Good week for
School publishers. An independent school is publishing its own digital textbooks, free to download online. The Stephen Perse Foundation in Cambridge is publishing 12 multimedia textbooks for iGCSE biology.
Computing lessons. Technology giants, including Google and O2, said they would support a £3.6m drive to improve how primary school children are taught computing skills in England.
Bad week for
DfE. The Department for Education’s finances are in disarray, according to the National Audit Office. The spending watchdog issued an adverse opinion on the department’s financial statements, saying it didn’t trust the accuracy of the DfE’s figures.
Free schools. A school in Sunderland was placed in special measures the day after another school in the north east was closed by the government. Grindon Hall Christian school was rated inadequate by inspectors and on Monday the government ended funding for Durham free school.
What you’re saying
As part of most teaching job application processes, you’ll be expected to give a test lesson. We asked our community on Twitter to share what has and hasn’t worked for them and how to prepare. Share your views via @GuardianTeach.
@GuardianTeach Good time management & not over planning are key. Engage the chn & understand what you want them to learn.
— Sarah O'Boyle (@Mrs_OBoyle) January 20, 2015
Photograph of the week
This post by @technanna2, a principal from Western Australia, caught our eye as she prepares to welcome pupils and staff back for a new school term. What are your commandments?
As we prepare for the start of the 2015 school year, some commandments for educators to contemplate. What's your #1? pic.twitter.com/6uGJHaZY7p
— Christine Walsh (@technanna2) January 17, 2015
The week in numbers
Lots of young people are “off the radar” when they leave school, according to the Public Accounts Committee. In a report, the committee says 148,000 out of two million 16- to 18-year-olds in England are not in education, employment, or training (NEET).
Latest data from Ucas shows the number of women accepted to study at university outnumbered men by record levels last year. The 2014 figures show the gap has widened to nearly 58,000, with women making up more than half of students in two-thirds of subject areas.
Parents are using computers as a way of controlling the behaviour of their children, according to a survey. Childwise found that parents use time spent on devices such as iPads as a way of rewarding or punishing kids.
Dates to remember
At the end of January we celebrate Scotland’s best love poet Robert Burns’ birthday, and it’s Holocaust Memorial Day on the Tuesday 27 January.
Resources for you
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The life and times of Robert Burns provides a number of themed activities for use in the classroom. You can also find a resource round-up here.
- Ordinary things explores artefacts and every-day objects that tell moving stories about the Holocaust.
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Telling tales is a beginner’s guide to storytelling, looking at why we should tell stories and which to choose.
- Explore character, meaning and interpretation in Romeo and Juliet by looking at short extracts from both the 1968 and 1996 film versions.
Blogs and comments
- Veterans bring ‘military ethos’ to schools
- 19 simple DIYs every elementary school teacher should know
- Letting kids move in class isn’t a break from learning. It is learning
- No child illiteracy by 2025, Nick Clegg pledges
- School Direct is choking university teacher-training courses
Quote of the week
In response to last week’s Secret Teacher, which called for a revolution against a targets culture, this comment summed up what a lot of you were thinking.
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Great comment piece. I know loads of teachers and I've seen the morale plummet - and it's not because of their workload or the targets per se, it's the fact that they know they're being forced to work in a way that lets the kids down. It's soul destroying for them.
Unfortunately the Govt have successfully capitalised on parents' sense of entitlement and the selfish dog-eat-dog mentality that austerity stokes to ignore than and portray it as teachers being obstructive for their own ends. It's so wrong.