In fact, you might send thousands of job applications and only get a few responses from the companies or institutions you had applied for a job.
Other times, you may get job offers from these employers, but they are not as lucrative as you might want them to be. As a result, you may turn down those job offers and opt to continue hunting for a job.
Although you may finally land a job, working with an executive search firm is worth considering due to its numerous advantages.
The information below takes a closer look at why you should work with recruiters in your job-hunting mission.
Typically, you would expect that you will be required to part with a few bucks to pay the executive search firms. However, this is not always the case, as these firms are usually paid by the companies that hire them to fill certain positions in the company.
Since these firms are working for the company that will hire you, you will not have to go the extra mile of paying them. Once you meet the necessary hiring requirements and pass the often virtual interview, the company will pay them on your behalf.
You Can Network on a Large Scale
When it comes to current job-search connections, some of the important people you might have in mind are only your former college administrators and professors, family, and friends. Although this group may be relatively large, sometimes recruiters can help increase your network. This is the reason why you should work with executive recruit firms.
By hiring their services, you will be able to take advantage of their vast network in the job market and thus increase your chances of landing a job. In fact, these firms will direct you to the companies that are offering the most in-demand jobs and thus allow you to get a job fast.
You Have Access to More Job Opportunities
If you are hunting for a job, chances are that you only rely on adverts that are placed on print media and on social media platforms. Although you may get several vacancies posted there, sometimes, there are other confidential vacancies that are only known by these recruiters. If you work with these firms, be sure that you will have an array of job vacancies to choose from and thus enable you to secure a job as soon as possible.
You Will Remain in the Job Search Database
Sometimes, you may apply for a job and fail to get it on the go. Even if you are not hired as the first potential match, you will still remain in the recruiter’s database and thus increase your chances of getting a job in the near future. Be it accountancy, lab technician, secretarial, or even production manager position, be sure that you will be kept on the recruiter’s radar for future considerations.
Get Professional Support to Boost your Job Hunt
Hunting for a job alone can be a tedious undertaking. From being time-consuming to being capital intensive, you may end up using a lot of resources and time to secure a job. However, if you work with an executive recruit, be sure that you will have an easy time landing a job. Consider the services of these firms today, and you will be able to get a job sooner than you expect.
From simplifying teachers’ jobs and streamlining homework delivery to behavioural policies, many factors have improved with the adoption of digital integration in schools, including addressing students’ absenteeism.
So, how has educational technology helped in solving this disturbing problem in schools? Read on as we outline the applications of EdTech in addressing student absenteeism in learning institutions.
The phrase educational technology means the application of technology in an academic environment, whether it is elementary and secondary schools, individual learning at home, colleges and universities, or corporate training centres.
Educational technology has two meanings, generalized and specialized versions. To most people in the education sector and the public, the term means the instructional application of computers and other electronic software and hardware, such as television.
On the other hand, educational technology specialists, especially those in colleges and universities, call it instructional technology because it involves the instructional use of technology in the education system.
Applications of technology in addressing absenteeism in schools
By using digital resources, learning institutions can create an environment where there is perfect student attendance across the school. Learners will attend lessons on time and be ready to study, while teachers will get easy and fast access to assessment and reporting records.
Below are 3 ways technology will encourage lesson or classroom attendance and improve general academic performance.
1. Technology improves student engagement
Using digital resources to support both classroom and homework assignments can lead to improved student engagement, enhance the timely submission of homework, and encourage punctuality and lesson attendance.
According to reports from the Annual Conference on Virtual learning, it was found that online learning resources had a hugely positive effect on learners’ motivation, interest, lesson attendance, and general academic success.
The report further discovered that learning management systems only worked objectively to engage learners if it was used for relevant aims. So, it is important for teachers to be careful when using online materials, they choose valuable resources only.
2. Creates better organization
Placing all the attendance records online, conveniently where all relevant staff can access them, makes it easier to monitor and address attendance issues regardless of the class you are teaching or where you are.
It also allows senior leadership team members to get an overview of the attendance records for analysis and reporting. With this general view, the management is empowered to make critical decisions and create student attendance policies.
The SLT also has the authority to measure the policies’ effects with less effort than if they would have done them through manual, paper-based methods, and different offline strategies.
This link allows parents to get relevant information about their child’s behaviours and conducts without depending on messages passed by the student or information slips from the school.
Also, with such a secure and trusted communication channel between teachers and parents, the issue of attendance can be easily addressed, and frequent phone communications can be reduced significantly.
Conclusion
For so long, student absenteeism has been an issue of concern on most education platforms. However, the introduction of educational technology has helped teachers and parents to address it amicably.
Technology in education facilitates engagement, attendance records organizations, and enables seamless home communication. All these factors put together have helped in the realization of full school attendance unless there is an understandable reason for absenteeism, such as sickness or family issues.
Eton College is one of the most prestigious and exclusive private boarding schools in the United Kingdom.
And many are curious about who went to Eton College.
So, here we list the most famous students at Eton College UK to date and you may know one or two.
According to Eton School’s website, this boys-only high school is situated outside London, near Windsor, and is home to about 1,300 male students.
According to Business Insider, it is “the nursery of England’s gentleman”.
Eton was founded by King Henry VI in 1440. Eton School conducts a two-step application process for which parents must register their son three years earlier at the age of 10 to start school at age 13.
