Reino Unido

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Reino Unido: La sobrecarga de trabajo ocasiona crisis en la contratación y retención de docentes

Noticias

Europa/Reino Unido/28 de febrero de 2017/Fuente: www.ei-ie.org

Tras la publicación del informe de la Comisión Especial de Educación sobre la contratación y retención de docentes, los sindicatos de la educación en el Reino Unido han exhortado a las autoridades públicas a que se adopten medidas urgentes para hacer frente a esta grave crisis nacional.

NUT: Rendición de cuentas punitiva

“La docencia puede ser una de las profesiones más gratificantes” dijo el Secretario General de la National Union of Teachers (NUT), Kevin Courtney. “Sin embargo, una sobrecarga de trabajo que empieza a resultar inaceptable hace que sea cada vez más difícil tanto contratar a nuevos docentes como evitar que los docentes en activo abandonen la profesión”.

Insistió en que la “carga de trabajo insostenible” está “ocasionada por una rendición de cuentas punitiva” y representa “uno de los principales motivos por los que muchos están abandonando la profesión”.

El Gobierno debe reformar urgentemente todos los aspectos del régimen de rendición de cuentas, orientar a los directores de escuela para reducir la sobrecarga de trabajo, y establecer un límite en las horas de trabajo fuera del horario lectivo, indicó.

Se requiere un cambio que se base en la evidencia

Courtney señaló además que el informe apunta a que la contratación y retención ha supuesto un serio problema desde hace años y que demasiados docentes acabado dejando una profesión que amaban por culpa de una política educativa punitiva y mal planificada.

Instó a la Ministra de Educación del Reino Unido, Justine Greening, a “tomar nota de este informe y, por el bien de los niños y jóvenes, escuchar a la profesión e introducir el tipo de cambios necesario en base a la evidencia disponible y que cuente con el apoyo de los docentes, para resolver este grave problema”.

NASUWT: el informe es una señal de alerta a los ministros para abordar la escasez de docentes

La National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT) “ha venido presentando desde hace ya tiempo evidencias de la crisis de reclutamiento de docentes, cada vez más profunda, pero el Gobierno se niega a admitirla”, indicó su Secretaria General, Chris Keates.

La Comisión de Cuentas Públicas y ahora también la Comisión Especial de Educación han advertido que los ministros no disponen de un plan claro sobre cómo hacer frente a estas cuestiones, afirmó, añadiendo que el análisis del Gobierno en relación con las necesidades actuales y futuras en cuanto a la demanda de docentes es esencialmente erróneo.

Este informe “debería actuar como una advertencia a los ministros de que recurrir a poner parches como el fallido Servicio Nacional de Docencia, no contribuirá en absoluto a abordar las causas sistémicas de la crisis de escasez de docentes”, advirtió.

Los docentes abandonan la profesión

Las propias políticas del Gobierno han dado como resultado una sobrecarga de trabajo cada vez mayor para los docentes, salarios en descenso, un salario inicial cada vez menos competitivo frente a otros profesionales titulados, y la constante presión de un régimen con elevadas exigencias de rendición de cuentas, indicó Keates. Estos factores están haciendo que muchos docentes abandonen la profesión, al minar su energía y entusiasmo por el trabajo, además de tener un efecto disuasorio para los nuevos candidatos, añadió.

La comisión ha dejado claro que hay un grave problema a nivel nacional respecto a la contratación y retención de docentes, que repercute en todas las asignaturas y todas las localidades. El Gobierno ha de hacer frente a la crisis que ha creado, concluyó.

Fuente: https://www.ei-ie.org/spa/news/news_details/4291

Imagen: https://www.ei-ie.org/kroppr/eikropped/UK_145285748014528574805049.jpg

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Reino Unido: Why both teens and teachers could benefit from later school start times

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Reino Unido/ Febrero 2017/Noticias/https://theconversation.com

 

A typical school day in the UK starts around 8.30am. This is often even earlier elsewhere in the world, with students sitting down to their first lesson at 7.30am in the US.

