Thursday 31 March 2016

Primary School Job of the Day!

Are you a Qualified Reception Teacher looking for an April 2016 start in Kent?

TimePlan Education, working in partnership with their client school, is looking for a reception teacher. The position is a full-time contract starting after Easter 2016. The successful candidate must be committed to achieving high standards and able to inspire students in their early years of school.

This is a large Primary Academy in Bexley, it is part of a large and successful federation of schools across south east London. This trust has a long history of providing outstanding education to the students it caters for. This Bexley Academy has a split primary and secondary school and works closely with the local community. The school is a specialist technology academy and has excellent and modern facilities for all students. There is less than a 30 minute commute into Central London. For drivers, the school is around 2 miles from the M25 and within a close distance to the A2.


To be considered for this reception teaching vacancy based in Kent you will need to:
  • show you are an imaginative and forward thinking classroom practitioner
  • have the willingness to form part of a successful and enthusiastic team
  • support the school ethos at all times
  • possess excellent teaching skills and an ability to lead classes with pace and sufficient challenge
It is essential that you understand the school's academic standing and have a sincere commitment to sharing long-term aims.

In return we offer:
  • professional classroom support from our team of headteacher consultants throughout the length of your contract.
  • a dedicated key contact at the TimePlan South East office.
  • TimePlan South East teacher socials where you can meet teachers who are teaching at schools in your placement area.
  • opportunities to aid your professional development.
  • pay to scale.
If you are interested in applying for this reception teaching position in Kent, please apply online today or call on 01732 373340.
TimePlan are the number one teaching agency for jobs in the south east.

NUT chief calls on teachers to unite in opposition to Tory plans By Richard Adams

Teachers should build a coalition of “horror and dismay” at the government’s education white paper and its plans to make every school in England an academy, the general secretary of the National Union of Teachers told delegates.
In her speech to the NUT’s annual conference in Brighton, Christine Blower called the government’s plans unacceptable and likely to hurt the employment prospects of teachers.
“We know that total academisation represents the total abolition of national pay and conditions,” Blower said, arguing that issues such as holiday and maternity pay, as well as class sizes and school timetables justified the union’s decision to ballot for industrial action later this year.
Over the Easter weekend, delegates at the NUT conference strongly endorsed a strike ballot over the white paper, although the union will have to word it carefully to ensure that pay and conditions are central to avoid being vulnerable to legal challenge.
Blower said there was “an incredible level of public opposition” to the plans outlined by the education secretary, Nicky Morgan, and applauded the support from the Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, who became the first major party leader to address the NUT conference.
“We heard very clearly in Jeremy’s speech on Friday there will be fierce opposition from the Labour party. We are delighted to hear this,” she said, noting that Corbyn “has stood with us over the years in many campaigns which have been important to us”.
Blower – addressing her final annual conference before stepping down later this year – also called on the Department for Education (DfE) to cancel this year’s primary school tests and assessments because of delays and controversy over their setting.
“The cavalier attitude that pervades the DfE, which allowed teachers to be sent the key stage two writing guidance in February, just shows how far this secretary of state is from understanding the realities of primary education,” she said.
The DfE’s guidelines on the use of exclamation marks for its spelling and grammar tests were “piffle” and “tortuous nonsense”, according to Blower. “An excessive focus on exam results is turning our schools at all levels into exam factories. This is bad for pupils, bad for teachers and is clearly the antithesis of what NUT members believe to be a good education.”
Earlier the conference passed a motion calling for pay increases for teachers working in Greater London, to recognise the housing pressures and costs faced by its members in the capital.
An NUT survey of young teacher members in London showed that many are struggling to live and work in the city, with the average monthly cost of renting a one-bedroom flat now more than £1,000, while the average monthly take-home pay of a newly qualified teacher was just £1,600.

Wednesday 30 March 2016

Secondary School Job of the Day!

Full time science teaching job in Lewisham, South East London. TimePlan Education in partnership with their client school are seeking to appoint a highly motivated teacher of science for immediate start. The roles would be suitable for experienced members of staff or newly qualified teachers (NQTs).

If you join as an NQT you will be part of an established and extensive NQT programme, benefiting from the support and expertise of departmental mentors including a lead teacher, a tailor-made whole school professional development programme and a support network of other NQTs across subject areas.

This is a rapidly improving 11-19 school, with 1,500 students on roll including 400 in the 6th form which has enjoyed four consecutive years of improved outcomes. Standards have been transformed across the school and this is an exciting opportunity for the right person to contribute significantly to a school improvement journey. The school moved in to its state of the art facilities in 2011. The school works closely with a number of other schools nationally through Challenge Partners and a huge range of training opportunities come through this partnership. The school is located in a green and leafy part of Lewisham close to the border with Bromley and has good transport links to Central London.

