Should All Those Who Teach, Lecture or Tutor Have Professional Qualifications?

Lecturers should need a teaching qualification, says NUS president

On 22nd April 2012 the Guardian revealed a call by the NUS (National Union of Students) to make all university lecturers qualified teachers. NUS president Liam Burns was quoted as saying that it was “astonishing” that it wasn’t already a legal obligation for those who teach in higher education to have professional qualifications.  An area of concern is the increasing use of post-graduate students to deliver lectures and seminars by cash strapped universities and colleges.  Their view echoes the recommendation of the university funding review by Lord Browne in 2010 but this proposal was abandoned after objections were raised by the universities because they felt that it would compromise their institutional independence.

Should All Those Who Teach, Lecture or Tutor Have Professional Qualifications?

Yes!  We wholeheartedly agree with the views expressed by both the NUS and Lord Browne.  It is of great concern that post-graduate students are being used to deliver lectures in colleges and universities. But it is not only in higher and further education where we are seeing this worrying trend in the use of unqualified people delivering lessons. It is also becoming more and more common for primary schools to use teaching assistants to cover lessons during teachers’ absences rather than paying for supply teachers.

Why Are Schools, Colleges and Universities Using Unqualified Staff?

It is understandable, to a certain extent, that they are making use of unqualified personnel and it does appear to make sense on some levels.

• The argument for universities is that post-graduates have a proven sound knowledge of their subject which they can then pass on to their younger under-graduate colleagues.
• In primary schools, the use of teaching assistants (TAs) allows for stability for the children because they are being taught by somebody who they already know. And the teaching assistant will already have an understanding of the current curriculum that is being covered and therefore find it easier to step into the breach.
• It is cheaper to use non-qualified staff  and this cuts down on personnel costs for cash-starved educational establishments.

What Is Wrong With Using Unqualified Staff To Teach?

The main issue with this, is the widely held and incorrect assumption that having a sound knowledge of a subject enables you to teach it.  Knowing your facts and being able to impart them effectively are two different things entirely.  Anyone who has watched E4’s The Big Bang Theory and witnessed the genius Dr Sheldon Cooper’s wholly inadequate efforts to lecture students in his area of expertise will be able to relate to this immediately. Teachers go through 3 to 4 years of study in order to understand the principles of how people learn, how to put together effective lessons and how to assess the progress that has been made by their students.  A good teacher can then tailor their planning and teaching methods to suit the needs of their student/s according to ability, learning styles and how well or otherwise they have understood the topic.

No-one, however great an expert they may be in their field, will have these skills at their fingertips if they haven’t been trained to teach. Therefore, to use unqualified and untrained people in the classroom or lecture theatre means that students are not being taught adequately and are receiving a sub-standard education.  It is worth noting that with many primary schools now using TAs for teaching cover for 2.5 hours of PPA (planning, preparation and assessment) time each week a child is, on average, losing a month’s worth of qualified teaching time each year.

A further cause for concern is the fact that under current regulations anyone in the United Kingdom can set up in business as a tutor regardless of their educational training or qualifications.  At Kip McGrath Education Centres we recognise the need for the skills and teaching knowledge that accompany a professional teaching qualification in order to teach children effectively.  We believe that in order to improve education standards and maximise the potential for all children they must be taught by qualified professionals at every stage of their learning career. That is why at Kip McGrath we guarantee that all our students are always taught by qualified teachers.

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100 Word Challenge – by Amy Ogg

I was sat in class, upset, not knowing what to do, and my teacher Mr Renny came to me and asked, ” How can I help you?”

I replied with desperation, “I am really stuck on my literacy because I don’t know how to start my story!”

“Please may you help me?” I exclaimed.

So Mr Renny sat down next to me and told me many different ways that I could start my story (but it was very hard just to pick one of the beginning sentences). I managed to pick one of the fantastic, delightful, descriptive sentences to begin my story…

5 Sentence Challenge – by Abi Hazell

One day there were two girls called Susie and Teigan. They were fishing in the river. Then Teigan caught a big fish. Susie said “wow, that’s big!” The people were watching the children fish.

5 Sentence Challenge – by Joshua Ogg

Lucy and Amy went fishing and Amy caught a big fish. It was bigger than Lucy. Some people were going to the church to pray to God. It was in the afternoon, and Lucy and Amy’s mum came to get them for their dinner. They said “can we go back out after dinner?” and Amy and Lucy’s mum said yes.

GCSE Students Will Lose Marks For Poor Spelling From September 2012 – How Can We Help Children Improve Their Spelling?

Spelling is costing UK online businesses millions of pounds every year according to a BBC article published last year. A single spelling mistake on a website can halve a company’s online sales. Many employers complain about poor spelling skills in their workforce.

Do your children struggle to spell the simplest of words? Whent, theay, carnt, couldent, gynormus, frend, these are just a few of the common misspelt words I have come across. So have spelling levels decreased, and if so what are the reasons for this?

