Educational Issues for Primary school - PGCE Interview

Hi! I've got an interview next week which I'm really excited for however I'm really nervous about the whole 'Educational Issues' side of my interview particularly as it is a group interview!

I would really appreciate any advice on this topic and what I should discuss, or any online articles I should look at?

Reply 1

bellylaugh

5

Original post by Rachel1111

Hi! I've got an interview next week which I'm really excited for however I'm really nervous about the whole 'Educational Issues' side of my interview particularly as it is a group interview!

I would really appreciate any advice on this topic and what I should discuss, or any online articles I should look at?

Get onto the TES website (Times Educational Supplement) and read through some articles on there. There are a number of key issues in Primary education at the moment, one of which is the removal of assessment levels. Michael Gove (previous Education Minister) abolished the levels system that schools had been using for years. Now each school gets to decide how they assess their children.

British Values/Prevent strategy might be worth reading too. Other discussion issues that might pop up: failing schools forced to become academies, new national tests possibly being introduced, new College of Teaching etc.

Reply 2

Rachel1111

OP

2

Original post by bellylaugh

Get onto the TES website (Times Educational Supplement) and read through some articles on there. There are a number of key issues in Primary education at the moment, one of which is the removal of assessment levels. Michael Gove (previous Education Minister) abolished the levels system that schools had been using for years. Now each school gets to decide how they assess their children.

British Values/Prevent strategy might be worth reading too. Other discussion issues that might pop up: failing schools forced to become academies, new national tests possibly being introduced, new College of Teaching etc.

Thank you! :smile:

Reply 3

Dominique95

2

Original post by Rachel1111

Hi! I've got an interview next week which I'm really excited for however I'm really nervous about the whole 'Educational Issues' side of my interview particularly as it is a group interview!

I would really appreciate any advice on this topic and what I should discuss, or any online articles I should look at?

The other reply is good, TES is really useful. I'd also suggest looking on The Guardian's 'Education' section online and reading through a few things.

Issues that I can think of:
*Summer babies struggling as they can be almost a whole year younger than the oldest kids in their class. One article looks at research done in Denmark where kids start school at 6/7 years old and apparently it does them a lot of good in various ways.
*Arts being undervalued in education - STEM subjects seem to be considered more important but not all kids are good at/interested in them.
*SEN inclusion - Lots of pros and cons here and there's an article on The Guardian's website about it (I can't remember the title, sorry!)
*SATs for year twos putting undue stress on them at such a young age - it has been proposed that these should be introduced for even younger children.
*Class sizes

Reply 4

Rachel1111

OP

2

Original post by Dominique95

The other reply is good, TES is really useful. I'd also suggest looking on The Guardian's 'Education' section online and reading through a few things.

Issues that I can think of:
*Summer babies struggling as they can be almost a whole year younger than the oldest kids in their class. One article looks at research done in Denmark where kids start school at 6/7 years old and apparently it does them a lot of good in various ways.
*Arts being undervalued in education - STEM subjects seem to be considered more important but not all kids are good at/interested in them.
*SEN inclusion - Lots of pros and cons here and there's an article on The Guardian's website about it (I can't remember the title, sorry!)
*SATs for year twos putting undue stress on them at such a young age - it has been proposed that these should be introduced for even younger children.
*Class sizes

Thank you! Both yours and the other response has really helped :smile:

Reply 5

candyflossgirl

7

Hi I would just like to say that in Denmark you start in school the summer after you've turned 5. This means that if you are born in 1999, everyone in the year group will be born in the same year. Starting at a later age is good because the children have time to play and develop their minds and getting the ready to learn. I live in Denmark for 15 years (now 16) so if you want to ask me anything about their system you can