Cheque guarantee system ends today

Today, Thursday 30 June, is the last day shoppers can use cheque guarantee cards, which ensure payments are honoured by a bank even if the buyer doesn't have sufficient funds. The scheme has run since 1965.

Banks are scrapping the scheme because they say it's too costly; last year they lost £43m due to fraud. It means millions of people will be unable to offer protected payments by cheque in shops, train stations, to delivery and tradesmen across the country. This is likely to lead to a mass refusal to accept cheques.

The banking industry body - the Payment Council - has also announced that cheques will be scrapped in 2018. The public outcry against this was so great that they were forced to say that cheques would not be scrapped until there was a suitable alternative. To date, they don't seem to have any idea about what that alternative might be - although it is rumoured that it is likely to be a 'paper-initiated' transaction system.

It is the small trader who is likely to lose most with the demise of the cheque: transaction charges if people switch to debit cards or a greater likelihood of being robbed if people switch to cash. If cash becomes the preferred method, it is also likely that the government will lose revenue through an increase in tax evasion.

New Link

Ruth Young's Blog (http://ruthyoung.co.uk/?page_id=5) has just been added to our links page (http://mwls.com/links.htm)

Ruth is a children's author and teacher. Her blog has lots of learning tips.

Universities to compete for students

Universities in England will have to compete against each other and private providers for a quarter of their student places.

Universities Minister David Willetts has published plans to increase market forces in higher education in England.

He also announced there would be 20 000 places reserved for degrees with fees of less than £7500.

The plan to create extra places for privately-funded individuals has also resurfaced - on the basis that it will be restricted to those sponsored by a business or a charity.

There are also proposals to allow students to repay their loans early, although the government is still consulting on the detail.

From 2012, universities will be able to offer unlimited places for students achieving AAB or better grades at A-level - regardless of the total student quotas they have been allocated.

Employers warned about older employee training

Employers need to train and performance manage older workers better or risk falling foul of the law when Default Retirement Age is phased out, according to a CIPD survey.

As the Pensions Bill makes its way through The Commons, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) has released a new survey demonstrating that older workers are often neglected when it comes to training and performance management. It highlights the need for employers to ensure they are managing the performance of all employees effectively, particularly before the final phase out of the Default Retirement Age (DRA).

A survey of 2000 employees has found that older workers are also much less likely than younger workers to have received training, with 51 per cent of those aged over 65 saying they had received no training in the last three years, compared to 32% across all age groups.

From October, employers will no longer be able to require employees to retire at a certain age, except in certain limited circumstances, which will mean employers will need to ensure their performance management systems and practices focus as much on older workers as the rest of the workforce.

<a href=http://www.cipd.co.uk/pressoffice/_articles/Employers+need+to+train+and+performance200611.htm _target=blank>More from the CIPD</a>

Quote of the Week

"Only dull people are brilliant at breakfast." Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)

The week ahead

Thu 30 Jun, UK cheque guarantee cards to be scrapped
Fri 1 Jul, New Moon 01:08:54 UT

Review Key Stage 2 testing published

A review of Sats tests in England's primary schools calls for changes to English tests, more teacher assessment and a 'fairer system'.

More than 4000 schools boycotted the tests in 2010. Heads at those schools, and others, argued the test results led to unfair league table rankings and meant children were drilled for the tests rather than given a broad education.

The report recommends that:

- Writing test should be replaced by teacher assessment of writing composition.

- There should be a spelling, grammar, punctuation and vocabulary test - all have clear right or wrong answers.

- Maths should continue to be externally tested.

- Reading tests should continue but need to be refined.

- Science should continue to be teacher assessed with a sample test to monitor national standards.

- Speaking and listening should continue to be teacher assessed.

- Three-year rolling averages should be introduced to give a rounded picture of a school's performance.

- There should be a greater emphasis on the progress of pupils.

- Progress should be given as much weighting as attainment and should be one of the two headline published measures, alongside attainment.

- There should be a strong focus on the progress of every pupil, as well as greater emphasis on the progress of each Year 6 cohort. A new progress measure should be introduced to focus on the performance of lower-attaining pupils. This will help stop schools focusing on children on the Level 3/4 borderline.

- New progress and attainment measures should be introduced for pupils who have completed all of Years 5 and 6 in a school so that schools are not held wholly responsible for the performance of pupils who have just joined them.

- Teacher assessment judgements should continue in English, maths and science, and should be submitted before test results are announced. This will mean more weight is attached to them and allow longer for these results to inform Year 7 teaching and learning.

- Transition to secondary school should be eased for pupils and their new teachers. There should be more detailed reporting to secondary schools so Year 7 teachers know right from the outset a pupil's attainment and the areas where extra work is needed.

- Pupils who are ill on the day of a test should have a week to sit it, rather than two days.