I have worked with very bright children who still struggle to spell. Poor readers often struggle with spelling and it has often been thought that poor spelling was linked to poor reading. However, I have, over the last 5 years, become more aware that we have strong readers with poor spelling skills. So what are the reasons for this?

I believe that strong readers should result in strong spellers. Children should be encouraged to look at whether a word looks right. In my experience there have been a number of changes in the emphasis of teaching which have influenced children’s experience of spelling

1) a too heavy reliance on phonics both for reading and spelling.

2) a focus away from correcting spellings in favour of creativity.

3) the development of emergent writing at too early an age.

4) a heavier reliance on IT.

Too heavy reliance on phonics

The English language is a phonetically irregular language and there are many exceptions to every rule in English. We have 26 letters of the alphabet which are used to form 44 speech sounds and even then there are several ways of writing the same sound. Take the sound oa, this can be written oa as in boat, oe as in toe, ow as in snow, o as in go or o-e as in hose, just to name a few. If we take the sound er there are also a number of combinations er as in feather, or as in doctor, ir as in girl, a as in banana, ur as in fur, ure as in measure. If, very early on in a child’s learning they are taught that a is for apple, how then can they decode words such as was and said? They learn to read and write phonetically, resulting in ‘sed’. Some children assimilate the rules of reading and spelling and become confident readers and spellers. Many partially move on but still become reliant on a phonetic approach to spelling.

So what is the answer? I have used many spelling programmes over the years. Children need to know the names of the letters of the alphabet and know that these can be arranged in many different ways to create different sounds for reading and spelling. Sometimes the same sound can be made using different letter combinations. I used to have a large THRASS chart in my classroom which was a visual reminder to children that there is more than one way to make a sound when spelling. Vowel sounds cause the most difficulty as there are only 5 letters to make 20 different sounds with. Teaching spellings in word families helps and teaching words with the same sound ie ea words alongside ee words beach, teach, steal, steel, feel. This helps children to learn that they need to remember and learn visually which graphemes (letters) they need for which word. Children often struggle with homophones (words which sound the same but are spelt differently), there, their, they’re. Try pointing these out as they occur in reading or find ways to remember the differences; their with an i in it is to do with a person/ animal, as in I for me, there with the word here in it is to do with place or position. Children need to learn early that English is a phonetically irregular language and therefore phonics can not be applied consistently -either to reading or spelling.

A focus away from correcting spellings in favour of creativity

I believe that failing to correct spellings in favour of creativity is a mistake, it is very difficult to correct misconceptions once they have been ingrained. A child in Year One may write creatively and write the word gigantic as jigantic: if this is uncorrected the child will presume that the spelling is correct and therefore continue to spell it this way. At some point he will be told that the spelling is incorrect and then will have to try to reprogram his brain. I am not saying that we should make children re-write large pieces of writing, but I do believe that the correct word should be written next to the misspelt one to aid with children’s spelling development. High frequency words which are misspelt should be written at the bottom of a child’s piece of work for them to practice (said, went). I believe it is essential to correct spelling misconceptions early.

The development of emergent writing at too early an age.

Children as young as 4 are being encouraged to write. In my opinion this is too early. Many children develop poor pencil grip and handwriting and are left to invent spellings, building misconceptions. Children should become confident readers before they begin to write, that way they have an understanding of how text is constructed, how words look and how punctuation is used. Too often, poor habits are formed early and then these are difficult to break. If children are going to write at an early age, a transcript should be made underneath the child’s writing so that correct spelling and punctuation can be modeled.

A heavier reliance on IT

With a greater reliance on IT in the last 15-20 years we are all relying more on spell checks. Sometimes these fail us as they only pick up misspelt words, not mistyped words. They are also only able to make spelling suggestions if the word is almost spelt correctly. In the UK, exams are still completed as written tasks and in the last few years there has been a greater emphasis on spelling and grammar in the marking of GCSE English papers. From September 2012 5% of marks on GCSE papers in the key subjects will be awarded for spelling, grammar and punctuation and this could make the difference of a grade: End for GCSE modules and spelling, punctuation and grammar marks restored to exams

So what can you do to help your child become a better speller?

1) Always correct misspelt words.

2) Highlight to your child that the letters of the alphabet can be arranged in many different ways to make different sounds and that the same sound can be made using more than one combination.

3) Avoid teaching one letter has one sound.

4) Pay attention to homophones, check these regularly and find ways to remember these.

5) Encourage children to look at whether a word looks right, make the link between reading and spelling, use a dictionary (even an online one) to check words that children are not sure how to spell.

6) Try using a pneumonic to remember tricky words because baby elephants can’t always use scissors easily.

7) Try writing the word in different colours (rainbow spelling) friend

At Kip McGrath Scunthorpe we believe that an over-reliance on phonics is jeopardising children’s abilities to spell proficiently at an early age thereby detrimentally impacting on their life chances. With an increased emphasis on spelling at GCSE level and a steady decline in spelling standards being seen nationwide amongst the adult population it is essential, for both the economy and children as individuals, that students are given all the tools they need in order to become proficient readers and writers. At Kip Mcgrath Scunthorpe we support parents through the use of proven tutoring methods to equip our students with everything they need to read, write and spell accurately and fluently, giving them the best possible start in life..

