Teachernet, Online information

Public-sector education websites

For busy education professionals, knowing where to look to get the best and most information on the internet can be hit and miss. To save time and effort, take advantage of the following directory, which lists key public-sector websites along with links and information about what each offers.

First, there are sites with direct practical relevance to classroom teaching: the DCSF's Standards Site and the QCDA's National Curriculum website, which includes a National Curriculum in Action section. Then you'll find the ICT support sites, Becta and its associates. Lastly there are the organisations that service the education profession: the Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency (QCDA), the General Teaching Council for England (GTC), Ofsted and the Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA).

If you'd like to improve your ICT skills to be able to make optimum use of the myriad teaching resources available online, Becta offers a range of useful online professional development resources.

The Standards Site
This site from the DCSF aims to help raise levels of attainment in schools and learning centres by providing a diverse range of internet materials and services for teachers, heads, governors and local authorities. The site includes detailed schemes of work and an opportunity to send requests for help or information on specific areas such as literacy, numeracy or Key Stage 3 and initiatives such as Excellence in Cities. Strategy managers and parents or guardians may also find the resources useful.

To access the various articles, case studies, consultations and documents, pick an area of interest from the pull-down menu. The wide choice of subjects ranges from material supporting the QCDA/DCSF schemes of work to information on ethnic minorities, homework and target-setting.

National Curriculum website
Managed by the QCDA (see below), this site links every National Curriculum programme of study requirement to relevant teaching resources and supplies, plus supporting information for attainment targets.

Teachers can find hundreds of resources, some rated by peers, by searching for relevant websites or by using keywords to search the National Curriculum for particular themes. From the homepage users choose either the primary or secondary section, each of which includes subsections on the twelve National Curriculum subjects (plus religious education) as well as areas such as inclusion, aims, 'learning across the curriculum' and much more.

The 'Assessment' sections host the National Curriculum in Action pages, which use pupils' work and case study material to show how the National Curriculum translates into real activities. The examples, from different pupils, contexts and schools, show the standard at different ages and key stages. Users can go straight to a given curriculum subject and find out about assessment, level descriptions, progression and making a judgement. The 'My portfolio' feature enables users to collect pieces of work from across the site and to download printable PDFs of the work. Material on the site may also be of interest to inspectors, advisers and consultants working with schools.

The site also offers:

guidance on teaching pupils with learning difficulties and pupils who are gifted and talented
ways to find teaching opportunities for ICT, citizenship and PSHE
information from the National Curriculum teacher handbooks
non-statutory guidelines for PSHE and citizenship at key stages and modern foreign languages at Key Stage 2

Teacher Resource Exchange (TRE)
TRE is designed to help teachers to share and develop teaching resources by providing a database of resources and activities. Teachers can submit resources or browse for ideas, with content ranging from simple ideas and questions to complete contributions/lesson plans or schemes of work.

A key feature of the site's navigation is the easy-to-use TRE Viewer — accessible from the homepage. Users can select key themes and topics from the menu provided and see all the relevant resources. Alternatively browse by category (key stage, subject, type of resource, author, etc.).

Although not mandatory, registering means users can set up a personal profile, submit resources and add comments or materials. There is also an advanced search facility.

Inclusion
This site is an online catalogue of resources to support individual learning needs and is designed for teachers, school managers, parents and carers in the education of learners with special or additional needs. The site is managed by Becta (see below) on behalf of the DCSF.

The site is split into three main areas. The first, 'Resources', allows users to browse publications, software, equipment and online information. It also features case studies and legislation. A second section, 'Advice', offers a Question and Answer area for dialogue between teachers, educationalists and therapists, an 'Ask the expert' feature, a range of online discussion groups and a list of useful websites. Finally, material on conferences, research findings, government and LA initiatives, publications and new developments in special education and inclusive education can be found in a third area, 'News'.

British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (Becta)
Becta is the leading Government agency supporting ICT in schools, colleges and Lifelong Learning.

The agency's website acts as a gateway to practical advice, resources and information on topics including staff development, special educational needs and inclusion. Information is suitable for those in the classroom, leadership teams and management, LAs and support providers.

