Is this the last year for SATs? Sam Derby discusses a possible end to SATs, and looks at the opinion that the exams are “too stressful” for young pupils
How can we go about building trust into the education system? Here we look at the NAHT’s Commission of Inquiry into Assessment and League Tables
After a long standing struggle between learner-centred and standards-led aims for primary education, two papers for the Primary Review note the emergence of a hybrid
Muriel Thomson tells how she has transformed the way support staff are used at Brixham College, Devon, bringing wide-reaching benefits across the school
With a more creative and flexible secondary curriculum on the horizon, Rebecca Patterson and Debra Kidd explore what it could mean for CPD
To allow full use of teaching assistants, curriculum managers need to ensure both TAs and teachers have the support they need. This involves quality line management and a clear understanding of how to plan for effective learning, Lynn Maidment explains
Our European neighbours do education differently – with different starting ages, reading levels, varied approaches to the curriculum and assessment, extremes of class size and funding. What can we learn? Dave Weston shares his experience
Staff at Park View Community School, Chester-Le-Street, describe how introducing a competence-based curriculum has enabled students and teachers to begin a learning journey
Anne Clarke, principal of Benton Park School, discusses the value of departmental SEFs
Have you taken ownership of your curriculum yet? David Morley examines how to break free, particularly with themed creative events
Deputy head Betty Port discusses how she looked at restructuring lessons to transform learning across her school
Staff at the Grammar School for Girls, Wilmington, decided it was time for a change. Six months later there is a real sense of staff and students working together for the future. Chris Love describes how learning to learn was introduced to his school
If the spirit of creativity were allowed to flower, could we cope? David Leat looks at the way that everyday constraints leave schools ill-equipped to teach creativity and the way that it can flourish when those constraints are removed
The BERA Professional User Reviews, published in 2003, aimed to critically inform the thinking of practitioners about research. Kate Wall uses them as a focus to argue that the closing of the theory-practice divide is becoming more and more relevant in 2008
Improving your gifted and talented provision depends on being able to pinpoint strengths and weaknesses in your current approach. The Institutional Quality Standards (IQS) is a self-evaluation tool for doing just that, and supports the introduction of personalised education across the whole school, writes Deborah Eyre
John Blanchard looks at the importance of distinguishing underachievers and slow learners and gives examples of techniques and tactics you can use to help pupils reach their potential
Many schools are happy to leave assessment of health and safety on work experience placements to outside agencies, but does this allow them to properly exercise their duty of care? Ruth Bradbury examines the problems and provides practical advice on how schools can play a more active role in the process
The advantages of being part of a local authority where all schools have specialist status are enormous, as education writer Crispin Andrews found out when he spoke to headteachers in one of them – Plymouth
What are the legal restrictions on how we should teach religious studies in school?
Teachers are being encouraged to use evidence to improve their practice. David Leat looks at three forms of evidence-informed professional enquiry – tinkering, action research and design research
David Allen and Iona Towler-Evans look at an innovative system of teaching thinking skills through drama
Angela Youngman turns her attention to religious education, potentially the most difficult and divisive of subjects to teach creatively and sensitively
Guy Claxton invites debate on his eight character strengths and virtues for the learning age
David Leat considers a recent study comparing nine countries which shows that policy on teaching and curriculum tends to swing between centralisation and decentralisation
Lisa Symonds looks at the benefits that skiing can offer schools and provides some tips on arranging a school skiing trip
Boxercise classes and boxing clubs in schools can be used to improve fitness and behaviour, as well as tackle bullying and racism says Rob Bowden
Mandi Horwood describes how a project to investigate how students saw their learning and how they can have a say in it revealed the vital contribution that they have to make
Acclaimed geography resource Reading Our Landscapes picks up Silver GA Award at annual Geographical Association conference
Creating and delivering productive links between business and the school curriculum can benefit everyone’s future, argues headteacher Martin Ainsworth
