end of the week

Well, after handing in my study skills last friday the pressure has been off for a bit this week.  The week started with our visit to Warwick which was ok but a little bit disappointing  as we didn't actually get to do much of what we were supposed to do such as talk to other students and visit the library etc.. but it was nice to see what it was like there.  Lots of us even wished we could be 'proper students' and live in halls!  So now I have to make a start on all my essays and after a little bit of confusion earlier in the week I have made a note of all the hand-in dates and made a decision to try and work on all 3 along side each other rather than do 1 at a time and end up rushing one of them.  Well thats the plan anyway..

ok, here are some notes taken from Rachel's first lecture about assignment and exam dates.

Lets try again with those notes.

Here are some notes I have taken from the 'A Guide To Essential Study Skills' by Pauline McManus, containing advice on how to 'skim read'

Summary of a newspaper article.

Summarise and record key points from a newspaper article, journal or google book using skim reading techniques (enclose article or part of the journal or book) and share this on a blog (evidence is required).

I have chosen to summarize a newspaper article entitled “Ofsted says schools using special needs too widely”.  This article was published on 14th September 2010 and was reported by Heather Sharp, Education reporter for BBC News.

The beginning of the report states that thousands of pupils are being wrongly labelled as having special educational needs when all they require is better teaching and support- according to Ofsted.  A big study has been carried out by Ofsted into the special educational needs (SEN) within the education system and they have concluded that up to 25% of the 1.7m children in England that currently have a SEN should not be labelled this way.  Inspectors have visited numerous schools, colleges and nurseries in 22 different local education authorities and carried out detailed individual case studies on 345 young people with SEN.

Ofsted inspectors commented that they had seen “excellent support for children with SEN” and that there has been a huge investment in resources but that schools should “stop identifying pupils as having SEN when they simply needed better teaching and pastoral support”.  They also claim that as many as half of all pupils identified for action “would not be identified as having SEN if schools focussed on teaching and learning for all”

The National Union of teachers said claims such as “special needs” being used too widely were “insulting and wrong”.

Under the previous Labour government there was a policy of “inclusion” that tried to place pupils with SEN into mainstream schools wherever possible.  But under the new coalition government it is proposed that “pupil premium” a new scheme that will give extra money targeted at children from disadvantaged backgrounds will give schools more flexibility to offer one-to-one support.

In conclusion, after skimming through this article, Ofsted have very clearly reported their findings from this wide- ranging study into the number of children in England labelled with having a special educational need. Ofsted are calling for better teaching and pastoral support in schools to reduce these figures. However, I can see that this report is rather one-sided and only includes one quote from the National Union Of Teachers saying that claims made by Ofsted were “insulting and wrong”.  Therefore although this article is both insightful and factual I don’t believe it to be radical without reading more from sources such as special educational needs co-ordinators or the National Union Of Teachers.

Key Points 

• “special needs” being used too widely
•   such claims “insulting and wrong” The National Union Of Teachers
•   more than a fifth of school- age students in England, indentified with SEN
•   the wide- ranging study was Ofsteds biggest yet
•   inspectors visited 228 nurseries, schools and colleges
•   inspectors visited 22 local authorities
•   inspectors carried out detailed case studies of 345 young people with SEN
•   as many as half of pupils “would not be identified as having SEN if schools focussed on

     teaching and learning for all”

End Of Second Week

Well, here I am at the end of the first proper week really.  I've enjoyed the week and all of the information that I was given last week is now all slowly starting to slot into place!  Almost got my study skills folder done now so that will be a relief to get that out of the way and then I can concentrate on essay planning.  I must say though, at the beginning of last week I thought the study skills thing was a waste of time really BUT it has somehow enabled me to be a lot more IT literate already which will help me with all aspects of the course-it's amazing how much you can learn in a week!

DAY 2!

OH MY GOD!!!!!! what have I let myself in for!  I actually fully expected this course to be hard work and everything but just not quite so quickly.  Yesterday I felt as if my head might explode as there was so much information to take in but after today things are slowly starting to make more sense.  It has only been two days though so hopefully this time next week things will be a lot clearer!   On a more positive note, I'm still convinced I've chosen the right course as it all looks really interesting and the tutors all seem really helpful.