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Dear Nadhim Zahawi, your ‘levelling up’ in schools is jiggery-pokery | Michael Rosen

2022-02-05

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2022/feb/05/dear-nadhim-zahawi-levelling-up-schools-jiggery-pokery-michael-rosen

Those looking up the plans for education are struggling to find what hard cash is going to be given to schools So you’re levelling up. As your government has spent the last 10 years levelling down, you’ll forgive me if I don’t cheer. To justify why the government has hit people so hard and for so long, I heard one of your predecessors Michael Gove on the Radio 4 Today programme this week repeating the theme song always played for this purpose: it was necessary to make cuts (translation: to make poor people poorer) because there was “no money left” when the government came to power. You’ll know, though, that billions somehow appeared from nowhere in the first phases of the pandemic. Perhaps you also spotted this week that there are great concerns now that some of that money was wasted. Could that be true? I mention this because the journalists looking at the levelling up plans for education are struggling to find what hard cash is going to be handed over to schools. There might be some “creative accounting” going on: announcing “new” funding that is actually old funding. Leaving that aside, there are two core problems with your so-called levelling up. The first arises when it is cast – as you have – as if inequality were solely a north-south problem. I’ve lived in London all my life. There are some parts of London where a high percentage of people are on the bottom level of incomes. Treating such people as privileged is absurd and insulting. But what kind of levelling up is possible when your government backs the arrangements by which the privileged remain privileged: inheritance of property, tax havens and private education? These create and freeze the “levels” in society. They are built into the system. If there are individuals who can hop up from one level to another, it follows from this set-up that for every person who hops up, someone has to hop down. Who’s volunteering for that? You’re also part of a government that has behaved in the past as if the public sector – of which schools are such a big part – is a beastly drag on society. Yet the public sector is what helps us stay alive long enough to benefit from the crumbs that drop from the rich man’s table. Did “trickle down” ever happen, or was that as empty a slogan as “levelling up”? So these are the contexts for levelling up coming to education. You may already have heard some cynical snorts and guffaws coming from the chalkface. Since 1988, successive governments have treated education as an electoral asset: they’ve come up with endless slogans and projects to supposedly solve what is supposedly a crisis. Each time, they have peddled the narrative of decline, which claims that things are worse now than they were before. Each time, the initiative is heralded as the solution to the decline. Thus, the national curriculum, Sats, Ofsted, city technology colleges, the literacy hour, the numeracy hour, league tables, academies, free schools, the knowledge-rich curriculum, Ofqual, systematic synthetic phonics, eBacc, Education Action Zone, behaviour tsar, Progress 8 … what have I missed out? Some are great but get abolished, some are rubbish but survive. The consistent point about them is that they were all imposed from on high. It seems as if the intellectual ceiling of those in government restricts people from imagining that education could be run in a vastly more participatory and consensual way. And here you are again, sitting in your offices in London cooking up stuff that you say will solve everything for some people out there. On this occasion, the people out there are in the north. You’ve even marshalled some nonsense about wanting everyone to do better at Sats. You’ve had years to get everyone to do better at Sats. You’ve had Ofsted, league tables, academies, free schools, hubs, Ofqual, systematic synthetic phonics to ensure that everyone does better at Sats. What’s gone wrong with your initiatives? You are peddling jiggery-pokery here. I think if you pop down the corridor from your office, nip into another office, you’ll be able to look carefully at how the Sats marking is done. You’ll find that it’s rigged anyway. The setters and markers of the tests decide how many succeed and how many fail before the students even sit down to write their papers. They can level up or down anytime they like. I hope I haven’t shocked you by telling you that. Yours, Michael Rosen

Scrapping one-word gradings won’t solve heads’ ‘discomfort’, says Ofsted chief

2023-06-12

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2023/jun/12/scrapping-one-word-gradings-wont-solve-heads-discomfort-says-ofsted-chief

Chief inspector says it’s up to government to change system despite outcry over suicide of head whose school was downgraded Scrapping single-word gradings for schools would not alleviate the “underlying discomfort” teachers feel, Ofsted’s chief inspector has said, as she came under increasing pressure to reform the system after a headteacher’s suicide. Amanda Spielman has announced a series of changes in response to Ruth Perry’s death, but has been criticised for not going far enough. Perry, the head of a primary in Reading, killed herself this year after learning an Ofsted inspection was to lower her school’s grade from “outstanding” to “inadequate”. “It’s not for me to decide that there will or won’t be judgments in this system. We could write a sentence but, if the significance is the same and the consequences are the same, then it wouldn’t really solve that underlying discomfort [of headteachers],” Spielman told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. “The choice is the wider accountability system, which sets consequences for different overall outcomes. That is what drives the world’s focus on those overall grades for us.” Teachers in England have said they are being driven out of the profession by Ofsted’s punishing inspection regime. Much of the attention has settled on the inspectorate’s practice of labelling English schools with a single overall grade, such as “inadequate”. Perry’s sister Prof Julia Waters has previously said she was disappointed Ofsted had refused to consider removing “harmful and misleading single-word judgments”. On Monday, Spielman told BBC Breakfast: “The whole school accountability system is built around those judgments. Government decides when to support schools, when to intervene based on those judgments so it is simply not up to me to frustrate that system by changing the model.” She explained that Ofsted planned to changed the “language of reports so that we don’t sound over-focused on the head and senior leaders”. Spielman added that it was “down to government” to change the rating system. Waters told Today elements of Ofsted’s proposals would have helped her sister – including the scrapping of its “inhumane” confidentiality requirements. She said Perry was made to wait three months for the publication of the report, knowing she would go through “public humiliation”. “She didn’t last three months – she lasted 54 days with that knowledge. The one change that Amanda Spielman hasn’t yet mentioned that would have made a significant difference to my sister is the removal of the inhumane confidentiality requirement. “[The draft report] says categorically that teachers must not share that information and that Ofsted would consider it a serious breach of confidentiality and take appropriate action. “She told me, her sister, because she told me everything, but it was always couched in this dreadful: ‘Don’t tell anyone – I’ll lose my job if I get found out’. Even unburdening herself was a burden because she was so terrified that she would lose her job – lose her school, which she had loved and led for 16 years.” Speaking on behalf of the government, the levelling up secretary, Michael Gove, backed the Ofsted changes announced on Monday. He told Times Radio: “I think that all of us recognise that the Ofsted process can be a testing one, and all of us are aware of the particular individual case that has shone a light on inspection. But rigorous independent inspection of our schools has contributed to the improvement of education alongside the excellent work that teachers and headteachers do.” 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 counselor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org

UK universities offer three-day-week to let students find part-time work

2023-08-26

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2023/aug/26/uk-universities-offer-three-day-week-to-let-students-find-part-time-work

Compact teaching timetables will allow cash-strapped undergraduates to dovetail jobs with studies Universities are reducing the number of days students are required to be on campus to enable them to work part-time as they struggle to survive the cost of living crisis. Compact teaching timetables, where lectures and seminars are scheduled over two or three days rather than dotted throughout the week, are being introduced by a number of institutions. The move makes it easier for the growing number of undergraduates who have to take on part-time jobs to make ends meet. More than half of students now work alongside their studies, up from 45% in 2022 and 34% in 2021. With inadequate maintenance loans, which barely cover accommodation costs, and cash-strapped families struggling to afford parental contributions, young people starting degrees in the autumn face financial uncertainty. Two-thirds of freshers expect to get a part-time job to stay afloat, according to the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (Ucas). Students describe having to skip meals, work extra shifts or rely on credit cards to survive. De Montfort University, in Leicester, tested compact timetables last year in half of its courses and is introducing them across the board this autumn. Instead of studying four modules at a time, with about two hours’ teaching a week on each, undergraduates study one module for seven weeks. “The change allows for more compact timetables and this sits round students’ lives better,” said vice-chancellor Prof Katie Normington. “A lot of students are working and have other responsibilities, and it makes organisation of that easier. We had great feedback last year from students. Internal surveys show that those on the block-teaching timetable were about 10% happier than those not doing it.” The policy also benefits commuter students, who choose to live at home or cannot afford to move away because of rising rents and living costs. “Students with a Leicester or Leicestershire postcode rose from 42 to 47% last year,” said Prof Normington. “If they are travelling in to campus, it is easier and cheaper to do that a couple of times a week rather than four or five times for an hour here and there.” Two to three-day timetables are also a feature of student life at Sunderland, Anglia Ruskin universities’ London campuses and the University of Law, with 16 campuses around England. At Coventry University’s campuses in Dagenham and Greenwich, students are taught over two-and-a-half days a week. “The model is entirely down to the cost of living issue,” said John Dishman, pro-vice-chancellor and CEO of CU Group. “Barking and Dagenham is the poorest borough of London. People rely on having part-time work and their income is basically maintenance loan and part-time work. We have seen it more and more over the last two years or so. People just will not have access to courses unless it is built alongside their ability to work. Some people are working nearly five days a week and studying with us the rest of the time. It’s not so much a part-time job as a full-time one. Their dedication is amazing. We have our graduation ceremony every year at the O2 and it’s just phenomenal the amount of work people put in to get there.” Similarly at the Coventry and Scarborough campuses, lectures and seminars are held either five mornings or five afternoons a week, as part of its commitment to “life-shaped learning”. Roehampton University’s new timetables also allow students to plan ahead making it easier to fit in paid work. From this autumn, teaching on the first year of most of its undergraduate degree courses will be scheduled on no more than three days a week to help students “combine study with work, caring and other commitments”. Cost of living worries ranked as a top concern in this year’s student experience survey, commissioned by Advance HE and the Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI). More than three-quarters of the 10,000 respondents said that it had affected their studies and it was cited as a major factor in considerations of dropping out. “The increase in the proportion of students who feel compelled to do so many hours of paid employment that their studies may suffer is a particularly acute challenge,” said Nick Hillman, HEPI director. “Those in power should urgently look afresh at the maintenance support on offer to undergraduates. The universities minister said recently that a fee rise was ‘just not going to happen’ because families were already facing cost pressures. But it is not the fees that are the problem to students in relation to cost of living. What affects them is rising rent and the prices in the supermarket and if ministers really cared about that, they’d be raising maintenance loans.” Keir Stamer said last week that he would not have been able to afford to go to university now, describing how he survived his time at Leeds University by working, using maintenance grants and “carefully calculating rent, bills and food”. Maintenance grants for the poorest students were abolished by the Conservatives in 2015. Labour has yet to announce changes to student finance but the leader’s comments suggest packages to help students are under discussion.