Then the student must take a Common Entrance test or Eton Entrance examinations at age 12 or 13 to get a confirmed place at Eton College UK.
They can also get into Eton by claiming the King’s Scholarship.
Here are some famous Etonians you may know and we share how they have risen to fame while being educated at the prestigious Eton Boarding School.
1. Eddie Redmayne
Edward John David Redmayne, an English actor, went to Eton College from 1995-2000, the same year as Prince William. They also played rugby in the same team and are still friends to this day.
Before going into acting, Redmayne modelled for a lot of magazines. After that, he moved on to the stage and small television projects.
However, in 2006, he was cast in his first feature film, and then the rest is history. His latest most famous projects include the Fantastic Beasts series.
Did you know: In 2014, Redmayne won the Academy Award, BAFTA, Golden Globe, and Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actor for portraying Stephen Hawking in the movie The Theory of Everything. He masterfully depicted the hard challenges of living with ALS in day-to-day life.
2. Tom Hiddleston
Thomas William Hiddleston is an English actor most famous for portraying the iconic anti-hero character Loki in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He graduated from Eton college one year before Eddie Redmayne and Prince William.
Hiddleston started his acting career in his school days by participating in student plays and TV series. After graduating from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, he was cast in his first full-length film, Unrelated.
Did you know: Hiddleston won a Golden Globe Award in 2017 for his role in the BBC’s adaptation of John le Carre’s novel about a hotel manager involved in arms smuggling. He has also received a Laurence Olivier Award, among many other accolades.
3. George Orwell
Eric Arthur Blair, known as George Orwell, was an English writer, journalist, and critic. Some of his famous works include novels like 1984 and short stories like Animal farm.
Orwell studied at Eton until December 1921. He later described his Eton days as “interested and happy” to his childhood friend Jacintha Buddicom.
After graduating from Eton College, he took a police job in Burma, and that’s where his hate for a totalitarian society started taking roots. He returned from Burma and became a full-time writer in 1928. He won the Prometheus Hall of Fame Award for his book 1984.
Did you know: his style of writing, i.e., political dystopia, totalitarian and authoritarian settings, and culture, is known as “Orwellian“.
4. Ian Fleming
Ian Lancaster Fleming was a British writer and journalist best known for his James Bond series of spy novels.
He attended Eton College in 1921 and was the editor of the school magazine, The Wyvern. During the Second World War, he was recruited by Rear Admiral John Godfrey, Director of Naval Intelligence of the Royal Navy, to become his assistant.
It was in this job that he finally found his passion and creativity. After the war in 1952, he started writing Casino Royale, and the rest is history almost on a whim.
Did you know: Ian Fleming wasn’t a high achiever academically, but he excelled in athletics at Eton College and held the title of Victor Ludorum (“Winner of the Games”) for two years between 1925 and 1927.
5. David Cameron
David William Donald Cameron was the 54th Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016.
He attended Eton College from 1979 to 1984. After graduation, Cameron went into politics and worked for the Conservative Research Department. He was elected to parliament to serve as a Commons Home Affairs Select Committee member in 2001.
Cameron announced on 29 September 2005 that he would be a candidate of the Conservative Party. He became the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom following the resignation of Gordon Brown on 11 May 2010.
Did you know: Eton has educated over 20 prime ministers out of 55 total prime ministers in the United Kingdom in its history.
6. Boris Johnson
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson is the fifth Eton-educated Prime Minister since World War II.
He won the King’s Scholarship to study at Eton College in 1977. In school, Johnson excelled in English and the Classics, winning prizes in both. He was the editor of the school newspaper, The Eton College Chronicle, and the secretary of the school debating society.
After graduating from Eton, he went on to study classics at Balliol College. He was elected President of the Oxford Union in 1986.
After that, he began his career in journalism. He worked at both The Times and The Daily Telegraph. He started building his foot and fan-following through his writings.
On 24 July 2019, Queen Elizabeth II accepted Theresa May’s resignation and accepted Johnson’s nomination as prime minister after winning the general election as a Conservative Party leader.
Did you know: Johnson’s biographer Andrew Gimson said that “these articles made him one of [Euroscepticism’s] most famous exponents”.
7. Prince William, Duke of Cambridge
William Arthur Philip Louis, Duke of Cambridge, is the elder son of Charles, Prince of Wales, and Diana, Princess of Wales, and a senior member of the British Royal Family. Prince William attended the college in 1995 becoming the first senior member of the royal family to be educated there. His main subject studies included geography, biology, and the history of art.
As part of his royal duties, he oversees more than 30 charitable organizations, like the African Wildlife Foundation, BeatBullying, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, Centrepoint, Children In Crisis, Diana Awards, etc.
In 2016, along with Prince Harry, he initiated a mental health awareness campaign, “Heads Together” to encourage everyone to talk about their mental health issues.
Prince William got married to Catherine Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge, in 2011 and was made Duke of Cambridge preceding his marriage to the Duchess. The couple has three children named George, Charlotte, and Louis.
Did you know: Eton college is well-known for educating both English royalty and foreign royals from countries like Nepal, Belgium, Romania, Thailand, and Ethiopia.
8. Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex
Henry Charles Albert David, Duke of Sussex, is the younger son of Charles, Prince of Wales,
and Diana, Princess of Wales. He went to Eton College in 1997, following in his older brother’s footsteps.