But these early start times can play havoc with teenager’s natural sleeping patterns – with research showing that waking a teenager at seven in the morning for school is similar to waking an adult at four in the morning. And while many adults wouldn’t relish such an early alarm call every working day, it’s a “non-negotiable” expectation for teenagers.

The average teenager ideally needs eight to nine hours’ sleep each night, but in reality a lot of teenagers struggle to get this much – which can then impact their performance in the classroom.

A lot of the problems arise because our sleep patterns are not fixed, and they change as we grow. For teenagers, melatonin – the sleep hormone – doesn’t start being produced until 11pm. This is why teens don’t start feeling sleepy until late at night, and why simply telling a teenager to go to bed earlier doesn’t work.

This has led to calls for later school start times for teenagers to align more closely with their bodies’ biology.

What the research shows

A major study published in 2014 examined the impact of later start times on 9,000 US teenagers. Researchers found that:

Grades earned in core subject areas of math, English, science and social studies, plus performance on state and national achievement tests, attendance rates and reduced tardiness show significantly positive improvement with the later start times.

They also found that with less sleep than recommended, the students reported that they had:

Significantly higher depression symptoms, greater use of caffeine, and are at greater risk of making poor choices for substance use.

In the US – where teenagers can legally drive from the age of 16 – the research also found later start times led to a decrease in car accidents involving teenage drivers.

Why teenagers sleep differently

To understand why a later school start time can make such a difference to teenagers’ lives, we need to take a look at the biology that governs their sleep wake cycle.

We all have a sort of hardwired “clock” in the brain – this is often referred to as our body clock. This “clock” controls the production of the hormone melatonin, and in turn, melatonin controls sleep. Melatonin is naturally produced in the brain and starts the process of sleepiness by telling your body that it’s time for bed.

Once asleep, we normally go through five sleep stages a night. And one of the stages – the REM (Rapid Eye Movement) stage – varies significantly with age.

The fact that many teens are sleep-deprived is reason enough to start school later in the morning. Pexels.

REM sleep is linked to learning, and it’s during REM sleep that we dream. It is characterised by quick, random movements of the eyes and paralysis of the muscles. REM sleep normally makes up around 20-25% of an adult human’s total time spent asleep – or 90 to 120 minutes. We get to REM sleep about 70 to 90 minutes after falling asleep. And if we don’t achieve REM sleep, we wake up feeling tired.

Studies have also shown that lack of REM sleep can impact our ability to learn. And this is what happens to teenagers who do not get their full allocation of sleep. They fail to get to REM sleep and then wake up feeling tired, which can then impact their ability in the classroom that day.

The benefits for late starters

So a later school start time could help to solve this problem, by ensuring teenagers get their eight plus hours of sleep and react properly to their body’s natural rhythms.

The American Academy of Pediatrics, said in a policy statement in 2014 that:

Delaying school start times is an effective countermeasure to chronic sleep loss and has a wide range of potential benefits to students with regard to physical and mental health, safety, and academic achievement.

I believe we should also look again at the timing of the whole school day and see if we can make it better for everyone. Because in my experience, there has been a general shift over the past 25 years to shorten the school day.

This is not at the cost of teaching time (which has remained constant) but at the cost of natural breaks, which has led to reduced lunch times and lesson breaks.

Later start times could help teens’ grades and health. Shutterstock

This is mainly because it makes the management of children easier. Supervising hundreds of children “playing” requires effective staffing. And there is always the fear that behaviour deteriorates during breaks. So the theory goes that having them in class and strictly supervised must be better.

But this means that students barely have enough time to absorb what they were doing in maths before suddenly they are thrust into ancient history. And teaching staff also transition from one class to another, with hardly a rest or time to refocus.

Clearly rethinking the school day could benefit everyone involved. Yes, there may be challenges in terms of parental work patterns, transport to school or changing childcare arrangements, but it could also lead to better achievement in teenagers and less of a struggle for parents in the mornings. For teachers, it could also mean a less stressful day all around – and what could be better than that?

