TEACHERS STRIKE 'WILL CLOSE MORE THAN 10,000 SCHOOLS'

4/5/2008 1:07:00 PM

Independent 5 April

More than 10,000 schools will close when Britain's biggest teachers' union, the NUT, stages a one-day strike later this month, according to a national survey published yesterday. And headteachers' leaders have warned that they will not act as "strike-breakers" and keep children in school. Mick Brookes, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, said: "We're not going to be asking our members to take this class or that if the teacher is off."The survey of 7,300 teachers, carried out by the Times Educational Supplement, revealed that 47 per cent thought their school would close on April 24 – the day of the stoppage. That would mean about 12,000 schools closing.The survey showed that six out of ten teachers supported the stoppage by the National Union of Teachers. Even among other teachers' unions, who refused to strike, 52 per cent of those polled supported their colleagues' action.Independent

Lead Story | General

SCHOOLS RETURN TO TRADITIONAL CLASSROOMS

4/5/2008 12:07:00 PM

Daily Telegraph 5 April

Schools across the country are scrapping 1970s-style open-plan classrooms and returning to traditional layouts. Primary schools in Gloucestershire, Derby, Coventry, Leicester, Hertfordshire and Cardiff are among dozens to have redesigned their interiors, creating back-to-basics classrooms in which children sit at desks and staff instruct from the front. Teachers have admitted that the noise levels and constant distractions in open-plan areas, where up to 100 children explore their "free-flowing creativity" in a liberal environment, make it too difficult to teach.Telegraph

General

BOARD CHARGING MORE FOR A-LEVELS THAN RIVAL, SAYS WATCHDOG

4/5/2008 12:22:00 PM

The Guardian 4 April

New A-level exams offered by the Edexcel examinations board are 37% more expensive than those offered by one of its rivals, the government's exams watchdog said today. Edexecel will charge £19.86 per unit, or module within an A-level, in 2008/09, up 26.8% on this year, which means £90.52 per whole A-level compared with an average cost of £76.08. In 2007 the exam board had 24% of all A-level entries. WJEC, previously known as the Welsh Joint Education Committee, is the next most expensive. It will charge £16.97 per unit in 2008/09 and £73.51 per A-level. The Oxford, Cambridge and RSA examinations board, which had 25% of all A-level entries last year, will charge £15.81 per unit and £73.08 per A-level on average. The Assessment and Qualifications Alliance exam board will charge £15.57 per unit and £67.20 per A-level on average - 37% less than Edexcel. But fees for the exams have been reduced overall - by an average of 6.3% - mainly because of structural changes in the new A-levels that will be taught from September, the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) said.Guardian

Curriculum / Quality Assurance

QUALIFICATIONS STRATEGY: US-STYLE POINTS SYSTEM ENABLES MIXED EXAM RESULTS

4/5/2008 12:37:00 PM

The Times 5 April

Teenagers would be able to mix GCSEs, A levels, the new diploma and vocational courses under plans to transform examinations into a US-style high school system. Ministers want to bring all qualifications for 14 to 19-year-olds within a new “credit-based” framework, in which pupils earn points for completing units in different subjects to arrive at an overall average grade, according to The Times Educational Supplement. Proposals for the new system are outlined in a qualifications strategy published by the Department for Children, Schools and Families, which states that the reforms would give students greater flexibility. But the document gives warning that care would be needed to ensure that the new structure did not compromise the integrity of traditional A levels and GCSEs, which are not currently credit based. The Government believes that new secondary school diplomas, combining work-related practical learning with theory, could eventually replace GCSEs and A levels. The first of the new diplomas will be taught to 40,000 teenagers in England from September.Times

General | Curriculum / Quality Assurance

STOP-GAP JOBS 'ROB GRADUATES OF AMBITION'

4/5/2008 12:45:00 PM

The Times 5 April

Graduates who take stop-gap jobs after leaving university can get so depressed by the boredom of their work that they damage their proper career chances, according to research. They would be better off staying on the dole, the study says. After nine months of low-grade work, graduates were more distressed, less motivated and more likely to fall into depression than those who were unemployed. Motivation was so low among graduates who had typically taken jobs in restaurants, shops or lower-level clerical work that they had mostly given up hope of getting into their chosen profession. Those who were not working remained far more optimistic that they would soon get the break they needed to start their career. The findings run contrary to the received wisdom that people are always better off in work, whatever the job. The research by Tony Cassidy, of the University of Ulster, and Liz Wright, of De Montfort University, was presented to the British Psychological Society conference in Dublin yesterday. Times

FE/HE/ Skills

'UNCOOL GYM KITS TURN GIRLS OFF SPORT'

4/5/2008 12:08:00 PM

Daily Telegraph 5 April

Girls are failing to do enough exercise at school because they see physical education as "uncool", according to teachers.Increasing numbers of teenage girls are being turned off games as lessons are not tailored to their needs and gym kits are unfashionable, it is claimed.It comes as official figures show that pupils in all-girls' schools play significantly less sport than in mixed or boys' schools. The Department for Children, Schools and Families said that pupils at just 65 per cent of girls' schools did at least two hours of PE or sport a week - the official Government target -compared to 86 per cent nationally.The disclosure - in answer to a Parliamentary question by the Liberal Democrats - will fuel fears that many girls are putting their long-term health at risk by not getting into the habit of exercising at a young age.Telegraph

General | Secondary

GORDONSTOUN SCHOOL LINKS UP WITH FAILING SHERWOOD SCHOOL

4/5/2008 12:44:00 PM

The Times 5 April

Gordonstoun School, the independent boarding school once branded a “hell-hole” by the Prince of Wales for its cold showers and early morning runs, is to help a failing comprehensive by backing a new city academy. Sherwood School in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, one of 638 failing secondary schools on the Government’s hitlist, is to be renamed the Samworth Church Academy in the new partnership. The elite Scottish school will bring its ethos, based on an holistic approach coupled with plenty of outdoor activities. In return Gordonstoun will benefit from the academy’s expertise in information technology, in particular that used to create a state-of-the-art virtual learning platform that will soon enable the academy to provide lessons, record pupil attainment and communicate with parents online. Gordonstoun, like many independent schools, has fallen behind the state sector in new technology. Michael Griffiths, principal designate of the new £20 million academy, which will open to pupils in September and move into a new building in 2010, said that the school had sought a partnership with Gordonstoun because it had been attracted to the philosophy of the school’s founder, Kurt Hahn. Times

Secondary | Independent/ Private Sector

TEACHERS STRIKE 'WILL CLOSE MORE THAN 10,000 SCHOOLS'

SCHOOLS RETURN TO TRADITIONAL CLASSROOMS

BOARD CHARGING MORE FOR A-LEVELS THAN RIVAL, SAYS WATCHDOG

QUALIFICATIONS STRATEGY: US-STYLE POINTS SYSTEM ENABLES MIXED EXAM RESULTS

STOP-GAP JOBS 'ROB GRADUATES OF AMBITION'

'UNCOOL GYM KITS TURN GIRLS OFF SPORT'

GORDONSTOUN SCHOOL LINKS UP WITH FAILING SHERWOOD SCHOOL

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