A report published today titled ‘The State of SMS’ reveals how educators are set to benefit from advances in mobile marketing as the number of active mobile phones in circulation tops 80m for the first time.  The sector is expected to see a 34% increase in students and parents opting to receive text messages from education providers by the end of 2020, presenting significant opportunities.

 

The White Paper, commissioned by Textlocal, one of the UK’s leading SMS platforms, illustrates how 37.2 million consumers have already opted to receive SMS and mobile communications from businesses.  Within the education sector already more than 12.5m students and parents have opted in to receive texts on key dates, relevant news or to confirm appointments with this figure expected to rise to 16.2m by 2020.

 

The opportunity is reinforced by figures from Ofcom which estimate that a staggering 93% of the UK’s population now own a mobile phone.  Despite these findings, only 50% of organisations surveyed are currently using SMS as part of their communication strategies, however that is expected to grow to 92% by 2018.

 

Organisations texting their customers directly is steadily increasing and becoming more mainstream, with some of the most common reasons being; delivery updates (67%), order confirmations (64%) and personalised vouchers or offers (49%). This trend is expected to grow in the education sector.

 

Jason Palgrave-Jones, managing director of Textlocal, comments: “Mobiles have transformed the way we work, rest and play and are now set to change the way we interact with each other.  It’s clear from the report that there are significant opportunities available for education establishments to make the most of mobile technologies as their audiences are increasingly opting to hear more from them.”

 

The opportunity is highlighted by the fact that 98% of branded or business-related texts are opened by mobile users, with 90% being read within 3 minutes of receiving them. The report goes on to highlight that 23.5m people will respond to a business text message in 2017, with the most popular uses including marketing offers or confirmation of delivery schedules.  In total, more than 7bn texts will be sent this year alone.

 

A broader look at the SMS opt-in audience reveals that consumers are aware of the opt-in process and that businesses can only communicate with them with their permission.  More than 40% of users are only opting to hear from their six favoured brands, with only 4% sharing their details with more than 10 businesses.  Just over a third (37%) were not aware of how many businesses they had opted to receive SMS notifications from.

 

The report concludes to show the effectiveness of SMS compared to mobile advertising and social media platforms in terms of performance, with SMS achieving better responses whether targeting a recipient to download an app, purchase goods online or even encourage them into a store to make a purchase.  In addition, the results highlight that only 10% wanted to use Facebook as a tool for interacting with businesses.

The Professional Teaching Awards Cymru are back to celebrate the very best in Welsh education

Education Secretary Kirsty Williams has announced the return of the Professional Teaching Awards Cymru to celebrate the commitment, dedication and hard work of teachers across Wales (Fri 22^nd Sept).

Students, parents, colleagues and employers are being urged to nominate teaching professionals from across Wales that have made a real difference in their school or education setting.

The inaugural awards were held in 2017 with over 100 nominations being cast across the country. This year, the nine categories you can vote for include Teacher of the Year, Headteacher of the Year and Inspirational use of the Welsh Language.

Education Secretary Kirsty Williams said: “I am absolutely thrilled to confirm the Professional Teaching Awards Cymru are back for a second year. Last year we recognised some incredibly dedicated teachers and staff from all corners of the country and we’re looking forward to meeting even more inspiring individuals this year.

“Our teachers are central to our national mission to raise standards and make sure our children and young people reach their full potential.

“Nominations are now open and we would love the people of Wales to take a moment to put forward teachers and staff so we can recognise the best from across Wales.”

Anne Keane, who was HM Chief Inspector of Education and Training in Wales until her retirement in 2015, won the Welsh Government Special Recognition Award in 2017. Anne said: “It was wonderful to know that my peers in the education sector thought highly enough of my work to nominate me for a Professional Teaching Award. I want to wish the best of luck to schools and teachers being nominated across Wales for this year’s awards. I’m sure the next winner will be truly deserving of the accolade!”

Nominations are open until November, with the winners being revealed at an exclusive Awards ceremony in May 2018.

To nominate a teaching professional doing great work in your area, visit: gov.wales/teachingawardscymru

Join the conversation with #TeachingAwardsCymru  

 

 

The Professional Teaching Awards Cymru 2018 categories:

Supporting Teachers and Learners

School Business Manager/Bursar

Promoting Collaboration to Improve Learning Opportunities

Promoting Wellbeing, Inclusion and Relationships with the Community

Teacher of the Year

Headteacher of the Year

Outstanding New Teacher

Best use of Digital Learning

Inspirational use of the Welsh Language

 

Digital Schoolhouse, the non-profit programme delivered by Ukie, the trade body for the UK’s games and interactive entertainment industry, hosted a panel debate with industry bodies and students in order to help tackle the digital skills gap. The panellists discussed the role that the technology and games industries could play in helping schools addressing the current shortage.

