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Month: September 2012

Nick Clegg to reveal £50m for ‘catch-up’ tuition

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Children starting secondary school without acceptable levels of English and maths will be sent to specialist summer camps or receive intensive one-to-one tuition under a scheme to be announced by Nick Clegg.

Nick Clegg to reveal £50m for 'catch-up’ tuition

Nick Clegg and his wife Miriam during a visit to Brighton Aldridge Community Acadamey Photo: GETTY IMAGES

By Robert Winnett, Political Editor

10:00PM BST 25 Sep 2012

from: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/9566469/Nick-Clegg-to-reveal-50m-for-catch-up-tuition.html

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More than 100,000 pupils are to receive “catch up” teaching to ensure that those who fall behind at primary school are not disadvantaged permanently.

Schools will be given £500 to pay for intensive tutoring for any child who fails to reach level four in the Key Stage Two exams taken when leaving primary education at 11. The first money will be paid out in January to allow children starting secondary school this month to receive the extra tutoring.

In his speech to the Liberal Democrat conference in Brighton today, the deputy Prime Minister will say that the scheme will help prepare children for the new, tougher exams to be introduced to replace GCSEs.

“If you’re a parent whose child has fallen behind; who fears they might get lost in that daunting leap from primary to secondary school and who is worried by talk about making exams tougher, let me reassure you: we will do whatever it takes to make sure your child is not left behind,” he will say. “A place in a summer school; catch-up classes; one-to-one tuition; we are providing the help they need. So yes, we’re raising the bar. But we’re ensuring every child can clear it too.”

It is understood that the funding for catch-up classes was agreed as part of the negotiations between Michael Gove, the Education Secretary, and Mr Clegg that will allow GCSEs to be replaced with the more challenging exams from 2017. Mr Clegg is expected to stress in his speech that improving social mobility by improving the education system is his central aim in government.

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“We will only fulfil our collective economic potential if we fulfil our individual human potential,” he will say.

“Yet the legacy of educational inequality in Britain is an economy operating at half power, with far too many young

people never getting the qualifications they could get, never doing the jobs they could do, never earning the wages they could earn.

“The true cost of this cannot be counted in pounds and pence. Yes, it’s a huge drag on our economy, but more than that, it is an affront to natural justice and to everything we Liberal Democrats stand for.” Evidence shows that pupils who are behind in English and maths when they start secondary school will struggle at GCSEs.

Only 30 per cent of those not achieving Level 4 in reading at the end of primary school go on to get at least five top grades in their end of school exams.

Senior Lib Dem sources said the scheme was important even if likely to prove unpopular with some children, who may feel stigmatised in front of their new secondary school classmates. “Education policy can’t be dictated by the tactics of playground bullies,” said one.

Johnny can read, if only he’s given a chance

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After years of conflict, the phonics method is emerging as the best way to teach children

Makes sense: Nick Gibb helping school children get to grips with the phonics way of learning to read

Makes sense: Nick Gibb helping school children get to grips with the phonics way of learning to read Photo: Rex Features

By Nick Gibb

8:04PM BST 26 Sep 2012

from: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/primaryeducation/9568193/Johnny-can-read-if-only-hes-given-a-chance.html

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The publication in America in 1955 of Rudolph Flesch’s book Why Johnny Can’t Read: And What You Can Do About It triggered the start of the Reading Wars, a battle of ideas about how children should be taught to read that continues to this day. Johnny was 12 and was being held back at school because his reading was so weak. Flesch attributed this to the fact that Johnny had been taught using a method known as “Look and Say”, in which children repeat written words they see on the page until they recognise the whole word on sight. As they begin to recognise more and more words, they pick up the ability to read. This was regarded as easier than the time-honoured approach of teaching the sounds of the alphabet and how to blend these sounds into words, the method known as phonics.

