Following a cabinet reshuffle, Ruth Kelly has been appointed Secretary of State for Education and Skills, taking over from Charles Clarke who has moved to the Home Office. Schools Minister David Miliband has also left education to take over Ms. Kelly's former post as Minister for the Cabinet Office. He has been replaced by Stephen Twigg (formerly a junior education minister with responsibility for London).

For more information on the Ministerial Team, go to the Department for Education and Skills.

Read the DfES Press Notice on Ruth Kelly’s appointment.

The Chief Inspector of the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted) has caused an outcry in the Muslim community by saying Muslim faith schools need to do more to teach their students a common British heritage and that social cohesion is threatened by not preparing their students for British life.

The comments were part of a speech which criticized citizenship as “the worst taught subject in secondary schools”, singling out Muslim faith schools in particular. Muslim, Jewish and evangelical Christian schools comprise the roughly 280 faith schools in Britain. Muslim faith schools have witnessed the most rapid growth, increasing from 53 to 118 in under two years. One of the standards now required by all new independent schools is teaching about British institutions and services and different cultural traditions.

Representatives of the Muslim community reacted angrily to the speech. According to the Muslim Council of Britain, only 3% of Muslim children attend a faith school. As all schools have been criticized for inadequate citizenship teaching, the Council did not feel that Muslim faith schools merited specific criticism.

Read the speech by Chief Inspector of Ofsted, David Bell.

Read "Citizenship in secondary schools: evidence from Ofsted inspections" (2003/04).

A report from the charity Community Service Volunteers (CSV), with research taken from 68 English schools, found that the overall attitudes of teachers and students to citizenship education had improved since a similar survey a year ago. A majority of students found the subject “useful” and enjoyable. Although still early days in the development of this subject, the report says that teachers need more targeted training and support to teach citizenship effectively.

For more information, see the CSV press release and download the report Citizenship in the Curriculum – two years on.

(Source: BBC, Sept. 6, 2004)

The Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted) has published its annual report on the current situation of school education in England. The introduction notes the following areas of improvement:

• improved quality of care and education for young children
• a strong cadre of headteachers in schools
• improvements in school self-evaluation
• improved flexibility in the curriculum for 14 to 16 year olds
• the continuing success of sixth form colleges (colleges where 16-19 year olds can study in a more flexible environment than school).

The report also noted the following areas of concern:

• the continuing difference in progress between different groups of students
• slow progress in reducing the achievement gap between schools with high and low levels of disadvantage
• no reduction in the proportion of schools where behavior overall is unsatisfactory
• the quality of assessment continuing to be the weakest part of teaching.

Read in full The Annual Report of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Schools 2003-04.

A total of 2,174, or two-thirds, of England’s secondary schools have specialist status. This meets, ahead of schedule, the Government’s target of reaching 2,000 specialist schools by 2006.

There are ten categories of specialist schools: Technology; Language; Arts; Sports; Business and Enterprise; Engineering; Mathematics & Computing; Science; Humanities and Music. The schools focus on their chosen subject, or a combination of subjects, and also provide a broad education mandated by the National Curriculum.

In brief, potential specialist schools must raise £50,000 ($94,500*) in private sector sponsorship and draw up a four-year school and community plan. They then receive a one-time grant of £100,000 ($189,000) from the Government and an additional £126 ($238) per student (rising to £129 from Sept. 2005) for four years.

According to the Government’s performance figures for 2004, 57.4% of students in specialist schools received five or more GCSE and equivalent (national exams) at grades A*-C compared to 48.2% of their peers in non-specialist schools.

In a further boost to the specialist school movement, the Government announced that Microsoft will donate £1.5 million ($2.84 million) in software over four years to support 100 schools applying for specialist status.

Read the Department for Education and Skills press release.

Read the DfES report, A study of the specialist schools program,which suggests that specialist school status has a strong reinforcing and positive effect on a school's ethos, is a powerful lever for school improvement associated with rising academic performance and can impact positively across the school.

Visit The Specialist School Trust.

*Feb. 2005 exchange rate: GBP1 = USD 1.89

(Sources: NGfL Scotland e-bulletin Dec. 6, 2004; BBC, Jan. 26, 2005)

According to a survey carried out by the Teacher Training Agency (TTA) of newly-qualified secondary school teachers, one third previously held senior positions in business. One in four new math teachers were former accountants or bankers.

The TTA cites the highest number of trainee teachers since 1975, suggesting that financial incentives to attract teachers where there is a shortage (such as math and science) is making a difference.

