Committee calls for national campaign on adult literacy and numeracy In light of an OECD survey of 24 countries ranking England and Northern Ireland 22nd for literacy and 21st for numeracy, the Committee also calls for a more joined-up Government approach to tackling the problem, improved funding arrangements, and better assessment and support of the literacy and numeracy needs of unemployed people. The Committee found that adults struggling most at English and maths are not getting the help and support needed. While the Government pledges free training and tuition for any adult who wishes to study English and maths up to and including GCSE level, the Committee heard that adults with the most limited English and maths skills were not aware of the support available. Adrian Bailey MP, Chair of the Committee, said: "Problems with reading, writing and maths have a huge impact on people’s daily lives, including getting and keeping a job, understanding bills, forms and documents, and guiding children through education. Adrian Bailey MP, Chair: Image: iStockphoto
Primary Route Map (sample) | Centre for the use of Research & Evidence in Education (CUREE) "...it is brilliant! The deputy and I have looked at it and discussed its many strengths and uses - it has already saved us time and moved us faster forward than we would have been." This is what Ruth Schofield, Headteacher, Blackthorn Primary School, had to say about the customised evidence route map CUREE created for her. This is a bespoke version of CUREE's well-renowned Route Map. We select and translate the best research to enable teachers to access research as an everyday part of CPD - the practitioner friendly enquiry tools help colleagues both make progress and know they are doing so - and help schools share practice between phases, departments and settings. communicating with governors about your development plansshowing Ofsted inspectors how rigorous your planning is If you are interested in having your own bespoke route map, e-mail Anne Groll. "It has already saved us time in searching for relevant research and evidence." - Ruth Schofield, Headteacher, Blackthorn Primary School
The puzzle of UK graduates and their low-level literacy UK adults with tertiary education ranked 12th among the OECD despite the reputation of its universities Source: Alamy Not as simple as ABC: the weak literacy skills of UK graduates is mystifying The UK is ranked relatively low among the most developed nations for the literacy skills of graduates, with its performance described as “a puzzle” given the elevated reputation of its universities. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s annual Education at a Glance report, released on 9 September, this year includes a new feature: a measurement of how adults with tertiary education perform on literacy skills in each OECD nation. Andreas Schleicher, the OECD’s director for education and skills, described the measure – in which Japan, the Netherlands and Finland perform best – as offering “an important new dimension” and suggesting that “similar degrees may have a different skills value”. “But it’s a puzzle. john.morgan@tesglobal.com Click to rate 0 out of 5 stars
Our work - Schools The National Teacher Research Panel was set up in 1999 by its then sponsors, the Teacher Training Agency (TTA) and the Department for Education and Skills (DfES). Its initial purpose was to provide an expert teacher perspective to researchers, funders and policymakers on research priorities, projects and reports. Since then, the Panel has also worked to promote teaching as a research and evidence informed profession. The National Teacher Research Panel has three main goals: to ensure that all research in education takes account of the teacher perspective to ensure a higher profile for research and evidence informed practice in government, academic and practitioner communities to increase the number of teachers engaged in and with the full spectrum of research activity. Ensure that all research in education takes account of the teacher perspective Panel members currently participate in many national advisory groups and research steering committees. Glossary of education research terms
Don’t cut translations to fund English lessons for migrants A new report from the think-tank Demos is calling for a new national strategy for the way we teach English to migrants in the UK. Its researchers point to 850,000 people in the most recent census who said they could not speak English properly. I broadly agree with the tenor of the report and its calls for wider changes in policy and funding of English for speakers of other languages (ESOL). It is these that need fixing, rather than the way professionals are actually teaching English to migrants. Short-term funding Many of the report’s insights echo what informed opinion in the field, such as the National Association for Teaching English and Community Languages to Adults, the Action for ESOL campaign, and NIACE have been saying for a number of years. It highlights the damaging impact of funding cuts on ESOL provision, citing data released through a freedom of information request that found government ESOL funding had reduced 40% in the last five years. Don’t cut back from translation