The “Look and Say” method spread to Britain in the Fifties. If you learnt to read using Janet and John books, as I did in 1965, this was predominantly the “Look and Say” method: “Look John look. Look Janet look.” In the following decades, a mixture of methods – including “Look and Say”, an element of phonics and so-called “Real Books” – added to the confusion in the way reading was taught. With the Literacy Strategy in the late 1990s came the Searchlights Model, in which children were encouraged to guess words using pictures and the context of the story.

Alas, “Look and Say” and the hybrid mixed methods have been a disaster for literacy levels in both the US and Britain. As Flesch writes in his letter to Johnny’s mother, Mary, in the preface to the book: “Do you know that the teaching of reading never was a problem anywhere in the world until the United States switched to the present method in 1925?”

Last week the Government published the results of the National Curriculum tests taken by all pupils in the final year of primary school in the state sector. Despite improvements on last year, they still show that 7 per cent of boys leave primary school with the reading ability of a seven-year-old or worse, and that nearly a quarter of all 11-year-olds fail to reach the necessary minimum standard in reading and writing.

In 2005 Rhona Johnston and Joyce Watson, psychologists from Hull and St Andrews universities, published the results of a seven-year study of 300 primary school children from Clackmannanshire who had been taught to read using a systematic form of phonics known as “synthetic phonics”. This blends or synthesises the sounds of the alphabet into words, for example C-A-T, cat. The study showed that teaching children to read using synthetic phonics was hugely successful. By the end of primary school these children had a reading age three-and-a-half years above their actual age.

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Following the Clackmannanshire study, the tide began to turn. The last government commissioned a review by the former chief schools inspector Sir Jim Rose, who concluded that “the systematic approach, which is generally understood as ‘synthetic’ phonics, offers the vast majority of young children the best and most direct route to becoming skilled readers and writers”.

Following the election, the Coalition was determined to push ahead with ensuring that phonics was at the heart of teaching children to read. It gave each school £3,000 to pay for training and new teaching materials, and a “Phonics Check” was introduced to ensure that by the end of their second year of primary school every child is able to read simple words such as “spoon”, “train” and “dentist”. Half of the 40 words in the Check are made-up words, to test that children have mastered the basic skill of decoding: words such as “elt” or “poil” or “thend”. The first such check, which is administered by the pupils’ own teachers, took place in June this year and the national results will be published later today. Last year we ran a pilot in 300 schools and published the overall results. This has helped schools focus on improvements in the teaching of phonics and, as a consequence, I expect today’s results will show good progress. Those children who don’t manage to read at least 32 out of the 40 words will be given extra help so they can take and pass the check next year.

For years we have allowed too many children to slip through the net with their reading skills poorly developed. They rarely catch up and go on to fail at secondary school. All children, regardless of their intelligence or background, are capable of being taught to read. The fact that so many have struggled for so long is because of an ideological commitment to methods of teaching that have failed the most vulnerable. Challenging this orthodoxy has been controversial, but the evidence is overwhelming that the early teaching of reading through systematic synthetic phonics is the most effective approach. If Rudolph Flesch were alive today, I hope he would soon be able to write a new book, namely, Why Johnny Can Read, and declare an end to the Reading Wars.

 

Nick Gibb is Conservative MP for Bognor Regis and Littlehampton and was minister for schools, 2010-12

Get Into Teaching online events from the Department for Education

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Department for Education

Online Events

from: http://www.education.gov.uk/get-into-teaching/events/online-events.aspx

These live, interactive sessions provide a great opportunity to get your questions answered in real-time by our specialist advisers.

Each event focuses on a specific discussion topic about teacher training – be it the different routes into teaching, how to make a successful application, or teaching a particular subject.

You’ll need to register and agree to the terms of use to participate in online events. By registering, you can also choose to receive email and SMS updates about upcoming events and events in which you have enrolled.

If you haven’t already, we’d strongly recommend that you also register with the Teaching Agency. This will provide you with all the information you need to ask the best questions and get the most out of online events.

