Showing posts with label Education. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Education. Show all posts
Pupils per teacher
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Reading in the TES:
- 25 - The average number of pupils per teacher in primary education worldwide, 2005
- 45 - The average number of pupils per teacher in primary education in sub-Saharan Africa, 2005.
- 83 - The average number of pupils per teacher in primary education in Afghanistan, 2005.
Source: Unesco
SEAL (Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning)
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Schoolswork.co.uk has a great post by Martin Watson on SEAL - What is it and how can it help me? As I have mentioned before I work as a Learning Mentor in a primary school and have been involved in pastoral care in secondary schools so this is something I have been trying to get my head around more.
Here are a few quotes from his post:
Here are a few quotes from his post:
Research has shown that well designed programmes that promote social and emotional skills have shown to have a positive impact on pupil’s attitudes and behaviour (Weare and Gray, 2003; Zins et al., 2004) For example:
• Pupils have higher self esteem and confidence
• Pupils are happier and get on better with each other
• Pupils are more engaged in learning so fewer disengage with school
• Quieter pupils become more assertive and confident• There is better behaviour in the classroom and improved attendance
• There is less bullying
• There are lower rates of truancy, offending and drug misuse
SEAL is not supposed to be taught for 1 hour each week and then be forgotten. The only way it will be completely effective is if it is used across the school with everybody involved.
SEAL aims to develop five main areas; self-awareness; empathy; social skills;
motivation and managing feelings.
Check out the Behaviour and Attendance website which has more detailed information.
I am excited about the opportunities this brings in school to develop young people as people and not just a factory line trying to get results in public exams such as SATs, GCSEs or A' levels. I think it also provides a great opening for churches to be involved in supporting schools in this. The topics that SEAL concentrates on, are ones that link with a holistic ministry to young people.
Are you involved in SEAL work in your schools work? Tell me about it if you are.
How to tie a tie perfectly!
This is going to be a slightly bizarre post - How to Tie a Tie: The Pursuit of the Perfect Knot. As part of my learning mentor work in a local primary school I am spending a good portion of time helping create a smooth transition between primary and secondary school. For a couple of the pupils I work with one of their big fears is being able to tie their tie as they don't have to wear one at present. Now that doesn't need to be a big issue with clip-on and elastic ties, but we might have a go at tying some ties for fun!
Teen pregnancy trends
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
Youth Specialties links highlights Seventeen Tackles New Teen (Pregnancy) Trend in their weekly email. Go read the article, very interesting and thought provoking. Here are a few clips:
I've definitely had my issues with Seventeen magazine in the past, and as a young sex educator am always a little leery of studies like this one, mostly because they allow adult readers to generalize from the statistics without being exposed to the intricate, convoluted reasons why things are the way they are. But this time, Seventeen got it right: the issue, out on newsstands, talks respectfully and frankly to young women, in a space where they are all eyes, about sex and the real world -- and allows us to learn a few things in the process.
Which famous person would make a good teacher?
Monday, February 04, 2008
Children across the UK chose David Tennant - TV's Dr. Who - as their ideal celebrity teacher in a poll conducted by CBBC Newsround and the Children's Society. More than a quarter of those asked 'Which famous person would make a good teacher?' chose the doctor believing he would be a great teacher for science, history and geography because of his travels through time and space.
Newsround invited children to answer questions about how they learn. Their comments will form part of the Children's Society's Good Childhood Inquiry.
Other stars scoring highly were JK Rowling, followed by Dr. Who's former assistant Billie Piper, and David Beckham.
Shakespeare in comics
Some of my girls were moaning yesterday morning about the difficulty in understanding what Shakespeare was on about when he wrote Much Ado About Nothing. Well later on I saw this site - Classical Comics - mentioned and thought it might help them. Key sections from the Key Stage 3 set texts have been transformed into comics. Alongside the images there are three levels of dialogue: original and unabridged, modern-day version, and simplified. Well worth a look.
Books I have read: Information for parents - Speech and language difficulties
Sunday, February 03, 2008
Continuing my reading around my Learning Mentor role I had a flick through Information for parents - Speech and language difficulties. This was a fantastic resource - speech and language difficulties in young children are not unusual. Research suggests that as many as one child in 10 under the age of five suffers some problems.
Possibly the most helpful section was where it explains how children normally develop communication, language and speech and how adults can help in these processes. There is a fantastic table on pages 11-12 which shows the normal stage a 1 year, 18 month, 2 year, 36 month, 3 year, 4 year, and 5 year old child should be at in term of social and play, understanding, and talking.