A-level results day will not be ‘pain-free’, head of Ucas says

2022-08-15

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2022/aug/15/a-level-results-day-not-pain-free-head-of-ucas-says

Ucas, Ofqual and DfE hope to steady nerves as this year’s university admissions set to be among the most competitive in living memory The head of the universities admissions service has said this year’s A-level results were “never going to be pain-free”, as students are told to prepare themselves for lower grades and increased competition for university places. With results published on Thursday, the Ucas chief executive, Clare Marchant, said the government’s policy of reining in grade inflation in order to bring results gradually back to a pre-pandemic level, had been necessary but it was “not easy”. She was speaking after comments from leading figures in the sector that tens of thousands of students look set for disappointment this year, with 80,000 fewer As and A*s than last year according to one estimate, which could in turn result in 40,000 students or more missing out on their course or university of choice. Ucas, along with England’s exams regulator, Ofqual, and the Department for Education, have sought to steady nerves before results day amid warnings that university admissions this year will be one of the most competitive in living memory. Marchant acknowledged the offer rate had gone down, particularly affecting applicants to the most selective universities and on the most popular courses such as medicine and dentistry. Given the changing circumstances, she said universities’ offer-making had been “precise, conservative and cautious”. It means, however, that many students whose plans have fallen through will be hunting for places via clearing later this week, having to consider different courses at different locations in order to secure their path into higher education. Some UK universities had just a handful or no courses at all available a week before results day. It is the latest setback for a cohort of pupils whose education has been severely disrupted by Covid-19, with two prolonged periods of school closures and cancellation of their GCSEs. The government and Ofqual introduced a number of exam adaptations, including advance notice of some topics, designed to mitigate lost learning, but even England’s higher education watchdog, the Office for Students (OfS), said students should be prepared for disappointment this Thursday. After record results last year, when 44.8% of grades were either A or A* at A-level, this is expected to fall to 35% (up from 25.5% in 2019). While almost one in five (19.1%) grades were A* last year, this year the proportion is expected to decline to 13.5%. Similarly, the number of A* to C grades are expected to go down from 88.5% in 2021 to 82%. “Ofqual wants to bring the grading down but if you compare that to – certainly what I’ve seen – some schools’ predicted grades, they have accepted that in general that results will go down but not necessarily for them,” John Blake, the OfS director for fair access and participation, told the Telegraph. “That could lead to a lot of students feeling quite disappointed on the day that their grades don’t match up to the grades that they were expecting. And I think it’s important for people to prepare themselves a bit for that and to acknowledge that.” Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what’s happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion Marchant told attendees at a webinar hosted by the Higher Education Policy Institute the good news was that record or near record numbers of students were likely to get into their first choice of university. But she said: “A return to either an intermediary position or, as Ofqual said, a midpoint, was never going to be pain-free.” She said it would be a busy time for clearing this week. As many as 40% of students are likely to make use of the system to secure last-minute places, and Marchant said there were 28,500 different courses available, including law and psychology. Marchant also said the years ahead were “not without risk”. Grades have been brought down this year to a midway point between pre-pandemic levels in 2019 and teacher-assessed grades in 2021, but next year’s grades will be brought down further to 2019 levels. Looking further ahead, she said a growing number of 18-year-olds in the population and an increasing demand for higher education, meant the higher education environment would remain highly competitive.

English county councils warn of £1.3bn special educational needs deficit

2021-06-30

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2021/jun/30/english-county-councils-warn-of-13bn-special-educational-needs-deficit

Local authorities say they face ‘a financial cliff edge’ due to ‘an explosion’ in number of children needing support County councils in England are warning of a £1.3bn special educational needs deficit which threatens to derail their finances and undermine capacity to support recovery efforts after the pandemic. They say the total deficit is set to increase eightfold in just five years as a result of “an explosion” in the number of children requiring additional support and they warn they are facing “a financial cliff edge” A survey by the County Councils Network (CCN) and the Society of County Treasurers shows the combined deficit for 40 authorities has gone up from £134m in 2018-19 to a projected £1.3bn in 2022-23. The CCN is calling for an injection of additional funding in the forthcoming spending review to help bring deficits down to a manageable level. It is also urging the government to complete and publish its much anticipated review into provision for children with special educational needs and disabilities (Send), set up in 2019 to address problems with capacity, funding and support for children. Local authorities have seen spending on children with Send increase sharply in recent years as a result of legislative changes in 2014 which extended their responsibilities for young people up to the age of 25. There has also been an increase in the number of young people with education, health and care plans (EHCPs) from 354,000 in 2019 to more than 430,000 in 2021. These legally binding documents guarantee support services for children with the greatest needs. In view of the pressure on budgets, the government has allowed councils to carry over deficits until 2023, which has provided a breathing space but is “little more than a sticking plaster,” according to the CCN. Keith Glazier, the CCN’s children and young people spokesperson, said: “We have a statutory and moral obligation to support these young people, but local authorities are building up significant deficits. “With limited options and a lack of funding available, we are being backed into a corner and face a financial cliff edge in two years’ time when these deficits will be on our budget books and will need to be addressed. This could mean we take funds from other services or money from our pandemic recovery efforts.” Tim Oliver, leader of Surrey county council, said his authority had seen a “massive” increase in the number of EHCPs with 10,000 children now fully funded. “As we speak today we have an accumulated deficit in excess of £85m. “We have some children who cost hundreds of thousands of pounds a year to support. We have a statutory obligation to do that, but I’m afraid it’s just not financially sustainable.” A Department for Education spokesperson said: “We have announced the biggest increase in school funding in a decade and increased high needs funding for councils to provide services for families and children with special educational needs and disabilities to more than £8bn this year – an increase of nearly a quarter over two years.”

An ambitious overhaul of education is needed | Letters

2020-10-12

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2020/oct/12/an-ambitious-overhaul-of-education-is-needed

The Conservative One Nation group’s report on schooling doesn’t go far enough, according to Greg Brooks and Steven Burkeman, while Ruth Eversley ponders a career recommendation There is much to be welcomed in the One Nation Conservative MPs’ report (Tory MPs back ditching GCSE exams in English school system overhaul, 8 October), especially the proposal to postpone formal school entry to age six. But if, as the group wishes, more children are to be “school-ready” by that age, a more ambitious and radical overhaul of the education system in England will be needed. In particular, we would do well to learn from the many other countries where kindergarten for three- to six-year-olds is recognised as a discrete developmental stage, with professionals working in it who have specialist training and a clear career structure. Best practice in those countries concentrates on developing young children’s spoken language, socialisation and fine motor skills – all crucial for educational success and difficult to achieve sitting at desks. A rational structure for the rest of schooling would be a primary phase for ages six to 12, and a secondary phase for ages 12 to 18, with no centralised assessment until age 18. This would also imply a common curriculum for all children until they begin to know what sort of educational and work career would suit them. Subject choices would, therefore, as the report suggests, begin at about age 15 – we currently make children specialise too early.Greg BrooksEmeritus professor of education, University of Sheffield The radical rethink of education called for by the One Nation group doesn’t go nearly far enough. Tinkering with exams and term times is all very well but it won’t tackle the fundamental challenge – how to use schools to produce educated and resilient young people who know what gifts they have, and are able to use them to best effect, whether in pursuit of joy, or in order to survive and prosper. Schooling should help to produce people who are socialised, and have a sense of their place in, and responsibilities to, the universe – at all levels (self, family, community, country etc). In order to achieve this, from the beginning, children’s education should provide the basic tools that ensure the ability to acquire skills and knowledge as and when they are needed or wanted. The specific stuff should wait until it’s wanted and/or relevant. Using these criteria, a large percentage of time in schools is misspent and may be counterproductive. This represents a huge waste of expensive public resources. Based on these starting points, we would of course ensure that children learn how to read and handle numbers, but we would also spend time helping them to learn how to grow and cook food; how to appreciate and maybe even play music; how to live with one another; about the principles of science; and about the power of language in its various forms to move, persuade, and inform. Music and other arts, and team sport, would be centre stage, not peripheral. The Covid-19 crisis is indeed an opportunity for change – but much greater change than the One Nation group dares to envision.Steven BurkemanYork Boris Johnson and Dominic Cummings may need to tweak their algorithms again if they are to tackle Michael Gove’s “blob” (The Tories’ culture war is a reminder that the right isn’t as fearless as it seems, 9 October; The Guardian view on next year’s exams: low marks for ministers, 9 October). According to the government’s own skills assessment website, the recommended options for me are teaching/education or emergency and uniform services. Fortunately for them, this “ideologically suspect teacher” retired 10 years ago.Ruth EversleyPaulton, Somerset

Teacher sick days soar as poor conditions take toll on mental health

2022-07-31

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2022/jul/31/teacher-sick-days-soar-as-poor-conditions-take-toll-on-mental-health

