Education
Can't Cook, Will Cook
23rd January 2008
Cookery lessons are to be compulsory in England's secondary schools for children aged 11 to 14, in a move aimed at cutting the national obesity crisis, and to promote healthy eating. Pupils will learn to cook for an hour a week for one term, and poorer pupils' ingredients will be subsidised.
Cookery is a currently a ministerial "expectation" but, as an optional part of the design and technology curriculum, is not currently taught in all schools.
The move is part of the strategy to tackle obesity, as experts believe 1m children will be obese in a decade.
The Department for Children, Schools and Families says that about 85% of secondary schools do offer cookery in some form.
It wants those schools to make the change immediately, and the rest by 2011.
The aim is to train higher level teaching assistants to do some of the teaching and to recruit more food technology teachers.
Schools Secretary Ed Balls wants to see 800 cookery teachers trained:
"I think it is important to act now and maybe we should have acted earlier," he said.
"It's not going to be just the technology of food, it will be how you can use simple ingredients, simple recipes, so that children and young people can be prepared for adult life."
Rowdy classes?
Boring teachers to blame!
| Schools watchdog Ofsted has blamed rowdy behaviour in schools on boring, repetitive and badly planned lessons. Instead of blaming yob culture or irresponsible parenting for persistent poor discipline, Ofsted said that the teaching profession was guilty of failures that disheartened pupils and staff alike:
“In most cases, behaviour issues stemmed from students’ frustration with unsatisfactory teaching in a few classrooms and a curriculum that did not motivate a vocal minority. ”
The report drew a predictably irritated response from the National Union of Teachers.
Ofsted’s verdict coincided with the publication of a new study from the IPPR think-tank, which claimed that Britain’s teenagers were among the most unruly in Europe.
But the watchdog noted that poor behaviour was neither inevitable nor entrenched. It could often be turned around “in a reasonably short time” with a fresh approach from teachers.
Too often children acted up in class simply because they did not find their lessons interesting and did not like their teachers. At the same time teachers often failed to implement the school’s own rules on behaviour, the report, based on 71 secondary schools in England with unsatisfactory behaviour records, found.
Teachers could improve discipline and motivation quickly if they gave more varied classes and formed better relationships with pupils, the report suggested.
Some pupils disliked individual teachers so much that they would bunk off if certain members of staff were in school rather than turn up to class. This particularly affected schools with a high turnover of staff.
“Students were fed up with changes in teachers and with temporary teachers who did not know them or how the school worked. Indeed, in one school, staff reported that students inquired whether particular teachers were in school that day before deciding to walk through the school gates,” the report said.
Some heads were unable to tackle discipline problems because they were distracted and too busy working on bids to take part in some of the Government’s school reforms.
|
|
 |
Playing hookey
Parents are risking fines by taking their children out of school to take advantage of cheaper holidays or enjoy day trips because it is 'more convenient', according to new research. Many miss whole weeks when their families take advantage of cheaper holidays. Often those who go on short breaks or one-day outings often tell teachers their children are ill, feeling the lie is justified because their work patterns make it difficult for their families to spend time together.
The study of 1,000 parents visiting major theme parks during term time found that children in four out of 10 families questioned were playing truant. Organisers at Flamingo Land, North Yorkshire, and Pleasure Island, East Lincolnshire, calculated up to 456,000 children each year miss a day of school to visit the attractions.
Synthetic phonics rule
The national curriculum in England is to be revised so children are taught to read primarily using the method known as synthetic phonics.
The approach is a key recommendation of a review headed by former Ofsted inspections director Jim Rose.
He says phonics - letter sounds - must happen alongside paying attention to speaking and listening.
The government and the Tories back the findings. The Lib Dems say it should be for teachers to decide what is best.
Schools spending more
on computers than books
Schools spend more than five times as much on computer-based resources as on books, an analysis suggests. Primary schools spent £70m on books in 2004-05 and secondary schools £80m, whereas all schools spent £426.3m on ICT resources not including computers.
The figures, reported by the Times Educational Supplement, also suggest schools spend two and a half times more money on exam fees than on books.
Ministers said numeracy and literacy hours had led to a rise in standards.
The TES analysed how state schools in England spent £27bn from their budgets.
The figure for expenditure on books comes from a survey by the Educational Publishers Council.
The amount spent on ICT (information and communication technology) has risen by more than 50%, according to figures from the Department for Education and Skills.
That covers software and equipment for lessons, such as interactive whiteboards, but not PCs themselves.
Schools also spent £293m on insurance during 2004-05.
And the government figures show that schools spent £197m on exam fees during the same period, a rise of a quarter in two years.
A report by the National Assessment Agency last year estimated that England's exam system cost £610m to run.
One A-level entry can cost £70, and a GNVQ vocational exam, the equivalent to four GCSEs, costs £100.
Source - BBC
Useful link:
http://www.greenteacher.com/
Welcome! Green Teacher is a magazine by and for 
educators to enhance environmental and global education across
the curriculum at all grade levels.
Fifty pages of ideas and activities, four times a year.
Each issue contains:
Perspective articles — ideas for rethinking education in light of
environmental and global problems.
Practical articles — reports of what successful teachers, parents and other youth educators are doing.
Ready-to-use activities — cross-curricular activities for
various grade levels
Resource listings and reviews — evaluations of dozens of new
books, kits, games and other resources
Announcements of all kinds, and much more! |