Teacher Education Taster Day: So you think you want to teach? Thurs 4 July

 

Thursday 16 May 2013

 Teacher Education Taster Day:  So you think you want to teach….?

We are pleased to announce that the above event will take place this year on Thursday 4 July 2013, and would very much like to invite interested year 12 and 13 students from your institution.  Please note that the event will take place at the University of Chichester’s Bognor Regis Campus, Upper Bognor Road, Bognor Regis, West Sussex, PO21 1HR.

Here is what some of last year’s visitors said about the day…

 ‘Everyone was really friendly and helpful. Helped me decide what I want to do. Thank You.’

‘All sessions were very informative and everyone I met was very lovely’

‘I hated Science before today, now I love it again’

 The deadline for all applications is Wednesday 12 June 2013.  Places are strictly limited and will be offered on a first come-first served basis and, this year, students will choose their specialist sessions on the day at the point of registration.  Registration will commence at 09:45, with the introductory talk starting promptly at 09:45, followed by various taster sessions throughout the day, finishing at 15:35.

Students will be able to choose to find out more about our primary specialisms in Early Years, Citizenship, English, ICT, Maths, Science and MFL, in addition to choosing sessions offering an introduction to Secondary teaching and a personal statement workshop. Campus tours will be run throughout the day.  Students can sign up to these sessions on the day.

As this event is taking place outside term-time, there will be limited catering facilities on campus, so we encourage students to bring a packed lunch with them.

Parking on campus is pay and display and limited to maximum of four hours. Visitors wishing to park throughout the day should use Hotham Park car park, which is directly opposite the campus. If you wish to book a parking space for a minibus, please contact us on the details below. Directions to the campus and further information will be sent directly to students with their confirmation of booking.

Students can  book online at –  www.chi.ac.uk/teaching-taster-day.  In the meantime, if you have any queries please call our student recruitment team.

We look forward to welcoming your students to the University of Chichester.

Yours faithfully

Student Recruitment Team

Tel:      01243 812116

Email:  visitus@chi.ac.uk

Great Scheme to use on a gap year to gain work experience in teaching

With competition high to go to University on a Teaching qualification, Universities are saying they are looking for experience as well as good grades to get a place on their courses.

 Chalk Talk is offering a paid ‘Gap year’, a ‘try before you buy’, in order to get experience of the world of teaching, working in the classroom and the school office Apprenticeship. You can then decide if you want to become a teacher, or an administrator within a school.  If you decide not to go to University, following a year on this scheme, you will come away with an NVQ and many transferable skills to help you find work.  You may have even convinced an employer of your skills and become a fully employed staff member at your placement.

 Email via the website, www.chalktalk.org.uk to register your interest. Many opportunities are coming on stream between now and the end of term.

10 day Immersion Program for students interested in primary teaching

Immersion poster 2013 – download for details of the program and how to apply

Immersion Booklet (1) – download the program brochure

It is a 10 day programme that aims to show exactly what teaching in any phase is all about. It is taking place starting Mon 17 June and below gives a brief overview of what it will involve.
Day 1 = Meeting about programme; child protection training, health and safety and professional duties
Day 2 = whole day at Infant School – understanding school life at KS1
Day 3 = Whole day at junior school – understanding school life at KS2
Day 4 = whole day at secondary school – understanding school life at KS3/4
Day 5 = Meeting about school experience to articulate predominant values that underline education and time to plan school based tasks
Day 6 – 9 (inclusive) = Time with chosen phase school (infant, junior or secondary) to complete school based tasks in booklet
Day 10 = Meeting to evaluate programme and tips for applying to BA, PGCE,School Direct programmes
Chichester University have said they will guarantee an interview – not a place, just the interview, to all participants who complete the course. All places on the programme are subject to a brief interview prior to starting.  All candidates must be CRB checked which we will do once they have been accepted onto the programme.
If you are a current student at Havant Sixth Form College please remember you will need to get your teachers permissions and complete trip slips for all the days that you would be absent.

Telegraph News Article: Schools’ wasting science lab budget on photocopying

Schools ‘wasting science lab budget on photocopying’

Hundreds of thousands of pupils are missing out on traditional experiments in science classes because of poorly-stocked laboratories, according to research.

A study by SCORE warned that too many school science labs were badly resourced.

A study by SCORE warned that too many school science labs were badly resourced.
Graeme Paton

By , Education Editor

6:00AM BST 02 May 2013

Comments1 Comment

Many schools are unable to offer a full range of practical lessons after blowing a large part of the science budget on photocopying and worksheets instead of vital equipment, it emerged.

Research found that primary schools had access to less than half the materials needed to allow children to carry out experiments.

Secondary teachers lacked around a third of necessary resources, including microscopes, eye protection, connecting leads for circuits and essential support from qualified technicians.

