NEWS


Wales calls for shake-up of initial teacher training


by Greg Lewis


There must be major changes to the way new teachers are prepared for the start of their careers, according to a body monitoring classroom standards. The General Teaching Council


for Wales (GTCW) wants a clearer link between what new entrants learn


in initial teacher training and the pro- fessional development they receive during their early years in school. Council chair Angela Jardine


said there are widely held concerns at the extent to which induction training varies across the country with many courses not allowing enough time to embed key prin- ciples and prepare a new teacher properly for the classroom.


“The standard of performance


required to ‘pass induction’ often depends on the subjective view of the headteacher of the school where the new teacher is employed,” she said.


“That makes it an accident of


geography rather than an automatic entitlement for new teachers.” A new policy document from the GTCW claims that better


teacher support will help set the foundations for better educational attainment. Reports from Pisa, an interna-


tional student assessment of results, and from the education inspectorate Estyn have recently raised questions about the quality of some areas of the Welsh education system. The GTCW said it supports plans by the Welsh Assembly gov-


ernment to revise initial teacher training so it becomes a two-year Master’s course with more class- room practice, but called on who- ever forms the next Assembly gov- ernment to give raising the qual- ity of professional development for teachers top priority. It says changes should be part of wide-ranging reforms which would see the embedding of consistent


professional development at all stages of a teacher’s career. Dr Philip Dixon, director of


union ATL Cymru, said his union’s members have reported “wild varia- tions in the quality and support they receive in their early career stages”. He agreed with the GTCW that the Welsh government needs to ensure that provision is “consistent and coherent”.


Unauthorised leave still causing concerns for Northern Irish heads


Term-time holidays are continuing to cause problems for secondary headteachers in Northern Ireland, new figures reveal. Tens of thousands of days are


being lost annually when parents remove their children without the school’s permission. Many of these holidays overlap the beginning or end of term. A new study by the North’s Department of Education indicates that little is being done to tackle the problem of parents removing chil- dren from school during term-time. Overall, attendance is good. However, while absences are lower


UCAS seeks views on new points system


A new tariff or points system is being considered by the universities admissions service, UCAS, to give greater currency to the wide range of qualifications now being offered by students applying to higher education. Officials at the agency


believe the existing tariff has not kept pace with the rate of change and the proliferation of qualifications – such as BTECs, Diplomas and the International Baccalaureate – now available at Level 3. In 1999 there were 1,211 reg-


istered Level 3 qualifications in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, but this has risen to almost 4,000. At the same time, fewer than


half of students are now apply- ing to university armed just with A levels. Kate Westmacott, UCAS’s


review project manager, said the organisation was seeking the views of schools, colleges and careers advisors who use the present system to find out how well it is serving young people and to canvas opinion on how it might be improved. “At the moment this is just


an information gathering process, and we are seeking to engage with the various stakehold- ers who use the tariff system


in advising learners about the routes into higher education,” she said. “We need to get a good grasp


of the experience people have of the points system and how it is being used.” Currently some of the highly


selective universities are ignor- ing the points system altogether in favour of the old process of offering places based on grades in particular subjects. In some cases, students are


expected to have studied par- ticular units at A level in order to advance to a degree course. There is no means by which


these requirements can be meas- ured in the tariff system at this time, Ms Westmacott added. “The system is not as trans-


parent as it should be and we need to address this,” she said. “The tariff as it stands has become a bit of a crude measure which may be interpreted vari- ously. “We have no particular mod-


els in mind as to how this can be changed, but this will form another phase of the consultation in the future.” The deadline for receiving comments is May 16 and anyone wishing to take part in this phase of the consultation should visit www.ucas.com/qireview


in Northern Ireland than other regions, the proportion of unauthor- ised leave is considerably higher than England and Wales. Only under “very exceptional circumstances” can schools author- ise a family holiday. These may include a vacation


that is important to the wellbeing and cohesion of the family, fol- lowing serious or terminal illness, bereavement or “other traumatic events”. Those classified as unauthorised


would include the availability of cheap holiday deals or poor weather during school holidays.