The booklet also touches on how to start getting professional help; speech and language therapy – what it is, who provides it, how to get it and what to do with it, once you have it; and as usual for this series of guides it has a large extensive list of contacts at the back for further information.
Government loses faith in growth of religious schools
Friday, January 18, 2008
The Government has decided against backing more faith schools, the Children, Schools and Families Secretary, Ed Balls, told MPs.
In what is being seen as one of the most significant policy shifts of the post-Tony Blair era in education, he told a Commons select committee: "It is not the policy of the Government nor my department to expand the number of faith schools. We're not leading a drive for more faith schools."
His comments are seen as a major departure from the stance taken by Mr Blair and one of Mr Balls' predecessors, the staunchly Catholic Ruth Kelly. Mr Blair made it plain that he wanted to see faith groups coming forward to sponsor his flagship academies – set up to replace struggling inner-city schools – on the grounds that faith schools had better exam results than the national average and could pass on their expertise.
Muslim Fear Behind Faith Schools Reverse?
The spread of faith schools across the country has been shelved because ministers fear they could help create a new generation of Muslim extremists, it was claimed last night.
A favourite project of Tony Blair, the schools have previously been seen as a success, with good academic results and satisfied parents.
But in a Commons committee on Wednesday, Ed Balls, the Schools Secretary, appeared to take a step back from plans to create more. He said ministers had no ideological commitment to faith schools, in which children are admitted on the basis of their parents' beliefs.
Mr Balls added that he did not necessarily believe they were best for communities and that it was up to local people to say if they wanted one in their area.
He also said he wanted faith schools to avoid dividing neighbourhoods along racial lines, adding: "There were many examples of faith schools who actually promote community cohesion. I want that best practice to apply to all schools."
Googling for your grade
Thursday, January 03, 2008
The Children's Plan
Saturday, December 15, 2007
The government has announced the Children's Plan, a £1bn 10-year strategy for education, welfare and play. It includes changes to the primary school curriculum and the possible end of the Sats tests in England by 2009. The wide-ranging plan promises 3,500 playgrounds, flexible school starts for summer babies, more nursery places in deprived areas, a focus on teaching English, maths and foreign languages in primary schools, adventure play parks and more information for parents about children's progress.
Children's Secretary Ed Balls said the mission was to make "our country the best place in the world to grow up" and the Plan would "unlock the talents and promote the health and happiness of all children, and not just some". The Children's Plan draws together the government's proposals to improve children's learning and well-being by 2020.
You can download a free copy of the Plan here.
You can download a free copy of the Plan here.
SingUp encouraging young people to sing
Thursday, December 06, 2007
A new national singing programme called Sing Up has been launched in primary schools to help young children gain from the benefits of music.
Singing ambassador, composer Howard Goodall, said: "We already know that young people who are lucky enough to learn music and sing from an early age develop better social skills, memory, ability to listen and have more confidence." He added: "Singing, in particular, is brilliant. It's a positive, life-affirming activity that builds a child's self-esteem, promotes team-work irrespective of age, gender, and background, celebrates diversity, facilitates self-expression, and is just plain fun."
Sing Up's Web site (http://www.singup.org/) went live last month and has already built up a wealthy "song bank" of traditional and new songs for teachers, parents and carers to use with young children. The Sing Up Web Site also features a "song of the week" and aims to use singing to investigate different cultures and religions as well as different areas of skill.
Singing ambassador, composer Howard Goodall, said: "We already know that young people who are lucky enough to learn music and sing from an early age develop better social skills, memory, ability to listen and have more confidence." He added: "Singing, in particular, is brilliant. It's a positive, life-affirming activity that builds a child's self-esteem, promotes team-work irrespective of age, gender, and background, celebrates diversity, facilitates self-expression, and is just plain fun."
Sing Up's Web site (http://www.singup.org/) went live last month and has already built up a wealthy "song bank" of traditional and new songs for teachers, parents and carers to use with young children. The Sing Up Web Site also features a "song of the week" and aims to use singing to investigate different cultures and religions as well as different areas of skill.
Curvy women are more intelligent
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Interesting study, that highlights yet again how girls shouldn't think it is all about being "stick thin":
Women with curvy figures are likely to be brighter than waif-like counterparts and may well produce more intelligent offspring, a US study suggests. Researchers studied 16,000 women and girls and found the more voluptuous performed better on cognitive tests - as did their children.
