Learning Skills Improvement Service Essay Example for Free

Learning Skills Improvement Service Essay In my position as a workshop trainer at Deerbolt young offenders’ institute, the education I deliver for The Manchester College as part of their Offender Learning is supported, monitored and shaped by various professional bodies. The purpose of these bodies or sector skills councils vary however they all have a common goal in ensuring and enriching the quality of education being delivered. LSIS or the learning and skills improvement service are such a body who umbrella over every organisation that delivers qualifications throughout the country, and they do exactly what they say on the tin. LSIS improve quality, participation and increase standards in education and training. A lot of their work involves developing resources, implementing schemes, sharing delivery aids that improve quality and achievement and tailoring support to learners needs. â€Å"Colleges and providers helped by LSIS improved by one inspection grade at their next inspection.† (LSIS [ND] [online]) LSIS don’t just support the educational improvements though; in 2010 they recognised The Manchester College as a Healthy FE college, healthy initiatives offered throughout the college like loyalty cards, gym memberships and better eating schemes aimed to improve the health of students and staff. Another group that oversee our work as teachers is the professional body the IFL or the Institute for Learning. Their role is to register everyone practicing as a teacher or trainer in FE on to their database. They promote themselves as supporting professional excellence; they aim to increase the status of teachers as professionals, requiring a membership fee and proof of qualifications which is supported by the employer. They also champion the importance of CPD and require members to provide evidence of this and their teaching hours each year. This is seen to keep standards of teaching high, and promote quality and teaching as a profession. Until very recently this is how the IFL worked but due to the loss in government funding and teachers reluctantly to pay their own subscription the number of people renewing their subscription to the IFL fell by over half to just 85,000 signalling a loss of confidence in the body and an end to its presences. For many teachers and trainers in FE it was seen as a welcomed downfall as many believed the IFL did nothing for them, however now this professional body has collapsed there is no one regulating the qualifications or standard required to teach in FE which may lead to competiveness for jobs and or poor standards of teaching and training. These developments seemingly leave only Ofsted in place to assess the quality and standards of colleges and the individual teachers. â€Å"Ofsted would be made responsible for ensuring that FE teachers were appropriately qualified through inspections† (TES [30/03/2012] [Online]) However I see a huge flaw in this method of assessing quality and knowledge, not every Ofsted inspector can have the depth in knowledge of every subject of every teacher he or she is going to observe. For example if I am teaching bricklaying and I’m teaching unacceptable practices how is that inspector meant to know I am teaching the wrong methods? Surely the only way to overcome this problem is to have employed properly qualified teachers and trainers and not just people with some subject knowledge. Now that the IFL is a voluntary body the employers themselves have discretion over this matter. Construction Skills is another organisation that oversee and support the vocational training we deliver in offender learning. They are a massive organisation and have a lot of different strands from providing qualifications, courses and assessment and training support through CSkills as an awarding organisation. They also developing courses and provide support and training to local businesses through being an industry training board. In 2003 Construction Skills were awarded Sector Skills Council status, this allowed them to deliver valued support across the industry. Their main aims are to help reduce a shortage in specialise skills and help to bring a diverse workforce into the industry. They are also involved in improving business performance and developing professional standards for construction occupations both trade and professional. The other area that they cover is probably most relevant to my work as a vocational trainer; they have a large input on the improvement of education for apprenticeships and higher and further education. They achieve this by awarding grants for training, providing businesses with advice on getting the best from their work force offering card schemes, recognised qualifications and helping to link college learning with on the job experience. Professionalism As teachers, trainers, tutors or whatever you what to call us in FE we all have more than one hat we wear that makes us a professional. The IFL although seemingly no more used to keep everybody who worked as a ‘teacher’ under the status of a professional. They did this by having in place the requirement to achieve QTLS or ATLS within five years of working within the education sector. QTLS stand for qualified teacher learning and skills and ATLS associate teacher learning and skills. Everybody working as a teacher was required to register as one or the other of these statuses depending on your level of teaching qualification, the full Cert Ed being a level 5, I myself would have had to apply for QTLS status. However the following quote suggests that very little teachers working in the sector today have taken out the required status of QTLS/ATLS. â€Å"Only a small number of lecturers have become ‘fully qualified’ under the current arrangements: between 2,900 (GHK, August 2011) and some 6,000 (IfL submission, 2012). Whilst this number may rise as the five-year watershed approaches, some 85 per cent of FE lecturers have not embarked on the final supervised practice phase, following the diploma. We do not believe that so slight a result after such a long delay makes this qualification credible as a licence to practise which, properly speaking, should be earned before starting work, as it would be in other professions.