All posts tagged: worsen

Special school leaders fear QTS plan could worsen recruitment crisis

Special school leaders fear QTS plan could worsen recruitment crisis

Published by skeptic

More from this theme Recent articles Special school leaders fear the government’s plans to ensure all teachers have qualified teacher status (QTS) could limit the curriculum and worsen the recruitment crisis. State-run special schools employ significantly more teachers without QTS than mainstream settings, according to a new report by the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER). About 10 per cent of teachers in special schools do not have QTS, compared with 2 to 3 per cent in primary and secondary schools. “This isn’t about SEND and AP being more willing to appoint unqualified staff,” said Nic Crossley, the chief executive of the Liberty Academy Trust. “Right across the sector, recruiting QTS teachers is a constant challenge.” Nic Crossley As well as staffing issues, she said there was no established QTS pathway for many of the vocational subjects taught in her schools. Instead, she employed industry professionals and higher-level teaching assistants who “bring valuable real-world experience and can do an excellent job”. Staff without QTS are “less a preference, but more a necessity driven by the …

England’s maths teacher recruitment problem is set to worsen

England’s maths teacher recruitment problem is set to worsen

Published by skeptic

Everyone should leave school with a solid understanding of maths. Decent mathematics literacy is a hugely important skill in many aspects of life. We need it when budgeting for a weekly shop, asking for a pay rise and completing a tax return. An interest and enjoyment in maths fostered at school can lead people to study the subject further. Mathematics graduates go on to professions in government, industry, software development and financial analytics, as well as many genres of engineering. In total, 13% of all employment in the UK is in professions that depend on mathematical sciences. A workforce that has been well taught in maths is crucial to a society’s prosperity. Building a workforce skilled in mathematics in England, however, will be difficult when there are not enough people qualified to teach the subject at school. Mathematics is a technical discipline. Quality teaching relies on its educators to have specific training: a university degree in maths. Research published in 2019 in Australia found that secondary school students achieved noticeably higher results when they were …

Trump’s Day One Executive Orders Will Worsen Climate Crisis

Trump’s Day One Executive Orders Will Worsen Climate Crisis

Published by skeptic

On his first day in office, President Trump has signed a slew of executive orders that will set the United States on a radically different environmental path from the Biden administration. The executive orders and memoranda take the first steps to fulfilling many of Trump’s promises from the campaign trail: Withdrawing the US from the Paris Agreement, drilling more oil and natural gas, and repealing multiple Biden-era environmental directives and departments. While Trump’s day-one executive orders are far-reaching, it’s not yet clear how they will be implemented or how quickly they will be felt. Executive orders direct government agencies how to implement the law, but they can be challenged by courts if they appear to violate the US Constitution or other laws, as happened with Trump’s travel ban executive order in January 2017. Trump’s executive orders do, however, send a clear signal about his administration’s environmental priorities: Extracting more fossil fuels, weakening support for green energy, and stepping away from global climate leadership. Withdrawing from the Paris Agreement This executive order instructs the US Ambassador …

Immigration plan on ballot could worsen worker shortage

Immigration plan on ballot could worsen worker shortage

Published by Sam

PHOENIX — Immigration is a top election issue across the country, but few places feel it more than Arizona, the only swing state along the southern border and home to one of the races that could make or break control of the Senate. Arizona businesses say a shortage of workers is threatening to hold up projects in industries such as construction, hospitality and agriculture — and that without changes to the federal immigration system, the economy could face a devastating hit. About 16.2% of Arizona’s workforce is made up of immigrants, according to a 2022 study by the American Immigration Council. Meanwhile, the state is also facing a job shortage, 197,000 as of June, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Monica Villalobos, the president and CEO of the Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, said the lack of labor is leading to larger economic impacts, such as on housing prices. “We have several members that are in the construction industry that aren’t able to find workers to complete projects,” she said. “And when they can’t …

Haitian aid workers worry American Christians donors could worsen crisis

Haitian aid workers worry American Christians donors could worsen crisis

Published by Sam

(RNS) — As the security crisis in Haiti continues, the humanitarian aid group Haiti Family Care Network is urging U.S. Christian donors to refrain from worsening the situation by donating to orphanages and to redirect their efforts instead toward initiatives helping parents support their children. “There are actually better ways to care for the needs of children than building and supporting orphanages,” said Heather Nozea, chair of the network, which is part of Better Care Network, based in Guatemala. In 2021, five humanitarian organizations created Haiti Family Care Network to change how relief for children works in the impoverished, often chaotically led nation. In 2011, the year after a 7.1 magnitude earthquake killed some 300,000, mostly around the capital, Port-au-Prince, orphanages proliferated from about 300 to 754, despite their failures to provide appropriate care for children. “Everyone assumed that the best way to respond was by building and supporting new orphanages and it became a solution to problems without actually addressing the real problem,” said Nozea, who has worked in Haiti for eight years for …