Increased workloads, class sizes, low pay and Covid legacy are leading to more absences and an exodus of staff Teachers have spent at least 1.5 million days off work owing to stress and mental health issues, new figures have revealed, amid continued concerns over the increasing pressures they are facing in the classroom. With long-running concerns about workloads and growing class sizes, new data seen by the Observer suggests that the number of days lost to mental health issues in some council-controlled schools in England and Wales has increased by 7% from the previous year. It is also up by almost a fifth compared to three years ago. The data came in response to freedom of information requests provided by 143 out of 152 local education authorities in England and Wales. In total, over seven million teacher days have been lost to stress and mental health issues in the past five years. They showed a steady increase, highlighting the pressures that the pandemic put on teaching staff. Some areas appeared to be more heavily affected. Kent saw 91,679 teaching days lost in 2021-22, more than anywhere else in the country. Hampshire saw the number of days taken off for mental health rise to 28,945 in 2021-22, up a third from the year before. Munira Wilson, Liberal Democrat education spokesperson who uncovered the figures, said she feared there was a growing mental health epidemic among teachers. “Far too many teachers are facing burnout from unsustainable workloads and relentless pressure,” she said. “Parents will be rightly worried about the terrible knock-on impact this could have on the education and well-being of our children. “The new education secretary must set out a clear plan to reverse the years of damage to the mental health and well-being of teachers, and to help recruit and retain the staff we need. The Covid inquiry must also look into the impact the government’s mishandling of the pandemic had on the mental health of teachers and other frontline workers.” This comes with teaching leaders warning that working pressures, combined with a below-inflation pay rise offer, will intensify a crisis in teacher retention. Most have been offered a 5% pay rise next year – higher than the original 3% offer, but well below the 9.1% rate of inflation. Starting salaries will rise by 8.9%. Unions have said they will consult their members on possible industrial action in the autumn as a result of the offer. According to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, the 5% increase offered to most teachers would be “a total real-terms cut of nearly 12% since 2010”. Schools will have to fund the increases out of existing budgets. Julie McCulloch, director of policy at the Association of School and College Leaders, said stress and poor mental health had become “a really significant problem”. She said: “The biggest problem is workload and this is often cited, alongside pay, as one of the main reasons we have a very high staff turnover rate in education, with 40% of teachers leaving within 10 years of qualifying. “During the pandemic, schools and staff had to take on a great deal of additional work. All of this will have left many staff feeling burnt out and we are also hearing that some have come out of the pandemic with a view to reappraising their work/life balance and quitting teaching. This is of huge concern because the situation with teacher shortages is already pretty desperate and it seems likely to get even worse.” Kevin Courtney, joint general secretary of the National Education Union, said: “The government is failing to address the issues of unacceptable workload, supersized classrooms, punitive accountability measures, stress and pay needed to ensure teaching is a profession that is both attractive to graduates and which keeps experienced teachers in post.” A Whitehall official said the forthcoming Covid inquiry included a pledge to examine the impact on the nation’s mental health. A Department for Education spokesperson said: “We are incredibly grateful for the continued efforts of teachers and school leaders in supporting pupils, especially over the pandemic. We are taking action to support teachers to stay in the profession and thrive. This includes increasing pay and launching the Education Staff Wellbeing Charter, which commits to reducing unnecessary teacher workload, championing flexible working and improving access to wellbeing resources.”

‘I’ve had to defer for a year’: students despair at the cost of living crisis | Letters

2022-10-21

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2022/oct/21/students-despair-at-the-cost-of-living-crisis-defer-postgrad-brexit-european

Josephine Makepeace writes that she may have to wave goodbye to her postgraduate dreams, while Marion Durose explains the extra costs of post-Brexit European study Re Chelsie Henshaw’s article (The cost of living crisis will force students to choose between studying and eating, 14 October), I graduated earlier this year with a first, and was all set to go on to my master’s course this autumn. I’ve now had to defer for a year because I just can’t make the numbers add up, even with a part-time job. I’m a mature student, so there is no “bank of mum and dad”, and, as a working-class student, there are precious little savings for me to fall back on. Even the full master’s loan, and a discount on tuition fees from my university for getting a first, leaves the pot virtually empty after the basics of just rent and utilities – I’d have less than £100 a month left over for food, and absolutely nothing for anything else. It would take just one catastrophe to send me over the financial edge. So my educational journey has effectively stalled, as have my career plans. I’m really hoping I’ll be able to restart my master’s next year, but if the crisis continues or deepens, then I can kiss goodbye to my postgrad dreams for at least a few years. How many other working-class students are in this position, either having to drop out or not even start their degrees because of financial constraints? It makes me angry and sad and hopeless that, even in education, which is supposed to be the greatest of all levellers, the rich get almost all the pie and the poor are left with crumbs.Josephine MakepeaceNorwich Chelsie Henshaw is right. Student financing needs a review and reform to enable all students, especially those from poor backgrounds, to get adequate funding to allow a work/study/fun balance at university. I enjoyed free university education, with access to student loans and working through the holidays allowing me to pay bills and enjoy student life in the 90s. It is significantly harder for students today, with additional costs as a result of Brexit that do not get reported. My daughter took up a study place in Belgium this September, a great opportunity to expand her knowledge and life experience. Her visa costs alone exceeded £700. Pre-Brexit, no such costs existed, due to free movement. Visa costs present a huge barrier to equal opportunities: students from financially struggling backgrounds must feel cheated and stressed by the situation. Johnson told us that post-Brexit, out of the excellent Erasmus scheme (which we did not need to leave), the Turing scheme replacement would be much better. It isn’t. My daughter received no Turing funding at all. When her university applied to government for funds, it received a fraction of what was needed. Monies received rightly went to the poorest students. The question therefore is how many young adults who will have worked hard to fund the other costs such as visas and travel were ultimately left high and dry when no Turing funds came their way? Politicians constantly yak about a high-skill workforce and economy, without, it seems to me, joining the dots. Funding and investing in education, and ensuring equal access, is the backbone on which that workforce is grown.Marion DuroseKetton, Rutland Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication.

Number of graduates in teacher training in England at ‘catastrophic’ level

2022-12-01

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2022/dec/01/number-graduates-teacher-training-england-catastrophic-level

Initial DfE figures show just under 29,000 graduates have signed up this year, a 20% fall on last year The number of graduates training to be teachers in England has slumped to “catastrophic” levels, with the government missing its own recruitment targets by more than 80% in key subjects such as physics. The Department for Education’s initial teacher training figures show that just under 29,000 graduates have signed up this year, a 20% fall compared with 36,000 last year, and far below the 40,000 trainees registered during the pandemic in 2020-21. But the figures are far worse for secondary school recruitment, where they are at just 59% of the DfE’s annual target, well below the 79% reached last year. It means the government has missed its own targets in nine of the past 10 years. Geoff Barton, the general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said the figures were “nothing short of catastrophic” because of acute shortages. “A key cause of this crisis is the long-term erosion of teacher pay, which has fallen in real terms by a fifth since 2010, making it uncompetitive in the graduate marketplace,” Barton said. “This is compounded by the government’s underfunding of schools, which has driven up workload and made the profession less attractive.” A DfE spokesperson said: “We understand that teacher recruitment is challenging, which is why we have taken action to raise the profile of this important and prestigious profession. “For teacher trainees in 2023, bursaries worth up to £27,000 and scholarships worth up to £29,000 in key subjects such as chemistry, computing, mathematics, and physics are available. We also remain committed to raising the starting salary for teachers to £30,000 next year.” But Stephen Morgan, the shadow schools minister, said the government’s policies were having a “chilling effect” on the profession. “Labour’s national excellence programme, paid for by ending tax breaks for private schools, will recruit more than 6,500 new teachers so that every child gets a brilliant state education.” UK unemployment has recently fallen to just 3.5% – the lowest rate since 1974 – meaning that graduates in sought-after subjects have more attractive options, while the cost of living crisis means they may be less willing to spend another year as students. Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what’s happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion James Zuccollo, of the Education Policy Institute, said: “It’s concerning that the overall attainment of graduates entering the profession is declining, with 75% holding a first-class or 2.1 degree this year, down from 78% last year, despite more graduates attaining these grades across the population.” Thirteen out of 17 secondary subject areas missed their targets, with the biggest gaps in science and technology. Just 444 physics teachers signed up for training, equating to one for every eight state secondary schools in England. In computing, 348 graduates entered training, 30% of the government’s target of 1,145. There was better news in maths, with the government reaching 90% of its target for trainee maths teachers. Primary school graduate trainees reached 93% of the DfE’s target, but this was well below last year’s 131% figure.

Ex-tsar angry at neglect of pupils in England left behind in pandemic

2022-07-16

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2022/jul/16/sir-kevan-collins-ex-tsar-pupils-england-left-behind-pandemic

Sir Kevan Collins says recovery plan may end up little more than ‘a few kids in the corner doing a bit of tutoring’ The former education recovery commissioner, Sir Kevan Collins, has accused the government of burying its head in the sand over the loss of learning among children in England due to Covid, warning the problem will not just “go away”. He expressed regret about lost opportunities after the government rejected his ambitious £15bn plan for recovery, including an extended school day for all, and warned that the flagship national tutoring programme (NTP) was in danger of becoming little more than “a few kids in the corner doing a bit of tutoring”. Speaking a year after Covid restrictions were finally lifted on what the government called “freedom day”, Collins voiced concern about a tax-cutting arms race in the Conservative leadership contest, which he warned would result in cuts to education spending. Collins resigned from his job as education catch-up tsar in June last year in protest at the prime minister’s decision to scale back recovery plans, warning the new offer did not come close to meeting the needs of children whose education was thrown into chaos by the pandemic. The government has so far pledged around £5bn in catch-up funding for schools and colleges. In an interview with the Guardian, Collins said he remained convinced the country was underinvesting in education overall, and warned that the evidence emerging in recent months about the impact of lost learning suggested that the NTP, set up with great fanfare to help left-behind children catch up, was not delivering. “I worry we’re into that ‘Don’t mention the war – don’t mention Covid. Let’s just pretend we can put that behind us. Let’s put our head in the sand.’ And that won’t wash because the impact of this isn’t going to go away unless we do something about it. We’re letting down a generation of children if we don’t do it,” he said. The delivery of the NTP, which has been led by the Dutch HR giant Randstad this year, has been widely criticised with low participation rates in some areas of the country. As a result, the Department for Education (DfE) announced that all funding would go direct to schools next year so they can arrange their own tuition, a move welcomed by headteachers. On the risk of tax cuts, promised by various contenders in the Tory party leadership race, Collins warned of “restraint on spending on public services including education”, an area where there is “no fat”. Speaking of his own time dealing with the Treasury, he said the department saw education spending as something to control, rather than core to long-term investment. “I was given lots of encouragement and was being told to be ambitious by No 10 people, including the prime minister, but it was at the Treasury where the brakes came in,” he said, calling the thinking a false economy. “Every piece of evidence indicates that the investment I was asking for was tiny compared to the long-term hit if people lose earning power and economic productivity.” He added: “I’m incredibly disappointed – and there is an anger – because our children and our schools deserve more You’ve got children who never had any time in reception, or in the early years – and that’s a big part of your life missing. Huge rites of passage are missing – your prom. All missed. And in the long term they matter.” “Then you’ve got all the children that didn’t sing in a choir for two years, or didn’t take up a musical instrument or play sports. They’re reluctant now to go back to those things, so we’ve seen a drop off in some of those activities.” Collins had hoped that high-quality, well trained tutors and tutoring, which has been shown to make a difference to outcomes, could become a new arm of the education system, available to everyone, rather than just for the better off. “But we’ve ended up with tutoring that isn’t as well supported and developed as it should be. There were issues around how the government decided to award the contract for those who were going to do the training and broker the programme and make it available to schools,” he said. He added: “Unfortunately it hasn’t worked out as well as it should have done. So now the money is going to schools, but are they getting the support they need to develop the tutors? Are they being supported to make sure the tutoring is high quality? I’m not so sure. The biggest issue in education, however, is the attainment gap between disadvantaged children and their wealthier peers, said Collins. “The gap has been exacerbated and I fear that’s just going to become – well, that’s how the system is, we live with this, it’s nature’s course. And of course that’s unacceptable. I worry about this notion that we can’t do anything about it.” A Department for Education spokesperson said: “The government has been driving forward work to get children back on track after the pandemic, including through our revolutionary national tutoring programme – with over 1.5 million courses already started – and targeted support for whole areas of the country where standards are weakest. “From September the programme will be simplified, with all £349m of funding being provided directly to schools, while additional funding to support education recovery in secondary schools will double.”

