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EdTechX Speaker Interview with the CEO of Code First Girls: Female Coders build Inclusive Technology for all

By
Manuela Willbold
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edtechx-speaker-interview-ceo-code-first-girls
The UK Education Blog was excited to meet with the CEO of Code First Girls, Ms. Anna Brailsford, who also held a talk at the summit titled “How EdTech is solving the Tech Gender Crisis” here are some of our inquisitive questions she answered.

edtechx-speaker-interview-with-the-CEO-of-Code-First-Girls

1. Do female students learn coding differently from male students or do you use specific teaching methodologies for female students?

“I wouldn’t say that female students learn differently or need different teaching compared to men but as we only teach women aged 18+ or non-binary people at Code First Girls I could not really make this comparison and I think it’s more about the individual and their learning style. However, what stands out from the work we do is that our students enjoy learning in a team or as part of a community.”

“We have now taught coding to over 70,000 women and all learning is project-based. This means that while our students learn to code they already work with a company in a dedicated team and experience exactly how it is to work as a coder. 55% of our students are fresh graduates or still studying at university and for them, it’s great to learn not just in theory but also hands-on. We have trained more women how to code than the entire UK university system as we work with 90 employers and over 50 universities UK-wide. Students are also mentored by the organisation they work with and we also offer lots of additional learning support.”

2. How can EdTech contribute to building more inclusive technology?

“By training more women to code we influence the tech industry. Our graduates have many options entering into tech with possible tech roles available such as software engineering, product design, full-stack development, cybersecurity, or machine learning. This in turn leads to more technology available in the market being created, developed, or designed by women, making it more inclusive. Many of these tech roles offer salaries above the average income and with 35% of our students being the first generation to attend university in their family or 27% have been eligible for free school meals at school learning to code offers them great opportunities to enter into this industry, making it more diverse, especially as over 55% are from underrepresented ethnicities.”

3. What are the challenges for female students learning to code?

“Many are unsure whether coding is for them initially or whether they could be employed in this industry. And obviously, expenses for learning to code are a hurdle. That’s why all our coding courses are flexible and free and we have experienced coding instructors that work full-time but offer their support. Some of them used to be our students and want to give back to our community. We offer short courses or refreshers for beginners over 8 weeks as well as intensive courses over 14 weeks and many can be completed virtually in the evening for example. So, if women have childcare duties, they can still access our courses when it’s possible for them. Because we offer sponsored course placements, we enable women on lower incomes to enter into coding and eventually switch careers. We have around 41% of students that are career switchers.”

4. Does Code For Girls also teach students about data protection – a hot topic at EdTechX?

“Yes, data protection and data privacy in line with current legislation such as GDPR is part of the training courses, because students work with companies and mentors who share best practices and how to implement this in their work as coders, developers, or engineers. As I said, all learning is project-based so students will be faced with such topics throughout the training. And cybersecurity is one possible career path so if students were interested in specialising in this field, they could.”

5. Can you share any career paths that Code For Girls graduates take?

“On our website we share different CFG member stories and testimonials. Generally speaking, we have women switching careers for various reasons, e.g. the pandemic or personal reasons such as starting a family. Because we offer different courses, women can choose what works best for them in terms of working towards their goals. Say a woman has a degree or a job in advertising and wants to expand her skillset with coding, she has many more options in the current job market such as front end engineering. With her new skills she can work in advertising, but also publish and design content on a website for example. So, our courses can help students refine and specialise in their existing careers or enter into a new career where their previous experience is also sought after.” 

Ms. Anna Brailsford is also a Board Member of the Institute of Coding, and you can find more success stories from the CFG community here.

We thank her for her time and insightful answers.

Campus Advisor announces the 20 best Countries in the World for Higher Education in 2022 with UK in 2nd Place

By
UK Education News Publisher
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top-20-countries-with-best-education-system-in-the-world

TheCampusAdvisor.com is a global student review website that allows users to rate and review their university, academic staff, campus facilities, accommodation, as well as much more relating to their experiences of life at university!

Over the past year, we’ve also surveyed 17,824 students about the countries where they received their higher education degrees. The survey considered a range of factors including Quality of Education, Cost of Living as a Student, Graduate Career Prospects, Student Diversity, Social Life, and Arts & Culture.

The scores each of these categories received were used to determine the overall rankings.

We’re delighted to now reveal the 20 best countries in the world for higher education in 2022, determined entirely based on those ratings submitted by students! Here’s the link to the published rankings: https://www.thecampusadvisor.com/best-of/20-Best-Countries-in-the-World-for-Higher-Education-2022/Ranking/104.

In summary, the top 20 countries in the world for higher education in 2022 are

1st – United States
2nd – United Kingdom
3rd – Australia
4th – Germany
5th – Ireland
6th – Switzerland
7th – Canada
8th – Denmark
9th – Netherlands
10th – France
11th – Japan
12th – Czech Republic
13th – Austria
14th – Singapore
15th – Sweden
16th – New Zealand
17th – South Korea
18th – Portugal
19th – Belgium
20th – Malaysia

Across 6 categories, the United Kingdom achieved an overall score of 4.51 out of 5.

The categories that the United Kingdom scored best in were ‘Student Diversity’ with a score of 4.8 out of 5 and ‘Graduate Career Prospects’ with a score of 4.83 out of 5.

