Education: Schools | guardian.co.uk

Australian school drops \'gay\' from Kookaburra song

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 08:27:04 GMT

Headteacher says he only substituted word \'fun\' into Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree to stop pupils sniggering

An Australian school headteacher has asked students to stop using the word \"gay\" when singing a classic children\'s song, but today said no offence was intended – he was simply trying to keep the children from laughing.

Garry Martin of Le Page primary school, in Melbourne, said he instructed students to substitute the line \"Fun your life must be\" for the original \"Gay your life must be\" when singing Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree. The song about a native Australian bird is a favourite around campfires.

Martin said he was playing a recording of the song for the students about a month ago when the line \"gay your life must be\" produced a flurry of giggles throughout the classroom.

Some of the students use the word \"gay\" as a schoolyard taunt, he said, but don\'t understand its true meaning. And so, to calm them down, he told them to swap in the word \"fun\" for \"gay\".

\"It wasn\'t misplaced political correctness, it wasn\'t homophobia, there was nothing really calculated in doing it,\" he said.

\"I could\'ve stopped the whole class and gone into a very caring, supportive explanation of gay being quite a reasonable choice in lifestyle that some people make, but I was only talking with seven and eight year olds, and I think that sort of thing is better explained more fully with parents.\"

His decision erupted into controversy, he said, after one of the students told his parents about Martin\'s change to the song. Word then spread from the parents to friends to the local newspaper, which ran a story – and Martin found himself being bombarded with angry emails.

\"Some think I\'m the devil incarnate,\" he said.

Crusader Hillis, CEO of the gay and lesbian advocacy group The Also Foundation, did not go that far – but he did call the lyrical swap an overreaction.

\"It sends a signal to people that just because a word has two meanings, that one of those meanings is unacceptable and that\'s really putting us backwards,\" Hillis said.

\"Even if it\'s done for good intentions because \'gay\' is being used in schoolyards as a slur, I think they need to use the word as a conversation rather than banning it.\"

Martin said his decision was a mistake made with the best of intentions, and he plans to speak to the students about how different words hold different meanings across generations.

He also plans to ask students to sing the original version of the song. But, he added: \"We might not sing it that often now.\"

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Schools must earn poor pupil payment, charity tells education secretary Gove

Jeevan Vasagar — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 06:00:21 GMT

Disadvantaged children would be expected to be given priority in order for schools to get incentive reward

Schools would be expected to give priority to poorer children when admitting new pupils and judged on the extent to which they narrow the gap between disadvantaged youngsters and their better-off classmates under plans submitted to government by an influential charity.

In proposals which are being studied closely by education secretary Michael Gove, the Sutton Trust has advised that only schools which agree to give priority to disadvantaged children should get the full benefit of the pupil premium, a new financial incentive to reward schools for accepting poorer pupils.

This funding should be set at £3,000 a child if it is to have an impact, the Sutton Trust\'s paper suggests.

Schools rated as outstanding by Ofsted should have poorer children automatically entered into their application process, the paper argues.

Ministers are expected to review the school admissions code in the coming weeks amid concern that schools have skewed intakes which do not reflect their neighbourhoods.

The best secondary schools in England take on average just 5% of pupils entitled to free school meals.

The Sutton Trust\'s paper also calls on government to ensure that academies and parent-led free schools declare how they will deploy resources from the pupil premium to benefit disadvantaged children.

As increasing numbers of schools opt out of local authority control, councils could find a new role monitoring the use of this funding, the charity suggests.

The Sutton Trust, which campaigns to improve social mobility and funds projects aimed at narrowing the gap between rich and poor in education, draws attention to concerns that the coalition\'s school reforms, by expanding academies and enabling parents to set up their own schools, \"will lead to further social segregation among schools and hinder social mobility.\"

A spokesman for the Department for Education said: \"This is a really interesting report that we will study in detail. We agree that the attainment gap in our schools is too wide and we need to ensure that children from poorer backgrounds enjoy far greater opportunities in life.

\"That is why we are introducing a pupil premium so that extra funding is targeted at those deprived pupils that most need it, as well as reforming the admissions system to make it simpler and fairer for all.\"

Britain\'s biggest children\'s charity, Barnardo\'s, warned last week that impenetrable \"clusters of privilege\" are forming around the best state schools. Poorer families are losing out to better-off neighbours who move house or attend church to get a better education, Barnardo\'s said.

Proposals to make admissions fairer are being looked at as the government confirmed yesterday that more than 140 schools are expected to convert to academy status in the coming school year.

The schools, which are taking advantage of a new law allowing every school in England to opt out of council control, will take charge of their own admissions.

Some fear this will widen the gap between poorer families and their better-off neighbours. Gove said yesterday the reform would give head teachers more control over how schools are run.

\"This will give heads more power to tackle disruptive children, to protect and reward teachers better, and to give children the specialist teaching they need.\"

Gove wrote to every primary, secondary and special school in England in May inviting them to apply for academy status as the government moved swiftly to pass a new law that enabled schools to convert.

The schools converting this year include the first primaries with academy status. Among them is Britain\'s biggest primary, Durand, in Brixton, south London.

Greg Martin, Executive Head of Durand Academy, said: \"The freedom that academy status brings will allow us to deliver and develop a flexible curriculum to ensure that [our] children reach their full potential.\"

Meanwhile, business leaders will today call on the government to make it easier for the private sector to help run schools.

In a report published today, the CBI welcomed the expansion in the number of academies and plans to set up free schools.

The employers\' group urged ministers to set out a clear strategy for business involvement in education. The CBI wants to see more federations of schools set up, in which good schools support struggling ones. These could be run by a business, the report suggests.

It also urged the government to broaden the range of organisations that can set up a free school. Currently, only parent and teachers\' groups or charities are eligible.

Susan Anderson, CBI Director of Education and Skills, said: \"Businesses have a key role to play in raising educational outcomes, not just by offering students work experience and career support, or acting as school governors, but also by bringing their vast, largely untapped, reservoir of experience to bear in advising, managing and partnering with schools.\"

Jeevan Vasagar

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Six to watch: TV schools

Stuart Heritage — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 12:15:07 GMT

As a new term begins at Waterloo Road, which are the programmes it should it be taking lessons from?

