Most teachers feel class sizes hinder ability to support Send pupils – survey
The National Education Union said its findings show mainstream schools are not resourced or staffed to cope with current levels of need. Source link
All posts tagged: teachers
Delta trust teachers’ ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ St Helena move
Major trust partners with tropical island’s only secondary to send staff on ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ secondment Major trust partners with tropical island’s only secondary to send staff on ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ secondment More from this theme Recent articles One of England’s biggest trusts is sending a team of teachers thousands of miles to a remote tropical island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Delta Academies Trust has partnered with the only secondary on St Helena, the British territory where Napoleon was exiled after the Battle of Waterloo. Three of the 63-school trust’s staff will work on the island, which sits over 1,200 miles from Africa, its nearest continent and 4,500 miles from England, for a year. Delta CEO Andy Barnett said: “I am excited about the opportunities it will bring. Firstly, to the children in St Helena and, secondly, to the staff selected to experience a different way of life. “It is a powerful demonstration of our commitment to develop colleagues and another benefit of being part of a large trust which is prepared to offer these experiences.” …
No time to meditate? Try this teacher’s favorite walking meditation to feel calmer and more grounded in under 10 minutes
I find walking to be a naturally meditative practice. I love spending my time outside and combining it with a low-impact exercise seems like a no-brainer. I’ve come across walking meditations before, and even tried a few, but I often struggle to make time for them. What’s more, once I’m on the go with the opportunity to do one, I’ll realize I’ve left my phone at home and have no idea how to actually practice properly without guidance. Article continues below You may like Clara Schroeder, an ecotherapist and meditation expert, often combines meditation with nature because she recognises the benefits of both for mental and physical health. She has designed this guided walking meditation for Fit&Well, and encourages you to try it when you need a moment of calm and clarity. It takes less than 10 minutes, plus it’s fairly intuitive so you can learn to do it yourself—and head out with or without your phone. How to do the walking meditation “Find an area outside where you can safely and easily walk for …
Teens Are Using AI to Create “Slander” Videos of Their Teachers
Sign up to see the future, today Can’t-miss innovations from the bleeding edge of science and tech If teachers thought rampant cheating was the worst way AI would impact their livelihoods, we’ve got some bad news. On social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok, Wired reports, teenagers are using AI to create videos that ruthlessly mock their school’s faculty, sometimes even attacking their reputation, with one video flippantly labeling a teacher a “predator.” The “slander pages” that post the videos often use “looksmaxxing” lingo to denigrate the teachers, the reporting noted. Some posts receive over one hundred thousand likes, becoming a viral “in-joke” that’s cruelly blasted out to countless strangers on the internet. Where AI comes into the picture is how the students use controversial tools like Viggle AI to insert a photo of their teacher into scenes or to lip-sync their faces. In one now-removed “slander” video made with Viggle, Wired found, a teacher’s face is superimposed onto someone twitching in a bathroom. A text overlay reads, “Take fent or be useless,” referring to …
Teachers’ pensions handover to Tata delayed again
IT giant now due to take on the contract from Capita this October – a year later than planned IT giant now due to take on the contract from Capita this October – a year later than planned More from this theme Recent articles The handover of the teachers’ pensions scheme to an Indian IT giant has been delayed for a second time. Tata Consultancy Services was due to take over the reins managing the Teachers’ Pension Scheme (TPS) from outsourcing firm Capita last October. But the transfer was delayed a first time last August, with completion instead promised this summer by the Department for Education. Now it has been delayed again until later this year, the DfE confirmed. Schools Week understands it will transfer in October. Capita, which has managed the scheme since 1996, will continue to run it in the meantime. The DfE had initially promised a two-year “transition”, from October 2023 until the new contract began in October 2025. Extra time needed for ‘effective’ transition The department said additional time was required …
Teachers’ shift to Greens a ‘wake-up call’ to Labour