With a score of 4.83 out of 5, the United Kingdom ranks 1st in the world in 2022 for ‘Graduate Career Prospects’.

Here’s the full breakdown of the rating scores from 1 to 5 for the United Kingdom

Quality of Education: 4.79

Cost of Living as a Student: 3.54

Graduate Career Prospects: 4.83

Student Diversity: 4.8

Social Life: 4.59

Arts & Culture: 4.53

These are the top 3 countries in the world for each of the categories

The top 3 countries in the world for Quality of Education are:

1st – United States

2nd – United Kingdom

3rd – Switzerland

The top 3 countries in the world for Cost of Living as a Student are:

Joint 1st – Czech Republic

Joint 1st – Portugal

3rd – Australia

The top 3 countries in the world for Graduate Career Prospects are:

1st – United Kingdom

2nd – Denmark

3rd – United States

The top 3 countries in the world for Student Diversity are:

1st – Switzerland

2nd – United States

3rd – United Kingdom

The top 3 countries in the world for Social Scene are:

1st – Australia

2nd – Canada

3rd – Germany

The top 3 countries in the world for Arts & Culture are:

1st – Ireland

2nd – Germany

3rd – United States

The overall mission of ranking the best countries in the world for higher education is to help future students to make a more informed decision about what university will be the best fit for them and allow students to better prepare for the next chapter in their life.

– Ends –

Two-thirds of English schools are taking steps to be more sustainable by 2024 says new Pearson School Report

By
UK Education News Publisher
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Education-for-sustainable-development-report-by-Pearson School
Sustainable schools: A new in-depth study compiled by the leading digital media learning company, Pearson, explores the environmental, economic, and social activities taking place in the country’s schools – from ‘going green’ to future-proofing a curriculum with wellbeing and life skills at its core.

More than six in 10 headteachers (65%) are taking steps to be a more sustainable and eco-friendly school in the next two years, and a half (47%) are planning to teach climate change, according to the findings, released today.

The Pearson School Report: Schools Today, Schools Tomorrow – Views on education in England – 2022 and beyond, presents the views of more than 6,500 educators surveyed in English schools and sheds light on the impact of world events on classrooms across the country, as well as how education can be evolved to best serve learners this year and beyond.

It explores teacher insights on the future of education, school communities, and the national curriculum while considering core environmental, economic, and social elements; the key pillars of sustainability.

The release of Pearson’s School Report follows recent research by the UK body Public First, in which 50% of parents reported that climate change was the most important issue to their children.

Almost half of all teachers (48%) have seen an increase in awareness amongst pupils around sustainability and the environment over the past year, yet six in 10 (61%) do not think the current education system is developing sustainably-minded, global citizens of the future. Today’s figures suggest that most school leaders are working to meet that need.

Along with an increased focus on climate awareness, teachers responding to Pearson’s survey also expressed their wish to see a greater emphasis in schools on both social equity and supporting pupil mental health and wellbeing.

Two-thirds of teachers want to see core life skills, such as managing finances and communications skills, mental health/wellbeing (60%), social skills (54%) and responsible decision making (48%), incorporated into the national curriculum with as much time and emphasis as core subjects.

Almost half of all teachers (43%) want to see climate change incorporated into the national curriculum with as much time and emphasis as core subjects and a third rank climate awareness as one of the top characteristics that they would like a future national curriculum to develop among their pupils so that they can thrive in 2022 and beyond.

Speaking about the findings, Holly Everett, Education Programme Manager at Reboot the Future, a charitable foundation with a vision of a compassionate and sustainable world, said:

“It’s encouraging to see so many headteachers proactively taking steps towards becoming more sustainable, but it’s also important to highlight the need for a holistic, systems approach to embedding sustainability into schools. Everything is connected; sustainability is inextricably linked with wellbeing, responsible decision-making, life, social and relationship skills, and so each of these issues should be used as themes to weave throughout the curriculum and the school year, rather than addressed in silos.

“There are so many micro-opportunities in the day to engage students in ideas and actions for a better future, from the moment your students walk through the door.”
Headteacher, Sara Davies, of St Bartholomew’s Primary School in London, discusses their school’s existing approach to sustainability:  “As a school, we take a broad, holistic approach to sustainability which includes wellbeing, financial education, the environment, and care for the planet.

“We have wellbeing ambassadors and an eco-council who contribute to our immediate environment and lead on initiatives to support our approach and our Year 6 run our savings bank which is well established, as is our approach to financial education.
“The children and staff acknowledge that every small change, from water consumption to recycling impacts on the big picture, and  through this we are all responsible.”

Sharon Hague, Managing Director, Pearson School Qualifications, said:

“We are committed to supporting schools in their mission to become more sustainable and in helping to shape a future generation of sustainably-minded global citizens. Over the past few years, we have seen in both our project qualifications and wider initiatives like our World Changers competition, that there is a real thirst for driving proactive change in this space. We are excited to build on this passion and are working with key partners in the sector to support schools, students and parents to make education enriching for all learners.”

