Being an outstanding teacher relies on more than passing harder QTS test
The government recently announced its latest change to the teacher training programme: in order to make entry into teaching more challenging they will make the QTS skills tests more difficult by raising the pass grade over the next three years.
In order to pass, candidates will need to score the equivalent of a B at GCSE to pass. The government is also hoping to attract high achieving computer scientists into teaching by offering £20,000 scholarships. Yes we need high flying graduates if they have the correct skills to teach. However, a degree from a Russell Group university or an outstanding academic record isn’t simply a passport to good teaching.
When I took my GCSEs (nearly 20 years ago) I ‘only’ achieved a C in English and maths. Does this mean someone who achieved an A* or an A would be a better teacher? Of course not. Raising the minimum requirement to pass the QTS skills test to the equivalent of a B will not improve the quality of teaching, but only prevents potentially outstanding teachers from entering the profession.
It seems like another misguided step from Michael Gove, the education secretary, and shows he understands little about what is required to teach. It is also very shortsighted to think that the standard of teaching will improve because these tests are harder to pass.
In all honesty, why do we have a system that includes skills tests in the first place? If the prerequisite for entry onto a PGCE course includes GCSEs in both English and maths (and science if in primary training) then surely that is a better indication of your ability? Why the need for both?
During my career I have worked and trained with people who, on paper, are far more qualified than me, including the academically gifted and experienced industry professionals. Many of these people have entered the profession under the impression that qualifications, and being considered a ‘high flyer’ in their industry, will mean they will be a great teacher. Inevitably it’s a shock when they start training.
I have also seen many people who, according to their qualifications, should be outstanding, but have dropped out during their training year, failed to complete their NQT year or struggled to get teaching jobs. Why? Because it turns out, there is more to teaching than having a list of qualifications as long as your arm or how successful you are in a chosen industry. More should be made of the other qualities teachers require, that dare I say, are more important.
What qualities make an outstanding teacher?
I tweeted the following question to my followers on Twitter: “What are the most important things to look for in those wanting to train as teachers?”
I really wanted to know what other teachers around the country thought. Was I being naive in thinking that Gove was taking the wrong approach, that raising standards is as easy as raising the minimum qualifications required to train?
Below are some of the qualities I took from the Twitter response:
• The ability to build relationships, passion, a desire for learning, flexibility and being able to adapt.
• The need to enjoy working with young people and have an idea of what a career in teaching entails.
• A sense of humour in trainee teachers and the ability to see past labels.
• The ability to inspire, treat learners like equals and see the potential in all students. Teachers need to be positive, optimistic and confident.
One person tweeted that adaptability was more important than qualifications, which I thought was a great point. Not one person mentioned that trainee teachers need to be highly qualified.
The hypocrisy of Gove’s mission to improve the standard of new teachers is that academies can employ people who do not even have a formal teaching qualification to teach. On one hand Gove is saying how important it is that we only allow people to teach who have the best qualifications, and on the other hand that actually, it doesn’t matter, employ who you like.
Raising the standards of teaching is very important and I am all for it. However, we cannot lose sight of the other qualities required to teach, over and above just teachers’ qualifications.
Matt Britland is head of ICT at Kingston Grammar School. He has been teaching for six years and taught in both state and independent schools. Matt blogs here and you can follow him on Twitter @mattbritland. Matt is also a teacher adviser to the Guardian Teacher Network
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Cambridge professors to assistance reshape A-levels
Cambridge has been recruited as a initial university to assistance a Government change training and training in schools.
Education Secretary Michael Gove visited a city currently as partial of his goal to get tip universities to accelerate a maths A-level curriculum and urge how it is tested.
He wants to “bridge a gap” that sees propagandize leavers ill-prepared for university studies, observant many have not mastered a required skills to make a leap.
While a university says it will not be environment examination questions, a agreement will see professors assistance figure a synopsis while pity training resources with schools and coaching teachers.
Mr Gove, vocalization during a launch of a programme today during a university’s Faculty of Maths, pronounced it is about recognising a significance of maths for a mercantile destiny of a nation.
He said: “There are lots of shining maths teachers out there, though one of a problems we have is that when a best students arrive during university they haven’t indispensably been given a best support by a character of a examination that we have and a inlet of a curriculum.
“So what we wish to do is to engage universities some-more in creation certain that training can be even improved and that students rise a most richer, some-more beguiling clarity of what arithmetic can offer.”
Prof Martin Hyland pronounced a university will support a “professional development” of teachers and yield giveaway training materials on a website, that will explain how to solve maths problems and set questions for pupils to have a go.
Teachers urged to get children reading
Those in teaching jobs have been urged to rekindle children’s love affair with reading, after new figures showed 22 per cent ‘never’ or ‘rarely read’ in their spare time.
The National Literacy Trust’s report, Children’s Reading Today, reveals that only 30 per cent of children read daily outside class, as the pastime gets overlooked for other activities.
