Eteach at the ISC Conference

Last week I was at the ISC conference in The Brewery in the City of London. I had the wonderful experience of catching up with many of our client schools and meeting their Heads in person and getting their feedback.

One of the things that constantly comes up is how can eteach.com reach more Independent Teachers directly to let them know of our vacancies? Unlike the state sector where we are able to contact teachers directly through the unions and targeting conferences where teachers are, in the Independent sector it is more difficult.

I would like to hear from you with your ideas of how we as a company can reach out to those who work in Independent Schools. Did you know we have an Independent School’s Bulletin that goes out each weekend with the latest school adverts that have been placed. If you would like to sign up for this please email ghm@eteach.com and will sign you up for it. Similarly we have vacancies for Independent Schools abroad. If you or a colleague would like to teach in these schools abroad let us know and we will let our client schools know.

International Schools - Community Cohesion

As you all know schools enjoy being at the heart of the community linking generations and often driving community cohesion activities... International Schools also share this core value... today I met Mr Nick Kendell, Head of Primary at the New Cairo British International School http://www.ncbis.org/index.htm (NCBIS) Egypt, Mr Kendell shared with me an amazing story of how NCBIS teachers, parents and pupils engaged with the local community to celebrate cultural diversity and the school's 30th anniversary.

Over 1,200 members of the school community formed a Circle of Peace at the Giza Pyramids making for an extraordinary day marking a special occasion for the school the local area and the region as a whole...

The event was covered by CNN, check it out on You Tube... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbmYW81v-9k

NCBIS proudly enjoys the reputation of being one of the best international schools in Egypt...

Would you like to work in this region? or in other facsinating countries across the world? contact international@eteach.com

How does your school engage with the community? share your examples with the Eteach community...

Class sizes – too big, or just right?

Scotland’s teacher union, EIS, are pushing for the reduction in the number of pupils per class. Funds are being put into place to further support this, with their ideal number per class being 18.

In some areas class sizes have increased even further and show no sign of reducing. At the beginning of this academic year, classroom sizes increased from 27 per class to 28 in the Republic of Ireland and according to the Surplus Places Survey the number of Primary pupils are set to increase even further in the next few years. This will make it even more inevitable for the number of pupils per class to increase.

In an environment where there is only 1 teacher to as many as 28 pupils, this could have an effect on the childrens learning and could lead to scenarios where the pupils are being disruptive just to have some 1-to-1 time with the teacher.

Let us know your views: How many pupils are in your class? Do you feel this is an adequate number? When applying for a vacancy, is the number of pupils a key factor in helping you make your decision? Do you think the government are putting enough funds in place to rectify this issue?