Other key findings from the Pearson School Report include:

– Eight in 10 teachers feel that pupils’ social and emotional development is as important as their academic development, yet six in 10 teachers spend less than 30 minutes of a working day developing pupils’ social and emotional skills. When asked, more than one in four (27%) stated that they spent no time on this at all

– Almost nine in 10 teachers (88%) thought that all children would benefit from a greater focus on emotional and social skills, particularly those with SEND or from areas of disadvantage

– 37% of heads are planning to embed life skills into their curriculum, whilst 38% plan to build space to explore current affairs, and 46% want to enact positive change in their community

– Almost six in 10 headteachers (56%) are planning to diversify curriculum topics to cover race/gender/disability

In the last year, teachers have seen a rise in pupils’ awareness and anxiety over global issues like global conflict, Covid-19, mental health, and climate change

The five most important characteristics that teachers would like the future national curriculum to develop among their pupils so that they can thrive in 2022 and beyond are:

  • resilience (63%),
  • kindness (61%),
  • self-esteem (61%),
  • tolerance of diverse opinions (58%),
  • and societal and cultural awareness (57%).
  • A third (33%) of teachers want a greater focus on climate awareness

Most teachers (92%) agree that wellness and mental health awareness should be introduced to students in primary school or earlier. Starting this in the early years (pre-school or infants) was a preference for 63% of educators. This aligns with additional School Report findings that show that the funding of a senior mental health lead across all schools was the most supported policy in the government’s recently released Schools White Paper, Opportunity for All (68%)

Three-quarters (73%) of headteachers are planning to embed mental health and wellbeing across the curriculum over the next two years

52% of all educators feel we need a better digital curriculum to prepare learners for an online world.

Speaking about the wider implications of the report, Pearson’s Sharon Hague continued:

“Today’s education system is delivered year on year by one of the most dedicated, compassionate, and vital workforces around – one that not only supports the varying needs of children and young people but also the ever-evolving communities and workplaces of the future.

“We know from this research and our work on the Future of Qualifications and Assessment that there is a desire, and need, for a progressive education system that promotes choice and provides a broad inclusive curriculum. This extends beyond just secondary level, but across all phases and stages of education.”

The full, embargoed report is attached and will be available for download on Thursday 30th June at http://go.pearson.com/SchoolReport2022.

Stay up to date with ongoing research and education news by following Pearson on Twitter @PearsonSchools and on Facebook @PearsonUKSchools.

EdTechX Speaker Interview with Chief Growth Officer at online tutoring platform GoStudent: Customised learning for confident learners and leaders

By
Manuela Willbold
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edtechx-speaker-interview-with-gostudent-chief-growth-officer
The UK Education Blog was excited to meet with the chief growth officer of online tutoring platform GoStudent, Ms. Laura Warnier, who also held a talk at the summit titled ‘Scaling Internationally: Shared Experiences from EdTech Leaders’ and here are some of our curious questions she answered.
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@petraeujanephotography.com

1. What are the key points in education requiring change that you focus on?

“I will give you an example: If you close your eyes and you think about a classroom what do you see? (I answer children at desks in room). If I ask your mum, the same question she will give me the same answer as she will have the same picture in mind. This shows that for years education has not really changed, and it is difficult to bring change about in education as many things remain as they were. A particular problem is that even today the individual student does not come first. Because it’s mandatory for children to attend school, there’s no need to change certain aspects.”

“The second focus is digitization in education and we’re working on making a hybrid model of online and in-person teaching and learning a reality. Through our GoStudent Education Report in 2021 we understood the challenges that arose during the pandemic and the feedback from many students and parents was that they missed the social interactions at school. We also learned that online learning needs improvements in terms of how we work with data to make the experience more customized and that governments differ in terms of their openness towards online learning. Spain had the lowest scores for learning gaps and the highest parental wellbeing index. In comparison countries like Germany scored highly for learning gaps and parental wellbeing was at the bottom. So, the key lies in using the education technology with caution, but effectively to ensure that teachers can do what they do best, which is to better understand and support their students.”

2. How can students worldwide access education to develop their full potential?

“Again, customisation is key here as the focus should be on the individual student and their choice of the learning intensity and the purpose depending on what they want to do later in life. At GoStudent we don’t dictate what students should learn, but the main focus is that they excel at what they learn to develop their full potential. Experimenting with Artificial intelligence helps us with testing and monitoring students’ performance to match them with the ideal learning interests such as hobbies and their learning style. Once we have a good understanding of their profile, we can match them with the most suitable tutor.”

“Because we realised how beneficial it is for the students to study with an online tutor they can connect with and that matches their profile in terms of common interests, personalities etc. Measuring success remains a challenge as this has been mainly established through testing with exams. But what if we can also include measuring happiness? Is it only about getting good grades or actually enjoying the learning experience? When we hear the feedback from parents after a trial online session, saying that for the first time they saw their child smiling after a Mathematics session, we know it truly matters as children don’t lie.”

3. How can digital education contribute to female students across the world developing entrepreneur and leadership skills?