After graduating, he went into the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst on 8 May 2005. He got married to Meghan Markel, an American actress, on 19 May 2018. In 2020, the couple announced that they would step back from all their senior royal duties.
Did you know: Prince Harry was a part of the Combined Cadet Force while studying at Eton. In his last school year, he was appointed as a cadet officer and led the corps’ annual parade at the Eton tattoo.
9. John Gurdon, biologist and Nobel laureate
Sir John Bertrand Gurdon is a British developmental biologist. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in 2012 in the Physiology or Medicine section to discover the potentiality of mature cells turning into stem cells. His Nobel Lecture was called “The Egg and the Nucleus: A Battle for Supremacy”.
Did you know: The Nobel Prize winner biologist ranked last out of the 250 boys in his class in biology. He was also doing poorly in every other science subject at Eton. Finally, one of his schoolmasters wrote a report stating, “I believe he has ideas about becoming a scientist; on his present showing, this is quite ridiculous.”
10. John William Strutt, physicist
John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh, was a British physicist in the 1900s. His most notable works include fluid dynamics, optics, aerodynamic theories, and radiation, which later played an important role in forming quantum mechanics.
He won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1904 “for his investigations of the densities of the most important gases and his discovery of argon in connection with these studies.”
Did you know: “Rayleigh scattering“, which is named after him, is a phenomenon that describes the elastic scattering of light by particles much smaller than the light’s wavelength, which explains why the colour of the sky is blue.
11. Bear Grylls
The famous adventurer and explorer of our time, Edward Michael “Bear” Grylls, also went to Eton College. After graduating from school, he went into military service, but his army days were cut short due to a parachute-malfunctioning accident. But, being a true Etonian, he never gave up.
He fulfilled his dream of climbing to the summit of Mount Everest only 18 months after the accident, at the age of 23.
Bear Grylls was the host of a very popular survivalist show called Man vs. Wild in 2006. The tremendous success of the show led it to last over five years, seven seasons.
Did you know: Bear Grylls helped start Eton’s first mountaineering club while studying there.
Now you know who went to Eton College & there are more
Some other exceptionally popular Old Etonians are actors Hugh Laurie, Britain’s very first Prime Minister, Robert Walpole, journalists like the former editor of The Daily Telegraph, Charles Moore, and BBC journalist, David Shukman amongst many others.
Eton Boarding School has also educated various foreign royalty like Crown Prince Zera Yacob Amha Selassie of Ethiopia, King Dipendra of Nepal.
Eton College UK is one of the most prestigious colleges in the United Kingdom as you can see from this list of Eton College alumni. It accepts students from various backgrounds and countries like the USA, Europe, and Asia.
The ISI Educational Quality report in 2019 reports the school’s performance regarding teaching, student development, health, and hygiene to be above average in their inspection. The school has recently built two new boarding houses, new sports facilities, and a new Science school to keep up with their incoming new generations of talented students.
These 11 famous alumni are merely the surface molecules in the froth above a bubbling broth; and we are certain that there will be more Eton students to come that will make the world smile, smirk, wonder, cringe, and envy. However, it may be of benefit to include females for even more diversity.
Exam season can be gruelling, to say the least, leading to mental health issues such as anxiety, depression, and low self-esteem. Here we discuss how to prepare child for exams.
These illnesses in themselves can impact your child’s health greatly, affect their eating habits and sleep.
Statistics reveal that the biggest causes of decreased academic performance are depression, anxiety, and stress. Amongst them, anxiety accounted for 23.2% of poorer performance while depression contributed to 15.4% and stress made up 31.8%.
With looming exams, it’s hard not to get overly consumed by thoughts about it. Practising mindfulness can help your child bring themselves back to the present moment and put their worries on mute. Many liken this to meditation as it involves being one with your surroundings, patience and using breathing techniques.
This focuses the mind on the five senses to divert attention away from overwhelming thoughts, allowing us to focus on the present. Breathing exercises are used to help lower the heart rate and improve oxygen levels, allowing your child to think clearly and calmly.
How to Exercise Mindfulness with Your Child?
1. Mindfulness Videos
Without getting bogged down into all the different techniques that are out there, there are many videos that your child can follow on YouTube. Channels such as ‘Calm’ have a long list of successful YouTube videos that have helped many with their mental health. Videos provide direction, are soothing and often last around 10 minutes. To help your child with their mental health we advise carrying out mindfulness before a stressful situation, during and after.
2. Mindful Colouring
As our experiences are all unique, you might find that breathing techniques don’t work for your child. This is okay as there are plenty more where that came from. Another technique that you can try with your child is mindful colouring. Colouring isn’t just for children and is used by many adults as a form of stress relief. It can be very therapeutic and relaxes the fear centre of the brain known as the amygdala to relieve a restless mind.
3. Show Your Support
Showing your child that you’re there for them can help to make this a less scary process, give them motivation and a sense of direction. As a parent, there are many ways that you can help – even if it’s been a while since you were in the classroom.
For one, you can reassure them of the fact that they’re going to be just fine and let them know how proud you are of them. Show your child just how much you believe in them and their ability, emphasising how much they could achieve if they try.
Exams can feel like the weight of the world is being carried for some children as they don’t want to let their parents and family members down. This can relieve some of that burden and help your child to maintain a healthy state of mind.
