TweetThese are the education links we found interesting between August 23rd and September 12th:
- Asbestos: The deadly material that lurks in 75% of Northern Ireland schools – Northern Ireland, Local & National – Belfasttelegraph.co.uk –
Details of the extent of asbestos presence in schools are contained in papers released by the five education boards following a Freedom of Information request. The documents reveal: Asbestos is contained in 876 schools across Northern Ireland, including 61 nursery schools; Some 84% of schools in the Northern Education and Library Board area contain asbestos — the highest percentage of all the boards; Crocidolite, the most dangerous form of asbestos, is present in 21 schools, including 10 in the Southern board area. Read more: http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/asbestos-the-deadly-material-that-lurks-in-75-of-northern-ireland-schools-16207613.html?r=RSS&utm_source=Request+Initiative+Newsletter&utm_campaign=c8e2e69eb9-RSS_WEEKLY+NEWSLETTER_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email#ixzz26ExaCMpd
- Pupils pay £3m a year for musical tuition in Scotland – Scotland – Scotsman.com – The figures come as Scotland on Sunday’s Let the Children Play campaign for free instrument lessons in schools, backed by percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie and violinist Nicola Benedetti, has learned that the Scottish Government is reviewing the legality of local authority tuition charges – the full extent of which were revealed in this newspaper last weekend.
- Junk food banned in maintained schools is being sold in academies –
- Thousands of disabled children have school support ‘wrongly removed’ charities warn – Telegraph – It is thought local authorities across the country are acting unilaterally to cut support for children with special educational need, giving the reason that a new, more stringent government policy has been brought in. However, draft legislation has only been published this week and is not likely to come into force until 2014.
- Animation Instructor Fights Unnecessary Textbook Purchases And Gets Fired For His Trouble | Techdirt– strong-arm tactics being deployed:EDMC continues to insist on e-books only and wants sole discretion over what e-books are used, compromising faculty independence and expertise in choosing best resources for class.
Not only are instructors not allowed to opt-out of this “service,” students are forced to pay extra for versions they may not even need.
- GCSE English Language results – English – TES – Definitely politically motivated due to govian call to exam boards to toughen the marking. Their shortcut (which fails to address the actual agenda): raise boundaries by 10 or more marks on January. So you’re golden if you did early entry- which government hates- in January. But shafted if you did the summer series like they prefer. AQA claim the ums marks will show parity January to June. But just look at the percentages at each grade tomorrow compared with early entry schools. Definite significant difference. Don’t worry about heads reactions- all that’s been talked about today! Disgusting attitude from boards- our forecast overall results have dropped by more than 10%. And that’s the average across our LA… Forecast Best results ever just turned into worst. 70% of schools in our LA hit hard by this. Need to create a massive fuss or nothing will happen. Oh- and first impressions are that it affects welsh board too…
