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Gove invites applications for new academy schools

Mike — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 15:42:30 +0000

Michael Gove, the UK’s new education secretary, has announced arrangements to revise planning laws in order that groups of parents, teachers and charities can begin founding new academy schools.

Those interested in the scheme may register their interest with the government as of today. Gove explained that more than 750 parties had already stated their interest. Naturally, the move, which is said to be based on the free schools model exercised in Sweden, requires a rewrite of current regulations.

It is hoped that new schools of this kind would increase the quality of teaching received by young people in Britain.

Goldie Hawn is the new advisor on education

Rachel — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 17:19:50 +0000

When you’re a child in school, the last thing you expect is for a Hollywood actress to be deciding on how you are taught.

Well for some children in America that thought has become a reality as Goldie Hawn has pioneered a teaching method which makes use of breathing techniques as a way of controlling aggressive students.

But it seems that politicians in this country are impressed with the actress’s methods and shadow education secretary Michael Gove has said that he wants to talk to Goldie about setting up a state school and her ideas for the education system in this country.

A change to student loans?

Oscar — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 09:32:02 +0000

Student funding has always been a controversial issue with plenty of people suggesting that students should not be entitled to any loans while others suggest that they should be entitled to more.

Well now, a think tank called Policy Exchange wants to see change to tuition fees. Policy Exchange has said that universities in England should charge tuition fees of at least £5000 a year in order to create a market with a variety of fees. The group has said that interest free loans for students should stop and that students from wealthier families should have to take out low cost bank loans.

Trainee teacher numbers set to fall

Oscar — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 09:16:49 +0000

Next year, there will be fewer trainee teachers in Scotland because it has been announced that 1,500 teacher training places are to be cut next year.

This move has been agreed as a way of dealing with unemployment among teachers and to make time to create jobs for those already qualified.

Trainee primary school teachers are predicted to be the most affected with numbers dropping from 2,555 to 1,100.

These cuts have followed on from the news reported by the Times Educational Supplement which reported that only one in seven new teachers had managed to secure permanent posts.

The controversial issue of sex education

Oscar — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 09:20:42 +0000

The subject of sex education in schools has always been controversial. And now a recent study has revealed that children who are taught about sex and the risks involved are more likely to start having sex. A lot of these will not use contraception and will therefore risk pregnancies and STDs.

The study looked at 662 children between the ages of 11 and 13. It found that a third of children taught not to have sex, had sex within two years and half given sex education lost their virginity.

So it seems that there is no clear way to ensure that children don’t have sex too young.

Universities see budget cuts

Mike — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 17:30:42 +0000

It seems as though our children’s futures could be under threat as universities announce that they have been hit hard by budget cuts.

The government announced an extra reduction in education funding at the end of last year and this has seen universities lose out on a further £135 million.

On top of this, £215 million is being cut from funds for teaching. Universities say that this will severely restrict the numbers of students they can take on. This is despite the government aiming to get more people into university.

Despite these cuts, science, technology, engineering and maths subjects have all been protected.

Inspectors find “gaps” in the teaching of new citizenship classes

Rachel — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 09:33:36 +0000

With the increasing number of immigrants becoming citizens of the United Kingdom, our education system has introduced classes to help them develop their understanding and knowledge of what it “means” to be British. These lessons were made compulsory 7 years ago, and in that time the results from the students in the classes have improved. However, there are still “gaps” in their knowledge.

Ofsted inspectors have said that in some secondary schools, there are “important gaps” in students knowledge. Their report was based up on 91 schools across the UK, and it says that just over half of the schools were, at least, “good” on the subject, but only one was rated “outstanding” and 10 were “inadequate”.

For such an important subject for the development of our citizens, one would assume that progress will be swift in coming.

High Grades in “Soft” Subjects Decieve Students

Rachel — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 08:49:28 +0000

It has only been 10 years or so since I sat my A levels, but my, how things have changed! In my GCSE day (oh how I hate to use that sentence!), we had to take the core subjects (English, Maths, all the Sciences) as well as History, Geography and a Technology (cookery for the “girls” and wood or metal work for the “boys”). And no matter what type of family you came from, you had to sit these subjects, and were encouraged by the school to give each one your all.

It appears that in most schools, they will select which subjects a pupil should sit, based on how well they perform, thus giving them a good excuse to not try harder at the basics.

This most definitely lulls our young adults into a false sense of security; all jobs will require some aspect of communication, thus making English skills a necessity, and most will require some capabilities with math. Our education system should not be promoting a false sense of achievement; it should be aimed at getting the next generation ready for the real world, and enabling them to be the best that they can be.

Get Your Kids into Reading ASAP

Rachel — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 16:50:14 +0000

With more and more attention being focused on kids performances at school, parents are increasing feeling the pressure to provide their kids with the best start, making sure they have the knowledge and skills to be able to excel in the classroom.

Studies have showed that by reading to your child from an early age, you are able to instil a love of books and desire to learn. And there have been many campaigns to try and encourage people to read with their children more. Despite a recession driven dip in sales last year, the numbers for childrens book sales appear to be on the up. And the driving force behind this sales increase appears to be the Twilight series, Stephenie Meyer having stepped firmly into JK Rowling’s shoes as favourite childrens author.

Annual figures from Nielson BookScan show children’s book sales in 2009 were up 4.9% in volume and picture book sales were up by 13% on 2008. The top ten children’s book were:

Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series

Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series

Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series

Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series

Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series

Beano Annual 2010

Miles to go by Mylie Cyrus

Mr Gum in the Hound of Lamonic Bibber /Sephir the Storm Monster by Andy Stanton and Adam Blade

Peppa Pig official annual

New Moon by Stephenie Meyer

Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K Rowling

Kunskapsskolan Schools come to the UK

Mike — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 11:34:35 +0000

Richmond Council has accepted Kunskapsskolan as sponsor of 2 schools set to become academies. Kunskapsskolan is a Swedish company already operating 30 secondary schools in Sweden. They are independently run from the state, but still state funded. Kunskapsskolan believes that one size does not fit all when it comes to education and uses an individual personalized based learning, and ensures that each pupil achieves the very best grade/qualification that they are possible of. All Kunskapsskolan schools are independently run from the government, but they are still the main funding partner for the schools. The Conservative party have been championing this style of education for some time and have used Kunskapsskolan as an example