Fertility education should be compulsory in schools, says Simon Fishel IVF pioneer and co-founder of menopause delay procedure ProFaM. 

Scientist Professor Fishel, who worked alongside ‘test-tube’ baby trailblazers Sir Robert Edwards and Patrick Steptoe, says education is key. 

“I believe strongly that young people should have as much education on these matters as possible if we want to make a major impact on preventing infertility,” he said.  

“There has been a huge success in preventing pregnancies through sex and relationships education in schools, but youngsters learn next to nothing about fertility.  

“Yet, contraception and conception are two sides of the same coin.  

“There is a feeling that reproduction should be left in the providence of the divine, and that somehow it’s different to other medical conditions.   

“Yet, having a greater understanding of how their bodies work will enable women to stand a better chance of falling pregnant when they choose to in the future. 

“Men have a biological clock too. It’s more insidious as it relates to issues of the health of the child and miscarriage, but this needs to be taught too.   

 “I believe individuals should have the liberty and respect to make informed choices.” 

Prof Fishel is urging the Government to add fertility education to the sex education curriculum so teenagers can make informed decisions for their future lives. 

“Many women fail to appreciate what causes reduced fertility – either dramatically or over their reproductive life-span – and therefore don’t know the relationship to egg numbers,” he added. 

“And apart from help from the media, or knowing what to ask online – which can be tricky as there is as much scaremongering and misinformation as there is good advice – it isn’t always easy. 

 “Many women will put off having children until later into their 30’s but fail to appreciate that this may well be at a time when their fertility will be reducing,” he added. 

“They may see celebrities having children in their late 30s and early 40s and assume they will be able to do the same, but many of those will have had fertility treatment, often with donor eggs. 

“And by the time they visit their GP or approach a specialist it may be too late to conceive without the help of fertility treatment, while others may find they are no longer able to conceive at all.” 

Prof Fishel says many young people are also unaware that lifestyle factors including drugs and alcohol consumption, obesity and STIs can all have effects on short or long-term fertility. 

In July the Government announced that from next year secondary school pupils will learn about the menopause during sex and health education. 

Meanwhile, the Labour Party is promising a ‘step-change’ in women’s working rights if they come to power with managers at large firms to be trained in supporting staff going through the menopause 

Prof Fishel launched ProFaM Protecting Fertility and Menopause) alongside endometriosis and advanced laparoscopic surgery consultant Mr Yousri Afifi in August attracting worldwide interest.  

ProFaM is the first organisation in the world to offer young women the prospect of freezing some of their ovarian tissue to preserve their natural hormones for use later in life. 

Further information: www.profam.co.uk 

A West Midlands school which has been placed in special measures by Ofsted is adopting a radical approach to exclusions and behaviour problems in order to make a step-change in its culture for pupils and staff.

 The most recent Ofsted inspection at Shenley Academy, in Birmingham, found a catalogue of issues including: under-achievement by disadvantaged and special educational needs pupils; low attendance rates, especially from disadvantaged and special educational needs pupils and a high rate of fixed-term exclusions.

 In response, the school, which is run by the multi-academy trust E-ACT, has seen changes to its leadership team, including appointing in a new Head of Inclusion and SENCO, Jonathan Hickman, who has been tasked with improving the school’s culture and, specifically, with improving the attendance of Special Educational Needs (SEN) students.

 “For me, children’s social and emotional health is where you start to make changes. If you improve this then educational attainment follows. This is a challenging school with high levels of deprivation and we want to create a really different environment where staff and students look out for each other,” he said.

 One of the main tools Mr Hickman is using to make these changes is The Thrive Approach, which is based on neuroscience and attachment theory to equip adults with the knowledge, insights and resources needed to develop the relationships that help children to flourish and learn. Mr Hickman trained in the Approach at his previous school, North Birmingham Academy, which saw a drop in fixed term exclusions after it introduced the Thrive Approach as well as achieving its best-ever GCSE results. In November, the school won the Alex Timpson ARC Attachment Award for Secondary Schools 2019 in recognition for the work it has done to create positive relationships between teachers and pupils.

 Already, making these changes has started to pay off at Shenley with a noticeable reduction in staff turnover, down from 30 staff leaving the first term Mr Hickman was appointed to a single figure turnover last term. The school is now hoping that other areas such as attendance and achievement will improve as the changes take effect.

 Shenley Academy wants to share its journey with the local community and is inviting teachers, social workers and anyone else interested in children’s mental health to come into the school to find out more about the changes it is making and to watch a screening of the film Paper Tigers. The 2015 documentary charts a year in the life of an American high school whose Principal adopts a trauma-sensitive approach to its pupils, many of whom have a history of truancy, behavioural problems and substance abuse. The results are astonishing – and Shenley’s leadership team are hoping that that it will see similar outcomes.