4. Past Papers for Improving Confidence
They say that confidence comes from our past experiences. To help your child feel at ease, remind them of similar challenges that they faced and what the outcomes were. Also, to help you can run through past exam papers with your child that is usually available online on the exam board’s website. Tackling one exam question at a time can help your child to improve their ability and boost their confidence in this way.
5. Organisation is Essential
To help your child feel less overwhelmed during this time you can help them to get organised by making sure that they have everything that they need for their studies. Resources may include revision guides, stationery, colourful materials, and sticky notes to stick out or binders. Without some form of organisation, it can be tricky to work out how you’re going to get out of a situation, how big the problem is and where to even start. This can help your child to better manage their workload, avoid losing their schoolwork and improve their mental health.
6. Make Sure That Your Child Gets Enough Sleep
Sleep is a huge factor in how our body deals with stressful situations. When we are sleep deprived, not only does it affect our performance, but it also makes us more irritable and heightens our anxiety. To help your child mentally prepare for school exams you can make sure that they stick to a healthy sleep routine and don’t burn themselves out by working till late.
Your child should aim for 8 hours of sleep every night and there are a few things that you can do to help. To stop your child’s brain from whirling at this time, you can ban devices 30 minutes before bedtime and exercise a body scan mindfulness activity. This is used by parents that have difficulty getting their young children to sleep and those that experience pain in their bodies.
Hopefully, the 6 mindfulness tips to prepare your child for exams mentally will prove useful for them and you will be able to support them where you can to come out mentally stronger after the exams have been completed. Because life itself is a constant test, isn’t it?
Time and time again we have seen countless jobs get replaced by technological advancements with each revolution. Here we discuss how can schools prepare students for IT jobs.
Careers in information and technology can help children to future-proof themselves against further innovation and allow them to embark on a challenging and fulfilling journey.
We have teamed up with Taunton Independent School to discuss how schools can prepare students best for information and technology jobs.
As educators, we don’t just have the responsibility of producing the next generation of data scientists, developers, doctors, engineers, and key workers. We also have the duty of shaping children into brilliant young people that can fill the jobs that don’t yet exist.
While challenging, there are several ways that we can do this.
All too often we hear ‘I don’t know’ and straightforward cookie-cutter answers. To help children become dynamic young people and the forward thinkers of their times, setting innovative tasks is essential. Not teaching children what they need to learn but teaching them HOW to learn. Let us explain.
In the real world, the problems that we face don’t have simple solutions that can be Googled or looked up in a textbook. They are complex and can be tackled in any which way. They require critical and outside-of-the-box thinking in order to make the correct decisions.
To help your students think innovatively, ask them open-ended questions that can be looked at from a range of different angles. Get them to brainstorm and let them take the lead in their own learning as opposed to setting traditional tasks.
In preparation for later life, get your students to stretch beyond the content taught in the classroom by promoting self-directed learning. This can help them to engage in deeper levels of thinking and teach them how to think creatively, critically, and pragmatically. You can do this by asking a young child about what water can do and allowing them to experiment. This is known as Montessori teaching.
2. Lessons on Artificial Intelligence
Schools across the world are helping children to get AI-ready with classes to prepare them for what is expected to be the 4th industrial revolution. The UK is thought to be trailing behind in comparison which has led to the release of a new initiative by the national center for AI in tertiary education.
There are many websites and online learning games and apps out there that you can introduce to your students and their parents to feed their curiosity and understanding of AI. Websites such as Machinelearningforkids.co.uk allow children to teach their computers how to play video games and explore pre-trained AI.
3. Coding Games
To get the best out of your students, find learning activities that engage. Coding games are a great way to do this which makes learning what would otherwise be a boring subject, fun and practical. Something that is particularly important when planning lessons for kinaesthetic learners.
Games that you can explore with your students are Algorithm City, Think and Learn: Code-a-Pillar, Daisy the Dinosaur, and Scratch JR which are all free to download on Google Play Store. Games like Algorithm City teach children about command sequencing, loops, and functions so that they can solve problems and earn gold. Others can expand your child’s knowledge of Javascript, Swift, and Python.
4. Arrange for More Project-Based Learning
The world of work calls for individuals that can work independently and cohesively in a team. Group work can open children up to new perspectives while teaching them how to collaborate with others as they would do in the field of tech through real-life experience.
Again, this should be exercised with tasks that are open to interpretation to be effective. This can help your students to develop thinking skills such as critical thinking, problem-solving, and creativity by giving them freedom of thought.
5. Field Trips
Experiential learning gives children the opportunity to solidify their learning with real-life experiences and the chance to talk with local experts and organisations. This can give children an insight into how the world works by offering a deeper level of understanding by allowing them to think about problems contextually. To help your students in their information and technology careers, you can arrange for school trips to a software and development agency or think tank organisation.
6. Stay Ahead of Developments
While we can’t predict the future, we can stay abreast of the latest developments in the job market and the skills needed for it to be filled. We pave the way for our students in the teaching that we deliver and better prepare them by working towards producing great leaders, inventors, and kind young people. So long as your teaching methods allow your students to build the four types of thinking skills needed to be dynamic and innovative, you have done your job as an educator.
Final Thoughts
Most educators will already work hard on exposing their students to more digital and tech skills-related learning materials, however, as this sector evolves at such a fast speed, it is difficult to remain on top of the latest trends in EdTech. Hopefully, we were able to inspire you to educate your students about the career skills needed in the near future.