Harvard’s Claudine Gay was ousted for ‘plagiarism’. How serious was it really?

2024-01-06

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2024/jan/06/harvard-claudine-gay-plagiarism

Gay resigned amid claims of plagiarism, but was it the person being accused rather than the violation itself that brought about her downfall? Claudine Gay’s days as Harvard president may well have been numbered from the moment she appeared to equivocate on whether theoretical calls for violence against Jewish people violated Harvard’s rules while testifying before Congress last month. But it was allegations of plagiarism that ultimately led to her resignation on Wednesday. Investigations by the Washington Free Beacon and the New York Post, at least partially instigated by the conservative activist Christopher Rufo and his crusade to chase “wokeism” and diversity initiatives from all corners of society, turned up nearly 50 instances of alleged plagiarism in Gay’s academic writing. According to the Harvard board, a school subcommittee and independent panel charged with investigating the plagiarism allegations against Gay found “a few instances of inadequate citation” but “no violation of Harvard’s standard for research misconduct”; Gay was said to be “proactively requesting” four corrections. No doubt, a top administrator accused of being a chronic cut-and-paster is a bad look for the nation’s foremost institution of higher education. But is what Gay did beyond the pale? Experts concede it’s a complicated issue. “I used to call plagiarism the oldest profession,” says Barbara Glatt, a pioneering forensic plagiarism investigator who is regularly called upon to consult on high-profile cases within the academy and in publishing. It can be direct (copying something word for word without attribution), indirect (the wholesale theft of ideas), mosaic (changing some words while copying others) or even an honest mistake (an error of omission or execution) – all things Gay was accused to have done, even as she continues to stand by her scholarship. Academic writing isn’t a breezy process that makes for easy reading – especially in college, where the rules often come down to a professor’s style preference (MLA v Chicago v AP v APA). It’s no wonder so many fall into the plagiarism trap of their own making. And while Gay more than anyone should have known better, it seems unfair that she should be the one to take the fall when her errors were missed by the institutions that published her – not least the Harvard PhD committee that awarded her the Toppan prize for the best political science dissertation in 1998. Not even Harvard’s own board appears to have done as thorough a vetting of Gay’s bibliography before making her the college’s first Black president in 387 years, or before forcing her demotion after six months on the job. “They had a month and a half to get ahead of this scandal,” says Jonathan Bailey, a journalist and plagiarism consultant who began hearing of efforts to investigate Gay for plagiarism after her ignominious appearance on the Hill. “I also feel pretty confident that if they had started from the word go, hired an outside expert, made it a transparent process and highlighted the details, they could’ve gotten ahead of this.” Since Gay was chased out of office, Business Insider found what it characterized as a similar pattern of plagiarism in a Harvard dissertation authored by Neri Oxman, a professor and artist married to Bill Ackman – the billionaire Harvard donor and a prominent player in the anti-Gay attack machine. (Oxman has apologized.) When it comes to fighting plagiarism outright, few can claim as long a lead as Glatt. In the 80s, she was among the first to develop academic-focused anti-plagiarism software to suss out plagiarism in school papers. The software would take a sample of student writing, remove every fifth word – then Glatt would circle back to the suspect to fill in the blanks to determine whether the text was theirs. Back then she reckoned the transgression rates among high school and college students was between 50% and 80%. She figures the problem has only become worse since the internet came along and created “a bull market for plagiarism”, where sources and cheating services abound. In recent years AI has become as much a part of the solution as part of the problem, providing an easy means to produce work that’s not one’s own, but also for educators to cross-check for plagiarism. It was through AI that the inconsistencies in Gay’s scholarship were found. In some works, Gay credits a source in the wrong sentence. In others, she borrows language that even those who were ostensibly plagiarized accept as common phrasing within their field of study. “I am not at all concerned about the passages,” said the political science professor David Canon, whose work the Washington Free Beacon accused Gay of plagiarizing. “This isn’t even close to an example of academic plagiarism.” In the acknowledgments section of her political science dissertation, Gay shouts out her dissertation adviser, the esteemed social scientist Gary King, who “reminded me of the importance of getting the data right and following where they lead without fear or favor”, and paid homage to her family, who “drove me harder than I sometimes wanted to be driven”. The Beacon report sourced both quotes back to the acknowledgments section of the 1996 book Facing up to the American Dream by Jennifer L Hochschild, another Harvard social scientist professor. Speaking to the Washington Post, Hochschild said: “My first reaction was, ‘This is a little weird.’ But my second reaction was, ‘Boy, these are cliches.’” Reacting to Gay’s resignation, Hochschild told the Harvard Crimson she was “furious” at the people who had set out on a “deliberate campaign to destroy her career and maybe destroy her personally”. Even with the best plagiarism-ferreting tools, the answer isn’t always cut and dry. The offending passages in Gay’s dissertation acknowledgments, unoriginal as they look on first glance, could be charitably interpreted as intertextual references for a knowing audience. “If you look at the allegations,” says Bailey, “they include examples that are actually worrisome and raise serious issues. But they also include a lot of examples that are weak and meaningless.” It’s an escalating game of cops and robbers that only figures to ratchet the already thick tension in the classroom. “I don’t believe in churning everything through turnitin.com because that’s a mechanical way of doing things,” says Susan Blum, a professor of linguistic anthropology at Notre Dame, referencing a go-to anti-plagiarism tool. Her 2009 book, My Word!, explores the evolution of plagiarism in college. She takes exception to what she calls “plagiarism fundamentalism”, the idea that every thought should be completely original – which runs counter to a human nature to mimic. “We have these things called mirror neurons, which allow us to feel what other people are doing while they’re doing them,” says Blum. “There’s a kind of continuum between originality and complete copying, and language and culture lies somewhere in the middle.” While Gay has emerged as the face of plagiarism in the past few weeks, the issue, or derivatives of it, seem to be arising in more and more contexts lately. The court clerk in the Alex Murdaugh murder trial was outed by her co-author for lifting sections for a forthcoming memoir from a BBC article; the New York Times sued OpenAI and other bot shops for copyright infringement; and Katt Williams called out his fellow comedian Cedric the Entertainer for stealing one of his best jokes (an allegation Cedric denied). In the wake of Gay’s resignation, critics on the left have been quick to recall the 2017 supreme court confirmation of the Harvard Law alum Neil Gorsuch, who was exposed for lifting sections of his 2006 book The Future of Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia from a 1984 article in the Indiana Law Journal. (In defense of their nominee, the Trump White House called the allegations a “false attack”.) Many of the plagiarism allegations against Gay seem archly pedantic, a thinly veiled effort to undermine Gay’s social justice-focused scholarship and discredit her as a leading Black scholar. That Ackman, Rufo et al would use plagiarism to take Gay down seems a throwback to the days of Reconstruction, when conservative lawmakers leveraged vagrancy laws to funnel free Black people into chain gangs. With the punishment for plagiarism as inconsistent as the actual transgressions, it seems cheating allegations can only prosper. “If Gay had gotten caught as an undergrad, maybe she fails a course and has a hard start to her career,” Bailey says. “If she were a regular old faculty member, she might be ordered to make corrections, take a remedial course, serve a small suspension and earn an article on a site like Retraction Watch. But once you get to the top of a school like Harvard, it’s almost like the script flips and suddenly plagiarism is very strictly enforced, at least by the public.” Much like with other transgressions, it seems that how plagiarism is enforced has more to do with the person being accused than the violation that was committed. “I don’t think we can actually divorce the political from plagiarism partly because it’s often the case that scrutiny is applied to some people in some moments and not others in other moments,” Blum says. “This case has a number of tragic and angering dimensions. Whether it should rise to the level of forcing her resignation, I’m not sure.”

Margaret Herrington obituary

2022-11-07

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2022/nov/07/margaret-herrington-obituary

My mother, Margaret Herrington, who has died aged 75, was a literacy tutor and academic who promoted a better understanding of dyslexia. She started working life as a lecturer in further education colleges in Leicester, but spent much of her early career (1977-90) as an adult literacy tutor on the tough estates in the city. She combined this with setting up adult literacy conferences and courses in the Midlands. Before long she was organising nationally - she helped establish RaPAL, a national network of research and practice in adult literacy - and in the 90s set up some of the first student support centres in universities, including at Leicester and Nottingham. She was a passionate believer in lifelong learning: later in life she completed an MEd (1987) and a PhD (2007) at Nottingham University. Margaret also developed approaches on how best to train teachers and lecturers in adult literacy. This work led to conferences overseas, external examiner roles, books and articles. She ended her career as visiting professor of education at the University of Wolverhampton, from 2003 to 2009. Throughout her life, she used her sharp intellect to improve the situation of vulnerable young adults who had previously been written off. She was born in Wigan, to Edith (nee Aspinall), a seamstress, and Jim Pey, a retail manager. After leaving the local Notre Dame high school, she graduated in 1967 in history and economics as part of the initial intake at Lancaster University. She met Paul Herrington there; they married in 1967 and moved to Leicester, and Margaret completed a PGCE in 1968. My mother juggled bringing up four children with a determined and passionate approach to adult literacy, student support and opening up conversations about dyslexia in adults, in which she became an expert. She embraced life fully and was deeply curious about the world. Her foray into amateur dramatics in the 1970s was part of a love of theatre and the arts; she also travelled widely, inspiring her children to do likewise. She supported village life, treasured many friendships and often created a huge mess with her grandchildren. Later in life, she wrote to politicians and corporations with a regular stream of advice. Paul died in 2019. Margaret is survived by her children, Kate, Nancy, Damian and me, her grandchildren, Daisy, Simeon, Florence and Eve, and her siblings, Joe, Anne and Jimmy.

