Newsround

What’s been happening in the world of education and beyond this week?

• The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) has published its latest guidance report, ‘Improving Behaviour in Schools‘ and offers 6 recommendations to support better-informed decision making by senior leaders and teachers, all based on the best available evidence. Unless you teach in total chaos then these recommendations are ‘basics’ that every teacher should know:

1. Know and understand your pupils and their influences

2. Teach learning behaviours alongside managing misbehaviour

3. Use classroom management strategies to support good classroom behaviour

4. Use simple approaches as part of your regular routine

5. Use targeted approaches to meet the needs of individuals in your school

6. Consistency is key

The research makes blindingly obvious statements such as “There is a strong evidence base that teacher-pupil relationships are key to good pupil behaviour and that these relationships can affect pupil effort and academic attainment.”

• Chief Inspector of Schools Amanda Spielman says that parents cannot “pick and choose” whether their children go to lessons about LGBT relationships. Speaking to the Huffington Post she said,

To be clear, this is about the Equality Act, which says children must be taught respect for the protected characteristics and to the extent we have got a case where it says this isn’t a pick and choose whichever one’s parents feel like.

• Imagine being served sandwiches and Spanish tomatoes for a school lunch? This would be a step up for school dinners in the UK but not in France where parents have been up in arms that their children have been given “industrial sandwiches” on a special picnic day. Not good enough say parents who expect better. The French education ministry generally insists on three-course lunches “suitable for children’s nutritional needs… [including] a main course with a side dish and a dairy product.”
• Research indicates that women academics do not rise through the ranks as fast as men with the same credentials and personal circumstances.
• One of my blogs caused a bit of a stir this week and you can read The ADHD can of worms and see what you think.
• A new NICE quality standard says employers are being encouraged to highlight fitness classes and offer subsidised gym memberships in order to keep their staff fit. How many teachers have time for yoga at lunchtime I wonder?