This science teaching vacancy in Lewisham, South East London requires an applicant who is able offer the following:
  • Experience of teaching science
  • Delivering good and outstanding teaching practices as the norm
  • A willingness to form part of a successful and enthusiastic team
  • Creating an enriching, supportive and high performing learning environment
  • Supporting the school ethos at all times during your working days.
  • You will be an imaginative and forward thinking classroom practitioner.
  • You will possess excellent teaching skills and an ability to lead classes with pace and sufficient challenge.
  • It is essential that you understand the schools academic standing and have a sincere commitment to sharing long-term aims.
In return we offer:
  • A guaranteed minimum daily rate.
  • Professional classroom support from our team of Headteacher consultants throughout the length of your contract
  • A dedicated key contact at the South East office
  • TimePlan South East teacher socials where you can meet professional teachers from all over the planet who are teaching at schools in your placement area
  • Opportunities to aid your professional development.
If you have a strong desire to help students of all abilities to achieve the best they can, whilst fulfilling your own potential and interested in applying for this science teaching position in South East London then we would be very pleased to hear from you please apply online today or call Paul Chuter on 01732 373340 at TimePlan, the number one teaching agency for science teaching jobs in South East London and Kent.

Academy sixth-form closure to end A-level provision in UK borough By Sally Weale


Kids in an exam room


An academy in Knowsley, Merseyside, is under fire after it announced plans to close its sixth form, which will bring to an end A-level provision in the borough.
Halewood academy was the last school offering A-levels in the area but is now consulting on plans to close its sixth form to new students from September as a result of financial cutbacks and dwindling pupil numbers.
If agreed, the decision means that students in Knowsley, which is the worst-performing local authority at GCSE in England, will have to travel to neighbouring boroughs if they want to study A-levels.
Labour’s shadow education secretary, Lucy Powell, condemned the move, saying it went to the heart of what is wrong with “the fragmented education system” the Tories are creating and flagged up concerns about government plans to convert all schools to academies in the next six years.
She said: “Local pupils, parents, Knowsley council and MPs want to ensure sixth-form provision for young people in the area yet no one is accountable for the decision this school is making.
“It beggars belief that this will leave Knowsley with no A-level provision, damaging aspiration and the choices of young people.”
The Halewood consultation follows a decision by two other A-level providers in the area, Knowsley Community college and All Saints Catholic High school, to stop offering A-level courses last September.
Only two other local authorities in England currently have no state-funded schools with sixth-form provision – the City of London and the Scilly Isles.
The decision at Halewood will once again raise concerns about the quality of education provision in Knowsley, which has a population of 146,000. Education in the borough has been criticised by the chief inspector of schools, Sir Michael Wilshaw, who highlighted the growing educational divide between north and south in a recent speech.
Official figures released in January showed that Knowsley was once again the worst-performing local authority last summer despite improved results: 37.5% of pupils received five passes at GCSE grade C or higher including English and maths, compared with 35.4% the previous year. An average 57.1% of pupils at state schools in England achieve the government benchmark of five good passes.
Local residents have expressed their anger to the Liverpool Echo, which broke the story, raising concerns about local accountability when it was unable to get answers about the closure from either the academy or the regional schools commissioner who looks after academies in the area.
Reader Colin Ascott told the Echo: “That is scary. So nobody can be held to account. These privately run academies can do whatever they want and nobody can do anything.”
MP for Garston and Halewood Maria Eagle, who is also shadow culture secretary, said the situation at Halewood academy raised wider concerns about the government’s “mismanagement” of schools in England.
“Councils such as Knowsley have had responsibility for schools taken away from them to be replaced by government-backed academies. This removes choice from local people over education in their area and has serious consequences for young people in terms of options and accessibility to further education.”
Halewood academy principal Gary Evans was unavailable for comment to the Guardian on Tuesday, but a statement on the school’s website said: “The governing body of Halewood academy has voted in favour of a proposal to remove the sixth-form provision from the school.
“The aim is for the school to be able to respond to what parents want locally while ensuring that the school makes most effective use of its resources. This will allow the school to provide a high quality provision for pupils aged 11-16 and sustain successful outcomes.”
A Department for Education spokesperson said the regional schools commissioner had been working closely with Halewood academy since it went into special measures and the school would be transferred to a new sponsor later this year.
“Halewood academy is currently consulting with its local community on closing its sixth-form intake,” the spokesperson said. “Following that consultation, should the school still wish to go ahead with that closure, it must make the case to the Education Funding Agency and the regional school commissioner that post-16 provision in the area would not be adversely affected by the closure before they are given permission to close it.”
A council report on A-level provision in Knowsley last December concluded that the number of pupils leaving Knowsley secondary schools with the necessary GCSE grades to be successful at A-level was too small to support viable A-level provision within Knowsley.
It said there were colleges outside of the borough and within easy travelling distance which offered high quality A-level provision and already attracted a large number of Knowsley learners.
“The amount of investment required to establish new A-level provision is unaffordable and unviable, particularly in the current financial environment and in view of the high quality existing competition which Knowsley residents are currently choosing to access.”
A spokesperson for Knowsley council said the academy had confirmed the sixth form will be kept open for year 12 pupils if they chose to finish their studies at Halewood, adding: “Halewood academy converted to an academy in September 2013. As an academy, it receives its funding direct from government and not from Knowsley council.
“Whilst we, as the local authority, do work with all our local academies to help them improve education standards, as an academy the school is ultimately accountable to the regional school commissioner, and not the local council.
“We will continue to work with the academy to ensure that individual pupils are supported to complete their studies. We will also work with the academy to make progress and hope that it will be possible to restore sixth-form provision at some future point.”