This week the nation\'s kids return to school, all bright-eyed and smelling of hope. Ditto the cast of Waterloo Road – basically Holby City for former soap actors who don\'t have complexions that suit medical scrubs – which will also return for its sixth series tonight.

It\'s all change at the school, with Amanda Burton\'s fiery new headteacher replacing Eva Pope\'s fiery old headteacher, and the likes of Angela Griffin and Denise Welch replaced by someone from Waking the Dead and, later in the series, him out of Spandau Ballet. Still, at least Grantly Budgen – the marvellously gloomy English teacher with a face that resembles a melting waxwork of Geoffrey Palmer with gout – is still around. That\'s something.

So let\'s ring in the new term – at Waterloo Road and elsewhere – by revisiting six of our favourite school-based TV shows. As ever, don\'t hesitate to remind me of any glaring omissions...

Grange Hill (1978-2008)

The definitive school-based show. Grange Hill ran for so long that several successive generations could each take their own iconic moments from it. Some loved Grange Hill for Tucker Jenkins, some for Just Say No and some for the time that little Kevin accidentally took LSD and got freaked out by a piece of chalk. And the flying sausage. Never forget the flying sausage.

Teachers (2001-2004)

Post-This Life Andrew Lincoln vehicle that destroyed the myth of the teacher as the uptight fuddy-duddy. Instead, Teachers showed that educators could get drunk and have as much casual sex as anybody else. And what\'s more, they could do it to a soundtrack of forgettable millennial indie music, too.

Please Sir! (1968-1972)

Boasting a theme tune that rivalled even Grange Hill for catchiness, Please Sir! followed the adventures of John Alderton\'s idealistic new teacher Bernard Hedges in a school where all the pupils appeared to be in their mid-30s. Creepy.

Saved by the Bell (1989-1993)

Like a funnier Beverly Hills 90210, Saved by the Bell showed us how great life was at Bayside high school under the watchful eye of dumbly benevolent principal Mr Belding. Not always that great, as it turns out.

Glee (2009-)

The show that accurately describes what it\'s like to be a student. So long as you\'re needy and self-infatuated. And you can\'t go for more than five or six seconds without bursting into a semi-ironic rendition of a 1980s power ballad. And you mistakenly think that it\'s clever and cute to add the letters \'Gl\' to the start of most things you say. And you\'re relentlessly annoying.

The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show (1983-1985)

Not entirely school-based, but memorable for its classroom scenes nonetheless. Charlie Brown\'s teacher refused to speak English to her students, preferring to communicate via a bizarre wordless method involving a wah-wah trumpet. The knock-on effect of this is that Charlie Brown and his friends failed to learn anything at school, dooming them to a lifetime of head-smackingly inane pseudo-philosophical conversations with each other. Let this be a lesson to teachers everywhere – it helps to use actual words during lessons.

Honourable mentions

Gloriously observed Australian import Summer Heights High, genuinely terrifying The Demon Headmaster and good old Sweet Valley High. Also worth noting - despite their not-entirely-classroom-based nature - E4\'s The Inbetweeners, and Skins.

Stuart Heritage

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Schools converting to academies in September 2010

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 11:13:33 GMT

A list of the 32 schools converting to academy status this month

Queen Elizabeth\'s School, Barnet

Kemnal Technology College (part of the Kemnal Trust), Bromley

Brine Leas High School, Cheshire East

Fallibroome High School, Cheshire East

St Buryan Primary School, Cornwall

Seaton Infant School, Cumbria

Broadclyst Community Primary School, Devon

Uffculme School, Devon

Cuckoo Hall Primary School, Enfield

The Cotswold School, Gloucestershire

Watford Grammar School for Boys, Hertfordshire

Watford Grammar School for Girls, Hertfordshire

Lampton School, Hounslow

The Westlands School (in federation with The Woodgrove Primary School), Kent

The Woodgrove Primary School (in federation with The Westlands School), Kent

Heckmondwike Grammar School, Kirklees

Durand Primary School, Lambeth

The Giles School, Lincolnshire

Eaton Mill Foundation Primary School, Milton Keynes

Healing School, a Specialist Science and Foundation College, North East Lincolnshire

Tollbar Business Enterprise & Humanities College, North East Lincolnshire

Northampton School for Boys, Northamptonshire

George Spencer Foundation School and Technology College, Nottinghamshire

Arthur Mellows Village College, Peterborough

The Chadwell Heath Foundation School, Redbridge

Holyrood Community School, Somerset

Huish Episcopi School, Somerset

Westcliff High School for Boys, Southend-on-Sea

Hartismere School, Suffolk

Audenshaw School, Tameside

Urmston Grammar School, Trafford

Hardenhuish School, Wiltshire

Source: Department for Education

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School dinners or a packed lunch?

Karen Homer — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 10:10:00 GMT

What do your children eat for lunch at school and why?

It may not have felt like much of a summer but school\'s back this week and in a few days the autumn term will officially start; new shoes are being bought, PE kit labelled, and unopened book-bags and forgotten homework unearthed from the deep recesses of children\'s rooms around the country. One thing you may or may not need to dig out is a lunchbox, depending on whether you, along with just over a third of British parents, decide your child should eat school dinners.

There is little doubt that it is essential for children to eat a good lunch, but what this is and how it is best delivered is contentious. When canvassing opinion from other mothers I discovered that one friend has such horrible memories of her childhood school dinners she refuses to inflict them on her own daughter. Another who is particularly nutritionally-savvy is adamant that school dinners are the best choice from a health perspective; having assumed she\'d be packing additive-free lunchboxes I was somewhat surprised, but it has been suggested that it\'s parents who are less likely to feed their children healthy food that prefer the packed lunch option.

