MATHS IN THE PAPERS June 2002

New teachers' student loans are to be paid off
Education

New teachers' student loans are to be paid off, under a new scheme designed to attract teachers to science, maths and language teaching in secondary education and further education colleges. Up to 35,000 graduates will be eligible under a new pilot scheme due to start in September, subject to Parliamentary approval. Teachers will have to work for 10 years in order to have their loans repaid.

Guardian 5/6/02

You need a B GCSE maths to study AS-level
Education

Under new proposals from the Government's exam watchdog, the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, only students with GCSE grade B and above in maths should be able to progress to AS-level. This will cut the number of eligible students by more than two-thirds, and would set maths apart from all other subjects, where grade C is the base line for further study. The move is being seen as an attempt to resolve issues raised by last summer's results, when a third of students failed maths - double the rate for other subjects.

TES Archive 14/6/02

Peers are better teachers of maths
Education

The Leverhulme Numeracy Research Programme has been examining ways in which children learn. Specifically, why some children struggle with maths. The project has found that children will often learn more effectively from their peers, especially where difficult concepts are concerned. Children can put ideas across in ways which their peers can readily understand.

TES Archive 14/6/02

Teacher shortage in England will get worse
Education

Ofsted has warned that teacher shortages in England will get worse. A new report states that more schools are now relying increasingly on temporary and non-specialist teachers, resulting in disruption for pupils. Out of 17 LEAs, 11 were found to have recruitment problems. Adding to the problem is an ageing teaching profession where most members are aged 40 and above.

Guardian 17/6/02

Part time lecturers in New York will vote to form Union
Education

Part-time lecturers at New York University will soon be voting on whether or not to form a union. This move, by 2,700 academic staff offers proof of the growing power of organised labour in academic institutions in the USA. The lecturers will have to choose whether to affiliate with the American Federation of Teachers or the United Auto Workers.

Guardian 18/6/02

Teachers download maths lesson plans from web
Education

More than 1000 government maths lesson plans are being downloaded from the web every day. There are fears that teachers will become too dependent on the lesson plans, which have already been piloted in 90 authorities, and are planned for wider use. Currently the free downloads cover numeracy in Years 4 and 6. From September, this will be extended to Year 5 with trials for Years 1,2 and 3.

TES Archive 21/6

Credit Cards Statistics
Finance

Credit cards were launched in Britain 36 years ago. We now carry 90million cards from 33 issuers of1300 card brands. Up to 1999 we spent a total of £70 billion a year through cards, and the figure is rising. £29billion of the total represents unpaid debt.

Independent 22/6/02

Nearly £100,000 lost for each sudent who doesn't continue post 16 education
Education

In an attempt to shame potential drop-outs into continuing with their education, Estelle Morris will use figures produced by her department and the University of York. An estimated £97,000 will be lost for each student who doesn't continue in post 16 education. This figure represents higher unemployment, low wages, lower productivity, higher crime, unwanted pregnancies, ill-health and drug misuse. A White Paper will suggest paying students an education maintenance allowance of up to £40 per week to students whose parents earn less than £30,000 per year, to encourage them to remain in education.

Independent 22/6/02

Beatles no. 1
Statistics

The Beatles, the most successful recording act ever, clocked up 106m album sales in the US.

Observer Magazine 23/6/02

Prostitution industry is worth £52 billion
Finance

The global prostitution industry is worth an estimated £52billion. About 500,000 women are smuggled in Western Europe each year by the sex trade, while approximately 60% of women in London brothels have been trafficked from Eastern Europe.

Observer Magazine 23/6/02

£400 million lost in internet credit-card fraud in UK every year
Finance

UK businesses are losing £400million a year in internet credit-card fraud. This figure is expected to rise by 30% each year.

Observer Magazine 23/6/02

Skin cancer has trebled over last 20 years
Health

Cases of skin cancer among men in Britain have trebled over the last 20 years. Numbers of the invasive type of the disease have risen from 3.5 cases per 100,000 to 10.5 cases. The figure among women has almost doubled to 13.1 cases per 100,000 during the same period but there has been no increase since 1995. The research was carried out at Glasgow University and suggests women have been quicker to act on overexposure warnings than men.

Ananover 26/6/02

Asprin reduces chance of getting lung cancer
Health

Aspirin could help reduce the risk of the most common type of lung cancer in women.

The study in the British Journal of Cancer found women who took it regularly had less than half the usual risk of developing non-small cell lung cancer. Another study in the same journal predicts lung cancer deaths in the UK will tumble in the next five years. It says the numbers will fall by 20% for men and 8% in women as people give up smoking. Researchers questioned more than 14,000 women in New York about their long-term history of aspirin use. They compared 81 women who subsequently went on to develop lung cancer with 808 who remained healthy.

Ananover 26/6/02

£850,000 face lift for Number 10
Politics

Plans to refurbish Downing Street have been described as "routine maintenance" by Number 10. The face-lift, including improvements to the study used by Cherie Blair, is set to cost £850,000, The Sunday Times reports. A Number 10 spokesman said the figure had been "plucked out of the air" and added that the final budget is still being decided.

Ananover 29/6

Tests for trainee teachers
Education

Compulsory literacy and numeracy exams which were introduced three years ago for trainee teachers have produced almost 2000 failures. The exams were introduced following concerns that trainee teachers who were unable to spell or punctuate properly, were being rushed into classrooms to address teacher shortages. Up to 8% of those taking the tests failed at least one of the literacy, numeracy and ICT tests at their first try. Trainees cannot qualify as teachers until they pass the tests, but may begin work as unqualified staff while they resit the tests.

Observer 30/6/02

Cost of obesity
Health

There are 300million obese people worldwide, and 700million people overweight worldwide. The US spends $117million each year on obesity-related health problems, while the NHS spends an annual £500million.

Observer Magazine 30/6/02

Wimbledon Statistics
Statistics

27,000 kilos of English strawberries and 7000 litres of dairy cream were consumed during Wimbledon fortnight. 50,000 tennis balls are used every year at Wimbledon tennis tournament, where the men's singles champion's prize is £525,000. Prize money for the women's singles champion is £486,000, or 93% of the men's prize.

75% of tennis fans prefer to watch the women's game.

In last year's men's singles final the average speed of Goran Ivanisevic's serve was 125mph, which gave Pat Rafter an average 0.44 seconds to return the serve.

Observer Magazine 30/6/02