Posts under ‘Comment’

I’ve just read with interest the National Literacy Trusts latest research which states that kids who use technology are better writers http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8392653.stm
 
The research is conclusive the more forms of communications that children use the stronger their core literacy skills. To the average BETT visitor this will be obvious, you would have had seen for [...]

As some of you may be aware, Anti-Bullying week took place recently, with ‘cyberbullying’ the theme for 2009. 
According to stopcyberbulling.org, “’Cyberbullying’ is when a child, preteen or teen is tormented, threatened, harassed, humiliated, embarrassed or otherwise targeted by another child, preteen or teen using the internet, interactive and digital technologies or mobile phones.”
As a [...]

Official new figures have emerged that nearly a tenth of fourteen-year-old boys have the reading age of a nine-year-old, despite a multimillion pound school literacy drive. According to the report, nearly 25,000 boys are working at or below the level of a child five years younger and are unable to grasp the point of the [...]

I’m sure you have recently heard the controversial comments made by Tesco’s chief executive, Sir Terry Leahy, regarding the “woeful” state of the UK’s education system.  In case you missed it, during a recent London speech Sir Terry commented that “despite all the money that has been spent, standards are still woefully low in too [...]

Some of you may have already read Besa’s latest research on opinions and trends of ICT in UK State Schools with a sense of trepidation as for the first time since 2001 cuts in spending on ICT are predicted. http://www.besa.org.uk/besa/news/view.jsp?item=1974
 
The report however states that the reduction in spending is not actually resulting in a [...]

I’m sure many of you would have read about the Government’s latest plans to save money in schools, with the figure of £2 Billion pounds of savings wildly bandied around. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8265166.stm
 
I read this story with interest and I must admit very little surprise. After all it seems like only yesterday (well about five weeks [...]

It has been argued in the press recently that teenagers’ addiction to mobile phones and computers is damaging their education – according to Cranfield School of Management, many of them submit schoolwork downloaded from the internet without reading or understanding it and can’t spell because of their obsession with sending text messages.
The report also [...]

A recent report has suggested that the ‘glass ceiling’ effect is still occurring in our schools, and has led me to question what can be done to help less affluent families secure a top professional job.
The report investigated the access to high status jobs, and I agree that young people should have access to [...]

I am sure that many of us will appreciate the need for sharp cuts in public spending over the next few years to plug some of the gap in the public finances. Unless we are all going to be asked to pay more tax, something that may also be inevitable.
 
How these cuts will be met [...]

Time To Trust Teachers?
For the past 30 years, central Government has played a prominent role in determining what is taught and tested in schools. This has not only been due to insufficient trust in teachers from politicians, but also a desire to standardise teaching and the curriculum across the country.
The result is that teachers have [...]