Of course, cost is important too and some people find the daily rate of around £2 per child prohibitive, making the lowest income group the segment of the community where take-up is at its lowest. Across the board time pressures also appear to be a deciding factor, with many I spoke to saying they opted for school lunches because they had enough to do in the morning without packing a lunchbox or three.

Since the 2005 Jamie Oliver school dinners campaign lifted the lid then nailed shut the coffin of the Turkey Twizzlers and other junk food being served to schoolchildren across the country, school dinners have enjoyed a far healthier reputation. Or at least they did until Andrew Lansley put the boot in by denouncing the campaign as an abject failure. But Oliver hit back equally hard and in fact not only did the uptake of school lunches increase by over 320,000 in the past academic year alone, but research also indicates the meals are improving children\'s performance at school. So Jamie remains canonized by the public and probably deserves his plaudits and awards.

What I would most love to see is a bit of European savoir faire when it comes to school lunch culture. In France and Italy pupils and teachers sit down together for a three-course meal of fresh, seasonal food; in Japan manners are emphasised as pupils serve the midday meal of rice, soup, fish and milk to their peers and teachers alike.

Although our school meals conform to stricter nutritional guidelines than in the past the culture is still bolt and run. Once, the the youngest children ate before the general rabble hit the canteen and dinner ladies watched over them to make sure they ate some vegetables. Not any more, and at secondary schools the temptation is to avoid the cafeteria completely and buy (often less healthy food) elsewhere, though there are heartening reports of some secondaries offering healthy meals that pupils genuinely want to eat.

But what of the packed lunch? I remember feeling smug as can be the day I carried my new pink Barbie lunchbox into school aged about 11, but I can\'t remember what was inside, probably because it was exactly the same as everyone else\'s lunch. Not so the recollections of a friend whose Spanish mother packed him long rolls filled with ham she\'d imported from her native Catalonia, rice and garbanzos and other very un-English delicacies. He says having to open that box with all its accompanying smells has scarred him for life - well, almost. From what I have gathered the same holds true today - foodie parents beware if you\'re thinking of offering anything other than plastic ham sandwiches on cotton-wool bread.

On balance, I incline more towards a hot meal in winter than in summer and confess to sometimes finding the morning lunch-packing too much of a grind. But for me the worst part is that unless your child is a speedy eater, before much more than the second bite his or her mates will be off to play, at which point the food will be forgotten. What do your children eat for lunch at school and why?

Karen Homer

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142 schools to convert to academies this school year

Jeevan Vasagar — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 09:32:02 GMT

In response to Michael Gove\'s education reforms, 32 schools will open as academies this month out of 2,000 that have expressed interest since May

Over 140 schools are expected to convert to academy status in the coming school year after the government passed a new law to allow every school in England to opt out of local authority control.

A total of 32 are expected to open as academies this month. It is understood that the majority of those opening are \"outstanding\" schools, or involved in federations with such schools.

Gove wrote to every primary, secondary and special school in England in May inviting them to apply for academy status while the coalition government moved swiftly to pass a new law to allow schools to take up the offer.

The speed at which the legislation moved through parliament led to accusations that ministers rushed the reforms using a timetable usually reserved for emergency laws, such as anti-terror powers.

Official figures from the Department for Education will today show that six weeks after the legislation became law, only 32 schools have completed the process to open as academies this month, with 142 in total expected to convert over the coming academic year. More than 2,000 schools have expressed an interest in becoming an academy.

Announcing that every school could apply for the freedoms in May, Gove said academies could become \"the norm\" in England\'s education system, adding he anticipated a high take-up of his offer. He insisted it was down to individual schools to make the decision.

Schools rated \"outstanding\" by Ofsted were pre-approved, meaning that those under this category who applied immediately are the most likely to open as academies first.

A spokesman forGove said today: \"This is part of Mr Gove\'s overall vision – that teachers and heads should control schools, not politicians and bureaucrats.\"

The announcement comes as children across the country prepare to return to school after the summer holidays.

Among the schools which have converted is Durand, Britain\'s biggest primary, in Brixton, south London. Jim Davies, chair of governors at Durand primary school, said: \"For Durand, gaining academy status gives us freedom to develop and structure education tailored to our intake, supporting each and every child to reach their full potential.

\"The Durand Academy will provide excellence in education for children from one of the most socially disadvantaged areas of the UK.\"

Chris Keates, general secretary of the NASUWT teaching union said there were concerns that schools had not properly consulted with staff, parents and their local community over decisions to convert.

She said: \"However, despite the unacceptable tactics to seek to tempt schools into becoming academies and repeated claims by the secretary of state for education of widespread interest in academy status, only a handful of schools it seems will convert on 1 September.\"

The reason for \"low take-up\" is because the government has \"misjudged the situation\", Ms Keates said.

\"Those promoting academy status are bankrupt of strong, persuasive arguments. Assertions of vast amounts of additional money for academies have proved to be gross exaggerations.

\"The fact that on becoming an academy a school becomes a charitable company limited by guarantee sits uneasily with many governors and parents. The unseemly manner and speed with which the Academies Act was bludgeoned through parliament has left important points of detail unaddressed.

\"But the killer blow is that there is no evidence to present that academy status is the key to raising standards.\"

Jeevan Vasagar

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Girls think they are cleverer than boys from age four, study finds

Jessica Shepherd — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 05:00:08 GMT

Teachers\' expectations may reinforce gender gap in school performance

Girls think they are cleverer, more successful and harder working than boys from as young as four, a study has found.

Boys come round to this view by the age of seven or eight and assume that girls will outperform them at school and behave better in lessons, research from the University of Kent shows.

The study – Gender Expectations and Stereotype Threat – will be presented to the British Educational Research Association\'s conference tomorrow.

The paper argues that teachers have lower expectations of boys than of girls and this belief fulfils itself throughout primary and secondary school.

Girls\' performance at school may be boosted by what they perceive to be their teachers\' belief that they will achieve higher results and be more conscientious than boys, the academics claim. Boys may underachieve because they pick up on teachers\' assumptions that they will obtain lower results than girls and have less drive.