‘Tell us which schools could collapse’: Labour will force ministers to reveal data

2023-01-29

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2023/jan/29/tell-us-which-schools-could-collapse-labour-will-force-ministers-to-reveal-data

Teachers and parents voice fury over risk to life in England’s crumbling classrooms as DfE keeps survey details from public scrutiny Ministers sparked a furious row over the safety of thousands of dilapidated school buildings in England on Saturday night by abandoning the imminent publication of data showing those judged to be most at risk of collapse. Labour responded to the U-turn by saying it would use a rare parliamentary device to force publication of the documents about the perilous state of many schools across England, so that parents can judge whether it is safe to send their children to classes. The headteachers’ union, the NAHT, meanwhile, described the decision to hold back on publication as “shocking”. Ministers said for months that they would publish the so-called Buildings Conditions Survey data by the end of last year, after secret internal documents revealed by the Observer showed that some buildings were judged a “risk to life”. Leaked internal emails showed that a battle was raging between the Department for Education (DfE) and the Treasury last spring for more funds to expand dramatically the rebuilding programme as concerns rose about the dangers. In its latest annual report, published in December, the DfE confirmed the crisis, saying “there is a risk of collapse of one or more blocks in some schools which are at, or approaching, the end of their designed life-expectancy, and structural integrity is impaired”. It added that “the risk predominantly exists in those buildings built in the years 1945 to 1970 which used ‘system build’ light-frame techniques”. The DfE officials had also raised the risk level of buildings collapsing from “critical” to “critical – very likely”. But when approached by the Observer last week and asked when, having missed its previous deadlines, it now intended to publish the data, the DfE gave no new date and would not explain why its position had changed. Many Tory MPs have over recent months raised serious concerns about the state of school buildings in their constituencies in speeches in the Commons. Now Labour intends to use one of its opposition days in the Commons to force the government to release the papers by tabling a motion using a so-called “humble address”. Under this rarely used but highly effective procedure, a vote of the House would bind the government to produce the documents. Most notably, the procedure was used in November 2017 by Labour to force the government to publish impact assessments on the UK’s exit from the EU that it wanted kept secret. One source involved in the debate over release of the documents said Tory MPs would find it difficult not to vote for publication, given the sensitivity and importance of the issue. “Can you imagine being the MP who voted against a motion wanting to know if school buildings are about to collapse in his or her constituency?” Leaks from inside the DfE last year showed officials calling as a matter of urgency for the Treasury to make billions more available to ensure the number of renovation projects for school buildings could be increased from the current 50 a year to more than 300. Refusing to comment on publication of the data, the DfE said on Saturday night: “The condition data collection is one of the largest and most comprehensive data collection programmes in the UK public sector, which helps us to understand the condition of the school estate in England, and informs prioritisation of funding. “The school rebuilding programme is transforming 500 schools over the next decade, prioritising schools based on their need. Since 2015, we have also allocated over £13bn for improving the condition of school buildings and facilities, including £1.8bn this financial year.” Sign up to Headlines UK Get the day’s headlines and highlights emailed direct to you every morning after newsletter promotion The shadow education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, said: “Parents will rightly be outraged at the government’s continued refusal to tell them the location and condition of buildings which pose a risk to their children’s lives. “This endless flip-flopping from ministers over when to publish information about buildings that they have admitted are likely to collapse is an insult to parents worried that their children are not safe at school. “Unless the secretary of state [Gillian Keegan] publishes these data urgently, she will be shown to be failing in her most fundamental duty: to keep children safe from harm.” James Bowen, director of policy at the NAHT, said: “It really is quite shocking that the government knows there are schools where there is a significant risk of collapse but are not being transparent about which schools are affected and where they are located. “It is only right that parents and staff should know about this and, more importantly, that urgent action should be taken by the department to make sure that these buildings are made safe. The alternative simply does not bear thinking about.”

Janet Speight obituary

2023-03-21

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2023/mar/21/janet-speight-obituary

My friend Janet Speight, who has died aged 82, spent her career trying to improve opportunities for children and later used her experiences of aphasia to shape and improve understanding the disorder. Aphasia, which is often caused by a stroke, can affect people’s ability to make themselves understood in speech or writing, to understand others and to read. Janet showed people with aphasia how to live rich, fulfilled lives that impact positively on others. Janet was born within the sound of the Bow Bells in London, the eldest of five children, and went to school in Manchester. Her parents, Florence (nee Traves) and George Learmonth, were both industrial chemists from Scotland, and took the young family back to Edinburgh during the blitz. Janet met Bob Speight when they worked together at at the George Angus factory in Wallsend, Tyne and Wear, which made rubber industrial products, and they married in 1964. They had two children, Russell and Bridget, and lived in the north-east of England. Janet had begun work as a personnel assistant but soon began to focus on working with children in Newcastle – first in a playgroup in Newbiggin Hall and then co-leading a playgroup in Arthur’s Hill, before joining Newcastle city council’s play service to run a project that provided play experiences on the streets for children in the West End of the city. She came to higher education later in life when she joined Bridget at Northumbria University to study play and social work, graduating in 1995. Janet had a stroke in 2001, which resulted in aphasia. She became a trustee of the North East Trust for Aphasia (NETA), and its chair in 2009, working as an advocate by speaking at events and sharing her experiences. She had difficulties getting her message across, and she used this when speaking publicly to demonstrate the impact of the disorder. She also had a passion for photography and led groups for people with aphasia, empowering them to live engaged lives. I first got to know Janet in my role as her speech and language therapist, and then as a fellow trustee of NETA. I have researched aphasia for many years, but Janet taught me so much more. Janet is survived by Bob, Russell and Bridget, by her sisters Caroline and Sarah and brother David, and by her grandson, Tom.

Alun Rees obituary

2022-03-27

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2022/mar/27/alun-rees-obituary

My friend and colleague Alun Rees, who has died suddenly aged 83, enjoyed a long and distinguished career in teaching English as a foreign language. Alun worked for more than 40 years in schools, universities and ministries of education in 16 countries. He specialised in teacher education, and was well known for his inspirational training sessions combining deep scholarship with humour and imagination. Born in Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, to Joan (nee Watts), a piano teacher, and Thomas Rees, a works manager, Alun went to Haverfordwest grammar school. In the early 1960s, after graduating from University College Cardiff with a degree in English and philosophy, Alun set off to Spain to teach at the Berlitz school in Burgos for three years. In those days few commercial teaching materials existed and Alun began developing his own wide range of innovative teaching ideas. After four years teaching at Trujillo University in Peru and three at the National University of Laos, in 1977 Alun moved to Senegal, where he worked for six years as English language teaching adviser to the ministry of education, setting up in-service teacher education programmes. During this time he won the English-Speaking Union prize for an article on teacher observation. In 1983 he returned to the UK to begin a doctorate at the Institute of Education in London. Throughout the 80s Alun was in great demand to teach on residential teacher training programmes, particularly in Spain, invited by the British Council and the Spanish ministry of education. The teachers loved him for the original way he delivered serious content, and for the evening shows he organised and compered, full of original sketches, songs, puppets, magic tricks and prizes. After completing his doctorate, Alun taught at the West Sussex Institute of Higher Education (now the University of Chichester) and then Exeter University, where he met Ekuko Narushima; they married in 2000. Colleagues speak of Alun’s popularity and how much students appreciated his courses. He ended his career at the University of Gloucestershire as a highly successful head of the international office. Alun enjoyed 20 years of retirement in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, with Ekuko, involved in fishing, organic gardening and applying his mind to the non-chemical deterrence of pests, from squirrels to slugs. He maintained a regular correspondence with many former colleagues and students, sending insightful emails on language teaching, fishing, horticulture and the state of the world. Alun is survived by Ekuko.

Private schools in England accused of ‘gaming the system’ on lockdown exam results

2022-08-28

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2022/aug/28/private-schools-england-gaming-system-lockdown-exam-results-gcse-a-level-grades

High GCSE and A-level grades awarded by teachers at independent schools in the pandemic fell dramatically after public exams Dramatic drops in top GCSE and A-level results in England’s private schools this summer have led to accusations that they “gamed” the system last year, when teachers awarded grades. Official figures show the proportion of GCSEs graded 7 to 9 in private schools fell from 61.2% last year to 53% this year, when pupils had to sit exams – an 8.2 percentage point drop. The difference was three times greater than that of comprehensives, which saw a 2.7 percentage point decline, from 26% last year to 23.3% this year. The pattern was repeated with A-levels, where private schools saw a more dramatic fall in A*/A grades than other types of schools following the reintroduction of public examinations after three years. The proportion of A*/A entries at private schools fell from 70% in 2021 to 58% this summer. Across grammar schools, A*/A grades dropped from 57% to 50%. At some private secondaries and sixth-form colleges, where as many as 90% of results were given A*s by teachers last summer, the grade level crashed by 25-30 percentage points. Robert Halfon, the Conservative chair of the education select committee, said this year’s results showed the private sector had “milked the system for all it was worth” in the pandemic . “These differences show how vital exams are. The decision to try to eliminate grade inflation and protect the currency of these qualifications is the right one. We need to go back to the integrity of 2019 grade profiles. It seems the independent sector milked the school-assessed grade system for all it was worth. That is why Ofqual’s plan to reign in grade inflation is the right one.” In a bid to avoid exposing grade inflation last year, some schools that would usually publicise pupils’ success are keeping their full results secret. The Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference (HMC), which represents leading independent schools, has advised its members against publishing whole cohort results to “prevent unhelpful comparisons between the GCSE and A-level results this year and previous years, which have either used different assessment methods or different standards”. Critics said schools that manipulated the system under teacher-assessed grades have widened the education attainment gap between working-class pupils and those from more affluent backgrounds. They accused the government of allowing soaring grades at some schools to go unchecked last year. This summer, Ofqual set national exams pass marks to rein in grade inflation towards 2019 levels. Bridget Phillipson, Labour’s shadow education secretary, said: “Some private schools are gaming the system and there is no transparency. Labour called for an inquiry into last year’s grades but ministers have been happy to let inequalities grow. “It’s essential that there’s a level playing field for all students, but the Conservatives have presided over a yawning attainment gap between state and private school students, which has risen since 2019. Labour would end tax breaks for private schools to fund a brilliant state education for every child.” One analysis of A-level results by Education Datalab concluded that the claim that private schools “fiddled” results was “a little harsh”. It said that, while the absolute difference in percentages of A*/A grades in 2022 compared to 2021 showed one of the greatest declines across independent schools in relative terms, privately educated students were around 20% more likely to receive an A/A* grade in 2021 than in 2022, but the same was true for pupils at academies, comprehensive schools and secondary moderns. Barnaby Lenon, chairman of the Independent School Council, said: “Last year’s teacher-assessed grades were subject to rigorous quality checks. Exam boards found no evidence to suggest any type of school or college was more likely to have provided grades that did not reflect the standard of their students’ work.” The HMC declined to comment.

