UK invests £12 million in girls’ education in Zimbabwe via Camfed
Zimbabwe’s Education Minister formally launched a £12 million investment in girls’ education … that will enable 24,000 girls from the poorest rural families to enrol in and complete secondary school.
The investment from the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) represents a major achievement for Camfed, which began in Zimbabwe in 1993 by supporting just 32 girls in two districts. The latest investment allows Camfed to provide four times as many secondary school bursaries as it currently offers and will increase its reach to 28 districts.
Zimbabwe’s Education Minister formally launched a £12 million investment in girls’ education on Wednesday that will enable 24,000 girls from the poorest rural families to enrol in and complete secondary school.
The education secretary, Michael Gove, is facing a growing rebellion from teachers and architects over plans to simplify new school buildings after a study claimed well-designed classrooms could improve pupils’ progress in lessons by as much as 25%.
Lord Rogers, the architect of buildings ranging from the Pompidou Centre in Paris to Mossbourne academy in Hackney, east London, has urged the government to rethink its policy for the procurement of £2.5bn worth of new schools and “for the sake of the next generation” heed evidence that school environments affect pupil performance.
Deborah Saunt, an award-winning school designer, has also announced that her firm is boycotting the government’s plan to build 261 replacement primary and secondary schools, describing simplified design guidelines as the architectural equivalent of feeding children McDonald’s every day. (via Michael Gove faces rebellion over no-curves schools plan | Education | The Guardian)
[United Kingdom] The head teachers’ union says it is increasingly concerned about internet bullying of teachers.
The NAHT says promising people could be forced out of the profession unless more is done to tackle the problem.
A help-line for teachers and other professionals who work with children has told the BBC about a third of its calls are about online attacks.
Laura Higgins, of the Professionals Online Safety Help-line, says parents are often to blame.
Ms Higgins said: “We have had incidents where teachers have been subjected to abuse for very long periods of time and have needed professional help on dealing with those issues.”
The UK’s education system is ranked sixth best in the developed world, according to a global league table published by education firm Pearson.
The first and second places are taken by Finland and South Korea.
The rankings combine international test results and data such as graduation rates between 2006 and 2010.
… successful countries give teachers a high status and have a “culture” of education.
[UK] A sixth of teachers are spending up to £25 a month buying bread, fruit and snacks to feed pupils who turn up to school without having eaten breakfast, according to the findings of a survey.
Schools in the Sky
For this competition, New York was chosen as a study case for an experiment. Known as USA’s ‘educational capital’, it seemed pertinent the provocation: What if one day all the skyscrapers would have a school on the top? making the school system the most visible aspect of the city. (via Schools in the Sky / Filipe Magalhaes, Ana Luisa Soares, André Vergueiro | ArchDaily)
It’s 8am on a Wednesday and six-year-old Samir is being woken up for school. Not by his mother, father or two older brothers, but by Shelley, who is paid by Samir’s state primary school to ensure he is ready and on time for lessons today. Samir’s mother, Fatima, sits wearily on a battered armchair as Shelley goes through her checklist. (via A kinder way to tackle truancy | Education | The Guardian)
![[ONTARIO, CANADA] Ontario shows us we should support our teachers, not shame them. The Canadian province improved its education system by being supportive rather than dismissive of state schools (via Ontario shows us we should support our teachers, not shame them | Education | The Guardian)](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m14vg8Sn1l1qb8rnio1_500.jpg)
[ONTARIO, CANADA] Ontario shows us we should support our teachers, not shame them. The Canadian province improved its education system by being supportive rather than dismissive of state schools (via Ontario shows us we should support our teachers, not shame them | Education | The Guardian)
Bright students are starting university unable to structure an essay because of the “damage” caused by test-driven schooling, Cambridge academics warned on Monday. (via Bright students ‘cannot write essays’, say Cambridge dons - Telegraph)
