Tired teachers can wind down on half pay
- Clapped-out teachers aged 56 and over who dream of lazy days in the deckchair away from the latest curriculum innovation may be within sight of a partial escape from the classroom grind. Ministers and local authorities, with union agreement, are pushing through a winding-down scheme that supports the principle of “half-pay for half-work”. It is expected to be given parliamentary approval in time for the new session.
EIS monitors moves to ditch Standard grade
- Schools should move cautiously if they want to ditch Standard grade courses and replace them with National Qualifications, EIS education convener George MacBride has said following further attacks on the S4 exam, this time from the independent sector. Stewart’s Melville College and Mary Erskine School in Edinburgh will next year abandon Standard grade in favour of Intermediate II exams for most subjects in S3.
No place to hide for child abusers
- The Care Commission is ready to sweep in unannounced to investigate rogue teachers, carers or even young people accused of abusing other boarders in hostels or independent or special schools. Following concerns about abuse of children and young people in 24-hour care, ministers have acted to give the commission wide powers to intervene speedily.
Blow cold on out-of-school clubs
- The benefits pupils derive from out-of-school care clubs and after- school study groups are “inconclusive”, a team from the Scottish Council for Research in Education cautions. But such activities do allow parents to take up jobs or training. Advocates make strong claims that personal and social development and even academic performance gain from taking part.
Magazine banned for cheek
- Encouragement from the French education minister for school magazines to publish and be damned has been seized with naked enthusiasm. Only weeks after Jack Lang strengthened their rights to free expression, five pupils from a top Paris lycee raised a storm by appearing nude on the cover of its journal.
