News in brief
- The number of families receiving their first-choice primary school has fallen in many parts of England. This comes as a baby boom puts a squeeze on classroom places. Birmingham, the largest local authority in England, appears to be among the worst-affected regions, with fewer than 85% of families receiving their first preference. This is a three-point drop compared with last year.
- The Labour party has accused the Conservatives of causing a crisis in primary schools, saying a record number of children may be being taught in classes larger than the legal limit. Based on freedom of information data, Labour’s shadow education secretary, Tristram Hunt, said that as many as 100,000 primary school pupils could be in classes bigger than the 30 children per teacher allowed by law in England.
- In Atlanta, Georgia, nine school officials have been sentenced to prison following convictions for taking part in an exam cheating scandal. Evidence of cheating was uncovered at 44 schools involving nearly 180 officials. Judge Jerry Baxter called the case “the sickest thing that’s ever happened in this town”.
- Teaching primary students about sexual abuse could help them report offenders, according to new research. The study used data from 24 separate trials involving 6,000 children around the world. Researchers found that students who are taught about preventing sexual abuse at school are more likely to report their own experiences of it.
Research of the week
Children as young as eight are being put off sport by their parents, according to a new study.
Of the 1,002 children aged eight to 16 surveyed by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and the charity Chance to Shine, 45% said their parents’ behaviour was why they didn’t want to take part in sport.
Four in 10 children (41%) said that their parents criticised their performance with 16% saying this was a frequent occurrence or something that happened all the time.
Some of the criticisms reported by children included their parents saying they were “too heavy” or “lazy” to run. Other kids said that their parents had sworn at them with another parent telling their child they were “not good enough”.
The research also highlighted a desire from children for their parents to support them. Two thirds of children said they were happy when their parents watched them playing games and 40% even claimed that having them there improved their performance.
Read more about the research here.
Weekly snapshot
As flowers start to bloom, we enjoyed this picture from Rockmount primary. They show off some of the vegetables they have grown as part of their gardening club. Send us your planting season pics via @GuardianTeach.
The week in numbers
In French secondary schools girls benefit from a marking bias by maths teachers, according to new research. The London School of Economics and Paris School of Economics found that girls were given 6% higher marks than boys for similar work.
A survey by Netmums found that parents are getting friendly with teachers in an effort to get their preferred spot at primary school. More than a fifth of parents said they had visited their top school and tried to be friendly to staff. More than two in five (41.7%) parents said they found applying for primary school places stressful.
Dates to remember
It’s Earth Day on Wednesday 22 April, and this year the mission is to broaden the environmental movement worldwide. It’s been 451 years since Shakespeare was born; celebrations of the Bard’s life and works take place across the country on Saturday 25 April.
Teaching resources
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Earth Day vocabulary – write down the definitions of the environment-related words in the worksheet.
- How Shakespeare changed the language looks at how modern English developed.
- Memory boosting study skills – great for revision preparation.
- A five-minute relaxation exercise to help relieve tension and promote a calm and focused atmosphere.
Latest blogs and comments
- Why are so many teachers quitting the classroom?
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- The schools rethinking how they train their teachers