Fuente :

https://theconversation.com/why-both-teens-and-teachers-could-benefit-from-later-school-start-times-72525

Fuente  imagen:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/0vz3voscOIgp3PW0j3sbzPYjAiigmZvwhJ7UMbz3VBrqAuAf0coBRR2WXTJF5E2eg676tw=s85

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Reino Unido: Oxford University considers post-Brexit foreign campus in France

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Reino Unido/Febrero de 2017/Fuente: Hindustantime

RESUMEN: En una ruptura de su historia de 700 años, la Universidad de Oxford del Reino Unido está considerando la posibilidad de abrir su primer campus extranjero en Francia para seguir recibiendo fondos de la UE después de Brexit, informó el lunes un informe de la prensa. Una de las instituciones educativas más antiguas y conocidas del mundo considera que los planes son un resultado directo del referéndum de Gran Bretaña en favor de una salida de la Unión Europea (UE), lo que podría afectar la financiación de la UE. A la Universidad de Oxford se le ha dicho que cualquier campus abierto en Francia podría tener el estatus legal francés y seguiría recibiendo fondos de la UE después de Brexit, informó The Daily Telegraph.

In a break from its 700-year-long history, the UK’s University of Oxford is considering opening its first-ever foreign campus in France in order to continue receiving EU funding post-Brexit, a media report said on Monday.

One of the world’s oldest and best-known educational institution is reportedly considering the plans as a direct result of Britain’s referendum in favour of an exit from the European Union (EU), which could impact EU funding.

Oxford University has been told that any campus opened in France could have French legal status and would continue to receive EU funding following Brexit, ‘The Daily Telegraph’ reported.

As part of the plans, British Universities would “relocate” degree courses and study programmes and create joint degrees and research laboratories.

A spokesperson for the University said no decision has been taken, adding, “Oxford has been an international University throughout its history and it is determined to remain open to the world whatever the future political landscape looks like.”

French officials met senior staff at Oxford University last week to discuss a so-called “satellite” base in Paris.

Other universities, including the University of Warwick, have also been approached with the idea to build a new campus in Paris in 2018.

Jean-Michel Blanquer, the former director-general of the French ministry for education, confirmed that efforts were under way to attract Britain’s best Universities on to French shores.

“The idea is symbolic, to say after Brexit, we want to build bridges and that academic life is not totally dependent on political problems.

“We want to say to British Universities that it can be a win-win game for you. To have high quality institutions from the UK working in our territory, interacting together in terms of research and collaboration,” Blanquer told the newspaper.

Last month, Oxford University’s head of Brexit strategy Professor Alastair Buchan said: “We have got to be absolutely sure we are open. Every student and every staff member that comes to Oxford is a benefit for this country because we recruit quality, people that play in the top league.”

A spokesperson for the UK government’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy said Britain is home to some of the world’s best Universities and research institutions and the plan is to secure the best possible outcome for the UK’s research base after Brexit.

“We have already taken steps to provide assurances by committing to underwrite Horizon 2020 grants bid for prior to the UK’s departure from the EU and put science and research at the heart of our Industrial Strategy with an extra 2- billion-pound investment per year – and will seek agreement to continue to collaborate with our European partners on major science, research and technology initiatives,” the spokesperson said.

Fuente: http://www.hindustantimes.com/education/oxford-university-considers-post-brexit-foreign-campus-in-france/story-JCWzPSEMNWpggFZ6uqLY4I.html

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Reino Unido: Education behind bars: why university students are learning alongside prisoners

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Europa/Reino Unido/Febrero 2017/Noticias/s://theconversation.com/

With reports of increasing violence and drug use, along with high levels of suicide and a lack of staff, prisons in the UK are currently seen to be in a state of crisis.

In recent years, the condition of British prisons has come under political, academic and public scrutiny. But what a lot of people seem to forget is that prisons are part of the local and national community, and are there to provide a public service. Indeed, it is this lack of recognition that prisons are a part of our wider communities which has created a sense that they are problematic.

This has drastically overshadowed the good work that is taking place within prisons to help transform them into places of reform. Some of the positive work taking place in UK prisons involves “socially transformative educational experiences”. These are experiences that connect people, enabling them to learn with and from each other through discussion and the sharing of experiences.

This responds directly to Dame Sally Coates’ call following her review of education in prisons for better access to higher education and partnership work between prisons and universities. And is in addition to wider political calls for education to become one of the key focal points of prison regimes.

