Country awash with teenage pregnancies to launch new school curriculum on sex – but is it worse than none at all?
Paraguay, which has the second highest rate of teenage pregnancy in South America, is about to approve its first national sex education curriculum.
But activists, students and parents have expressed concern about the new guidelines, which warn that condoms cannot be trusted, masturbation leads to loneliness and make no mention of LGBTQ+ people.
Continue reading...Calvijn College was one of the first schools in the Netherlands to ban mobile phones. Four years on, officials report its culture has been transformed
Six years ago, as officials at the Netherlands’ Calvijn College began considering whether to ban phones from their schools, the idea left some students aghast.
“We were asked whether we thought we were living in the 1800s,” said Jan Bakker, the chair of the college, whose students range in age from 12 to 18 years.
Continue reading...Admissions officers report rise in number of inquiries from international students since general election
Applications by international students to UK universities have been revitalised in a welcome boost for the sector’s ailing financial health by the Labour government’s “change of tone” on immigration since the general election.
Vice-chancellors and admissions officers said a rise in the number of inquiries about courses and feedback from overseas recruitment agents suggested that the change in the government’s stance since the 4 July election had been widely noticed by potential international students and their families.
Continue reading...Increasing amounts spent on educating pupils outside mainstream ‘where quality and safety is less guaranteed’
Suspensions and exclusions from schools in England went up by more than a fifth in the past year, according to analysis of live attendance data in a new report that raises concerns about children being shifted out of mainstream education into alternative provision.
Research by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) found that cash-strapped councils are spending increasing amounts on educating pupils outside the mainstream schools “where quality and safety is less guaranteed”.
Continue reading...PM says he will not take lectures from previous government as Kemi Badenoch launches Tory leadership campaign
Kemi Badenoch is speaking now. She says she wants to talk about the future.
She was born in the UK, but “grew up under socialism”, she says (referring to her childhood in Nigeria).
Labour have no ideas. At best, they are announcing things we have already done, and at their worst, they are clueless, irresponsible and dishonest.
They are trying to pull the wool over the eyes of the public about the state of Britain’s finances, placing political donors into civil service jobs, pretending that they have no plans to cut pensioner benefits before the election and then doing exactly that to cover the cost of pay rises for the unions with no promise of reform, But their model of spend, spend, spend is broken, and they don’t know what to do, and this will only lead to even more cynicism in politics.
Continue reading...Covid’s world of masks and remote health visits has created a generation at risk of social and emotional difficulties
Babies born in 2020 started life in the strange world of lockdown in a small bubble of people with faces hidden behind masks. Social experiences, such as seeing extended family, trips to the playground or mother and baby groups, could not happen. And struggling public services meant infants were likely to miss out on face-to-face appointments with a health visitor who might have been able to spot developmental difficulties early.
Those babies are now four years old, and in England are arriving at school for the first time this week. Experts say teachers should be braced to encounter – and tackle – problems ranging from poor speech and language development to social and emotional difficulties.
Continue reading...The Children’s Society urges schools and government to ensure ‘undue financial strain’ is not placed on families
Parents are routinely paying more than double the price for branded school uniforms compared with similar items offered by supermarkets and high-street stores, an analysis by the Observer reveals.
Despite government guidance to reduce costs, the analysis shows that parents who are required by state schools to buy clothing featuring official school logos are still paying significantly more than for unbranded blazers, jumpers, ties and sports kit.
Continue reading...Amherst College and Tufts University report lower number of Black students this year as white enrollment increases
Enrollment for Black students fell at two elite US colleges in the first class since the supreme court’s decision last year to strike down affirmative action in college admissions and upend the nation’s academic landscape.
Amherst College and Tufts University, both in Massachusetts, reported a drop in the share of Black first-year students, an early sign that the high court’s ruling could negatively affect racial diversity in the US’s more selective colleges and universities, according to the New York Times.
Continue reading...Thousands of schoolchildren in Rio de Janeiro’s favelas miss classes and risk violence as Brazil’s police battle drug gangs
Textbooks and marker pens are not all that science teacher Roberto Brandão, 54, takes with him each morning when he sets off for work in a school in one of Rio de Janeiro’s largest favelas. He also carries a first-aid kit in case he or any of his students is hit by a bullet.
“I always have it in my backpack because I could be shot at any time,” he said, displaying the red waterproof bag after attending a seminar on how police operations are affecting children’s learning in Maré.
Continue reading...‘Digital pause’ experiment at 200 secondary schools could be extended nationwide in January
France is to trial a ban on mobile phones at school for pupils up to the age of 15, seeking to give children a “digital pause” that, if judged successful, could be rolled out nationwide from January.
Just under 200 secondary schools will take place in the experiment that will require youngsters to hand over phones on arrival at reception. It takes the prohibition on the devices further than a 2018 law that banned pupils at primary and secondary schools from using their phones on the premises but allowed them to keep possession of them.