2019 and 2020 saw different types of assessments and exams being cancelled for the first time ever across Scotland.
This led to a change in assessing pupil performance across the academic session. Instead of an exam as formative assessment, teachers were required to assess pupil performance with coursework submitted by pupils throughout the year.
This has caused a passionate debate concerning teacher stress, quango mismanagement, Government accountability and grade inflation. All this came at the time of the OECDs controversially delayed report into the Curriculum for Excellence (CfE), Scotland’s all-encompassing curriculum from 5-18.
This article will look at exams as a method for accountability and the possible alternative assessments to exams.
Removal of formal exams is seen as a necessary step for the future of Scottish education. After league tables in Scotland were scrapped in 2002, there has been an ongoing debate, covered by the BBC News, that there are too many assessments, to maintain a perception of accountability. The only league tables available in Scotland are published by newspapers however, the Scottish Government is quick to criticise them as their only criterion is a percentage of pupils who attained 5 Highers as reported by The Times.
The Scottish Conservatives were quoted by the BBC News saying, “the best and fairest way we have to measure educational attainment”. Similarly, Dr Keir Bloomer, who led the study, said to the BBC News: “Anonymous marking is effectively insurance against the sort of rapid grade inflation that ultimately only ends when every pupil returns straight. As, which would do no favours to either individual pupils or the country as a whole”.
Indeed, grades over the past two years have risen sharply with an increase of 16.1% of pupils achieving an A grade since 2019.
Accountability is seen to be an important factor by parents to put pressure on schools to improve and for some parents is the only way they can hold their children’s teachers to account since there is no opportunity for formal feedback unless a meeting is arranged which takes time and is inconvenient for all parties involved as debated in this McCormack et. al. paper.
However, teachers feel that their ability to teach is being inhibited by satisfying performance targets at the compromise of teaching.
Teachers find themselves under increasing pressure
One teacher said, “We are put under a lot of pressure, and we are continually monitoring and assessing the children and there is a greater workload because of the paperwork that has to be filled in. As teachers you are continually under pressure to fit in all the things you must in a week and sometimes you don’t have the time. You are continually thinking I should have fitted in this particular lesson, and you are worrying about fitting everything in otherwise perhaps they won’t reach their target.” (Murphy M & Skillen P; 2015).
There are also concerns expressed from teachers that they are teaching students to pass exams rather than teaching students to learn. From personal experience, I remember vividly teachers saying, “You don’t have to understand [the topic], you just need to be able to remember it”.
This is a phrase many people will have heard and is reminiscent of a factory; teachers producing pupils on a conveyor belt to pass exams, yet this has become the accepted form of accountability as people demand value for money, especially from public sector services.
These issues call into question the philosophy of education and education under the framework of new managerialism and whether accountability should be reconsidered within the field of education.
Is there an Alternative to Exams?
Although scrapping exams may seem attractive to pupils and markers, there are many questions surrounding alternative forms of assessment.
First, most OECD countries use and will continue to use external examinations to assess pupil learning and development including Finland (regarded as having one of the best education systems in the world) and New Zealand (a model OECD country for education).
They are seen to the general public to be the most objective form of assessment and mitigate potential teacher bias and have been the primary model of assessment for centuries in the UK. To attempt to shift the perception of external exams to alternative assessments may prove difficult for politicians to justify to the general public, creating political dispute and may be difficult for employers if hiring students straight from school.
What are possible alternative assessments?
The most natural one would be an extension of the current assessment
Reweighting the added value units/research projects to 50% from 30-33% seen in the social sciences and sciences. This way exams would still be in use but there would be less stress and more fairness to those who may struggle with knowledge recall and the ability to think quickly. It also allows pupils to investigate topics more in depth and create connections and develop their ability to research, analyse and synthesise.
This style of assessment is typical of universities in Scotland and would better prepare students should they wish to enter higher education. This is one of the OECD’s recommendations from their 2021 report.
The only assessment that has a 100% external examination is mathematics. This is not to say a research project could not be viable in this subject. A possible example could be to take a theory learned in the curriculum and apply it to a real-world example e.g., Pythagoras’ Theorem. This would follow the same framework as the Physics project e.g., applying Newton’s 1st law to car seat belts.
Note: Not being a teacher myself I do not know the feasibility or resources training that would be required to accomplish this.
This may however prove costly because it would require teachers to work for longer and would require more teachers to mark the exam scripts.
Would more focus on research mean less time to cover the rest of curriculum? Would this mean the curriculum focus more on depth or breadth?
These are questions that have not been fully answered by the OECD and require serious consideration.
The second and less likely option is teacher judgement
This was used during the pandemic and created much controversy and perpetuated the debate of grade inflation and legitimacy of pupil’s results, not to mention the stress which was put on teachers who had very little time to understand the new format
Either way, this does not look good for the Scottish Government. The new exam system was introduced in 2014 and has been under fire for most of those years, particularly the infamous 2015 Higher Mathematics Paper 2 (BBC News; 2015).
Now 7 years later, the OECD has proposed National 5’s (equivalent to GSCE) could be replaced with a School Graduation Certificate, meaning a pupil could go through school without sitting no formal exams.
