Blog about our Guest Lecturers

16th January 2012

The talking point of today’s lecture with Dr Russell Grigg, was Estyn. The role of Estyn is to visit schools and observe the standard of the educational environment and teaching standards, along with many other areas. Estyn inspect all of the educational institutions in Wales. Estyn also ‘provide advice to the Welsh Assembly Government on quality and standards in education and training in Wales and promote the spread of good practice in education and training.’ Another role of Estyn is to inspect how schools are using their funding, from the local educational authority, to provide resources for the students.

Reference

Estyn (no date) Retrieved 12th April 2012 from: About us, Roles and Remit. http://www.estyn.gov.uk/english/about-us/role-and-remit/

7th January 2012

Today we had a session with Steve Gullick, where he discussed the topic of Health and Safety. We had been given scenario sheets, concerning a school trip. We had to place ourselves within the mindset of a teacher and complete a list of items that would be needed on a day trip and an overnight visit. This list contained registers, parent or carer contact details, consent forms and CRB checks for any adults coming on the trip to help, for a day trip. The overnight stay list consisted of structured schedules for parents or carers so they knew what their child would be experiencing at a particular time, appropriate clothing checklist, student requirements, medication being taken on the trip and extras of this medication incase the child loses it, permission to administer medication and a first aid kit. We were also given a scenario, where we had to be a member of a school governing body and make a decision based on the concern of a parent. I learnt that a risk assessment must be undertaken before the school outing takes place and it must be given to the head to the school before hand. It would be a good idea for a risk assessment to be taken on the trip, so that the teacher or any adult supervisors are aware of where risks could occur. The risk assessment consists of where the hazard could take place, what is it e.g. slip or fall, whether it is a high, medium or low risk and measures to be taken to control the risk.

23rd January 2012

The Department for Education (2011) states:
‘Schools governors have gained an increasing degree of responsibility throughout the past 25 years. Their role has become increasingly important as schools have gained more independence for their management from LAs. The Government has provided the school governing body with responsibility for the financial and staffing management of the school and it should have a key role in setting strategic direction, ensuring accountability and acting as a critical friend to the head teacher.’

Steve Gullick gave today’s lecture on the role that the governing body takes within educational institutions. Within any governing body there are authority, parent, community and staff governors.

Governors will manage the school’s budget, overseeing that the money is spent on things that are needed by the school, for example text books and computers. Another role is to look at who to appoint when looking for new teaching staff and a head teacher. The number of governors can range from nine to twenty, usually for a term of four years and they can run for their position again if they choose to do so.
This lecture was helpful in allowing me to understand the role of governors within schools. I did not know that the governors of schools are in charge of appointing staff members and financial matters. I thought this was solely up to the headmaster. The governors make these decisions with the best interests of the children within the school in mind.

Reference

Department for Education (2011) Retrieved 12th April 2012 from: Research on the role of school governors. http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/leadership/governance/becomingagovernor/b0056633/research-on-the-role-of-school-governors/1-background Retrieved 11th April 2012

22nd February 2012

Graham Allen, the Environmental Manager of Swansea Metropolitan University, took today’s lecture on Education for Sustainable Development. Sustainable development is to do with all the things happening in the world, it is not just concerned with protecting the environment around us. Education for sustainable development is important because it means that learners are understanding the importance of the environment, not only understanding knowledge about curriculum subjects. The global action plan initiated by Rio Summit is there to allow students due their education by taking their own experiences in life into a relevant context. It gives the student the opportunity to develop their own ideas and assessment on sustainable development. A holistic approach should be taken when looking at education for sustainable development, integrating it into the curriculum.

The Welsh Assembly Government (2008) state:
‘Education for Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship (ESDGC) is about the things that we do every day. It is about the big issues in the world - such as climate change, trade, resource and environmental depletion, human rights, conflict and democracy, - and about how they relate to each other and to us. It is about how we treat the earth and how we treat each other, no matter how far apart we live. It is about how we prepare for the future.’

The aim of the Welsh Assembly Government is to bring to light all of these discussion areas, so students learn to understand the importance of each individually and how they can affect everyone else. It is important that students face these topics because they can then look towards improving the environment for the future.
To improve the standard of living in undeveloped areas, funding is needed to improve the standard of education and what resources these areas have access to. One way of bridging the gap between the ‘haves’ and ‘have not’s, used by today’s governments, is the introduction of breakfast club. To ensure that children have a good quality meal before starting school.

Reference

Welsh Assembly Government (2008) Retrieved 14th April 2012 from: Education for Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship. http://wales.gov.uk/docs/dcells/publications/081204infoteachertraineesen.pdf

28th February 2012

Today’s lecture was taken by Mike Day, Swansea Council Cabinet Member for Education. The lecture was about how and why educational policy is used. My understanding of this is that educational policy is a set of standards and guidelines in place within the educational system. The guidelines can be seen by some as restrictive because they do not allow much room to venture from those given. The educational policy is in place to ensure that students are given the opportunity to learn what they need to know for their future, within the curricular content.

Included in educational policy are teaching methods, class size and curricular content. Educational policy is put into practice by the practitioners within the schools and the politicians. The Welsh Government has regulation over higher education in Wales and raising standards in schools. The Welsh Government ended the SATs in primary schools; I think this was a good idea because it does not place pressure on the students at a young age and gives less opportunity for them to be judged on their results, until they are more mature to understand the importance of good marks in education.

20th March 2012

Today’s lecture was given by Alice Davis, South West Wales Reaching Wider Consortium. The lecture was about providing opportunities for students to widen their access, so they can benefit from higher education. The aims of the consortium are to widen the access for student’s from minority groups, to encourage them to go to university. The Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation (2000) found that there was a 10% rise in people from these groups accessing further education. The Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW) aims to ‘improve access to higher education for those with the potential to benefit from it. We encourage Welsh higher education institutions to draw students of all ages from all sections of the community.’ The HEFCW was introduced in 1992; this public body has the ability to fund higher and further educational institutions on Wales. This organisation makes it possible for students from deprived backgrounds to achieve further education because they proving funding for them to have the opportunity to do so.

Reference

The Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (no date) Retrieved 14th April 2012 from: Widening Access. http://www.hefcw.ac.uk/policy_areas/widening_access/widening_access.aspx
Wales International Consortium (no date) Retrieved 14th April 2012 from: Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW). http://www.walesinternationalconsortium.com/stakeholders/hefcw.shtml

Developing Key Skills in ICT & Visual Communication Assignment

The development of my ideas started at friendship. Through this section of my sketchbook I looked at how items in the photographs could inspire my final piece. One of my ideas was to create a flower or bouquet made out of photographs that showed strong emotions about my friendship group. The second idea was to sketch a mirror image of how I see myself and how I feel about where I belong. The next section focuses on a class trip to Athens. The inspiration here was a statue of Leonidas, seen in one of the photos. My idea was to create a helmet or sculpture to signify my sense of safety with my friends. By looking at my photographs of Rome, I felt strongly inspired by the architecture and statues. I thought about making my own scale model of a temple of safety and self reflection. Rome also influenced the idea to create a sculpture. New York City is where my heart truly lives; visiting there took my breath away. The atmosphere is electric and the people are so friendly, that I really felt at home there and this is why I have chosen to base my final piece on America as whole. I felt like I belonged in the USA and my desire to visit more cities inspired me to create my own American flag. I have included a colour test page to show what different colours mean, this helped to influence the colour scheme of my final piece. The artist I looked at was Jasper Johns, he did some work using the American flag. His website is found at: http://www.jasperjohns.com/art.shtml