Here are links to some of this week’s education-related news:

Pensions - The strike over pensions dominated education news this week. Here are some articles which cover what happened:

• At least 12,000 schools are known to have been closed or partly closed as part of the industrial action.
• This BBC report shares opinions from parents and teachers linked to a school in West London.
• Millions of parents had to take time off work or make other arrangements to look after children who could not go to school.
• Members of the NUT and ATL have said that ‘the government is not listening’ to their concerns. However, Michael Gove expressed his ‘disappointment’ about the strike. Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said negotiations are the only way to resolve differences over changes to public sector pensions.
• An estimated 40,000 public sector workers in Wales joined the strike.
• This report from the Telegraph labels the strike ‘a respectable, but not sensational, success.’
• The Guardian asked for readers comments about the strike… here are some of them.

Schools:

• Education Secretary Michael Gove says he would like to see the “vast majority” of pupils in England studying maths to the age of 18 within a decade.
• Students will not be allowed to enter teacher training in England if they fail basic numeracy and literacy tests three times, under tougher rules to raise teaching standards.
• New teachers will be given back-to-basics training in dealing with unruly pupils under Government plans to crackdown on bad behaviour in the classroom.
• One-in-five schoolchildren are labelled as having special needs, following claims that problems are being over-diagnosed to disguise poor results.
• Five and six-year-olds are being taught in pupil referral units, normally used for teenagers, according to this report in the TES.

Exams:

• Exams regulator Ofqual has launched an inquiry into a string of errors in this summer’s exam papers.
• An ICT qualification with coursework tasks so difficult that even experienced teachers find them “impossible” is leading many schools to quit the subject altogether.
• Education Secretary Michael Gove says modular GCSEs are to be phased out, with students starting in 2012 taking all exams at the end of the course.

Universities:

• Two teenagers have been given the right to mount a High Court challenge to plans to increase tuition fees at England’s universities.
• Two universities are “actively considering” going private amid concerns over a loss of income in the wake of the Government’s higher education reforms, it has emerged.
• Scottish universities will be able to charge annual fees of up to £9,000 for students coming to study from other parts of the UK, under new plans.

Other News:

• Sir Terry Leahy, the former chief executive of Tesco, issued a warning about poor standards in Britain’s schools and universities which leave youngsters ill-prepared for work.
• This report in the Telegraph questions if texting and other ‘modern messaging’ can enhance children’s literacy skills.

Next week’s Teaching Events include:

• 20th June to 3rd July - Wimbledon
• 27th June to 3rd July - My Money Week
• 2nd July - International Co-operative Day
• 2nd July to 24th July - Tour de France
• 4th July - Independence Day
• 4th to 10th July – Move It Week

Some of this week’s education-related news articles include:

• Announcements about improvements to the education of England’s poorest children throughout their time at nursery, school and university. However, “non-essential” education projects including youth clubs, after-school music and art activities and child safety projects are to be cut, to enable the government to meet this commitment.
• Ministers have agreed the schools budget for England and are to claim schools will be protected from across-the-board cuts.
• A report suggests that schools should open in shifts to make the most of scarce resources at a time of austerity.
• Psychologists and unions have claimed that teacher training courses do not cover enough ground on classroom management. Meanwhile, the Guardian has asked if parents are to blame for bad behaviour in schools. New research has also claimed that ‘children raised by single mothers are twice as likely to misbehave as those born into traditional two-parent families‘. In another report, MPs have warned that bad behaviour is ’caused by mixed ability classes’.
• The Department for Education has pulled the plug on Teachers TV, the online training site for British schoolteachers.
• More than half a million extra school places will be needed in the UK over the next five years as a result of immigration, a pressure group has said.
• School toilets have come under criticism with many children avoiding them ‘because they are dirty and occupied by smokers and bullies’.
• After Tom Daley’s success at the Commonwealth Games, this article comments on some of the problems that he has had to face during his time at a previous school.
• A school in Greater Manchester has banned GCSE pupils from using fountain pens so that they become more familiar with the ballpoint pens that are required for use in exams.