Read the TTA’s press releases: Highest number of trainee teachers since 1975 and Britain's high achievers go back to school.

(Source: Education Guardian, Jan. 20, 2005)

The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) in England has launched its Futures program, an initiative to ensure that the national curriculum and assessment frameworks are responsive to the needs of people and society in the 21st century.

A booklet for discussion has been published, and the program will include summit meetings for experts to discuss new thinking about learning, curriculum innovation, assessment, technologies, work and life. An online discussion forum where any stakeholder can comment on the curriculum will be launched later this month.

Read the news release, QCA launches Futures program, and the booklet, Futures – Meeting the Challenge.

(Source: NGfL Scotland e-mail bulletin, Jan. 17, 2005)

There is no evidence that children in smaller classes at English elementary school perform better in math or English, according to researchers at the University of London’s Institute of Education. They also suggest that a teacher’s age and level of experience have no influence on student achievement in any subject.

The researchers looked at children in their fourth, fifth and sixth year of schooling. They found that children in Year Six in larger class sizes made more progress in literacy. Low-income children and those with special needs started with lower scores and fell further behind. Girls outperformed boys in literacy, while boys did better at math.

The only legal limit for class size is at the infant level in elementary schools (Years One and Two are limited to 30 students). The report highlights the intense pressure on teachers to cope with larger classes and try to meet individual needs.

Read the full report posted on the DfES website: The effect of class size on attainment and classroom processes in English primary schools (Years 4 to 6) 2000-2003.

(Source: BBC, Jan. 15, 2005)

The Department for Education and Skills (DfES) has published the ICT in Schools Survey 2004, which presents data about the current state of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in English schools. There has been continued progress with infrastructure such as numbers of computers, interactive whiteboards and school networks. Teacher confidence in the use of ICT has remained static, but there was a reported increase in the use of ICT for teaching and learning. The DfES has derived a new composite measure for the 'e-confidence' of a school by scoring results across a range of measures and then summarizing the key differences between groups.

The BBC story Schools spend more on technology reports on the DfES data which indicates significant growth in the amount of money that English schools spend on ICT. Expenditure per student was highest in special schools which take children with particular learning difficulties.

(Source: NGfL Scotland e-mail bulletin, Jan. 17, 2005)

The Education and Lifelong Learning Minister for Wales has launched a new Skills and Employment Action Plan 2005.

The main action areas in the new plan are:

• literacy and numeracy tuition available free of charge (part of plans to improve employment training programs)
• a fully-integrated Business Support Service to support individual businesses to be in place by April 2006
• introduction of the Workforce Learning Account - a new and more flexible form of learning support for employers
• strong support for Sector Skills Agreements in Wales
• increase the take-up of Investors in People by 75% over the next three years
• introduction of a new "Want to Work" initiative, working with Jobcentre Plus Wales, to help the unemployed to find and keep a job.

Download and read the Skills and Employment Action Plan 2005.

It has emerged that confidential new guidance to admissions officers at the University of Cambridge advocates giving preference to applicants from lower-performing state schools over applicants from private or high-achieving state schools. The information has been met with disapproval by independent school representatives.

University officials stress that taking into consideration that an applicant has come from a low-performing school is just part of an overall admissions process that includes an individual interview and, in some cases, an admissions test. However, a spokesperson at the University of Cambridge feels that the national exams taken at the end of the school career are a better predictor of how a student will fare, and the quality of the school and its average performance in the exams, should be taken into consideration.

(Source: Education Guardian, Jan. 17, 2005)

Brunel University wants to open a £17 million ($32.1 million*) science and technology academy for 16 to 19-year-olds at its campus in west London. Around 800 students would have access to university facilities at the proposed Brunel HSBC Education Trust Academy, which could open in September 2007 if the plan receives approval after a feasibility study. The initiative, a partnership between the university, HSBC bank, the UK government and other education funding bodies, aims to encourage more young people to enter university and break down barriers between secondary and higher education.

*Feb. 2005 exchange rate GBP1 = USD 1.89

(Source: BBC, Jan. 12, 2005)

The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) has announced £315 million ($595.4 million*) for 74 new Centers of Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CELTs). The centers will be created at universities and colleges throughout England and form part of the Government’s plan to reform higher education in England.

The aim of the CELTs is to develop and improve the teaching and learning skills of future UK academics. Some centers will form local partnerships, such as the University of Warwick which will work closely with the Royal Shakespeare Company.

For more information read the HEFCE press release which includes a complete list of CELTs.

*Feb. 2005 exchange rate GBP1 = USD 1.89

(Source: Education Guardian, Jan. 27, 2005)