Universities in England and Wales double or triple student hardship funds

2022-10-20

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2022/oct/20/universities-double-or-triple-student-hardship-funds-in-face-of-soaring-need

University and student leaders say they are seeing signs of students unable to cope with cost of living crisis Universities in England and Wales are doubling or tripling their hardship funds in anticipation of “unprecedented” demand from students struggling with the cost of living, amid fears of widespread dropouts unless ministers offer more support. Just days into the new academic year, university and student leaders said they were already seeing signs of students being unable to cope, including not affording books for their courses, working 40-hour weeks, and being at risk of homelessness. Charlie Jeffery, the vice-chancellor of York University, said students were facing general inflation combined with a “chunky real-terms cut” to the value of their maintenance loans, which rose by 2.3% this year despite inflation running at 10%, and less help from families grappling with soaring household bills. “That’s threefold pressure on students, which hasn’t yet been mitigated significantly by government measures – most so far just don’t reach students,” he said. Jeffery said he and other vice-chancellors from the research-intensive Russell Group had written to the education secretary to ask for increased maintenance loans and a reintroduction of the pandemic hardship payments. In the meantime, vice-chancellors have boosted their universities’ packages to help students make ends meet, including free meals, energy grants, rent freezes and increased bursaries. David Bell, the vice-chancellor of Sunderland University, said his institution had tripled its hardship bursary and widened eligibility requirements, with about 20% already having received extra support over the past two years. He said: “We’ve got enough evidence to suggest the demand is rising – last year our hardship funding was fully spent up, and this year we decided to put in quite a bit more money.” The University of East London, which has doubled hardship funds, said it was already receiving “unprecedented” calls about when bursary applications would open and has received questions from students facing homelessness. The University of South Wales said its support teams were seeing far more serious cases of financial need.Fears are growing about the impact on mental health for a cohort of students who missed out on socialising and rites of passage at school. A survey from NUS Wales in the summer found that 90% of students said the cost-of-living crisis affected their mental wellbeing, especially given the estimated £340 gap between the average UK maintenance loan and living costs.Orla Tarn, the president of NUS Wales, worried about the impact of isolation on students who can’t afford to go out. One student told Tarn that despite Wales’s more generous student finance package, they have just £100 to last the term after paying rent and bills. Tarn and more than 150 student leaders from 80 different universities have written to the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, urging him to include support for students in his medium-term fiscal plan on 31 October to ease the “profound impact on students’ ability to learn”, with three-quarters unable to afford essential course materials, and one in three living on £50 a month after paying rent and bills. The NUS president for higher education, Chloe Field, said: “In the chancellor’s statement the government once again failed to recognise the serious impact the cost-of-living crisis is having on student communities.” A spokesperson for the Department for Education said: “We understand global inflationary pressures are squeezing household finances and people are worried about covering the basics. “Students who are worried about making ends meet should speak to their university about the support they can access. This year, universities [in England] can boost their hardship funds by drawing on up to £261m we have made available through the Office for Students.”But vice-chancellors said that university budgets are already stretched thin as they grapple with inflation and the eroded value of the tuition fee. “We are facing real challenges in balancing out our priorities, and while we are very much focused on supporting our students, that means other stuff goes down the list. Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what’s happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion “At some point, recognising it’s not the most propitious of moments now, we need a much fuller conversation nationally about how we produce a system for funding undergraduate higher education which works, because the current one does not,” said Jeffery. Amanda Broderick, the vice-chancellor of the University of East London, feared that more students would drop out of university because they were unable to afford it, with rates for last year published by the Student Loan Company in September already showing a 23% annual increase in student withdrawals. “For us not to be able to support our students through economically challenging times would be an absolute travesty,” she said. Ben Calvert, the vice-chancellor of the University of South Wales, said the impact of the cost-of-living crisis was more “broad and deep” than the pandemic had been. Even 18-year-old students from middle-income families, who receive less state funding, could struggle, as parents have less money to spare, he said. Among those worst affected are students over 25, with a risk that many could abandon training for vital public services jobs, such as nursing or social work, in favour of employment. “We can’t afford in Wales to have fewer nurses coming into the system,” he said. This article was amended on 20 October 2022 to remove an incorrect personal detail.

How long has Raac in schools been a concern and what happens now?

2023-09-01

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2023/sep/01/how-long-has-raac-in-schools-been-a-concern-and-what-happens-now

After repeated calls for action, the government has advised schools to close buildings built with the concrete As well as the immediate crisis caused by hundreds of schools facing partial or complete closure because of risks from a form of concrete construction, there is a wider political row brewing as people ask why this is happening days before the start of the school term. Here is what we know. To an extent, ever since reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete, or Raac, started to be used. The lightweight construction material, predominantly found in roofs, was only ever given a usable lifespan of about 30 years. It was put into schools and other public buildings from the 1950s to the mid-1990s, meaning that more or less all instances of it are now officially deemed not fully safe. The government says expert advice has changed and that in the 1990s it was believed that even time-expired Raac was not a risk. Since the roof of a primary school in Kent collapsed in 2018, there have been repeated warnings and calls for action, with the Local Government Association, which represents councils, highlighting the issue repeatedly to members. In 2021 and last year, the Office of Government Property (OGP) sent out a formal warning notice about Raac, stressing that the material was “now life-expired and liable to collapse” and highlighting how collapses had happened in schools with minimal or no notice. The Department for Education (DfE) has been preparing contingency plans for schools since then. Some experts say much more should have been done earlier. Geoff Wilkinson, a senior building inspector, said: “The risk has been known about for decades. There should have been an ongoing maintenance plan for these buildings to be upgraded and replaced over the last 40 years. They are all past their serviceable lifetime. It’s shocking to discover that the maintenance plan wasn’t in place and there hadn’t been a programme of demolitions.” The stated reason was a spate of incidents in which Raac panels in public buildings – some in schools, some in other institutions – failed without any warning. While the DfE has declined to identify any of the locations, the catalyst for the alert is believed to have been the collapse of a beam at an educational building in England last week. Given the many warnings about Raac since 2018, there will be questions about why it took more failures to instigate action. There has been speculation that government lawyers may have warned ministers of the need to act, but there has been no confirmation of that. Any advice would be confidential. Last year, the DfE sent a questionnaire to schools, councils, academy trusts and others, asking them to assess the amount of Raac used across their buildings. The DfE has not specified how many were sent out, but officials say 90% have been returned. The department also sent structural engineers to some sites to gauge the amount of Raac and its condition. The engineers were instructed to rate the risk of failure for any Raac construction, ranging from critical – meaning the relevant rooms, blocks or buildings should be immediately closed – to high, medium or low. This year, the National Audit Office said that of 14,900 schools potentially having Raac, 6,300 had told the DfE they had completed work to identify it. In July, the DfE said 300 schools had thus far had on-site inspections. James Porter, a building consultancy partner at Rapleys, a property consultancy, said the actual number of schools with Raac was likely to be considerably higher than those found so far. He is working with the London borough of Hounslow to investigate about 50 schools and said at least 12 were suspected of having it. To confirm its presence, extensive works are required, involving the removal of false ceilings and asbestos to get to the material, requiring specialist asbestos contractors and scaffolding. Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what’s happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion Porter said: “We are very much at the beginning of solving the problem and time is running out before an incredibly serious incident could take place.” Yes. Much as with schools, the full extent of any problem remains unknown, but Raac construction was used widely beyond just schools and colleges. In July, the OGP set up a formal working group to try to coordinate action about potential risks from Raac across public buildings more widely. So far, 24 hospitals in England have been found to have Raac-based construction in some or all parts, seven of which require full rebuilding under the government’s hospital construction programme. Four Department for Work and Pensions buildings are known to be affected, as well as seven courts, one of which is now not being used. More surveys across government buildings are taking place. Guidance to schools published on Thursday said that while the DfE would pay for any remedial or rebuilding works, schools would be expected to fund “anything that is an additional revenue cost”, such as the rental of temporary accommodation. This prompted an outcry from schools and unions, and on Friday morning the schools minister, Nick Gibb, said the DfE would cover all capital spending – which he said included paying for any temporary accommodation such as cabins in playgrounds. He said there had been “some speculation that we won’t cover those costs”. It was less speculation than people reading the DfE’s guidance, which was amended overnight to say the only bills the department would not cover would be in areas such as extra transport.

