Monday, October 20, 2008
News in Brief. October 2008
A summary of developments in the world of education this month.
The UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS) has been launched by the UK government. The council will have a membership of representatives from over 100 organisations who will work together on establishing codes of practice for website hosts and internet providers. The council will also be developing strategies and campaigns to raise public awareness of child internet safety. The council was a recommendation of the Byron Review into Child Internet Safety published earlier this year. UKCCIS will report directly to the Prime Minister.
Secondary Schools across England will be re-planning their school calendars after Children’s Secretary, Ed Balls announced the Key Stage 3 SATS for Year Nine pupils will no longer take place, including those planned for this academic year.
Lord Adonis left his role as a schools ministerin the recent government re-shuffle. In a surprise move Adonis has gone to work in the Department of Transport. He has been replaced in the schools ministry by Baroness Delyth Morgan. Adonis was widely seen as the architect of the Academies programme and there is speculation about its progress forward.
Baroness Morgan has started work by announcing a consultation on a proposed set of indicators to recognise and rewards schools for their success in pupils’ well-being. The standardised set of indicators includes attendance rates, take-up of school lunches as well as pupil and parent perceptions of how well the school promotes well-being with assessment taking into account the individual context of the school. It is suggested the criteria are used by Ofsted and by schools themselves as part of self-assessment. The proposed indicators of well-being are supported by Christine Gilbert, the Chief Inspector of Schools who said, “the indicators would help schools self-evaluate and improve the quality of education and care they provide. The indicators will also provide useful evidence for Ofsted Inspectors, to be used alongside other evidence when investigating the wellbeing of children and young people and the school’s contribution to it.”
The consultation is open until January and Ofsted could begin using the indicators later in 2009. Click here to take part.
Learning outside of the classroom should be established as part of planned activities for all school children according to new government guidelines. Ed Balls, Secretary of State for Schools launched a £4.5 million Out and About Scheme to support and encourage school trips and outside learning. The scheme will inform schools of the organisations which have been endorsed as providing high quality safe outside learning. As part of raising the profile of learning outside of the classroom and the school, Ofsted will also investigate learning out of lessons as part of the inspection service. Chief Inspector of Schools, Christine Gilbert commented, “the positive impact of learning outside the classroom is widely recognised, but unfortunately it is sometimes seen as an extra or a treat, rather than as an integral part of the curriculum.”
All pupils in Scottish Schools will receive free school meals for the first three years of Primary School beginning in 2010 following an announcement by the Scottish parliament. The decision follows a two year pilot scheme which saw uptake rise from 53% to 75% when lunches were made free of charge.
Cambridge and Oxford University introduced podcasts as part of their teaching facilities from this academic year. The Universities are simultaneously publishing about 450 hours of free audio and video podcasts of lectures, films and admission guides for people to download. The lecutures will be available to the general public as well as current students. Both universities have an impressive list of past students and well known lecturers taking part in the scheme, including Michael Palin and Sir Nicholas Stern for Oxford and David Milliband and Lord Winston for Cambridge. The podcasts are available from itunes and the popularity of the lectures was confirmed when a Cambridge University lecture on the credit crunch topped the download charts in the first week.