Month: November 2016

Candidates arrived to a blaze of wintry sunshine at London Road, home of the Institute of Education (IoE) on Wednesday. The second round of interviews for BA (QTS) Education commenced with a welcome background of sunshine pouring through the huge windows of the Learning Hub.

Applicants for the acclaimed programme were interviewed both in groups and one to one, having heard all about the University of Reading, the IoE and beautiful London Road campus during an initial presentation by Nasreen Majid, programme director. 

These interviews enable Nasreen and her colleagues to spot the teacher potential in each of the applicants. The process highlights how the personal element is so essential in choosing the people who will inspire and enrich the next generation.

A unique feature of this BA programme is that students are able to choose one of four subject specialities: Art, English, Mathematics or Music. The course has the unusual aspect of being able to offer a degree both in the chosen specialism and in teaching, resulting in Qualified Teacher Status in three years. The interviews give the academics a chance to assess the applicants’ attainment in their chosen subject. 

The applicants gave short presentations, worked in groups to prepare visuals and examined learning materials. The encouraging and knowledgeable remarks by Nasreen and her colleagues must have been great help and reassurance. It was especially valuable to have a Head Teacher from a partner school on the panel. 

 

Further interview days will follow right into March 2017. This careful, thoughtful and kindly process ensures that the right students are chosen for the rewarding yet demanding life a teacher leads.

For more information on the BA (QTS) Education programme, visit www.reading.ac.uk/education/ug/ioe-BAEducation.aspx or email primarypartnership@reading.ac.uk

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On December 1st, the Institute of Education (IoE) will host the first meeting of a new cross-county group that supports school children with English as an additional language.

The group, aimed at school practitioners and academics in Berkshire and Hampshire, is a regional part of the leading national charity NALDIC (National Association for Language Development in the Curriculum), which supports the teaching of children with English as an additional language (EAL). The new group will bring together local teachers, education authorities and academics. Its first meeting is set to take place at the University of Reading’s London Road campus from 4.30 – 6.00pm on Thursday, 1st December. 

 

Pupils learning English as an additional language in the mainstream classroom raise issues not only of teaching, but also of rights and entitlements, social integration and equality of access to public provision. This is an important area for all involved in education and child welfare, so NALDIC’s work supporting the teaching and learning of EAL children in schools is already well-established nationally. This new local network is a welcome development, bringing with it many possibilities at a time when resources are declining but numbers of children with EAL are rising.

 

The convenor for the new NALDIC Berkshire/Hampshire group is Naomi Flynn, Associate Professor in Primary English Education at the IoE, who has a research profile in teaching strategies for children with EAL. Explaining the reasoning behind launching the new group Naomi said:

 

“Through my research activity in Hampshire and Berkshire, I have been lucky enough to get to know the excellent teams supporting EAL learners at local authority level and in schools. The establishment of the NALDIC RIG [Regional Interest Group] for Berkshire and Hampshire will generate a cross-region network of practitioners and academics who can pool ideas and share resources. In our first meeting EAL leads will report on their experiences using the new DfE English proficiency scales. We look forward to interesting and informative discussion on what is a hot topic for teachers of EAL learners this academic year. In addition Professor Ludovica Serratrice, Reading’s new Director of Bilingualism Matters, will introduce the work of this organisation and chat with practitioners about how research at Reading can support them.”

 

For information and joining details, please contact Naomi:

Telephone:  +44 (0)118 378 2770 / Email: n.flynn@reading.ac.uk 

In a strong and consistent outcome across all phases, Ofsted praised the University’s ITT Partnership for being “Good overall in Early Years, Primary and Secondary with some outstanding elements,” during a recent inspection of 2015/2016 using recently revised, more rigorous criteria.

Ofsted recognised the common vision for excellence across the Partnership and the high regard that schools and settings have for the personal and professional conduct of trainees, NQTs and former trainees. They pointed to the strong, positive relationships with pupils and young children that trainees and NQTs build and concluded that the Partnership makes a strong contribution to teacher supply in the region.

