Category Archives: Education

Labour dismisses Rishi Sunak’s five new pledges as mostly ‘so easy it would be difficult not to achieve them’ – as it happened

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Prime minister urges public to judge him on whether he delivers on new pledges but Labour says most ‘were happening anyway’. This blog is now closed

Lucy Powell, the shadow culture secretary, has issued a statement welcoming the government’s proposal to abandon the privatisation of Channel (without actually putting it in those terms). She says the government should never have floated the plan in the first place, and that it has been a “total distraction” for the broadcaster. She says:

The Conservatives’ vendetta against Channel 4 was always wrong for Britain, growth in our creative economy, and a complete waste of everyone’s time.

Our broadcasting and creative industries lead the world, yet this government has hamstrung them for the last year with the total distraction of Channel 4 privatisation.

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Strikes, elections and Dominic Raab: Rishi Sunak’s headaches to come in 2023

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PM has reinstated ‘boring government’ but smooth relations with backbenchers are unlikely to last

At the end of one of the most tumultuous years of politics in decades, Rishi Sunak is confident he has successfully managed to calm Tory MPs and – in the words of one senior aide – “bring back boring government”.

He has sought to kick some controversial pieces of legislation into the long grass, performed quick U-turns and managed to satiate a parliamentary party with a seemingly unquenchable thirst for regicide.

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Ministers criticised as 200,000 eligible children in England miss out on free school meals

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Around one in 10 pupils who would qualify for assistance are not registered with the scheme

The government has been accused of “standing idly by while children go hungry” after new analysis showed that more than 200,000 of pupils eligible for free school meals (FSMs) in England are missing out because they are not registered.

Campaigners have urged ministers to automate the enrolment process using social security records, amid fears that children from disadvantaged backgrounds are going hungry because they have not signed up.

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‘Go for it now’: 74-year-old graduates with merit after once failing 11-plus

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John Wilsher admits there were hurdles to overcome, but hopes his story will inspire others to get back into education

“Time goes quickly” according to septuagenarian John Wilsher who failed his 11-plus, but now at 74 has graduated from university with merit, and is encouraging others to seize the chance to follow their passions.

His return to higher education however was not without its setbacks. It wasn’t easy, Wilsher told PA news, concerned about taking exams for the first time in 35 years and aware his memory was not as sharp as it once was.

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Jamie Oliver calls for expansion of free school meals in England

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Tory ex-chancellor George Osborne also suggests free meals for ‘larger group of the population is the right way forward’

Jamie Oliver has renewed pressure on the government to expand free school meals, with George Osborne suggesting widening the programme could be the right way forward and Tony Blair saying the money could be found if politicians wanted to do it.

The television chef highlighted the issue as he was guest-editing BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Tuesday as part of his long-term campaign on free school meals.

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UK student housing reaching ‘crisis point’ as bad as 1970s, charity warns

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Growing numbers of students are experiencing hidden homelessness or accepting poor accommodation

Student housing is reaching a “crisis point” not seen since the 1970s, when students slept in sports halls and their cars, and is set to worsen in the new year, a charity has warned.

Since the start of the academic year, students at universities across the UK have complained of fierce competition for rooms in flatshares for the 2022 and 2023 academic years.

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Parents in Wales lose legal fight against ‘woke’ sex eduation in primary schools

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Judge at Cardiff hearing rejects families’ complaint, saying relationships curriculum does not advocate any one gender identity

A group of parents has lost a legal challenge against the teaching of children about gender identity and sex in primary schools across Wales.

Campaigners launched a judicial review in the high court against the Welsh government’s new relationships and sexuality education (RSE) curriculum, which they depicted as “dangerous” and “woke”.

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Calls for more antisemitism teaching in UK schools to tackle rise in hate

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Adviser urges governments to act ‘before this form of racism poisons the minds of many more young people’

Schools should be required to teach about contemporary antisemitism, not only the Holocaust, as part of a drive to combat an “alarming” rise in hatred towards Jewish people among British pupils, a government adviser has said.

The former Labour MP Lord Mann, who now sits as a non-affiliated peer, urged ministers across the UK to take action after an investigation found antisemitic incidents in English schools had almost trebled over the past five years.

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Higher education regulator to make freedom of speech priority next year

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OfS expected to gain new powers to regulate freedom of speech issues in England

The Office for Students will make freedom of speech and “off-limits” subjects on university campuses one of its top priorities for next year, despite the regulator receiving only around 60 complaints over the last four years.

Susan Lapworth, the OfS’s chief regulator, said students’ experience of higher education in England was “not just measured through statistics,” and could be affected by the attitudes towards issues such as freedom of speech at the institutions they attend.

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Portsmouth University loses discrimination case against Indian lecturer

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Dr Kajal Sharma was only one of 12 senior academics not to be reappointed to her post

A university has been found to have discriminated against an Indian lecturer on the grounds of race after it failed to reappoint her for a job she had been doing for five years, replacing her with a white candidate with no experience of the role.

Dr Kajal Sharma was one of only two senior lecturers at the University of Portsmouth who were not reappointed to their jobs when their contract came to an end, while 11 out of 12 white colleagues were successful, an employment tribunal heard.