The Green Party’s surging popularity among teachers should be a “wake-up call” to Labour, the general secretary of the National Education Union (NEU) has warned. Daniel Kebede told a press briefing that the Greens and its leader Zack Polanski “align very closely with the education policies” of the teachers’ union. The Greens, who have five MPs, “are the only party at the minute…that are advocating for an end to austerity in schools and education”. Kebede also praised its stance on Ofsted and free school meals. The Greens’ 2024 manifesto pledged £8bn more for schools, including a £2bn pay uplift for teachers. It also pledged to end “high-stakes” pupil testing, scrap Ofsted and give all pupils free lunches. Polanski will speak at the NEU’s annual conference later this month. Kebede said the union is “very proud” to be politically independent, but added: “We will work with politicians, organisations, NGOs, who align with our policies.” He said Polanski is clearly “the most favoured politician amongst our members at the moment”. “If I was the Labour government, I …
Moms for Liberty and teachers unions are unlikely allies fighting tech in schools
Since Moms for Liberty launched in 2021, the conservative activist group has demonized teachers unions as an “education mafia” that parents “cannot trust,” blaming them for school closures in the pandemic and calling educators who offer children LGBTQ-themed books “groomers.” Moms for Liberty has said the unions are “radical,” “don’t care about kids” and “prioritize power over students.” But this year, Moms for Liberty is teaming up with some of its former adversaries after identifying a common cause: fighting back against education technology, or ed tech, in public schools. Across the country, Moms for Liberty chapters and other conservative parent groups are uniting with local teachers unions and liberal-leaning parents to push school districts and state lawmakers to limit the time children spend on screens in schools. In Iowa, the teachers union is backing a bill co-sponsored by a Republican lawmaker, who is also a Moms for Liberty chapter leader, that would restrict elementary students’ use of computers and let parents opt their children out of devices at school. “We don’t want to immediately tune …
36,000 MOE teachers, allied educators to get up to 9% pay increase from Oct 1
The Singapore Teachers’ Union (STU) welcomed the move. “STU has long called for a comprehensive review of teacher pay, and we are pleased to see this long‑awaited step forward,” it said in a Facebook post. “While the 2 per cent to 9 per cent adjustments are a necessary recognition of the gaps with market benchmarks, salary revision alone is not sufficient,” STU said. It added that MOE must take a holistic view of total compensation, including allowances, career progression and benefits, to ensure teaching remains an attractive and sustainable profession. Teachers’ workload should also be addressed, said the union. “More can and should be done to reduce non‑core administrative tasks so that teachers can focus on what matters most: the holistic development of our students. The union said it hopes to work closely with MOE to turn the announcement into lasting improvements for educators and students. Source link
Teens Are Using AI-Fueled ‘Slander Pages’ to Mock Their Teachers
The video opens with a school superintendent lip-syncing a love song, but he’s not the only performer. AI-generated versions of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein join him on the ballad—a splice between Will Joseph Cook’s “Be Around Me” and a rewrite of the song by Beth McCarthy on TikTok—with Epstein mouthing the words, “Oh my god, did he call her baby, maybe?” The clip, posted to the Instagram account @thewyliefiles, has been liked more than 107,000 times. Its caption reads like a large language model’s overview of the Wylie Independent School District in Collin County, Texas, where the singing superintendent was formerly employed, boasting about its “strong academics” and “wide range of extracurriculars.” A top comment reads, “Gem alarm!” suggesting that passersby have struck gold in their daily scroll. The skit is just one example of a new AI-video meme trend on Instagram and TikTok that students have invented to mock the school’s faculty and sometimes attack their reputations, seemingly for the sake of virality. These largely student-run accounts …
Menopause makes teachers’ work lives harder – and may push them out of the profession
Secondary teaching in England currently faces a recruitment and retention crisis. Over 90% of teachers leave before retirement. Although the government have made efforts to improve recruitment and retention, interventions tend to focus on initial teacher trainees and early career teachers – ignoring the experiences of midlife teachers, including menopause. Research suggests that menopause can increase the risk of burnout at work. However, there has been limited exploration of how menopause affects secondary teachers’ intentions to remain in the profession. My PhD research explored this. I surveyed 258 peri- and post-menopausal secondary teachers between the ages of 40 and 65 across England, carrying out interviews with 12. I found that teachers are statistically more likely to intend to leave teaching if they are menopausal than if they are pre-menopausal. When interviewed, menopausal teachers explained they felt they had no option but to leave or reduce their hours and responsibilities as they were unable to manage their menopause symptoms at work. Teachers experiencing menopause symptoms felt that they were less able to do their jobs. “I …