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Science Learning Centres are a UK government initiative to address the need for improved science education and development for teachers in England.
In 2001, a House of Lords Science & Technology Select Committee Report [1] identified an urgent need for subject-specific continuing professional development for science teachers. In response to this and numerous other calls for action, the Department for Education and Skills and the Wellcome Trust invested £51 million in the creation of the national network of Science Learning Centres. After a competitive tendering process the first Science Learning Centre opened its doors in October 2004. Today the centres are more than just a location for training courses, they are rapidly becoming the focus for all science education activity in the United Kingdom.
Science Learning Centres run courses that provide continuing professional development for anyone involved in the teaching of science, from those working with reception aged children to post 16 students, including primary and secondary teachers, technicians, teaching assistants and FE lecturers.
The aim of all Science Learning Centres is to reconnect teachers with the frontiers of their subject and the latest techniques for teaching it. Teachers who attend courses are given the opportunity to renew and extend their teaching skills by mixing with and learning from colleagues who face similar challenges to their own, and have access to the UK's leading experts in science educational research.
There are 10 Science Learning Centres around the country. One to serve each of the nine English government regions and a National Science Learning Centre (based in the University of York) which provides training for anyone from England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland. Each Centre is run by a consortium of organisations, which vary from local councils and professional bodies to universities, schools, science centres and industry partners.
The courses offered at the regional centres usually feature one day's training at the centre, together with ongoing support through classroom exercises and online materials. The National Science Learning Centre, based at the University of York, offers residential courses for teachers, providing access to the facilities for teachers of two or more days, often spread across more than one term.
The national network of Science Learning Centres has been created with ambitious goals in mind; not least to help British teachers, lecturers, technicians and classroom assistants to lead the world in science education by 2015.
Vocational education is education that prepares people for a skilled craft as an artisan, trade as a tradesperson, or work as a technician. Vocational education can also be seen as that type of education given to an individual to prepare that individual to be gainfully employed or self employed with requisite skill. Vocational education is known by a variety of names, depending on the country concerned, including career and technical education, or acronyms such as TVET and TAFE.
A teaching method is a set of principles and methods used by teachers to enable student learning. These strategies are determined partly on subject matter to be taught, partly by the relative expertise of the learners, and partly by constraints caused by the learning environment. For a particular teaching method to be appropriate and efficient it has take into account the learner, the nature of the subject matter, and the type of learning it is supposed to bring about.
Science education is the teaching and learning of science to school children, college students, or adults within the general public. The field of science education includes work in science content, science process, some social science, and some teaching pedagogy. The standards for science education provide expectations for the development of understanding for students through the entire course of their K-12 education and beyond. The traditional subjects included in the standards are physical, life, earth, space, and human sciences.
A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching.
Experiential education is a philosophy of education that describes the process that occurs between a teacher and student that infuses direct experience with the learning environment and content. This concept is distinct from experiential learning, however experiential learning is a subfield and operates under the methodologies associated with experiential education. The Association for Experiential Education regards experiential education as "a philosophy that informs many methodologies in which educators purposefully engage with learners in direct experience and focused reflection in order to increase knowledge, develop skills, clarify values, and develop people's capacity to contribute to their communities". Experiential education is the term for the philosophy and educational progressivism is the movement which it informed. The Journal of Experiential Education publishes peer-reviewed empirical and theoretical academic research within the field.
The University of Wolverhampton is a public university located on four campuses across the West Midlands, Shropshire and Staffordshire in England. The roots of the university lie in the Wolverhampton Tradesmen's and Mechanics' Institute founded in 1827 and the 19th-century growth of the Wolverhampton Free Library (1870), which developed technical, scientific, commercial and general classes. This merged in 1969 with the Municipal School of Art, originally founded in 1851, to form the Wolverhampton Polytechnic.