Disadvantaged students to bear brunt of grade deflation, say experts

2023-08-13

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2023/aug/14/disadvantaged-students-to-bear-brunt-of-grade-deflation-say-experts

Social Mobility Foundation says it expects GCSE and A-level attainment gap based on income to grow this year Disadvantaged students are likely to bear the brunt of grade deflation when this year’s A-level and GCSE grades are published, according to experts, who said the government’s decision to impose pre-pandemic grading in England was premature. This week hundreds of thousands of sixth-formers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland will receive the results of their A-level, BTec and other exams. But a survey of students by the Social Mobility Foundation (SMF) found that those from disadvantaged or low-income backgrounds in England were less likely to have received the help they needed to restore learning lost during the pandemic. As a result, the gap in top grades received by disadvantaged students compared with their better-off peers is expected to widen for the second year in a row, after examination boards were ordered to return to grading standards last seen in 2019. “We all feel the desire to say that the impact of Covid needs to be over. But all the evidence shows that it is premature to say that its impact has ended on this generation of young people,” said Sarah Atkinson, the SMF’s chief executive. “Many young people will be celebrating on Thursday and that’s how it should be. But we are afraid that too many young people on low incomes will not get the outcome they deserve. “These are young people who have done everything that was asked of them. They’ve worked hard, shown resilience and determination, and they should get the opportunities that they deserve at this stage. There is a risk that they are bearing the burden of this policy. “We’re expecting the attainment gap based on income to grow, and we also saw last year that the regional gaps, the north-east compared with London, for example, were wider in terms of top grades. And we are worried that is going to happen again this year.” The 2022 A-level results had the widest “disadvantage gap” since statistics were first published seven years ago, with average point scores between disadvantaged and wealthier pupils wider than in 2019, when formal exams were last sat before the onset of the pandemic. In 2020 and 2021, formal exams were scrapped and grades were awarded instead by teacher assessment. The numbers of higher grades for both A-levels and GCSEs increased sharply. The government attempted to repair learning gaps through its national tutoring programme, intended to fund extra tuition for the pupils most affected by disruption. But the SMF’s survey of nearly 2,000 students taking A-levels found that 46% of those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds had no access to the programme, compared with 28% of students from higher income backgrounds. Some forecasters expect that up to 50,000 students taking A-levels this summer will miss out on A* or A grades that they would have received last year, when more generous grading was the norm. Gillian Keegan, the education secretary, has admitted that parents and students “might wonder why” exam grades are lower than last year. Writing in the Sunday Times, Keegan said: “Ultimately this is about fairness, and making sure we have a system that treats pupils fairly compared with previous years, and equally, whatever background they come from, school they attend, or part of the country the grow up in.” But England’s decision to “disinflate” GCSE and A-level grades in just two years was in stark contrast to the more gentle approach taken by regulators in Wales and Scotland. Scotland’s government opted to take the Equality Act into account, while Qualification Wales said exams would be graded more generously this year to reflect the “long-term impact” of the pandemic before returning to pre-pandemic levels in 2024. “The fact that England has taken a different decision to Scotland and Wales shows you how finely balanced that decision was. But in England it has been pushed too fast, and the effects are going to be felt by a small – we hope – group of young people,” Atkinson said. Lee Elliot Major, professor of social mobility at the University of Exeter, said he feared educational inequality could be entrenched for the next decade, based on research currently under way. “What we’re finding is that it’s not just the most disadvantaged pupils who have been set back profoundly, it’s a broad range of children. We think it’s affected all, other than perhaps the [wealthiest] 20% of children who have been insulated from the pandemic,” he said. “What the results this year will show is that the profound legacy of the pandemic is to exacerbate the educational inequalities that were already there. I’m absolutely sure that we’ll see a widening of those inequalities, but I think that it’s also going to affect middle-income pupils as well as low-income pupils.” Geoff Barton, the general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said the post-Covid recovery programme had been “woefully inadequate” and that he supported calls for a better national strategy. “It was always going to be necessary to return to pre-pandemic grading at some point. Although this will likely have an impact on grades, it will be applied across the board and not change the number of university places available,” Barton said. “This is always an anxious time of year, but schools and colleges will be doing all they can to provide support and guidance for students as they take their next steps.”

GCSE results day 2022 live: anger over north-south divide as proportion of top grades and pass rate fall – as it happened

2022-08-25

https://www.theguardian.com/education/live/2022/aug/25/gcse-exam-results-2022-live-school-students-discover-grades

