Pupil referral units are a "dumping ground", say teachers
Teachers who work in pupil referral units (PRUs) in Wales have told the children's commissioner that they have limited access to training and feel isolated from new initiatives.
Staff recruitment, access to resources and a lack of support for children's needs before referral were all highlighted as difficulties by the PRU teachers spoken to. Children's commissioner Keith Towler said that the units were described by staff as a "dumping ground for disadvantaged learners".
Learners were also spoken to as part of the research and 53% rated the support they received as excellent. You can read more on the report on the BBC.
Disadvantaged schools are finding it difficult to recruit governors
Schools are struggling to find governors, a survey by the University of Bath and the National Governors' Association has found.
Recruiting good governors was particularly difficult if a school was in a disadvantaged urban area, scored below average levels of pupil attainment, had received a requires improvement or satisfactory grade from Ofsted or was not an academy. The survey, which received 7,713 responses from school governors, also found a difficulty in recruiting people from the wider community.
In response to the findings, a campaign has been launched by the Inspiring Governors Alliance. You can read read more on how they plan to drive up recruitment on the BBC and read the full report on their website.
Does Dizzee Rascal deserve a place on an English A-level course?
Last week, there was outcry at the news that Caitlin Moran's Twitter feed will be part of a new English language and literature A-level course.
David Crystal, a linguistics lecturer, has written a really powerful blog on how the media has overreacted to the decision, which explains why it's important to have texts like an interview with Dizzee Rascal as part of such a course.
He writes: "The press juxtaposes Russell Brand and Shakespeare, and calls the process a dumbing down. But we appreciate Shakespeare by contrasting him with non-Shakespeare – both in his time and afterwards.
"We appreciate literature by contrasting it with non-literature. The process can be unconscious – it usually is – but is enhanced when it is made conscious, which is what this A-level courses is all about. It is enabling students to develop a more sophisticated understanding of the language of literature. It is not dumbing down. It is actually dumbing up."
You can read the full post on David Crystal's blog.
Are SATs a necessary evil?
Teacher Diane Kenny weighs up the arguments for and against Sats at key stage 2 in this thoughtful blog post. She looks at issues like the stress they place on teachers, how results impact on Ofsted grades and considers whether test scores really do enable people to compare schools fairly.
At the end of the piece, she focuses on a key reason teachers feel negatively about the exams. She writes: "Perhaps the problem arises from the Sats' results linking to league tables. With this comes the inevitable pressure from school leaders and governing bodies for pupils to perform.
"I don't think there is a year 6 teacher worth their salt who doesn't already know what levels their pupils are. But [because of Sats] they feel the pressure to get that level 3 pupil to a level 4, and now 'able' pupils are expected to achieve a level 6, it is easy to see why senior leaders, teachers and governors feel stressed. Sadly so to do the year 6 pupils who, let us not forget, are only 10 to 11-years-olds"
At the end of the piece, Kenny offers a potential solution: moderated teacher assessments that are separated from the political agenda of performance tables.
It would great to hear your thoughts on this proposal and any other ideas you have for solving the problem. You can read the full post on Musings of a pragmatic teacher.
