Universities in the UK should beware of treating overseas as "cash cows" to plug holes in their funding, the British Council warns.

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SALT LAKE CITY, March - Western Governors University graduate Nikki Skinner, a teacher at Houston's Almeda Elementary School, has been recognized for her outstanding work as a science teacher by the Texas Medical Association. Skinner, who recently completed her master's degree in science education at WGU, has been awarded the TMA's 2010 Ernest and Sarah Butler Award for Excellence in Science Teaching. The award, which was created in 1990, rewards teachers who use innovative teaching methods to share their energy and enthusiasm for science and encourage young students to consider careers in medicine. Skinner will receive her award in April at the 2010 TexMed Conference in Fort Worth, Texas.

Skinner completed her Master of Arts in Science Education at WGU earlier this year. She earned her bachelor's in Elementary Education from Texas Southern University. Last year, she was recognized by her peers at Almeda Elementary as the school's Teacher of the Year.

"As science teachers, we are working hard to make the subject matter meaningful and to make our students lifelong science enthusiasts," said Skinner. "The scientists, doctors, and engineers of tomorrow are sitting in a fifth grade class today, and teachers play a critical role in helping them realize their potential. Science is not just a series of facts but an exciting process. The job of a science teacher is to teach the facts, but keep the wonder. Students learn to document their experiences in words, diagrams, and pictures of their own, creating a mosaic that has personal educational meaning for each of them."

Western Governors University's Teachers College has more than 9,000 students, and its science and mathematics education programs are nationally recognized for their quality. WGU graduates consistently excel on national teacher exams--more than 30 percent rank in the top 15 percent on the PRAXIS Elementary Education Exam. WGU's Teachers College is the first and only exclusively online provider of teacher education to earn accreditation from the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education. (NCATE).

Details have just been announced of the launch next month of MyGuideToUni.co.uk (myguidetouni.co.uk), a ground-breaking new FREE website which looks set to change the way in which students find the right university for themselves.

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An Islamic state secondary school has been told it is breaking the law by favouring Sunni pupils over Shia ones.

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The chancellor pledges to create 20,000 more university places this year with a one-off £270m payment.

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Pretoria - The Department of Education has developed an action plan to co-ordinate and guide all interventions in the department in order to turn the...

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Pretoria - The Department of Education has developed an action plan to co-ordinate and guide all interventions in the department in order to turn the education system around.

The plan, which will be known as Schooling 2025: The Department of Basic Education's Action Plan, will provide long-term solutions to the challenges facing the department, said Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga.

The plan will make provision for the monitoring of progress against a set of measurable indicators covering all aspects of basic education, including teacher recruitment and retention, learner enrolment and well-being, infrastructure, school funding, mass literacy and educational quality.

"The plan will establish key outcomes and performance deliverables for the entire education system, including the national and provincial departments.

"It will commit provinces and provincial education departments to clear, agreed-to outcomes and ensure that all in the system are accountable for attaining these outcomes," Motshekga said.

She reiterated that South Africa's learning outcomes continued to be unsatisfactory.

"All local and international assessments are agreed that far too many of our learners, especially African learners, do not perform at the required level.

"We have identified the underlying factors and we are determined to work systematically to resolve them," said Motshekga.

She added that the adoption of an outcomes approach in implementing government's priorities, announced by President Jacob Zuma in his State of the Nation Address, will ensure that the work of government is measured according to outcomes.

"The outcomes approach enables us to set measurable targets and deliverables, against which we and South Africa can monitor our progress in addressing the challenges in education that remain." – BuaNews

A-levels need to be overhauled as part of measures to "restore confidence" in testing, says shadow schools secretary Michael Gove.

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Children's access to safe places to play outdoors should be treated as a serious political issue, say campaigners.

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The proportion of state school pupils at Oxford University looks set to be the highest since the early 1980s, figures reveal.

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