† (Bis [03/2012] [Online]) By making this a requirement the IFL aimed at ensuring each individual teacher had the ability to work at the standards expected of a licenced practitioner. To meet this requirement you were expected to submit evidence of your teaching practice, subject and background knowledge, your continued professional development and your own reflective practice. I feel this was affair approach to the matter They may say the â€Å"licence to practice should be earned before starting work† but the profession of teaching is like no other. Its not really something you can learn out of a book you have to get out there and do it then reflect on it, prepare and do it again. My personal two hats consist of my subject specialism, Carpentry and Joinery level 3 qualification, and hopefully in a couple of months my Cert Ed teaching qualification. Other training and development also comes into it, like holding a CSCS card, which is the Construction Skills Certificate Scheme. Another initiative that Construction Skills mentioned earlier are responsible for putting in place. It means you must hold a valid card to work on any building site in the country. To get a card you must pass a construction health and safety test, the cards also state on the back your profession and level of qualification. This is another method of keeping this industry safe, to required standards and professional. â€Å"Professional formation allows teachers to describe how these standards are evidenced in their teaching practice, along with aspects of subject currency, teaching and learning, reflective practice and planning for continuing professional development.† (IFL [11/2008] [Online]) Professional formation isn’t just about your status or qualifications though. It’s a lot about your actions too. As professionals we are expected to present, conduct and discipline ourselves in a particular manor. However with this status we also have the benefits of being rewarded recognition for our work, enhancing collaborations, sharing good practices and having support and respect from our colleagues, colleges and partnering bodies. The importance of engaging in CPPD CPPD or Continuing Personal and Professional Development is something as professionals we should all be doing on a regular basis. It was a requirement of the IFL to record our CPPD hours each year and although a lot of teachers possibly never took this serious it is a good method of keeping in touch with current affairs and adapting to changing trends. The key thing to remember is that this is not just about completing a list of activities undertaken during the year that add up to 6 or 12 or 30 hours. The time spent can be meaningless unless it makes a difference. (IFL [08/2009] [online]) Education is one such sector that never stands still, the requirement to change and reform is evident and we do this to keep things interesting, relevant and to continually push up standards. From a personal point of view, if I’m teaching my subject specialism I want to be a fountain of knowledge in it, I think it’s important to have good subject knowledge and as I have been out of the trade a couple of years now this is something I aim the address on completion of the Cert Ed. I will look at gaining further qualifications in my subject, or maybe completing an assessor’s award. I have even considered going back to construction site work to gain further experience and update my knowledge. Ideally being out in the field working on actual jobs with students would be the perfect scenario for continually developing myself and I feel this would also benefit the learners immensely. As for CPPD in my teaching, I aim to complete all training events offered, for example we had smart board training at work the other day. I also aim to relish being thrown in at the deep end which regularly happens as a cover tutor. I’m lucky in the way my support role at the prison lets me observe a lot of different teachers each week and taking on their good practices and addressing learners needs is excellent CPPD for me. The importance of reflective practice Reflecting on our work as teachers is the best way to develop, its important to have regular teaching practice. We learn valuable things when were in lessons, under pressure and on the spot, however the real learning comes afterwards when we reflect and analyse the session. This is our time to put things right in our heads and prepare ourselves for the same scenarios the next time. It would be extremely difficult to pre-empt every situation that could occur and almost impossible to prepare for each. â€Å"teachers who explore their own teaching through critical reflection develop changes in attitudes and awareness which they believe can benefit their professional growth as teachers, as well as improve the kind of support they provide their students.† (tttjournal [ND] [Online]) Not only should we be reflecting from our own experiences but it’s also extremely valuable to reflect on observations, hearing opinions from another person’s point of view can really pin point things that may have been frustrating us for weeks. Critical reflective practice is more complex than just reflecting. It’s about planning how you will evaluate a lesson or even a CPPD event; it is good practice to critically review these situations through different people’s points of view. Your colleagues, students, boss, or even a person in the field actually doing what you’re teaching or being taught. With this in mind reflection is one of our most important tools. Bibliography Bis [03/2012] Professionalism in further education [Online] http://www.bis.gov.uk/assets/biscore/further-education-skills/docs/p/12-670-professionalism-in-further-education-interim [Accessed 27/05/2012] IFL [08/2009] Guidelines for your continuing professional development (CPD) [online] http://www.ifl.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0011/5501/J11734-IfL-CPD-Guidelines-08.09-web-v3.pdf [Accessed 12/06/2012] IFL [11/2008] Professional Formation [Online] http://www.itslifejimbutnotasweknowit.org.uk/files/IfL-professional-formation-overview.pdf [Accessed 12/06/2012] LSIS [ND] Our Impact in the Sector [Online] http://www.lsis.org.uk/AboutLSIS/LSIS-impact/Pages/default.aspx [Accessed 20/06/12] TES [30/03/2012] FE professionalism gets radical shake-up [Online] http://www.tes.co.uk/article.aspx?storycode=6202944 [Accessed 15/04/2012] Tttjournal [ND] Towards Reflective Teaching [Online] http://www.tttjournal.co.uk/uploads/file/back_articles/towards_reflective_teaching.pdf [Accessed 03/06/12]