This science lesson plan for Key Stage 2 works on a number of levels, writes Caroline Coxon
Helen Boyle, AST and lead teacher for Opening Minds, Campion School, describes the school’s successful development of a competency based curriculum with L2L at its heart
In 2003, Le Rocquier school had no ICT strategy, no ICT replacement programme, no staff ICT training programme…but by 2007 that had all changed, and ICT is now integral to teaching and learning throughout the school, writes John McGuinness
Chris Comber from Leicester University offers curriculum managers exclusive insights into the findings, outlining key factors to integrate ICT throughout teaching and learning
Kath Donovan looks at the Renewed Primary Framework for Mathematics
Sara Wernham looks at the Renewed Primary Framework for Literacy and discovers how it will affect teachers
Lorraine Barber, a numeracy adviser from Worcestershire, explains the importance of effective and exciting maths teaching
Penny Cottee offers some top tips on self-evaluation and the teaching of school sport
Crichton Casbon, curriculum adviser for PE at the QCA, explains the new PE curriculum changes to Penny Cottee
Dance specialist and SSCo Kim Spiller offers advice to primary teachers about delivering high-quality dance
Crispin Andrews talks to assistant headteacher Karen Collinswood about the role of school leadership in developing high-quality PE in primary schools
Tina Ryan explores the reinvention of boxing as a school sport
Andrew Cushing argues the case for a new programme of physical education in schools
Mary James, the Teaching and Learning Research Programme (TLRP) deputy director, describes the most important messages that have arisen out of this national multi-faceted exploration of teaching and learning practice
Jo McShane used to think that pedagogy was just a stuffy academic way of saying ‘teaching’, but after attending a conference on the subject she finds that it means a great deal more
Patricia Lee explains how supporting children’s musical creativity can contribute to their sense of self-worth and emotional wellbeing
In this second article on marketing and promotion, Early Years Update, looks at how to use market research to find out more about the customers who use your services
Early Years Update highlights the key management issues contained in the EYFS Statutory Framework
Mo Laycock, Headteacher, Firth Park Community Arts College describes the effective model of governance which has contributed to three Ofsted results of ‘outstanding’ leadership at the school
Rather than see governors as a nuisance to be endured, schools instead should be working with them as an invaluable source of help and advice, argues Colleen Arnold of the National Governors Association
A recent research review reveals exactly what pupils want from the curriculum
Education writer and former head Gerald Haigh talks to Dr Keith Bothamley, deputy head (curriculum) at Horsforth School, and Richard Brown, principal of Minsthorpe Community College in Wakefield, about the new KS3 curriculum
Primary headteacher David Dixon applauds many of the changes that the Key Stage 3 review heralds, arguing that many of them will bring about practices already embedded in the best primary schools
Barry Griffiths summarises key points of an online debate about family relationships
History can help young people to see the ‘big picture’ about enslavement, says E Kay Traille
Jon Handcock outlines the latest British Red Cross initiative for acquiring first aid skills
Roger Whittall, Headteacher, The Westwood School, Coventry explains the school improvement strategies that have raised attainment and standards at his school
Philip Adey, one of the original proponents of CASE (cognitive acceleration through science education), reviews developments in the approach and critically examines its use in schools
The curriculum review section of most direct interest to SENCOs concerns organising the curriculum. SENCO Update reports
Many of your teachers will not be science specialists. Angela Youngman has been looking at innovative approaches to the teaching of science that help encourage children’s inquisitiveness
Is personalised learning really all that new? Roger Smith investigates
Brian Rossiter, headteacher of Valley School, Worksop, North Nottinghamshire, offers his take on the KS3 curriculum review
Georghia Ellinas, Secondary National Strategy regional adviser, describes an initiative that allows pupils to enjoy a Shakespeare play in their own time and space
We look at two examples from a booklet produced by the West Midlands Regional G&T partnership describing the experiences of 16 ‘test bed’ schools as they have engaged with the IQS and taken a lead in their implementation
In 2002 Gwen Goodhew was dismayed at the lack of resources she found for young linguists. Five years later, her research has revealed changes for the better.
