background preloader

Education

Facebook Twitter

Are Chinese Teachers Tough Enough for our Children? Apparently Not. | chemical bloggery. Back in the Seventies a group of volunteers was transformed overnight into a pack of sadists, simply because they were asked to play the part of prison guards in a psychological experiment. The plug was rapidly pulled on the notorious Stanford Experiment amid rightful concerns about its ethical redundancy. The point of mentioning it is that conducting an experiment is not justified simply because it produces interesting findings. Similarly, the BBC’s latest education programme, Are Our Children Tough Enough: Chinese Schools, has certainly thrown up some interesting findings, but whether or not their so-called “experiment” is ethical is less clear. Ethical considerations are paramount in educational research.

This criterion is not met in the BBC’s latest offering. Setting aside the uncertainty over the hypothesis, it’s clear what kind of television programme this is. The problem with this latest crew of helping hands is that their credentials are far from certain. Like this: #BBCtrending: "I refuse to be my daughter's diary" 27 November 2014Last updated at 19:40 ET By BBC Trending What's popular and why One mother's decision to leave a parents' chat app group becomes a big hit online. Why? At first, Noelia Lopez-Cheda thought it would be a great idea to join a group of local parents on Whatsapp. "I thought it was a good idea to be in contact with other parents from my daughter's class and to be updated about activities, news and important events," she told BBC Trending from her home in Spain. It soon became a "a sort of monster", though, generating a "a whirlwind of messages" about schoolbooks and homework - even individual test results - which interrupted her evenings and clogged up the memory of her mobile phone.

And then one day, Noelia "saw the light". Noelia Lopez-Cheda says she doesn't want to be an over-protective parent Noelia immediately dropped her keys, her shopping bags and started rummaging for her phone. "I stared at my mobile and it was then that I thought 'What am I doing?

Gove

Pay. Ofsted. Sharing our (proposed) new Teachers’ Pay Policy. This much I know about…sharing our (proposed) new Teachers’ Pay Policy I have been a teacher of English for 24 years, a Headteacher for 9 years and, at the age of 48, this much I know about sharing our (proposed) new Teachers’ Pay Policy. I publish this post in the spirit of collaboration.

All our Governors and teachers have now seen the documents and we hope to ratify them on Tuesday at an extraordinary Full Governors’ meeting. You will find seven documents below: The thing is to begin with the Performance Development Policy – if you can get that right, the Pay Policy writes itself. The key principle is that teachers are being assessed against the Teachers’ Standards in their entirety. The annual objectives feed into the assessment of teachers against the Teachers’ Standards. We deliberately steered away from drawing up a grid of gradated performance against each Standard and sub-standard – that way madness lies, we thought. John Tomsett, 13 July 2013 Like this: Like Loading... A Solution to Poor Discipline in Challenging Schools. My latest blogpost, “How to be bad SMT” has broken all records for the number of hits to my blog.

Almost 3000 for it, and 4000 for the whole blog, yesterday. It’s not the first time I have ranted about poor management, but the approach of just describing what’s bad and leaving it to others to decide who it applies to seems to have gone down well, both with reflective senior managers and with classroom teachers who have experienced “bad SMT”. Even the deputy leader of one of the major teaching unions tweeted a link to it. Of course, there is a depressing side to this. It has been popular because so many people recognised it.

What I described is undeniably commonplace. It might, and this is less certain, even be normal and that should be a concern at a time when the power and size of SMT seems to be being increased, without the same being done about their competence. The failure of Senior Leadership Teams to deal with poor behaviour is a regular complaint made by classroom teachers. Dear Secondary school teacher… Dear Secondary school teacher, Hello, I know you don’t really know me, but I was the primary school teacher who spent a year of my life helping to get those first-years ready to come to you. I know… I didn’t do a perfect job, did I? That pains me more than it does you, believe me. For every 90 minutes you spend having to struggle with Ethan, remember I probably spent nearer 1000. Maybe if you’d seen how he was doing a year ago, you might feel differently?