“I think it is down to confidence. Being an entrepreneur is not a skill, but rather a competence and state of mind. It’s about being comfortable with taking risks and being ambitious, which is directly linked to confidence. Especially during the teenage years developing confidence is crucial as social media pressures and learning difficulties can cause certain insecurities and especially among girls this can be seen as they often don’t like to ask questions. So, in the classroom failure should be accepted as learning hence why it’s more about working on competencies than skills. And often female professionals don’t get the recognition as they may be more in the background doing really good work, but not putting themselves out there because they analyse every detail and feel they must be perfect.”

edtechx-speaker-interview-with-gostudent
@petraeujanephotography.com

4. How has technology or EdTech helped you to develop your career?

“To be honest I don’t think EdTech has helped me as I don’t remember using it much at school, only at university mainly. I think what really mattered was my environment and that I was told that education was important. I was expected to succeed at school and pass my exams even though I was able to follow my hobbies in exchange for good school results. Most of the learning at school is closely linked to the relationships and social interactions. I remember playing with older children and acting as their teacher, giving them exercises and I was correcting them. So, I was already showing some leadership and entrepreneurship competencies in those interactions. But the classroom of course gives you the basics in a structured manner.”

5. How do students, education systems and cultures differ around the world and how does GoStudent take this into consideration?

“We see similarities and differences in every country. Online tutoring is something everyone needs worldwide. But markets differ. In Germany for example tutoring is about solving a problem, namely getting better grades at school and this the so-called painkiller approach. So, parents will search for learning support for specific subjects hence why we get a lot of search traffic from Germany throughout the whole year, but even more towards the final exams.”

“In Greece tutoring is considered a normal part of schooling for just a few hours weekly to ensure the students are on the right track and thoroughly understand what is taught at school. So, here the demand is usually higher at the beginning of the academic year and then it decreases. It could therefore be considered more like an added vitamin approach. In Greece many schoolteachers also offer private tutoring. Overall, our message is that online tutoring is something positive and that nobody should be ashamed for using online tutoring. It should be used as a tool to improve a student’s confidence and considered a partner on the learning journey.”

6. What are the challenges of making education globally accessible?

“Obviously being able to teach online improves accessibility globally and makes learning more affordable. But of course, there are still accessibility challenges for the more disadvantaged children, and we don’t have all the answers for this yet as we’re still a young company. We must be profitable, but we are looking into how we can work with other companies or private foundations to get them to invest in the future generations and future leaders. We have acquired Seneca Learning, which is a tool that provides content for teachers and students. With the help of basic AI we experiment with users can go through questions related to their topics of study. It’s a freemium so users can access the free version and then if they pay 5 Euros a month, they have access to the full service. This is much more affordable while still offering high-quality education.”

edtechx-speaker-interview
@petraeujanephotography.com
Ms. Laura Warnier referred to the GoStudent Education Report in 2021 in this interview and some interesting key findings can be found here that we touched on.
gostudent-education-report-research-findings
https://educationreport.gostudent.org/static/images/educational_reports/GoStudent%20Educational%20Report%202021.pdf
gostudent-education-report-research-findings
https://educationreport.gostudent.org/static/images/educational_reports/GoStudent%20Educational%20Report%202021.pdf
We thank her for her time and insightful answers.

EdTechX Speaker Interview with Head of EC’s Digital Education Unit: Tackling Challenges in Digital Education through open Dialogues

By
Manuela Willbold
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uk-education-blog-at-edtechx-with-head-of-digital-education-european-commission
The UK Education Blog was privileged to meet with the head of the digital education unit in the European Commission (EC), Mr. Georgi Dimitrov, who also held a talk at the EdTechX summit titled “Initiatives to Foster a Digital Education Ecosystem” and here are some of our burning questions he answered.
interview-at-edtechx-with-european-commission-head-of-digital-education
@petraeujanephotography.com

1. How come you are so passionate about digital education and what is your background with regards to this field?

“I have been working with the EC for 14 years and during my first year there I started working in digital education. I thought it could not be that impactful as this was in 2008 and the technology was not that matured yet. So, I focused on innovation policy and then I returned to initiate the Digital Education Action Plan, which I co-developed. It was an attempt to create a conversation around digital education. It was also not as ambitious as it was more like a pilot in the first 3 years. But when the Commissioner president Ursula von der Leyen entered office in 2019, she wanted to do a new digital education action plan and so I took this job to lead its development.”

2. Listening to your talk earlier, you touched on policy and the free market and how they can come together. Could you elaborate on how the EC can help to ensure education standards are met and outcomes are measured and monitored?

“I think it’s about initiating a conversation across two different mindsets. We are here at EdTechX as we’re looking at this globally. You can look at the US and China and you see a completely different picture. So, I think what we are trying to communicate is that any type of digital business would need to adhere to specific principles.”

“We have been proposing specific legislation over the past years such as the “Digital Services Act” and the “Digital Markets Act”, there is also an “AI Act” in the parliament and the council, and I would say these are fundamental principles which would need to be adhered to in the digital economy. Many entrepreneurs in this industry create a software or app with the goal to sell it. I would say that the key issue is not the software development itself, but other underlying factors which are not yet completely clear.”

“The second problem that can be identified is that there is a mismatch between the market and the supplier, and that more regulation and guidance could help, but we see in countries with a lot of autonomy like Estonia and Finland and in the results of PISA that this leads to good outcomes and innovation. So, we have a long-term mission to promote the dialogue between the industry and the policy and we want to allocate specific funding for these purposes, and this would be through Erasmus. Our goal is to see cooperation between national authorities and start-ups or SMEs as well.”

3. How can education providers offer high-quality learning content, user-friendly tools and secure platforms which respect e-privacy rules and ethical standards and how does the EC support them with this endeavour?

