Skillstories

Gene link to poor reading skills

A common genetic variant may be partly to blame for poor reading ability, research suggests.

Denham and Balls announce increase to minimum apprenticeship earnings

The minimum weekly earnings for all apprentices in England will be
increased from £80 to £95 a week next year, Skills Secretary, John
Denham and Children’s Secretary Ed Balls announced today.

First UK Bus enlists union help to promote L&D

First UK Bus has signed a contract with trade union Unite to improve learning and development in the transport firm.

Outstanding colleagues or staff - reward them

Niace is seeking nominations for workbased learning at all levels to contribute to the 2009 Adult Learners’ Week Awards.  There are some wonderfully inspiring stores from across the country as evidence that such nominations reap rewards.  The learning can be done as a group, project or by an individual so dont delay - nomination now.

Outstanding colleagues or staff - reward them

Niace is seeking nominations for workbased learning at all levels to contribute to the 2009 Adult Learners’ Week Awards.  There are some wonderfully inspiring stories from across the country as evidence that such nominations reap rewards.  The learning can be done as a group, project or by an individual so don’t delay - nominate now.

Brain’s counting skill ‘built-in’

Humans have an in-built ability to do mathematics even if they do not have the language to express it, a research team has suggested.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7563265.stm

Maths made interesting

Can maths be fun?

Maths has long been associated with difficult school lessons and dreary household calculations, but for Rob Eastaway, author of How Many Socks Make a Pair, this does not have to be the case. See if you can answer this surprisingly interesting maths puzzles.

Adult Learners’ Week Awards for 2009 are now open

As you will know, The Learning and Skills Council, as part of their campaign ‘Your Life in Your Hands’ advocating learning at work, says to employers……..
‘If your staff don’t have the right skills for the future then neither does your business.
It may not seem an obvious link but Adult Learners’ Week nominations support this statement by celebrating the success of employees (and their employers) from the widest of fields to encourage more learning at work to take place.
In the West Midlands this year almost every winner of an Adult Learners’ Week award did so because of their personal effort and the time taken to improve their employability, or to enhance the skills of their staff.  Bob Lawrence, Director of the West Midlands Wildlife Park, having worked in the ‘wildlife industry’ for 35 years, won the national Learning Works award for encouraging his staff to improve their qualifications but also for putting into practice what he was preaching.  He studied for his degree after a 12 hour shift in the Park every day. Robert Galloway was celebrated for his efforts on moving from a truck driver to an archaeologist, Clare Harris was a cleaner and is now a classroom assistant heading nicely towards being a teacher and Isiah Williams, having started off as a DJ and street seller, found his niche working for the Youth Justice Board in Coventry and has successfully passed his Professional Certificate in Effective Practice.

Skills secretary to hire an apprentice

The skills secretary John Denham said today he would be the first cabinet minister to take on an apprentice as he announced new measures to make sure all apprenticeships are of equally high quality and have the confidence of apprentices and employers.

http://education.guardian.co.uk/further/story/0,,2291110,00.html

Channel 4 launches ‘Can’t Read, Can’t Write’ series of programmes

Today in Britain, over 5 million adults have a reading age of 12 or less or worse cannot read at all. Can't Read Can't Write is a new three-part series on Channel 4, starting on 21st July 2008 at 9.00pm.