The findings come just over a week after exam results revealed that the gap between boys and girls at GCSE is widening. This summer, the pass rate for girls was 72.6% at A* to C, compared with 65.4% for boys. Last year, the rate was 70.5% for girls and 63.6% for boys.

The gender gap has been the focus of public and academic concern for at least 20 years.

The study\'s findings are based on detailed questioning of 238 children aged between four and 10. The researchers presented the pupils with statements such as \"this child is really clever\" and \"the teacher is taking the register and this child sits very quietly\". They asked the children which the statement best fitted – a picture of a girl or one of a boy.

The academics, Bonny Hartley and Robbie Sutton, also asked the children to point to one of the pictures in answer to the question \"who do you think is cleverer\" and \"who is better behaved\".

Girls at all ages said girls were cleverer, performed better and were more focused. Boys aged between four and seven were evenly divided as to which gender was cleverer and more hardworking. But by the time boys reached seven or eight, they agreed with their female peers that girls were more likely to be cleverer and more successful.

In a separate experiment, 140 of the children were divided into two groups. The academics told the first group that boys do not perform as well as girls. The second group were not told this. All the pupils were tested in maths, reading and writing.

The academics found the boys in the first group performed \"significantly worse\" than boys in the second group, while girls\' performance was similar in both groups.

Teachers should be discouraged from using phrases such as \"silly boys\" and \"schoolboy pranks\" or asking boys why they can\'t \"sit nicely like the girls\" because this may help break the cycle of lower expectations of boys, the researchers argue.

\"By seven or eight years old, children of both genders believe that boys are less focused, able and successful than girls – and think that adults endorse this stereotype,\" Hartley said. \"There are signs that these expectations have the potential to become self-fulfilling in influencing children\'s actual conduct and achievement.\" Hartley said that while it was unacceptable to divide classes by the race of their pupils, this was not the case for gender.

\"This is likely to be due to gender bias being represented as much more socially and normatively acceptable in society,\" Hartley said. \"In this way, it is widely acceptable to pitch the boys against the girls or \'harmlessly\' divide the class in this way for practical ease.\"

Jenny Parkes, senior lecturer in education, gender and international development at the Institute of Education, University of London, said there had been marked changes in girls\' achievement in the UK in the latter half of the 20th century, in part thanks to feminism\'s influence on the way girls view themselves.

\"This seems to be particularly the case for middle-class girls. Some studies have looked at how academic work is seen as \'feminine\' and so for some boys achieving highly at school risks being labelled as feminine,\" Parkes said.

\"At the same time, this differs across different countries, ethnic and social class groups and from subject to subject. Adults do have an important role in helping children – whether they are girls or boys, high or low achievers – to have confidence in themselves as learners.\"

Jessica Shepherd

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Michael Gove\'s odd schools obsession | James Plunkett

James Plunkett — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 20:30:08 GMT

If US charter schools have inspired Tory reforms, academic excellence can\'t be the reason

The new school year was supposed to bring a great wave of new academies. In the event, it will be a trickle. In June Michael Gove claimed that 1,100 schools had applied for academy status. Then it turned out the true number was 153. Take away those not yet approved, and it looks like fewer than 50 academies will open this year. Gove\'s obsession with school freedom is not being driven by demand from headteachers.

So what is driving Gove\'s reforms? It is ideology all the way. Look first at his changing justifications: back in 2009, he claimed that his inspiration was Sweden, where a system of free schools was giving parents new choices and driving up results for the poorest. Then the evidence came out. Even in that most equal of countries, free schools had benefited only the children of wealthy parents, widening opportunity gaps.

Since then Gove has quietly shifted his attentions to the US charter school movement. Run by independent providers, charter schools are free to set their own curriculums, and operate outside local controls. Speaking to MPs in June, Gove praised them for doing a \"fantastic job, free from bureaucratic control, of transforming the life chances of young people\". The reforms he planned were \"exactly analogous\".

Watching from the US, that still seems a strange star to be chasing. Yes, the best charter schools are thriving: freed from constraints, they\'re fighting in the ditches – with 10-hour days and Saturday school – to buck trends for disadvantaged kids. But with over 5,000 of the schools now serving 1.5 million children, it\'s not enough to talk about a handful of successes.

The hard truth is that, the more you look at the US charter school movement, the more the glow fades. Stanford University found that fewer than one in five charter schools were outperforming comparable state schools; about half were performing at a similar level; and 37% were doing \"significantly worse\".

So yes, Gove can point to successes, but for every one there are two hidden failures. Indeed, of the 5,250 charter schools that have opened here since 1992, one in eight has closed. Last year, nine out of 10 schools in the Texans Can group were rated \"academically unacceptable\" by the state. On one campus, slated for closure, not a single freshman had gone on to graduate. Yet the Can chief executive still drew a salary of $236,000 (£150,000).

Elsewhere, charter providers have been charged with serious financial mismanagement. Several have been caught excluding huge numbers of students to boost results. Serious concerns are growing over the large, for-profit industry that has sprung up around this lucrative sector. One school offered students $100 to recruit friends, chasing the public money that would come with them.

The point is not that additional freedoms are bad but that, on the basis of evidence, they\'re a curious obsession. As the US experience shows, schools are not all helium-filled balloons, tethered by government and straining to soar. But nor are they all lead weights, destined to sink without support. Instead, cast adrift, some thrive and some fail; they simply float apart.

Gove may talk of charter schools as a system forging ahead of the pack, but in reality they\'re a roll of the dice from one that\'s falling behind. On international tests in reading, science and maths, US students made no gains from 1964 to 2003. On almost all measures the US school system now trails the UK\'s. Many in a school system paralysed by toxic union relations, perpetual funding crises and fragmented governance have given up on improving from within. Charter school leaders have become vigilantes, going it alone.

That\'s not an ambitious reform agenda for the UK, any more than it is one based on evidence. In June Gove told school leaders: \"Government action has held our education system back\" – and that basic disbelief in government – tired old Tory ideology – is driving this destructive experiment.