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Children’s reading ‘pushed out’ by other activities

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By Judith BurnsEducation reporter BBC News

from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-19511825#?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

boys reading The survey found more than half of children enjoyed reading but fewer than a third read outside school

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Children are reading less as their lives become more crowded with other activities, new research suggests.

They are reading fewer novels, comics, magazines and websites, according to a National Literacy Trust study of 21,000 children and teenagers.

While many enjoyed reading, some 17% said they would be embarrassed if a friend saw them with a book.

A government spokesman said the findings showed the need to help young people develop a love of reading.

Half of those questioned said they enjoyed reading very much, or quite a lot, almost the same as in 2005 when the figure was 51%.

But the findings showed that just three in every 10 youngsters read daily in their own time, down from four in 10 in 2005.

More than a fifth (22%) said they rarely or never read in their own time and more than half (54%) said they preferred watching television to reading.

In 2005 more than three quarters (77%) of children read magazines, but now only 57% do.

Comic reading has dropped from 64% to 50%, and reading on websites from 54% to 50%.

The researchers said the figures highlighted “a clear issue with children’s leisure time with many children enjoying reading but pushing it out in favour of other activities”.

‘Essential’ reading time

Jonathan Douglas, director of National Literacy Trust, said: “The fact that children are reading less than in 2005 signals a worrying shift in young people’s literacy habits. We are calling for the Government to back a campaign to halt this reading decline and to give children time to read in their daily lives.

“We need to make reading irresistible. We want to call on families and professionals working with children and young people to make ten minutes in their day for reading.”

The report said it was “essential” for children to make time to read because reading outside lessons was linked to strong academic achievement.

It added that young people who read outside class on a daily basis were 13 times more likely to read above the expected level for their age.

A spokesman for the Department for Education said: “The findings of this survey come as no surprise and shows that we need to continue our drive to encourage young people to develop a love of reading. In a world of so many distractions for young minds, the place of literature is more important than ever.

“Children need to master the basics of reading as early as possible in primary school so they can then go on to explore magical and powerful books such as Private Peaceful, Harry Potter, and, in good time, books such as Lord of the Flies, Animal Farm and those by Charles Dickens.

“That’s why we’ve introduced a short and simple phonics check at the end of Year 1 to make sure children have mastered the basics.”

The study, which coincides with International Literacy Day on Saturday, comes as the World Literacy Foundation called on world leaders to tackle a global literacy crisis.

Chief executive Andrew Kay said: “Globally, almost 800 million people are illiterate and 100 million children don’t attend school each day”

Aspiration can revive our education system

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Our series on fresh Tory thinking looks at the lessons to be learnt from our competitors

from: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/9525561/Aspiration-can-revive-our-education-system.html

Eastern promise: children in South Korea, where educational standards tower over those in Britain - Aspiration can revive our education system

Eastern promise: children in South Korea, where educational standards tower over those in Britain Photo: ALAMY

By Priti Patel

8:13PM BST 06 Sep 2012

Comments161 Comments

Margaret Thatcher once said: “Let our children grow tall, and some taller than others if they have it in them to do so.” Well, thanks to 13 years of Labour government our education system concentrates on achieving basic minimums, rather than maximising the potential of young people. The consequences could hardly be more serious: our children are struggling to compete against those from other countries, for whom education is the fastest route to a prosperous future – a future their own parents could only dream of.

At the heart of any government’s business, education and work policy must be the issue of aspiration and social mobility. Education, in its various forms, should be valued and seen by the nation as a route to success and national prosperity.

The complacency of the last government, which overlooked education as a key factor in social mobility, led a generation of young people to believe that satisfactory educational outcomes were good enough. The misguided “all must have prizes” mantra failed the young people it was claiming to help.

We must face the simple fact that, when it comes to standards in educational achievement, our children are failing. And, even worse, we are failing them. In the 2010 PISA world rankings, Britain, whose universities and schools were once looked upon with envy by the world, slipped to 25th for reading, 28th for mathematics and 16th for science. South Korea, by contrast, came top for reading and mathematics and third for science.