Although children appear not to have lost their affinity for reading (50 per cent said they enjoy reading ‘very much’ or ‘quite a lot’), peer pressure and the lure of other forms of entertainment are reducing the amount of time spent buried in a novel.
Of the 21,000 people surveyed, 17 per cent said that would be embarrassed if their friends saw them reading, while 54 per cent said they prefer watching TV to reading.
It is not just traditional literature that is on the slide. Magazine, comic and even internet reading has declined since 2005.
Commenting on the role that those in education teaching jobs can play, Jonathan Douglas, director of the National Literacy Trust, said: “We need to make reading irresistible.
“We want to call on families and professionals working with children and young people to make ten minutes in their day for reading.”
Claire Smith, principal of Bedford Academy, had the following advice on how those with jobs in education can get children enthused about reading: “Some of our children can be reluctant to pick up a book and read in their spare time.
“They need a lot of motivation to encourage them to do so. We use different initiatives to grab their attention.”
Another finding from the study of considerable relevance to teachers is the fact that those pupils who read outside class are 13 times more likely to read above the expected level for their age than those who do not.
Posted by Alan Douglas
Published On 07/09/2012
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What will GCSE courses look like in the future?
Although results season always prompts some debate in the media about the secondary school curriculum, this year’s set of lower-than-expected grades has prompted a particularly fierce discussion.
However, there is much more that can be gleaned from the results than the surprise dip in grades for the first time in the history of GCSEs, including the popularity of particular subjects and the differences in attainment between boys and girls.
All of these statistics will very likely be used to shape the future of secondary education, so what have we learned from this year’s examination data and what can those in teaching jobs expect from the next school term and beyond?
Fall in grades
This year saw an unprecedented drop in the percentage of entries graded A*-C, from 69.8 per cent last year to 69.4 per cent.
Since the GCSE examination replaced the O-level and CSE in 1988, results have improved year on year, so this dip has unsurprisingly caused concern among school leaders and those in secondary teacher jobs, who have seen their students receive lower grades than predicted.
However, a levelling off or even slight decline in performance might become par for the course in the future given that the government is increasingly keen to make exams tougher and better highlight the abilities of the most able students.
Education secretary Michael Gove recently reiterated his intention to make GCSEs more challenging.
“We … want additional rigour and stretch,” he told the BBC.
This desire to challenge students further begins in earnest this September when those beginning their GCSEs will sit their exams at the end of the course in summer 2014, rather than in modules. They will also be prevented from re-sitting individual units.
Those in English Literature, geography, history and religious studies teaching jobs will also need to begin correcting pupils on their use of spelling, punctuation, grammar and specialist terms, which will account for five per cent of the total marks.
Subject matter
While these traditional subjects are experiencing curriculum changes, language teachers will be heartened to see that the number of students taking modern foreign languages is recovering.
The decline in students taking French and German slowed dramatically, while the number on Spanish courses rose.
There were also large increases in the number of those learning Arabic, Chinese, Persian, Polish, Portuguese and Italian.
“It will be interesting to see if this year’s rise in students taking Spanish and the rate of decline slowing in French and German is the beginning of a trend that will see more young people studying languages,” commented Michael Turner, director of the Joint Council for Qualifications.
Gender gap
Amid all this fluctuation, one thing has remained unchanged: girls get better grades than boys at GCSE level.
“Girls are continuing to outperform [boys] at A*s and As,” Andrew Hall, chief executive of exam board AQA, told the Independent.
“Girls are increasing the gap very slightly at grades A to C.”
But why is this?
A survey of children aged eight to 15 conducted by children’s charity Plan UK revealed half think girls in England and Wales get higher grades than boys because they behave better in class.
Others have previously speculated that the coursework element of GCSEs is better suited to the way girls work.
“Girls tend to perform better with coursework while boys do better with end-of-year exams,” commented Bill Alexander, AQA’s director of curriculum and assessment.
There are also particular subjects where girls seem to do markedly better than boys, such as English and English Literature, while there is much less difference in subjects like maths.
This could be related to the differing ambitions of girls and boys.
Recent research from JP Morgan Asset Management revealed that the sectors girls would most like to work in are healthcare, teaching jobs and fashion, while boys are keener on careers in IT and engineering.
Clearly GCSEs are a bit of a minefield, with so many factors affecting each child’s performance. Perhaps the key lesson of it all is to see pupils as individuals and not statistics.
Posted by Theo Foulds
Published On 31/08/2012
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Pupils advised to speak to teachers in light of unexpected results
Pupils who have recently received their GCSE results have been advised not to make “hasty decisions” in light of the unexpected drop in grades and seek the assistance of those in teaching jobs.
The Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) says it has been in discussions with the exam regulator Ofqual, which is set to conduct an investigation into this year’s results.
According to the ASCL around 20 per cent of secondary schools in England and Wales saw their results fall at least five per cent against predictions.