EPPI-Centre Home The myth about social mobility in Britain: it’s not that bad, says new report It is generally accepted by all political parties and most of the media that social mobility in the UK is low compared to other countries, and worsening over time. These “facts” appeared in the manifestos of all three major parties at the last election. This has led to the creation of a mobility tsar and the expenditure of billions of pounds of public funding. So how is it possible that the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), in a report out today, reports very high upward inter-generational educational mobility in the UK and a very strong link between education and subsequent earnings? Education at a Glance suggests that more of the adult population of the UK, aged 25 to 64, is educated to higher education (university graduate) level than in any other EU country. This rose from 25.68% of adults in 2000 to 40.98% in 2012. Education appears to matter. Click to enlarge Resolving the apparent contradiction The opportunity cost
Praise feels good, but negativity is stronger – Jacob Burak I have good news and bad news. Which would you like first? If it’s bad news, you’re in good company – that’s what most people pick. But why? Negative events affect us more than positive ones. We remember them more vividly and they play a larger role in shaping our lives. Popular now Science needs the freedom to constantly change its mind Why is it legitimate to change genders, but not ethnicity? Contagion, poison, trigger: books have always been dangerous Hundreds of scientific studies from around the world confirm our negativity bias: while a good day has no lasting effect on the following day, a bad day carries over. Daily Weekly Our gloomy bent finds its way into spoken language, with almost two thirds of English words conveying the negative side of things. We’re so attuned to negativity that it penetrates our dreams. Even brief contact with a cockroach will usually render a delicious meal inedible Other researchers applied these findings to the world of business. Explore Aeon Neuroscience
The thinking behind Citizen Maths | Citizen Maths Information Hub Once Citizen Maths got underway, people interested in the learning and teaching of maths started to ask us to explain our thinking. Here is Dave Pratt’s and Seb Schmoller’s overview. Who the course is for Citizen Maths is a free open online maths course for: self-motivated individuals whose level of mathematical capability is at or above NVQ Level 1, but is not yet at NVQ Level 3, and who want to improve it [Note for international readers: Level 2 is the level that 16 year old school leavers are expected to achieve. Learners will need to have use of (and know how to use) a desktop or laptop computer with a broadband internet connection. Our approach Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) Free and open Citizen Maths – due to launch in September 2014 – is a course made available over the Internet without charge. Helping to tackle an otherwise insoluble problem Mathematics considerations The need for a new approach Engaging with contextualised problems Powerful ideas in action
AE_SPRNG.pdf OneNote vs. Evernote: A personal take on two great note-taking apps Let the note-taking wars begin. With Microsoft's release of OneNote for the Mac and iOS , and its announcement that the Windows application is now free as well, the company has taken dead aim at the popular program Evernote. The two applications now both work on the same platforms (including mobile OSes such as Android, iOS and Windows Phone), sync your notes to your devices and include Web-based versions. But they also have some very distinct differences. So which is better? I'm a long-time user of both applications, so I've taken a look at the latest version of each for Windows, OS X, iPad, iPhone and Android. OneNote: A great way to get organized OneNote has been around as part of Microsoft Office since 2003, and it's very much a full-blown application. It bristles with note-creation tools for drawing, recording audio and video, scanning images, embedding spreadsheets and reviewing the edits of others (although the abilities of those tools differ somewhat depending on the platform).
Top 100 Tools for Learning 2013 Exploring evidence-based teaching – live chat | Teacher Network | Guardian Professional This year neuroscientists will be going into schools to try to gain a better understanding of how children learn. The £6m initiative aims to improve classroom practice and dispel myths about how the brain functions. One of the organisations backing the scheme is the Education Endowment Foundation. Kevan Collins, its chief executive, believes there's a need for evidence-based education research that's "politician proof". Recently, I came across an interesting blog post that explores these issues by Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the RSA, a charity focused on finding solutions to social challenges. In a bid to answer the question, he weighs up the evidence on the topic and highlights where there needs to be more research. The post astutely shines a light on the complexities that surround evidence-based teaching and we'll be exploring many of the issues it raises in our live chat. Join us on Tuesday 25 February, 5.30pm to 7.30pm, for our live chat on evidence-based teaching. Our panel