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.
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- Boys unwilling to learn languages - BBC, Wednesday October 19, 2005
Teenage boys can barely be encouraged to speak English let alone learn another language, says the Chief Inspector of Schools, David Bell.Link broken or innaccurate? Please report here - Government cuts teacher training places - The Guardian, Tuesday October 18, 2005
The government is quietly slashing the numbers of new teachers to be trained in England over the next three years despite ministers' rhetoric about increasing investment in schools, it has emerged.Link broken or innaccurate? Please report here - Struggling pupils get extra help - BBC, Monday October 17, 2005
Individual tuition is to be made available for struggling pupils in state schools, the Education Secretary Ruth Kelly has announced. Speaking in advance of a forthcoming education White Paper, Ms Kelly promised £120m for "catch-up" lessons in English and maths. Link broken or innaccurate? Please report here - Print is not dead - but it is fast fading away - The Guardian, Friday October 14, 2005
Young people are heading towards a world in which books and other traditional media have almost no place, writes Adam Fox The government's watchdog on teaching and examining, the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA), issued a booklet this week on the future of the major subjects studied in English schools....
This is appropriate: the book is history.Link broken or innaccurate? Please report here - Why we shouldn't correct all spelling mistakes - Times Educational Supplement, Friday October 14, 2005
Covering work in red ink might satisfy traditionalists but does little to help understanding, says Bethan Marshall. Nothing arouses as much passion in English teaching as the correct use of grammar and spelling. For some people a misspelt word is like a slap in the face, a split infinitive like a body blow.Link broken or innaccurate? Please report here - English 'must reflect technology' - BBC, Thursday October 13, 2005
English in schools must adapt to reflect the use of text messaging and communication via new technologies, a report says. Research by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority says new skills are needed to keep pace with change. Link broken or innaccurate? Please report here - Four-year-olds struggling with writing - The Guardian, Thursday October 13, 2005
One in three young children are struggling to develop their early writing skills properly, government figures showed today. Statistics published by the Department for Education and Skills showed 32% of four-year-olds were not developing fast enough with the skill of linking sounds and letters. Link broken or innaccurate? Please report here - Exam board criticised over 'harsh' marking - The Guardian, Thursday October 13, 2005
Exam board Edexcel was ordered to overhaul its marking procedures after a school successfully appealed over its grades in last year's exams, it emerged yesterday. AS-level English results for pupils at Newstead Wood school for girls in Orpington, Kent, alarmed teachers because they were so far below the grades normally achieved.Link broken or innaccurate? Please report here - Watchdog calls for shake-up in English - The Guardian, Wednesday October 12, 2005
English teaching will have to adapt to how to read websites as well as books, and spoken language should get higher priority in schools, says the government's exams and curriculum watchdog. "Older forms, such as the book, are not defunct, but learners need to acquire new literacy skills. Link broken or innaccurate? Please report here - Test levels: Whose expectations? - BBC, Friday October 7, 2005
For many parents, myself included, reading a school report can be quite baffling.... We are not quite so sure what it means when the report says your child is "working towards Level 4".... I asked Miriam Rosen, Ofsted's director of inspections, whether [Level 4] was the level "expected" of all 11-year-olds or only of the average 11-year-old. She could not tell me.Link broken or innaccurate? Please report here - Language lands children's author in trouble - The Guardian, Thursday October 6, 2005
Bum, bogey, fart, crap and a joke about Harry Potter not being "the only gay in the village" would not cause much shock in the playground. But when a bestselling author turned the air a pale shade of blue during a school talk to promote literacy, he was ejected by shocked teachers.Link broken or innaccurate? Please report here - 'Urgent need' to improve literacy - BBC, Wednesday October 5, 2005
There is an "urgent need" to tackle the problem of pupils leaving primary school without the basic skills in reading and writing, say inspectors.Link broken or innaccurate? Please report here - Literary greats 'key to English' - BBC, Friday September 30, 2005
Classic English literature should remain central to the teaching of English, a study suggests..... The consultation on the future of English teaching was by England's curriculum and exams watchdog, the QCA.Link broken or innaccurate? Please report here - Call for more creative English in the classroom - Times Educational Supplement, Friday September 30, 2005
The way English is taught in schools should be reformed amid calls for more "creative" teaching, a study suggested today.... The comments were contained in a paper which the exams watchdog the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority published after asking for views on the future of English in schools. Link broken or innaccurate? Please report here - Slang creeps into English exams - BBC, Friday September 16, 2005
English examiners have complained about the use of slang expressions such as 'gonna', 'ain't' and 'shouda' in GCSEs this year.Link broken or innaccurate? Please report here - New twists of the traditional tongue - Times Educational Supplement, Friday September 16, 2005
English 21, the huge consultation on [how] to teach the subject in the computer age, is over. Hilary Wilce reports on a debate that gave a voice to thousands.Link broken or innaccurate? Please report here - Talking English to no real effect: Michael Rosen - Times Educational Supplement, Friday September 16, 2005
I find myself wondering why the reasonableness of the documents and discussions originating with and commenting on English 21 leave me in a state of anxiety. Surely someone like me, a strong supporter of both the method and the content of the consultation, should be one of the first to welcome it.Link broken or innaccurate? Please report here - Joint unions call for test review - BBC, Monday September 12, 2005
A review of the tests children sit at the end of primary school in England has been called for by all six main education unions.Link broken or innaccurate? Please report here - Teaching unions unite to call for review of school tests - The Guardian, Monday September 12, 2005
A powerful alliance of teaching unions will join forces today to press the government for an urgent review of "high-stakes" national tests for 11-year-olds in England, which they claim are failing pupils and damaging the progress of schools.Link broken or innaccurate? Please report here - One third of 14-year-olds not reading at expected level as boys fall further behind - The Guardian, Friday September 9, 2005
Boys fell further behind girls in reading, the results of national tests for 14-year-olds showed yesterday, as overall improvements in English and maths still failed to meet a series of government targets set for last year.Link broken or innaccurate? Please report here