I know I did! But that’s not why I’m writing. I am a bit concerned, though, to hear that you’ve re-tested every student we sent to you. Rumour has it that you feel you have to do it. Perhaps you’re worried that our results aren’t reliable. While I think of it – did you sort out that problem with Anna? After all, I suppose really, we’re all working towards the same thing. Best wishes Michael Like this: Like Loading... Tagged: ition, primary, secondary, secondary school teacher, transition. Wp0511.pdf. Tosh and nonsense: why working out what works is not enough | British Education Policy.

If we knew more about what worked in education how easy would it be to do it? A couple of developments this week have reinforced my belief that the answer to this question is ‘not very easy at all’, largely because the quality of the debate about what we should do is so poor that there is little chance of good, evidence-based policy rising to the top. First, a group of campaigners and academics wrote a letter to the Telegraph arguing that an early start to formal education for children is detrimental. According to the letter: ‘Research does not support an early start to testing and quasi-formal teaching, but provides considerable evidence to challenge it.

…Children who enter school at six or seven – after several years of high quality nursery education – consistently achieve better educational results as well as higher levels of wellbeing. What was the considered response of the government to this suggestion? What we should we conclude from all this? Like this: Like Loading... Eight Alternatives to Boring Staff Development. GCSE English 2012 grading scandal: Is this the evidence that schools were right all along?

Official statistics prove that schools were right all along about last year’s GCSE English grading controversy, it has been claimed. When thousands of pupils missed out on crucial C grades in September 2012. the exams regulator was taken to the High Court by schools, local authorities and teaching unions, arguing there had been a “statistical fix”. But Ofqual insisted the grades were correct, and that “standards were maintained”. The judges agreed, ruling that a re-grading would have created “further unfairness” by pushing standards out of line with previous years. Now though, it has been claimed that official figures show that standards were not “maintained”, but were significantly tougher and led to almost 18,000 fewer students gaining crucial A*-C grades. David Blow, a data expert for the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), presented the statistics at a conference organised by the union last week. The ASCL leadership also distanced itself from Mr Blow's comments.

Majority of pupils forced to resit at flagship academy. Letters: Cheating and other ways to improve school performance. Timeline Photos. Teachers fear knowledge is 'threatening and oppressive' SDupp : @uk_teacher @MarieWallace7... Maths advantage for pupils who read for pleasure. 11 September 2013Last updated at 06:51 ET By Katherine Sellgren BBC News education reporter The influence of reading for pleasure was greater than that of having a parent with a degree, the study indicated Children who read for pleasure are likely to do better in maths and English than those who rarely read in their free time, research suggests.

The study, by the Institute of Education, London University, examined the reading habits of 6,000 children. It indicated reading for pleasure was more important to a child's development than how educated their parents were. The researchers concluded a wide vocabulary helped children absorb information across the curriculum. They analysed the results of tests taken at the age of 16 by 6,000 children, all born in one week, from the 1970 British Cohort Study. The findings showed those who had read often at the age of 10 and had been reading books and newspapers more than once a week aged 16 had performed better than those who had read less.

“Start Quote. Brookings. What Message Are We Sending With Our First Contact With Parents? Cc licensed ( BY NC ND ) flickr photo by Peter Gerdes: Crossposted at “The Wejr Board” blog. As we start a new school year, one of the key aspects to consider is our relationships with the parents and families of our students. In the past year, not only have I had reflective conversations with parents and educators about moving to a focus on communication WITH parents (rather than communication TO parents), but I have also discussed preschool and kindergarten beginnings with close friends as well as people in my family.

I have heard personal stories of parents being told by the school that their child is “not ready for school” or is “a constant problem”. I have also heard of wonderful school:family relationships being built from the first moment they meet – teachers that have made that effort to focus on the positives, empathize, and truly listen to families as they share stories about their child. Are we: Related Posts: @chriswejr. Michael Gove is patronising, insulting, nasty, wrong and arrogant: Paul Routledge column - Paul Routledge.