Primary School Job of the Day

Are you a Primary Teacher, looking for a September 2016 start in Lewisham?

TimePlan Education, working in partnership with their client school, is looking for a Primary teacher who can teach KS1 or early KS2 and NQTs are more than welcome to apply. The position is a full-time contract starting September 2016. The successful candidate must be committed to achieving high standards and able to inspire students across the ability range at KS1 and KS2.

This is an all-through school based in Lewisham, South East London on spit sites for primary and secondary. The primary school opened in 2013 and currently only has classes from Nursery through to Year 3. The school is in a multi-million new build that has lot's of character and superb facilities to facilitate learning. The school is easily accessible from the nearest overground railway station and regular buses pass the school providing a great commute into Central London.

To be considered for this Primary teaching vacancy based in Lewisham you will need to;
  • show you are an imaginative and forward thinking classroom practitioner.
  • have the willingness to form part of a successful and enthusiastic team.
  • support the school ethos at all times during your working days.
  • possess excellent teaching skills and an ability to lead classes with pace and sufficient challenge.
It is essential that you understand the school's academic standing and have a sincere commitment to sharing long-term aims.
In return we offer:
  • professional classroom support from our team of headteacher consultants throughout the length of your contract.
  • a dedicated key contact at the TimePlan South East office.
  • TimePlan South East teacher socials where you can meet teachers who are teaching at schools in your placement area.
  • opportunities to aid your professional development.
  • pay to scale.
If you are interested in applying for this Primary teaching position in Lewisham apply online today or call on 01732 373340.
TimePlan are the number one teaching agency for jobs in the south east.

Wednesday 16 March 2016

Budget 2016: George Osborne to Announce the End of the 3.30pm School Bell By Peter Dominiczak