The content is divided into six channels that reflect the target audience:

Schools
LAs
Government and partners
Industry and developers
FE and skills
About Becta

Alongside links to relevant organisations, publications, websites and databases, the site provides a keyword search, news and research.

ICT Advice
The Schools section of the Becta portal includes a 'Resources' section with helpful advice, tools and publications for those who use, implement and manage ICT in schools.

It is aimed at classroom practitioners, ICT coordinators, leadership teams, Sencos and subject coordinators and is divided into four key areas:

Environmental impact
Digital resources
Technical support
Purchasing

The Purchasing area is the largest, with helpful subsections on 'Getting best value', 'Infrastructure', 'Software licenses' and more.

Ofsted (Office for Standards in Education)
Ofsted is a non-ministerial government department tasked with improving the quality and standards of education and childcare through independent inspection and regulation and providing advice to the Secretary of State.

The website offers advice, information and announcements about Ofsted inspections and other activities and is divided into the following categories to ensure relevance of material:

News
Inspection reports
Forms and guidance
Publications and research
Consultations
About Ofsted

There is also a sidebar linking to information sections for 'Parents and Carers', 'Children and young people', 'Adult learners and employers' and 'Services we regulate or inspect'.

Those in education will benefit mostly from inspection schedules and guidance, access to the latest DCSF performance tables (reports section), links to the PANDA website to enable online S forms completion and downloadable Word versions of S forms.

Users can register to receive an electronic version of the Update newsletter and a variety of email alerts.

Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency (QCDA)
The QCDA's functions are to develop the curriculum, improve and deliver assessments and review and reform qualifications so that everyone can get the knowledge, skills and qualifications they need for life in the 21st century.

The homepage provides links to the agency's latest news and to some of the most popular content on the site, including functional skills, national vocational qualifications, and overviews of the Diploma, GCSEs and A Levels, to name a few. In addition to a search function, top menus let you access information in a variety of ways:

depending on your role (teacher, headteacher, learner, parent, governor, etc.)
based on the information type ('News', 'Regulation and policy', 'Consultations' or 'Other')
according to topic (broad sections include 'Curriculum', 'Qualifications and exams', 'Regulation and accreditation', 'Subjects', 'Teaching and learning' and 'Tests and assessments').

General Teaching Council for England (GTC)
The GTC allows teachers to shape the development of professional practice and policy and to maintain and set professional standards. It also advises government and performs regulatory work.

The home page provides links to resources and information for teachers, employers, trainers and NQTs, media and Parliament, and parents. There are links to its work on teacher registration, regulation and research as well as hot links to advice on common tasks such as finding out if teachers are registered, referring cases of misconduct, and getting statistics about the teaching profession.

Visitors can also download a pdf version of the GTC's magazine, Teaching.

National College for Leadership of Schools and Children's Services (NCLSCS)
The College provides career-long learning and development opportunities, professional and practical support for England's school leaders. Its interactive and lively website is aimed at both experienced and new headteachers and assistant and deputy headteachers. Resources on the site will help in school management, leadership development and networked learning.

The site is packed with material relevant to school leaders including consultations and publications, regularly updated BBC education news, key documents, LA links and details on Headlamp and the National Professional Qualification for Headship. The site also provides practical help with example policy statements, action plans and interactive management tools such as a test to evaluate how your school is implementing the National Numeracy Strategy.

This community website also provides a link to Talk2learn.

Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA)
The Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA) is the national agency and recognised sector body responsible for the training and development of the school workforce. It plays a central role in supporting the workforce to help children and young people meet the outcomes of the Every Child Matters agenda.

The site has information relevant for:

teachers
school leaders
support staff
remodelling
partners
information about how to get into teaching.

Teacher Training Resource Bank
You can access research and evidence-based resources for teacher training through the Teacher Training Resource Bank (TTRB), a one-stop shop referencing over 5500 quality assured education-related teacher training resources. These materials include reviews of the latest policy documents and published research.

Canteach
This is the recruitment website of the TTA and offers extensive information and resources for would-be teachers. The one-stop-shop will help visitors to decide if teaching is the right career for them, how to choose and find the right course and route to teaching and what subject to specialise in. Material also covers issues of funding and finding employment, with an area dedicated to returning teachers — including available financial incentives — and personal accounts.

The site covers the following areas: