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"Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough we must do."
1 February 2014
"Leadership is practised not so much in words as in attitude and in actions" Harold S. Geneen (1910?1997)
1 February 2014
The AQA exam board is introducing a super A* grade for a new International GCSE (IGCSE) in further maths.
Super A*s are not planned for other subjects but it could start a trend. A*s were introduced in 1994 to stretch able pupils.
1 February 2014
The part of the brain that senses danger becomes overactive in city-dwellers when they are under stress.
According to a brain-scanning study, the brains of people living in cities operate differently from those in rural areas. Scientists found that two parts of the brain, involved in the regulation of emotion and anxiety, become overactive in city-dwellers when they are stressed. They also argue that the differences could account for the increased rates of mental health problems seen in urban areas.
In experiments designed to make them feel anxious, Professor Andreas Meyer-Lindenberg of the University of Heidelberg scanned the brains of more than 50 healthy volunteers.
The results, published in Nature, showed that the amygdala of participants who live in cities was over-active during stressful situations. The amygdala is the danger-sensor of the brain.
Another region called the cingulate cortex was overactive in participants who were born in cities. The cingulate cortex is important for controlling emotion and dealing with environmental adversity.
More from Nature
1 February 2014
A review of Sats tests in England?s primary schools calls for changes to English tests, more teacher assessment and a ?fairer system?.
More than 4000 schools boycotted the tests in 2010. Heads at those schools, and others, argued the test results led to unfair league table rankings and meant children were drilled for the tests rather than given a broad education.
The report recommends that:
- Writing test should be replaced by teacher assessment of writing composition.
- There should be a spelling, grammar, punctuation and vocabulary test - all have clear right or wrong answers.
- Maths should continue to be externally tested.
- Reading tests should continue but need to be refined.
- Science should continue to be teacher assessed with a sample test to monitor national standards.
- Speaking and listening should continue to be teacher assessed.
- Three-year rolling averages should be introduced to give a rounded picture of a school?s performance.
- There should be a greater emphasis on the progress of pupils.
- Progress should be given as much weighting as attainment and should be one of the two headline published measures, alongside attainment.
- There should be a strong focus on the progress of every pupil, as well as greater emphasis on the progress of each Year 6 cohort. A new progress measure should be introduced to focus on the performance of lower-attaining pupils. This will help stop schools focusing on children on the Level 3/4 borderline.
- New progress and attainment measures should be introduced for pupils who have completed all of Years 5 and 6 in a school so that schools are not held wholly responsible for the performance of pupils who have just joined them.
- Teacher assessment judgements should continue in English, maths and science, and should be submitted before test results are announced. This will mean more weight is attached to them and allow longer for these results to inform Year 7 teaching and learning.
- Transition to secondary school should be eased for pupils and their new teachers. There should be more detailed reporting to secondary schools so Year 7 teachers know right from the outset a pupil?s attainment and the areas where extra work is needed.
- Pupils who are ill on the day of a test should have a week to sit it, rather than two days.
More from the Department of Education
1 February 2014
Today, Thursday 30 June, is the last day shoppers can use cheque guarantee cards, which ensure payments are honoured by a bank even if the buyer doesn?t have sufficient funds. The scheme has run since 1965.
Banks are scrapping the scheme because they say it?s too costly; last year they lost 43m due to fraud. It means millions of people will be unable to offer protected payments by cheque in shops, train stations, to delivery and tradesmen across the country. This is likely to lead to a mass refusal to accept cheques.
The banking industry body - the Payment Council - has also announced that cheques will be scrapped in 2018. The public outcry against this was so great that they were forced to say that cheques would not be scrapped until there was a suitable alternative. To date, they don?t seem to have any idea about what that alternative might be - although it is rumoured that it is likely to be a ?paper-initiated? transaction system.
It is the small trader who is likely to lose most with the demise of the cheque: transaction charges if people switch to debit cards or a greater likelihood of being robbed if people switch to cash. If cash becomes the preferred method, it is also likely that the government will lose revenue through an increase in tax evasion.
1 February 2014
A new network of volunteer business mentors, mentorsme.co.uk, has been launched by the British Government.
Mentorsme.co.uk is Britain?s first online gateway for small and medium-sized enterprises looking for mentoring services.
The free site offers businesses access to a list of business mentoring organisations across Britain. A search engine allows businesses to refine their searches according to the life stage of their business and their location in Britain.
Mentorsme.co.uk also aims to raise awareness about the benefits of business mentoring through its library of online resources, which includes articles about mentoring and case studies of successful business mentoring relationships.
Mentorsme.co.uk is operated by the Business Finance Taskforce, which has been set up by the British Bankers? Association and is made up of five banks: Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, Royal Bank of Scotland and Santander. The taskforce was established to help businesses access the finance they need to grow.
Source
1 February 2014
Concerns have been raised by the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Education that the coalition Government?s focus on phonics will contribute to a decline in literacy standards.
Their report is based on evidence from 584 teachers and educational stakeholders including the teachers? unions, literacy associations, publishers and outreach organisations.
The report emphasises that literacy policy should focus on instilling a love of reading in order to increase children?s motivation, wellbeing and attainment. The APPG also found that literacy policy should not be the responsibility of the Department for Education alone. Social factors ? such as parental involvement ? and health issues ? such as eye care ? are significant contributors to children?s reading success.
The government?s focus on systematic synthetic phonics is at odds with the views of many within the education community, who believe that it risks making reading a dull exercise for English classes. The report identified that phonics and reading are being used interchangeably by policymakers, but reading isolated words is not reading for meaning.
Many respondents also wanted to dispel the myth about how phonics is currently used. Most teachers already use phonics to teach reading, but they do so by blending phonics with other reading strategies.
Source
1 February 2014
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