James Plunkett

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Banded school admissions provide a quick route to fairer education | Charles Hotham

Charles Hotham — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 13:01:03 GMT

Let\'s expose disadvantaged children to a culture of achievement

Over the course of my five years as a teacher at a central London comprehensive school, there was a noticeable shift in the tone of conversation among students about university applications. Increasingly the talk was of Russell Group universities, Oxford and Cambridge, medicine and law. By the time I was in charge of university applications, students were asking for advice on applying to the country\'s best universities, and requesting support for admissions tests and interviews. This sort of interest raises everyone\'s sights and tends to happen when you have a critical mass of students (and their parents) who want to aim high. This happened here partly because of the school\'s banded admissions policy.

Such policies are a way to improve educational outcomes for disadvantaged children quickly. Realistically, pupil premiums and independence for more state schools are only ever going to help in the long term, and we can\'t afford to fail another generation of children in poor schools while that happens.

In a report released last week, the children\'s charity Barnardo\'s recommended that all state-funded schools pursue a \"fair banding\" admissions policy. Under their proposals, oversubscribed schools admit a fixed proportion of students within defined bands across the ability spectrum as measured by a short admissions test.

The result is a \"true\" comprehensive, rather than one that simply reflects the local area. That catchment area may be very disadvantaged and therefore present concentrated challenges, or may be made up of \"high-involvement, high-aspiration\" families who have been able to move into the area to take advantage of the good local school. As a young-ish researcher with the thinktank CentreForum, who has spent the last five years teaching in one these \"fair-banded\" schools, I found myself listening particularly intently to the discussion last week. Barnardo\'s has argued that a change in the admissions policy of schools would improve the life chances of the most disadvantaged considerably. They sketch a picture of the existing system as one in which parents who demonstrate very little interest in the school choice system are put off further by a complex process dominated by parents who make the effort – the oft-mentioned middle-class pushy parents. Those children already disadvantaged by their parents\' inability to manipulate the system are therefore condemned to join similar children in schools wracked by the challenges associated with poverty and which struggle to attract good teachers.

David Green from the thinktank Civitas criticised this on Radio 4\'s Today programme as \"a kind of social engineering that\'s based on animosity towards middle-class parents\" and suggested that the solution was to \"plonk brand new schools of the best kind into our poorest inner-city areas\". Well, as education secretary Michael Gove agreed, this would indeed help, but how difficult is it? Gove rightly suggested that the proposed pupil premium would help, especially if the schools in receipt of the extra funds have the flexibility to attract, retain and train the best teachers through discretion over pay.

The recruitment of a handful of good teachers could in theory happen almost immediately. A significant proportion of the children in that school will start benefiting quickly (though, without increasing the overall supply of teachers, another school will lose out). But how long will it take to attract large numbers of good teachers? How long for the reputation of the school to increase sufficiently so that those \"high-involvement, high-aspiration\" parents start to send their children to the school? When this does happen, an environment is created in which the whole tone of the student and parent body becomes one of aspiration and achievement – a tone which is possible for teachers to create against the tide, but is more difficult, and slower, without the assistance of students and parents who demonstrate that same desire more openly.

It is now widely acknowledged that the single most important factor for improving schools is the quality of teachers. What seems to be stated less often is that the teaching profession is like any other walk of life – there will always be better teachers and worse teachers. Given the universally acknowledged importance of education, however, there is an understandable desire to eradicate the \"bad\" teachers.

Of course we should aim to improve the overall standard, to ensure minimum standards are met and to attract high achieving graduates into the profession. But we should also set a framework in which the moderately good teachers can achieve the best possible outcomes for the greatest number of children.

The pupil premium may not reach as many students as we would wish. New academies and free schools may take a while to recruit the best teachers, especially if their budgets are limited. The elimination of inadequate teachers from the system will be very slow and tortuous to achieve. At a time when funds are scarce, a fair banding admissions framework is a much quicker way to enable our most disadvantaged children to be exposed to good teaching and a culture of achievement and aspiration.

Charles Hotham

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Secondary school: how parents can help make the transition easier

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 07:15:03 GMT

Moving up to year 7 is a big step. Here are 10 tips on how to help your children make the change smoothly

For families of year 6s, the summer holidays can seem like a long run-up to that great mountain of mystery and fear that is big school. Some children will be starting a new school that is 10 times larger than their primary. Moving up to year 7 is a big step.

Professor Julian Elliott, an educational psychologist at Durham University, says: \"For many children, secondary school represents a step towards autonomy and the whole process of growing up and leaving childhood behind.\" It can be overwhelming for children and parents alike.

But there are things you can do to make things easier, and things you can think about now that will help your child adjust and settle in quickly.

• Build your child\'s confidence. Settling in well is all about self-esteem. Children with high self-esteem are less likely to be bullied, or to bully, or belong to gangs. They are more likely to gather a wide circle of friends. They can confidently say \"no\" to anything with which they don\'t feel comfortable. So tell them how great they are. When did you last pay them a compliment? They don\'t have to have done anything special to deserve one; a compliment on how well they look after a pet, or that they are kind or thoughtful, goes a long way. Do this daily and watch their confidence develop.

• Listen to their fears. Your child is possibly anxious and also afraid their concerns will appear trivial. For instance, if they become lost in the maze of corridors, what should they do? They could make their way to the school office – they should have a map – or find a pupil or teacher to direct them. What they shouldn\'t do is hide in the toilets until the lesson is over. Talk through the options with them. Do this for every concern they may have so that they know you take it seriously.

• Remind your child that being a good friend, especially to shy and quiet children, is one way to make friends. Be encouraging if they want to invite friends home and suggest it if they don\'t.

• Show that you feel positive about their school and \"talk it up\" even if it was not your first choice or you lost an admissions appeal. If you have high expectations, these will be sensed by your child.

• Have a trial run of the route, especially if they walk or cycle. If they miss a school bus home you need to talk through what they will do, especially if you are working and can\'t pick them up straight away.

• Get up earlier during the last week of the holidays so that early starts for school aren\'t a shock to the system.

• Stick to the uniform code. Your child will feel more comfortable from day one.

