26日的OLDaily第一则，介绍了一条来自英国的消息：
"Knowsley Council in Merseyside, which - for years - has languished near or at the bottom of exam league tables, has abolished the use of the word [school] to describe secondary education in the borough.
It is taking the dramatic step of closing all of its eleven existing secondary schools by 2009. As part of a £150m government-backed rebuilding programme, they will reopen as seven state-of-the-art, round-the-clock, learning centres with the aid of Microsoft - which has already developed links with one school in the borough, Bowring.
The style of learning will be completely different. The new centres will open from 7am until 10pm in both term-time and what used to be known as the school holidays. At weekends, they will open from 9am to 8pm.
Youngsters will not be taught in formal classes, nor will they stick to a rigid timetable; instead they will work online at their own speeds on programmes that are tailor-made to match their interests.
Children will be able to study haircare, beauty therapy, leisure and tourism, and engineering as well as the more traditional academic subjects.
They will be given their day's assignments in groups of 120 in the morning before dispersing to internet cafe-style zones in the learning centres to carry them out.
The 21,000 youngsters of secondary education age in Knowsley will also be able to access their learning programmes from home." ( via Graham Attwell and Independent newspaper)
我同意Graham Attwell的观点，这是一个意义深远的进展。英国默西塞德郡Knowsley镇议会辖区管辖着21,000名学生，它将关闭现有的11所中学。该学区 教育成绩一直堪忧，现在打算创建高科技学习中心。这些学习中心的开放时间从早上7点至晚上10点。“学生们不必在教室正襟危坐，也不用遵守严格的课表；以 后，他们可以按照自己的进度在线学习，课程也根据他们的兴趣量身定做的。”这正是我和其他同道中人多年来极力推荐的，所以，这个项目值得关注。 Graham Attwell 写道，“我认为这是第一次在现有教育模式上出现的重大突破，这种教育模式可以追溯到工业革命。而且，该突破绝不会是最后一个。”Joan Vinall-Cox则写道，“这才是教育应有的方向，这种学习模式才对许多（大多数？）人有效果。（Paula译）
这是我看到的第一个传统体制大规模向未来教育转型的案例。Farah说这是由于原来的教学效果差，使得这个学区的师生恰好成为试验区，说法有道理，但是，这样的转型，恐怕和整个社会的教育储备有很大的关系。发生在英国，这样一个近些年颇为创新的国家，不是没有道理的。
那么，这真的是一个重大突破吗？真的是“工业革命以来的教育体系开始终结”的标志吗？拭目以待。