The study – based on two surveys of almost 1,000 schools in total – was carried out by the Science Community Representing Education (SCORE), a coalition of organisations including the Royal Society, Institute of Physics and the Royal Society of Chemistry.

It found that the amount of money spent on practical science “varies greatly” from school to school.

In state secondary schools, reported budgets in 2011/12 varied from 75p per pupil up to £31.25, while in primary education numbers ranged from 4p to £19.

Prof Julia Buckingham, SCORE chairwoman, said: “Taking part in practical work is an integral and essential part of learning the sciences, but our findings indicate that teachers do not feel equipped to give their students the full learning experience that they should be able to.

“Practical work is being limited by missing equipment and a lack of access to appropriate facilities such as laboratories and outside space.”

The study found:

• In state-funded secondary schools, an average of 28 per cent of the practical science budget was spent on photocopying;

• Almost 70 per cent of secondary schools reported that staff paid for items required for core practical activities out of their own pockets;

• More than a third of primary teachers contributed to normal curricular spending from their own money.

A Department for Education spokesman said: “SCORE is right that practical work is essential for high-quality science teaching. The best schools teach science as a practical as well as a theoretical subject.

“It is of course down to schools to decide how best to manage their budgets so that pupils get the best possible education – but we are clear of the importance of science as a subject vital for our future prosperity.

“That is why it is a compulsory subject in schools and we are raising its importance. Practical work is prioritised in our new curriculum.

“Our generous bursaries and scholarships are also attracting the brightest graduates into science teaching.”

Related Articles

From The Telegraph 01/05/13

Michael Gove is winning the hearts of state heads

Teaching unions don’t want you to know, but head teachers support Michael Gove’s education reforms

Education Secretary Michael Gove is determined  to devolve power to head teachers

Michael Gove, the Education Secretary, is determined to devolve power to head teachers  Photo: Eddie Mulholland

By Anthony Seldon

7:58PM BST 30 Apr 2013

Comments90 Comments

Michael Gove gave a seminal though little-reported speech last Thursday, his clearest statement yet of his aim for politicians to hand back the education system to the professionals, as long as they maintain the highest academic standards and prove worthy of the trust placed in them. The national curriculum he is introducing should perhaps be the last imposed from the centre; thereafter he wants schools themselves to develop a variety of high grade curricula.

Mr Gove is going way beyond anything Margaret Thatcher achieved in her 11 years of devolving power from government at the centre. No education secretary in the modern era has matched his vision of a largely autonomous education system in which individual schools, heads and teachers are given back their independence and creativity. Only by releasing dynamism in this way does he believe that British schools will be able to compete with the best in Shanghai, Singapore and Scandinavia.

As Mr Gove told his audience in Nottingham, he wants to sweep away the whole structure that has underpinned schools since the war. Schools themselves should conduct research into what produces great teaching and learning, rather than leaving such studies to universities, which he believes have offered little of practical value in terms of improving schools. Leaders should be trained within schools rather than being sent away to acquire abstract diplomas. Teachers should equally be trained within the schools themselves, rather than learning how to teach in university education departments. He wants schools to help each other to raise standards rather than rely on local authorities. All of this is to be achieved by schools becoming “teaching schools”, a system he conceived and which he sees as akin to teaching hospitals. He was in Nottingham to address the latest cohort of heads whose schools had been accepted on to the programme.

I was in the audience because Wellington College is among the first independent schools to join this programme. I was surprised and delighted by what he said, but was even more astonished by the reactions of my 150 fellow heads from the state sector in the audience. I have been used to state school heads denigrating education secretaries, above all if they are Tories. But most of the audience listened appreciatively, and the questions were supportive and enthusiastic.

Mr Gove hated the close relationship the trade union leaders had with Labour before 2010 – the union leaders even had a pass to roam anywhere in the Education Department. His principal targets in his speech were thus the National Union of Teachers (NUT) and the NASUWT, which he described as “increasingly out of touch with the profession as a whole… The leadership teams of the NUT and the NASUWT have demanded their members take industrial action – a work-to-rule – for reasons that are obscure to me but seem to amount to: ‘We don’t like the last 25 years of education reform, why can’t we party like it’s 1968?’” He senses that the public are becoming tired of the constant negative attitude of the unions to academies, free schools, lesson observation by teachers and curricula and exam reforms. His solution is to undercut the unions with a new body called the Royal College of Teachers, which would lead teachers as a profession just as the Bar Council and Law Society do with lawyers, and the 15 or so Royal Colleges do with different parts of the medical profession. Christine Blower, general secretary of the NUT, is contemptuous, believing such a body could not replace a union in fighting for the best conditions for teachers and learners.