Students’ racing hearts linked to exam success


With the exam season fast approaching, it is understandable that students’ hearts might be beating a little faster than usual. But new research shows that


the faster pupils’ hearts beat during exams, the higher marks they score. The pilot study, conducted by


exam board AQA, set out to scru- tinise the relationship between pupils’ anxiety, their heart rate and their exam performance. It followed the performances of


39 6th-form college students, all of whom were fitted with heart monitors during a 10-minute mock French AS oral exam. The study discovered that, on


average, the hearts of the most suc- cessful candidates beat 23.9 times per minute faster than normal dur- ing an exam. In contrast, the stu- dents who did least well experi-


enced an average increase of only 3.9 heartbeats per minute. Following the study, due


to be published in the journal Educational Research, the AQA team plans to look at the subject further. Researchers Dr Suzanne Chamberlain, Anthony Daly and Victoria Spalding want to measure the heart rates of 160 GCSE, AS and A2 students, with half taking a written mock exam and the other half taking an oral mock exam. They are looking for four schools to take part. They are also keen to recruit an


additional 100 students from five schools, with the aim of seeing how awarding bodies, parents and teachers can help pupils to manage test anxiety. “We know that teachers have a very fine line to tread between


letting students know how crucial their exam performance is, while at the same time being motivat- ing and supportive,” explained Dr Chamberlain, senior research asso- ciate at AQA’s Centre for Education Research and Policy. In a separate study, the research-


ers identified two distinct types of exam stress among AS candidates. While the students said pre-exam anxiety caused lack of sleep, tired- ness and guilt at not doing enough


revision, many saw anxiety on the day of an exam as beneficial. They believed it gave them a rush of adrenalin and helped them to per- form. If your school is interested in


taking part in AQA’s full-length study, contact Dr Chamberlain at schamberlain@aqa.org.uk or call 0161 957 3904.


• See pages 8 & 9: Handling exam stress


Former teacher faces fresh assault charges


A former teacher who walked free from court despite his conviction for attacking pupils faces 10 charges at a disciplinary hearing. Michael Barile won an absolute


discharge last year after appealing on grounds of extreme provocation. That meant his sentence, but not the conviction, was dismissed. However, he is now facing new


allegations of assault on teach- ers and pupils after a preliminary conduct hearing by the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS) on April 27.


4 Mr Barile, 54, is charged with


“engaging in aggressive and threat- ening behaviour” towards two teachers while working at Madras College, St Andrews, and two other teachers at Lawside academy in Dundee. He is also accused of using threatening behaviour towards two Madras College pupils; pushing two youngsters so that they fell against a chair and a door; pulling another child’s hair and grabbing a young female pupil while he was employed at Lawside. The former maths teacher, from


Dundee, must attend a six-day dis- ciplinary hearing later this year. Mr Barile telephoned Madras


College teacher John Urquhart and “put him in a state of alarm”, and shouted at staff member Dorothy Comber in November 2006, a GTCS conduct panel heard. He also allegedly behaved


aggressively towards teachers Carol Scott and Kathleen Valentine between October 15, 2007, and May 2008 while working at Lawside Academy in Dundee. Mr Barile said the professional


body was running a “witch hunt” against him. The charity worker has since


said he would fight the new charges and blames senior management at the schools for “leaving me out to dry”. “I believe I’ve been singled out


because I was what you would call a ‘traditional’ teacher, and I have been identified as someone that can be easily attacked. But I am determined to fight these allega- tions all the way and to clear my reputation.”


SecEd • May 5 2011 In practice, however, many


children continue to go abroad with their families on school days, despite warnings they may face prison if their children play truant.


Headteachers say unauthorised


absences create great difficulty in schools and impact on the quality of teaching and learning. The new study shows that


instances of “family holiday not agreed” remain commonplace. Absence is measured for every


pupil in half-day sessions – morn- ing and afternoon. In post-primary schools in


2009/10, 7.7 per cent of all half- days were missed due to absence, comprising 5.2 per cent author- ised and 2.6 per cent unauthorised absence. At 9.4 per cent of the total half-


days, average levels of overall absence in secondary schools are higher than in grammar schools (4.9 per cent). The figures also show that


pupils in non-grammar secondary education are more likely to take unauthorised absence than peers in grammar schools – 3.7 and 0.7 per cent of the total half-days respec- tively.


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