Circulation Systems Over China :: essays research papers

Circulation Systems Over China Introduction: The Earth's atmosphere is in continuous motion: movement which is attempting to balance the constant differences in pressure and temperature between different parts of the globe. It is this motion which carries water from the ocean to the continents to provide precipitation and moves heat energy from the tropical regions toward the poles, warming the high latitudes. It is this circulation which plays a basic part in maintaining a steady state in the atmosphere and generating the climatic zones which characterise different parts of the earth. China, from its latitudinal location, mostly belongs to the mid- latitudes, with a small part to the low latitudes. It is located at south of Siberia and the north of the tropical Pacific. At this distinctive location, the country is affected by the alternate seasonal expansion and contraction of the polar continental highs and tropical maritime air masses, along with the seasonal shifts of the overhead sun. These changes in the pressure systems over Asia generate the unique Asian monsoon circulation which prevails over China throughout the year. Surface Pressure Field and Winds: For any fluid to initiate movements, pressure gradient must exists. Therefore, for a close understanding of the circulation system that operates over China, we should start from discussing the seasonal pressure distribution at sea-level over the Asia-Pacific region, which is the driving force for the air movements in China. Most clearly to be seen, the largest difference in the atmospheric pressure occurs between winter and summer, whereby January and July can be considered as representative months. In January, a typical cold anticyclone with central pressure above 1,040 hectopascals (hPa) developed over mid-Siberia and Mongolia (Mongolian High); while a strongly established cyclone over the north-western Pacific Ocean (Aleutian Low). Since both pressure systems practically lie in the same latitude of 50Â ° to 55Â °N, a steep pressure gradient occurs which produces strong and persistent north- westerlies over Northeast China. A third pressure system which affects China, although limited only to south-eastern China, is the equatorial Low over Australia and New Guinea. The vast territory of East China lies in the middle of the path along which the Mongolian cold air tries to rush southward into the Equatorial Low. Northerly and north-easterly flows prevail over the eastern half of China. As a typical feature, the Mongolian High is only a rather shallow pressure system. It disappears at the 500-hPa level. West China which has a higher elevation, therefore feels little of its influence; Yunnan highlands are even predominated by south-westerlies during most of the winter. The pressure pattern at sea-level during summer differs completely from winter conditions.

