Monday, December 29, 2008
News in brief. December 2008
A summary of educational news of the last month.
Ken Boston resigned on 13th December as Chief Executive of the QCA having been given prior access to Lord Sutherland's report into the SATS marking problems of last summer before it was published on 16th December. The report criticised the actions of the QCA in the series of errors which caused problems for schools and learners across England. Boston had held the post for six years.
An Independent Exams and Qualifications Regulator will be formed as part of the Children, Skills and Learning Bill outlined in The Queen's Speech announcing the government's plans for the coming year. Ofqual, will be responsible for the regulation of exams in England and Wales, previously undertaken by the QCA. The remaining areas of work of the current QCA will be undertaken by the re-named Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency, whose job will be to advise ministers and to deliver exams.
The Education and Skills Act 2008 has now become law with implications for schools and colleges. The bill introduces the changes to the school leaving age to 17 and 18 and entitlement to basic skills training for adults. The bill also places a formal obligation on school Governing Bodies to seek, listen to and respond to the views of their students on core policy matters which affect them.
National Play Strategy funding of £30 million for projects has been brought forward to start in 2009, rather than the planned 2010/2011. This means that all local authorities will be able to access play funding of at least £1m by Spring 2009. The money will fund the creation of new play sites and the renovation of existing play sites in each local authority. There will also be funding of £1.5m to refurbish play spaces run by charitable organisations nationally.
December 10th was the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. There have been many events marking this date and the UN website is encouraging individuals to read the declaration and sign up to pledge to support it in their own lives. Click here to visit the website which also has lots more information about events and resources available free to schools. There is also a specially written book to explain human rights to children.
The Every Child a Reader scheme started as a pilot scheme from the DCSF to develop the reading skills of selected learners early in Primary school. The Institute of Education, University of London, has been monitoring and evaluating the success of the scheme and has just published its report on the third year of the programme. The report concludes that the children following the programme for between 12 to 20 weeks made progress at well over four times the normal rate. This rate of progress is consistent with that of children in the first two years of the programme whilst the number of children on the scheme has tripled to 10,000. It is expected to reach 30,000 children by 2011.