Whatever happens, it is important not to rush into any new policy initiatives. Too often education suffers because of headlines and politician rhetoric and as a result short term policies are implemented only to be deemed unsatisfactory a few years later. A major overhaul in assessment cannot and (hopefully) won’t happen overnight because if the government doesn’t get this right, we all suffer.
Welcome to the 21st century! Here we discuss how to use google forms.
Today, search engines have replaced yellow pages. TV and cinema halls have been replaced by Netflix and YouTube.
Magazines have become blogs. And your classrooms have given way to Google classrooms offering teachers a wide array of online tools to enhance learning.
Also, project files have now become PDF files. Classroom presentations through a projector are now done on Meet classes with the ‘Present Screen’ option.
There is no blackboard anymore; the interactive Whiteboard or Jamboard has taken its place.
While a lot of aspects of the modern online learning method are making lives simpler for students and teachers, there is a lot that still requires a little getting used to. Especially for teachers who have spent years teaching via traditional formats, the mixed learning models are challenging.
But just like everything else, Google has a free, functional (and fun!) tool for making life simpler for teachers – Google Forms.
By now, most teachers have learned and mastered the art of creating simple Google forms surveys and Google Forms quizzes.
So, in this piece, we will be showing you three cool, creative, and useful ways to make the most of Google Forms for your lessons, no matter what you teach.
Digital education sessions don’t have to be bland and boring. By following just a few simple steps you can add a gamification element to your class.
So, here’s what you need to do.
While creating the Google Form, click on the three dots as shown below:
Select the option as shown:
You’ll now get an option to select what happens based on what answer your students select.
Choose from the options to decide what happens based on the answers:
With that, you can set up logic branching in your Google forms. And once you know how to set it up, the sky is the limit as to how you can possibly use it in class.
Some ideas to get you started:
In a comprehension-based test, students that answer a question correctly are directed to the next question and the ones who answer incorrectly are taken back to the reference text. This will give them a hint to read the passage carefully and attempt the question again.
You can use logic branching to suggest books and give out reading recommendations to students. Based on which authors the students have read before and what genres they like, you can suggest books to your literature students. Or based on which questions your students get right or wrong, you can take them to sections suggesting which chapters they should be re-reading.
Another fun use of logic branching could be to create an escape room through Google Forms. You can send out a list of hints and clues to your students and based on those they will have to figure out a set of codes. Upon entering the right code in the Google Form, the students will be allowed to submit the form and they’ll know they understood your hints and cues. The students who enter the wrong code, meaning they couldn’t crack the hints, will be shown an error message that tells them to think harder and try again.
If you want to use Google Forms to create surveys for students, parents, or colleagues, you can watch this video tutorial:
2. Use Google Forms for attendance tracking (foolproof strategy)
It gets tough to keep a track of which student attended the class and who didn’t. Also, the smart students of the 21st century often have multiple tricks under their sleeves with which they try to get attendance for even the classes they haven’t attended.
But with Google Forms (and using it with Google Sheets), you can capture the actual student attendance in any class.
Here is how you can use Google Forms to create a foolproof attendance sheet.
Start by creating a simple form that requires students to enter their names and the date for which they are marking their attendance. (Don’t forget to make it a requirement to enter the name to be able to submit the form.
You can change the format of the date question to ‘Date’ from the drop-down menu.
Your Google form will look something like this:
After creating a Google form, click on the Excel icon in the ‘Responses’ tab
You can now either choose to create a new Google Excel sheet to add an existing sheet where the attendance records will be collected.
Now, when you get the responses from the students, all you must do is go to the Google Excel sheet, and there you’ll be able to see a list of all the students who attended the class and filled the attendance sheet after class.
However, the best part is that in the first column of the sheet, you can see the timestamp of when the form was filled.
So even if students try to show that they attended the class on 23rd or 24th October by submitting an entry for it on 29th October, you’ll know exactly when the entry was made.
And when you see students entering incorrect dates in the attendance records you can send them a warning email to mend their ways and actually attend their class.
This cool little way to keep students under check will sure earn you the title of ‘tech-forward teacher’ in your class. Watch the video tutorial below for more guidance:
3. Collect Lab Data with Google Forms
Science lab sessions are fun. Collecting data is not.
Google Forms has this really cool feature that lets you see a summary of the data that you have collected through the forms.
So, when you have a Science Lab or STEM session, make sure you ask the students to input their findings in a Google Form. And when everyone is done submitting the responses, you’ll automatically see the numerical results in a graphical form.
This not just helps you get processed data but also ensures that you have a proper record of who did what and how in the lab.
More useful tips and tricks for using Google Forms:
Want to know when students submit their forms? Keep the ‘Get an email notification for new responses’ option checked.
You can see this option upon clicking the three dots in the top right corner of the Response tab.
Check the ‘Limit to one response’ option to prevent students from taking the test/quiz/survey multiple times. The option is available in the Settings tab:
Use the toggle to activate the 1 response limit.
While it is common knowledge that you can share the Google form via a link or an email, know that you can also use it on a website or landing page.
Click on the ‘Send’ option
Go to the third section
Click on ‘Copy’ to copy the code and then paste it into the code editor of the webpage where you want to see your Google Form.
Want students to answer a question based on their understanding of a video? You can also add a YouTube link directly to your Google form.
Click on the icon shown in the image below.
It will then give you an option to add a YouTube video which will then be embedded into your Google form. It will look something like this:
The video will be played in the form itself, which is safer as students will not be taken to YouTube where they may be exposed to content that is not relevant or suitable.
