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CfSA News


Notice of a CfSA Reshaping Meeting - 10th May 2010

A CfSA Reshaping Meeting is to be held on Monday 10th May 2010 at the Hallam Confernce Centre, 44 Hallam Street, London, W1W 6JJ, from 1.30 p.m. to 3.30 p.m.  Further details to follow.



Progress with the Education Bill

The Education Bill


07 April 2010

Following discussions with the opposition parties, the Government tabled amendments to the Children, Schools and Families Bill to enable some parts of the Bill to be passed into law before Parliament is dissolved. The provisions that remain cover:

  • Special Educational Needs (SEN) – requiring school inspectors to report explicitly on provision for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities, and giving parents a new right to appeal if their child’s special educational needs statement is not amended at annual review.
  • Alternative Provision – local authorities will be required to provide full-time education for children and young people who for medical, social or emotional reasons, or because they are waiting for a place in a maintained school, are not in school but in alternative provision.
  • Powers of Governing Bodies – giving school governing bodies greater powers on how they use their budgets, and the power to set up new schools and academies.
  • Local Safeguarding Children Boards – new provisions will be introduced to ensure effective information sharing and strengthen the evaluation of Serious Case Reviews (SCRs) to improve safeguarding arrangements.
  • Family Courts – provisions to build public confidence in family courts through allowing greater media reporting of proceedings.
  • Amendment to Apprentices, Skills, Children and Learning Act – on the role of the Local Government Ombudsman.

However, some key provisions have been taken out because no agreement could be reached between the Government and opposition parties. These provisions covered the following policy areas:

  • The Pupil and Parent Guarantees – which guarantee core rights and entitlements for pupils and parents, including catch-up lessons, 1-2-1 tuition and small group support for pupils needing extra support.
  • Home School Agreements – the Bill strengthens Home School Agreements, making them more personalised for each pupil, and new and stronger powers to enforce parents’ responsibilities in supporting the school in maintaining good behaviour including the possibility of a court-imposed parenting order.
  • Reform of the primary curriculum – the reforms to the primary curriculum, following Sir Jim Rose’s extensive expert review, provide greater flexibility for schools to tailor teaching to the needs and interests of their children while also focusing on the basics of literacy, numeracy and ICT.
  • Introduction of compulsory Personal Social Health and Economic (PSHE) education – the PSHE provisions ensure that all children receive at least one year of compulsory sex and relationship education (SRE) by making PSHE compulsory, and lowering the age at which parents can withdraw their children from PSHE from 19 to 15 years old. Legal advice to the Secretary of State was that increasing the age of the PSHE opt-out to 16 would have made the bill non-compliant with the ECHR.
  • The new Licence to Practise for teachers – this licence, accompanied by a contractual entitlement to continuing professional development, will establish the professional standing of the workforce and provide teachers with the status they deserve.
  • Registration and monitoring of home education – following Graham Badman’s independent report into home education, these provisions put in place a valuable tool for local authorities in their work to safeguard all children.
  • School Improvement Partners (SIPs) – the powers of SIPs will be updated so headteachers receive peer support, and challenge.
  • Data for the school report card – the new school report card gives fairer and more accurate accountability for schools and gives parents even more information about the schools their children attend.
  • Schools eligible for intervention and schools causing concern – the Bill strengthens local authority powers to intervene in schools causing concern, and more powers for the Secretary of State to intervene where improvement is not good enough.
  • Youth Offending Teams – the Bill gives powers for the Secretary of State to intervene where an inspection or other evidence reveals a significant failing in a Youth Offending Team (YOT) which may be putting young people or the wider community at risk.
  • Parental satisfaction surveys – this duty on local authorities would require them proactively to seek parents’ views on the range and quality of secondary school places in their area and then act on their responses.

The remaining stages of the Bill will be debated in the House of Lords tonight and the House of Commons on Thursday, 8 April. 