“I will say that we’re not there yet. The brief for the next 3 years will be to go into this direction. There are some limited attempts to move into national guidelines, however, there is currently not sufficient pedagogical research to use as a resource. Many member states are asking a lot of questions as they are confronted with all this expansive education technology and we have a well-established quasi standard which is called “Digital Competence Framework”, which was developed in the EC 11 years ago and today it’s well adopted in over 20 member states.”

“This framework underlines digital competence in schools and so on. But whether the software developers try to consider this framework for their products or not is outside of the EC’s control. I would say that education providers may want to use a solution that is in line with our digital competence recommendations, but given that technology changes and advances so quickly, there would need to be more guidance around data privacy and access, the pedagogical implementation and to my best knowledge, this has not happened yet.”

4. Do you have any recommendations for education providers or schools to effectively manage student data privacy etc.?

“This would be more of a member states responsibility and with GDPR in place, they would need to ensure compliance. We would need to go a bit further. We have set up a Commission expert group last year to develop guidelines on the use of Artificial Intelligence and Data in Education, which is aiming to address teachers directly as it’s a more practical document. Our expectation is that our commissioner will present these guidelines this autumn which may provide some orientation.”  

interview-with-georgi-dimitrov-from-european-commission
@petraeujanephotography.com

5. In which ways can the EC ensure that girls and young women are equally represented in digital studies and careers?

“I think that this is a problem of society at large. However, we have a project I am very excited about to raise more awareness. It targets girls aged 14 to 19 years to develop their digital entrepreneurial skills which is called “Girls Go Circular” and here we have essentially an online training programme that focuses on specific areas of interest such as fashion or sustainability. We have offered 7000 slots in 2021 via an online platform which is currently available in 12 languages, and we conduct active outreach in the member states through schools and teachers.”

6. How can families be supported with using education technology at home and with teaching digital skills to ensure learning outcomes are achieved even when students must study from home as seen during the most recent pandemic?

“During our public consultation for the digital education action plan we have received quite revealing information from the public, which we’ve never received before or at least not during my career in this field, which was that around 40% of the respondents were parents, which was a clear indication for us that there is a problem. This issue is very much related to the Covid crisis, and we need to distinguish clearly what we expect from parents as it’s not their job to teach their children in the first place.”

“But it is of course desirable to equip parents with knowledge about data privacy and so forth. So, we are actively talking to parent’s associations at EU level, and they have been quite interested in the work we do. They were particularly interested in the topic “how to tackle disinformation”. Therefore, I would say that we can help to raise awareness of the more horizontal challenges in terms of the civic education process, but we should certainly not ask parents to be teachers.”

7. What can the EC do to help bridge the gap between the different approaches in digital education by member states?

“We must look at general conditions to enable digital education and this is about access to infrastructure, equipment, and teacher training and then there is how each country on a national level wants to develop digital skills by for example teaching computer science. Some member states integrate computer science into other learning areas. What we as a commission are interested in doing is to support the level playing field so that everyone has the same conditions to succeed. Obviously, the challenge lies in technology and policy moving forward in different speeds, but we are on it.”

Mr. Georgi Dimitrov has led the development of the first Digital Education Action Plan adopted in January 2018 and of the new Digital Education Action Plan 2021-2027 that was adopted in September 2020. We thank him for his time and insightful answers.
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@petraeujanephotography.com

 

Charity launches free Schools’ Workshop for Military Children this July

By
UK Education News Publisher
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Little-Troopers-workshops

Military children’s charity Little Troopers is inviting primary schools and their service children to sign-up for a free virtual wellbeing and mindfulness workshop on 7th July.

Part of the Little Troopers at School program, the two-hour workshop will use games, scenarios, drawing, and other fun activities to bring military children together and empower them with positive tools to help them cope with some of the challenges that military life can bring, such as having a parent deployed or moving home and school. Through the session, children will be given the opportunity to share their stories, explore their emotions and learn about mindfulness techniques. All the children will take home a goodie bag including a pack of positive affirmation cards.

Last year, more than 3,500 service children attended a similar workshop run by the charity with schools describing the session as providing “much-needed recognition and support for our forces children” and “a safe space [for children] to share and support each other emotionally, whilst eliciting a sense of pride and community spirit.”

Charity-runs-free-school-workshopsThis year’s workshop has been made possible thanks to generous grants from ABF The Soldier’s Charity, The Royal Navy & Royal Marines Charity, and The Grocers Charity.

Louise Fetigan, founder of Little Troopers comments:

“As the school holidays approach, many military families will be coping with deployment or preparing to move home, so now is the ideal time for schools to bring together their service children, give them some tools to help them through and celebrate what it means to be a ‘little trooper’.
“By running a virtual workshop, our small charity can reach and benefit as many service children as possible and make them feel part of this special network of military children across our Armed Forces community. The children love knowing that they are doing the session at the same time as thousands of other military children just like them and they will finish the session feeling proud of their identity as a forces’ child.”

The workshop is part of the charity’s broader Little Troopers at School program which has been running for four years and provides teachers with practical resources to support their military children in the classroom. More than 1,000 schools are signed up for Little Troopers at School.

For more information and to book a space for the workshop, visit www.littletroopers.net/littletroopersatschool.