David Leat reflects on the contribution of cognitive acceleration through science education (CASE) and the way in which initiatives such as this can contribute to thinking communities
Restructuring the curriculum can enhance personalised learning, risk taking, creativity and Key Stage 3 and 4 results, as Mo Laycock, Headteacher, Firth Park Community Arts College, reports
The National Curriculum statement of values has been misunderstood, says Graham Haydon
Empowering young people throughout the Commonwealth to become active citizens is one of the goals of the Council for Education in the Commonwealth. Gertrude Shotte reports on its work
Liz Thomas describes how a holistic ESDGC strategy for action operates in Wales
Incorporating more creativity in your curriculum will take staff out of their comfort zones, but will pay dividends in raised motivation and achievement for students, writes Becky Swain
Joanne MacDonald describes an innovative approach to drugs education for young children
Students in St Margaret’s High School in Liverpool have designed and successfully marketed a computer game. David Dennison and Les Hankin report on a striking demonstration on economic wellbeing as a diver of school activity
Following the publication of Lord Dearing’s recommendations Angela Youngman explores the implications of every KS2 child learning a modern foreign language
As the government increasingly recognises the importance of schools developing international links, headteacher Jim Donnelly looks at how these links can be established and what benefits they bring
Judith Harwood, senior regional adviser for the primary and secondary strategy, describes what one school has been learning from its involvement in the Social, Emotional and Behavioural Skills (SEBS) pilot.
Collaboration is growing in 14-19 G&T education. Sandra Howard and Lis Stock of the Gifted and Talented Education Unit at the DfES look at some recent developments
A detailed look at how the IB has been launched in one school, by Rob Ford, Head of International Education and International Baccalaureate, The Ridings High School, Bristol
An outline of the content of the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme and what schools need to consider when deciding to apply to deliver the curriculum it offers. By Tristian Stobie
As the world in which we live comes closer together in some ways and further apart in many, Margaret Collins suggests ways in which we in schools can help to make it a better place
The relationship of teachers in the workplace is an under-researched area. Educational psychologist Kairen Cullen discusses her study
In this month’s in-depth focus Anne De A’Echevarria talks about the Thinking Through School approach to learning-focused innovation. She describes the model and, using examples, explores successful implementation in schools and how the impact can be seen to be more than school-wide.
Diversity and Citizenship in the Curriculum: Research Review is a recent DfES research briefing that looks at the way in which citizenship and diversity is taught across the curriculum.
Barbara Spender outlines the benefits for students that can come from schools collaborating with each other in a formal partnership where staff give mutual support and share resources
Julia Frankl argues that studying the abolition of slavery challenges discrimination
Daniel Raven-Ellison shows how geographical thinking makes sense of the world
Anjana Khatwa explores the implications of acquiring World Heritage Site status
Mike Rathbone reports on developments to make every child’s music matter
Schools need to unpack ‘enterprise’ and ‘entrepreneurship’, say Jacek Brant and Alastair Falk
How can teachers raise aspirations for students who have untapped potential? Martin Ransley follows the lives of a group of Year 9 students.
Emotional Literacy Update takes a look at the learning aims that the secondary curriculum review hopes to put at the centre of the KS3 and KS4 curriculum from autumn 2008.
Patricia Lee explores practical ways for you to introduce children to musical concepts and elements.
‘Community cohesion’ is now a legal obligation on school governors and we must make the best of it, says Richard Bird, former headteacher and now legal consultant to the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL). He asks how teaching of history could contribute to this objective.
Celine West shows how head spanners and glass eyes can be used to unpack prejudice.
A new curriculum-based website to promote awareness of meningitis is outlined by Caroline Hill.
Ofsted’s last report on PSHE observed that parenting is frequently ignored in secondary schools. Dr Sue Dale Tunnicliffe outlines ways forward for 11-19 year olds.
Neil Hawkes outlines a values-based approach to school improvement.
