School Science
In response to the growing concern that 'personal belief' is creeping into science teaching in the form of ostensibly reasonable discussions of ethics and epistemology, some science professionals have called for a more positivistic, evidence-based teaching methodology. In parallel with this there is an effort to avoid teaching styles that might perpetuate an image of science as a dry, boring subject. From September 2006, all UK GCSE courses are changing to offer a different set of options depending on your exam board, and it seems likely that some weary teachers will opt for whatever seems closest to what they do already. Joining Liz Barclay to talk about science teaching in schools is James Williams, Lecturer in Science Education at the University of Sussex and Darren Warner Swan, Head of Science at Peacehaven Community School in East Sussex
Truckspeak
Language has always been a problem for long-distance truck-drivers, who might need to speak as many as four languages on a single trip across Europe - and then the next week three more. With European funding, a team at Canterbury Christ Church University College have come up with an answer in the form of Truckspeak - a booklet of simple words and phrases designed for HGV drivers. Truckspeak is so well liked that Eurotunnel alone has bought 8,000 copies of Truckspeak to distribute to truckers using its freight service, and the team are now expanding the idea into an audio language learning course for use in the trucker's cab. Reporter Sara Parker went over to France in the cab of trucker Tony Ruiz , meeting up with Pam Tipping of Christ Church University College and John Faulkner chair of ICT Logistics .
Governors
A recent poll of teachers has questioned the usefulness of school governors and called for compulsory training which the majority of governors agree would make their Governing Body more effective. How will things change with the introduction of the new Education Bill? Joining Liz Barclay tonight to run through some facts and possibilities about our 300,000 plus voluntary school governors, we have Judith Bennett, chair of the national governors association and education consultant Fiona Carnie, who was Project Leader of a pilot for the Department for Education and Skills about parent councils, which will form an integral part of the new Trust schools, if the Education Bill is passed in its current form.
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