English in the News
Below is a selection of articles which are archived online and may be of interest to NATE members. If you know of others please let us know. Keep up to date with our Twitter feed, too.
- Don't knock blogging – it's the answer to our literacy problems - The Independent, Thursday December 3, 2009
New research shows that almost 50 per cent of schoolchildren say writing is boring. The solution, discovers Hilary Wilce, is to let them loose with digital technologyLink broken or innaccurate? Please report here - Slang does not make literature 'relevant' - The Guardian, Wednesday December 2, 2009
Particularly when wielded by those who don't really understand it, it's an insultingly cheap bid to get down with the kidsLink broken or innaccurate? Please report here - Primary school league tables expose shortcomings - BBC, Tuesday December 1, 2009
The controversial primary school league tables for England, based on children's Sats results, have been published.Link broken or innaccurate? Please report here - Sats results 2009: fewer pupils are acquiring basic skills - The Guardian, Tuesday December 1, 2009
In just under 900 primary schools, the majority of pupils leave unable to write a proper sentence or do basic arithmetic – almost 100 more schools than last year, today's primary school league tables show.Link broken or innaccurate? Please report here - Primary school league tables 2009: heads threaten Sats boycott - Daily Telegraph, Tuesday December 1, 2009
Head teachers are threatening to block the publication of primary school league tables next year after branding them “demoralising”.
Link broken or innaccurate? Please report here - Pupils failed by 'intellectually deficient' exams - Daily Telegraph, Tuesday December 1, 2009
English schoolchildren are lagging behind those from other nations after being failed by an “intellectually deficient” education system, according to research by the think-tank Reform.
Link broken or innaccurate? Please report here - Primary school league tables 2009: English results down while maths stalls - Daily Telegraph, Tuesday December 1, 2009
The number of children leaving school with a decent grasp of English has dropped for the first time since Sats were introduced, league tables show
Link broken or innaccurate? Please report here - Ed Balls says Sats could go by 2012 - The Guardian, Thursday November 19, 2009
Sats tests, taken by more than 600,000 primary school pupils every year, could be scrapped as soon as 2012 under major reforms to the testing system announced today by Ed Balls.Link broken or innaccurate? Please report here - Primary school curriculum shake-up attacked - Daily Telegraph, Thursday November 19, 2009
A key advisor to the Prince of Wales has criticised plans to axe traditional subjects in schools
Link broken or innaccurate? Please report here - Ed Balls's plan to replace traditional subjects with 'thematic' lessons - BBC, Wednesday November 18, 2009
Ed Balls is to publish a new curriculum for all primary schools which will reorganise traditional subject areas into "thematic" headingsLink broken or innaccurate? Please report here - Enid Blyton banned from BBC for nearly 30 years - The Guardian, Monday November 16, 2009
Children's author Enid Blyton was banned from the BBC for nearly 30 years because the corporation thought she was a "second-rater" whose work lacked literary value. Link broken or innaccurate? Please report here - GCSE English exams to include questions on text messaging - Daily Telegraph, Sunday November 15, 2009
In a move described by education campaigners as the "ultimate in dumbing down", pupils will be asked to write an essay on the etiquette and grammar of texting. Link broken or innaccurate? Please report here - Stanley Ellis obituary - The Guardian, Saturday November 14, 2009
Leading authority on dialects and a pioneer of the forensic analysis of voice recordingsLink broken or innaccurate? Please report here - Sats results 'wrong for thousands of pupils' - Daily Telegraph, Friday November 13, 2009
A study commissioned by Ofqual, the exam regulator, said between 12 and 17 per cent of pupils were given the wrong grade in science exams.The conclusions follow similar concerns over the marking of English tests taken by children in their final year of primary school.
Link broken or innaccurate? Please report here - Noise 'worse for dyslexic pupils' - BBC, Friday November 13, 2009
Children with dyslexia find it harder to hear in noisy classrooms than those without the condition, a US study says.Link broken or innaccurate? Please report here - Great writers 'fail' online test - BBC, Thursday November 12, 2009
Winston Churchill's iconic "fight them on the beaches" speech did not make the grade when it was marked by a computer system, exam experts have said.
Link broken or innaccurate? Please report here - Queen’s English Society chief admits that he was a poor speller - The Times, Monday November 9, 2009
You might expect that an innate ability to be able to spell impeccably would be a prerequisite for the president of the Queen’s English Society. Link broken or innaccurate? Please report here - Can synthetic phonics be the key to teaching children how to read? - Times Online, Monday November 9, 2009
School in the 21st century is very different to school back in the olden days of the 20th. That may sound obvious, but many people can't seem to accept that times have changed. Just read the visitors to this blog.
Link broken or innaccurate? Please report here - Appeals rise over schools tests - BBC, Thursday November 5, 2009
More schools have appealed this year against the results of the national tests taken by 11-year-olds in England....
Most appeals were made against the marking of English papers - and this is also the area where numbers rose the most. Link broken or innaccurate? Please report here - Belongings of Siegfried Sassoon to be preserved at Cambridge University - Daily Telegraph, Wednesday November 4, 2009
A £550,000 grant has been awarded to help preserve the personal belongings of First World War soldier, poet and author Siegfried Sassoon for the nation.
Link broken or innaccurate? Please report here