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Number of potential teachers rises
Education
More people want to be teachers, according to recent statistics issued by the Graduate Teacher Training Registry. The number of applications has risen by 4000 this year, with the biggest rises seen in subjects with a traditional shortage, such as maths and physics. This suggests that the Government's cash incentives have encouraged more graduates to consider teaching as a career.
The Independent 8/8/02
UK car production
Finance
In the three months to August 2002, total car production in the UK, seasonally adjusted, rose by 2.7% compared with the previous three months. Production allocated for the home market fell by 15.5% but export production rose by 9.4%. Compared with the same period a year ago, total car production, seasonally adjusted, rose by 11.6%.
www.statistics.gov.uk August 2002
New study on baby birth weight and background
Health
New research, published in the British Medical Journal, reveals that a child's upbringing has a greater bearing on educational achievement than factors such as birth weight. Although babies who are heavier at birth tend to do better at school, evidence shows that social class at birth has a greater effect on a child's cognitive development. Children of professional parents achieve better results than those from unskilled backgrounds. This study is the first to examine the combined effects of birth weight and social background on academic achievement and later adulthood. Children who are underweight at birth, but are born into an affluent home, still out-perform children who are heavier at birth but from poorer backgrounds.
The independent 9/8/02
Degrees Boost Quality Of Life
Education
Graduates are twice as likely to be promoted at work, twice as likely to go on holiday abroad, and they own homes that are 50% more expensive than their non-graduate peers, according to research commissioned by the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) and a separate study by the Institute of Education (IoE) on the benefits of higher education.
The studies found:
The average value of homes owned by graduates is £153,000 compared to £101,000 for non-graduates. Graduates can also afford more rent at £423 a month compared to £256 for non-graduates.
Higher education enhances labour market prospects, not only through earnings, but 'guaranteed access to the best jobs'.
Graduates had double the average number of promotions at work than non-graduates over the last five years. And only 36% of graduates had not been promoted at all, compared to 57% of non-graduates.
Graduates are twice as likely to go on holiday abroad. Significantly, almost half of non-graduates did not take holidays abroad compared to just one-fifth of graduates.
Graduates were 16% less likely to smoke.
Graduates were more likely to have voted in the last election, and more likely to be involved with their local communities and voluntary groups
www.prospects.ac.uk. August 2002
Maths classes too big
Education
Hiroshi Kumon, chairman of the Japanese Kumon Institute of Education, has said that teachers cannot deliver effective maths education in classes of 30 pupils. The Kumon Institute is an internationally renowned centre for maths teaching, with 500 out-of-hours clubs for over 400,000 children in the UK.
The Independent 13/8/02
Visitors to Fiji
Statistics
Total overseas visitors to Fiji increased by 13% in the month of August 2002 with visitors from New Zealand up 8%. Total arrivals in the year ended August were recorded at 386,919 - up 70,000 visitors or 22% on the twelve months ended August 2001. New Zealand accounted for 18% of all overseas visitors in the twelve-month period - down by more than two.
Fiji Visitors Bureau August 2002
Prince's Trust to fund basic skills
Education
The Prince's Trust is spending £5m on courses for teenagers who lack basic skills. Thirty thousand young people will leave school with no qualifications at all following this years GCSE results. The Trust warns that these teenagers face long-term unemployment, and that the gap between those who achieve at school and those who don't has widened over recent years. 'This substantial minority of young people face significant difficulties in their lives and the negative impact they have on their communities is growing,' the Trust's report states. The charity, set up by Prince Charles, is also to contribute money towards setting up a network of clubs in schools to target those at risk of under-achievement. One in ten young people, around 60,000, fail to pass maths GCSE, leaving them with a numeracy level of an 11-year-old, and one in eleven fail to pass English GCSE.
The Independent 20/8/02
Nrich website
Total hits for www.nrich.maths.org website in August 2002 - 2186959
Deaf student refused place at
Oxford
Education
A deaf student who gained six A passes at A-level from a comprehensive school, has failed to win a place at Brasenose College, Oxford, following an interview there with tutors. Anastasia Fedotova, from Manchester, is profoundly deaf and was unable to talk until she was seven. Her A-levels were in maths, further maths, physics, chemistry, biology and general studies. Once again, Oxford University's admissions policy is under scrutiny as being elitist. In 2000, Magdalen College rejected Laura Spence, from a Tyneside comprehensive, who later won a place at Harvard. Disability groups have reminded the university of new laws outlawing discrimination in the admissions process.
The Independent 20/8/02
Weather for August
Statistics
Another generally warm month across the UK, with most places having mean temperatures 1 to 2 °C above normal. Sunshine values close to or just below normal, with above average rainfall across eastern Scotland and north-east England.On the 1st, Fylingdales had 115 mm in 24 hours, their wettest day (09 to 09) since records began in 1984. There were localised floods on the 7th in the London area, with some places receiving 60 mm in just one hour.
www.met-office.gov.uk August 2002
Science graduates – numbers declining
Education
Numbers of science graduates have been falling steadily, according to recent research. Between 1996 and 2000 entrants to chemistry degrees decreased by 20%, civil engineers by 23%, physicists by 10% and mechanical engineers by 12%. Last year saw the highest ever take-up of places on full-time undergraduate courses, but entrants to mechanical engineering decreased by a further 5% and chemistry by 7%. However, some areas of science are growing steadily more popular. Computer science entries increased last year by 12.5%, and sports science showed a definite upward trend, accounting for some of the highest rises across all subjects.
The Independent 21/8/02
Asylum statistics
Statistics
Asylum statistics for the second quarter of 2002 have been published. Figures show that the target of deciding 60 per cent of all new substantive cases within 2 months has been reached.
The statistics, which cover the period April to June 2002, show continued improvements in the management of cases, despite a rise in the overall number of applications.The statistics showed that:
applications have increased slightly on the last quarter from 19,520 to 20,400;
decisions were being made more quickly;
a record number of appeals were determined (15,525) and 75 per cent of initial decisions were upheld;
a record number of failed asylum seekers were removed (3,120 including dependants); and
there were 17,485 applications for National Asylum Support Service support.
Immigration Minister, Beverley Hughes 30/8/02
Six-year-old passes GCSE
Education
Geetha Thaninathan, a six-year-old girl from Maidstone, has passed a GCSE in Information Technology. She completed her course part-time, in nine months, attending classes for four hours on Saturdays.
The youngest person to pass a GCSE is Arran Fernandez, who got a grade D in maths last year, when he was just five years old.
The Independent 23/8/02
Alcohol consumption in Norway
Statistics
In 2001 each inhabitant of Norway older than 14 years consumed 63.8 litres beer, 1.1 litres less than in 2000. Norwegians consumed 229.7 million litres beer last year, a decline of 2.9 million litres compared with 2000.The figures are calculated on the basis of the monthly questionnaires that each business sends to the Directorate of Customs and Excise (TAD) and registered import. The figures do not include Norwegian private citizens' purchase of alcohol abroad.5.5 litres of alcohol per capita
Each inhabitant of Norway older than 14 years consumed 5.5 litres of alcohol last year, a slight decline compared with 2000.13.5 litres of wine per capita
The consumption of wine amounted to 48.6 litres, or 13.5 litres per capita.
Statistics Norway 26/8/02