The once called beautiful Canadian Geese is now nicknamed the monster in Canada

The once called beautiful Canadian Geese is now nicknamed the monster in Canada. They are now the most widespread species of its kind in North America. They are turning into a continent- wide problem, which are causing people to be frustrated. The increase in their population is causing drastic measures. Their droppings are contaminating the environment. They are destroying plants and crops, and causing disturbances in the neighborhood. If no possible solution can be found to solve this problem, it can be a disaster. Canadian Geese were supposed to be an endangered species in the early 1900's due to the hunting of geese by hunters. (Shilts) There were hardly any geese left in the late 1970's until suddenly some were discovered again. Scientists were so overjoyed that they raised the geese in captivity and then let them go where they once lived. (Herbert) However this was a huge mistake. Their population had increased over the years. Not by a few geese more each year but 11, 000 to 70,000 estimated which was a noticeable dramatic increase. When the geese population stopped migrating, they began to double every five years. As a result, from 70,000 geese at the beginning, it has now increased to 3.5 million and more. (Herbert) The geese population had increased over the years because of a steady and large food supply and safely protected from the hunters. Another reason was due to decrease in predator numbers. The predators such as coyotes, cougars and smaller predators in cities and suburbs didn't usually attack Canada geese because of their large sizes. Secondly, hunting was also not allowed anymore in cities and suburbs so the geese could live for a long time and grow many healthy goslings. People also love feeding them and geese are not scared of humans anymore as they used to. (Herbert) As their populations increases, problems start to occur. They are contaminating our water supply with their filthy slimy green droppings. One goose poops 5-9 times a day, and imagine 80,000 geese contaminating the water supply, it could get pretty gross. Other problem with increased population is that geese love short grass near water. If the grass runs out, they go tearing up other people's lawns. Problems with the geese seem to get worse each year. The geese no longer fly in a V- formation, which is a sentimental symbol of the passing season. They now live as if they have adapted to life in our cities. They even forget how to migrate in winter. They have enjoyed their lives in the environment over the years, that they want to continue having a peaceful life, but would people allow it? The answer is probably not. That's what a lot of angry people are saying now. Farmers are mad at the geese for destroying their crops. Some countries have lost over 300,000 dollars in crops because of the Canada Geese. They eat all sorts of crops and in fact, they could wipe out a field in no time. (Herbert) People with nice lawns and yards definitely want the geese to move away. They pull grass out of the lawn leaving hideous holes on the ground, which do not please the homeowners. Angry drivers are not happy with geese causing traffic jams in the highways. When drivers honk the geese, they just ignore the drivers and even honk them back. Annoyed walkers are not thrilled to have droppings stuck to their footwear whenever they take a walk. A large number of citizens are not pleased with the geese. There are a lot of them around the cities and suburbs. People can't even have picnics without stepping on any geese droppings just like the joggers. School's sport teams sometimes have to cancel games since the field is too messy. People who love going to beaches can't go to them since the beaches are closed because of the droppings of the geese. (Herbert) In fact, if humans do not cut the numbers of geese, our water will one day be too sickening for humans to drink. Geese are now posing a health threat because they can carry germs like salmonella and giardia. (Springston) However, they don't pose as much threat as other wildlife animals. According to the rate for Canada geese, they are not measurable which means they aren't really dangerous. Nevertheless, they do make water dirty, which will still be a huge problem to humans. Lots of solutions are thought of to get rid of the geese without hurting them in any way. People try to make loud noises, spray the grass with some chemicals, and even make plastic owls to scare them. On the market, there are lots of deterrents to work against the geese. They make plastic alligators, chemicals, metallic, iridescent streamers and try to use swans. However, nothing lasted for long. Some thought of â€Å"shipping the geese off to a distant, remote the new home, clean up the dropping on the lawn and problem would be solved† (Bond). They even try to ship them elsewhere but it doesn't work at all. So now a broad, long-term strategy is being developed. However, there will have to be many more polluted lawns before geese and humans settle into peaceful co-existence. (Bond) Federal wildlife agencies, the companies who reintroduce Canada geese back to wildlife, want to trim the population which is 3.5 million and is still increasing by 1.16 million geese in the coming years. They will start at places where they allow permit lethal means, which means trapping, nest destruction and roundups. (Herbert) Some other companies want to increase hunting geese, which may be a solution but will need lots of money to do so. However, this creates lots of other problems because there are limits to killing geese. The geese are protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty of 1916, which limits hunting seasons and the number of geese an individual hunter may kill. (Herbert) Companies who are trying to prevent harming the geese are now trying to train dogs to chase them away. â€Å"In fact they are the hottest thing in goose management,† says an urban biologist John George. Using dogs to chase the geese away will be a good temporary solution. However it won't work for long because geese are smart birds. They will eventually find a solution to not get scared just like humans try to find a solution to eliminate them. (Miller) So after all, reintroducing geese back into the society may be a regret to a lot of people. Yet it is also the humans' fault for not watching them closely and carefully enough. Their droppings are infecting the environment, and are destroying crops, and causing disturbances in the neighborhood. They are part of a human problem that has gone wrong but one day, a solution will overcome the geese problem, making both the geese and humans satisfied.

UCLA Application Essay 3 Essential Points to Be Covered in Your Paper

The writing your college application paper is one of the most important steps in the college application process. It is, therefore, important to know exactly what to include if you want to join your dream school. Every year, hundreds of students across the world apply to join the UCLA. The college’s admission officials receive numerous letters for every freshman year. Knowing just how to strike the right chord is the first step towards standing out and getting a slot at one of the world’s most successful schools. Here are some of the most important things one must include in their UCLA application: 1. The Larger Picture The first thing to do in the UCLA application essay is to paint the bigger picture. Every other college course is part of a larger ecosystem, a larger industry. One must include in their essay some information that shows they understand this bigger picture, explains that they would like to be a part of it and why. One must include in their essay why they are passionate about the industry, the direction they would like to go in the future, and why it is important. Having analyzed the list of questions that interest admissions, make sure UCLA will surely ask you most of these questions during the personal insights portion of the application. 2. Specifics There will almost always be different universities offering the same course across the country or region. Another important addition that one must make in their essay is the explanation why they have chosen that particular school. When applying to UCLA to study architecture, for instance, one must specify why they have chosen UCLA and not any other school in the country. Reasons here might not necessarily be academic in nature, but it is important to show just how perfect a fit the school will be for you as an individual. It might help to tell the board why other options or schools do not fit, especially when you have considered other schools. 3. Credentials Again, even with information about the industry and the course one is applying for as well as the information on why the school is the best fit, there will almost always be numerous people with just the same points of view or reasons for applying. At this point, it is important to tell the UCLA admissions board why they should consider your application and not that of the other individual. The university will ask questions requiring you to, for instance, explain what makes you stand out from the crowd. Application officers read numerous essays every day, so it is important to have your essay stand out. One of the most effective ways to do this is to show your best self as well as your key intentions. Do this by making the application essay as unique to you as possible. The easiest way to have your essay rejected is to have it sound generic and rehearsed. Connect the essay to a personal experience or way of life and show the school why you are really passionate about them.