Image - I tend to scribble a lot

• Education chiefs are warning parents of the dangers of school trips to London after the Foreign Office alert level for European terror attacks was raised.
• The Guardian is celebrating the work of entrants to the Young Critics book review competition.
• History in schools is being put under threat as thousands of children are allowed to drop the subject at the age of 14 for “trivial reasons”, according to a leading academic.
• Ministers in Scotland are taking steps to strengthen rules designed to protect Scottish schools from closure.
• The business secretary, Vince Cable, has said that a free market in tuition fees would be unfair.
• Europe’s only troupe of boy cheerleaders have picked up a trophy at the National Cheerleading Championships.
• The BBC has produced an interesting report which outlines what universities of the future might be like.

Visit Teaching Events to find educational events to use in your classroom.

Sing Up is launching a new set of professional development workshops running until February 2011.

The programme of one-day workshops, which are led by the country’s top singing leaders, have already been popular with music and educational professionals. The training aims to build the confidence and expertise of teachers and musicians in leading and supporting children’s singing.

www.singup.org/training

Each session is designed to offer those working with Key Stage 1-3 students practical, insightful and inspiring tips for bringing out the best in their pupils and to make the most of singing across the curriculum. The programme covers a wide range of themes including using singing to support the transition process, relating singing to the curriculum and using singing in SEN settings.

To learn more about these workshops and to book online visit www.singup.org/training. To book by telephone, call 01634 729883.

Here are links to some useful video sites which can help you and your colleagues to learn new ICT skills. Many of the videos also suggest possible ways of using different tools in your classrooms:

Teacher Training Videos – Russell Stannard has created a large collection of videos to help teachers to learn how to use a wide range of software and online resources.

www.teachertrainingvideos.com

Learn it in 5 – This site contains a library of how-to videos, produced by technology teachers, for the purpose of helping teachers and students create classroom strategies for today’s 21st century’s digital classroom. Thanks to Mandy Barrow for sharing this via Twitter.

http://learnitin5.com

ICT Video Help – This site, created by Phil Bagge, offers a wonderful set of videos which cover lots of different software.

www.ictvideohelp.co.uk

Why not share these sites with your colleagues in your next staff meeting?

Naace, the professional association for those interested in advancing education through ICT, offers free on-line continuing professional development opportunities via their ICTCPD4Free site.

Undertaking a course allows registered users to gain certificates of completion provided they undertake the number of online hours allocated to each course. Each course also gives participants a number of credit hours towards the Naace Online ICT Diploma.

Visit the ICTCPD4Free site to find out more and to get involved yourself.

Frontier is working with Edexcel to offer a new TEFL programme – The BTEC Advanced Certificate in Teaching English as a Foreign Language. This is a customised course which is accredited by Edexcel as a level 3 qualification.

Volunteers taking part on Frontier’s teaching projects for 4 weeks or more are able to sign up for this qualification which combines self-study, an intensive training weekend and practical work experience in a foreign country. On completion of the placement, volunteers submit a portfolio which is assessed and then verified by Edexcel.

If you’re interested in finding out more, visit Frontier’s site.

I recently discovered Teacher Training Videos from @marynabadenhors on Twitter.

The site has… as the name implies… lots of wonderful teacher training videos. The videos cover using a range of tools in the classroom, including Fronter, Audacity, WordPress, downloading from Youtube, podcasting and lots more! It is a fantastic resource for teachers, and for anyone interested in improving their ICT skills.

Last night was the first Teachmeet for Sussex and Kent. It took place at The Hop Farm in Paddock Wood and was a fantastic evening. I hope that I’ve managed to collate everyone’s ideas, presentations and links below… if I’ve missed anything, please let me know and I’ll update the post.

• Mark Warner (twitter) - Using Memiary in the Classroom - I was picked by the Fruit Machine to speak first. My previous blog post shows what my presentation was about, and includes a few things that I forgot to mention last night!
• Stephen Lockyer (twitter / website) - Bansho whiteboard techniques - Stephen discussed the use of the board in Japanese schools throughout the lesson. This was a really interesting concept, with learning objectives clearly displayed and separate areas of the board used for separate things (with collaboration areas / pupil work demo areas and more). One other key point was that once things are added to the board, they are not removed… nothing is rubbed out. I would definitely like to find out more about this, and it’s made me want to think about my own use of my Interactive Whiteboard and the black board in my present classroom. Stephen also mentioned the use of Glogster to create backgrounds for whiteboard slides / presentations – another trick that I’d like to try out.

