At the chalkface Beadle’s about
WE ARE promised greater classroom freedoms. Yippee! Some teachers panic. Fear not. Help is now at hand –How to Teach by Phil Beadle. This book is that rare thing in education. Readable. Hugely readable.And necessary. Hugely necessary. It’s also hip, sharp, sussed, funny and extremely practical – a scintillating, pedagogical romp, written by someone who knows. It’s a happy mix of the idealistic and the tough. There are no short cuts to success. But get the basics right and the rest could well follow. Get them wrong and you’re toast. Teaching, for Beadle, is “a performance art”. Dullness is not an option and the judgements are severe. So. How to prevent it? You’ll need a
passionate enthusiasm and a fierce subject knowledge. You’ll need to like children. Yes, yes, but we need detail. He supplies it – Beadle’s Top Teaching Tips. These are many and they work. The dread behaviour
management? “Sweat the small stuff and the
big stuff don’t happen”. Small stuff like “Turn up. Take the punches. Smile back”. There’s hardcore wisdom about seating plans and hands up and shutting up (you, not them) and the horrors of detentions (yours, not theirs) and the need to get medieval on gum, crisps, pens. The section on the gradational levels of confrontation is a belter – from
the Pinter pause, the monobrow, the micronod, the eye narrow raise, to some occasional “extremely useful” borderline psychosis. He dismantles the Victorian
classroom. “Desks are the enemies of learning.” He dismantles the teacher-led discussion. Children turn off after about seven minutes. It took me years to get this. They learn by DOING, they learn in groups. This section is red meat – hugely detailed and creative. Group work is tough to crack, but once done “the classroom’s your playground” – perhaps
the key phrase of the book. These rigours are all in the service of the greater
good – to teach children. He emphasises their fragility, their continuously threatened self-esteem, and their daily humiliations. He’s especially trenchant about working class
children – especially “naughty”, White working class boys. He
gets them. Education is their only weapon, their only break. He is tough on grammar and Stalinist about marking – and after reading about poor Cerise you will be too. Teaching for Beadle is too
crucial to leave to the idle, the craven, waffling creatives or pansy liberals. But if you mean it, this is the Knowledge. This works. And not just for NQTs. For old lags like me. If I had read this, I would have been so much better.
• Ian Whitwham is a former teacher. A book of his best ever columns is out now. For details, email
editor@sec-ed.co.uk
New frontiers: Year 8 and 9 students take part in an experiment during a masterclass activity at the Space School UK Mars: the destiny of humankind by Bea Yeatman-Biggs
A year 12 student will be jetting off to Northern Norway to build a rocket that reaches heights of more than 10 kilometres after scooping top prize in the Space Academy competition. Ryan MacDonald, from
Bilborough College in Nottingham, will spend a week at the European Space Camp in Norway where he will get the chance to build a “sounding rocket” to collect sci- entific data, and will take part in managing the launch. The competition, run by theEast Midlands Development Agency’s
Space Academy programme, chal- lenged year 12 and 13 students to write on the theme “Mars: The Destiny of Humankind”, and required them to investigate how our understanding of the red planet has changed over the years, and if Mars could ever become inhabited by humans. Entries had to be tied to the students’ school studies. Ryan was not the only student to
be rewarded for his hard work in the competition. Three runners up, Adam Jassat
and Jitesh Joshi from Wyggeston and Queen Elizabeth College in Leicester, and Rachael Henshaw also from Bilborough College have won places at the Senior Space
School UK for post 16-year-olds, which is held at the University of Leicester over the summer holi- days. The school allows the students
to spend a week with some of the UK’s leading rocket scientists and participate in elements of astronaut training, as well as working with some of the world’s largest compa- nies in the space industry. Also included in the week is
the chance for students to build and launch high-speed rockets, take part in telescope observation sessions, simulated space missions, and go scuba diving, among other activities. There was also a second Space Academy competition for years 9
to 11, and 15 winners were picked, including six from Rushey Mead School in Leicester. These winners now gain a place at Space School UK, which is for pre-16-year-olds. There were more than 70 entries for both competitions, which were open to all the schools in the East Midlands. The Space Academy is a part-
nership led by the National Space Centre and includes the University of Leicester, the University of Nottingham, the Science Learning Centre East Midlands, and STEMNET. For more information on the
Space Schools, visit www.space
centre.co.uk
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Fundraising for Schools
December 2009 Issue 107 December 2009 £3.99 Your practical guide to raising money
Will the recession affect school builds?