 The film, along with talks from Mr Hickman and Thrive’s Kay Hamilton, will be screened on January 16 from 4.30pm at the school. Attendance is free and open to all – but please email enquiries@thriveapproach.com to reserve a place.

Survey of 2,000 teachers finds schools in Scotland outperform those across England, Wales and Northern Ireland for availability and application of technology.

Lenovo has commissioned a report from CEBR, Technology in UK Schools, detailing insights into the use of technology in UK schools in 2020, examining the types of technology that have been adopted, how this has been applied, and the ways in which this has shaped the learning environment.

Please see below for the key findings, methodology, recommendations, calls to action, and an overview of Lenovo’s education portfolio in 2020. The full report is also available to share.

This has been achieved by conducting a survey of 2,000 teachers, covering a range of different school types across the UK, alongside one-to-one interviews with experts from the education and tech sectors from Lenovo’s education network in the UK.

As a leading provider of educational technology, Lenovo is committed to building smarter technology to empower students and teachers through personalised education solutions. A trusted technology partner to institutions around the world, Lenovo is enabling new models of teaching, learning and collaborating through cutting-edge solutions, all while managing cost, efficiency, and security.

This report presents a view of:

• The digital proficiency of schools in the UK, looking at region, school size and category among other factors, rated using a Digital Proficiency Scale developed by CEBR for this report
• The provision of technology in schools, both for direct use by pupils and in the classroom for teaching purposes;
• Recommendations and calls to action for improvement in digital proficiency
• Case studies with first-hand teacher experiences and perspectives

• Nearly one in ten (8%) schools fall into the inadequate category on the Digital Proficiency Scale developed within this report. One in five (20%) are in the excellent category.

• One in five (18%) of all private schools fall into the highest scoring group, compared to just 5% of the state schools in the survey. 
• Scotland emerges as the part of the UK with the highest level of digital proficiency in schools. 
• Examining the digital proficiency at different stages of the educational system reveals that secondary schools and sixth form colleges score slightly higher than primary schools.
• Smaller schools have on average a slightly lower overall score whereas bigger schools have a higher degree of technological proficiency.
• The survey revealed that the number one priority for teachers is to increase the number of computers available to students in school, followed by more provision of training for teachers on the use of technology.
• Nearly half of students access school computers at least four times a week.
• It is not very common for schools to provide laptops or tablets that students can bring home. Only 3% of the teachers work at schools where all students are equipped with laptops or tablets that they can bring home. 
• Microsoft Word and coding are the most common digital skills on the school curriculum. 
• Teachers are using technology to digitalise their administrative work. 79% of all teachers surveyed responded saying that they are performing some or all their administrative tasks digitally. 

Recommendations

• Based on the survey results, but also informed by one-to-one expert interviews and a review of existing literature Cebr has developed the following recommendations:
  • There is a need to expand the provision of training to teachers, in order to maximise the effectiveness of new technologies. 
  • Continue to re-orient the curriculum towards developing digital skills for the future such as coding, web-design and technologies of the future. 
  • Encourage information sharing among teachers to improve and inspire usage of new technology and digital skills in classrooms. 
  • Expand funding opportunities for investment in new technologies to address the shortfall identified by teachers and unlock the gains associated with higher workforce productivity in the longer term. 

Calls to action

1. Engage with the teaching community as new technologies are introduced: while only a small percentage of teachers feel there is too much technology in schools, more than two in five (42%) believe the use of technology is currently about right. In order to maximise the effectiveness of new technologies, it is essential that they have the support of the teaching community. This can be achieved by expanding the provision of training to teachers (currently just a quarter of teachers receive training on the use of technology more often than once a year), as well as collaborating with staff on an ongoing basis to ensure that technologies are implemented in a way that aligns with the school’s objectives.

2. Continue to re-orient the curriculum towards developing digital skills for the future: as technology evolves, routine tasks are increasingly likely to become automated, and workers will instead be required to interact with computers in a more involved and creative way. It is therefore essential that schools continue to shift their focus towards developing these deeper digital skills. While it is encouraging that most schools now teach computer programming, the fact that only one in five (21%) include topics relating to technologies of the future such as machine learning or artificial intelligence highlights that there is still progress to be made.

3. Sharing information: the interview with digital technology lead and computing teacher Donna Shah gives further insight into how teachers use technology to share information with colleagues, students and parents. Software programmes such as Microsoft Teams allows communication to increase between teachers and can speed up administrative processes which allows for teachers to spend more times with students. In addition to this, information sharing among teachers can also improve the technological and digital skills of teachers, as they are encouraged to share and learn from each other, which in turn leads to an increase in the quality of digital skills teaching in the classroom.

4. Expand funding opportunities for schools: while there are ways in which schools can upgrade their technological proficiency in a relatively cost effective way, many of the areas of weakness identified in this research require considerable investment in order to be addressed fully. Although the initial costs of technology can be steep, the feedback from teachers and the wider literature is that technology delivers a sizeable boost to educational outcomes, and in the longer term would result in higher workforce productivity.