In this article, Christopher Williams unpacks recent DfES guidance on student involvement.
James Park reflects on the progress of personal, social and health education.
Andy Walmsley describes how action research at Biddick School Sports College was used to target students’ learning needs and develop peer coaching among teachers.
Cooperative learning strategies aim to promote feedback loops relating to assessment and reflective learning in the classroom at Fallibroome High School. Jane Gormally and Francis Power describe the developments.
We are constantly trying to drive up standards of teaching and learning with new approaches, preferably those with a strong evidence base. But is ‘What Works?’ the right question? Should we really be asking ‘How do good teachers get better?’ Elaine Hall reflects on the messages from a meta-analysis of teaching and learning interventions.
Headteachers Anne Clarke and Annabelle Guyver analyse the benefits that trips abroad bring to participating pupils and to the staff leading them.
At the end of last year Sir Ron Dearing’s interim Languages Review was published. Headteacher Jim Donnelly looks at what he had to say and the suggestions for a way forward.
How can personalisation work in practice? Headteacher Paula Allen spoke to Bob Cox to explain how it’s done at Dorney Combined School.
The DfES, QCA and the National Strategies have got plans for changes to teaching and learning. Is this news? We have learned to live with change.
Science teachers are in the vanguard of gaining professional recognition linked to M-level standards. Derek Bell explains.
Learners tend to have a narrow view of the relevance of the curriculum and their enjoyment of it decreases across the key stages. These are two of the key findings of an NfER review of the research on pupils’ experiences of and perspectives on the curriculum published in the UK between 1989 and 2005.
A school with creativity at the heart of the learning process will benefit by increasing the motivation of staff and pupils, says former head, Dave Weston. In this article and case study, he shows the way to more imaginative approaches to curriculum planning.
Richard Ennals looks at the ongoing work to bring internationalism into schools and colleges.
Former headteacher Roger Smith examines the impact of performance management guidelines – in particular the changes to classroom observation – and how they can be made to work.
A second report from the Music Manifesto group has recommended a series of steps to improve music education at maintained schools in England
Susan Johnson promotes land-based jobs for young people.
The key change to the curriculum at Key Stage 4 has been to increase the breadth of choice. Alan Monks, Deputy Headteacher, describes the impact on Ellis Guilford School and Sports College, Nottingham.
Sarah Blenkinsop and Marian Morris examine young people’s decision-making patterns, the role their school plays, the skills they require and other influences on the choices they make at core points in their school career.
An exciting new Geography resource was launched at the Geographical Association annual conference 2007.
I know from my own experience that schools aim to interview fairly and don’t take your work in the school into consideration. In this and my previous position I ‘beat’ internal candidates to the post. At the time it felt like a bittersweet victory…
The British Standards Institution (BSI) is working on a new standard aimed at making school trips abroad safer.
Richard Bird, former headteacher and now legal consultant to the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), looks at the different interpretations of personalised learning and what they might mean in practice.
Dr Barbara Spender, Freelance Writer and Researcher, with information supplied by Terry Smith, Assistant Headteacher, Ninestiles Secondary School, Acocks Green, Birmingham.
Dr Barbara Spender considers the key questions underpinning Every Child Matters implementation from first considerations about individual school priorities, through visibility in specific curriculum areas, to evaluation and measurement of success.
Using NPSLBA to transform behaviour and raise attendance.
G&T coordinator Peter Leyland explains how one Luton primary school has found that this thinking technique benefits everybody – students, more-able students and even staff.
Neil Short reports on the result of a small survey into sports provision in schools.
Nick Smurthwaite explains how the after-school organisation Stagecoach is helping pupils with ability in the dramatic arts.
If giftedness is expertise in development then gifted historians are, or should be, on the road to being masters of a discipline. But how do we identify and nurture gifted historians? Alison Rowan explains the role of NAGTY’s history think tank.
How can assessment be used as a tool for improving learning and achievement for all pupils? What do you need to do differently for your more able pupils?
