Corporation rejects freedom of information request from campaigner who claims show is ‘rigged’
The BBC has been accused of “hiding” the extent of its Oxbridge bias on University Challenge in a deepening row about alleged elitism on the show.
The Guardian revealed that Frank Coffield, a Durham-based emeritus professor of education at University College London, is campaigning for fairer entry rules for the show for what he says is a rigged contest.
Continue reading...Headteachers forced to use non-specialists as turnover continues, education research body reports
Teacher vacancies in England have virtually doubled since before Covid, with school leaders increasingly forced to use non-specialist teachers, which threatens to drive down pupil attainment, according to research.
A report by the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) found that teacher vacancies posted by schools were 93% higher in the academic year up to February 2023 than at the same point in the year before the start of the pandemic.
Continue reading...Initial call for protest came after family of headteacher Ruth Perry said she took her own life after news of lowest rating
A Berkshire headteacher who issued a plea on social media for support for her plan to prevent Ofsted inspectors visiting her school has withdrawn her request, asking people not to come to the school, in the interests of children and staff.
Flora Cooper, the executive headteacher at the John Rankin federation of nursery, infant and junior schools in Newbury, wrote on Twitter earlier on Monday that Ofsted inspectors were due to visit on Tuesday morning.
In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is at 988 or chat for support. You can also text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis text line counsellor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org
Continue reading...Downing Street reveals cost of improved pay offer for nurses and paramedics but will not say where the money will come from
Downing Street says the improve pay offer for health workers in England announced yesterday will cost around £4bn.
At the morning lobby briefing, a No 10 spokesperson said the “non-consolidated element for 2022-23” – the one-off payments worth up to 8.2% – would cost an extra £2.7bn.
Analysis showed that in two years’ time - by which point Labour could have won a general election - two million people could face paying taxes of up to 55 per cent on their pots as a result of [Rachel] Reeves’ policy.
Continue reading...Activists hopeful as Canada’s largest school district takes first step towards banning caste discrimination
When Vijay Puli arrived in Toronto with his wife and baby daughter, he thought they had finally left behind the discrimination, violence and social rejection they had faced in India.
Puli identifies as a Dalit, a member of a group who in India are considered to be at the very bottom rung, often deemed “untouchable”.
Continue reading...Incident involving Vianne Timmons is latest high-profile case of apparent cultural identity fraud
The president of a Canadian university has apologized and is taking a leave of absence after allegations that she falsely claimed to be Indigenous, in the latest high-profile case of apparent cultural identity fraud.
Vianne Timmons, who is president of Memorial University of Newfoundland, said that she would be taking a six-week leave after the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) published a report last week questioning her claims that her father’s great-great-grandmother was Mi’kmaq.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Foreign Office rejected record number of academics in 2022 on national security grounds
More than 1,000 scientists and postgraduate students were barred from working in the UK last year on national security grounds, amid a major government crackdown on research collaborations with China.
Figures obtained by the Guardian reveal that a record 1,104 scientists and postgraduate students were rejected by Foreign Office vetting in 2022, up from 128 in 2020 and just 13 in 2016.
Continue reading...Shadow education secretary to announce policy aimed at giving parents more information than Ofsted’s current system
School ratings such as outstanding and inadequate would be scrapped in England under a Labour government and replaced with a “report card” aimed at helping parents, the shadow education secretary is to announce.
Bridget Phillipson will tell a headteachers’ conference in Birmingham on Saturday that Ofsted’s current system of ratings “is high stakes for staff but low information for parents” because it fails to convey important details about a school’s strengths and weaknesses.
Continue reading...NEU members had been due to strike for two days next week but will now consider Welsh government’s proposal
Two days of strike action by teachers in Wales next week have been called off after the Welsh government proposed a revised pay offer.
Members of the National Education Union (NEU) were due to stop work on 15-16 March in a dispute over pay.
Continue reading...Change in parents’ work patterns since Covid may have led to pupils staying home
Schools in England are seeing “a huge amount” of pupil absence on Fridays with children staying at home with their parents following a shift in attitudes post-Covid, MPs have been told.