Ed Balls’ letter to Michael Gove outlining the state of play.  http://www.edballs.co.uk/index.jsp?i=4812&s=1111



DCSF's public consultation concerning changes to the Education (Prescribed Public Exam) Regulations 1989

The DCSF has launched a public consultation concerning changes to the Education (Prescribed Public Exam) Regulations 1989.  

 

The Regulations list qualifications which are covered by maintained schools' statutory obligations regarding exam entries and exam charges (which are set out in sections 402 and 453 of the Education Act 1996).  However, the Regulations are out of date and no longer reflect the kinds of qualifications being offered by maintained schools.  


The new Regulations do not amount to a change in policy around any particular qualification, but are intended to strengthen the provisions on exam entries and charges which should already be in place. In order to make sure that the new Regulations are fit for purpose, we are seeking contributions from professionals and organisations with an interest in the development and assessment of qualifications in England. I would be very grateful if you would consider circulating this message to members of the Council for Subject Associations.     

 

How to Respond

 

Anyone can view the consultation document and submit a response via the DCSF website by following this link. Copies of the consultation document and response form can also be downloaded from the same website. 



One-to-One tuition

The One to One Tuition Programme

The government-funded One to One Tuition Programme has been officially launched!  This programme aims to help children gain more confidence and understanding in English and maths, and teachers are being recruited to become tutors now.

The One to One Tuition Programme is designed to help the children who need it the most. The tutor works with the pupil’s teacher to identify the child’s academic barriers in English and maths, then provides ten hours of individualised tuition, addressing these barriers.

One to One Tuition is a highly flexible programme, as tutors decide when and where to tutor as well as how many pupils to take on at a time. Furthermore tutors will get a typical pay rate of £25/hr for ten hours tuition plus up to 2 hours planning/liaison time with the pupil’s teacher.

The One to One Tuition Programme is open to newly qualified, current, former or retired teachers.

For more information, or to register your interest in becoming a one-to-one tutor, please visit our website at: http://www.tda.gov.uk/teachers/onetoonetuition.aspx or call 0845 605 5002. 



Improving primary teachers' subject knowledge across the curriculum

The importance of subject knowledge and high quality teaching are main themes of the Independent Review of the Primary Curriculum. Ofsted subject reports have shown the considerable demands on teachers’ subject knowledge across the primary curriculum, not least in requiring them to understand how pupils learn in different subjects and what pupils need to know by the time they complete Key Stage 2. This report focuses on aspects of good practice in subject teaching (excluding English and mathematics) and areas for improvement.



Primary Review Final Report

Sir Jim Rose's Final Report on the Review of the Primary Curriculum is now available on-line.  You can download a copy from the CfSA website here

Better by design –

Better by design –

Sir Jim’s proposals capture the essentials of primary design and technology

Sir Jim Rose’s final report on the primary curriculum is good news for children’s learning in design and technology. The Design and Technology Association welcomes the draft programme for scientific and technological understanding. The proposals will ensure that children carry out the designing and making activities they enjoy and help prepare them for life in an advanced technological society.

Gareth Pimley, Assistant Chief Executive at the Design and Technology Association said, ‘We are pleased with Sir Jim’s proposals which will revitalise practice in primary design and technology. The draft programme makes logical connections between design and technology, science and other subjects which should improve the quality of teaching in primary schools and motivate children to learn. It also emphasises the need for discrete opportunities for children to design and make products using a range of materials and components.’

The proposals place design and technology in a broader context than the current National Curriculum. Children will be able to see the relevance of designing and making in the wider world and will be encouraged to be innovative and inventive. ‘We live in a designed and made world and therefore design and technology has a huge impact on our everyday lives. I am delighted that this is reflected in the draft programme, with opportunities for children to learn from experts and enthusiasts and to explore inventions from other cultures and times’ said Richard Green, Chief Executive of the D&T Association. ‘We will be working very closely with the Association for Science Education, the Science Learning Centres and other subject associations to ensure that schools get the best possible advice and support in the run up to implementation in September 2011.’