Working together

With this in mind, across the country, prisons and universities are coming together to help bring higher education to offenders. These programmes centre on a core belief that meaningful educational experiences can and do happen when you bring together a group of students who have the power to break down social barriers during the process of learning.

Programmes include Learning Together, which brings together students from universities and prisons for shared learning experiences.

Changing from prisoners to students. Pexels

Then there is also the Inside Out Prison Exchange Program which is running at Durham and Teeside Universities in the UK. The programme sees undergraduate and masters students studying in prisons. On completion, they join the Inside Out international alumnni community.

A more recent addition from the US is the Prison to College Pipeline. This programme funnels prison students into colleges in the community to complete their degrees upon release.

An education

Our own Learning Together programme is being delivered at HMP Full Sutton, near York. The module has been developed by founders of the Prison Research Network, alongside Shaun Williamson, who is in charge of reducing re-offending at the prison.

All students – university students and serving prisoners – who are successful in the application and interviewing process, are registered with the university for the duration of the module. Those who complete the module successfully receive 20 university credits.

The module has been designed to replicate university level education in a prison setting using formal lecturing techniques integrated with seminar discussion and debate. The programme falls within the BA (Hons) Criminology and BA (Hons) Criminology with Psychology degrees and is being taught in collaboration with colleagues from Leeds Beckett, Cambridge University, Royal Holloway University and the Open University.

Inmates in the library at Wandsworth Prison, southwest London. PA

Unlike many new university modules where technology is at the forefront of teaching and learning, the innovative element of learning on this module is the removal of online technology from the classroom and independent study.

This means that all learners have the same tools at their disposal. It also enables university students to physically understand the difficulties prisoners can come up against in trying to get an education without all the latest technology on hand. For serving prisoners, it creates an opportunity to engage with the wider community. It means they can make a valuable contribution to their own personal development and that of others.

Breaking barriers

Through programmes like this, students are helping to break down social barriers and create positive social change. They are challenging their existing ideas about people from different backgrounds and we are already seeing this happen, even in the early stages of the module. This can be seen in the module blog which is following the progress of all involved in the module delivery and learning.

What we are seeing is that this way of learning is working, because it is opening all students’ eyes to new ideas and concepts and enabling them to realise their own potential, and the potential of others.

It is changing students attitudes about people they wouldn’t usually meet. University students are already describing the experience as “life changing” and those in prison have been given an outlet for their clear academic talents.

Programmes like these also enable all students to establish meaningful connections with others and imagine new possible futures – something that access to higher education makes possible for those on the inside.

Fuente:

https://theconversation.com/education-behind-bars-why-university-students-are-learning-alongside-prisoners-71664

Fuente imagen:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/wSGXlzO68CXYLHhrXWvFH8LmZYtlzF0Kuv3Aup1XlM5RAO6Hx8CMA0rAmdEEycnEUDycnBI=s85

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El ‘brexit’ no frena la marcha de estudiantes a Reino Unido

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Reino Unido/Febrero de 2017/Autor: Alberto Iglesias Fraga/Fuente: Ticbeat

Reino Unido sigue siendo un destino atractivo para estudiar en el extranjero para los estudiantes españoles, y de toda Europa, incluso tras el ‘brexit’. En ese sentido, el número de jóvenes del continente que han optado por formarse en las islas se ha triplicado en el último cuatrimestre de 2016, en comparación con los mismos meses del año anterior.

En este contexto, nuestro país es el tercero en la balanza de estudiantes fugados a Inglaterra, Escocia, Gales e Irlanda del Norte, representando un 15% del total, solo por detrás de Francia e Italia.

Son datos de la plataforma Student.com, que desvelan también la edad más frecuente de los estudiantes españoles en Reino Unido (entre 17 y 21 años), su sexo (60% de mujeres y 40% de hombres) o los estudios y carreras más frecuentadas por estos jóvenes: inglés, Gestión de Empresas, Derecho, Arquitectura, Biotecnología, Psicología, Ingeniería, Educación Primaria e Ingeniería Química.

