There is a great deal happening at the moment, both nationally and internationally in regards to the development of mantle of expert and education in general. Very soon, possibly as soon as May, there is going to be a general election. Inevitably education is going to be high on the agenda of all the political parties and we hope whoever wins they will continue the movement towards integrated learning and the focus on the importance of speaking and listening.

We welcome the publication of the new primary curriculum, in particular the emphasis on developing the skills of literacy, numeracy and ICT across the curriculum and the conception of learning as a process of developing meaning and understanding…

18th June 2010: This conference will be of interest to school leaders, class teachers, governors, advisers and others engaged in creating meaningful, relevant and challenging educational experiences for children.

The day will be a rare opportunity to participate in a guided discussion with colleagues, experts and children on the future of education and the challenges and opportunities created by the publication of the new primary curriculum due for implementation in September 2011.

Super Seminars (www.superseminars.co.uk) is a new approach to professional and school development, especially for Heads, Senior Managers and Curriculum Coordinators. 17 leaders in their curriculum fields have agreed to give presentations tailored to the specific concerns of seminar delegates including Curriculum Purpose and Design, Critical and Creative Thinking, Learning to Learn, PLTS, Philosophy with Children, and many more at the forefront of curriculum development.

Call for Papers & Proposals
WCCES (World Council of Comparative Education Societies)
XIV World Congress
Bordering, Re-Bordering and New Possibilities in Education and Society
Bogazici University, Istanbul, 14th – 18th June 2010

We have started the process of digitising the Heathcote Archive housed at Manchester Metropolitan University. The archive is a collection of papers, books and resources collected by Dorothy Heathcote during her long career as a teacher and academic at Newcastle University. It includes many articles written by Heathcote and her students, as well as academic dissertations for MED, M-PHIL and PHD. There is also a large library of video material.
Some of the papers are notes written by Heathcote from the very earliest days of the development of mantle of the expert. Although some of these are now in less than perfect condition they will be of great interest to students of Prof. Heathcote and her mantle of the expert approach.
As a beginning we have digitised and uploaded 28 papers.

This project in Kent involves 22 schools from the north of the county. It runs from November 18th, 2009 until June 16th, 2010.

The Project timetable contains:

An Induction Day – November 18th, 2009
Demo Day 1. An in-school demonstration and seminar day for each network during the week of March 9-12, 2010
Training Day – March 16th, 2010
Demo Day 2. The second in-school demonstration and seminar day during the week of April 20 – 23, 2010
Demo Day 3. The third in-school demonstration and seminar day during the week of June 8 – 11, 2010
Project End and Dissemination Day – June 15th, 2010

Dear Colleages
This is a message from the NUT inviting teachers, parents and other concerned people to sign a petition calling for an end to SATs. Please follow the link below to add your name and pass the petition on to anyone else you think might want to sign. Thank you.

Over 15,000 people have added [...]

FAQ: Can you please clarify the qualification process for the Advanced Course. Do I have to do the qualification(s)? How much would it cost if I did? And how would I go about registering?
ANSWER: Here is an outline some of the ways you can think through any certificated routes, but only if you want to [...]

Assessment in Schools – Fit For Purpose
A Commentary by the Teaching and Learning Research Programme
MoE editors note: This article is highly relevant to the MoE community as it focuses in depth on the formative nature of teaching for learning and castigates in no uncertain terms policy makers who have hijacked the name of Assessment [...]

Within the last month the 21st Century Learning Initiative has issued a Briefing Paper for Parliamentarians on the design faults at the heart of English education. Initially this has gone to all Members of Parliament and is now being progressively distributed to headteachers, governors, professional associations, political think tanks and community leaders…