Neil Short looks at methods for supporting colleagues more effectively in the performance management process.
Geography can reward the inquisitiveness of young children, says Steve Mynard.
Archaeologist and teacher John Crossland, describes how you can use an historic site with Foundation Stage children.
Teaching Expertise is delighted to announce our sponsorship of a teacher’s expedition to Antarctica, exploring how humans cope with extremes.
Dr Alison J Price of Oxford Brookes University explains why understanding the relationship between numbers, and the connections between calculations, is an important part of developing mathematical awareness, and how this can influence delivery of the curriculum.
In his regular column Dr Graham Haydon argues that when the principles of justice and care are combined a more beneficial outcome is likely to be achieved.
In a special feature which encourages informed and responsible ways of tackling abuses of power Dr Christopher Williams suggests that young people make use of new web resources.
Jacek Brant found that taxation was an unattractive subject for pupils. He describes the findings of his team’s research and a practical resource that was developed in response to it.
Critical thinking skills can help us unpack national stereotypes. Dr Christopher Williams proposes strategies and resources focusing on the image of young people in Palestine.
A new study guide by Quakers makes a valuable contribution to peace, finds Brian Walker.
Dr Anjana Khatwa and Richard Edmonds raise questions about fossil collecting and how to maintain environments for a sustainable future.
Alice Mayers describes a collaborative project between the Foundling Museum and the National Theatre.
Timothy Jones shows how performance helps students at the British Council School in Madrid become informed world citizens.
Dr Susan Johnson explains how the UK’s bid to make Charles Darwin’s home a World Heritage Site will help to maintain biodiversity.
Chris Cowan explains how theatre in education can be a powerful tool in teaching sex and relationship education and other PSHE and citizenship topics.
Ruth Wilkes and Geoff Roberts describe a series of popular events in French and German.
What are the potential benefits to young people and how are schools preparing? Richard Bailey looks into the future.
Dr Jonothan Neelands, deputy director of research at the National Academy of Gifted and Talented Youth, explains how drama helps both the academically gifted and artistically talented.
Pat Lee begins her series on developing music within the Foundation Stage by looking at using music to enhance children’s social and emotional development.
Distributed leadership has the potential to transform schools, raising achievement and inspiring more effective practice from staff. Trevor Arrowsmith shows how.
Student voice can be a powerful tool in encouraging higher levels of engagement in learning leading to raised achievement. But many schools still have a lot to learn about making effective use of this tool in practice to bring about whole-school improvement. We uncover some of the lessons learned so far.
Networking to engage student voice
Creating an effective school
This scheme of work has the theme of Rich World Poor World.
Questions for whole-school change – A suggested planning framework for providing citizenship education with a global dimension.
Global citizenship benchmarks for secondary schools.
This project focused on integrating Fair Trade purchasing throughout the school and raising pupil and staff awareness of global issues.
Careful planning and clear outcomes made for a successful citizenship INSET event.
Headteacher Peter Kent and deputy Annabel Kay describe how introducing a condensed KS3 programme in their school has created the opportunity for personalised learning.
Dr John Hopkin, chair of the Geographical Association’s Education Committee, looks at why geography has lost its status in the subject league tables and the ways in which it can be put back on the school map.
Geography is the poor Cinderella of the primary curriculum. Where did it all go wrong and what can be done about it? Paula Richardson, education adviser and chair of the publications board of the Geographical Association, makes some suggestions.
Former head Roger Smith looks at ways of promoting creativity in schools, arguing that the concept needs to have its place at the centre of the curriculum.
Neil Short, education consultant and former head, looks at how schools are facing up to the challenge of supporting and developing sporting talent among young pupils.
Young people discuss bullying, citizenship, fair trade and social responsibility. Friday 25th February 2005 – transcript.
The aim of this project was, ‘for students to understand the effect of global economics on countries with significant debt’. Specifically, how consumer pressure can ease the burden on developing nations.
