Stress still main cause of ill health in teachers says ATL
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The rash of government education policies over the last five years has undermined attempts to agree a proper work/life balance and led to increasingly stressed teachers, according to the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL).Delegates at the ATL conference in Torquay heard that stress-related illness remains the principal cause of ill health in teachers and [...]
Critics choice
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I Am Rembrandt’s Daughter
By Lynn Cullen
Bloomsbury, %26pound;5.99. Age 12+When Rembrandt’s common-law wife, Hendrickje, gave birth to their illegitimate daughter, Cornelia, she was summoned to appear before the church council and banned from receiving communion, yet Rembrandt never married her. This much is known by the historians, but Cullen’s story explores the emotional landscape behind the [...]
Lost opportunities
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The government proudly boasts it is increasing the funding available for adult learning to the highest level ever. Then the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education reports that 1.5 million fewer people have taken up adult learning in the past two years. The government rightly places emphasis on improving basic literacy and numeracy, and emphasises [...]
Playnation
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It’s hard to beat spontaneous applause, particularly from 10- and 11-year-olds you have been making challenging demands of all day. That is what Marion Reilly, a primary ICT adviser, got after a day with a year 5 and 6 class from Malmesbury primary school, in London’s East End. They had been making maze games, similar [...]
Finance lessons edged out by time deficit
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Parents brought up in the days when there were student grants and money was a dirty word may be a little worried by the way the workaday world of business and finance seems to be creeping into their children’s education. With an extra E for economics being added to the confusing subject area known as [...]
The new seekers
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I’m most like a ’seeker’,” says Fiona Fung, 21, from Brunei, in her final year of a BA in media and performance at Salford University. “But I’ve got friends who are ‘gekkos’.” “I’m a ‘bono’,” says Cecilia Ostlund, 23, from Sweden, in her last year of a BA in languages and management at Lancaster University.What [...]
Bank of knowledge passed on
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Classroom assistants have come a long way. Accountants, international tax consultants and people from payroll and personnel departments are going into their local schools to advise teachers on talking to pupils aboutmoney matters, thanks to a new volunteer initiative that is being run by Pfeg. The initiative, developed with support from the Institute of Chartered [...]
Crib sheet
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Life at the sharp end of researchWith scientific accuracy Dan Meyer warms up the audience: “First I have to deal with my gag reflex, then flip my epiglottis, put my pharynx and gullet in one line and nudge my heart a little to the left.” Then he slowly lowers a 50cm steel sword down his [...]
Web alert
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Looking for a new way to switch students off bullying? The charity, Beatbullying, has a platform on YouTube featuring anti-bullying messages from Kelly Holmes, Girls Aloud, Leona Lewis and other celebrities, some of whom discuss their own traumatic experiences. Students can also upload their own video clips.Go to youtube.com/beatbullyingFiltering toolsE2BN, the broadband consortium for the [...]
School beckons to a nation in debt
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All of us earnestly hope that a good education will equip our children with meaningful life skills beyond just a competent grasp of the three Rs. But will it be enough to prepare them for a slowing economy? Will our children leave school with even enough financial nous to understand a mobile phone tariff or [...]