In light of this review, the guidance to pupils from the ASCL is to seek help from those in education jobs.
“Our advice to young people whose results have fallen below their expectations is not to make hasty decisions but to talk to their teachers and careers advisers who will discuss the options available to them,” said ASCL general secretary Brian Lightman.
Posted by Theo Foulds
Published On 29/08/2012
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Pupils advised to speak to teachers in light of unexpected results
Pupils who have recently received their GCSE results have been advised not to make “hasty decisions” in light of the unexpected drop in grades and seek the assistance of those in teaching jobs.
The Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) says it has been in discussions with the exam regulator Ofqual, which is set to conduct an investigation into this year’s results.
According to the ASCL around 20 per cent of secondary schools in England and Wales saw their results fall at least five per cent against predictions.
In light of this review, the guidance to pupils from the ASCL is to seek help from those in education jobs.
“Our advice to young people whose results have fallen below their expectations is not to make hasty decisions but to talk to their teachers and careers advisers who will discuss the options available to them,” said ASCL general secretary Brian Lightman.
Posted by Theo Foulds
Published On 29/08/2012
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Pupils advised to speak to teachers in light of unexpected results
Pupils who have recently received their GCSE results have been advised not to make “hasty decisions” in light of the unexpected drop in grades and seek the assistance of those in teaching jobs.
The Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) says it has been in discussions with the exam regulator Ofqual, which is set to conduct an investigation into this year’s results.
According to the ASCL around 20 per cent of secondary schools in England and Wales saw their results fall at least five per cent against predictions.
In light of this review, the guidance to pupils from the ASCL is to seek help from those in education jobs.
“Our advice to young people whose results have fallen below their expectations is not to make hasty decisions but to talk to their teachers and careers advisers who will discuss the options available to them,” said ASCL general secretary Brian Lightman.
Posted by Theo Foulds
Published On 29/08/2012
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Pupils advised to speak to teachers in light of unexpected results
Pupils who have recently received their GCSE results have been advised not to make “hasty decisions” in light of the unexpected drop in grades and seek the assistance of those in teaching jobs.
The Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) says it has been in discussions with the exam regulator Ofqual, which is set to conduct an investigation into this year’s results.
According to the ASCL around 20 per cent of secondary schools in England and Wales saw their results fall at least five per cent against predictions.
In light of this review, the guidance to pupils from the ASCL is to seek help from those in education jobs.
“Our advice to young people whose results have fallen below their expectations is not to make hasty decisions but to talk to their teachers and careers advisers who will discuss the options available to them,” said ASCL general secretary Brian Lightman.
Posted by Theo Foulds
Published On 29/08/2012
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Pupils advised to speak to teachers in light of unexpected results
Pupils who have recently received their GCSE results have been advised not to make “hasty decisions” in light of the unexpected drop in grades and seek the assistance of those in teaching jobs.
The Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) says it has been in discussions with the exam regulator Ofqual, which is set to conduct an investigation into this year’s results.
According to the ASCL around 20 per cent of secondary schools in England and Wales saw their results fall at least five per cent against predictions.
In light of this review, the guidance to pupils from the ASCL is to seek help from those in education jobs.
“Our advice to young people whose results have fallen below their expectations is not to make hasty decisions but to talk to their teachers and careers advisers who will discuss the options available to them,” said ASCL general secretary Brian Lightman.
Posted by Theo Foulds
Published On 29/08/2012
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Teachers defended as sports row erupts
Teaching groups have responded robustly to a suggestion made by prime minister David Cameron that those in teaching jobs are to blame for a lack of sports education in schools.
Mr Cameron was justifying the government’s decision to scrap the two-hour weekly target for sports education when he pointed the finger at teachers for showing a lack of commitment to getting children fit.
“The problem has been … some teachers not wanting to join in and play their part,” he told the LBC radio programme.
However, Christine Blower, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, called the comments “foolhardy”.
“Many Team GB medallists attended state school, which makes ludicrous his suggestion that teachers are letting the side down,” she added, referring to the success of Britain’s athletes at the Olympic Games which is underway in London.
Her words were echoed by Malcolm Trobe, deputy general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, who called the comments “unfair”.
“The inclination is very much there,” he explained. “There needs to be sufficient funding to enable these networks to work.”
Stephen Twigg, Labour’s shadow education secretary, expressed concern that dropping the exercise quota might lead to a reduction in the number of children taking part in sport.
“With a Labour government, the number of young people doing at least one hour of sport per week went from just one in every four to nine in every ten. There is a danger that this success could slip back,” he said.
However, Mr Cameron insisted that having an obligation in place was more a deterrent than an incentive.
“By just saying ‘Look, I want you to do this many hours a week,’ some schools think ‘Right, as I’ve hit that minimum requirement I’ve ticked the box and I can give up’,” he said.
Posted by Theo Foulds
Published On 08/08/2012
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