Citizenship education is being integrated into curriculum planning across the UK. The following ‘steps to success’ come from Norfolk LEA, which worked with Norfolk and Suffolk schools on the Developing Citizenship project.
If citizenship with a global dimension is taught and learned in all schools, great things can be achieved! Heather Swainston from Cheshire Development Education Centre explains how.
This project has shown how some ‘blockages’ to greater global awareness in schools can be unblocked. The challenge now is to share and learn from our experiences. By Sandy Betlem, NEAD.
Our theme was ‘Rich World, Poor World’. How do we open the eyes of children to equality issues?
This project supports the National Framework for PSHE and the National Healthy School Standard, as well as supporting the development of Citizenship throughout the school with some 1400 pupils.
Global citizenship has radically altered the Key Stage 3 curriculum at Broadoak High School.
Our Global Citizenship days are off-timetable events with a mixture of quizzes, activities, video, and seminars. They are designed to cater for approximately half a year group at a time (110 students).
This was one of those projects that makes you think being a teacher really is worthwhile!
An anti-racism day held in 2002 brought together visiting speakers, specialist workshops, interested staff and visitors from NFC. This became a model for our first global citizenship event.
One World Day was part of a week linked to the School Development Plan, focusing on global issues.
A review of the attitudes of the whole school towards global citizenship resulted in changes to the School Development Plan.
Our multi-cultural arts day was aimed at Year 7 students and was one of a programme of stop days around global citizenship in our school.
Fair trade day formed part of a whole school curriculum enrichment programme, and linked to the Citizenship scheme of work, which explores diversity and human rights in a local, national and global context.
Many schools would say their students have a voice, but do they really? What about at Whalley Range?
The Manifesto for Education Outside the Classroom promotes high-quality outdoor learning experiences to support cognitive skills and aid personal development – gardening fits the bill, says Dr Susan Johnson
Charitable trusts give more than £350m to education annually. Louise Germaney looks at some of the biggest grant-giving foundations.
Top tips for surviving your first year at a new school, from teacher Ben Vessey
My late father was one of Her Majesty’s School Inspectors in the 1970s and 1980s.
In the third of our series of articles about the Opening Minds Curriculum, Imogen Willgress explains how a new team was brought together to plan the new approach to Key Stage 3.
Leslie Spencer takes us on her learning journey, inspiring learners to love learning. Are you prepared to have your preconceptions, philosophies and pedagogy challenged? A teacher’s tale of the ‘Opening Minds’ curriculum.
The second in a series of articles exploring the innovative ‘Opening Minds’ Curriculum at St John’s School in Marlborough.
Dr Patrick Hazlewood explains how St John’s School in Marlborough, challenged an out-dated curriculum.
Tim Lomas, principal adviser, CfBT/Lincolnshire School Improvement Service, looks at ways of continuing to improve the profile and teaching of history in schools.
Headteacher Martin Ainsworth extols the benefits to his school of taking part in the Blueprint Drug Education Research Programme.
Amid the usual cries of the dumbing down of standards, schools were praised for another increase in this year’s overall exam results.
Tips to run more efficient and effective meetings.
In this article, Alistair Smith explains how two schools, Stamford High School and Melcombe Primary School, have introduced whole-school learning models based on Accelerated Learning. The impact of planning, delivering and evaluating learning has led to a significant cultural shift at both schools.
Working as a Teaching and Learning Fellowship as part of the University of the First Age.
Young people spend only 15% of their time in school. The University of the First Age (UFA) fills the rest of the waking day with learning opportunities and makes teachers and learners of us all. UFA’s Felicity Martin discusses how UFA has raised confidence, achievement and potential.
Enterprise education has entered the Ofsted schedule as a subject to be inspected in all schools. But do you know exactly what it involves?
To help entrench lifelong learning in the common psyche, this website from ContinYou displays the programmes it is developing to build learning communities throughout the UK. The aim is to give communities, and the individuals within them, access to new learning opportunities, and by so doing to change lives. It is based on the premise that learning is about much more than just that which goes on in schools.
