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Graduates to be offered £20,000 to train as computer science teachers
Graduates are to be offered £20,000 scholarships to train as computer science teachers in an initiative launched by the government and backed by companies including Microsoft and Facebook.
The move is part of a package of reforms aimed at overhauling computer science education, giving children the skills to write programs rather than simply focusing on word processing skills.
The education secretary, Michael Gove, announced on Friday that current information and communications technology teacher training courses will be axed from next year. Instead, ministers will offer scholarships worth £20,000 to attract high-achieving graduates to train as computer science teachers.
Teachers and industry leaders are concerned that the way ICT is currently taught in schools leaves children bored and learning little beyond the most basic digital skills.
Under the new measures, industry experts have set out the subject knowledge required of all new computer science teachers. This includes being able to demonstrate an understanding of key concepts such as algorithms and logic.
The new teacher training courses will begin next September, when around 50 scholarships will be available to applicants with a 1st or a 2.1 degree. (via guardian.co.uk)
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If you tell kids that they can get a book with sex in it for free, that might be enough to spark some desire for reading.
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That’s the thesis behind Uprise Books, a nonprofit that is sending low-income students all the good books that have been banned or challenged to promote teen literacy, fight censorship, and halt the cycle of poverty.
Read on: How To Get Kids To Read? Give Them Banned Books
(via fastcompany)
(via fastcompany)
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![Elite boarding school aims to create Africa’s future leaders
A teenager who set up a school to educate children in a refugee camp, a youth who built a windmill to generate power for the houses in his community with no access to electricity and a 17-year-old with HIV who founded a charity to help others infected with the virus.
These are just a few of the students hand-picked to attend The African Leadership Academy (ALA) — a prestigious school in Johannesburg, South Africa that aims to create the continent’s leaders of tomorrow.
The initiative is the brainchild of Fred Swaniker, a Ghanaian-born entrepreneur who hopes to instil a new generation with the skills to navigate Africa towards prosperity in future years.
“We get young people from all across the continent, bring them here initially for two years [and] give them this hands-on leadership practice,” says Swaniker.
“I believe that you don’t learn leadership through theory, you learn leadership by leading and so that’s what we’re trying to replicate here at the academy,” he adds.
Swaniker explains that the ALA tasks students with starting their own businesses and working closely with the local communities situated around the school. They are also taught about the roles of CEOs and CFOs as well as other senior positions within business, politics and industry.
This, he says, helps prepare them for a future at the very top of society, whilst equipping them with the skills “to do something much bigger for the continent” in the future. (via CNN.com)](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ltv9n0yrxe1qajdhjo1_500.jpg)
Elite boarding school aims to create Africa’s future leaders
A teenager who set up a school to educate children in a refugee camp, a youth who built a windmill to generate power for the houses in his community with no access to electricity and a 17-year-old with HIV who founded a charity to help others infected with the virus.
These are just a few of the students hand-picked to attend The African Leadership Academy (ALA) — a prestigious school in Johannesburg, South Africa that aims to create the continent’s leaders of tomorrow.
The initiative is the brainchild of Fred Swaniker, a Ghanaian-born entrepreneur who hopes to instil a new generation with the skills to navigate Africa towards prosperity in future years.
“We get young people from all across the continent, bring them here initially for two years [and] give them this hands-on leadership practice,” says Swaniker.
“I believe that you don’t learn leadership through theory, you learn leadership by leading and so that’s what we’re trying to replicate here at the academy,” he adds.
Swaniker explains that the ALA tasks students with starting their own businesses and working closely with the local communities situated around the school. They are also taught about the roles of CEOs and CFOs as well as other senior positions within business, politics and industry.
This, he says, helps prepare them for a future at the very top of society, whilst equipping them with the skills “to do something much bigger for the continent” in the future. (via CNN.com)
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Solar-powered internet school set to benefit children in rural Africa
Children in the farthest corners of rural Africa are the target of a mobile, solar-powered classroom that was launched in Johannesburg this week.
The classroom, built inside a 12-metre-long shipping container by electronics firm Samsung, has an array of gadgets including laptops, a video camera and a 50-inch e-board in place of a blackboard.
According to the manufacturers, the “solar powered internet school” can easily be carried by truck to remote areas, survive harsh weather conditions and, crucially, operate where there is no electricity supply.
Foldaway solar panels provide enough energy to power the classroom’s equipment for up to nine hours a day, and for one and a half days without any sunlight at all. The panels are made from rubber instead of glass to ensure they are hardy enough to survive long journeys across the continent. (via guardian.co.uk)
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Don’t let the trolls get you down
Internet trolls are maddening, but a lecturer has set up a guide to interacting with them (via The Guardian)
