Business encounters
The Careers and Enterprise Company (CEC) is urging schools to up the number of encounters that students have with employers. Set-up by the government, the CEC is charged with boosting education-business links and improving careers advice across England. Its CEO, Claudia Harris, made the call after the latest figures (from October to December) showed that 11.8 per cent of young people aged 16 to 25 are NEET – up slightly from the previous quarter.
Ms Harris said: “Research shows that young people who have had multiple encounters with business while at school are significantly less likely to be NEET. Young people need to be offered encounters with local businesses, given information about the labour market and careers available to them, and have a plan that reflects their strengths.”
Maths standards
There is no evidence of a decline in A level maths standards since the 1990s, researchers have said. However, standards have fallen since the 1960s. Funded by exams board AQA, the study was carried out by experts at Loughborough University. They judged 66 A level scripts from the 1960s, 1990s and the present day. They found a B today is equivalent to an E in the 1960s but there is no difference between now and in the 1990s. The research team has made a “judgement tool” publicly available so that people can compare for themselves. Visit: http://tinyurl.com/JudgeMaths
Growth Mindset
The UK’s first ever large-scale study into the Growth Mindset approach is to take place involving 6,000 students in 100 schools. Growth Mindset teaches that “intelligence” and “ability” are not fixed and can be positively influenced through the way we think and act. Psychologists at the University of Portsmouth will lead the project, training five teachers from each school in the delivery of interventions from September.
SHINE prize
The annual Let Teachers SHINE competition is seeking ideas from teachers to raise the achievement of disadvantaged children in maths, English or science. Grants of up to £15,000 are on offer to the teachers with the best submissions to help develop their ideas further. Run by charity SHINE with support from Capita SIMS, the deadline for entries is April 17 and 10 grants will be awarded in June. Previous winners include Amanda Poole for her Space Camp project and Colin Hegarty, who to date has produced more than 1,000 revision videos to help children pass their maths exams. Visit: www.capita-sims.co.uk/shine-4