Continue reading...First Black woman to become Master of the King’s Music says cuts to education means ‘we’ve lost so much talent’
All children should be taught musical instruments for free at school to widen access to classical music, according to the first Black woman to be appointed Master of the King’s Music.
The Belize-born composer, pianist and singer-songwriter Errollyn Wallen says she plans to use her new role to influence “the things I feel are important in music-making today,” in particular better music education for children.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Children in disadvantaged areas three times as likely to be sent away as pupils in wealthier places
Fifty secondary schools in England suspended more than a quarter of their students after the pandemic, with children at schools with the most disadvantaged pupils three times as likely to be suspended as those in wealthier areas, according to analysis by the Guardian.
The proportion of schools suspending large numbers of pupils has risen sharply since schools were closed to many children during Covid, and teachers have struggled with deteriorating behaviour since they reopened.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Experts say ‘desocialised’ pupils home schooled through Covid are entering traditionally most disruptive years
Teachers returning to work next month will confront a worrying “behaviour bubble” as younger children who were most severely affected by the pandemic reach the teenage years renowned for peak classroom disruption.
The warning from experts and school leaders in England comes as evidence shows that children of primary school age during the pandemic – when schools were closed to most pupils – have been accruing exclusions and suspensions at a record pace since moving to secondary school.
Continue reading...Analysis of grades shows disparities also conceal enormous variations in performance within each region
As the tide of exam results affected by Covid recedes, it reveals stark social and regional inequalities in GCSE performances across England that are barely changed or worse than before the pandemic struck.
Those receiving their GCSE results this week were in their first year of secondary school when the pandemic began in early 2020, with that year and the next hugely disrupted as a result.
Continue reading...Three-year campaign by parents of aid worker killed in Afghanistan brings 19 trainee doctors to Scotland
A group of trainee female doctors from Afghanistan have travelled to Edinburgh to complete their medical degrees after the Taliban forced them to quit studying.
The 19 women arrived in the UK on Tuesday after a three-year campaign by the parents of Linda Norgrove, the kidnapped Scottish charity worker who was killed during a botched rescue attempt by US special forces in 2010.
Continue reading...For students fathoming British accents, cinema is a godsend. Three Ukrainians getting used to Yorkshire explain how light entertainment has been seriously useful
‘That’s my favourite moment,” says Tanya Driver, as she points to the large screen facing her students. At Keighley College, students laugh along to the antics of Rowan Atkinson’s Mr Bean, more specifically the part when Mr Bean is visiting his dentist. The favourite moment in question is when Mr Bean’s chair is “reclining”, which Tanya enunciates and writes on the whiteboard as students jot down the word.
This is an entry level two ESOL (English for speakers of other languages) class at Keighley College in West Yorkshire. Driver has been teaching English to students from all walks of life for 22 years. She usually shows five to six forms of TV and film to the students in each academic year, which, as well as Mr Bean, includes shows such as Inside No 9 and films such as the 1988 Arnold Schwarzenegger comedy Twins. On this occasion, the Mr Bean episode is followed by a group discussion about the different verbs and phrases used, as Driver asks students to describe the wacky scenarios in which Mr Bean finds himself.
Continue reading...Index on Censorship said 53% of librarians polled had been asked to remove books – and that in more than half of those cases books were taken off shelves
More than two dozen school librarians in the UK have been asked to remove books – many of which are LGBTQ+ titles – from school library shelves, according to new survey data.
The Index on Censorship survey found that 28 of 53 librarians polled – 53% – said that they had been asked to remove books. In more than half of those cases books were taken off shelves.
Continue reading...Researchers have found the competitiveness of men living in mixed flats on UK campuses significantly decreased
Living with female flatmates at university makes male students less “macho”, new research from Essex University and Australia’s University of Technology Sydney has found.
The study, which followed a cohort of students at a UK university living in campus halls of residence over a one-year period, revealed that men living in mixed flats with female flatmates exhibited a significant decrease in competitiveness. There was no effect on women.
Continue reading...Number of pupils accepted by ‘high tariff’ providers passes 100,000, after better than expected A-level results and fewer international students
Sixth-formers are rushing to take up places at the most selective universities, with figures showing a substantial increase in the numbers enrolling compared with last year after receiving their A-level results.
Experts said that “high tariff” universities, including those in the Russell Group of research intensive universities, were allocating more places to UK school-leavers this year after recruiting fewer international students.
Continue reading...Pupils in England delivered strong A-level results this summer, with 42% of entrants getting A* or As in maths. Here are three questions to ponder
The class of 2024 proved exceptional at maths – but are you? Here are some questions pupils faced in last year’s A-level exams. The answers are at the bottom.
Turn over your exam paper and begin!
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