New grants are being offered to student teachers by the Welsh Government, who hope to attract a greater number of teachers to further educatiol colleges.

A £1,000 grant will be made available for the 2012/2013 academic year to all eligible students undertaking postgraduate further education courses, so that they themselves can teach in further education the, BBC News reported.

An alternative grant of £3,000 for the same period will be made available to those who wish to teach science, technology, engineering, maths and their relatable subjects; as well as Welsh, numeracy and literacy in further educational colleges. Neither grant apply to those who wish to teach in maintained schools.

“These incentives will help attract good quality students to train as FE teachers in Wales, and support ITT providers in Wales which run these courses to compete effectively for the most talented applicants,” Leighton Andrews, Education Minister for Wales commented. “To target our highest recruitment priorities, including support for the teaching of literacy and numeracy, whilst recognising the importance placed on recruiting quality teachers across all subjects in the FE and skills sector.”

The news of additional grants was welcomed by the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) who acknowledged the tough economic climate that the Government is operating in. David Hytch, North Wales Branch Secretary of the union said “To be fair to the Minister, he has tried to match his rhetoric with targeted funding”.

The announcement of more grants follows results from a 2011 National Union of Teachers (NUT) survey of teachers, which found that 72 per cent of respondents aged between 30 and 50 said they were likely to quit teaching, if required to pay higher pension contributions or work longer before retiring. Similarly, a recent survey by the NASUWT, found that of its 230,000 members, almost half had considered quitting in the last year and over a third felt they were not respected as professionals.

Commenting on the facts and figures behind teacher attraction and retention, Julian Stanley, Group Chief Executive of Teacher Support Network said “How many people would it take to make sense of the numbers being released in the press of the amount of teachers entering and leaving the profession? Having looked at the figures, something for me doesn’t quite add up. I suspect that a proper analysis of the figures will show that the numbers of teachers entering and leaving the profession has fluctuated ever since there have been schools, but in the end there have generally been enough teachers to teach students”.

“Yet, with more teachers likely to retire early before the changes to pensions, or quitting because of indiscipline and behaviour, we need to take these misleading figures out of the equation. A career in teaching very often equals a lifelong vocation.”

For more information on grants and money advice you can call our Support Line on 0808 802 03 04.

By Dewi George

A Level and GCSE exams have become easier over the past few years, a review from the qualifications regulator Ofqual has found.

The results have warned of a gradual decline in standards after regulators compared science a Level and GCSE examinations from 2001 and 2003, to more recent papers from 2008 and 2010. Ofqual have revealed that in later years there are more multiple choice rather than essay questions, ’softer’ content and ”fewer opportunities to assess the skills of students”, The Guardian reports.

“If you look at the history, we have seen persistent grade inflation for these key qualifications for at least a decade,” Glenys Stacey, Chief Executive of Ofqual, recently commented. “It is virtually impossible to justify and it has done more than anything to undermine confidence in the value of those qualifications.”

The regulator have promised to revise both A Level and GCSE examinations “in the near future”.

A spokesman for WJEC, an awarding body providing examinations throughout England and Wales, said: “Like all the awarding organisations, we work closely with the regulators in England and Wales in order to maintain standards year on year. We were pleased that Ofqual were satisfied with the overall level of challenge presented in WJEC’s assessments, and we look forward to examining the reports in detail to inform future work in developing new specifications”.

The Ofqual review has come amid fears from the Government that A Level examinations are “failing to prepare students fully for university”. In April 2012, Michael Gove, the Education Secretary, wrote to Ofqual calling for exam boards and ministers to “take a step back” from dictating the content of A Levels and instead allow universities to set exam papers.

At the same time, a poll of lecturers found that many think A Levels no longer prepare students for university. Just over half of the 633 academics polled by Cambridge University’s exam board, Cambridge Assessment, said students did not possess the writing or critical thinking skills needed for their degree courses. Three-fifths said their universities offered catchup classes for first-year undergraduates.

Are you feeling stressed or anxious about upcoming examinations? Are you having difficulty coping or managing your workload? Call our confidential Support Line for help and advice on 0808 802 03 04.

Alternatively, try these links:

• Tips on coping with exam pressure
• Tips for managing your time and workload
• Stress

Boredom “is the new stress” and affects almost everyone in the workplace, a study by the University of Central Lancashire has revealed.

‘We seem to be in a culture of having meetings, which a lot of people find boring,” Dr Sandi Mann, a Senior Psychology Lecturer at the University of Central Lancashire, who conducted the research, said. “There are a lot of automated systems now, so a lot of the things we do are quite remote. We have more people working night shifts, which are more boring because you’ve got fewer people to talk to,” the Daily Mail reports.

According to the report, boredom is the second most suppressed emotion in the workplace, after anger. Dr Mann suggests that the reason for this may be because “newer generations expect every aspect of their lives to be fulfilling”.

Due to a lack of awareness, the university have said that employers are unaware and in denial about the effects of boredom, unlike stress, which is recognised as a common issue in the workplace.

Similar studies, such as one from the University of South Florida, have concluded that people who are more prone to boredom are more likely to get angry, engage in risky driving, display aggression and hostility, and lack honesty and humility.

Paul Spector, from the University of South Florida, says “such behavioural traits can be the result of someone wanting to get back at their employer because of resentment”. A suggested solution from the university is that “bosses should create a culture where it is okay to ask questions and where employees feel comfortable to air concerns when they feel bored”.

Results from both studies have also said that an increase in paperwork may also be contributing to boredom. Although teachers have not made the top ten list of “the most boring jobs in the world”, a lack of job satisfaction within education can increase stress, as well as common mental health problems such as depression.

If you are feeling stressed or depressed as a result of your work, call our confidential Support Line on 0808 802 03 04.

If you are no longer feeling satisfied in your job, are feeling stressed or depressed a result, or are looking to change jobs, try these links for more information:

• Motivating yourself
• Positive & negative organisational characteristics
• Signpost – Education job websites

by Victoria Bamber

The majority of professionals in colleges want FE loans to be delayed or scrapped, a survey has revealed. Nearly 70 per cent of respondents to a survey of Lsect members believe the government should prolong or abandon the loan scheme over fears of the impact on learners and providers.

“The government has got itself in enough trouble by not listening to the experts in recent months,” said Sally Hunt, General Secretary of the University and College Union (UCU). “It now needs to listen to the collective voices from across further education that make it clear that the sector is simply not prepared for, and does not want, FE loans.”

The survey, which was designed with the Association of Colleges (AoC), National Union of Students (NUS), UCU and Unison, also asked respondents to scale how they thought people were aware of the scheme. 55 per cent felt that the sector was not prepared, while 89 of those surveyed believed the public was not aware of the scheme, FE Week reports.

“The survey shows that college staff have significant concerns about public awareness of the policy and how it will be communicated,” explained Julian Gravatt, Assistant Chief Executive of AoC. “It is clear that more information is needed about the finer detail of how this policy will operate to allow colleges to effectively prepare.”

The Government says it is “working closely with the sector” to make sure they are prepared for the introduction of the loans in the 2013/14 academic year.

“Introducing loans will mean that thousands of people can access learning at a time when grant funding is being prioritised on those who need it most,” explained a spokesperson for the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS).

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