5 Last-Minute Exam Tips For A-Levels

By
Shirley Owen
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last-minute-exam-preparation-techniques

We all know that A-level exams can be extremely stressful, especially when one does not feel ready or prepared. But do not worry as our top 5 last-minute A-level exam tips below should help you with feeling positive and confident about your approaching tests.

Ready, steady, go!

1. Selectively go through revision points

selectively-go-through-revision-points-at-last-minute-of-exam

Rather than broadly going over things, we recommend studying several points that are essential to earning all important notes. It is important to use any time you have left to go over these points before the exam, this will quickly jog your memory and refresh any information you may have skipped.

2. Save those hard to remember points for bedtime

Sleep experts claim that going over the most challenging material to remember before bed, although we recommend that you keep it simple and in bite-sized amounts to avoid any stress and restless nights for days ahead of exams.

3. Practice editing essays

practice-editing-essays-for-last-minute-of-exam

As you study for your exams, include a bit of practice with editing essays. Before you take your first exam, locate essays that you have written for mock practice in class or out of them, read over them, and re-write them. On exam day, you will not have time for extensive rewrites of your free response answers, so it is well worth knowing where to focus your energies.

Include this practice in your daily study hour. While you cannot add much information to your store of knowledge at this point, you can improve your exam-taking process. Remember, if you don’t quite get the grades you were expecting retaking exams could be an option.

4. Take it easy between exams

take-it-easy-between-exams

Many students who take exams report feeling worn out after just one – let alone back-to-back exams! Unfortunately, because exams are set by the awarding board, you may face this very situation. If you must complete back-to-back tests, plan to ensure that you will have some quality rest time between exams.

For example, bring music to listen to, and eat a healthy meal (one including complex carbohydrates, protein, and vegetables to nourish your brain). Use your downtime wisely – The specifics of what you do matter less than ensuring that you do not spend the week before your exams tense and anxious.

5. Sleep!

take-some-rest

Our brains are at their best when they are rested. If you sit for an exam while exhausted, you will have a much harder time recalling the information you need to earn the big marks. Exams are designed to assess knowledge and skills that you accumulate over months of study, so frantically reviewing your notes the week before the exam will not help you. You can study an hour or so a day to keep yourself focused and on the topic but avoid working late into the evening.

Hopefully, now you’re ready to face the challenge of the A-level exam for the best A-level results! Good luck!

How to Learn a New Language Fast with 8 TV Show Episodes and Movies?

By
UK Education News Publisher
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0
learn-new-language-with-tv-show-and-movies

Learning a foreign language is always a good idea.

It can help you in many ways especially if you are going abroad or looking for a job.

It will help you to connect more easily with foreigners and open work opportunities abroad.

For learning a foreign language or new language Lingopie App offers a new and entertaining approach with the guarantee to learn your chosen language fast by watching 8 tv show episodes or movies in that language via their app.

Learn-Language-with-TV-Shows-and-MoviesLingopie is an app that is downloadable from the Google play store and Apple store. You can use it on your android, iPhone, and smartwatch too. It gives you the chance to learn new languages even while waiting for the bus, traveling, and wherever you feel like because you can have it on you.

Lingopie uses foreign language videos, movies, and television shows to teach you new languages. It teaches languages with full enjoyment, not like boring school lessons and lectures. While watching something you are interested in, you’ll learn the vocabulary, grammar, and spelling of your target language. You’re being entertained while being taught.

What languages does Lingopie offer to learn?

Lingopie currently offers 8 languages to learn, which are some of the most popular in demand:

  • Spanish
  • Portuguese
  • German
  • French
  • Italian
  • Russian
  • Korean
  • Japanese

How much does it cost to start language learning with Lingopie?

You need to create an account to get access to Lingopie language learning. It gives you 3 options/packages. It is more affordable to go for the annual subscription of $65 compared to the monthly one for $12.

If several people want to learn a new language together, the family package for $99 per year can be used by a maximum of four people.

You can test the app for free during the first 7 days once the account has been created. But you need to link it with your debit card, credit card, or your PayPal account.

How to start learning a new language with Lingopie?

You will be able to find videos and shows in the above-listed languages in the app. You can watch whichever video, movie, or show you want in the suggested order based on your language skills. You can conveniently stop and resume it whenever you want. Make sure to select the desired target language for the videos you watch. The app even provides a guide through which it will help you understand the process of language learning and how you can get started.

The uploaded videos and shows on Lingopie are very interesting and fun for the learner and cover various topic areas. Lingopie has quite a friendly user interface and you can customize your learning journey according to your learning needs.

How to find the shows and videos in the target language on Lingopie?

When you get into the videos browsing section Lingopie asks you for your level of learning such as beginner, intermediate, and advanced. You need to select your level of learning and start browsing. If you are from a country like India, you need to tag India for browsing so it can show you beginner videos through your origin.

If you stop the show or video in between and want to resume it you need to make a save list or a queue of your own videos, otherwise, you need to search it again which will be easily done.

How does Lingopie help to learn a new language?

Lingopie offers you international films, videos, feature films, animated series, and many more. While watching these you will be able to save the videos and the words which you are unfamiliar with will be marked with the translation and meaning of it in your language to make you understand the language better and more effectively. Even unfamiliar words are automatically saved with their meaning for a later appearance in your flashcard if you’d like to review these.

learning-new-language

While watching there will be a script of the dialogues running side by side and if you touch any line from that script, the video will start to play from that line. You can click whichever line you want to jump to.