El 62% de los estudiantes españoles que reservaron alojamiento en el Reino Unido lo hicieron para un año académico completo. Por debajo quedan otras opciones como el 30% que reservó para un semestre (12 semanas o más) o el 8% restante, quienes reservaron alojamiento para una estancia corta (menos de 12 semanas).

Y si te estas preguntando cuáles son las ciudades británicas que acogen a más estudiantes españoles, has de saber que Londres lidera con aplastante autoridad esta particular clasificación; por encima de otras urbes como Manchester, Edimburgo, Glasgow, Sheffield, Nottingham, Bristol, Liverpool, Leicester o Leeds.

En la misma línea, el estudio recoge las principales universidades de destino de nuestras jóvenes promesas, a saber: University College London, University of Sheffield, University of Manchester, Manchester Metropolitan University, University of Edinburgh, University of Nottingham, Cardiff University, University of Dundee, Bradford College y University of Liverpool.

Fuente: http://www.ticbeat.com/educacion/el-brexit-no-frena-la-fuga-de-estudiantes-a-reino-unido/

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Reino Unido: I, Daniel Blake reveals the rich complexity of literacy – and why it matters

Noticias

Europa/Reino Unido/Febrero 2017/Noticias/https://theconversation.com/

 

The Bafta nominated film I, Daniel Blake portrays the often brutal experiences of those attempting to navigate the British welfare system. Director Ken Loach has said of his film, however: “It’s for those people who are struggling against the cruelty of bureaucracy, whatever country.”

The film gives us insights into the ways in which today’s world can be particularly alienating for those without the specific skills it demands. Viewing the film through the lens of literacy, we see how letters, booklets and forms accrue as pillars of a system decried by Daniel Blake as a “monumental farce”.

Within a knowledge economy, literacy is bound up in a wider suite of policy based on an economic/financial model of human development and a narrow view of how people make use of literacy in their everyday lives. As is shown in the film, this both compounds the challenge for those in need of access to vital resources and renders their everyday experiences invisible.

Daniel Blake is not “illiterate” – he is resourceful, creative and willing to work, and we see him using his skills and sharing his knowledge. He is told that the benefit system he is forced to navigate is “digital by default”. Daniel’s riposte that he, as a craftsman, is “pencil by default” reflects one of his key challenges. The pencil is associated with versatility and being open to change. However, it can also be rubbed out and replaced, like the generations of workers Daniel represents in post-industrial society.

When he is asked to “run the mouse up the screen” of the computer in his local library, where he has sought help with his benefit form, he tries to do so physically. When he is told his screen is “frozen” he replies: “Can you defrost it?” The unfamiliarity of these processes place this man, who has never before needed state support, in an alien world.

A world moving on

New technologies may be moving on, meaning people like Daniel can be left behind, yet the film demonstrates how digital technology is a key resource for creative and collaborative responses to economic challenge. Daniel’s neighbour has been forced to use his initiative to supplement a meagre income from a zero-hours contract by ordering counterfeit trainers through a contact in China.

Daniel is left incredulous at the Skype conversation he witnesses – his disbelief at the fact that this conversation is taking place at two different ends of the globe emphasises how the world is moving on around him, leaving him without access to resources, recognition or the means to participate in society. It is this neighbour, China, who is finally able to complete the Job Seekers’ Allowance (JSA) form online for Daniel, after days of his thwarted attempts in more official institutions.

Despite the stranglehold placed on claimants by the bureaucracy depicted in the film, the two most powerful texts in Daniel’s story are his own. His spray-painted graffiti makes public the individual struggles that take place within a hidden maze of official texts. The note Daniel prepares to read at his appeal, handwritten in pencil, also challenges the system he has been forced to navigate. Announcing himself as “I, Daniel Blake” in both of these texts, Daniel is defiant in reclaiming his identity from those who have sought to define him.

Pencil by default, digital by design. Ricky B/Flickr, CC BY

Insecure times

The benefits system with which Daniel grapples is the result of the most significant reform of the British welfare state in half a century: that is, in the time since Loach directed Cathy Come Home. However, the challenge for those made vulnerable by poverty is even more acute today than it was five decades ago, and media-friendly epithets of “skivers” or “strivers” hark back across centuries to notions of the feckless and undeserving poor.