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Chinese students in UK told to ‘resist distorting’ China’s Covid policies

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Exclusive: comments by diplomat involved in recent Manchester clash appeared threatening, student says

A senior Chinese diplomat involved in the recent violence against pro-democracy protesters in Manchester has suggested Chinese students in Britain should “resist distorting and discrediting” China’s Covid policies.

The comments by China’s consul general in Manchester, Zheng Xiyuan, at a symposium to discuss the work of international students were said by Lyndon Lee, 23, a second-year law student at the University of York, to appear threatening.

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Albanian children facing racist bullying due to UK asylum row, says envoy

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Albanian ambassador to UK calls for end to ‘campaign of discrimination’ amid debate over small boat arrivals

Albanian children are being subjected to racist bullying in UK schools because of the debate surrounding arrivals by small boats, the country’s ambassador in London has said.

Qirjako Qirko spoke out after Albanians were singled out by ministers and sections of the media during the recent rise in the number of his country’s citizens travelling across the Channel to claim asylum in the UK.

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Seven in 10 nurseries in England warn fees will rise amid energy crisis

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Over 10% of early years providers say they will close if energy bill relief scheme not extended, survey reveals

Seven in 10 nurseries and preschools in England will have no option but to increase their fees without additional financial support from the government towards rising energy costs, according to a survey.

The sector is warning the energy crisis could be “a nail in the coffin” for many settings, with more than one in 10 saying they will be forced to close permanently without an extension to the government’s energy bill relief scheme.

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Who are the female union leaders overseeing UK strike action?

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Four women at some of the biggest unions are on the frontline of the fight for better pay and conditions

Christina McAnea is the general secretary of Unison, the UK’s biggest union. Brought up on Glasgow’s Drumchapel estate, McAnea left school at 16 to join the civil service, before going to university at the age of 22 and earning a degree in English and history.

A longtime union official, the no-nonsense McAnea has couched Unison’s demands for better pay and conditions for NHS workers, who include paramedics and ambulance staff, as a battle for the future of the health service.

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School leaders report rise in pupils not on free meals going hungry

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Increasing numbers of children cannot afford lunch and are coming to school without adequate clothes

More than half of school leaders in England are seeing more pupils who cannot afford a meal at lunchtime yet are not eligible for free school meals, according to a survey.

Research by the Sutton Trust, an educational charity, found clear signs that the cost of living crisis was increasingly affecting young people’s education, with a growing number of pupils arriving at school tired, cold and hungry.

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Poorer students over £1,000 worse off this year, warns IFS

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Raising maintenance loans in England in line with forecasts, not actual inflation, could cause ‘significant hardship this winter’

England’s poorest students will be more than £1,000 worse off this academic year than the last, according to a new analysis that warns of “significant hardship for many this winter”.

According to the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), the reduction – which means students from the poorest families will be £125 out of pocket each month – is due to the falling value of maintenance loans, which students take out to cover their living costs.

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Forgotten photos show how Kenyan archaeologists unearthed secrets of their own country

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Exhibitions in UK and Africa rewrite history by celebrating discoveries of overlooked black excavators in colonial era

The photographs are rare, the subject choice unusual, but what the photographer captured was a common sight in the early 20th century: a team of colonised people, hard at work under a hot sun, excavating an ancient monument.

Today, without these photos, taken in Kenya in the 1940s and 50s, there would be scarcely any evidence that African Kenyans were present at archaeological digs. Their contributions and priceless finds were credited to their European bosses – and their important role in unearthing the history of their own continent has been all but forgotten.

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Gillian Keegan says teachers don’t need to threaten strikes

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Education secretary says she looks forward to ‘de-escalation’ as unions in England ballot over industrial action

The education secretary has made a veiled plea for teachers in England to “de-escalate” and avoid industrial action, arguing that progress can be made on pay and other concerns without the threat of “harmful” strikes.

All four major teaching unions in England are balloting their members on possible strike action over pay, with the National Education Union and NASUWT saying that the pay rise given in September – about 5% on average – is inadequate given rampant inflation and the cost of living crisis.

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Cap on foreign student numbers could send UK universities ‘over the edge’

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Chair of Migration Advisory Committee warns that some institutions would struggle to survive financially

Universities could go bankrupt if the government limits the number of foreign students in a bid to bring down net migration, an adviser on immigration policy has warned.

Rishi Sunak’s potential plan to clamp down on international students taking “low-quality” degrees could “send many universities over the edge”, particularly in poorer regions, the chair of the government’s Migration Advisory Committee said.

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More than a third of UK school support staff helping pupils pay for food – survey

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Many have also used their own money to buy pupils stationery or uniforms while struggling with their own bills

School support staff are dipping into their own pockets to help pay for food, stationery and uniforms for needy pupils, while skipping meals and taking on multiple jobs to pay their own bills, a union survey has found.

The poll by Unison revealed that teaching assistants (TA), catering and cleaning workers, librarians and sports coaches, who are among the lowest-paid workers in the sector, are struggling to pay their own bills, but still stepping up to support pupils.

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