With that, it’s a wrap on the best ways for teachers to use Google Forms in a unique way. And surely you will come up with even more creative ideas so get in touch with us if you’d like to share them via our UK Education blog.
The entire education market has been impacted since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, and private schools are no exception. Here we discuss what private schools can do to improve attendance after pandemic.
There are thousands of private schools in the UK currently, and as parents struggle financially and consider cutting down on fees to save money, the market will be more competitive than ever before throughout the remainder of 2021 and further into the future.
If you’re managing or supporting a private school, then you’ll understand the importance of being proactive during these uncertain and challenging times.
To help, we’ve put together some practical ways that your school can work to improve attendance and boost its income over the years to come.
This list isn’t exhaustive, but it should help you to identify ways that you can boost enrolment and help to keep existing pupils at your school throughout their educational lives.
Your school’s website is the first thing that any prospective student’s parents will see, so it needs to be perfect. It should provide all of the information that they require and be easy to navigate. You also need to consider SEO- by creating a website that runs correctly and meets search engine requirements, you can reach your target audience and show them that your school is a viable option for their child. Concept4 offers specialist school website design that could help you to improve your digital marketing and entice new parents to see your school as a viable option for their children.
Offer A Payment Plan
Many parents will now be facing financial hardships that they’ve perhaps never encountered before. As such, having a robust and flexible payment plan could be the ideal way to set your private school apart from the competition. Consider setting up a payment plan page on your website offering parents the chance to create customised plans that work for them. Make sure that you and your administrative team are vigilant and work closely with parents to ensure that fees are paid in a timely manner according to the terms of the payment plan. Private schools can also offer scholarships and bursaries to support families financially and there are different ways to apply for them.
Provide A Wider Array Of Classes
Offering a wide range of classes that can be used to supplement the curriculum and offer pupils new skills through an additional language, sports, or music classes, could be an ideal way for your private school to stand out from the rest. To offer these classes, you will need to attract the very highest caliber of teaching staff, including international teachers. Currently, private school teaching salaries are exceptionally high, with many teachers paid more than £100,000 per year. As such, you need to make sure that you find the best teachers and that you advertise their skills to show prospective pupil’s parents the variety of classes that you have to offer. All staff with their degrees and additional skills should be portrayed with an image on your school’s website. Any outstanding achievements or awards could also be listed.
Promote Your School’s Alumni
Current and former pupils can be a valuable asset to your school’s enrolment drives, as their achievements can be used to highlight the school’s dedication to excellence. Use their achievements to promote your school by including them on your website and in any other promotional materials that you offer, such as brochures and email newsletters. As the saying goes, a picture says a thousand words, so include images as well as statements to make a bigger impact on potential paying parents.
Running an independent school can be an expensive endeavour, and as such you have to make sure that your fees reflect this and that you achieve the enrolment numbers that you need to fund your work. Use these tips to boost your private school’s success after the Covid-19 pandemic over the coming years, no matter what happens.
This is one of the booming careers in the health care world. The demand for health care will never seize. Doctors need an extra hand while attending to patients, thus the need for physician assistants.
They take full responsibility to examine, diagnose and treat patients. In other situations, they may take up the role of physicians in their absence. The expected growth rate is 37%. Median pay was $108.610 per year according to the BLS in 2018.
Nursepractitioner
Nurses play a crucial role in the medical system; that’s why it’s among the fastest-growing jobs. They often advance in practicing nurse and can take up some duties performed by the doctor. Nurses often create patient’s care plan, complete physical examination, order diagnostics tests as well as analyse results, among other responsibilities. For registered nurses looking to further their career and expand their scope of practice, an RN to NP bridge program can offer a streamlined path to becoming a nurse practitioner, enabling them to take on even greater responsibilities within the healthcare team.
To become a nurse, you can undergo vocational training. It will assist you to get the relevant skills as well as an internship. Upon completion, you get a licence to become a practitioner. The expected job growth rate is 36% while the median pay per year is $107.030 (see reference link in previous paragraph).
Software application developer
Here is another field with excellent job opportunities that have the potential or increasing earnings. According to BLS, the expected growth rate is 31%. That’s not all. The median pay is $103.620 per year. Pursuing a career in software application development will enable you to create software products and implementing them.
Various industries need software systems to ensure smooth running. The demand for these specialists is quite massive, ranging from computer system designers, software publishers to manufacturers, among others. Upon completion of training, you are a hotcake in the IT departments within large corporations, government agencies as well as private institutions.
Mathematicians
If you love crunching numbers this is the career path to take. The expected growth rate is 30% and the annual median pay is $101.900 according to the bureau of labor statistics in 2018. Mathematics principles are essential in analyzing data as well as addressing issues that affect the economy. By going through various formulas and theories, one can get a better understanding of probabilities that affect the society
These fastest-growing career opportunities should be considered if you want to stand a chance of securing a job upon training. Always contemplate these are the most promising careers in the US due to the demand that’s predicted in the near future.
You should search online and note which career is your best choice. Career counsellors come in handy when you find yourself stuck between which career paths to follow.
Coding is the future. This is why here are some tips to learn coding.
You might not be aware of it, but modern living is built upon coding, from the apps and online games you use on your smartphone to the Internet of Things to electric cars.