Tropical cyclone threatens to worsen humanitarian crisis in flooded East Africa

Tropical cyclone threatens to worsen humanitarian crisis in flooded East Africa

Published by skeptic

GENEVA —  The World Meteorological Organization warns that Tropical Cyclone Hidaya, which is projected to make landfall in Tanzania and Kenya this weekend, threatens to worsen the humanitarian crisis triggered by torrential rains in these and other heavily flooded countries in East Africa. “Hidaya is the first documented system to have reached tropical cyclone status in this part of the world. We are not talking about Sudan. We are talking about lower and East Africa,” WMO spokesperson Clare Nullis told journalists in Geneva on Friday. “It is historically significant. It is also going to have a very big impact, and specifically on Tanzania, where the ground is already absolutely soddened. Tanzania, which has suffered flooding, is about to get hit with more heavy rains falling … from this system. “And the moisture in this tropical cyclone will also impact Kenya, where there is also very, very bad flooding,” she said, noting that “climate change was supercharging extreme weather.” El Nino, which sparked heavy rains and severe flooding sweeping East Africa, is waning. Despite this, the …

Houston braces for flooding to worsen in wake of storms

Houston braces for flooding to worsen in wake of storms

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Tim McCanon sits on the road with his dogs after being rescued by the Community Fire Department during severe flooding on Friday in New Caney, Texas. Raquel Natalicchio/AP hide caption toggle caption Raquel Natalicchio/AP Tim McCanon sits on the road with his dogs after being rescued by the Community Fire Department during severe flooding on Friday in New Caney, Texas. Raquel Natalicchio/AP HOUSTON — The Houston area was under threat of worsening flood conditions Saturday, a day after heavy storms slammed the region and authorities warned those in low-lying areas to evacuate ahead of an expected “catastrophic” surge of water. A flood watch remained in effect through Sunday afternoon as forecasters predicted additional rainfall Saturday night, bringing another 1 to 3 inches (2.5 to 7.6 centimeters) of water to the soaked region and the likelihood of major flooding. Friday’s storms forced numerous high-water rescues, including some from the rooftops of flooded homes. Officials redoubled urgent instructions for residents in low-lying areas to evacuate, warning the worst was still to come. “This threat is ongoing and …

As bird flu outbreaks worsen, experts say the situation threatens to spiral out of control

As bird flu outbreaks worsen, experts say the situation threatens to spiral out of control

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For weeks, the dairy industry has been gripped by a highly contagious virus that is threatening to only get worse. Federal regulators announced this week that samples of pasteurized milk tested positive for H5N1, the strain of bird flu that has jumped from poultry to cows with one recent infection in an American. At the moment, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reports that the country’s milk supply is safe thanks to the pasteurization process, which works by heating milk to kill bacteria and viruses, and “the diversion or destruction of milk from sick cows.” However, infectious disease experts warn this these positive tests are a sign that the outbreak is much bigger than previously thought, and indicate that the government doesn’t have a good grasp on the situation. And the problem only seems to be worsening. According to the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), H5N1 has been identified in 33 herds in eight states. On Thursday, a senior FDA official said 1 in 5 milk samples have tested positive for H5N1. …

Chocolate prices could soar as changing climate patterns worsen cocoa crisis | Business News

Chocolate prices could soar as changing climate patterns worsen cocoa crisis | Business News

Published by Sam

This Easter, chocolate lovers will no doubt have noticed they had to pay more for their eggs. Now, the cost of chocolate could soar after changing climate patterns hit cocoa supplies in west Africa. Seasonal dusty winds from the Sahara have been severe in recent months, blocking out the sunlight needed for cocoa bean pods to grow in Ghana, the Ivory Coast, Nigeria and Cameroon – where around three-quarters of the world’s cocoa is produced. In the previous season, heavy rainfall spread a rotting disease among the cacao trees, which produce cocoa, the main ingredient in chocolate. Image: Around three-quarters of the world’s cocoa is produced in four west African countries Chocolate makers have already increased prices for consumers after three years of poor harvests, with Which? saying some Easter eggs and bunnies cost around 50% more this year, while others have shrunk in size. The global price of cocoa has risen sharply as exports from the Ivory Coast, the world’s largest producer, fell by a third in recent months. The price has already doubled …

Eastern DRC ‘at breaking point’ as security, humanitarian crises worsen | Armed Groups News

Eastern DRC ‘at breaking point’ as security, humanitarian crises worsen | Armed Groups News

Published by Sam

War is on the doorstep of eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo’s Goma city and the region is at breaking point, activists and aid workers have said, as the United Nations sounds an alarm over the situation in the Central African country. “One Congolese person out of four faces hunger and malnutrition,” Bintou Keita, the head of the UN’s DRC peacekeeping mission MONUSCO, told the UN Security Council this week, warning of a rapidly deteriorating security situation and a humanitarian crisis reaching near catastrophic levels. “More than 7.1 million people have been displaced in the country. That is 800,000 people more since my last briefing three months ago,” she said. Heavy fighting between the Congolese army and armed group M23 has intensified in the eastern part of the country since February, forcing hundreds of thousands of civilians to flee their homes as the rebels make territorial gains. The armed group “is making significant advances and expanding its territory to unprecedented levels”, Keita said at the UN on Wednesday. This comes as fierce battles between the …