Thousands of schools will be able to open for an average of an hour longer a day in an end to the “Victorian” tradition of the 3.30 pm bell, George Osborne will announce as he puts education at the heart of his Budget speech.
The Chancellor will vow to free the system “from the shackles of local bureaucracy” as he sets out a new fund will allow a quarter of secondary schools in England to lengthen the school day.
It will mean that hundreds of thousands of pupils will get at least an additional five hours a week of lessons or extra-curricular activities such as sport and art.
Mr Osborne will also pledge to force every school in the country to convert into an academy by 2022.
It will end local-authority control of schools in England, a system which has been in place since it was enacted by Arthur Balfour in 1902.
The plans amount to the biggest change to the way children in this country are educated since the national curriculum was introduced in 1988, sources said.
Mr Osborne will tell the Commons that more than £1.5 billion in additional funding will be spent on education over this Parliament.
“It is simply unacceptable that Britain continues to sit too low down the global league tables for education,” Mr Osborne will say. “So I’m going to get on with finishing the job we started five years ago, to drive up standards and set schools free from the shackles of local bureaucracy.
“I also want to support secondary schools that want to offer their pupils longer school days with more extra-curricular activities like sport and art. So we’ll fund longer school days for at least 25 per cent of all secondary schools.”
The Chancellor will use his Budget to announce an extra £4billion of cuts because of concerns about a “more uncertain” global economy.
The announcement of the cuts, equivalent to 50p in every £100 the Government spends, will be a marked contrast to the Autumn Statement four months ago, during which Mr Osborne said he had an extra £27billion to spend because of better-than-expected forecasts.
However, he is expected to raise the threshold at which people start paying 40p tax, in a move that could see hundreds of thousands of people pulled out of the higher rate of income tax.
Mr Osborne wants to “accelerate progress” towards the Conservative's manifesto pledge of raising the threshold for the 40p rate to £50,000 in 2020, it is understood.
Mr Osborne has already ruled out plans to scrap higher rate tax relief on pension contributions. However, he could announce further reductions in the lifetime allowance, the amount people can save into their pensions before incurring penal rates of tax.
He is facing a rebellion by more than 30 Conservative MPs who are appealing for his to freeze fuel duty instead of allowing it to rise by RPI inflation.
Cabinet ministers including Robert Halfon have this week urged him not to raise the duty amid concerns that the move would alienate motorists.
Mr Osborne is expected to announce a rise in insurance premiums that could see families pay £190 extra for motor, home contents, pet insurance and breakdown cover.
And on Tuesday, Sajid Javid, the Business Secretary, hinted that Mr Osborne will also use the Budget to announce a further cut in beer duty as part of a Tory drive to save Britain’s pub industry.
Mr Osborne will also introduce a huge national infrastructure drive by announcing plans for the HS3 railway in the north of England, Crossrail 2 in the South East, and one of Europe’s longest tunnels beneath the Pennines.
Mr Osborne will make his education pledges the centre-piece of a Budget designed to “transform life chances” across Britain.
Under the academy plans, schools will either have to have converted by 2020 or have a plan in place to commit them to converting by 2022.
If any school does not have a plan in place, the Government will intervene and take over control of the organisation.
Academies have powers to use their independence to alter staff pay, the curriculum, admissions and the shape of the timetable.
In a move aimed at working parents who struggle to organise child care on a daily basis, Mr Osborne will announce new rules to allow schools to apply for extra funding to lengthen the school day.
The Treasury said that 25 per cent of secondary schools in England – around 800 institutions - will initially be able to extend their hours under the plans.
Sources said that the measure “is just the start” and that thousands more schools will eventually start lengthening their hours.
“The Budget I’ll deliver today will put the next generation first,” Mr Osborne will say. “And at its heart will be a bold plan to make sure that every child gets the best start in life.
“Now is the time us to make the bold decisions and the big investments that will help the next generation, and that is what my Budget today will do.”
Mr Osborne will also announce a £1.5million NHS programme to provide activity prosthetics for children so they can compete in sporting events and to fund new research.
Mr Osborne said he had found the money after a campaign to highlight the issue by Sarah Hope, whose daughter Pollyanna lost her right leg below the knee when a bus hit her on a pavement in south London in 2007 when she was two years old.

Primary School Job of the Day!

Are you a Qualified Primary School Teacher looking for an April 2016 start in Bexley?

TimePlan Education, working in partnership with their client school, is looking for an exceptional Float teacher who has taught successfully across KS1 and KS2. The position is a full-time contract starting April 2016 and running until the summer term initially. The successful candidate must be committed to achieving high standards and able to inspire students across the ability range at primary level.

The school are a larger than average Primary School Academy situated in the London Borough of Bexley. The School is two form entry and heavily oversubscribed. Ofsted last inspected the school in May 2013. They are extremely proud to say that Ofsted deemed the school to be "Good with outstanding features". Ofsted quoted the behaviour as 'Pupils' behaviour is outstanding in lessons and throughout the school. They love their school and they feel safe. Pupils show determination, good concentration skills and enjoy a challenge. Their behaviour is excellent in the classroom and around the school, in corridors and in the playground. They are polite, well-mannered and respectful.

To be considered for this float teaching vacancy based in Bexley you will need to;
  • show you are an imaginative and forward thinking classroom practitioner.
  • have the willingness to form part of a successful and enthusiastic team.
  • support the school ethos at all times during your working days.
  • possess excellent teaching skills and an ability to lead classes with pace and sufficient challenge.
It is essential that you understand the school's academic standing and have a sincere commitment to sharing long-term aims.
In return we offer:
  • professional classroom support from our team of headteacher consultants throughout the length of your contract.
  • a dedicated key contact at the TimePlan South East office.
  • TimePlan South East teacher socials where you can meet teachers who are teaching at schools in your placement area.
  • opportunities to aid your professional development.
  • pay to scale.
If you are interested in applying for this float teaching position in Bexley, please apply online today or call on 01732 373340.
TimePlan are the number one teaching agency for jobs in the south east.


Monday 7 March 2016

Primary Teacher Job of the Day

Are you a Qualified Primary School Teacher looking for an April 2016 start in Bexley?

TimePlan Education, working in partnership with their client school, is looking for an exceptional Float teacher who has taught successfully across KS1 and KS2. The position is a full-time contract starting April 2016 and running until the summer term initially. The successful candidate must be committed to achieving high standards and able to inspire students across the ability range at primary level.