However, it doesn't seem to have convinced many other experts!
School leaving age plans unveiled
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
Raising the education leaving age in England and Wales to 18 has been in the news a lot following the Queen's Speech. The bill, which applies to England and Wales, is designed "to ensure that young people stay in education or training until age 18 and to provide new rights to skills training for adults. Raising participation will ensure that all young people - especially the most vulnerable - will benefit from the opportunities provided by continuing in learning."
It means that by 2013, all pupils will have to stay in education or training until the end of the school year in which they turn 17. By 2015, this leaving age will be raised to the 18th birthday.
The bill includes a duty on young people to comply with this regulation - and also a duty on their parents "to assist their children to participate". This raises the prospect that parents as well as children will face legal responsibilities to ensure attendance until the age of 18.
But the Department for Children, Schools and Families says that this will not mean parents facing truancy-type fines. Instead, if they deliberately obstruct their children's attendance they could face parenting orders.
Pupils who fail to comply are expected to face fines or community service, rather than prison. There will also be a duty placed on local authorities to ensure that young people participate up to the age of 18.
Certainly looks interesting. I think it isn't a bad thing to keep young people in school longer to provide more training and education. For more the issue is the process - it is important that the concept of apprenticeships, of training on the job, of training that is based on life skills as well as academic skills are all developed, not just on a government paper, but in practice, in our local areas. I await to see what difference will it mean in Brentwood, how will it affect the young people from the estates who drop out of school for a variety of reasons. What difference will it make in their life?
Leave Us Kids Alone
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Having had some time off this week I randomly came across Leave Us Kids Alone on BBC 3, and I have loved watching it. The gist of it is that 12 older teenagers are given three weeks to create and run their own school, from scratch. They are given a group of 12 year olds to look after. They have to look after the pupils, including feeding them, organising activities as well as creating a curriculum. In addition they had regular inspections from ex-OFSTED inspectors to ensure they kept up to scratch. To make it even more pressured the teenagers have to live together in the school - so the pressure is there all the time.
It was fantastic to watch their strengths and weaknesses, to see how they coped with the responsibility. The two most interesting things were watching who and how they coped with being head teacher; and how they revised the curriculum - at first it started off pretty much the same as a normal school but with the lessons being slightly more lively, after a while though they completely changed this and tried hosting themed days where all subjects were focussed on the same theme.
I think there is one more programme tomorrow night so keep a look out if you have BBC 3.
It was fantastic to watch their strengths and weaknesses, to see how they coped with the responsibility. The two most interesting things were watching who and how they coped with being head teacher; and how they revised the curriculum - at first it started off pretty much the same as a normal school but with the lessons being slightly more lively, after a while though they completely changed this and tried hosting themed days where all subjects were focussed on the same theme.
I think there is one more programme tomorrow night so keep a look out if you have BBC 3.
The UK and responsible sex
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
Condom makers Durex have announced results of a survey of 26,000 people in 26 countries regarding sex. The survey says that 26% of people in the UK do not use contraception when they lose their virginity, in comparison with the most responsible people being in Greece where 88% of first timers using contraception.
Other points included:
- 14% of people in the UK were under the influence of either drugs or alcohol when they first had sex.
- Teenagers were more likely to use contraception than those in their 20s, suggesting safe sex messages were working. Nearly 80% of the 16 to 19-year-olds surveyed used contraception the first time they had sex, the figure dropped to 60% for those aged 20 to 24 and just above 50% for 25 to 34-year-olds.
- The study indicated women were 25% more likely than men to take precautions but are more likely to feel pressured - with 28% saying they felt under pressure, compared with 15% of men.
- Almost half of women also regret their first sexual experience, compared with 32% of men, according to the survey.
- The global average age to first have sex is 19.25 years. In the UK it is 18.3 years, compared with Malaysia, which had the highest average age at 23, and Austria, with the lowest at 17.3.
Some interesting statistics. Most importantly, it shows that we should not forget about older age groups when it comes to safe sex messages, the 20s are in as much need of hearing the message about safe sex as teenagers. It is sad, though, with something as special and intimate as sex that near on 50% of women and 32% of men regret their first sexual experience. As I have said before on the blog, the education and way in which young people are informed about sex needs to improve, but most importantly the media need to take responsibility for the image they portray to young people.
Pupils being excluded from schools
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
The BBC are highlighting how there were 343,840 suspensions of teenagers in English secondary schools last year for things such as assault, abuse, bullying and disruption.
