Thursday, February 19, 2009
News in Brief. February 2009
Short summaries of educational news from February 2009.
New Masters Degrees for Teachers will be available from September 2009. The Masters in Teaching and Learning (MTL) will be available to all teachers in their first five years of teaching (although initially in the North West and National Challenge schools) and designed to continue the support of teachers’ development beyond their initial teacher training and first year in post. As part of The Children’s Plan, the scheme is designed to improve achievement by children through improving and developing teaching. The MTL will be based on research in the practitioner’s classroom with academic support through a mentoring scheme. It is planned to expand the scheme to all existing teachers. For more info:
A pilot scheme to support mental illness in teenagers through schools has been launched in England. The £1b programme funded by the DCFS will run in four local authorities for a year and will then be evaluated for viability as a national programme. The scheme is being led by Professor Paul Stallard, from Bath University and is based on the Resourceful Adolescent Programme first run in Australia ten years ago to support and increase mental resilience in teenagers.
In each of the pilot schools selected pupils will follow an 18 week series of sessions which will form part of the personal, health and social education curriculum. The sessions will involve discussions following stimulus activities on subjects such as managing emotions, keeping calm and empathy. Each of the pupils taking part will be thoroughly assessed for signs of needing mental health support both before and after the sessions. It is expected 7,000 teenagers will receive structured help through the pilot scheme.
A Learning Outside the classroom quality badge for educational trip venues has been announced by Ed Balls as part of the Out and About Scheme to encourage learning outside of the classroom. 65 venues have been awarded the School Trip Quality Badge by the DCSF so far; any venue in the UK can apply. The accreditation scheme is designed to give schools confidence they are choosing a venue which has passed all risk assessments. There is a website to support the scheme run by The Council for Learning Outside the Classroom.
Plans for an Education campus on the 2012 site in London after the Olympic games have been published. The Stratford Academy will be run by a not-for-profit charitable company with support from the Department for Children, Schools and Families, the London Borough of Newham, the Olympic Delivery Authority and the Learning Skills Council. The Academy is scheduled to open in September 2013 and will be made up of a series of separate but linked schools providing 52 nursery, 630 primary, 900 secondary and 250 sixth form places for local residents. The school will form part of a comprehensive education campus on the site of the Athlete village. To find out more about the 2012 Education schemes. visit Get Set.