It isn’t easy to be patronising, insulting, nasty, wrong and arrogant all in one sentence but one top Tory is up for it. Michael Gove, the poison dwarf of the Coalition, sneered at people forced to use food banks. “They are not best able to manage their finances,” he told a stunned House of Commons. This is a variation on the traditional Conservative theme that the poor are to blame for their own poverty. Not the employers who pay crap wages, or the Government taking an axe to family ­benefits, or the greedy gas and electricity profiteers, but the hungry, the broke and the destitute. In his topsy-turvy world, the victims are the villains. Breathtaking. Education Secretary Gove adds insult to injury by telling the poor they must be told how to spend what little they’ve got.

They need educating “to make sure the right decisions are made”. His wife works for a Tory rag, so I imagine there’s at least £250,000 going into that household every year. The causes of poverty are many, but here’s a few. What Message Are We Sending With Our First Contact With Parents? How Teachers Can Stop Being Scared Of Twitter. November’s EdTechTeacher’s iPad Summit (which, by the way, I found through Twitter) completely amazed, overwhelmed, challenged, and inspired me. I left feeling empowered about the 1:1 iPad environment in which I was teaching and excited about the possibilities of technology inside and outside of my classroom. My Twitter Addiction I also left the conference with a mild addiction to Twitter.

Mild as in I stopped taking notes within the first 5 minutes of the keynote when I realized that I could just tweet the links for great resources, apps, articles, images, videos… And went from following one or two people to dozens of the brightest stars in the edtech realm – including the EdTechTeacher staff and some pretty amazing teachers I met at the conference. Like I said, it was a *mild* addiction. It’s A Conversation But it was more than just a running list of sites to check out and apps to investigate. The Personal Learning Network Hashtags Ahoy! Connect To Your Passion(s)

Exams

Beeban Kidron: 'We need to talk about teenagers and the internet' | Film | The Observer. When Beeban Kidron makes a film, she says, she always tends to start on the street. InRealLife, which is a film no parent and no teenager should miss, began in exactly that way. She went out with her camera and started talking to a group of lads in London.

"What is the best thing about the internet? " Kidron wondered. One of the boys, a 15-year-old called Ryan, answered her without hesitation. "Porn," he said. Ryan proved articulate and unembarrassable enough to give Kidron, and her camera, a guided tour of his world. It is, I say to her, quite hard to watch Ryan's confessional, particularly as you have the sense that in speaking about these things to a stranger, he for the first time realises something of the extent of his lost innocence, a place he can't get back to. Kidron is talking in the garden of her weekend home deep in the Suffolk countryside. "I think my biggest fear," she says, "was that people would see these five kids as 'kids with an issue'. "Exactly. Kidron is 52.

Schools should build 'character', say parents. 2 September 2013Last updated at 07:52 ET By Judith Burns BBC News education reporter Parents want schools to build character as well as deliver academic results, suggests poll Most parents want schools to encourage values such as honesty and fairness in pupils, a survey suggests. Some 87% say schools should play a wider role than just delivering academic results. More than 1,000 parents were questioned by Populus for the University of Birmingham's Jubilee Centre for Character and Values. "Many schools do not know how to teach character", said Prof James Arthur, the centre's director. "They might have a statement of values, but too often they are bland paragraphs that have little impact on what goes on in the classroom. " Deputy director Tom Harrison added: "We are not saying academic skills are not important - it's just got out of kilter.

" 'Core values' Only 5% said children would pick up these traits from their peers and experiences at school. 'Resilience' Separating neuromyths from science in education - opinion - 02 September 2013. Are you a creative, right-brain type? Do you learn best visually? These are all neuromyths that badly need debunking, says a UK teacher and writer WHEN it comes to making the classroom more "scientific", there is good, solid research into the best ways of helping children with dyslexia or autism, or encouraging kids to become bilingual.

