Guidance Notes and Best Practice Guides

DfE: The Department for Education has published advice helping schools decide how to pay their teachers. The advice is being sent to all schools in England, alongside a revised version of the School Teachers’ Pay & Conditions Document that reflects reforms to teachers’ pay.
 
Schools will, from 1 September 2013, be able to link teachers’ pay to performance allowing them to pay good teachers more.  This follows recommendations from the independent School Teachers’ Review Body, which last year called on the government to link teachers’ pay more closely to their performance.
 
By this September every school will need to have revised its pay & appraisal policies setting out how pay progression will in future be linked to a teacher’s performance.  The first performance-linked pay increases will be made from September 2014.
Press release & links
 
UKOCUK online centres have just launched a brand new online course with a little help from the government's Money Advice Service, funded by Comic Relief. The new course helps older people get to grips with modern money matters. In just 30 minutes it covers everything from basic budgeting to benefit entitlements, savings & investments to spending safely online.
Press release & links
 
UKOC: Last week, Universal Credit went live for the first time in the Pathfinder area.  If you support people to improve their computer & internet skills, Universal Credit is so important as it's the first ever benefit to be built as ‘digital by default’, which means the vast majority of claimants will need to make & manage their claims online, which will need a higher level of digital skills.
 
This is why UK Online Centres has developed the Online Plus package of courses, which will help learners become confident internet users, with all of the skills needed to use online services. To help you prepare for Universal Credit the Department for Work and Pensions have created the Universal Credit toolkit.
Press release & links
 
LSIS: The Learning & Skills Improvement Service has announced that the latest National Occupational Standards (NOS) for family learning & personal tutoring are now available for use by stakeholders, employers & practitioners. 
 
Also during 2012, Personal Tutoring National Occupational Standards were developed to provide statements of skills & knowledge needed by the Personal Tutoring workforce.
Press release & links
 
FSA: The risk of food poisoning can be reduced by using slaughterhouse decontamination treatments on raw meat.  Consumers have given the Food Standards Agency their views on which treatments they would find acceptable.
Press release & links
 
DfEAdopters can now see exactly what support is available for them and their child with the new ‘Adoption Passport: a support guide for adopters’.
Press release & links
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