The National Association of Advisers and Inspectors in Design and Technology (NAAIDT) also welcomes Sir Jim’s report. Pam Bolton, Executive Member, said, ‘These proposals provide us with a sound foundation on which to build a quality experience in design and technology’. The Design and Technology Association and NAAIDT will produce a detailed response to the Final Report as part of the formal consultation.

Notes to Editors

1.     Sir Jim Rose’s Final Report is available at www.dcsf.gov.uk/primarycurriculumreview

2.     The proposals for design and technology are in the draft programme of learning for ‘scientific and technological understanding’.

3.     Design and technology is a subject where children design and make functional products with clear purposes and users in mind.

4.     The Design and Technology Association is the professional association for everyone involved in design and technology education in primary and secondary schools. Design and Technology Association, 16 Wellesbourne House, Walton Rd, Wellesbourne, Warwickshire, CV35 9JB 

 

www.data.org.uk

 

Communications Manager:  Deborah Watson 01789 473904

D&T Association switchboard:  01789 470007



Opportunity for mathematics authors

Routledge are in the process of producing a series of books on cross-curricular approaches to teaching and learning at Key Stage 3 and 4.

 

The series editor Dr Jonathan Savage is currently looking for a potential author(s) for the mathematics title.

 

The books will include theoretical examination of the key issues and a practical exemplification of them through case studies drawn from innovative practices across a range of schools. They will consider the powerful nature of change that can result when teachers allow cross-curricular thinking to inspire the content of the curriculum, the design of the curriculum and, perhaps most importantly, their pedagogy through skilful practice.

 

If you are interested in contributing, or would like further information please contact: Dr Jonathan Savage, Reader in Education, IOE, MMU. j.savage@mmu.ac.uk



CfSA response to the GTCE Code of Conduct and Practice

The CfSA has now responded to the proposed GTCE Code of Conduct for Teachers.

For the full response please click here. 


Mathematics Development Programme for Teachers (MDPT) and Science Additional Specialism Programme - physics or chemistry (SASP)

From summer 2009, the Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA) will be launching two national CPD programmes to support Government targets to increase the number of specialist teachers of mathematics, physics and chemistry.

 

The Mathematics Development Programme for Teachers (MDPT) and Science Additional Specialism Programme - physics or chemistry (SASP), will enable teachers without a first degree or secondary ITT specialism in mathematics, physics or chemistry to teach the subject more effectively.

 

Courses are designed to develop participants' subject and pedagogical knowledge and support them in teaching mathematics, physics or chemistry to learners aged 11-19 with more confidence, expertise and enthusiasm.

 

The course structure and length will be flexible to reflect the needs of individual participants. It will comprise a mix of tuition and in-school development and run for up to 40 days, spread over an intensive summer start and the following academic year. Courses will offer academic accreditation at H-level, with the option of taking some M-level credits.

 

The course is free for participants and the TDA will fund supply cover for participating schools. Teachers meeting eligibility criteria (including the achievement of 40 credits at H level) will receive a £5,000 incentive on completion of their course.

 

The MDPT and SASP courses were developed by the Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA) in close consultation with the maths and science communities. They have been piloted successfully in three regions over the last two years and are available across England from summer 2009.

 

To be eligible for the maths and science course, applicants must:

  • be teaching in a maintained secondary school, special school or academy
  • be teaching mathematics or physics/chemistry to learners aged 11-19 in schools
  • have qualified teacher status (QTS),
  • have completed their induction period 

Participants must not:

  • be graduates of mathematics
  • have an ITT specialism in mathematics

Participants should ideally have at least one year’s experience of teaching mathematics, physics or chemistry (as appropriate) for some of their timetable.

 

For further details on the MDPT, including a list of providers, visit:

http://www.tda.gov.uk/mathscpdcourse

 

For further details on the SASP, including a list of providers, visit:

http://www.tda.gov.uk/sciencecpdcourse