And then there's the other stuff. Having recently completed my book Teacher Proof, which looks at whether research translates into the classroom, I now have so-called educational neuroscience right at the top of my hit list. It makes the attractive claim that understanding the brain will do everything from boosting grades and curing ADHD to raising IQ and reversing ageing.

Advocates are not hard to find among both educationists and people who publish teaching materials. But this can blind us to the fact that, historically, claims linked to neuroscience have often turned out to be backed by scant evidence. Tom Bennett is a teacher and writer in London. The Back to School Speech Every Teacher Should Hear | Dean Shareski. It's been interesting watching the various ways schools and districts kick off the new year. Some begin in a very low key fashion with staff meetings and prep time. Others start with professional development for large or small groups, and some bring together the entire district in a pep rally atmosphere. I'm not sure there's a right way or a wrong way but in most cases, leadership tries to convey a common, if not inspirational, message to set the tone for the upcoming school year. So I got to thinking, what message would I like to hear from leadership? I decided to write it out. Good morning everyone, I don't want to keep you long because I know you have a great many things to do in preparation for the upcoming school year but I did want to be sure to share what's on my mind.

I hope you had a relaxing, restful summer because you deserve it. *This talk was inspired by a talk given Elisa Carlson, Director of Instruction at Surrey School District. Loading Slideshow. Influencesonstudent2C683_1_.pdf. University launches online course with TV show. Universities should educate – employers should train. Education in brief: private school's £5m debts paid off as it becomes an academy. Teachers! What would evidence based practice look like? Third of GCSEs taken in private schools graded A* Social media: what role should schools play in keeping children safe? Head leaves academy sponsored by elite Wellington College after GCSE results slump. Why teachers don’t (necessarily) know best. Separating neuromyths from science in education - opinion - 02 September 2013.

Graham Bett (GrahamBett) sur Twitter. Pupils with D in English or maths forced to continue studying but won't have to sit exams. Faith schools cannot continue their immoral policy of discrimination | Jonathan Romain. Thwart the Grim-Reaper: #Ofsted reworks (Sep ’13) Evidence-Based Education. Contemplating Headship. Monday 2 September (with tweets) · BBCr4today. Poverty significantly saps our mental abilities say researchers. Why teachers don’t (necessarily) know best. In which I consider the implications of applying the principles of AfL to lesson observations | Forwards, Not Backwards. Upwards, Not Forwards. AndySawfordMP : Michael Gove would rather not... How do I want to be performance-managed. OfQual Insights: More thoughts on exams. 'Learning for earning' tables to tell pupils which subjects pay.

Inequality in Britain: too many children are born to fail. Why? | Observer editorial | Comment is free | The Observer. Letters: GCSE results and the unsustainable pressure on our children. Schools moving to 'easy' IGCSE exams to boost grades. Home - Welcome.

ENG. Half of teenagers sleep deprived, say experts. Top Ten Tips for New Teachers. GCSEs 2013: More than 600,000 pupils await exam results. Stabbed pupil Ajmol Alom achieved top grades. Estimating the distributional effects of education reforms: A look at Project STAR. Empowering students to own their learning solves maths problems. Effective Self-Evaluation. The unofficial exam results phrase book. Esrc.ac. Outcomes of all school inspections, on one spreadsheet | Clerk to Governors. Wood Green secondary makes history with borough’s joint-best A-level results - News - Tottenham Journal.

Alevels-probe-into-languages-teaching-as-pupil-numbers-continue-to-fall-8763805. August 14th, 2013. Calculators again…. | crunching an apple. Deadline looming? How to write an essay in a hurry. 3fe29ddd-9745-4954-8965-50d833958c27. Good_childhood_report_2013_final. How can we create great school ethos. Summer of tutoring 'awaiting many pupils'