 

The debate brought together a number of key industry organisations and bodies including PlayStation®, which powers the Digital Schoolhouse programme. Other panellists included representatives from SEGA and Warwickshire County Council, who were also announced at the event as key sponsors for the initiative, which aims to empower schools to deliver an enriched computing curriculum. SEGA and Warwickshire CC’s backing for Digital Schoolhouse underscores the commitment of the key names within the gaming industry to help inspire the next generation of tech talent in the UK and has further supported the rapid growth of the programme, which has expanded by more than 50 per cent over the past twelve months, now reaching around 15,000 pupils.

 

Kings College London and Townley Grammar School joined the debate, which centred around the current digital skills gap and the role that technology companies could play in helping schools to address it. A second panel with secondary school pupils gave the students’ view on the issue, and examined their thoughts on how effective the current English computing curriculum is in encouraging more young people to explore digital careers.

 

The panel discussion demonstrated key elements that are needed to help motivate and engage teachers and pupils, including the need for more creativity in the curriculum. The student panel backed this up and revealed that whilst most of the panellists were interested in computing and were considering it as a GCSE option, none of them had any intention of continuing with the subject beyond that because they didn’t feel that further study in the subject would support or help their future career plans.

 

Joseph Terry, a year 9 student at Gildredge House School said: “Today has shown that the new generation will play a vital role in the future, helping to create new advances like driverless cars. The event has helped me meet so many people that will help me in my career. I feel that we’re wasting a chance if we don’t use events like this to help solve the problems that we’re facing.”

 

Shahneila Saeed, Director of Digital Schoolhouse said: “There is a real need to engage with children from a young age in order to build more awareness around career opportunities before they make their decisions. In order to do this, we need to bring more fun and creativity into the classroom. The games industry is an incredibly vibrant sector with a huge range of opportunities available, however, the problem is that most pupils – and teachers – just don’t know about them. We need to be more visible, reach more children and more teachers. That’s why the backing of the industry and having SEGA and PlayStation on board are so important.”

 

John Clark, Executive Vice President of Commercial Publishing for SEGA Europe Ltd, said: “SEGA Europe has a history in working with educational organisations in order to help bridge the skills gap in the UK with regards to the video games industry. The partnership with the Digital Schoolhouse Programme is particularly exciting as it aims to engage the next generation of school children, and their teachers, with the new computing curriculum.”

 

To find out more about Digital Schoolhouse, visit digitalschoolhouse.org.uk.

“Mental Health must not be ignored,” said Mr Warren Honey, Headmaster at independent school, Hydesville Tower in Walsall, in his latest blog:

“The Institute for Public Policy Research has recently released its findings (accessed here) into the extent of mental health concerns in young adults.

 

“Its description of a fivefold increase in the number of cases in the last ten years is a statistically significant confirmation of what has been seen in schools recently: children are suffering from increasing problems with mental health concerns, and the under-funded health support networks are struggling to cope. Whilst the report’s focus is on students entering higher education, it is often during the teenage years that these difficulties start to take hold.

 

“Various suggestions are made of what is triggering such concern in the adolescents of this era, and many of these are unsurprising and have been known about for some time. Academic pressures and social concerns featured most prominently. The teenage mental health charity, stem4, surveyed 500 teenagers (link here) and discovered that the greatest anxieties arose from exam worries, work overload, friendship concerns, low self-confidence and body image fears. More recently though, the “toxic environment” children find themselves growing up in has been added to by rhetoric about the world and our safety within it. Whether this is the thermonuclear posturing of Donald Trump and North Korea, or the fear caused by shocking incidents seen in Barcelona, Manchester and other cities over the summer, it is clear that growing up is even harder now than ever before.

 

“How can we help?  As a school and as parents, we cannot isolate our children from all negative stories or events: it does not prepare them to stand on their own two feet and make their way in the world as decent citizens. Nor can we eradicate all of the pressures and concerns, many of which are as internally-driven as passed to them by the attitudes of society or their peers.

 

“Instead, we must all as adults give children the stable and supportive environments where they can grow up with confidence.

 

“In our school we use tutor sessions and PSHE lessons to encourage children to share any concerns openly, and for reassurance to be found in having others with similar views.  Some children need more support than others so if needed, we assign mentors to those who require extra emotional support.  Our Pastoral Managers work closely with children who may be causing concern and our individualised care of every child means that we are alerted to any changes in emotional well-being.

 

“We shouldn’t ignore the power of peer-to-peer support either.  At Hydesville this comes in a number of forms, including a ‘reading buddy’ scheme across our Prep School where older children support their younger peers with their reading; and in our Senior School we use our vertical tutoring model as a way for older pupils helping younger pupils in tutor sessions by modelling more mature outlooks and approaches.

“I have been humbled by the sense of togetherness and community that has been present within Hydesville Tower School within these early days of my Headship, and I am already conscious of what a remarkable school it is. Working together, I know we will give each child a really strong chance of navigating the challenges of growing up.”