Methodology

CEBR conducted a survey of 2,000 teachers at UK schools across all regions of the United Kingdom and conducted in-depth interviews with industry experts in order to create this report and its recommendations.

Lenovo Education Portfolio

Lenovo’s mission in education is to provide a purpose-built portfolio that empowers educators to drive positive learning outcomes.  Lenovo continues to offer a broad choice of Chromebook and Windows enabled systems specifically designed for students and teachers. Providing a superior and personalised user experience, the education portfolio features smart and innovative technology to enhance learning engagement.  

An all new Lenovo 10e Chromebook Tablet is the latest addition and an ideal tool for K-2 students to begin their education journey with problem-solving games, assessments and hands-on learning apps.

Lenovo 10e Chromebook Tablet

Highlights of 10e Chromebook Tablet:

• Specifically designed to withstand the rigors of a classroom environment with rubber bumpers and a super tough Dragontrail^TM Pro Glass that meets MIL-STD-810G testing
• Powerful but efficient MediaTek processor that conquers daily classroom tasks
• Versatile detachable keyboard folio case with anchored and water-resistant keys¹
• Eight years of auto-updates², world-facing camera, Universal Stylus Input support and access to tons of creativity tools and learning apps.

The latest ThinkPad™ 11e Yoga™ is a go-anywhere, do-anything, all-day learning machine, with the flexibility offered by its convertible form factor. Thinner and lighter than ever (19.9mm and 3.1 pounds), ThinkPad 11e Yoga Gen 6 is ideal for any grade level or teaching style.

ThinkPad 11e Yoga Gen 6

Highlights of ThinkPad 11e Yoga:

• Durability of ThinkPad Education design specifications that meets MIL-STD-810G testing with rubber bumpers and Corning Gorilla^TM Glass
• Powerful Intel® processor that meets the needs of any students or teachers
• Versatility of Pencil Touch Technology allowing students to use a No. 2 pencil to interact directly with the screen, and an optional garaged active pen when more precision is required
• Optional World-Facing Camera making it easier to record and take pictures and videos in all modes

Lenovo is also refreshing the 2^nd generation of 100e, 300e and 500e Chromebooks and 100e, 300e Windows with the latest processors to provide the best performance and experience for students and educators.

About Lenovo

Lenovo (HKSE: 992) (ADR: LNVGY) is a US$50 billion Fortune Global 500 company, with 57,000 employees and operating in 180 markets around the world. Focused on a bold vision to deliver smarter technology for all, we are developing world-changing technologies that create a more inclusive, trustworthy and sustainable digital society. By designing, engineering and building the world’s most complete portfolio of smart devices and infrastructure, we’re also leading an Intelligent Transformation to create better experiences and opportunities for millions of customers around the world. To find out more, visit https://www.lenovo.com, follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Weibo and read about the latest news via our StoryHub.

Prowise presents key foundations for privacy and security in the classroom

During Bett, the world’s largest education fair which takes place from 22 to 25 January in London, visitors can arm themselves against potential dangers in the classroom. In a special ‘privacy and security zone’ safety in schools can be tested.

Security is a hot topic in the world of education. There is almost no ‘industry’ in which so much privacy-sensitive data is circulating. Personal data, test results and other privacy-sensitive information are reviewed daily in the classroom. That’s why as a school, especially with the future of children and students in mind, you want everything to be set in place perfectly in terms of privacy and security. Unfortunately, this is not always the case, there are dangers lurking that not everyone is aware of.

Take, for example, the recent major cyber attack at Maastricht University. The university was forced to pay a ‘ransom‘ to hackers in order to secure student data and nullify the consequences of the data breach.

Arm yourself against dangers

The special privacy and security zone on the Prowise stand is called ‘Creating a Safe Classroom Environment’. Nine themes (from data storage to hackers) which focus on security in the modern classroom allow visitors to review how privacy is organised in their schools. All the key areas in the field of privacy and security that teachers, pupils and directors have to deal with every day. Sometimes without them noticing it. Time to open your eyes and protect yourself against possible dangers.

Secure digitization

With ‘Creating a Safe Classroom Environment’ schools test which dangers are around the corner in the classroom, to what extent they are prepared for them and what they can do about them. Prowise is the only touchscreen supplier to meet the strict privacy requirements of the UK Ministry of Defence. As a result, Prowise has been the regular supplier of touchscreens and interactive board software to various Defence training institutes for a number of years. The Dutch company has already launched the safe interactive whiteboard selection guide and is happy to help schools towards a safe digitisation of the classroom.

In this way, teachers can do what they do best in a safe and carefree way: teaching passionately.

Prowise’s privacy experts cordially invite interested parties to the Bett stand in London: SG20. More information about all Prowise products, classroom security and the stand can be found at bett.prowise.com.