“The best thing this Government could do for education,” one state head told me, “would be to abolish the teaching unions outright. The NUT and NASUWT are the worst.” Another said: “The trade union leaders are 100 years out of date: the world has moved on. We are now professionals and they have to reform or die.” An independent school colleague who does much work with state schools said: “The biggest reason why independent schools are so far ahead is that we have so little to do with unions at national level: their negativity and time-watching has held back the achievement of state school children.”

Heads are frightened to say this in public because of fears of reprisals by unions. “They can be very intimidating. If a union decides to target your school, you’re in trouble,” a head told me. Most of those I spoke to draw a distinction between the union leaders and the representatives on the ground, for whom they have much more time. This is certainly my experience: I have often found union representatives to be sensible and constructive. Many heads think they deserve better leaders at the top, who fight for the interests of children without the baggage of ideology, and who don’t resort to strikes. Old-style teaching unions may well be drinking in the last chance saloon unless they can modernise.

A battle royal is being fought for the heart and soul of schools. Mr Gove’s vision, which is shared by some key Labour figures, including Lord Adonis, will probably win the day. A significant number of state school heads and teachers still loathe it, but he is making headway. If Mr Gove can listen as carefully and respectfully to heads as he did last Thursday, he may well carry the day.

Anthony Seldon is Master of Wellington College

Teaching Assistant Apprenticeships in Portsmouth

Apprenticeships in Supporting Teaching                & Learning in Schools

 

Do you want to make a positive difference to Children’s lives?

 

Youthforce has a number of opportunities for young people to join our Apprenticeship scheme for Teaching Assistants in the Portsmouth area.

 

Position:              Apprenticeship in Supporting Teaching & Learning in Schools

Salary:                £2.65 per hour

Hours:                 30 hours per week to include training

Location:          Portsmouth (Various)

 

In your role as a Teaching Assistant Apprentice, you will play a pivotal role in the development of positive educational experiences for children in the Primary School setting.  Working with the support of qualified teaching staff you will be expected to contribute in the following areas:

 

  • Lesson Preparation
  • Support learning of small groups or individuals
  • Maintaining classroom resources and designated areas
  • Assisting with reading, word and number activities, and wider activities to support learning
  • Be involved in extra curricular activities, (e.g. clubs, activities, trips, open days, presentation evenings)
  • Assist with special activities in the school within school hours (e.g. sports days, plays, concerts, open days)

 

Our Teaching Assistant Apprentices will experience an exciting, challenging and varied apprenticeship with high quality training that will support them to become an experienced and qualified professional within education, opening future pathways for careers in education.  Apprentices will study to complete their Level 2 Certificate in Supporting Teaching and Learning in Schools during their 12 months.

 

If you would like to be considered for one of these apprenticeships, please contact:

Richard Davis, Partnerships Development Associate, Youthforce

By email: Richard.davis@youthforce.co.uk

By phone: 07817 482449

 

To express your interest in this vacancy please visit our website:

 

http://www.youthforce.co.uk/apprenticeships/apprentice-sign-up-form/

Do teachers talk to much in PE

Teachers talk too much in PE

A third of primary schools are failing to provide effective PE lessons for their pupils, Ofsted has warned, with warm-ups that are too easy, able athletes left ignored and not enough strenuous exercise.

to read on the Telegraph’s own website click here

On your marks: young children enjoy some healthy competition

Ofsted has found PE is not effective in a third of primary schools Photo: GETTY IMAGES

A report into physical education in schools found children spent too long listening to teachers rather than doing sport, with a fifth of primary pupils not even being able to swim 25 metres before they left.

Very few did anything to help students who are obese, the watchdog found, with PE failing to improve children’s fitness in a quarter of schools.

The report, based on four years of inspections and published today, showed lessons were not up to scratch in a third of primary schools and a quarter of secondary schools.

While acknowledging the subject was “in good health” in general, it highlighted significant problems in schools across the country.

Sir Michael Wilshaw, Ofsted chief inspector, said in some cases, teachers’ expectations were too low, more able students were not challenged and pupils did not have enough “physical, strenuous activity” in lessons.

“Our report found that only a minority of schools play competitive sport to a very high level,” he added.

“In particular, we found there often wasn’t enough physical, strenuous activity in PE lessons.

“Some teachers talked for too long and pupils were not provided with enough activity to enable them to learn or practise their skills.

“In many of the schools visited, the more able pupils were not challenged sufficiently because teachers’ expectations of them were too low.”

The report added that primary-aged children in a number of school were subjected to PE classes with warm-ups that were too short and too easy, followed by “long periods of inactivity” while the teacher talked.

Ofsted also suggested the most able youngsters were taught the same lessons as their classmates, and given tasks that were “frequently too easy for them.”