Here are some additional features that will help you learn your target language faster:

Mashup

learn-a-mashup-from-tv-shows-movies

Lingopie has one more feature, but it is limited to certain videos only. It is a “Mashup” that is used while the video lines are running in English and each line is even translated into your native language. It is a really good way especially for beginners to start with.

Quiz

do-a-quiz-to-learn-a-new-language-fast

Lingopie has a language quiz for you through which you can test your knowledge and understanding by answering the selected questions, depending on your learning level.

Extensive Library

extensive-library-to-learn-a-new-language-fast

Lingopie has an extensive library that has many shows and movies available in the listed languages to help you learn fast and with ease. Especially for their Spanish, Russian, and French language learners, they offer 90 shows in a library that contains thousands of episodes.

Learning Spanish offers different options such as classic Spanish movies, Cool cult TV, Cartoons, Family&Kids, and many more.

Podcast

podcast-for-learn-a-new-language-fast

Lingopie has released podcasts that will help you learn your target language much faster by being immersed and listening to it when you can.

If you use the app regularly, you should be able to learn your new language with just 8 show episodes or movies at a level where you can communicate with it and comprehend it.

The app is very user-friendly and often provides offers for students and teachers, so contact the team inside the app for more information. It is a great place to start learning a new language easily and fast while having fun so check it out at https://www.lingopie.com/.

7 Best Helpful EdTech Tools for Online Educators and Learners

By
Shirley Owen
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0
Best-Helpful-EdTech-Tools-for-Online-Educators-and-Learners

It is a modern era in which smart education is provided to children through online platforms. All the material about every kind of topic is just a single click away as remote learning is increasingly implemented.

Moreover, due to the recent pandemic, online learning platforms have gained popularity. No doubt that these EdTech tools have made education easier and more fun for students.

Best EdTech Tools

There are thousands of educational tools that can facilitate us with our assignments, thesis, and everyday learning tasks.

Let’s have a look at the most famous 7 tools by which you can accelerate your learning and writing.

1. Prepostseo.com

Tools-For-TeachersThe https://www.prepostseo.com/ tool can help online learners in many ways. It is a multifunctional tool that can be used by students, professional writers, and website makers.

For students that are related to the online learning process assignments and projects are always hectic work to do. But for educational purposes, Pre post-offer more than 24 tools that contain different types of rewriters, paraphrasers, summarizers, plagiarism checkers, SEO checkers, etc.

You can generate healthy and error-free content by using these tools. Similarly, if a person is learning about websites he can use the website management tools of Pre-post.

A website developer can check his website content and domain authority with these tools. These tools help in running a detailed website audit that tells about the on-page and off-page SEO ranking of websites.

Moreover, you can enjoy many other tools like OCR and text conversion tools. This is free software and requires a no lengthy installation process. Many of the tools of this software can be used through a mobile app.

2. Editpad.org

Digital-Education-ToolsIt is a famous tool among students that helps make notes and text edits. it is a bundled tool. You can check your notes thoroughly with it.

Firstly you can use it as a grammar checker. Just copy your text and it will remove all the punctuation and grammar mistakes from the text. If you have a rough text you can rephrase it using its paraphrasing tool.

Paraphrasing removes all the errors and difficult terms from the text. Content quality is enhanced multiple times and its readability increases. During the rewrite, it maintains the natural tone of the topic and sentence structure.

To avoid any kind of copyright issues you can also use it as a plagiarism checker. Every kind of copied material along with the sources from which the material has been copied is shown in the result.

This online notepad is free to use for note-taking. The interface is very supportive.in every kind of feature, it tells you about the word count and character count so that you can take check the length of your content.

The two best features of this tool are note-sharing and password protection. The notes that you made on Editpad can be shared with another user. You can also protect your notes on Editpad by setting a password so that no other user can access it.

It is supportive of every file format and is secure to use. This is an accessible tool due to its mobile app.

3. Check-plagiarism.com

Essential-Online-Teaching-ToolsAs the name indicates it is mainly a plagiarism checker. To us, you can upload your file from local storage or can enter the URL if it is a webpage. it will check the plagiarism for you in a second.

Its processing is very advanced and quick due to modern AI technology. It breaks your content into sentences and then checks every sentence for any copied material. If it is found plagiarism indication is given in red. Similarly, unique content is indicated by the green colour.

Along with these indications, a list of the matched source is also provided so that you can compare texts side by side. It is very responsive and supportive. You can check 5 files of different formats in a single check.10000 to 15000 words can be analyzed in a single search.

It is also a bundled tool. You can paraphrase and summarize your text. For assignments, it can help in removing grammar mistakes and citations.

4. Softo.org

Virtual-and-Distance-LearningSofto.org is a professional tool that can help you with your education as well as with your professional writing career. it offers more than 215 tools for free. For education, you can check its paraphraser, rewriter, and summarizer.

All these tools help in enhancing the text quality. By using them you will get to know about your vocabulary and sentence formation mistakes. You will come across a large library of synonyms that help you to increase your vocabulary power.

On the other hand, if you are collecting data from different sources and have written it in the form of a single assignment then you can use its plagiarism checker. With this tool, you will know the exact percentage of plagiarized and unique content.