• Make sure they have emergency money and credit on their mobile phone – if it\'s allowed in school.

• Think about any changes you might need to make at home so they have the time, space and energy for homework. One parent who has three children shared her strategy: homework begins at a set time every day, after dinner, with all three children working simultaneously to avoid distractions. In the early days you should check their homework diary daily and if it looks empty, check with other parents or the school. Your child may simply forget to write it down.

• Encourage them to join lunchtime or after-school clubs. They are a great way to make friends. If after half a term they really don\'t enjoy it, they can drop it.

Give your child a few weeks to settle in. Ensure you know who to contact for any situation, and the school\'s preferred means of contact. If they are having any problems, social or educational, make an appointment to see their form tutor.

• Glynis Kozma is author of Secondary School: A Parent\'s Guide, and was a teacher for 30 years

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Vocational education is vital for Britain\'s business future

Peter Jones — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 07:00:08 GMT

It is disappointing that business studies is becoming less popular, says Dragon Peter Jones, because Britain needs entrepreneurs and inspired employees

Last week\'s GCSE results highlighted the perennial debate about attitudes to traditional and more vocational subjects. While it is fantastic that the pass rates improved for the 23rd year in a row, with over two-thirds achieving five A*-Cs, I am disappointed that languages and business studies seem to be increasingly unpopular.

In the absence of more vocational GCSEs, it is a shame that there were 7% fewer entries for business studies this year and that almost three-quarters of students didn\'t take French. Yet both teach skills that are vital for UK industry.

For those with an interest in traditional subject such as English and science, the pathway to success is clearly laid out. However, for those with a flair for business and a keen interest in enterprise, it is not so clear, and their experience of education so far has not always been a convincing one.

While it\'s true that traditional business GCSEs equip students with a wealth of valuable theoretical business knowledge, the English education system has not looked particularly kindly on business studies, in particular the topic of enterprise. Too often, there has been confusion between entrepreneurship and business studies. Enterprise is not the mechanics of setting up and running a business, but a state of mind, a confidence that you have the knowledge and the right mindset to be successful. A lot of people think you are born with it. I couldn\'t disagree more. The skills of how to be more enterprising are real and can be taught.

I believe we are still missing key ingredients that are discouraging young people from following their entrepreneurial dream, particularly in relation to academic versus vocational GSCEs. Not every student has a flair for textbook education, and generally many young people who have a flair for business and enterprise perhaps do not excel through traditional education methods.

But should we assume that these individuals who did not receive good results will not make successful entrepreneurs? We need more options available for students who are passionate about business and enterprise, but perhaps do not have the desire or academic talent to follow the traditional and more accepted route of taking A-level business studies. While there is definitely a place and need for business courses at GCSE and A-level, there is still a gap that needs to be filled.

My career path was not a traditional one. Although I obtained O-levels and A-levels in economics, biology and geography, I decided not to go to university. Two years ago, however, I was challenged to sit the A-level business studies exam and was awarded an A. The fact that I took, and successfully passed, the exam later in my career demonstrates that experience and the qualifications gained from hands-on, vocational learning are equally as beneficial as those offered by academic routes.

My primary point here is not to discard traditional business studies courses – they have their rightful place within the education system. However, as we look towards the future, we have the opportunity to take a serious look at how to unlock the entrepreneurial talent within this country through better business education.

My experience of education is that we tend to put everyone, all the learners, in one room and expect them to learn in the same way and at the same pace, but not everyone learns like that. What we need to unlock entrepreneurial talent in this country is to give young people high-quality, practical experience that fosters their skills – and this should begin early in their education journey, with vocational GCSEs being a prime opportunity.

To date, there have been a series of unsuccessful attempts to get industry involved in running schools, starting with Education Action Zones in 1998. Education providers and businesses must learn to collaborate much more effectively. The UK needs entrepreneurs to stimulate the economy, and businesses need inspired employees to help their companies recover quickly from the recession. In order to achieve this, we must foster greater links between the business and the education world through vocational education.

• Peter Jones appears on Dragons\' Den, is an entrepreneur and is founder of the National Enterprise Academy

Peter Jones

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Reading Agency defends libraries\' impact on literacy

Lucy Tobin — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 06:45:04 GMT

As government cuts threaten libraries, the Reading Agency comes to their defence with a success story – the Summer Reading Challenge

With the government looking in every direction to wield its cost-cutting axe, the Reading Agency last week put out a plea that libraries should \"not be a soft target for cuts\". The declaration came in response to statistics released by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport last week showing that nearly two-thirds of Britons didn\'t visit a library last year. That triggered fears that the figures were a prelude to mass library closures.

The Reading Agency hit back, saying \"where libraries offer a more dynamic, interactive reading service, the public respond with alacrity\". One of its textbook examples was the Summer Reading Challenge (SRC), its literary initiative that encourages thousands of children to become avid readers every year.

Since its creation 12 years ago, the SRC has become an annual part of the long holidays for more than 750,000 children aged four to 11. Every year there\'s a theme: this year it\'s outer space, so children are encountering foil aliens, Plasticine planets and more. The libraries then display relevant books, distribute reading rewards such as stickers, certificates, folders and charts, and encourage children to read six or more books during the holidays.

On a warm summer afternoon in Wherwell, a small village in Hampshire, a bus covered in pictures of fairies and monsters has pulled up outside the local primary school. It\'s attracting scores of children, who chat excitedly as they await their turn. But this is no ice-cream van drawing the crowds: it\'s a library bus, and one of almost 4,000 libraries around the UK running projects encouraging children to read over the holidays as part of the reading challenge.

Among those standing in line at Hampshire\'s library bus this year are the Collis family – Deborah and her children Natasha, seven, and Isabella, five. Living in a remote village, Collis describes the bus as a \"lifesaver\". She says: \"I couldn\'t troop all the way to Andover library that often, but the fact that the bus turns up every Monday with the books and rewards for the reading challenge is brilliant. Last summer, Natasha was moving up from year 1 to 2, and at that age they have minds like goldfish. I was worried that she would forget all of her reading progress, but in fact she got really into the reading challenge, and read a book a week.