In recognition of its quality, the Partnership has received a prestigious award, given only to the top 25 ITE Partnerships nationally. The National College for Teaching and Leadership has awarded three year guaranteed core numbers for PGCE Secondary, PGCE Primary and BA Education from 2017.

In further prestigious recognition, the Partnership has been awarded fully funded Early Years ITT places for 2017 / 2018. This acknowledges the Partnership’s quality, particularly for the contribution it makes to teacher training and teacher supply across nine local authorities in the region.

Head of the Institute of Education, Dr Catherine Tissot, said:

 

“This positive report reflects the hard work and commitment of the IoE’s staff and trainees as well as that of our school partners. We are extremely pleased that all the effort and dedication that we jointly put into education has impressed the inspectors.”

 

 

Every year, UoR students are invited to explore their creative side by entering the Raymond Wilson Poetry Competition. Held in memory of the late brilliant educationalist and Emeritus Professor of Education at Reading, the prize awards £200 for the winning poem.

This year’s winner, Judy Ridell is a Reading Partnership Trainee on the School Direct (Primary) Programme. She has taught Early Years for a decade and her poem, ‘You Can Count on Mrs Chooit’, describes in humorous detail the many things a teacher can do to make a child’s learning engaging, whilst also reflecting the daily excitement and challenge that a teacher encounters.

The competition is judged by children in a local school and their vote carries equal weight with that of a published children’s poet and with an academic; competition organiser, Stephanie Sharp of the IoE. This brings the perspectives of teacher, writer and young reader to bear on the judging. 

The children on the panel responded happily to this year’s winning poem’s play on rhyming fun to support number learning, saying:

“It flows and has rhythm”                    

“We liked the inspirational message – be positive and counting and relying on others”

“It was happy and exciting”

“It helps younger children to learn their numbers by remembering the rhyme”

As well as being a poet, Judy can boast the unusual attainment of being a performance standard Middle Eastern dancer. Her other hobbies of knitting and crafting are slightly less exotic but draw on the same creative vein. Judy shares her home with her three children, a big dog and a rabbit and devotes her time to poetry, dancing and teaching.

Raymond Wilson was an exceptional educationalist, as well as an inspired educational editor who introduced new editions of Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s poetry and Jane Austen’s novels. Wilson was also well-known as an intuitive, sensitive critic and a prolific anthologist.

More information: s.sharp@reading.ac.uk(ext 2675). 

 

You Can Count on Mrs Chooit

If you are going to school today, you’re sure of a lovely surprise,

Your teacher is Mrs Chooit today, she’s waiting for you to arrive!

Whatever happens at school today, you know that you can do it,

Whatever happens at school today, you can count on Mrs Chooit.

 

She’ll give you

One big hug to show her love

Two cool drinks to help you think  

Three picture books, let’s take a look!

Four number songs to sing along

Five water trays to pour and play

Six toy bears to see if they’ll float

Seven coloured pencils to draw round stencils

Eight speedy trikes – go as fast as you8 like!

Nine paint pots, lets paint some circles and some dots

Ten gold stars for trying so hard!

 

Whatever happened at school today, did you find that you can do it?

Whatever happened at school today, you can count on Mrs Chooit!

Judy Ridell

You may have read the recent announcement that the University of Reading, in common with many institutions, intends to raise undergraduate tuition fees to £9250 per annum, subject to government legislation being passed permitting us to do so. Here is a link to our full undergraduate fees Q&A to give you the background. 

In line with this, and with the decisions of most other UK universities, the University of Reading also intends to raise PGCE tuition fees to £9250 and School Direct fees by the same percentage, if the legislation changes. This would apply to students joining the University in September 2017, although not to those who have suspended their studies from this year. 

We value our partnership with schools and settings and are working hard to develop an appropriate way forward to take these changes in overall fees into account. The specific level of agreement for the various routes and the arrangements for sharing the small cost of living increase will be sent directly to our partner schools.

Working with our partner schools, we train approximately 400 excellent teachers and Early Years practitioners each year: individuals who go on to educate the next generations. As we all know, the work we all put into the start of a teacher’s career feeds into a lifetime of nurturing young minds.