Prime Minister Tony Blair has stressed the urgency for the UK to invest in ‘human capital’ if its citizens are to survive in the global economy – but as he holds the public pursestrings, schools will be looking for cash investment from him if this need is to be made a reality.
Students are responding positively to the RSA’s Opening Minds initiative with improvements in motivation, confidence and attitudes. Teachers are also reaping the benefits. RSA Head of Education Lesley James brings you up to date with developments and new resources.
Identifying students who are underachieving is easy. The challenge is doing something about it.
Achieving inclusion — becoming an inclusive pyramid.
Inclusion has become one of the must hotly-debated topics in education — there are almost as many different takes on it as there are schools. Brahm Norwich, Professor of Educational Psychology and Special Educational Needs at the University of Exeter, helps you to unpick what inclusion means to your school and shows you how to develop strategies that will allow you to achieve this approach in practice.
As curriculum managers are well aware, bullying can have sustained and insidious effects on the whole school — contributing to poor attendance, lower achievement, a less conducive learning environment for all and a generally less pleasant school experience for students and teachers alike.
Too many schools are dragging their heels on widening the vocational options available in their Key Stage 4 curriculum.
As the dust started to settle on the new White Paper ‘Higher standards, better schools for all’, discontentment with the content began to mount.
Too many schools are not providing bilingual students with enough of the right support to help them succeed in their learning, according to the findings of a new report from Ofsted.
Being able to secure effective and imaginative use of information and communications technology (ICT) in classrooms throughout your school is not just a matter of having a good ICT policy in place.
Mounting dissent about Government plans to restructure the school system has threatened to prevent the latest education White Paper from going ahead unchanged.
Curriculum managers need to do more to secure more effective observation of teaching staff to bring about improvements in learning.
Most schools are not making the teaching of literacy and numeracy a high enough priority, according to Ofsted inspectors.
Building a federation to support standards — working in partnership with schools in challenging circumstances.
Federations are already in the second year of existence — so what has been learned so far about how to create a successful alliance that brings about sizeable improvements in teaching and learning among all the partners? We learn from DfES guidance and NCSL research about what factors contribute to success.
If you are looking for a resource portal for enhancing your gifted and talented (G&T) provision, then this site is a good starting point. It brings together materials from the key G&T organisations all under one roof, and covers the core G&T issues, including identification, enrichment, extension, acceleration and differentiation.
Curriculum managers need to be aware of the safety issues relating to new technologies so that they can provide maximum safeguards across the school.
Latest reforms have been stalled further as rebel MPs set out a suite of compromise moves in an attempt to diffuse the areas provoking greatest dissent.
Partnering the curriculum with the world of work.
From how to assess your current provision and engage employers, to how to match students with placements, prepare them and then debrief them after the event — Jenny Asher, Development Manager for the National Education Business Partnership Network, guides us through the core issues to consider to provide work placements that provide first-class learning opportunities that will have a lifelong impact.
Access to vocational education has been found to be a key factor in reducing disaffection – but only if fully integrated into the curriculum and delivered as a mainstream option available to all.
As curriculum managers seek new ways to engage students as partners in learning, a new website that invites pupils to rate their teachers has received mixed reactions.
Staff are to be given new powers to tackle unacceptable behaviour, if the new Education Bill secures a smooth passage through Parliament.
The STAR workshops were designed by performers Martha and Eve to bring out students’ creativity in music, drama and discussion
In their report Serious Play: an Evaluation of Arts Activities in Pupil Referral Units and Learning Support Units, Wilkin, Gulliver and Kinder (2005) review the work of seven arts projects (four PRU based and three LSU based) that have taken place in recent years.
Since 2001, when in the words of our Head Teacher, Patrick Hazlewood, we were to ‘…throw out the National Curriculum…’, our school has focussed on discovering how we might best serve our students in order to make them independent, adaptable and confident learners able to meet the demands of the 21st century.
