This week’s events

Monday 1 August - 1st day of Ramadan. Saturday 6 August - Hiroshima Day; Moon: 1st quarter 11.08 UT.

First question mark

A symbol that is thought to be the world's earliest question mark has been identified by a Cambridge academic. The symbol is two dots, one above the other, similar in appearance to a colon, rather than the familiar squiggle of the modern question mark. The double-dot symbol appears in Syriac manuscripts of the Bible dating back to the fifth century. The double-dot mark, known to later grammarians as zawga elaya, is written above a word near the start of a sentence to tell the reader that it is a question. It doesn't appear on all questions: ones with a wh- word don't need it, just as in English 'Who is it' can only be a question (although we use a question mark anyway). But a question like 'You're going away?' needs the question mark to be understood; and in Syriac, zawga elaya marks just these otherwise ambiguous expressions. Source: http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/the-riddle-of-the-syriac-double-dot-it%E2%80%99s-the-world%E2%80%99s-earliest-question-mark/

Quote of the Week

"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes." Marcel Proust (1871–1922)

UK qualifications gap

One in nine adults have no formal qualifications and there are huge local variations in levels of education within Britain's adult population, reveals an analysis published by the University and College Union.

It shows a Britain divided by a wide educational gulf: in some areas, a third of 16 to 64 year-olds are without qualifications, while in others the proportion is as low as two per cent.

In the Glasgow North East constituency 35 per cent of adults have no qualifications, compared to only 1.9 per cent in Brent North.

The UCU analysis shows that in some southern constituencies it has become very unusual not to have qualifications - while in parts of the West Midlands it remains widespread.

There are more people without qualifications in Birmingham Hodge Hill than in Cambridge, Winchester, Wimbledon, Buckingham, Romsey, Leeds North West and four other constituencies put together.

Source: http://www.ucu.org.uk/index.cfm?articleid=5676

All-school scholarships

All schools in England should offer university scholarships to their poorest pupils.

The deputy Liberal Democrat leader Simon Hughes said that linking scholarships directly to schools and colleges would motivate children and this would end the situation where some schools sent no pupils to university.

This was one of 30 recommendations made in his final report as champion of university access.

Source: http://nds.coi.gov.uk/content/Detail.aspx?ReleaseID=420498&NewsAreaID=2

£5000 OU fees

The Open University has announced tuition fees of £5,000 per year for the equivalent of a full-time place for students in England from next year.

The majority of universities will charge £9000 for some or all courses.

More than two-thirds of the Open University's students are studying part-time - and the university will be expecting to benefit from the introduction of loans for part-time students.

For a typical part-time Open University student, studying at the level of half of full-time, the fees will be £2,500 per year.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-14216167

Google effects on memory

Four studies suggest that searching for information on the Internet decreases our recall of the information but enhances our recall of where to access it.

The advent of the Internet, with sophisticated algorithmic search engines, has made accessing information as easy as lifting a finger.

No longer do we have to make costly efforts to find the things we want. We can Google the old classmate, find articles online, or look up the actor who was on the tip of our tongue.

When faced with difficult questions, people are primed to think about computers as a solution and expect to have future access to information they find.

The Internet has become a primary form of external or transactive memory, where information is stored collectively outside ourselves.

If these arguments seem familiar, it may be because Plato reported that Socrates said exactly the same thing about writing:

Socrates lived relatively shortly after the invention of the Greek alphabet and the widespread adoption of writing.

...for this discovery of yours [writing] will create forgetfulness in the learners' souls, because they will not use their memories; they will trust to the external written characters and not remember of themselves.

Writing is still with us.

Source: http://www.sciencemag.org/content/early/2011/07/13/science.1207745

Key Stage 2 testing to change

The UK Government hass accepted all the recommendations of the independent review of testing, assessment and accountability at the end of primary school.

Changes to the Key Stage 2 system aim to make it fairer and more effective in raising standards.

The review recommended 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.

Source: http://www.education.gov.uk/a00192403/key-stage-2-review-of-testing-assessment-and-accountability-government-response

Quote of the Week

"The gift of fantasy has meant more to me than my talent for absorbing positive knowledge." Albert Einstein (1879–1955

Cheques reprieved

The Payments Council has announced that cheques will continue for as long as customers need them.

The target for possible closure of the cheque clearing in 2018 has been cancelled.

The Payments Council Board has stated that they will continue to focus on security, efficiency and encouraging innovation in all types of payments.

Source: http://www.paymentscouncil.org.uk/media_centre/press_releases/-/page/1575/

Poor spelling costs millions

An online entrepreneur says that poor spelling is costing the UK millions of pounds in lost revenue for internet businesses.

Charles Duncombe says an analysis of website figures shows a single spelling mistake can cut online sales in half.

He says the big problem for online firms isn't technology but finding staff who can spell.

The concerns were echoed by the CBI whose head of education and skills warned that too many employers were having to invest in remedial literacy lessons for their staff.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-14130854

Leaders can improve learning

Despite competing priorities, leaders need to focus on creating a culture in which teaching and learning are truly a priority, according to the think piece - Leading Learning in Further Education - by the 157 Group and CfBT Education Trust (May 2011).

The effective leadership of learning appears to involve four areas of practice:

- Investing time and resources to promote the professional development of staff.

- Having a close involvement in the management of the teaching programme.

- Setting clear directions for the organisation, including the centrality of teaching and learning.

- Establishing a culture that respects the professionalism of teachers and empowers them to innovate.

The report also recommends the use of supported experiments - an action learning approach in which staff are involved in identifying areas that need to be improved and investigate new approaches for making these improvements.

Source: http://www.cfbt.com/evidenceforeducation/pdf/2157G-082-LeadingLearning.pdf