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Encourage Your Children To Read Over The Summer Holidays

Rik — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 10:58:17 +0000

The minute the school bell rings for the summer holidays all thoughts of reading books are out of the window for most children, this can be a bad thing when it comes to returning to school after the summer as some of the literacy skills they have learnt are lost and children may find it difficult to adjust on returning to school.

Have a look at these tips to help your children enjoy reading over the summer:

1. Read to your children and let them see you reading.

2. Eye spy is a fun learning game children enjoy.

3. Turn subtitles on during a family film.

4. When out and about with your children encourage them to read signs and lead the way to where you’re heading

Books in Home Boost Childrens Education

Rik — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 11:26:55 +0000

According to a major study led by Nevada University, in the United States

“Keeping just 20 books in the home can boost children’s chances of doing well at school”

It is claimed that children with regular access to books do better in school than those whose book shelves at home are empty, and apparently stay in school around three years longer.

The first findings suggested that science and history books had the greatest benefit.

Should we be hurrying out to buy in books to help our children succeed educationally?

Could filling our homes with novels and reference books be the difference between leaving school and heading to university?, Which in turn could mean £200,000 more in lifetime earnings!

Oliver Now Set To Improve Education!

Rik — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 14:16:35 +0000

Jamie Oliver has changed school dinners and he now has his sights set on improving education. The well known TV chef is himself dyslexic and left school with very few qualifications he is now on the road to setting up his own school with the intention of helping teenagers who have struggled to thrive.

It will apparently take place during the summer, a forthcoming series filmed for channel 4. Fresh One productions are already advertising online for willing participants.

Ultimately they are after applicants who may have been dyslexic, subjected to bullying or were teenage mothers.

Are gadgets bad for learning

Rik — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 16:28:05 +0000

Apparently a recent study shows that gadget addiction is bad for pupils spelling and concentration. Research was conducted on 267 pupils aged from 11 to 18, all Internet and mobile phone user. 63% were feeling addicted to Internet and 53% to their mobile phone.

Dr Nada Kakabadse from the research team said new technoligies like mobile phone and computer games were having a bad impct on attention.

They are hiding these things under the desks so their concentration cannot be equally divided, they are not focusing on what’s going on in class.

They can’t get motivated to read for a long period of time.

Internet seems also to encourage plagiarism and 84% admitted coping pieces of information straight to their work.

Learning- the opportunities are endless….

Rik — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 08:00:28 +0000

I think we have established that getting a good education means that people can give themselves a better start in life. However, there is help out there for people who perhaps did not enjoy school and therefore did not achieve the results they were capable of the first time round.
With the age of the internet it has never been easier to study online and gain a better education using resources from the web.

It means people who never expected to be able to go back into education and gain more skills are now able to.

Admittedly it will not be for everyone, however I am sure there are many people out there who can benefit from this type of learning.

For many the opportunity to study and learn at their own convenience means that they can move forwards at their own pace and fit courses around other responsibilities of child care and full time jobs. It is certainly worth looking into if you feel you do not have the time to attend classes at local education centres.

Private education Versus state education.

Rik — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 11:54:56 +0000

Figures from this years A-level results showed that the number of A grades achieved by privately educated students increased by more than two percent this year. This increase was at least twice that achieved in state comprehensives, grammar schools of colleges across the country. The number of entries from students in private education who were given ‘A’ grades was more than 50%.
This information will no doubt fuel the debate that private schools are leaving state schools behind with students from fairly wealthy backgrounds taking over places at the leading universities. It seems many private schools are offering subjects to students which are in high demand not only from Universities, but employers as well. At present approximately seven percent of pupils across are privately educated.

Part time students face a difficult time.

Rik — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 08:00:19 +0000

Keeping with the topic of students in education, the government is encouraging us to continue learning throughout our lives, but this can be very difficult to achieve in today’s day and age, particularly with the recession.
Part time students make up approximately one third of the undergraduate numbers, and there have been calls recently to give them more support financially.
It can be an uphill struggle from the start if you are considering studying part time as tuition fees need to be paid upfront and there is only a slim chance of securing the financial help needed. Then there are the hidden costs each year with the requirement of certain books and in some cases equipment, not to mention living costs.
It is the Governments responsibility to make it as easy as possible for individuals to take the opportunity to improve their skills and perhaps their job prospects through part time study. Why should someone who wants to be educated further be held back for financial reasons?- they shouldnt.

University competition.

Rik — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 12:09:11 +0000

A-level results were released today. Sixth Formers have received a record number of A-level passes. However many will be faced with a mad scramble to find places through the clearing system in its most competitive year. The University admissions service has advised that 135,114 students are eligible for clearing this year, but only 22,000 places were available. In comparison to last year 112,000 students were eligible with 43,000 places. Students who go through the clearing process have either not met the grades required for their chosen University, have chosen not to take up their current offer or who did not have an existing offer.
It seems that there has been an unfortunate collision of the volumes of students in the system this year and the impact of the recession which has meant the demand for university places far outweighs the supply.
There is a huge debate weather going to university is more beneficial than going straight into full time work. It certainly is an opportunity to learn more, but in these very hard economic times you cannot blame people for wanting to earn money as soon as possible, so they can pay their own way from a young age.

The cost of a GCSE

Rik — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 08:00:33 +0000

Facts produced today show that’s a diploma is more expensive than sitting GCSEs or A-levels. On average Schools are paying £52 per entry to exam boards whereas the cost of entering for a foundation diploma costs £179.91. So therefore the cost doing five GCSEs is £127.80. I know that pupils do tend to more GCSEs however a diploma is equivalent to five GCSEs at level one, seven GCSEs at level two, and three and a half A-levels at level three. Over last year 12,000 students took up the diploma option instead of GCSEs and therefore Ministers predict that over 50,000 young adults world take part in the first year. I have to ask is this the reason that University fees are going up by £2000?

Writing your Dissertation

Rik — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 11:44:32 +0000

I don’t know about anyone else but I absolutely hated writing my dissertation at University. I can’t stress this enough I would have really appreciated help as it’s the getting started that’s the worse bit. All you can focus on is the blank page in front of you and the 10’0000000000 (slight exaggeration) that you need to write.
Here’s a little bit of help

What is the purpose of a dissertation, make sure that you have very clear objectives that will help build a structure on which to write on and keep you focused.

Select and research the topic so you have some good bite size reference points. No matter how tedious you may initial find this, if you feel more familiar with the topic this will build up your confidence when writing

Writing up your Findings

Create a timetable to write each chapter. There is nothing worse knowing that you must come up with 5000 words in an afternoon you are defeated yourself before you start. Try and set a couple an hours aside through the week to write chuck of content of say like a 1000. You don’t necessary have to write it based on what you last wrote, this can be edited in at a later date. The key is to get your thoughts down on the paper when you feel like it, think of your dissertation as a journal.

Writing with accuracy and elegance. The content can be edited to suite a certain tone any time prior to handing it in. Remember to keep it consistent 1st person or 3rd person, just make sure it matches throughout!