More from the Department of Education

City living affects your brain

The part of the brain that senses danger becomes overactive in city-dwellers when they are under stress.

According to a brain-scanning study, the brains of people living in cities operate differently from those in rural areas. Scientists found that two parts of the brain, involved in the regulation of emotion and anxiety, become overactive in city-dwellers when they are stressed. They also argue that the differences could account for the increased rates of mental health problems seen in urban areas.

In experiments designed to make them feel anxious, Professor Andreas Meyer-Lindenberg of the University of Heidelberg scanned the brains of more than 50 healthy volunteers.

The results, published in Nature, showed that the amygdala of participants who live in cities was over-active during stressful situations. The amygdala is the danger-sensor of the brain.

Another region called the cingulate cortex was overactive in participants who were born in cities. The cingulate cortex is important for controlling emotion and dealing with environmental adversity.

More from Nature

Project to mimic brain

The Human Brain Project intends to build a software copy of the brain by around 2023. The project, based at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne on the shores of Lake Geneva, aims to compile thousands of fragments of information and research into a unifying model of the brain.

The project leader, Henry Markram, says that around 100 billion neurons are needed to simulate a human brain. Currently, he is able to simulate about 360 000 neurons .

Does Internet use restructure the brain?

Children are spending an increasing fraction of their formative years online and there is concern that this could get out of control and even become an addiction. A recent study suggests that excessive time online can result in brain structure changes, which can contribute to chronic dysfunction in people with internet addiction disorder (IAD). The study, published in PLoS ONE, suggests self-assessed Internet addiction, primarily through online multiplayer games, rewires structures deep in the brain. Also, surface-level brain matter appears to shrink in step with the duration of online addiction.. http://mwls.com/news.php?n=39

This week’s events

Tuesday 20 June - Summer Solstice 17:12 UT;
Thursday 23 June - Corpus Christi. http://mwls.com/news.php?n=38

New maths IGCSE may lead to super A*

The AQA exam board is introducing a super A* grade for a new International GCSE (IGCSE) in further maths. Super A*s are not planned for other subjects but it could start a trend. A*s were introduced in 1994 to stretch able pupils. http://mwls.com/news.php?n=37

Quote of the Week

"Critics are our friends, they tell us our faults." Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790). http://mwls.com/news.php?n=36

New Members’ Area

Our Gold Membership area has been restructured and has a new log-in page http://mwls.com/gold/. http://mwls.com/news.php?n=35

One in six 7-year-olds streamed by ability

Research by the Institute of Education shows that girls are often put in higher streams than boys, children born in the autumn are more likely to be in the top classes - and that race is not linked to stream placement. http://mwls.com/news.php?n=34

Quote of the Week

"Leadership is practised not so much in words as in attitude and in actions" Harold S. Geneen (1910–1997). http://mwls.com/news.php?n=33

How to get your Facebook page back

Facebook can remove your page without warning, explanation or recourse. This happened to SiteSell, but they got their page pack and recorded how they did it.. http://mwls.com/news.php?n=32

1000s of pupils fail to reach English and maths potential

Some 200,000 maths pupils and 160,000 English students are failing to achieve the GCSE grades predicated by their primary school national curriculum tests (Sats). Those with a level 5 in Sats are expected to attain at least a B grade at GCSE, those with a level 4 should obtain at least a C, while those with a level 3 should achieve at least a D. More than 37 per cent of pupils failed to make the progress expected of them in maths, while more than 29 per cent missed their GCSE targets in English

. http://mwls.com/news.php?n=31

Business Jargon Generator

Blackberry application £1. http://mwls.com/news.php?n=30

Quote of the Week

"Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough we must do.". http://mwls.com/news.php?n=29

Private university launched

A new British university aiming to rival Oxford and Cambridge has been launched by leading academics. The London-based college will open in September 2012 and is planning to charge fees of £18,000. http://mwls.com/news.php?n=28

More pupils need to learn vocational trade

At least 40 percent of teenagers should be required to do apprenticeship-style qualifications at the age of 16 to learn a trade, according to the head of the Coalition's curriculum review.. http://mwls.com/news.php?n=27

Thousands of children ‘not ready for school’

Up to half of five-year-olds are not ready for school as working parents increasingly abandon traditional games, nursery rhymes, bedtime stories and lullabies, according to Sally Goddard Blythe, a child development expert. http://mwls.com/news.php?n=26

How to escape from the prison of our beliefs

In The Believing Brain, Michael Shermer argues that 'belief-dependent realism' makes it hard for any of us to have an objective view of the world. http://mwls.com/news.php?n=25

Celebrity role model myth

A study suggests that friends, family and teachers are much more likely to influence young children than celebrity role models like actors or footballers. http://mwls.com/news.php?n=24