Experts have predicted that the budget for the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme – intended to refurbish every secondary school in England – will be cut whichever Party wins the next election.
Speaking at the British Council for School Environments’ (BCSE) annual conference, Graham Watts, chief executive of the Construction Industry Council, said that capital funding would be squeezed next year and that the BSF programme was ‘under great pressure’. He also suggested that funding for the Primary Capital Programme (PCP) might be cut.
Ty Goddard, chief executive of BCSE, told Fundraising for Schools that inevitably there were dangers to school capital funding programmes as a result of the economic downturn.
‘It’s crucial to remember that such programmes not only help support the achitectural and construction industries, but also improve the educational opportunities of our children,’ he said.
‘Most of the school estate was built before the 1970s. Building or
In this issue News
Marketing Straight from the horse’s
mouth Grants and awards Applications Gift Aid
Case Study Grant reminders
1-2 3
4-5 6-11
12-13 14 15 16
refurbishing our schools, and making them relevant to teaching and learning in the 21st century, is not a luxury – it is a necessity.’
A spokesperson from the DCSF said that it was still the Government’s ambition to rebuild every secondary school in the country, but that it couldn’t make any fi nancial commitments before the next spending review.
Asked to comment on Conservative Party plans for schemes like BSF, a spokesperson for the Party said that one way to cut costs would be to reduce the amount of bureaucracy. ‘A recent Freedom of Information request revealed that the DCSF have spent tens of millions of pounds on consultants, including where there haven’t been new school buildings,’ he said.
Continued on page 2
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Fundraising for Schools December 2009 1 SecEd The ONLY weekly voice for secondary education Inside this issue
Don’t miss our NQT eight-page special in this week’s SecEd
Issue 232 • November 26 2009 Price £1.00
www.sec-ed.com
SecEd has once again teamed up with the NASUWT to bring you a dedicated eight- page NQT special offering an array of advice and support to help you survive and thrive in your first year at the chalkface Pages 16 to 23
Coaching advice
Coaching can be an effective and innovative CPD tool. We look at how it should be structured and the secrets to success Page 12
The dyslexic brain
Dyslexic author Al Campbell looks at how the dyslexic brain learns and how teachers can help Pages 8 and 9
SecEddigital
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.
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PROMOTE racial harmony, cultural diversity, and social cohesion.
Inspiring: Winning PA Julia Marks with her head, Tim Mitchell. All 30 finalists are also pictured (inset)
Battle to save school wins Julia PA honour
Head praises the amazing belief of SecEd Headteacher’s PA of the Year 2009 In July, the school’s future was
by Chris Parr
When the local authority began consulting on the closure of Dayncourt School in Nottinghamshire, it was Julia Marks – PA to headteacher Tim Mitchell – who stood strong, rallied the school’s staff, and staunchly refused to let her colleagues throw in the towel.
secured after the council withdrew the threat of closure. According to Mr Mitchell, this was more to do with Julia than with any other individual within the school establishment. He told us: “Julia kept the faith
– even when my own was on the wane. She poked, prodded, chivvied and chided. She kept me focused and on track. She believed.” Julia’s amazing contribution
to the future of her school has earned her the top prize at the 2009 SecEd Headteacher’s PA of the Year Awards, which took place at the prestigious Landmark Hotel in London on Friday (November 20). Thirty finalists gathered with
their headteachers, where they were treated to a gala dinner before being presented with their awards by last year’s champion, Pam Waters, and John Rolfe, manager of the DCSF
NASUWT The Teachers’ Union the largest teachers’ union in the UK
UK news Independent thinking Moral support NQT diary Managing ICT Leadership page At the chalkface
International School Award at the British Council – the award’s spon- sors. SecEd editor, Pete Henshaw, said
that Julia was “person of tremen- dous drive, passion and vision”. He continued: “The standard of
entries was unbelievably high, but Julia’s commitment to her school’s cause under such immense pressure was what made her stand out from the crowd.
“She is a very worthy winner of
this year’s gold award, and a fine ambassador for PAs up and down the country.” The silver award went to
Elisabeth Collard from Kingsbridge Community College in Devon, while the bronze award was taken by Kim Annison from Alderman Peel High School in Norfolk.
• See pages 2 and 3 for details. Containing thousands of professional articles, lesson plan ideas, news, reports and exclusive features
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