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‘Poor numeracy ‘blights the economy and ruins lives’ – How Can I Help My Child With Their Maths?

News out recently from the BBC News Website suggests that attaining good maths skills is a major problem for millions of people in this country and according to figures quoted in the article the situation is getting worse with just 22% of people surveyed possessing strong enough numeracy skills to gain a good GCSE compared with 26% in 2003. A lack of numeracy ability is blighting individual peoples lives because they are unable to understand their payslips, train timetables or household bills.

Chris Humphries, who is chairman of National Numeracy (a charity launched today that aims to emulate the successes of the National Literacy Trust) and a former chief executive of the UK Commission for Employment and Skills, says that “15% of Britons studied maths after the age of 16, compared with 50-100% in most developed nations.”  National Numeracy quotes research which indicates that weak maths skills are linked with an array of poor life outcomes such as prison, unemployment, exclusion from school, poverty and long-term illness. He also asserted that “many people could not get jobs because they struggled to read graphs and interpret documents, while plumbers unable to do the calculations required to install an energy-efficient boiler might lose income,”

But there is an even wider issue here as other surveys carried out show that a widespread lack of basic maths skills is also damaging the UK’s economic growth. Mr Humphries referenced research by KPMG auditors which appear to show that annual costs to the public purse amounted to £2.4bn. “We are paying for this in our science, technology and engineering industries, but also in people’s own ability to earn funds and manage their lives,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

TV presenter Carol Vorderman, head of the Conservative Party’s “maths task force”, told BBC News she was “horrified” by more evidence of Britain’s poor maths skills.

So is maths really a foreign language? Mathematics is often described as a universal language. It transcends language barriers. Numbers, Algebra, Fractions, Trigonometry. Do they fill your child with dread? Has Maths always been hard work? For many students in the UK, Mathematics has become a blockage, a stumbling block, a subject which is difficult to make the grade in. So why has mathematics become such a foreign language? And how can we help our chldren gain the valuable skills and confidence they need in maths.

Having worked with hundreds of students struggling to make the grade in Maths I believe there are some essential keys.

1) Students do not have a firm foundation of how the number system works making multiplying and dividing by 10 and 100 weak and working with decimals almost impossible.

2) Tables recall is weak. Most students have not learnt these by rote and those who have found it difficult to acquire tables recall seem unable to use known facts as a starting point. A student who knows the 5 times table should be able to start at 5×7 to work out what 7×7 is.

3) Students are not always given efficient written calculation methods for written calculations. I had an A grade student who was unable to solve a long division problem.

4) Students who have mastered effective written strategies need to move on with their calculating. Whilst a number line for subtraction is great for early mastery of skills it is like stabilisers on a bike; there comes a day when the stabilisers are removed and children are able to ride by themselves. Equally in Maths there comes a day when the early strategies need to be replaced with traditional calculation methods. The grid method is great for 2 digit by 1 digit calculations but to calculate a 3 digit by 3 digit multiplication problem it is time consuming, takes a lot of space and has more room for error than the traditional long multiplication strategy.

5) Division, this is the foundation for all work on fractions, decimals and percentages. I believe that division is introduced too early and not consolidated. The introduction of the chunking method in school has caused much difficulty for children to succeed in this area of mathematics.

6) The mathematics curriculum in the UK moves on very quickly. For many children they have not mastered a skill before they have moved on. The next time this skill is encountered the gaps begin to widen as there is little or no foundation to build on.

So what can be done? Find out what topics are being covered in Maths by your child. Ensure they have got the building blocks needed or that if they have not understood a topic they are able to consolidate this before they revisit it.

Tables recall is key, being able to partition numbers, understanding the place value of each digit they are working with and how this links to the number system as a whole. Being able to double and halve numbers, knowing number bonds to 10 and 20. Having reliable age/ developmental written methods for addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. I encounter many GCSE students who do not have efficient and reliable calculation methods.

Check your child understands how the number system works, this reduces concept errors in calculating. Above all children should enjoy mathematics so try to make it fun.

At Kip McGrath Scunthorpe we use proven tution methods that combine both paper and computer based learning activities in order to help our students gain confidence in maths and provide them with the essential numeracy skills they require not just for passing exams but for the rest of their lives. We therefore welcome the announcement of the launch of National Numeracy and the work that they will be doing in encouraging a love of numeracy and a development of people’s numeracy skills and we wholeheartedly agree with the importance of having a high level of basic maths.

Additionally, we note with interest that this Wednesday is World Maths Day as part of the World Education Games which includes a National Spelling Day tomorrow and World Science Day on Thursday. The online competition is open to all school age students and approximately 5.5 million are taking part this year. The deadline for registering for the 2012 games has passed but we will be monitoring the results with interest to see how how the United Kingdom compares with other countries. And we will be actively encouraging our students to participate in next years games.

If you are concerned that your child is lacking in confidence or skills with their maths please call us now to book a FREE assessment or visit our website for more information about how we can help.