Teachers set to strike 5th July

Brandon
The NUT have confirmed that they have a strike planned for the NUT members on the 5th of July 2016. The latest strike is said to be regarding funding for schools as it seems funding is likely to drop over 8% in the next few years. Teachers are concerned of the effect this will have on schools and pupils in terms of their learning. It may be that class sizes will have to be increased, the schools will not be able to afford as many teachers or support staff and that pupils may be more restricted on subjects they can... Read More »

Plan your time during school holidays

Brandon
As any teacher will tell you, the school holidays seem to fly by faster each year, you have only just broken up and it seems no time at all until you are due to head back in to start a new term. The best way to get the most of your school holiday breaks is to plan a few activities to do during the holiday period. I would strongly recommend not leaving all your planning and marking until the week or few days prior to you returning to your teaching job as this leaves little room for movement should you... Read More »

Boycotting SATS exams

Brandon
There has been much talk in the media of late regarding exams that we put our children through, especially in primary schools. The SATs or Keystage 2 exams are due to take place starting next week and a campaign known as “let our children be children” has been set up to get parents to boycott the latest of these exams. The petition has so far raised over thirty thousand signatures, some claiming to be from teachers, agreeing to boycott the exams. Parents can incur a £120 fine for keeping their child out of school without prior permission or a valid... Read More »

Teaching at a academy school

Brandon
There are a few differences in working for an academy school. An Academy is a school that is publically funded, they do not have to follow the national curriculum and can set their own term times. Often failing schools are forced to become academies by the government. The school is then often ran by sponsors rather than governors. Academies do not have to employ qualified teachers to work in their classrooms. Usually schools can only employ teachers that have a QTS (Qualified Teacher Status) qualification but recently the government have changed the rules for academies allowing them to employ people... Read More »

Teacher time management

Brandon
As a teacher it is vital to be able to manage your time accurately. A teacher has many tasks that need to be completed on a daily, weekly, monthly and termly basis and without managing your time efficiently, it is easy to get behind. As a rule most teachers will do their marketing in the evening and at weekends. Although they are given PPA (planning, preparation and assessment) time, this is usually a few hours within the week and not nearly enough needed for all the planning and marking. Parent’s evenings, report writing and school trips also often eat in... Read More »