It also works as an SEO calculator for your websites. During website learning, you have to check its SEO ranking from time to time. These SEO calculators run a free audit on your website marking the search volume and domain authority of it.

5. Quillbot.com

Free-Teaching-ToolsThis paraphraser is a next-level tool. Due to its multi-functionality and diversity, it is very popular among students and teachers.

It adds value and weightage to your content through its seven modes. Content can be made fluent, standard, and creative by these tools. If you want to concise your material you can shorten it similarly you can also expand it.

It gives a proper structure to your broken words and sentences. SEO optimization is also done by this tool. This tool is beneficial for citation and plagiarism. Chrome, Docs, and Word extension are their advanced features.

It has both free and paid versions. Due to its AI algorithm and modern thesaurus usage, it is very helpful for essays and article writing. You can make your projects creative and alive through it. Learning skills can be elevated and error-free content can be produced.

6. 1text.com

Best-EdTech-ToolsThis is a very simplified tool that can be used as a plagiarism and grammar checker in academic writing. Its keen analytical processing makes it unique among other tools.

The plagiarism checker is very sensitive to every type of copied material. It can highlight every single check that has been copied. If your material is paraphrased it will pick up the wrong paraphrased sentences.

On the other hand, its grammar checker is very unique. it picks up all the broken sentences and wrong punctuations from the text. Multiple suggestions are provided to remove these mistakes so that you can choose your preferred one.

It is very sensitive to small errors and provides the results in seconds. You can use it freely without having security issues.

7. Wordai.com

Tools-For-TeachersThis is a very handy tool for students and content writers. it is used for rewriting text. Whenever you write something it may have grammar mistakes. The sentences may have not had a proper structure. All these factors can create confusion in the mind of the reader.

All these problems can be eliminated through this rewriter. it changes the sentence structure very efficiently adding important words to it.in the same word, it removes all the unnecessary words to remove redundancy from the text.

The text quality enhances and originality remains at the point. You can represent your idea in a better way with this tool. The sentences become clearer and more definite. If your text has lengthy sentences it will split into meaningful parts without disturbing the meaning.

You can rewrite a single text about 1000 times. Complete security is given to your content. All the duplicate material is also removed to remain secure from copyright issues.

Conclusion

It is the time for smart education. Most of us use online platforms to gain information about every problem. They are a one-hand solution to everyday problems related to education

Similarly in education teachers and students use online tools that can seep up their teaching and learning processes respectively. Above are the 7 best tools by which you can make your writing clear, expressive, and engaging.

Anyone can use them to boost his career both educationally and professionally.

The Benefits of a Single Sex vs. a Co-Educational School

By
Shirley Owen
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0
Single-Sex-vs.-Co-Ed-Schools

When the time comes to start thinking about options for your child’s schooling, one of your key considerations will probably be whether you would like to send them to a single-sex school or a co-educational one.

There’s no right or wrong answer, as there are pros and cons to each, so the decision will be entirely based on your own preference.

However, we have teamed up with an independent girls’ school in Hertfordshire to share some of the benefits of each to help you make up your mind.

Benefits of Single-Sex Schools

advantages-of-single-sex-schools

It is assumed that boys and girls each have their own set of requirements when it comes to the support they receive.

Essentially, they learn differently and need to be helped in different ways, so it would make sense for them to be taught separately. In single-sex schools, the curriculum can be tailored specifically to the gender of the students in a way that inspires and motivates them to learn. However, those who are pro-co-ed would argue that the differences between the way boys and girls learn are an overstatement because their brains are similar enough to respond well to the same teaching style.

Supporters of single-sex education also claim that these types of schools quash gender boundaries, allowing all children to explore different interests and hobbies without being forced into any particular stereotypes or feeling insecure about trying new things. Boys can explore the arts, for instance, and girls can pursue traditionally male sports. In girls’ schools, students are able to speak out without social consequences, which encourages them to be themselves and develop their personhood without judgment.

Another argument for single-sex education is that, particularly during teenage years when hormones are raging, the opposite sex can be quite the distraction. Segregating between genders limits this distraction so that children are able to focus on their education whilst they’re in the classroom, rather than on their love lives.

Benefits of Co-educational Schools

advantages-of-co-educational-schools

Many people would argue that a single-sex school is not reflective of real life, so, therefore, doesn’t prepare students well enough for the outside world.

To elaborate, a child that has attended an all-boys school might struggle to work well with women when they eventually start pursuing a career, and vice versa. Single-sex schools shelter children in this sense and prevent them from developing their social skills to the fullest extent.

Furthermore, there is the argument that a diverse learning environment can enrich a student’s learning experience because it allows them to challenge one another’s way of thinking and create a sense of balance. In areas where boys typically excel, they will raise the bar for girls and encourage them to excel as well and vice versa.

However, those who are pro-single-sex education would argue that students still have the opportunity to interact with the opposite sex through extra-curricular activities and other personal endeavors.

Final Verdict

So, as you can see, both options have their advantages and disadvantages. If you don’t feel strongly either way, there are plenty of other factors you should consider about the public or private schools in your area that should help you make your decision, like what the curriculum and co-curricular offers, where the school stands in the league tables, and whether or not it feels welcoming and a good fit for your child. Do your research and pay some schools a visit before you make your final decision or arrange a trial for your child.

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