Education Minister Jim Knight said schools were using the "short, sharp shock" to nip problems in the bud. Mr Knight said: "The rise in fixed period exclusions reflects the tough approach schools are taking to address bad behaviour."
There were 9,170 permanent exclusions from primary, secondary and special schools.
That was 3% less than the previous year. But - with falling school rolls - the rate was unchanged at 0.12% of the school population or 12 pupils in every 10,000.
In our church some of the youngsters we are working with have been partially excluded, for example two are only allowed to go into school for just under a day a week. Unsurprisingly with no other provision for the rest of the time they struggle with basic skills and cause more trouble in the local community. It is something that has got me thinking about how, as a church, we can support those youngsters in providing one-on-one support, and some placement opportunities.
Education Minister Jim Knight said schools were using the "short, sharp shock" to nip problems in the bud. Mr Knight said: "The rise in fixed period exclusions reflects the tough approach schools are taking to address bad behaviour."
There were 9,170 permanent exclusions from primary, secondary and special schools.
That was 3% less than the previous year. But - with falling school rolls - the rate was unchanged at 0.12% of the school population or 12 pupils in every 10,000.
In our church some of the youngsters we are working with have been partially excluded, for example two are only allowed to go into school for just under a day a week. Unsurprisingly with no other provision for the rest of the time they struggle with basic skills and cause more trouble in the local community. It is something that has got me thinking about how, as a church, we can support those youngsters in providing one-on-one support, and some placement opportunities.
Purity rings in schools
Monday, June 25, 2007
Throughout the weekend there has been comment in the media (for example) regarding Lydia Playfoot, the 16-year-old girl who went to the High Court on Friday accusing her school of discriminating against Christians by banning the wearing of "purity rings".
But headteacher Leon Nettley, said the school was applying a basic uniform policy, which "has the overwhelming support of pupils and parents". He said her ring was "not a Christian symbol, and is not required to be worn by any branch within Christianity", adding that Lydia was free to display her faith in other ways, e.g. by the wearing of a cross or crucifix.
I think my views are very similar to that of Lev. It is great to see a young person sticking up for their beliefs, but is this the correct fight to be having, are there bigger issues that are worth putting the time and effort into. Is a purity ring really a key symbol of the Christian faith, of course it isn't. It may well be biblically based etc., but it is isn't something the Bible asks us to where.
But headteacher Leon Nettley, said the school was applying a basic uniform policy, which "has the overwhelming support of pupils and parents". He said her ring was "not a Christian symbol, and is not required to be worn by any branch within Christianity", adding that Lydia was free to display her faith in other ways, e.g. by the wearing of a cross or crucifix.
I think my views are very similar to that of Lev. It is great to see a young person sticking up for their beliefs, but is this the correct fight to be having, are there bigger issues that are worth putting the time and effort into. Is a purity ring really a key symbol of the Christian faith, of course it isn't. It may well be biblically based etc., but it is isn't something the Bible asks us to where.
Poor white boys are lowest attainers
On the coach back from the school residential I heard on the radio how a Joseph Rowntree Foundation study shows that most of the persistent low achievers in England's schools are poor and white, and far more are boys than girls.
The chief characteristic of low achievers is that they come from disadvantaged backgrounds. They are more likely to qualify for free school meals, live in areas of high unemployment, and have single parents who themselves have poor qualifications.
For a summary check out this graph:
Learning is linked to wealth
Monday, June 11, 2007
Research from The Institute of Education, based on a survey of 12,000 children shows that by the age of three, children from disadvantaged homes are up to a year behind in their learning than those from more privileged backgrounds. Graduates' children were seen to be 12 months ahead of those of the least well educated in tests on their grasp of letters, numbers, colours and shapes. And disadvantaged children's vocabulary skills were 10 months behind their more advantaged peers.
One of the researchers, Dr Heather Joshi, said: "The advantaged children tended to be way ahead of the average and the disadvantaged children were lagging behind. If you look at the front-runners and the runner ups - there's almost a year's worth of differences."
This shows the challenges that schools face. If a year's worth of learning is the difference by the age of 3 no wonder there can be problems trying to provide for all in one classroom.
One of the researchers, Dr Heather Joshi, said: "The advantaged children tended to be way ahead of the average and the disadvantaged children were lagging behind. If you look at the front-runners and the runner ups - there's almost a year's worth of differences."
This shows the challenges that schools face. If a year's worth of learning is the difference by the age of 3 no wonder there can be problems trying to provide for all in one classroom.
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