Dame Rachel de Souza, the children’s commissioner for England, told the education committee that persistent absence from schools is “one of the issues of our age” and called for a “razor sharp focus” on the problem.
Continue reading...Teachers condemn family support for trend escalating on social media that leads to school ‘stampedes’
The TikTok videos show pupils throwing bins, tables and even urine. Across England and Wales, a handful of schools have been hit by protests against rules such as banning trips to the toilet during lessons or regulations against rolled up skirts.
Schools admit they are extremely worried about the copycat protests that have erupted in the last two weeks, typically sparked by videos shared on TikTok with many thousands of views. But what has shocked many leaders most is the number of parents on social media applauding pupils taking part.
Continue reading...Educational Institute of Scotland urges members to accept deal worth 12.3% by April and up to 14% in 2024
A Scottish teaching union has suspended its industrial action and urged members to accept a new pay offer.
The Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) union is to ballot members on a revised pay offer from local authority employers and the Scottish government. The union has recommended they accept the deal.
Continue reading...Government’s long-awaited plan promises thousands more specialist school places and new national standards
Services for children with special educational needs and disabilities (Send) in England are to be “transformed”, with the introduction of new national standards and thousands more specialist school places, ministers have announced.
The long-awaited changes are being introduced to end the postcode lottery that families currently face and ensure that children and young people with Send get “high-quality, early support” wherever they live, the government says.
Continue reading...Of 33 councils polled, 18 reported a decline in the proportion of families getting their first preference
Thousands of 10 and 11-year-olds have failed to get into their first choice of secondary school as offers were made across England, but the expected increase in demand for year 7 places in some big cities once again failed to materialise.
There were predictions that the proportion of children awarded a place at their top choice could hit a record low nationally this year as a result of a baby boom 11 years ago, but in London and Birmingham the number of applications and success rates were similar to last year.
Continue reading...Offering places by proximity results in selection of pupils from more affluent households, say researchers
Disadvantaged children are suffering “geographic exclusion” from England’s best state schools because they cannot afford to live near those with the best exam results, according to new research published by the University of Bristol.
The research found that very few state secondary schools give priority to pupils who qualify for free school meals, despite the government’s admissions rules being redesigned more than eight years ago allowing them to do so.
Continue reading...Teachers in north of England to strike on Tuesday followed by members in other regions over course of three days
Tens of thousands of teachers will strike this week resulting in the closure of some schools as members of the National Education Union (NEU) take part in three days of industrial action.
With little sign of a solution to the dispute on the horizon, teachers in the north of England will strike on Tuesday, followed by members in the Midlands and eastern regions on Wednesday.
Continue reading...Joshua Sutcliffe denies regulator’s charge of prioritising his convictions over pupil’s interests
A maths teacher “failed to separate the teacher from the preacher” when he allegedly misgendered a transgender pupil repeatedly and inappropriately shared his religious beliefs in the classroom, a misconduct panel heard.
Joshua Sutcliffe, 32, was accused by the Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) of “conduct that negatively affected pupils” on multiple occasions during his time at schools in Oxford and London. He denies the charges of professional misconduct.
Continue reading...Some state schools had to close down permanently due to extensive safety concerns
At least 39 state schools in England have been forced to close either partially or entirely in the last three years because one or more buildings have been deemed unsafe, the government has confirmed.
In three cases, concerns about building safety were so extensive that the entire school site had to be closed down permanently, with pupils moved off-site to alternative accommodation.
Continue reading...Call for more personalised approach on back of broader efforts to build deeper relationships with families
Personalised text messages to parents could be used to help improve school attendance rates, as teachers struggle to re-engage children and their families after the disruption of Covid, according to experts.
Lee Elliot Major, professor of social mobility at the University of Exeter, said there was a “national persistent truancy crisis” in England, with significantly more children now missing lessons compared with before the pandemic.
Continue reading...Move follows agreement from employers on lowest-paid workers and review of salary grades
Strikes by university staff over the next two weeks have been called off after a breakthrough in negotiations over pay, pensions and working conditions, unions have announced.
Five unions – Unison, UCU, GMB, Unite and EIS – issued a joint statement with the Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA) confirming three days of strikes will be suspended following talks at the conciliation service Acas, though discussions will continue.
Continue reading...