The school are a larger than average Primary School Academy situated in the London Borough of Bexley. The School is two form entry and heavily oversubscribed. Ofsted last inspected the school in May 2013. They are extremely proud to say that Ofsted deemed the school to be "Good with outstanding features". Ofsted quoted the behaviour as 'Pupils' behaviour is outstanding in lessons and throughout the school. They love their school and they feel safe. Pupils show determination, good concentration skills and enjoy a challenge. Their behaviour is excellent in the classroom and around the school, in corridors and in the playground. They are polite, well-mannered and respectful.

To be considered for this float teaching vacancy based in Bexley you will need to;
  • show you are an imaginative and forward thinking classroom practitioner.
  • have the willingness to form part of a successful and enthusiastic team.
  • support the school ethos at all times during your working days.
  • possess excellent teaching skills and an ability to lead classes with pace and sufficient challenge.
It is essential that you understand the school's academic standing and have a sincere commitment to sharing long-term aims.
In return we offer:
  • professional classroom support from our team of headteacher consultants throughout the length of your contract.
  • a dedicated key contact at the TimePlan South East office.
  • TimePlan South East teacher socials where you can meet teachers who are teaching at schools in your placement area.
  • opportunities to aid your professional development.
  • pay to scale.
If you are interested in applying for this float teaching position in Bexley, please apply online today or call on 01732 373340.
TimePlan are the number one teaching agency for jobs in the south east.

Should we Scrap Ofsted? The Pros, Cons and Alternatives By Melanie Ehren and John Macbeath

Colour hand prints painted on a white paper


“Scrapping Ofsted would leave us with a fragmented system”

Dr Melanie Ehren, reader in educational accountability and improvement, UCL Institute of Education

Many teachers and headteachers feel that Ofsted does more harm than good: “overhauling Ofsted” and “abolishing the watchdog” have become popular catch phrases. A quick glance at some headlines over the years explains some of the concerns: inaccuracy and inconsistency of Ofsted gradings; and inspectors who are poorly qualified and disrespectful in their communication with schools, or have a formulaic view of teaching and leadership. Ofsted is seen as one of the (or perhaps the major) causes of stagnating improvement as the fear of “being Ofsted-ed” has produced a risk-averse school system. It is no wonder that many would argue to abolish Ofsted altogether: it has clearly become a poisoned brand.
Why then should we not scrap Ofsted? Research across Europe shows the many positive effects of school inspections, in this country and others. School inspections can unlock valuable knowledge about the performance of individual schools, pointing towards great practice in high quality teaching and learning.
They can also highlight areas that need to be improved, both in individual schools and on a system-level. Recent Ofsted reports on geographical inequalities within the country, or failing academy chains have done just that: they have highlighted where we need to do better and how our government needs to be smarter.
Scrapping Ofsted would leave us with a system that is fragmented in the information available about school quality, placing an even larger emphasis on external examinations and performance league tables. Other countries that have such test-based accountability, such as the US, have seen an over-reliance on data and tests, extensive teaching to test, narrow curricula focused on tested subjects and root-based learning.
School inspection, on the other hand, informs us about the quality of schools on a range of indicators so we can compare, track and contrast their performance over time. Alternative systems of quality assurance, such as school self-evaluation or peer review, would not provide that national and comparative overview.
It is therefore time to value the expertise and good of our Ofsted inspectors and make sure they work towards the benefit of our schools. Having said that, we also need to acknowledge that there is a problem; we need to get our inspection service right. A big step forward would be a more positive tone of voice from our watchdog when talking about the performance of our teachers, headteachers and school governors. The appointment of a new chief inspector in December will hopefully provide the momentum to change the narrative and ensure a more constructive inspection force.

“Ofsted does not help schools improve: a self-evaluation system would be more effective”

John MacBeath, professor emeritus, faculty of education, the University of Cambridge
The litmus test: does Ofsted empower teachers to become better professionals or does it disempower? It’s been widely reported that Ofsted is a major cause of stress among teachers. There’s a telling quote from Michael Wilshaw: “If anyone says to you that ‘staff morale is at an all-time low’ you will know you are doing something right.”
The reward for getting the top grade in an Ofsted inspection is that you won’t be inspected again for another few years. That says it all – it is clearly not an experience that schools look forward to, nor want again.
In a number of countries in which we’ve conducted research, such as New Zealand and Hong Kong, there’s a form of external review or quality assurance which works from a different premise. Rather than “we’re coming to inspect you and here are our criteria which you have to meet”, the review team will ask staff and pupils what they consider a good school to be, how they evaluate their own school, the criteria they use and their sources of evidence. If a school is considered to be struggling, it will be given extra support to improve, not labeled as “requires improvement”.
In the early 1980s in Scotland I was commissioned to help design an approach to self-evaluation. We met with teachers, parents, advisers and children aged five-18, and asked: what would make a good school for you? How would we know it was a good school? The consistency of answers from all groups provided a robust set of criteria.
As professionals, teachers have a pretty good idea of what makes a good classroom and what makes good learning. Unfortunately with Ofsted, teachers are too often disenfranchised because the things that are important to them aren’t included in the inspection criteria. Ofsted focuses primarily on maths and English, and what is most easily measurable. They marginalise other creative aspects of school life, such as art, drama, sport or a range of student-led initiatives.
To Ofsted’s credit, it has – over the decades – changed, and changed again. Often these changes are ones many of us have long advocated, such as differential reviews in which some schools are given greater support than others.
Although I’m critical of Ofsted, the nub of the problem lies with the nature of what Ofsted has to inspect. Michael Gove’s curriculum reform, for example, ignored the advice from his own experts – he knew from his own schooldays what a curriculum should look like and how it should be tested.
While there are many outstanding Ofsted inspectors, they are hamstrung in terms of what and how they have to inspect, living with the legacy of a process and protocols which are widely seen by teachers as neither fair nor effective.