And by the looks of it, coding will not go away like some passing trend. Wouldn’t it be nice if your child becomes a part of that future?
According to various studies and statistics, there is a shortage of professionals who are well-versed in coding in the UK. Worse, that shortage is seen to linger for a long time. But for every setback, there’s an opportunity – children who learn how to code have a leg up over those who did not acquire this valuable skill later in life when they enter the workforce.
Coding is now being taught in most British schools as part of the English national curriculum starting at primary school. However, at times schools lack adequate resources and well-trained staff to teach the best and most advanced coding skills.
What are the reasons for the importance of children learning to code?
According to Software Academy, one of the UK’s leading coding course providers, there are plenty of reasons why young kids should learn to code, apart from lucrative career opportunities waiting for them.
1. Your child learns to be a better problem solver
In work and life, a problem solver has a distinct edge over their peers.
When a young child learns how to code, they understand that the problem at hand can be approached using different perspectives.
Apart from that, when a program is stripped down, they’ll see that the code can be modified or even improved.
More importantly, your child can become more confident in solving problems, knowing full well that they can find an optimal solution with patience and creativity.
2. Your child learns to accept failures more graciously
As you grow older, you learn to accept that failures are part and parcel of life. But to a young kid, trying your best but ending in failure can be frustrating.
One great thing about learning how to code is your little one learns to accept failures more graciously. That means that instead of moping or getting angry, the better approach would be to revisit that problem and try new things.
3. Your child learns to embrace their creativity
More often than not, solving a problem entails trying new approaches and experimenting with new methods. If one thing is not providing the expected results, what’s the sense of using it over and over again.
Coding can help your child to develop and embrace their innate creativity. By fostering an open environment where young people can try new things without being reprimanded or curtailed, they build confidence in and out of the computer room.
5 best ways to encourage your kid to learn to code
Now that you know a few of the benefits of learning to code, the next order of business is convincing your little one to give coding classes a try.
Some kids will warm up to the idea without much resistance, driven by their love of technology. Others may be hesitant or downright hate the idea of going to coding classes.
If your child belongs to the latter camp, there are a few things you can do to motivate them to try coding tutorials. Listed here are a few helpful tips.
1. Make it about creativity
Your little one might be hesitant to enrol in a coding course because they think it’s all about science and math.
While they’re not entirely wrong, coding goes beyond those core subjects. At the core of the subject matter is creation, including games and apps. Emphasize that coding is for everyone to learn and enjoy. More importantly, tell your young ones that they’ll get to create loads of cool stuff.
2. Let them try it
Another way to gently nudge your kid to learn to code is to try different computing online courses, or online games and apps, some of which are free. These can give them a glimpse of what’s in store for them should they wish to try coding tutorials more extensively.
3. Take your child’s interests into account
Perhaps you’re having difficulty convincing your child to learn to code because you’ve been emphasizing writing codes.
The great thing about coding is that it can be used in various interesting fields, including web development, designing games, and animation.
4. Enlist the help of their peers
It can become easier for your child to give coding classes a try if they know that their siblings and friends are also interested to learn. Having people around them, that share the same love for coding will help sustain their interest.
5. Encourage problem-solving
Although coding allows people to produce cool stuff, at its heart, it’s all about the joy of solving a knotty issue.
To entice your kid to appreciate and love coding, it would be helpful to present them with opportunities for problem-solving constantly.
It can be as easy as providing them with puzzles or encouraging them to experiment and try new approaches. Free online games like Solitaire may not immediately strike you as a coding activity, however, they encourage problem-solving and creative thinking skills that are a precursor for coding, plus children apply computer skills too while playing.
Learning how to code means investing in your kid’s future
As a parent, you want to give your precious child everything they need for a brighter future.
And although some kids might not want to pursue a career related to coding, the benefits that they get from learning to code can help them find success in various aspects of their lives, now and beyond. Because understanding the building blocks of what we use every day such as smartphones and computers, can greatly help them to be safer online and use digital devices with more confidence.
Although scrapping exams may seem attractive to pupils and markers, there are many questions surrounding alternative forms of assessment.
Select the option as shown:
You’ll now get an option to select what happens based on what answer your students select.
Choose from the options to decide what happens based on the answers:
With that, you can set up logic branching in your Google forms. And once you know how to set it up, the sky is the limit as to how you can possibly use it in class.
Your Google form will look something like this:
After creating a Google form, click on the Excel icon in the ‘Responses’ tab
You can now either choose to create a new Google Excel sheet to add an existing sheet where the attendance records will be collected.
So even if students try to show that they attended the class on 23rd or 24th October by submitting an entry for it on 29th October, you’ll know exactly when the entry was made.
You can see this option upon clicking the three dots in the top right corner of the Response tab.
Use the toggle to activate the 1 response limit.
It will then give you an option to add a YouTube video which will then be embedded into your Google form. It will look something like this:
The video will be played in the form itself, which is safer as students will not be taken to YouTube where they may be exposed to content that is not relevant or suitable.
never seize. Doctors need an extra hand while attending to patients, thus the need for physician assistants.
. They often advance in practicing nurse and can take up some duties performed by the doctor. Nurses often create patient’s care plan, complete physical examination, order diagnostics tests as well as analyse results, among other responsibilities. For registered nurses looking to further their career and expand their scope of practice, an 
earnings. According to BLS, the expected growth rate is 31%. That’s not all. The 
and the 
