SecEd

The ONLY weekly voice for secondary education

Inside this issue

Axe falls on education as £670 million is cut

Encouraging young readers

Former English teacher Susan Elkin looks at how young readers, especially boys, can be engaged in the world of literature and what you can do to inspire them in every subject

Pages 8 and 9

The ideal learning temperature?

Psychologist Karen Sullivan reports on research showing at what temperature students learn best

Page 7

Last chance to win £2,600 of ICT

Your last chance to enter our latest competition to win ICT worth £2,600 from software publisher Serif

Page 4

SecEd digital

and Twitter

Thousands of teachers are reading SecEddigital, a virtual edition of SecEd, which is emailed out every week. You can sign up for free by emailing editor@sec-ed.co.uk. SecEd news and features are now also available on Twitter. You can follow us at www. twitter.com/SecEd_Education

by Chris Parr

Becta, the government’s education ICT agency, has been axed as part of widespread public sector spending cuts that also see other quangos forced to tighten their belts. The cuts were announced by

the Treasury on Monday (May 24), and came a day before the Queen addressed the re-opening of Parliament. In her address she confirmed that the government will implement legislation that will allow more schools to become academies and parents and other groups to set up their own “free” schools (see page 3 for full reports). Ministers claim that abolishing

Becta, which employs around 250 people, will save £10 million in operating costs this year, and some £65 million in the future. In total, the Treasury said it wanted to save £600 million by cutting the cost of quangos across government – £80 million of this is earmarked for sav- ings from education quangos.

The Qualifications and

Curriculum Development Agency, which the Conservatives targeted during the General Election cam- paign, escaped being scrapped for now, but it will need to make sav- ings of £8 million. Also hit are the Training and

Development Agency for Schools, which will see £30 million slashed from its budget, the National College for Leadership of Schools and Children’s Services, which will face a £16 million reduction, and the Young People’s Learning Agency, which loses £20 million. The Department for Education

has been instructed to find savings of £670 million in total – including those detailed above. Other cuts see £60 million saved

on cutting red tape on Diplomas, £40 million taken from adminis- tration costs of educational pro- grammes, and £47 million from the running costs of the one-to-one tui- tion scheme. More detail on other savings as part of the £670 million will be released later in the year.

Where the axe has fallen on the quangos:

Of the £670 million worth of savings that the Department for Education needs to find, some £80 million will come from cuts to government agencies. They include: • Becta, the technology agency for schools, has been scrapped, saving around £10 million this year in operating costs.

• The Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency faces cuts of up to £8 million this year, with its long-term future to be decided at a later date.

• The School Food Trust has to save £1 million from its communications budget.

• The National College for Leadership of Schools and Children’s Services, formerly NCSL, will see £16 million cut from its budget.

• The Training and Development Agency for Schools will lose £30 million from its budget; the Children’s Workforce and Development Council £15 million; and the Young People’s Learning Agency £20 million.

Becta hit out at the govern-

ment’s decision, claiming that its activities allowed schools to make savings that more than paid for its operating costs. A joint statement by Graham Badman, chairman, and Stephen Crowne, chief executive, said: “Becta is a very effective organisation with an international reputation, delivering valuable services to schools, colleges and children. Our procurement arrange- ments save the schools and col- leges many times more than Becta costs to run.” Chris Keates, general secretary

of the NASUWT, said that the “quango bonfire” was based on “flawed assumptions”, and may not deliver the level of savings or value for money that the Treasury expects. “Hundreds of millions

of pounds have already been saved as a result of the work of a number of education quangos which would not otherwise have been achieved by leaving individ- ual schools to their own devices,” she added. The Treasury has also announced

£1.165 billion of cuts to local authority grants, while £1.7 bil- lion that was previously ringfenced will be released to allow local government greater flexibility to “reshape their budgets”. Chr i s t ine

Blower, gen- eral secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said: “This could have a direct impact on the many essential services that they provide to schools and therefore a direct impact on schools and pupils.”

Secondary Assistant Headteachers and School Business Managers are eligible for full membership of NAHT

• Access to specialist CPD programmes; • Advice on pay, conditions and pensions;

Join now for less than £15 per month for:

• Advice on education management;

• Access to publications and our website; • Advice on secondary education policy; • Access to a wide range of value-added services.

Established in 1897, NAHT is an independent trade union and professional association representing 28,000 members in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Many members hold leadership positions in secondary schools and sixth form colleges

To request an application form call the Membership Recruitment Team on 01444 472 414 (quoting SecEd), email joinus@naht.org.uk adding SecEd in the subject line or visit www.naht.org.uk

naht.indd 1 21/5/10 11:33:26

UK news n Psycho babble n Teach it like Torno! n NQT diary n Managing ICT n Leadership page n At the chalkface

Elsewhere, ministers confirmed

that the Child Trust Fund, which sees children given vouchers worth between £250 and £500 that they cash in when they turn 18, will be scaled back this year and stopped altogether from January 2011. A further £1.7 billion will be saved by delaying and stopping contracts and projects, although it is unclear if this includes the move to freeze spending on Building Schools for the Future projects that have not reached preferred bidder stage. There will also be

a reduction of

Continued on page 3

Issue 251 • May 27 2010 Price £1.00

www.sec-ed.com

£700 million in the budgets of the devolved administrations, which could have consequences for edu- cation in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Across the board, ministers

unveiled £6.2 billion worth of sav- ings, to be used as a “down pay- ment” on the UK’s £156 bil- lion deficit.

JOBS INSIDE Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16