangladesh, Romania, Iraq, Libya, China, India, Nigeria, Kashmir, Iran and Afghanistan, both men and women came together to prepare for and celebrate Eid-al-Adha during October and  November.

Starting on the 26th of January 2012, the “Haj: Journey to the Heart of Islam” exhibit will be open to the public at the British Museum. According to Roger Harrison’s article, it will run until the 15th of April and will explore the Hajj in both historical and modern times. The exhibit consists of three main parts that help to give visitors an in depth understanding of Hajj and Islam.

One section focuses on the journey to Makkah from various directions: Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Middle East. It covers many of the struggles pilgrims faced on their way to Makkah in the past and people that were essential to getting large groups of pilgrims to their destination, like Harun Rashid and Thomas Cook. The second section looks at Hajj in modern times, addressing all of the rituals a pilgrim goes through and covering the effort it takes to manage millions of Muslims arriving at Makkah annually. The final section concentrates on Makkah itself and why it is so significant to Islam. It depicts Makkah in the past and present through artefacts, a film on the rituals involved with the Hajj and the works of artists.

Hopefully all the attention on Hajj will inspire people to look at the significance of Islam in our world and foster cultural understanding.

So as the oceans are so important, we’ve been through every GCSE specification for science and geography searching for the terms fish, marine, sea and ocean. They should be well represented. This is what we found out.

Top prize for a great section on the urgent issue of ocean acidification goes to the AQA Science team and their new Chemistry GCSE. Loving your work and hope that the rest of the exam boards follow suit. There’s also a nice reference to the issues of over-fishing, but no mention of marine case studies for species adaptation, mutualism, etc. It would also have been nice to connect in the chemistry of ocean acidification with some more on biological impacts say on zooplankton.

For Geography, we have an out and out winner with the team who came up with the Edexcel B GCSE and their Oceans on the Edge option. But it is still an option, however good it may be, and oceans don’t come up too strongly in the Edexcel A course.

So here’s what we’d like to see happen:

AQA Geography team
Talk to your science colleagues, have a look at the Edexcel B oceans option and get a really nice topic on the oceans in both your papers.

OCR Geography team
Really quite a lot of work to do if you’re to represent properly 71% of the planet’s surface in your GCSEs. The answers are out there.

Edexcel Geography team
Make ocean topic compulsory in A & B options. You’re way ahead, but this is no time to rest on your laurels.

AQA Science
Nice work. You’re out in front and the ocean carbon cycle topic can really be a trend-setter.

Edexcel Science
Good on mutualism and adaptation in the biology section, but chemistry needs a bit of work. See above for AQA.

OCR Science
A lot of catch-up.

We want to see more young people have the opportunity to study the oceans. We’re here to help. Do be in touch!

I am Elliott Murray, one of the chosen few who was given the incredible opportunity to visit Pakistan late last year. This year, I traveled over 3 months, across 3 countries in Asia, Thailand – Cambodia and India. I should point out that this is the first solo traveling project I have ever done, it would be very fair to say that the Pakistan expedition was a great starting point that gave me the confidence and thirst to explore more of the world.

In Thailand I spent one week volunteering at a self sustainable environmental community, consisting of 12 or so people from around the world. A lifestyle I had never been close to, and being fed on a daily diet of deep fried and oven baked dinners back home, was indeed a shock. Still, an interesting experience that taught me about how an alternative group of people live their life. We then did one week solo travel of Thailand. Pakistan taught me that their is no generalisation that can be made about a whole country, or community, that is always true, and that to learn about these things intimately, one must explore for oneself.

We then flew to Cambodia where we had arranged some time working at an orphanage for disadvantaged children in a small, remote village. We taught English, and knew that even our limited expertise of teaching was doing a great amount of good amongst this small community. Before Pakistan I was cynical in that I always believed if we where to ever make a social change for good, it must be achieved en masse. I then learned how small intimate projects change a selected group’s minds for tomorrow, who may indeed themselves take it upon themselves to re-teach what has been taught, to 20 more, and hence the cycle continues.

Finally I arrived in India, where I traveled independently. What I loved most was exploring other people’s cultures – drinking tea (or chi) with the locals, speaking with them and telling them of all the places I’ve seen in their country, and just understanding what their culture consists of. Whilst traveling I did see many tourists who would keep to themselves, and not be as talkative with the locals, and stay rather in their own bubble (taking private taxi’s opposed to local buses, staying in hotels with a price that could only be for foreigners etc etc..) which is fine, and maybe I would too have been comfortable traveling that way a few years ago, but since Pakistan I yearn to explore countries intimately, and find out what it’s real side is like.

Visiting Pakistan taught me to realise a country is always more than a 10 word headline, and that before passing judgment with a personal opinion, you must embrace it personally. It was without a doubt a huge part of my life, that has shaped the way I look at our world.

The tribunal has decided to focus on four points in the Arctic often called poles in Phase 1 of the Polar Taxonomy Initiative (PTI), namely: the Geographic North Pole, the Magnetic North Pole (current and 1996) and the North Pole of Inaccessibility. A wide consultation programme with both experts and members of the public has shaped the following proposals.

The Geographic North Pole (the point at the top of the globe) should be renamed the Pole of Public Speaking. We feel that this new name properly enforces the importance of this pole in the careers of many of our great adventurers.

The 1996 Magnetic North Pole (the point of focus of the magnetic field in the northern hemisphere in 1996) should be renamed the Pole of Convenience. We feel that this pole has been of great help to adventure racers, ‘ocean’ rowers and Top Gear presenters, and should be recognized as such.

The North Pole of Inaccessibility (the furthest point from land in the Arctic Ocean) should be renamed the Pole of Inconvenience. This new moniker reflects that this point lies a long way from anywhere with a warm bed and hot shower.

The Magnetic North Pole (the point of focus of the magnetic field in the northern hemisphere now) should be renamed the Pole of Perpetual Motion. Members of the panel are still searching for the pole, last seen somewhere near Ellesmere Island in the Canadian Arctic, and heading for Siberia at about 55-60 kilometres a year.

The Tribunal hopes that this new naming convention will help to save confusion in the future. All feedback is gratefully received.

Have fun exploring the oceans in 3D with Google Earth, narrated by the ever amazing Sylvia Earle.

If only we arrange our life according
to that principle which counsels us
that we must always hold to the difficult,
then that which now still seems to us
the most alien will become what we
most trust and find most faithful.

- Rainer Maria Rilke