\"When she got back to school, her reading had not only kept pace, but actually improved – she went up a stage. It wasn\'t long before she was a \'free reader\', choosing books without the structure of a reading scheme.\" Collis also credits the project with easing the back-to-school process in September. \"It kept Natasha\'s brain ticking over, and stopped the barrage of \'can I watch TV all day\',\" she says. \"It also meant she kept her school friendships going during the long break, because most of her classmates were at the bus every week.\"

The reading challenge might sound like a fun way for parents to fill the long, structureless summer, but there\'s serious academic reasoning behind it. After research showed that learners face a dip in reading levels during the summer holidays, Miranda McKearney, chief executive of the Reading Agency, decided that libraries could have a significant role in combating this. \"They were the obvious place to encourage reading, but at that time, some of the projects being run by library authorities were ghastly,\" she explains. \"It was clear that pooling everyone\'s resources nationally would create both serious economies of scale and great opportunities to innovate, and give everyone the chance to share ideas for a national summer reading activity.\"

When the scheme first ran in 1999, 65% of libraries took part. Now that figure has risen to 97%. Libraries pay the Reading Agency 40p per child for the packs of medals, posters and stickers, which are then free for children. \"Every year I hear fantastic feedback,\" McKearney adds.

To find out more about the SRC\'s impact, last year the UK Literacy Association carried out more scientific analysis. Researchers compared the reading ability of 75 participants in the challenge with 75 children who did not take part. They used a combination of Assessing Pupils\' Progress (APP) tests plus interviews with the children and their teachers.

After taking part in the challenge, more than 90% of the children who had previously recorded themselves as loving reading retained that level of enjoyment, whereas it dipped significantly for the non-participants. Teachers reported that almost twice as many SRC participants had improved in motivation over the summer compared with their classmates. The report also noted that almost all either maintained or improved their levels of reading achievement, while only those who did not undertake the SRC did not read any books at all during the summer.

Marie Harris, school literacy co-ordinator at St Mary Magdalen Catholic primary school in Brighton, says her students originally thought reading six books over the holidays was an \"enormous, unachievable\" number – but did it with great results. \"I was impressed to see the boost in ability of the children who took part,\" she says. \"Some were just starting to sound out individual words, using their phonic knowledge to blend and read the words, but after the SRC they could read text much more fluently. As they were not focusing on the actual reading of the words, they developed a love of reading books.\"

Only 12 year 1 and 2 students took part at Harris\'s school last year, but she still noted whole-school effects. \"The SRC forged much closer school and library links. Some parents began going to the library in the summer as part of a routine for the first time, and said they continued after the SRC finished.\" In the UK as a whole, 47,000 children signed up as new library members through the SRC last year.

In north London, Sona Pandya, mother of Roshni, 13, and Hiren, 11, says that it now forms \"the cornerstone of the summer\". She adds: \"Without the challenge, my children probably would pick up a few books, but with it they really look forward to it and their reading gets better and better. At first, the stickers and medals were a good incentive and helped get them into reading; now, they love doing it all themselves. They compete with each other to read more books.\" Her daughter Roshni says the SRC is \"fun because you get to read books that the library recommends, and sometimes they are ones that I wouldn\'t have read otherwise. One year, I won a little yellow stretchy man, and a medal and certificate and stickers. I think the challenge has made me better at reading. I definitely enjoy it more, especially in the summer because you have more time.\"

Ahead of the massive spending cuts to be set out by the coalition government in October, McKearney is hopeful the scheme will survive. \"This project is so important for children, and for libraries: the number of books issued as a result of the SRC now represents 20% of the total books issued every year.

\"The scheme has built up really strong momentum. Although we\'re a tiny team – just one director and a few part-time staff – we have a huge impact on children. With all the talk of a \'big society\', this is a very interesting model of how you can support local innovation through national charity co-ordination,\" she adds.

McKearney believes that schools and parents shouldn\'t be left alone to support children\'s reading. \"It should be whole community effort. Through the SRC, libraries encourage children to become enthusiastic readers when schools aren\'t in action. They add value to a child\'s reading growth in a unique way that combines so beautifully with what schools are doing.\" And, McKearney adds with a nod to the fears of library cuts, \"long may it continue.\"

Lucy Tobin

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Letters: Examining results

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 23:05:07 GMT

Is there any chance the Guardian could go beyond the press releases of the independent schools for its analysis of exam results (Fifth of A-levels taken by private school pupils awarded A*, 28 August) It\'s true that private school students are more likely to get As. This is hardly surprising given the greater privilege and affluence of their background. But it\'s also true that the gap is closing. \"Comprehensives rising, private schools falling\" would have been an accurate summary of the GCSE results you published. Last year the proportion of comprehensive students achieving GCSE grade A or better rose by 0.9% and those getting C or better rose 2.2%. For private school students, both figures fell. In 2002 private sector students were 3.9 times as likely as comprehensive students to get an A. Now they are only 2.9 times as likely. That is a big shift, though it may not be a viewpoint you will get from the private schools.

Henry Stewart

Chair of governors, Stoke Newington school, London

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Letters: Learning languages still matters

Sun, 29 Aug 2010 23:04:55 GMT

The British mentality surrounding language learning is summarised by the question perpetually asked by pupils: \"Why do I have to learn German? They all speak English anyway.\" (Wer will heute noch Sprachen lernen?, G2, 25 August).

One only has to watch 15 minutes of German television to realise the influential power that the English language has in Germany. This is repeated around the world, and it is the instrumentality that English embodies in the minds of foreign learners that must be instilled in the minds of native English speakers if they are ever going to want to continue to learn languages. How this can be achieved in a world where English is the lingua franca is a challenge which I believe will only get harder with time, but as a graduate about to embark on a PGCE in German and Spanish, I am going to make it my aim to ensure that German is not seen as the language of war, Hitler and people with mullets, but as a language which can open doors of communication, culture and broader understanding.

