Tag: learning

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Feeling safe in school – a widening gap across the UK

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Professor John Robertson OBA In the Guardian today: Girls in England say they feel less safe at school and are more disenchanted with their education, research has found. Using data from an international study of pupils at primary and secondary schools, researchers said the steep fall in girls’ “emotional engagement” compared with the years before the Covid pandemic has become a pressing issue for schools. While the results from the international survey showed pupils’ feelings of belonging, safety and pride have fallen in many countries since the pandemic, researchers from University College London (UCL) found that England had one of the biggest drop-offs among … Continue reading Feeling safe in school – a widening gap across the UK

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Scotland’s schools – better staffed, better funded and improving outcomes in a society where youth violence has plummeted

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Professor John Robertson OBA, former schoolteacher, education lecturer, Associate Dean I was only a classroom teacher for three years (11 year-olds) before moving into higher education, but 18-24 year-olds can be hard work, scary at times, too. I was a bit lucky as well. I ran a winning school football team (cynically based on the Catenaccio – look it up) so if they crossed me they were oot! I’m not, under any circumstances downplaying how awful the experience can be, at some times, for some teachers but I am, really, questioning the idea that things are now worse than they … Continue reading Scotland’s schools – better staffed, better funded and improving outcomes in a society where youth violence has plummeted

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Privately-educated Alex Massie of the Times with more fake news on Scotland’s state schools

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Professor John Robertson OBA, former schoolteacher, education lecturer and Associate Dean (Quality Assurance) Faculty of Education, UWS Alex Massie of the Times and Spectator, today claims: Scotland’s schools are failing, but it doesn’t have to be this way He’s right. It doesn’t have to be this way because it isn’t. Massie knows little of anything but of education, even less. Massie was educated at St. Mary’s School, Melrose, Glenalmond College in Perthshire and at Trinity College Dublin but offers no detail of degree subject or classification. Given the kind of guy he seems, a first would have been mentioned. What he doesn’t know: From Literacy and numeracy standards reach record high, published … Continue reading Privately-educated Alex Massie of the Times with more fake news on Scotland’s state schools

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Herald stupidly fakes news about teacher numbers and attainment in Scotland as additional support teachers increase

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Professor John Robertson OBA, former Associate Dean (Quality Assurance) Faculty of Education, Research Ethics Chair and Research Methods Tutor to BA Journalism (!) UWS The Herald today has: Teacher numbers fall again as additional support needs reach record levels – Latest figures also reveal the persistent attainment gaps for literacy and numeracy amongst school pupils. In 2024, there were 621 fewer teachers in Scottish state schools BUT, more important than a one-year fluctuation, there were also still 1 453 more than there had been in 2018 AND there were 3 100 fewer pupils for them to teach in 2024. In 2024, there were also 260 … Continue reading Herald stupidly fakes news about teacher numbers and attainment in Scotland as additional support teachers increase

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Teacher numbers row – Labour/Tory councils play politics with billions in usable reserves and risk the best pupil-teacher ratios in the UK

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BBC Scotland, still headlining and picturing the SNP Education Secretary to suggest it’s all about her actions and putting pupils’ education at risk, while ignoring the facts. First: Pupil to teacher ratios in maintained schools were lowest in Scotland (13.2) and similar in Northern Ireland (17.4), England (18.0) and Wales (18.4).1 That’s a huge percentage difference in 54 000 teachers, meaning several thousand more teachers per head of population in Scotland. It would take massive cuts, of the kind not in question, to change that significantly. Second, Scotland’s local authorities are sitting on massive usable reserves, kept for just this kind … Continue reading Teacher numbers row – Labour/Tory councils play politics with billions in usable reserves and risk the best pupil-teacher ratios in the UK

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What they don’t want you to know about in the ‘teacher numbers row’

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By Professor John Robertson OBA Headlining on BBC Scotland today: The Scottish government has withheld £145.5m in funding to councils because of a row over teacher numbers. It says the money has been earmarked to maintain teacher jobs, but local government body Cosla disagrees with the ringfencing. Most Scottish councils are looking at education cuts – including proposals to reduce learning hours, school buses, and classroom assistants – but only some, including Glasgow, have reduced teacher numbers. The important detail and context which BBC Scotland, the Herald and Scotsman never tell you: From 2017 to 2023, the number of pupils in … Continue reading What they don’t want you to know about in the ‘teacher numbers row’

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Welsh Labour’s total incompetence as one school has to teach maths in classes of 60!

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By Professor John Robertson OBA From Wales Online, yesterday: A Welsh secondary school has seen class sizes for maths lessons swell to 60 pupils due to a teacher shortage. Governors have been left “begging” for help according to a former top councillor. Pupils in years seven, eight, and nine [11 to 14 year-olds]at Caldicot Comprehensive are being taught maths in classes of 60 students at a time owing to a national shortage of specialist teachers, according to the head teacher. The situation was highlighted by councillor Rachel Garrick who was a member of the ruling Labour cabinet at Monmouthshire County Council until the beginning of … Continue reading Welsh Labour’s total incompetence as one school has to teach maths in classes of 60!

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School suspensions 4 times more, and full expulsions shocking 600 times more, common in England’s not so fair and pleasant land

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Many thanks to Dottie for alerting me to this via the Guardian: Pupil suspensions in England hit record high, rising by nearly a third year on year, DfE figures show From the Scotsman, no friend of the SNP Government, on 25 March 2024: Across Scotland, there were 11,675 cases of temporary exclusion of any length of time, with just one pupil being expelled, as previously revealed by The Scotsman. The figures compare to 39,553 temporary exclusions and 164 permanent in 2007, when the SNP came to power. So, with 10 times the population, all things being equally progressive and hopefully not … Continue reading School suspensions 4 times more, and full expulsions shocking 600 times more, common in England’s not so fair and pleasant land