Memphis-area public schools wary of charters’ recruiting
Public school leaders here expect a fight over students as charter school operators prepare to promote themselves in more affluent parts of town. Bills that eliminate the restrictions on who may attend charter schools passed in both houses of the Tennessee legislature last week, prompting some charter operators to predict lotteries may be necessary to [...]
Help with homework part of the curriculum
A government adviser said encouraging parents to discuss lesson topics with children, and requiring pupils to read more widely outside school, could drive “the next stage of our development as a nation”. Tim Oates, head of the expert panel on curriculum reforms for England, argued that the best school systems around the world involved significant [...]
Number of ‘inadequate’ teachers doubles in a year, Ofsted finds
Despite a multi-billion pound rise in education spending under the last Government, the proportion of teachers labelled “outstanding” has halved in the same year, school inspectors have found. Ofsted found millions of British schoolchildren were being taught by teachers who did not plan lessons properly, were unable to control their students and had poor knowledge [...]
Row over 25 per cent ‘top-up pay’ for head teachers
Schools leaders can earn up to £140,000 a year for teaching in tough areas or taking over more than one school, it was revealed. Classroom unions condemned the move, saying it was inappropriate at a time when many public sector workers are facing a pay freeze. The NASUWT also claimed individual state schools were already [...]
Teach schoolgirls to say ‘no to sex’, Tory MP says
Nadine Dorries, Conservative MP for Mid Bedfordshire, said all schoolgirls should be given lessons in “how to say no” as part of a new-style sex education curriculum. Speaking in the Commons, she insisted society was “saturated in sex”, with pupils currently being shown how to put condoms on bananas and self-diagnose diseases but not to [...]
Schools to be brought to a standstill by teachers’ strike
The National Association of Head Teachers is expected to back proposals for a national walk out to defend members’ pensions. An emergency motion to be debated at the union’s annual conference in Brighton on Sunday will call on the union to take any action necessary – up to and including strikes – to block controversial [...]