THIS WEEK 7-13 JANUARY 2012
SATURDAY
DIRTY TRICKS A HOT TOPIC
Including newspaper, radio and TV coverage, the fallout continued from last week’s TES exclusive on schools using shady and underhand tactics to pull the wool over Ofsted’s eyes.
SUNDAY
MANCHESTER TO CUT NUMBERS
The University of Manchester, one of Britain’s biggest, is to cut its undergraduate numbers by 1,000 and take on more than 100 extra academics to tackle complaints about poor teaching and overcrowding, it emerged.
MONDAY
DECLINE IN TRAINEES
The Training and Development Agency for Schools published shocking figures on teacher training recruitment. Not even a #163;20K bursary is enough to persuade physics and modern language graduates to sign up.
TUESDAY
DAWN RAIDS DON’T IMPRESS
Reacting to last week’s TES story on how some schools are cheating the inspectors, Ofsted announced the introduction of no-notice inspections for all. Heads and teachers are not happy.
WEDNESDAY
GOVE BETTS ON TECHNOLOGY
The first day of Bett at Olympia, Europe’s biggest trade show for educational ICT. Michael Gove turned up to make a keynote speech. Technology is, like, way important, man.
THURSDAY
CLEGG BRINGS OUT THE LADDER
Deputy prime minister Nick Clegg was allowed out to announce which businesses are going to throw their weight behind the coalition’s social mobility strategy. Onwards and upwards.
FRIDAY
ROYAL SOCIETY CALLS FOR REBOOT
The Royal Society chose BETT’s busiest day to publish a withering report on how ICT and computer programming is taught in schools and what should be done to rebuild it. The future of Britain depends on it, apparently.
NEXT WEEK 14-20 JANUARY 2012
SATURDAY
AN UNHAPPY ANNIVERSARY
It’s 10 years since Britain was given the all-clear on foot-and-mouth. Ten years since the pyres of burning cattle were put out. Ten years since hundreds of schools in the English countryside reopened their gates.
SUNDAY
FROM ROUSSEAU TO ROOFS
The deadline for Ucas applications is today. Time for your students to decide whether they are suited to philosophy at the Collegiate University of Tofftown or insulation studies at New College, Dagenhamshire.
MONDAY
PEER CALLS FOR GRAMMAR CHECK
The House of Lords is to wade into the recently reignited debate on grammar schools. Labour peer Baroness Jones will speak about the impact on local parental choice of allowing such schools to expand.
TUESDAY
PE TEACHERS HIT FOR SIX
The PE department will be sleep-deprived for the next few weeks: the test series between England and Pakistan kicks off today. It is taking place in the United Arab Emirates due to the dangers facing cricketers in Pakistan.
WEDNESDAY
IN A COLD SWEAT
The inaugural Winter Youth Olympic Games will be in full swing in Innsbruck, Austria. Team GB was expecting to take 24 athletes aged 14-18 to compete in 10 sports including bobsleigh, curling and snowboarding.
THURSDAY
ZITS AND NODDY WALLPAPER
Prepare to feel old: this is the 30th anniversary of the publication of Sue Townsend’s The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 34. Capturing the spirit of teenagers everywhere, this classic still resonates.
FRIDAY
A FEATHER IN THEIR CAP
The end of the first week of the Big Schools’ Birdwatch, organised by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. Get out the binoculars and encourage pupils to report the species they spot each day.
