Parents to get reports on pupil behaviour
Schools will be forced to provide annual reports about children’s behaviour for the first time under Government plans. They will be expected to write to parents every 12 months warning them about the number of times their children have been caught swearing, fighting, disrupting lessons and being disrespectful towards teachers. Staff are also being encouraged to tell families about “positive” attitudes shown by particular pupils amid concerns schools “only report negatively on behaviour”...【閱讀更多】
Schools being 'turned into exam factories'
Memorising facts and figures in the classroom is becoming increasingly redundant because most information is available on the internet, according to Anthony Seldon, Master of Wellington College, Berkshire. Speaking before a conference at Wellington on Tuesday, Dr Seldon said: “Students still need to learn facts but we need to move away from memorising them in a slightly mindless way towards appreciating what all this information means and how it relates to different things.”...【閱讀更多】
To sleep, perchance to get better grades
It is what many teenagers tell their parents: "I'd do better at school if you'd only let me sleep in every morning." Now an 850-pupil comprehensive in North Tyneside has taken students at their word and put back the start of the day in the hope they turn up better prepared for learning...【閱讀更多】
報導來源：The Indepentent | 返回頁首
Universities to raise entry requirements
Sixth form pupils applying to popular university courses will have to gain more A grades to get a place. Universities are upping their A-level entry requirements for students starting in September next year. The move follows the unprecedented surge in demand for higher education this year which led to a shortage of places. Figures just released show a rise of nearly 12 per cent in applications so far for 2010, pointing to even more pressure on A-level students this summer. The new entry requirements mean a record numbers of courses at popular universities will require three straight As at A-level. Students who would have won a place on hundreds of degree courses with B grades will now have to achieve at least one A...【閱讀更多】
報導來源：Sunday Telegraph | 返回頁首
GCSE alternative 'banned' in state schools
Coverage in most of today’s newspapers of the Government’s decision to ban state schools from offering the International GCSE in key subjects. Ministers said funding for the qualifications would not be extended to the state system in English, maths, the sciences and ICT because they did not “meet the requirements of the curriculum”. A specific concern was that pupils taking an IGCSE in English are allowed to drop the study of Shakespeare. The decision comes despite the preference for IGCSEs in leading independent schools. Martin Stephen, High Master of St Paul's, West London, tells the Telegraph: “This shows the Government listens to teachers as much as it listens to experts on drugs. These are extremely rigorous exams - the Government is wrong and its statement is shameful.” In the FT, Andrew Halls, headmaster of King’s College School, Wimbledon, criticised the argument that a qualification which did not require Shakespeare was not fit for purpose...
報導來源：The Guardian | Telegraph | 返回頁首
Achievement reports for students may replace degree classifications
Universities will introduce new certificates giving a detailed breakdown of students’ grades which could eventually replace traditional degree rankings, vice-chancellors said yesterday. The classifications of first, upper second class (2:1), lower second class (2:2) and third may be phased out when universities adopt the Higher Education Achievement Report (HEAR) in 2011. Almost two thirds of graduates achieve a first class or upper second class (2:1) degree, and employers have complained that it is difficult to differentiate between them. Under the new system, grades will be listed in every module of a student’s course, allowing employers to distinguish between those who almost attained a first and those who only just scraped a 2:1...【閱讀更多】
報導來源：TimesOnline | 返回頁首