Friday 4 March 2016

Secondary School Teacher of the Day

Are you a Geography Teacher, looking for a January 2016 start in West Sussex?
TimePlan Education, working in partnership with their client school, is looking for a geography teacher who has taught successfully across key stage 3 and 4. The position is a full time contract starting January 2016.The successful candidate must be committed to achieving high standards and be able to inspire students across the ability range at KS3 and KS4.
This is a large comprehensive school in West Sussex for boys and girls, aged 11-18 with 1911 pupils on roll.This school boasts excellent facilities, having moved into a state of the art new building in 2012.
As a Christian designated academy they aim to provide a rich, diverse culture enabling young people from all faiths and none, to flourish and live life to the full, choosing their own positive, personal, social, moral and spiritual values. Every individual at the school is valued and the principal and senior staff are focused on ensuring consistently high standards
The school is situated in a seaside resort with a pleasurable harbour town. The town's attractions include award-winning beaches and architecture, the beautiful River Arun, superb parks with boating lakes and a packed programme of activities and cultural events all year round.

To be considered for this geography teaching vacancy based in West Sussex you will need to:

  • show you are an imaginative and forward thinking classroom practitioner.
  • have the willingness to form part of a successful and enthusiastic team.
  • support the school ethos at all times during your working days.
  • possess excellent teaching skills and an ability to lead classes with pace and sufficient challenge.
It is essential that you understand the school's academic standing and have a sincere commitment to sharing long-term aims.
In return we offer:
  • professional classroom support from our team of Headteacher consultants throughout the length of your contract.
  • a dedicated key contact at the TimePlan South East office.
  • TimePlan South East teacher socials where you can meet teachers who are teaching at schools in your placement area.
  • opportunities to aid your professional development.
  • pay to scale.
If you are interested in applying for this geography teaching position in West Sussex please apply online today or call on 01732 373340.
TimePlan is the number one teaching agency for jobs in the south east.

Primary Teaching Job of the Day

Are you a Year 3 Primary Teacher looking for a September 2016 start in Gravesend, Kent?

TimePlan Education, working in partnership with their client school, is looking for a primary teacher who has taught successfully across key stage 2. The position is a full-time contract starting September 2016. The successful candidate must be committed to achieving high standards and able to inspire students across the ability range at KS2.

This lovely primary school in Gravesend comes together with children, staff and parents to promote a nurturing environment for a better tomorrow. The school works to inspire their children to be successful and achieve their ambitions.
The school has high expectations for their children and hopes to produce well-rounded citzens of the future.

To be considered for this primary teaching vacancy based in Gravesend, Kent you will need to;
  • show you are an imaginative and forward thinking classroom practitioner.
  • have the willingness to form part of a successful and enthusiastic team.
  • support the school ethos at all times during your working days.
  • possess excellent teaching skills and an ability to lead classes with pace and sufficient challenge.
It is essential that you understand the school's academic standing and have a sincere commitment to sharing long-term aims.
In return we offer:
  • professional classroom support from our team of headteacher consultants throughout the length of your contract.
  • a dedicated key contact at the TimePlan South East office.
  • TimePlan South East teacher socials where you can meet teachers who are teaching at schools in your placement area.
  • opportunities to aid your professional development.
  • pay to scale.
If you are interested in applying for this primary teaching position in Gravesend, Kent, Please apply online today or call on 01732 373340.
TimePlan are the number one teaching agency for jobs in the south east.

