The Schools' News Service

An excellent article in the Guardian on 31 December  http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2008/dec/30/anniversary-year-darwin makes the point that 2009 is a great year for anniversaries.  It is of course not the be all and end all of history – but it would be a shame if we didn’t recognize quite a few of them in passing.   Turns out [...]

Tens of thousands of teachers receive a free weekly news service about their specialism in schools – be it music education, senior management, administration, or any one of over 20 other topics.     This article is one taken from the hundreds of articles we publish each term.  If you would like to subscribe (free of [...]

When I reported in this column that the General Teaching Council have said that teachers can be fired from their jobs for behaviour which although utterly legal is not to their liking, there was some disbelief.   But now we see it happening: Adrain Swain, a 56 year old teacher in London has been sacked [...]

Just consider what happened this year. We kicked off with problems with the Making Good Progress tests because the results looked odd.   They were withdrawn – we have heard no more. Everyone who had anything to do with the SATS knew they were a disaster even before ETS got their hands on them.   Teachers had [...]

A Ipsos/Mori poll of primary and secondary teachers has found that 29% of science specialists agree that: “Alongside the theory of evolution and the Big Bang theory, creationism should be TAUGHT in science lessons”Only 65% of science specialists disagreed with the statement. Taught is the key word here.   A separate question raised the issuing [...]

The Light Blue Touchpaper blog comes from Cambridge University Computer Lab, and is well worth keeping an occasional eye on if you are interested in the IT end of such matters - http://www.lightbluetouchpaper.org/ In a recent article it picks up on a piece in the Times newspaper which focussed on a new website which claims to be “Facebook [...]

Keith Bartley, chief executive of the General Teaching Council has made it clear that the GTC is extending its powers so that effectively it has control over what teachers do in their own time, as well as when at work. This sort of control does not exist in most other walks of life, nor do [...]

Here’s a funny thought.  A former Ofsted chief (who can hardly have the highest level of credibility) has given a report on QCA (whose credibility is lurking somewhere beneath the basement). His view is that QCA acted on the basis that “it’ll be all right on the night” and was “in denial”  about the problems [...]

  For several months we have been watching Ofsted unravel. It has not been an edifying sight as everyone holds on to their jobs and everyone blames everyone else. Of late the education side of Ofsted has been saying that it has nothing to do with the social services side (where all the recent horrors, [...]

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I doubt that anyone from Ofsted reads the daily “Diary of a School Administrator” blog.  If they do they’ll have found a surreal story which has been running for some 250 episodes.  It tells the story of how a school is taken over by a corrupt Academy that tries to steal all the money from [...]

- National Play Strategy Launched with 89 LAs awarded funding to build and revamp playgrounds – This is part of £235m funding for play announced in the Children’s Plan with £30m due to be spent in 2010/2011 being brought forward to 09/10, as part of the Government’s drive to get the country through the economic downturn. [...]

The government’s new report on primary education says… – Summer-born babies benefit from starting early – - Play a crucial part of primary learning – - Smoother transition between primary and secondary needed – - Learning should combine subjects with cross-curricular study – And techno-savvy children are developing their computer skills faster today, providing untapped [...]

The Government has today announced £1m to support gifted and talented pupils in National Challenge schools and has set out details of extra support for National Challenge schools in selective areas. The £1m, which forms part of the £400m package announced in June this year, will fund a three year drive to strengthen gifted and talented [...]

Book review of the week No matter how much we might wish it were otherwise, the four great social concerns about teenage behaviour (smoking, drinking, drug taking and experimentation with sex) ultimately come down to the matter of the individual’s choice.   The problem is ,of course, that quite often the one person whom we [...]

The man who invented the phrase “net generation” now assumes to talk about education.  In a statement he suggests that teaching needs to move with the times reflecting new technologies. Tapscott said: “Teachers are no longer the fountain of knowledge — the internet is. Kids should learn about history but they don’t need to know [...]

Despite the fact that Oxford and Cambridge Universities have announced that they will have no problem with accepting students to appropriate courses with Diplomas there is now another suggestion that the courses that students take at A level can affect how the universities will look at their applications. Worse, it seems that many universities are failing to tell [...]