A Daily Media Round-Up for Education Professionals

A daily media round-up for education professionals

Tuesday, 24 March 2015

EMPLOYMENT

Union to debate pay strike

The ATL is to debate taking industrial action over what it calls a “serious decline” in pay. The threat of a strike is due to be discussed at the union’s annual conference next week. With the DfE capping pay increases to 2% for the best teachers, ATL general secretary Dr Mary Bousted says schools are finding it more challenging to recruit and retain academic staff. Due to limited pay increases and caps, Dr Bousted said the real value of teachers’ pay has declined 12% under the current government. A motion for industrial action set out by several of the union’s branches says teachers may have lost up to 15% in salary values. It is noted that the improved 2% cap was only introduced by education secretary Nicky Morgan this month on advice from the School Teachers Review Body, with it previously being set at 1%. The DfE said: “Public sector pay restraint has helped us to protect vital public service jobs while we deal with Britain's deep financial problems.”

BBC News

GOVERNMENT

Education secretary criticised for union snub

Education secretary Nicky Morgan has been criticised for her decision not to speak at a conference for a teaching union. The ATL said Mrs Morgan was “misguided” for declining repeated invitations to its conference. The union has voiced disappointment that this will be the first time in recent years that there will be no representative MP from the Government. ATL general secretary Mary Bousted said: “If she really cared about teachers and the issues they want to raise, then she would come.” It is noted that the NASUWT has also criticised the education secretary for her failure to accept an offer to address its upcoming conference. Mrs Morgan did speak at this weekend’s ASCL event. A spokesperson said diary commitments prevented Mrs Morgan’s attendance at the ATL meeting.

Daily Mail, Page: 10

Radical organisations outlawed

Home Secretary Theresa May has announced proposals that would see preachers and campaign groups who express extreme opinions banned from involvement with schools. The plans will see a list of individuals and organisations banned from engaging with public sector bodies drawn up in a bid to avoid a repeat of situations like the “Trojan horse” affair which saw hardline Islamists infiltrate Birmingham schools. Mrs May’s plans are said to be a reaction to extremist ideology and the part it plays in radicalising young people. The Financial Times says that education secretary Nicky Morgan has previously expressed criticism of a proposal to give Ofsted a greater anti-extremism enforcement role, while universities minister Greg Clark has concerns about proposals to order universities to ban extremist speakers. The Independent, Page: 8 Financial Times, Page: 3 The Times, Page: 6 The Guardian, Page: 4 Daily Mail, Page: 10 Independent i, Page: 6 The Scotsman, Page: 6 Daily Express, Page: 2

British values

In a column for The Times, shadow education secretary Tristram Hunt addresses the concept of how schools can instil and teach British values, saying the area is “nowhere near as sophisticated as it should be. Too often, it feels conservative, reactionary, monarchist and London-focused.”

The Times, Page: 26

CURRICULUM

PSHE call

Estelle Morris in The Guardian looks at the Conservatives decision to block a proposal that would have seen personal, social and health education compulsory in schools, despite education secretary Nicky Morgan saying it should be “at the heart of the curriculum.” She says that numerous social issues that students will face in the world outside school need to be addressed and that the classroom is the best place in which to do so. She notes that the government assigns no initial teacher training places to PSHE, even though 33,000 teachers have to teach it. She also cites Ofsted data which says over 40% of schools that include PSHE lessons do not do it very well. Elsewhere in The Guardian, the issue of sex and relationships education for special needs pupils is addressed. With Harry Walker, policy and parliamentary manager at the Family Planning Association, saying making the subject compulsory would force schools to take it more seriously and improve teacher training.

The Guardian, Page: 38

INDEPENDENT

Sporting figures

A Youth Sport Trust survey has found that pupils at independent schools do almost three times as much sport as state school pupils. Independent pupils are involved in an average 4.5 hours a week compared to an average of under two hours in state schools. John Claughton, the chairman of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference sports committee and chief master of King Edward's School in Birmingham, said: "Schools like ours are very conscious of healthy living and fitness. There is no doubt that one of the things an active sporting life in school addresses is the issue of obesity."

The Daily Telegraph, Page: 8

SECONDARY

Guardian correction

The Guardian offers a correction to an article which claimed only 9% of London school pupils got five good grades at GCSE in 2003, compared with 70.5% now. The figures are actually 39% for 2003 and 61.5% in 2014. The Guardian, Page: 32 ACADEMY

Academies cut off point

The Guardian speculates that March 30 will be the point that the number of academies created under this government stops rising, with it believed that this date represents the last day on which funding contacts can be signed before the general election. It is said that projects yet to go through, including the conversions of the Hewett School and Sewell Park in Norwich, may not be implemented under this government. It is noted that over 4,000 academies have been created under the coalition government.