Wednesday 2 March 2016

Can you Spot a Good Teacher from their Characteristics? By Robert Klassen

Student about to throw paper aeroplane

What would you do in the following situation?
As students in your classroom begin a writing task, one of them, Kata, starts throwing paper around and distracting the others. You know from previous incidents that Kata often becomes frustrated when she does not understand how to complete activities; she often displays this by being disruptive.
Would you ...
a) Ask her to leave the class?
b) Show her how to get started on the task?
c) Encourage her by telling her that she is capable of completing the task?
d) Ask a passing teacher to talk to her?
Your answer gives important clues about how you think and operate as a teacher (see below for answers). In future, similar questions could help researchers understand how prospective teachers might interact with students, and enable trainers to recruit people who are best suited to work in schools.
The debate over what makes a good teacher isn’t new – as far back as 500BC Confucius was portrayed as a model teacher. But despite this, there’s been little systematic research into how we can measure the personal characteristics that make a teacher effective – and how we can reliably select people for teacher training. 
Part of the problem is that teaching is often portrayed as something that’s too magical and cryptic to decode. While there is something special about the idea of passing on knowledge, teaching is no more mystical than other professions. Research has shown that some teachers are routinely more successful than others – and science can predict who is likely to be the most effective. 
A recent study by Dr Allison Atteberry from the University of Colorado followed more than 3,000 teachers over the first five years of their careers, measuring their effectiveness by looking at student outcomes. Atteberry found that even after statistically controlling for external factors such as school, family and student characteristics, teachers who were most effective tended to maintain this over time. Similarly, those in the bottom group for effectiveness stayed there, even when they moved schools. 
Anecdotal experience backs this up: it’s not uncommon for someone to remember having a great – or not-so-great – teacher at school.
This indicates that multiple factors, which interact in complex ways, make some teachers consistently effective. Academic ability is one of them, hence the UK government’s introduction of tougher entry requirements for teacher training in 2013. But it’s not the only thing that matters; non-­cognitive attributes – personal characteristics such as empathy and communication – are also essential. 
A recent large-scale review of the factors associated with student achievement showed that teacher-student relationships outweighed the contribution of teachers’ subject knowledge, teacher training, or home and school effects. In fact, John Hattie’s research in Australia shows that teacher characteristics, such as interpersonal skills, are more closely associated with student achievement than curriculum or teaching approach. 
Our research in the UK and internationally – funded by the European Research Council – takes this further, examining how we can identify key teacher characteristics and assess them for entry into teacher training. There can be a lot of leeway in how personal characteristics are expressed, but we want all teachers to have qualities such as empathy, resilience and adaptability in the face of challenges. Our results show that these attributes are broadly the same across secondary and primary schools, although there are some variations between cultures. In Finland, for example, cooperative skills are particularly desirable because there’s a strong tradition of collaboration in schools, where teachers plan and work together.
Instead of using personality tests, we use scenario-based questions, known as situational judgment tests, to measure characteristics. These tests have more validity in predicting job performance than personality tests, which people can fake more easily. Studies in organisational psychology suggest that face-to-face interviews are also an unreliable way to gauge characteristics as interviewers are prone to hidden bias: even when we try to be open and fair, we’re inclined to select people who are a bit like us.
It is possible to improve some traits – such as communication or organisation – through professional development. But this may not be possible for all non­-cognitive attributes – it’s harder to build skills such as empathy, for example. This is why it’s essential that we pay more attention to personal qualities when recruiting prospective teachers.
That’s not to say that the goal of selecting prospective teachers is to pick candidates with only one type of personality or teaching style, but we do want to make sure the people educating our children, grandchildren, friends and family have some basic personal quality building blocks. This is already happening in fields as diverse as medicine and the military, for example.
We have already piloted situational judgment tests with universities in Cambridge, Newcastle and York, and are working with universities and education ministries in Australia, Finland, Hungary and Lithuania. After further validation of the tests, we are excited about introducing this new selection procedure nationally in some settings and an online version using video scenarios. 
http://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/2016/mar/02/can-you-spot-a-good-teacher-from-their-characteristics

