Prim-Ed Publishing Ltd

Teaching science in primary schools

‘Jack of all trades, master of none.’ This term is often applied to primary school teachers, as most have to work within a loaded curricula. This often means that teachers aren’t able to teach all subjects as well as they would like, resulting in an adept ability to be  masters of all subjects.

Science teaching in primary schools has a number of different issues:

• Low confidence teaching science because teachers do not have an in-depth understanding of the subject or how to implement it.
• Time! Subjects like science and the arts will be pushed into the background, or only taught superficially.
• Availability of resources.
• Hands-on science activities are still emphasised in schools. This means that science is taught as a stand-alone subject, and not connected to other learning areas or the pupils’ experiences of life.

Do we still need to teach writing?

There are many people, educators and otherwise, who suspect that the onset of the current technological age is the beginning of the end of the need for traditional writing and hence they question the value of teaching the skills associated with writing.

‘Why bother?’ runs their argument. ‘So many of the skills we took for granted—paragraphs, topic sentences, vocabulary choice, standardised spelling, punctuation, even grammar—are now passé. When students can write a letter (email) with no salutation, little to no punctuation, total disdain for grammar and spelling, and with a preponderance of abbreviations and initialisms, and still be perfectly understood by the recipient, why would we try?’

Maddy Barnes – Why I Love the Teacher’s Moderation Toolkit

Maddy Barnes, assistant head and English consultant, explains why every school needs the Teacher’s Moderation Toolkit

 “I can’t imagine not using it now”

We have been using the Moderation Toolkit for almost a full academic year and cannot imagine assessing children’s writing without it. The Teacher’s Moderation Toolkit consists of termly exemplification materials for Y1-6. There are two versions of the exemplification materials: those that are annotated with references to the national curriculum, and those that are not annotated, for CPD use or to share with children. Once purchased, the Teacher’s Moderation Toolkit is available as an e-book which maximises the opportunities it can be used for.