Schools advice offered

The Guardian looks at details of a new publication, the Establishing a New School and Getting It Right From the Start booklet jointly put together by SSAT, formerly known as the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust, and the private schools group Woodard. The paper notes that authors include the Aldridge Foundation, who saw a headteacher leave over activity to unfairly boost GCSE tables. E- Act, who had ten academies taken away for poor Ofsted reports, are represented in a section written by the head of E-Act Academy in Lambeth, while vice-provost of University College London, Michael Worton, writes on the academy the university runs in Camden, a school the paper notes “requires improvement,” according to Ofsted. Elsewhere, the paper also notes that academies minister Lord Nash has sent a letter to a fellow MP which outlines guidelines for academies that some schools in his own Future Academies chain do not appear to be adhering to.

OFSTED

Trust teachers to boost pupils

The Guardian examines the board of Ofsted following the appointment of two recent additions by education secretary Nicky Morgan, noting that the eight person board contains only one woman and is made up entirely of white people. It questions whether this is in any way representative of an education sector where half of the workforce are female and a quarter of all students are from ethnic minorities. It is also highlighted that there is no headteacher experience on Ofsted’s board of non-executive directors. Mrs Morgan’s recent speech on “increasing opportunities for women in the top education jobs" is referenced. Ofsted said that appointments were down to the DfE.

FURTHER EDUCATION

College consultation

Plans to reform sixth-form education in Pembrokeshire are being consulted on, with the local council saying the way sixth form education is delivered in the county is unsustainable and must be changed. Proposed changes would see a new 11-16 secondary school for the Haverfordwest area created, with the age range of schools Ysgol Bro Gwaun and Ysgol Dewi Sant reduced to 11-16. Students over 16 would attend a new integrated sixth form centre in collaboration with Pembrokeshire College. A new bilingual school offering Welsh-language teaching would be created on the site of Tasker Milward VC School, with post-16 education provided at Ysgol y Preseli.

BBC News

CLASSROOM

An hour of homework the optimum

Researchers from the University of Oviedo in Spain have said that 60 minutes of homework a day is a reasonable and effective amount time, with results showing a decline when teachers assigned 90 minutes or more of work. The data collected came from 7,725 pupils in state and private schools in northern Spain and looked at performance in maths and science homework. It is noted that schools were encouraged to set up to two and half hours of homework each night for those aged 14 to 16 under the Labour government but former Conservative education secretary Michael Gove withdrew the guidance.

The Daily Telegraph, Page: 8

Trust teachers to boost pupils

A letter carried in The Independent calls for an education system that focuses on developing life skills in students. A reform of Ofsted that focuses on the child rather than the school is suggested, with it claimed such a measure would move away from a culture of fear created by an emphasis on league tables.

The Independent, Page: 30

Dramatic advice

Ken Rea, a drama teacher at Guildhall School of Music and Drama believes that state school pupils with theatrical aspirations are at a disadvantage when compared to privately educated pupils who have access to superior facilities, saying: "They have great theatres, very good drama teachers.”

Evening Standard, Page: 23

HIGHER EDUCATION

Degree value questioned

David Palfreyman, the bursar of Oxford’s New College and director of the Oxford Centre for Higher Education Policy Studies, is to tell a debate that the higher education sector has over-charged its customers. In a speech seen by The Daily Telegraph, Mr Palfreyman will claim that the cost of a British university degree offers little value as students will struggle to pay the accompanying debt. Nick Hillman, director of debate organiser the Higher Education Policy Institute, agrees, saying “It is thought around two thirds of students will not repay their loans in full."The Daily Telegraph, Page: 2 OTHER

Profile: Sir Mike Tomlinson

The Guardian profiles Sir Mike Tomlinson, the former chief inspector of Ofsted who the paper says is a “ghostbuster” for schools: the person they turn to when they are in trouble. His role in analysing and rectifying the situation of the so-called Trojan horse scandal in Birmingham is highlighted.

US bill to limit data access

Congressmen in the United States are planning to introduce a bill that will limit how education technology providers can use information gathered from student activity. The Student Digital Privacy and Parental Rights Act will block companies which provide and manage digital education systems from using or disclosing students' personal information to tailor advertisements toward them and block the collection and use of student data to create marketing profiles. This comes after education publisher Pearson was found to be monitoring social media to identify students disclosing test details online.

International New York Times. Page: 17

Too stool for school

A teacher in China has been sacked after making two students kneel and be used as footstools after he deemed them to have been too loud in classes. The teacher was dismissed when pictures of the incident came to light on social media.

Daily Mail