Thousands of Children Miss out on First-Choice Secondary School By Sally Weale

Pupils at the West London free school
Tens of thousands of children have failed to get into their first choice of secondary school, with almost half of children in some London boroughs losing out as councils scramble to provide enough places to meet growing demand.
At the end of national offer day on Tuesday, when more than half a million children in their final year of primary school find out which secondary school they will be attending in September, thousands learned they had not got into any of their six chosen schools.
Local authorities reported increases in demand for places as the spike in the birth rate, which has been putting pressure on the primary sector, began to take its toll on secondary schools.
Some parents living in areas of high demand said their children could not get into schools a few hundred metres away from their front doors.
The situation was particularly acute in London, where schools are grappling with a 3.3% increase in demand for school places this year. According to the pan-London admissions board, 31% of children failed to get into their first-choice school, though 89% were offered a place at one of their top three choices. 
The situation was worst in the London boroughs of Hammersmith and Fulham, where 48% failed to get into their first choice; Westminster, 44%; and Lambeth, 42%.
While 94% of the roughly 81,000 pupils in the capital received a place at one of their six preferred schools (the same percentage as last year), that meant about 4,850 children did not get an offer from any of their choices.
The chair of the pan-London admissions board, Helen Jenner, said: “Demand for secondary school places in the capital is on the rise as the primary pressure works its way through the system.
“Local authorities have worked hard to put in place plans to meet this increased demand so that more pupils are offered a school place of their choice in London.
“Today’s figures show that despite the rise in the number of applications, preference rates have not dropped. In fact, the percentage of pupils that received their first preference place increased slightly.”
She added: “It is important to recognise that not all parents and pupils can be offered their first preference, because there are simply not an unlimited number of places at each school. However, there are sufficient places in London schools to meet overall demand.”
The Local Government Association, which represents 370 councils, has said its members may not be able to deliver sufficient places in future because their power to open new schools has been removed.
Labour, meanwhile, has said the system is under strain, with one in six secondary schools already at, or over capacity, and 300,000 more secondary pupils set to enter schools by 2020.
The government says it invested £5bn during the last parliament to help create half a million new school places, with a further £7bn set aside to create more places over the next six years.
The final official figures on the allocation of secondary school places in England will not be released by the Department for Education until June, but a familiar pattern began to emerge on Tuesday as local authorities began to publish their own numbers.
In urban areas of high demand there was widespread disappointment, while in areas of low demand virtually all 11-year-olds got a place in their preferred school.
In Birmingham, which has been experiencing acute pressure on places in recent years, 69.2% of pupils were allocated their first choice of schools, slightly up on last year’s figure of 68.5%.
In Bristol, another area of high demand, 77% of children got their first choice, up 2% on 2015. But like last year, 7.5% did not receive an offer from any of their preferences and will be given a place at an alternative school.
In Kent, despite growing demand, almost 400 more children got their first preference than did last year, and more than 97% will receive an offer from one of their top four. But 428 children will be allocated a school by the local authority after failing to get any of their preferred choices.
Research by the Press Association, meanwhile, suggested an overall increase in the number of applications received compared with last year.
According to PA, which surveyed 20 local education authorities, other areas where relatively high numbers of children did not get into their top school included: Southend-on-Sea, where 79% got their first choice; Trafford, where it was 80%; and Bolton at 82%.
At the other end of the spectrum, in East Riding 96.4% of children got their first choice, with just 0.8% failing to get one of their top three schools.
Leicester county council reported similarly high rates of success, with 95.5% of applicants getting their first choice. In Norfolk it was 94.7% and in Sunderland, according to the city council, just 34 children failed to get their first, second or third choices.
Meanwhile, pressure for places means catchment areas around sought-after schools are shrinking. Justine Roberts, chief executive of the parenting website Mums net, said many site users claim they cannot get their children into schools just down the road from home.
“How well the school admissions system works depends almost entirely on where you live,” she said.
“Lots of parents are very content with the school places allocated to their children, but in some areas – parts of London, Bristol, East Sussex and Birmingham, for example – the admissions system is starting to feel seriously creaky.” 

Primary Teaching Job of the Day

Are you a Primary Teacher, looking for an April 2016 start in Erith, Kent?

TimePlan Education, working in partnership with their client school, is looking for a Year 5 teacher who has taught successfully across key stage 2. The position is a full-time contract starting April 2016 and runs until the end of the school year. The successful candidate must be committed to achieving high standards and able to inspire students across the ability range at KS2.

This is a large four form entry junior school on a separate site to the infant school. They have excellent facilities and a large sports and play ground to maximise outdoor activities and play time. Ofsted quoted the following on their most recent report "Attainment on entry is significantly above the expectation of seven-year-olds nationally. By the time those students leave the school at age 11 there is a well-established trend of attainment in mathematics and English that is significantly above the national average because teaching is good and expectations are high."

To be considered for this Year 5 teaching vacancy based in Erith, Kent you will need to;
  • show you are an imaginative and forward thinking classroom practitioner.
  • have the willingness to form part of a successful and enthusiastic team.
  • support the school ethos at all times during your working days.
  • possess excellent teaching skills and an ability to lead classes with pace and sufficient challenge.
It is essential that you understand the school's academic standing and have a sincere commitment to sharing long-term aims.
In return we offer:
  • professional classroom support from our team of headteacher consultants throughout the length of your contract.
  • a dedicated key contact at the TimePlan South East office.
  • TimePlan South East teacher socials where you can meet teachers who are teaching at schools in your placement area.
  • opportunities to aid your professional development.
  • pay to scale.
If you are interested in applying for this primary teaching position in Erith, Kent, please apply online today or call on 01732 373340.
TimePlan are the number one teaching agency for jobs in the south east.