CELTA is an initial teacher training qualification for teaching English as a second or foreign language (ESL and EFL). It is provided by Cambridge Assessment English through authorised Cambridge English Teaching Qualification centres and can be taken either full-time or part-time. CELTA was developed to be suitable both for those interested in Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) and for Teaching English to the Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL). The full name of the course was originally the Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults and is still referred to in this way by some course providers. However, in 2011 the qualification title was amended on the Ofqual register to the Cambridge English Level 5 Certificate In Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (CELTA) in order to reflect the wider range of students that teachers might have, including younger learners.
The Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE/PGCertEd) is a one- or two-year higher education course in England, Wales and Northern Ireland which provides training in order to allow graduates to become teachers within maintained schools. In England, there are two routes available to gaining a PGCE – either on a traditional university-led teacher training course or school-led teacher training.
A teacher-librarian or school librarian or school library media specialist (SLMS) is a certified librarian who also has training in teaching.
Brighton and Sussex Medical School (BSMS) is a medical school formed as a partnership of the University of Brighton and the University of Sussex. Like other UK medical schools it is based on the principles and standards of 'Tomorrow's Doctors', an initiative by the General Medical Council outlining the role of British practitioners. Since opening in 2003, BSMS has produced more than 1,500 new doctors who now work across the UK.
Teacher education or teacher training refers to programs, policies, procedures, and provision designed to equip (prospective) teachers with the knowledge, attitudes, behaviors, approaches, methodologies and skills they require to perform their tasks effectively in the classroom, school, and wider community. The professionals who engage in training the prospective teachers are called teacher educators.
Arts integration differs from traditional education by its inclusion of both the arts discipline and a traditional subject as part of learning The goal of arts integration is to increase knowledge of a general subject area while concurrently fostering a greater understanding and appreciation of the fine and performing arts. The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts defines arts integration as "an approach to teaching in which students construct and demonstrate understanding through an art form. Students engage in a creative process which connects an art form and another subject and meets evolving objectives in both."
Shiga University or Shigadai is a national university in Shiga Prefecture, Japan, with campuses in the cities of Ōtsu and Hikone. Founded in 1874, it was chartered as a university in 1949.
Highbury College is a further education college in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England. It offers vocational and academic education and training, including apprenticeships, A-levels and foundation degrees.
Evidence-based education (EBE) is the principle that education practices should be based on the best available scientific evidence, with randomised trials as the gold standard of evidence, rather than tradition, personal judgement, or other influences. Evidence-based education is related to evidence-based teaching, evidence-based learning, and school effectiveness research.
City College Southampton is a general further education college located in Southampton, Hampshire, England.
The Teacher Development Trust is a UK charity which works to raise awareness of the importance of professional development for teachers and other education professionals.
Mathematics education in the United Kingdom is largely carried out at ages 5–16 at primary school and secondary school. However voluntary Mathematics education in the UK takes place from 16 to 18, in sixth forms and other forms of further education. Whilst adults can study the subject at universities and higher education more widely. Mathematics education is not taught uniformly as exams and the syllabus vary across the countries of the United Kingdom, notably Scotland.
Information Communications Technology is usually included in the Home Economics and Livelihood Education program in grade school and taught through the Technology and Home Economics program in high school. The recent status of ICT education in the Philippines, along with other Southeast Asian countries, was surveyed by the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO) in 2011. Using the UNESCO model of ICT Development in Education, the countries were ranked as Emerging, Applying, Infusing or Transforming. The Philippines were ranked at the Infusing stage of integrating ICT in education, indicating that the country has integrated ICT into existing teaching, learning and administrative practices and policies. This includes components such as a national vision of ICT in education, national ICT plans and policies, complementary national ICT and education policies, professional development for teachers and school leaders, community or partnership and teaching and learning pedagogies. A 2012 study reported that public high schools in Metro Manila had a computer to student ratio of 1:63. While 88 percent of schools have internet connections, half of the students claimed not to be using it.
The National Centre for Computing Education is a government-funded initiative, offering teacher training and resources for computing.
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