In secondary schools, sporty pupils were not given enough time to practise and achieve their best, the report said, and only a minority of schools played competitive sport to very high levels.

In general, “too much teacher-talk and regular interruptions to record information and observe others performing prevented them from remaining physically active throughout lessons,” the report found.

Very few schools had set up programmes to meet the needs of youngsters who were overweight or obese, it claimed.

Sir Michael said that schools with good PE lessons provided an “ever increasing range of extra-curricular and traditional activities”, helping pupils to achieve more.

He will now commission a follow-up report which will compare competitive sport in state schools to that in the private sector.

A new PE national curriculum, published last week, states children aged five to seven years old should be taught to master basic movements such as running, jumping, throwing and catching, take part in team games and perform simple dances.

Between seven and 11, youngsters should play competitive games like football, netball, rounders, cricket and hockey, as well as learn to swim at least 25 metres.

By the time they are in secondary school, students should “use a range of tactics and strategies to overcome opponents in face-to face competition through team and individual games”, develop their technique, take part in outdoor and adventurous activities and compare their performances with previous ones to achieve personal bests.

Climate change, evolution, personal finance and help for left handers in new National Curriculum

From The Telegraph 8th February 2013

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/9856118/Climate-change-evo…

 

Climate change, evolution, personal finance and help for left-handers in new National Curriculum

A new National Curriculum will give pupils a “broad and balanced” education to equip children with the core knowledge needed to proceed onto further study and the workplace, according to Michael Gove.

A newly-revamped National Curriculum will be introduced for state schools in England from 2015.

A newly-revamped National Curriculum will be introduced for state schools in England from 2015. Photo: ALAMY

The Education Secretary said the slimmed-document would feature in depth specifications for English, maths and science plus shorter syllabuses for history, geography, languages, art, physical education, citizenship, computing, music and design and technology. Here are some of the highlights.

ENGLISH

Age 5/6: Read using phonics, recite poetry by heart, learn alphabet, ensure left-handed pupils get help

Age 6/7: Write joined up words

Age 7/9: Use dictionaries for meaning, recognise themes (eg. good v evil) in stories

Age 9/11: Spell 200 complex words, use thesaurus to develop vocabulary

Age 11/14: Read pre-1914 literature, Shakespeare, world literature, practice public speaking and debating

MATHS

Age 5/6: Count to 100, use simple fractions, tell the time

Age 6/7: Add and subtract three-digit numbers

Age 8/9: Master 12 times tables, convert decimals and fractions

Age 10/11: Introduction to algebra

SCIENCE

Age 6/7: Reproduction in animals

Age 8/9: Evolution and inheritance

Age 9/10: Human circulation, experiment with materials

Age 10/11: Importance of diet and exercise / effect of drugs

Age 11/14: Human reproduction, Periodic Table, climate change

ART

Age 7/11: Mastery of drawing, painting and sculpture, focus on great artists from history

Age 11/14: Multi-media techniques (inc. video) and history of artistic movements

CITIZENSHIP

Age 11/14: Introduction to political system, monarchy, criminal/civil law and managing personal finance

Age 14/16: British links to Europe/Commonwealth, ethnic diversity in UK and chance to volunteer in local community

GEOGRAPHY

Age 5/7: Names of oceans, continents, world map, countries of UK, weather seasons and fieldwork around school environment

Age 7/11: Countries of world, counties and cities of UK, physical geography including volcanoes, reading Ordnance Survey maps

HISTORY

Age 7/11: Introduction to ancient Greece and Rome, chronology of British history from Stone Age to Glorious Revolution of 17th Century

Age 11/14: British Empire, Victorian Britain, world wars, Cold War, social reform

LANGUAGES

Age 7/14: Compulsory language – either French, German, Italian, Mandarin, Spanish, Latin or Ancient Greek

PHYSICAL EDUCATION

Age 5/7: Master basic movements (run, jump, throw, catch etc), introduction to team games

Age 5/11: Swim 25 meters, perform range of strokes, lifesaving techniques

Age 7/11: Competitive games such as football, netball, rounders, cricket, hockey, basketball, badminton and tennis

Age 11/14: Develop techniques to improve performance in competitive sport

COMPUTING

Age 5/7: Basic programming, online safety, storing information

Age 7/11: Designing programmes for complex problems, using internet search engines

DESIGN & TECHNOLOGY

Age 5/7: Principals of balanced diets

Age 7/11: Using kitchen to cook, introduction to tools, practical repair skills, impact of Industrial Revolution

Age 11/14: Importance of nutrition and balanced diet

MUSIC

Age 5/7: Singing and playing tuned/untuned instruments

Age 7/11: Play and perform in solo and ensemble context, introduction to great composers

Age 11/14: Extended use of tonalities, different types of scales and other musical devices