The long, long summer holiday?

With the swine flu pandemic spreading throughout the UK, and the resulting media and public panic increasing, will there be a prompt return to the classroom in September? A combination of advice from Health Authorities and concern from parents could see children, the group particularly vulnerable to the virus, being kept away from schools this Autumn.
But is this a case of sensible precaution or misguided panic?
Do we know enough about the virus or is the media raising the shackles of panic uneccessarily? Share your views. And remember, do take care and keep up to date with the government's latest advice on swine flu - visit www.direct.gov.uk/pandemicflu.

High Flyers or Crash Landers?

It seems the new intensive teacher training route being piloted at the London Institute of Education is not attracting the right calibre of potential teachers, with many applications being rejected. The fast track training scheme, awarding QTS within 6 months, is a Government initiative aimed at encouraging high flyers from the banking and finance world into the classroom, however, Dylan Williams, deputy Director of the London IOE, shares his concerns in the TES this week .
Do you think this is just a recession quick-fix?
As a qualified teacher yourself do you think it's fair to award QTS within as little as 120 days in the classroom?
Share your views here.

SATs results back in school?

Some schools are concerned about the erratic marking of SATs.  Last year was a marking disaster with Raise online data released so late it was almost time for this year's SATs!  For schools the outcome of not being able to trust the marking  is hours of extra work spent checking individual papers.  One literacy co-ordinator reported spending two weeks checking papers. If schools are to be judged by SATs results then they deserve to have accurate marking. 

So how widespread is this? The NUT say that historically 20% of awarded grades have been inaccurate. 

What has been your school's experience this year? Were you a marker for the 2009 SATs? If so what quality assurance procedures were in place?  Are these reports the tip of the iceberg or are they isolated cases? Please let us know your experiences.