Researching for his Bafta nominated screenplay, screenwriter Paul Laverty heard stories across the UK of insecure housing, zero-hours employment contracts, inflexible fitness to work assessments and punitive sanctions. Katie’s desperation at the food bank is one of the film’s most powerful depictions of the impact of recent welfare reform on personal dignity, and it reflects the reality of an eight-fold increase in their use in the last five years.

A close focus on literacy in I, Daniel Blake highlights the impact of welfare policies which are based upon a narrow view of people’s lives. It also shows how this impact is compounded when such policies rely upon narrow ways of viewing literacy and the rich complexity of its role in everyday life. Literacy education and research can and should continue to challenge reductive models of what it means to be literate, and to critically explore the implications of this for social justice. This can provide valuable space for voices, such as that of Daniel Blake, to be heard.

Fuente: https://theconversation.com/i-daniel-blake-reveals-the-rich-complexity-of-literacy-and-why-it-matters-72554

Fuente imagen:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pzxDiijFRlzqh9AOOegpXwXsNHPzmgoGeTRPnCHqSanQukYe4oi0sSK6B6ABItQALJS5pg=s85

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Reino Unido: League tables ‘mislead on school success’

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Reino Unido/Febrero de 2017/Autor:Marc Ashdown/ Fuente: BBC News

RESUMEN: Algunas escuelas se habrían desempeñado mucho peor de lo que muestran las tablas oficiales de la liga si se han tenido en cuenta las «tasas de churn», se ha afirmado. Datos de la Educación DataLab muestra a unos 20.000 alumnos de secundaria que se fueron antes de asistir a sus exámenes de GCSE. Si los estudiantes se hubieran quedado, algunas escuelas no habrían anotado tanto en las tablas oficiales de la liga. De las 100 escuelas en Inglaterra que habrían visto el cambio más grande, 62 estaban en Londres. Las cifras son de 2.901 escuelas secundarias financiadas por el Estado en Inglaterra a lo largo de cuatro años. Educación Datalab, un grupo de investigación independiente, recalibró los resultados según el tiempo que cada alumno pasó en cada escuela.

Some schools would have performed much worse than official league tables show if «churn rates» had been taken into account, it has been claimed.

Data from Education DataLab shows about 20,000 secondary pupils left before they sat their GCSE exams.

If the students had remained, some schools would not have scored as highly on the official league tables.

Of the 100 schools in England which would have seen the biggest shift, 62 were in London.

The figures are from 2,901 state-funded secondary schools in England across four years.

Education Datalab, an independent research group, recalibrated the results according to how long each pupil spent in each school.

Each pupil should spend 15 terms in secondary education. For example, if a pupil spent six terms in one school, then that school would receive 40% of the results, while the other 60%.

Currently, league tables are worked out from how many children were on-roll in January of their final year.

Children may leave school because of being managed out, expulsions or moving house. They are also more likely to be from poorer backgrounds or have special educational needs.

‘Boost league table’

The figures show Harris Academy Greenwich would have seen the biggest impact on its league table position. One year it would have seen its GCSE pass rates for grades A-C drop by 15%.

In the last four years 611 pupils completed their secondary education at the school, while 217 left before the January of their final year.

Nine out of the bottom 100 were also Harris Academies.

A Harris Federation spokesperson said many of its schools joined the federation because they were failing and had a high proportion of pupils considered to be disadvantaged.

«London – which is where all of our schools are located – has high pupil mobility. It is no surprise that this would be even higher in recently failing schools with very large catchment areas and in areas of disadvantage,» the spokesperson added.

But Philip Nye from Education Datalab said there were some weaknesses in the league table system and that it could be improved by making schools accountable for all children.

«We do think in a minority of cases there might be some head teachers who are using pupil moves to boost their league table moves,» he added.

A Department for Education spokesperson said exclusions could only be issued on disciplinary grounds and that it was introducing stronger measures to ensure mainstream schools continue to be accountable for the progress of pupils they place in alternative provision.

It has not yet commented on how the school league tables were worked out.

Fuente: http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-38809805

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