News From North East September/October 2007
Inside this issue...
Click on to your chosen topic from here
- Experiences of Poverty and Educational Disadvantage
- University Guides
- New Briefing Papers from The Centre for Educational Sociology
- Teaching Home Economics in Scotland
- Scottish Government Website
- Froth and Bubble
- Contributions
Experiences of Poverty and Educational Disadvantage
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation's Education and Poverty programme has looked into the experiences and attitudes of children from different backgrounds. The findings show that “socio-economic differences are associated with a wide range of influences on children's learning.”
“Children growing up in poverty and disadvantage are less likely to do well at school. This feeds into disadvantage in later life and in turn affects their children. To break this cycle, we need to address the attitudes and experiences that lie behind social differences in education.”
Read the Joseph Rowntree Foundation's Paper
University Guides
The Guardian provides a useful guide to university subjects.
Guardian Unlimited University Guide
(Thanks to Kate Graham)
New Briefing Papers from The Centre for Educational Sociology
Work Experience By Cathy Howieson, Jim McKechnie and Sheila Semple
"Work experience is an established part of the secondary school curriculum and seen as a way to enable pupils to learn about the working world and how to operate in an adult environment. Many pupils, however, also experience the working world through the paid part-time work that they undertake. This Briefing considers the implications of pupils’ part-time employment for work experience and the possible relationship between the two experiences. It draws on evidence from a national study of pupils’ part-time employment commissioned by the Scottish Executive."
Intelligent Accountability: Sound-Bite or Sea-Change? By Michael Cowie and Linda Croxford
"In Scottish education, as in other public services in Britain, there has been growing emphasis on performance management, quality assurance and accountability over the past two decades. However, recent policies from the Scottish Executive appear to signal a shift away from the top-down systems that focus on measuring and comparing attainment, to approaches that gives more scope to teachers’ professional judgement and to the assessment of pupils’ wider educational outcomes. This Briefing considers the implications of these recent policy developments for schools, teachers and pupils in Scotland."
Qualifications Matter: Credentials and the Labour Market Outcomes of Migrants in Israel By Marina Shapira
"Migration is one of the most important phenomena in the modern world. Almost all Western societies have absorbed, and are absorbing, large numbers of migrants from diverse ethnic and national origins with varying levels of qualifications and skill. Since its creation, Israel has accepted migrants from a variety of backgrounds; most recently from the former Soviet Union. In many respects, these Soviet migrants resemble the Eastern and Central European migrants currently entering Western European labour markets. This Briefing reports on a study of the labour market experiences of migrants in Israel, highlighting findings relevant to policy makers and researchers in Britain."
The briefings can be found at CES Briefings
Teaching Home Economics in Scotland
Yvonne Dewhurst of Aberdeen University has contributed this article.
We are increasingly challenged in Scotland to recruit new teachers of Home Economics and continue to face a national shortage. As a result, concerns about the difficulties in finding teachers of Home Economics surface regularly. Those teachers leaving the profession continue to outnumber the beginning teachers who enter. Nearly 50% of the Home Economics teachers in Scotland are aged over 50, recruitment has been difficult for several years; and vacancy levels are high (and probably understated since some departments have adjusted the number of courses offered which reflects this difficulty). Alongside this, the multidisciplinary, undergraduate degrees appropriate to Home Economics are no longer available.
Recently, The Memorandum of Entry into Initial Teacher Education was rewritten for Home Economics in order to make entry into teacher training more flexible.
Here is the extract for Home Economics:
Applicants must have a degree with 80 credit points including 40 credit points at SCQF Level 8 (or above) from at least two of: consumer studies; food studies; food or textile technology; nutrition; textile studies.
A further 40 credits are needed in any home economics area relevant to the home economics curriculum in Scottish schools.
While the health of the people in Scotland is improving, obesity has now reached pandemic proportions. The Home Economics curriculum, with its emphasis on life skills, is very well placed to work with partners on a multifaceted approach to help address this, and the related issue of social inclusion. Pupils can also develop knowledge and skills leading to a range of vocational and academic occupations, and ultimately contribute to the economic wellbeing of the country.
If you require further information about teaching Home Economics in Scotland, you can contact Yvonne at:
School of Education,
University of Aberdeen,
MacRobert Building,
King's College,
Aberdeen AB24 5UA
Tel: 01224 274635
y.dewhurst@abdn.ac.uk
Scottish Government Website
| Date | Section | Publication |
|---|---|---|
| 10/09/2007 | Education and Skills | Skills for Scotland: A Lifelong Skills Strategy [Publication] Skills strategy |
| 13/09/2007 | People, Communities and Living | The Full SP: Supporting People - Issue 25 September 2007 [Newsletter] The Full SP: Supporting People - Issue 25 September 2007 |
| 26/09/2007 | Education and Skills | SQA Examination Results in Scottish Schools: 2006/07 [Publication] National and Local Authority level information on the cumulative attainment of National Qualifications by all pupils in publicly funded secondary schools. |
| 02/10/2007 | Education and Skills | Higher Education Graduates and Graduate Destinations 2005-06 [Publication] Statistics on graduates from higher education courses at Scottish institutions and destinations 6 months after graduating. |
| 05/10/2007 | Health, well-being and care | One Year Job Guarantee for Nurses and Midwives: Guidance for 2007-2008 [Publication] One Year Job Guarantee for Nurses and Midwives. |
Froth and Bubble
Farewell to Ronnie Hazlehurst.
His name might not be familiar but you’ll definitely have heard his theme tunes from countless TV shows.
Contributions
If you would like to contribute an item to the newsletter we would be delighted to hear from you. Contributions can be emailed to info.ne@careers-scotland.org.uk or faxed to 01592 623199
