1. This recent piece of research by Strathclyde University into what they call composite classes – classes made up of children from more than one year group, as is still reasonably common in a number of countries round the world but far from the norm – in Scotland came to the interesting conclusion that “exposure to older peers is highly beneficial (my emphasis) to primary school pupils in terms of attainment. Composite classes, which are widespread internationally and very common in Scotland, explicitly create these peer effects while simultaneously allowing administrators to save classrooms and thus costs. Class size reductions, by contrast, offer no statistically significant benefits.” Link here https://strathcloud.sharefile.eu/share/view/s8afbaaf453134a51ba2651945940e76d and PDF below.
2. The EQUIP project https://ec.europa.eu/trustfundforafrica/region/horn-africa/sudan/education-quality-improvement-programme-sudan-equip-sudan_en works with one country, Sudan, in one continent, Africa, but the lessons learnt from it will resonate in many other countries where delivering innovative – or even non-innovative! – teacher training in remote contexts is a major challenge. The project team are sharing their research and the lessons they’ve learnt at a webinar at 10:00 UK time on 20th April. More info in the PDF below and a registration link here https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScwrFE9U-4siDJTLhokMtzgaVFurMx2pgt0eDB0Fu2G7Q-P5A/viewform
3. Here’s another EU-funded project with resonance elsewhere in the world, European Language Equality: https://european-language-equality.eu/ Here’s a blunt summary: “… technology support for Europe’s languages is still characterised by a stark imbalance. While many resources and technologies exist for English, the majority of other languages suffer from a lack of technology support. (…) more than 21 European languages are in danger of digital extinction.”
4. And, finally, a warning from Jenny Joseph, courtesy of the Scottish Poetry Library website https://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poem/warning/ Lots of other good stuff on their site: have a rummage around! https://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/
Roy Cross's Blog 