Jennifer Halkyard

Berkeley, Gloucestershire

• Your article on the decline in modern language teaching touched on many aspects of the situation. Surely, however, the emphasis should be on the numbers of adults with at least a grade C at GCSE, rather than the overall number of candidates. A simple way of bringing the proportion up would be for universities to make a C-grade pass in a language an entry requirement for all degree courses. This would be far better than imposing on schools the burden of trying to teach pupils who have no wish to learn, and since there are now thousands of youngsters with university entrance qualifications who cannot get a place it would be reasonable to expect a GCSE language to be achievable.

Les Masters

Weston-super-Mare, Somerset

• Learning a language is a hugely rewarding part of a rounded education and, in an increasingly global economy, modern language skills are now a prerequisite for many careers.

The pre-16 International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme, as well as the IB Diploma, makes learning a second language mandatory and is one of the few qualifications that does not result in a narrowing of study options at an early age. As head of an international school I see first hand how language breaks down cultural barriers – a quality much needed by future generations.

Ginger G Apple

Headteacher, ACS Hillingdon International school, Middlesex

• It has been disappointing to read of the decline of language degrees in British universities. This trend has worrying implications, most importantly for young Britons who face missing out on so many opportunities in education, employment, culture or travel.

The good news is that it is never too late to learn another language. The majority of students learning Spanish at the Instituto Cervantes London are aged 25 or over, and many of them are looking to improve their CVs and job prospects.

Isabel Lorda,

Director, Instituto Cervantes, London

• I could understand the headline of your article on language teaching. That is because I learned German at school some 50 years ago and, despite my hardly ever using it, it\'s stuck. On the few holidays I\'ve taken in Germany I can get by.

However, we spend most of our holidays in France, where I\'m gradually picking the language up. I am known for frequent mutterings of \"I wish I\'d learned French at school.\" That doesn\'t mean I regret learning German. What I do regret is that the dummies at my school learned two languages, while the bright ones were forced to study science.

Sara Neill

Tunbridge Wells, Kent

• As an adjunct to the excellent article I\'d add how vital it is to speak the appropriate language (Now you\'re talking, Work, 28 August). Here in Catalunia, the person who at least attempts to speak Catalan will always get a friendly smile – as opposed to the ignoramus who addresses his hosts in Castilliano. A small point? Not if you appreciate Catalan history.

Robin Flood

Girona, Catalunia, Spain

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Latin can inspire a love of languages | Cressida Ryan

Sun, 29 Aug 2010 15:00:53 GMT

The popularity of Latin in primary and secondary schools can be built on to combat the language-learning crisis

There are problems with language learning in schools and universities – but these need not be as terminal or wretched as is made out. Latin and Greek have long had to struggle in the education system, and many lessons could be learned from the efforts classicists have put in to maintaining the subject in the secondary and tertiary education system.

It may be true that only 25% of primary schools presently have modern language provision, but a far higher proportion of schools have some kind of Latin on offer, mainly in the form of after-school clubs. The Primary Latin Project is in contact with over 1,700 primary schools and their textbook, Minimus, has sold over 100,000 copies. I am in contact with over 100 primary and prep schools and am involved in a range of projects, including collaboration with the Iris Project, which runs taster courses of Latin in Oxford and London schools.

A French teacher in a state primary watched a group of year 3-6 children with whom I worked perform a Latin play in front of an audience of invited adults. My star performer was a year 6 boy with no previous experience in Latin who had become able to ad lib where needed, and the teacher exclaimed afterwards that he never spoke in French lessons. The problem clearly didn\'t lie with a lack of interest in languages per se; perhaps the national curriculum just isn\'t working. When students have the chance to learn Latin, they often leap at it.

At secondary level a similar story is true. The Latin Teaching Scheme in Oxford saw 20 students from eight local state schools sit the Latin GCSE this summer. They willingly gave up their Saturday mornings for two years in order to learn it. This does not sound like a generation uninterested in languages. A new cohort started in February 2010 and will sit the GCSE in 2012. I could have filled the places three times over. The students have commented that it was harder than they expected, but they express a sense of pride at their achievement. They were not all gifted and talented, and the results were mixed. But they rose to the challenge and enjoyed taking something that stretched them.

Perhaps in some ways we are not asking enough of our young people, feeding them a sterile curriculum, which fails to excite them intellectually. Not everyone will end up reading Caesar fluently, but, I suggest, some exposure to Latin could interest and benefit almost all students. At tertiary level, students flock to take up Latin, as successful university beginners\' courses testify.

It does not matter if it is \"just\" the effect of Harry Potter, Gladiator or Rome: Total War. For whatever reason, many students want to learn Latin. If they do, and we can use this to inspire in them a love of language as a thinking tool as well as a means of communication, then all language learning will benefit.

An integrated curriculum, linking Latin and Greek with modern languages, could be the way ahead. We need not return to the direct method for Latin and force students to pretend it can be used in the same way as other languages, but shutting Latin out with the claim that it is elitist is the most certain way to keep it so and deny the richness it can offer students.

I regularly work with groups to improve their linguistic awareness, challenging them with tasks involving a range of Indo-European languages. Teaching them to respect and use languages, to engage their brains in the puzzle of their decipherment, is always appreciated. Students respond that they never realised how interconnected languages were, and some schools have reported a more generally positive attitude towards languages as a result.

As pointed out by Professor Christopher Pelling and Dr Llewelyn Morgan in their recent Politeia report, Latin is not classified as a language by the curriculum, and should be. Students in primary and secondary schools would learn it if they could, and would benefit from it in many ways.

In an education market focused on vocations, the idea of learning being good for you in and of itself has been lost. Latin can excite students because it is intrinsically interesting, and it engages them in a subject world they want to study. At the same time, students learn such transferable skills as logical thought and pattern spotting, ability to learn data, enhanced communication skills and critical thinking.

We need good teachers, but I see no reason why Latin cannot be used to enhance our education system on a range of levels, providing a fun, multicultural way to capitalise on linguistic aptitude, improve literacy and enhance a range of other skills.

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