Tag: Teaching

Teaching union opposes new education body

Loknath Das

The EIS union fears the GTCS replacement may not be independent of government The teaching union EIS has claimed a proposed new supervisory body for the profession may not be independent of government. The Scottish government is considering incorporating the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS) into a new body with additional responsibilities. The independent GTCS itself has expressed fears this will be costly, legally complex and achieve little. The Scottish government said it will consider all responses on the issue. A consultation on legislation to reform school governance closed…

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R.I. education chief emphasizes return to teaching, not testing

Loknath Das

This fall, 20 principals will partner with Hasbro and the National Institute for School Leadership to deepen their leadership abilities. Later, Rhode Island superintendents will engage in a similar training program with CVS and the state Department of Education. PROVIDENCE, R.I. — As Rhode Island Education Commissioner Ken Wagner enters his third year he discussed some of his priorities for the coming school year. Shared leadership Wagner said his predecessor, Deborah A. Gist, had done a lot of great work around setting high academic standards and creating tests to measure…

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One celebrated head’s 12-point manifesto to rescue the teaching profession from crisis

subhadip

Trust in teachers, respect for teachers, Ofsted reform, league table abolition, pay rises and seven more targets… Surely the question on the lips of every individual who is passionate about education is this: “How do we break this cycle of negativity which is engulfing our profession?” Of course, this is no easy matter. However, I offer 12 points which, if addressed, could transform teaching. Let’s get the trust back. Why don’t people believe that generally teachers know what they are talking about? Let’s ditch the negatives and instead celebrate the calibre of…

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We’re about to assess teaching in universities – let’s learn from other sectors

subhadip

There are well-established regimes for rating schools and healthcare providers. Those that work best are stable, detailed and easy to compare How well will metrics do the job of an inspector? Photograph: Alamy We all know now that the government wants to assess the quality of teaching in higher education through a new Teaching Excellence Framework (Tef). What’s less clear is exactly how this will happen. There are genuine concerns, but finding imperfections in the model of the Tef put out for consultation is the easy bit. The hard bit…

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Teaching assistants improve pupils’ results, studies show

subhadip

Research says students make additional two to four months’ progress when small groups get structured help from assistants Teaching assistants have traditionally been used in classrooms to support low-attaining pupils. Photograph: Christopher Thomond for the Guardian Teaching assistants, whose contribution to learning has been called into question in recent years, have been shown to improve pupils’ attainment, two studies show. Schools spend £4bn a year – or 10% of the total education budget – on 24,000 TAs, but some headteachers have cut back on numbers after previous research raised doubts…

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Universities compete by teaching in English

subhadip

There are now almost 8,000 courses being taught in English by leading universities in non-English speaking countries, according to a project mapping their expansion. The rise of universities teaching in English, rather than their own local language, has become a global phenomenon. These are not only appealing to the world’s five million international students who travel abroad, they are also being chosen by students staying in their own countries who prefer to study in English rather than their own language. The research is from a Dutch-based organisation,StudyPortals, which has a…

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Teaching Working Students

admin

Students are generally passive when talking about the law, but Ellie, a sophomore at CUNY’s John Jay College of Criminal Justice, leapt into the discussion of the constitutionality of capital punishment in my death-­penalty course. When she eviscerated the Supreme Court ruling upholding Texas’ death penalty law, I knew I had met a special student. On the midterm, she earned the highest grade anyone had ever gotten on the exam. Later, I learned that she had scored 1,480 on her SAT. Ellie wanted to be an attorney; it seemed inevitable…

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