Why is South Korea so far ahead of Britain, when we have greater resources and such a high reputation for academic excellence? This is quite simply due to South Koreans’ attitude towards education. Schooling in their country is considered vital to a child’s future; competition is fierce and college degrees are considered an element of social status. Children are hungry to learn and parents are desperate for their child to succeed.

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This is not the only reason why South Korea does so well. The links between business and education are very strong indeed. And every primary and secondary school there has high-speed, fibre-optic broadband. The country has developed digital textbooks, which will be distributed free of charge to every school in the country, both primary and secondary, by 2013. This is one area where Britain could certainly compete. We can work with respected companies, such as Apple, who have made great strides in the education sector, but we must also look to the companies of the future.

Bearing in mind this country’s outstanding global academic reputation and the wealth of resources at our disposal, it is worrying that we allow our young people to fall behind their counterparts. To be successful as a nation requires the desire to remedy this, to change our attitudes toward education, work, business and aspiration. We should also stop vilifying those who have worked hard to become the successful role models our country surely needs.

For education to become a valuable commodity, it must be respected, rigorous and globally competitive. We must value traditional, respected subjects, but also embrace new technology. Many credit the improvements India has made to its education system with its economic upturn. For example, Indian primary school children can access a multilingual web portal. Similarly, the India Development Gateway is a multilingual initiative that seeks to empower rural India via educational technology. The private sector in India is also reaching out to the education market, with companies like Infosys offering schemes to promote education and business, such as the “Catch Them Young” programme, which encourages young people to engage with new technology.

We should also take lessons on aspiration from the many diverse communities in Britain. PISA, the international system for testing educational outcomes, showed in its 2009 data that at GCSE, children from Chinese ethnic backgrounds perform better than the national average. Furthermore, Children of Chinese ethnicity who are eligible for free school meals, which is probably the most reliable data available to us on relative wealth, perform better than the national average for UK students overall – meaning that poorer children from Chinese ethnicities often do better than affluent children from white British backgrounds. At Key Stage 2 tests, Chinese students on free school meals outperformed those not on free school meals, as well as every other ethnic group – with or without free school meals.

This is not because these children are just brighter than the rest. This difference can be explained by the cultural value the Chinese community places on education as the route to success and prosperity.

As a nation, Britain can no longer afford to be complacent. Other countries and cultures work on the assumption that each generation will build upon the successes of, and be more successful than, the last. To compete with some of the world’s most successful and emerging economies, Britain must learn these global lessons. For this to happen, we must also promote the politics of aspiration.

Priti Patel is the Conservative MP for Witham and co-author of ‘Britannia Unchained – Global Lessons for Growth and Prosperity’ (Palgrave Macmillan), published on Sept 13

Join the DofE online event about primary teaching and what life is like in a classroom on 19th September at 12:30

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Online events

 Sign in/Register

From http://www.education.gov.uk/get-into-teaching/events/online-events.aspx
These live, interactive sessions provide a great opportunity to get your questions answered in real-time by our specialist advisers.

Each event focuses on a specific discussion topic about teacher training – be it the different routes into teaching, how to make a successful application, or teaching a particular subject.

You’ll need to register and agree to the terms of use to participate in online events. By registering, you can also choose to receive email and SMS updates about upcoming events and events in which you have enrolled.

If you haven’t already, we’d strongly recommend that you also register with the Teaching Agency. This will provide you with all the information you need to ask the best questions and get the most out of online events.

Active events

The following events are running now or starting soon:

  • There are currently no active events. Please enrol in an upcoming event to participate.

Upcoming events

You can register your interest in an upcoming event by enrolling. If you have agreed to receive text and/or email alerts, you will be reminded about the event before it happens.

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  • Getting into primary teaching
    Date: 19 September | Start time: 12:30 PM —  Enrol in this event
  • Funding my teacher training
    Date: 26 September | Start time: 12:30 PM —  Enrol in this event