Research carried out earlier this year to assess the use of data in schools highlights its importance in many areas, including facilitating more effective allocation of staff and resources and monitoring the effectiveness of initiatives and strategies.
Latin is a highly valued part of the curriculum at Benton Park School. Principal Anne Clarke explains why.
With around 95% of state schools no longer offering Latin, access is the critical issue for survival of the subject. Will Griffiths, director of the Cambridge School Classics Project (CSCP), looks at a DfES initiative to address this and highlights the competitive advantage that offering Latin can give schools.
AL has become something of a catch-all phrase these days, synonymous with brain-based or mind-friendly learning. Susan Norman goes beyond the buzz-word to bring you the facts
We must listen to the pupil voice if pupils are going to feel valued as members of the school community, argues Anne Clarke, Principal of Benton Park School Technology College.
Curriculum managers constantly need to be looking for new and more effective approaches to improving teaching and learning (T&L) in their school. This website aims to help you do just that by giving you access to a range of curriculum projects aimed at pioneering new ways to manage and deliver teaching and learning.
Teachers are failing to make effective use of computers in the classroom — the verdict of recent research on school ICT use has revealed the poor impact that the £1bn ICT investment from the Government has had so far.
All current research on student achievement challenges the traditionally held mythology that the bright will always do well in whatever circumstances and that ‘borderline’ pupils fare better at the top of secondary modern schools rather than ‘struggling’ in grammar schools – a view entrenched in the attitudes of able students at The Thomas Aveling, a high school.
Are you truly providing every opportunity you can to allow your most able students to thrive, while also not disadvantaging others? Michele Paule outlines action you can take to ensure you identify these students and then are able to shape the best provision for them.
Schools are being more effective at using data to improve teaching and learning (T&L), but many are being held back by lack of time to update and analyse the data.
School sport partnerships are continuing to be successful in increasing the amount of time pupils spend taking part in PE and sport.
New research has revealed the positive impact vocational courses are having on students – in terms of their achievement, their confidence in their ability, their attitudes towards school and towards carrying on with their education.
As you begin a new school year, fresh and rejuvenated from the summer break, many of you will be looking for new and inspiring ways to achieve more creative teaching and learning throughout your school. If you’ve not heard of Creative Partnerships, then now would be a good time to find out more.
Amid the usual cries of the dumbing down of standards, schools were praised for another increase in this year’s overall exam results.
At GCSE level, a rise in achievement in the basics of English and maths was picked out for particular praise — these subjects are the ‘bedrock’ of every student’s education, said Schools Minister Jacqui Smith.
Students enjoy school and are pleased with the education they receive — a welcome message for curriculum managers, and one that flies in the face of common opinion.
Schools are failing to adequately provide for students’ emotional health and wellbeing. A lot of this is down to ignorance, the findings of a new report from Ofsted reveal – only half of all schools were even aware of Government guidelines on how to meet the needs of the one in 10 pupils who have mental health difficulties.
Penelope A Beard presents a piece of action research on PE with results that extend to other subjects. Her work also demonstrates how a piece of well constructed action research can shine a light on practice and form the basis for further professional thinking.
Model mapping (or ‘mind mapping’) is a learning tool for pupils of all ages and abilities, as Oliver Caviglioli, co-author of MapWise and former PE teacher, explains
G&T coordinator Samantha Wilkinson of King’s Wood School, Essex, explains how she has developed a PE programme for gifted and talented students
Students from St Clere’s School, Essex, travel to the US for an Advanced Space Academy course every year. G&T Update talked to the trip’s organiser, G&T coordinator Ken Lewis.
Primary strand coordinator for G&T Joy Blaker explains how schools in Rotherham approach the issue of identifying their most able pupils.
During the academic year 2004-05, the London Borough of Lambeth developed an imaginative and creative partnership with GIFT to offer enrichment courses for gifted and talented primary and secondary students, held in local museums and galleries. Rosemary Butcher explains
There are many theories about boys’ underachievement in our education system, but it’s important that schools are given direct, practical ways to tackle it at ground level