• Jason Dilling (twitter / website) - Edmodo - Jason talked about the use of Edmodo with his class, using it to discuss and share ideas and set homework. Edmodo is another fantastic resource which is well worth trying if you’ve not seen it before.
• Chris Thomas - (twitter / website) - Using spreadsheets for classroom management and generating lesson activities - Chris has created some great spreadsheets which can be used in a number of ways. The first is hosted by Google Docs and allows Chris to keep records of his pupils’ reward system (merits and sunnygrams). The spreadsheet shows how many points each pupil has and automatically generates a graph to show pupils how many more points they need to receive a merit and / or sunnygram. These graphs are sent to pupils via Edmodo so that they had a way of checking at home and school.

• Chris also showed a Word document which uses mail merge to generate personalised worksheets for pupils, allowing the teacher to choose a particular multiplication table for them. The document then creates an activity sheet with simple sums and complex problems linked to the target set by the teacher. A fantastic idea… maybe Chris can show us how to make these in his next iPrimary tutorial?
• David Philips - Teaching relational Databases, Nintendo Wii Style! - David brought along his Nintendo Wii and demonstrated the use of games like ‘Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games’ to generate sets of data. This data was then used within databases to help children to understand the concepts more easily. Although this was targetted at secondary pupils, I can see the use of Wii to generate data also being useful with some of the ICT concepts that primary teachers have to teach explore with younger children.

• Joe Dale - (twitter / website) - Giving your Powerpoints the WOW factor - I was really impressed by Joe’s Powerpoint presentations when I watched his Teachers’ TV programme earlier in the week. Seeing them in action, with Joe talking about them, was incredible. He must have spent many hours creating these interactive resources, using clever techniques like colour coding and macros to build really engaging presentations. I can’t wait to try some of these out! Joe also mentioned his use of Animation Factory to find appealing cartoons and animations for this slides. I think I might be subscribing to that site in the near future!

• Anthony Evans (website) and Nicholas Hughes (twitter / website) – Anthony and Nick spoke about ICT and APP, offering a resource that they had to help schools with their assessment of ICT.
• Nick Hughes (twitter / website) - DSi in my classroom = engagement - Nick spoke briefly about his use of the Nintendo DSi games consoles (bought by his school’s PTA) as a web access tool, allowing the children to do online research alongside their peers who were using other tools. The photos on his blog show the children using a range of tools (including the DSi and laptops) completely naturally. I’d love to have access to these tools in my own classroom… something to aim for definitely.
• Danny Nicholson (twitter / website) - Classtools / Prezi - Danny’s blog is a great place for any whiteboard user. Last night, he mentioned a number of resources which teachers can take advantage of… including the Classtools Countdown timer and Prezi. Both of these are well worth looking at if you haven’t seen them before.

• James Barrett (twitter / website) - Online Games and Tools - James shared a number of his wonderful resources that are posted on his site www.ictgames.com and at the Kent NGFL site. Although I’ve used some of James’ games before, last night he showed a number that I had never seen before. I particularly liked the Whiteboard Dictionary (KS1 and KS2 versions) and Premiership Words which allow the teacher and pupils to make excellent use of an interactive whiteboard during writing sessions. James has an enormous collection of interactive resources which are all free to use, so his site is definitely worth exploring.

Lots of the speakers have included links and resources on their own sites, so it’s a good idea to take some time to look around what they’ve posted online.

Thanks to Stephen for organising the event and to Leon Cych (twitter) and Chris Thomas for filming it. Thanks also to everyone who came along in person, or participated and watched via the Flashmeeting.

I discovered so many new ideas and resources and met a lovely bunch of people (many of whom I’ve been talking to on Twitter for a while now but never actually met). If only all staff training events were this inspirational! I’m already looking forward to Teachmeet SUKE 2010.

Teachers’ TV are offering CPD training workshops to support schools in making the most of Teachers TV as a resource for CPD. Tailored to the needs of different practitioners, the sessions are free and provide an interactive and informative learning environment.

Download this PDF leaflet to discover more or visit the Teachers TV site to find out how to book a session.