This live blog is now closed. You can read the full story on GCSE results here: Once again, as with A-levels last week, there is anger about the north-south divide in today’s GCSE results. Henri Murison, the chief executive of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, which speaks for business and civic leaders across the north, said: Once again, we’re seeing evidence of gaping regional disparities in today’s GCSE results, particularly between the north and London in grade 7 and above results. Sadly, this is not all that surprising when we consider the triple whammy of factors that will have had an impact on this attainment gap – existing long-term disadvantage, learning loss during Covid and DfE failures in catch up and the national tutoring programme – all of which affect the north of England disproportionately. Our young people cannot go on paying the price for Department for Education failure, nor can our economy. As they consider study in the future, the most competitive routes such as future university entry or degree and wider apprenticeships have young people competing from across the UK. Northern kids will be at a disadvantage in those processes as a result of the failings of the current government, and cutting Opportunity Areas is a recipe for them to make it worse in years to come – not better. That’s it from me today, thanks for joining the GCSE live blog and well done to everyone who worked so hard for their GCSEs. I’ll leave you with this lovely picture of “our lovely Agnes” sent in by Craig McWilliam, who wrote: “Hi! Our lovely Agnes is very happy – better than expected (including a 9 in Spanish). Everyone v cheerful and champagne at 8am!” Cheers! Hope you all enjoy a nice lunchtime nap. The Welsh education minister, Jeremy Miles, has praised the resilience of students. He said: It’s been a difficult year for the people sitting the exams. They’ve been sitting exams for the first time and have done extraordinarily well. It’s great testament to their resilience and their focus. The results are slightly below last year as anticipated and above 2019 which we were hoping to see. Compared with England, results appear slightly worse. According to the PA Media news agency, the percentage of students who received top grades was 25.1% in Wales compared with 26% in England. The pass rate overall in Wales was 68.6%, against 73% in England. But Miles said: I don’t think it is a sensible comparison in the context of Covid. All countries in the UK have adopted a broadly similar approach but the way qualifications are structured means you can’t draw those direct comparisons. Reeeeeally interesting little thread on Twitter from the FT’s economics editor, Chris Giles, who points out that private schools have seen a big drop in results this year. Why? They were the masters of exam grade fiddling and as a result have had “a shocker of a year this year compared with last”, he says. The last chart is … enlightening! Exam grade fiddling GCSE editionPrivate schools were masters of this particular art when they graded themselves1/ pic.twitter.com/mi34FzcsSo No - this result is not caused by private schools having a denser distribution of grades around 7 and above a) look at grammar schoolsb) Look at how private schools lost more of their uplift this year2/ pic.twitter.com/8H4Em32lyP And for completeness here are the raw results, showing one school type to have had a shocker of a year this year compared with last. ENDS pic.twitter.com/0A1o3HYs7A Anna Brailsford, CEO of Code First Girls, says not enough girls are taking computer science. Pretty shocking stat: at this rate there will only be one qualified woman for every 115 roles in the tech job market by 2025. She says: Consistently over the last few years, girls have only made up 20% of Computing GCSE entrants. This underrepresentation of women is carried into employment with women making up just 21% of the tech industry, and black women less than 3%. The UK’s tech job market is projected to be worth £30bn by 2025 - six times larger than it is now. But as things stand, there will only be 1 qualified woman for every 115 roles by 2025. Women are not benefiting from the salary and career opportunities afforded by the tech industry, and with more roles being advertised than candidates, the tech industry is unable to access the talent it needs to fill its growing skills gap. It is clear that the current system is failing to build the diverse tech talent pipelines needed, and schools, universities and the wider industry must recognise and remove the barriers that are standing in the way of women pursuing tech education, as well as making all students aware of the options available to them. Julia Polley, of the Wensleydale school – in Rishi Sunak’s leafy Richmondshire constituency – has been in touch, pointing out that it’s not only a north-south divide but that rural schools face particular challenges. She says: The differences between the north and south aren’t new – the impact of the pandemic has perhaps brought it to light more acutely than before. Not all northern schools have the same access to opportunities as many southern schools and they are dealing with this disadvantage on top of the challenges unique to them. For example, as a rural school, small shifts in our year group numbers impacts us greatly and also affects funding. There is an opportunity for the government to respond to these results , levelling up won’t work unless the disparity in educational opportunities is addressed. The gap between England’s top achieving region (London) has grown compared with all other regions since the last time the results were exam-based back in 2019. One third of London’s GCSE students achieved the highest proportion of top grades (a 7 or above, equivalent to an A* or A grade under the old system). This is 10.2 percentage points higher than the two worst-performing regions – the North-east and Yorkshire and the Humber (22.4%). The equivalent gap between London and Yorkshire and the Humber increased from 7.9 points in 2019 to 10.2 points this year, a 2.3-point increase, and widened by 2.4 points between the capital and the North-west and by 2.7 points compared with the East Midlands. The proportion of top grades increased in all regions compared with 2019 with the steepest increase in London (up 7 percentage points to 32.6%) and the lowest in the East Midlands (up 4.2 percentage points to 22.5%). However, compared to 2021, fewer students have been awarded a top grade this year in all regions, with the highest drop being recorded in the South-west (down 4 percentage points). The Ofqual analysis is based on all students taking the exams, not just 16-year-olds. I asked for joyful young people and the Isle of Sheppey delivered! Thanks to Oasis academy for sending this in. If you haven’t got quite the results you wanted today, this is a nice story which shows it needn’t be the end of the world. Sasha Chaudhri, 57, who left school at 16 with no qualifications, did a degree as a mature student and went on to have a successful career in law. But today Sasha, from Merton, south London, has finally passed her English and maths GCSEs because she is going to retrain as a teacher, with help from the charity Now Teach, co-founded by the FT journalist Lucy Kellaway. Sasha says: After a challenging time, I left school at 16 after failing all my exams. Despite this, my passion for English spurred me on to successfully achieve a first in law at university at the age of 32, followed by a very rewarding career in the corporate world. Despite over 20 years of working for the big names such as Grant Thornton and Royal London, I started feeling unfulfilled. I did some soul searching and reached the decision to follow a new career path in teaching English. I want to inspire students, and to help them to obtain a good foundation of the English language to enable them to pursue their dreams. Her advice if things haven’t gone as planned today? I would say to students that did not achieve the grade they wanted, that some of the most brilliant minds have failed at many things, and the fact that they keep persevering eventually makes them stronger. It is that journey that provides you with the opportunity to learn to conquer life’s obstacles. This is a good one! 57-year-old Sasha Chaudhri left school at 16 with no qualifications but did a degree in her 30s and went into law. This morning she finally passed her English and Maths GSCE – and is now going to train to become a teacher with @NowTeachOrg #gcseresults2022 pic.twitter.com/gJ7EqaV0s6 Let’s have a look at what the most popular subjects were this year, courtesy of my colleague Ashley Kirk. Given that they are compulsory subjects it is no surprise that double science (which counts as two exams), maths and English topped the most popular subjects list. The interesting bits come further down the charts with 16-year-olds in England tending to move away from the arts in favour of subjects such as business, Spanish and geography. All three saw double-digit percentage growth in the number of students sitting them since 2019. Business grew 12.5% to 97,345 this year, Spanish 11.5% to 103,790 and geography 10.1% to 271,862. However, the greatest surges in popularity were in food preparation and nutrition, other modern languages and social science subjects. On the other hand, performing and expressive arts, physical education, design and technology, media studies, German and engineering all saw their number of students fall by more than 10% since 2019. Once again, as with A-levels last week, there is anger about the north-south divide in today’s GCSE results. Henri Murison, the chief executive of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, which speaks for business and civic leaders across the north, said: Once again, we’re seeing evidence of gaping regional disparities in today’s GCSE results, particularly between the north and London in grade 7 and above results. Sadly, this is not all that surprising when we consider the triple whammy of factors that will have had an impact on this attainment gap – existing long-term disadvantage, learning loss during Covid and DfE failures in catch up and the national tutoring programme – all of which affect the north of England disproportionately. Our young people cannot go on paying the price for Department for Education failure, nor can our economy. As they consider study in the future, the most competitive routes such as future university entry or degree and wider apprenticeships have young people competing from across the UK. Northern kids will be at a disadvantage in those processes as a result of the failings of the current government, and cutting Opportunity Areas is a recipe for them to make it worse in years to come – not better. As the long wait for GCSE results comes to an end this morning, head teachers are already looking ahead to next year’s exams and calling on the government to consider further mitigations, arguing that next year’s candidates have also had their learning disrupted by Covid. The government wants to return to pre-pandemic norms at GCSE and A-level next year, having reached a halfway house with this year’s results, which are pitched midway between the record grades of 2021 which were based on teacher-assessment, and 2019 results when exams were last sat. Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders said: Moving to this midpoint was done to give these pupils more leeway than directly returning to the 2019 standard in order to mitigate the impact of Covid on their education. Adaptations were also made to exams for this reason. The government and Ofqual will now need to decide whether to put mitigations in place for next year. The strong indication we are hearing from school and college leaders is that this must happen because next year’s cohort will have also been heavily impacted by Covid. This is particularly important given the likelihood of more waves of infections during the autumn and winter. Here’s a first take on those figures by our crack data team Pamela Duncan and Ashley Kirk The wait is over for GCSE students and the results are somewhere between the highs of recent teacher-assessed years and pre-pandemic grades. A quarter of GCSE results ended in a fail grade, up from 20.9% in 2021 among 16-year-olds in England, but well below the 2019 levels when three in every 10 exams resulted in 3 or below, broadly equivalent to a D in the old grading system. A quarter of 16-year-olds sitting GCSE mathematics – 146,000 students – failed the subject as did 22% of those taking English. Both subjects are compulsory at GCSE level. The maths fail rate is still down on the 2019 results, the last non-pandemic academic year, where the fail rate was 28.5%. Likewise, in English, a fail rate of 22.2% was more than two percentage points higher than the last two years but down on 2019’s level of 28.5%. Top grades fell, albeit not as steeply: 27% of sittings resulted in students getting a 7 grade or higher – equivalent to A and A* – down three percentage points this year compared with 2021. This rate was inflated during the pandemic when teacher-assessed grades came into effect, where the 7-and-above rate climbed to 27.5% in 2020 and 30% in 2021, but this was meant to have fallen this year. It has done slightly, by three percentage points on last year. The proportion of top grades among the GCSE results for 16-year-olds in England has fallen since last year, with the overall pass rate also down, after pupils whose education has been disrupted by the pandemic sat the first examinations in three years. My colleagues Sally Weale, Richard Adams, Pamela Duncan and Ashley Kirk report: Top grades of 7 and above – equivalent to A and A* – were down three percentage points this summer, in line with government plans to tackle grade inflation over the last two years, and bring results gradually down to pre-pandemic levels. The proportion of pupils achieving grade 4 and above – 4 is a pass – also fell by four percentage points, from 79% last year to 75%, meaning thousands more pupils could now face resits in English and maths. Girls continued to outperform boys – nearly one in three entries by girls in England got a grade 7 or above (30.7%) – though the gender gap at the highest grades narrowed by 1.6 percentage points compared with last year. Figures published by England’s exams regulator Ofqual, meanwhile, showed that 2,193 16-year-olds in England got grade 9 in all their subjects – including 13 students who completed 12 GCSEs. The fall in top grades – 7s, 8s and 9s – is not as sharp as last week’s A-level results, which saw greater grade inflation during the pandemic. At A-level, results awarded in England, Wales and Northern Ireland revealed top grades down by 8.4 percentage points on last year’s record results, while A*s alone decreased by 4.5 points. Education minister Will Quince has been doing the media rounds this morning, taking the lead from Rishi Sunak and blaming those uppity scientists for all the things that went wrong in the pandemic. [You can read Sunak’s comments about how it was a mistake to “empower scientists” during the coronavirus pandemic and that his opposition to closing schools was met with silence during one meeting here:] Asked on ITV’s Good Morning Britain about Tory leadership candidate Rishi Sunak’s claim that it was a mistake to “empower scientists” during the Covid-19 pandemic, Quince said: So, I think there are a number of things which we did during the pandemic, which was a once-in-100-years event, that we wouldn’t do again.And, in my view, one of those is closing schools. We wouldn’t be closing schools with the information we now have at the time.I wasn’t an education minister at the time, I was at the Department for Work and Pensions, but I remember what that time was like. We were to some extent flying blind. It was something that hadn’t happened in the past 100 years. And we had to rely on the best available information at the time from scientists and medical experts and act in good faith. Would we do things differently now? Yes. Were mistakes made throughout the course of the pandemic? Yes, of course they were.“But we’ve learned from that, and, as a result, I think it is highly unlikely that, in the future, we would consider closing schools, knowing what we now know about the impact that it had on young people. Speaking on Times Radio about GCSE regional disparities because of Covid-19 Quince said: It’s a huge priority. Ensuring that wherever you live up and down our country that you have access to a world-class education, and you have the same opportunity - whether you live in Bournemouth or Barnsley - is really important to us, and every year up until the pandemic we’ve been closing the attainment gap. The pandemic has without question set us back on that mission. But to say that I am back on that with gusto would be an understatement. It is my mission as schools ministers to ensure that wherever you live in our country, that you have that same level of opportunity. The head of the headteachers’ union has warned that GCSE results will be uneven across the country because of the varying impact of the pandemic – describing the government’s Covid recovery programme as “lacklustre and chaotic”. The number of top grades at A-level fell sharply this year and a similar decline is anticipated for GCSE grades as the government seeks to reverse the grade inflation caused by teacher assessment during the pandemic. Geoff Barton, the general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders said: The fact that grades will be lower than last year is no reflection on the performance of pupils but the result of a decision by the government and exam regulator Ofqual to begin returning grades to the 2019 standard in two steps. GCSE marks reached an all-time high in 2021 as 28.9% of pupils were awarded one of the top grades after exams were cancelled and results were instead determined by their teachers. This year there could be 230,000 fewer top grades in the UK compared with 2021, but 230,000 more than 2019, according to Alan Smithers, director of the centre for education and employment research at the University of Buckingham. The disruption to learning experienced across the country despite remote learning would also result in uneven results, Barton said. Schools have not been helped by the government’s lacklustre and chaotic support for education recovery. Read the full story by my colleague Geneva Abdul here: This year’s GCSE results for England and Wales are expected to confirm a widening north-south education gap, prompting a prediction that the government will miss one of its key levelling-up targets if it continues to hold back pupils in the north of England. My colleague Matt Weaver reports: A coalition of school leaders, charities and the Northern Powerhouse Partnership has written to the Conservative leadership candidates urging them to commit to fixing growing regional disparities in education. They predicted Thursday’s results would show 24.4% of pupils in the north-east of England achieving GSCE grade seven or above, compared with 37.8% in London. The forecast followed “stark” regional disparities that were exposed in A-level results last week, with the top grades falling faster in the north-east compared with the south-east. The joint letter told Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss that the government’s levelling up target of increasing exam standards in the worst performing areas by a third by 2030 would not happen unless “place-based challenges, such as health and housing” were also addressed at the same time. The letter by the Northern Powerhouse, Schools North East and the education charity Shine, said: “Regional disparities in attainment are getting worse, not better.” Read the full piece here: Good morning! And welcome to the Guardian’s GCSE liveblog, where I’ll be keeping you up to date with all the news. This is the first year that students in England, Wales and Northern Ireland will get GCSE results which – for the first time in two years – are based on public exams. Noting the serious disruption that students faced during the Covid pandemic, this year’s grade boundaries will be more generous, exam boards have said. We’ll have a better picture of what has happened nationally soon, but we also want to hear your stories! Did you or a family member get the grades they wanted? How has the experience been? And what are your plans now? Please send lovely pics to me on alexandra.topping@theguardian.com or tweet me on @lexytopping because it really is the best bit of doing the liveblog!

Zahawi rejects exclusion zones to keep Covid anti-vaxxers away from schools

2021-11-22

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2021/nov/22/zahawi-rejects-exclusion-zones-to-keep-covid-anti-vaxxers-away-from-schools

Education secretary says police should deal with problem as survey shows 79% of schools targeted Nadhim Zahawi has rejected calls for the introduction of exclusion zones to keep anti-vaccine protesters away from schools, saying he would prefer the police to deal with the problem. The education secretary told LBC that anti-vaxxers who have been picketing school gates across England should not be going anywhere near schools, teachers or pupils, but indicated exclusion zones were not the best solution. Zahawi’s cabinet colleague the health secretary, Sajid Javid, and the Labour leader, Keir Starmer, are among those to have called for the use of exclusion zones – known formally as public space protection orders, which are administered by local authorities – to protect schools from protests. Zahawi said on Monday: “I’d rather have the police deal with it.” Asked if he wanted to see arrests rather than exclusion zones, he said: “Absolutely. Because the moment you start giving them the space to think that they are somehow being prohibited … [the home secretary, Priti Patel] has promised me that the police have got all the resources they need to be able to deal with [them].” He went on: “The anti-vaxx protesters should not be going anywhere near a school or a pupil or a parent or a teacher. If they do, the police will and can take action against them.” Zahawi said local government was also working with schools and added: “If anybody feels threatened by these anti-vaxx protesters they should report them and they will be arrested.” A recent survey by the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) suggested that four out of five schools (79%) have been targeted by anti-vaccination campaigners, mainly in the form of emails threatening legal action. Many school leaders have complained of feeling intimidated and upset by misinformation being spread by protesters. More than one in 10 (13%) schools said protests had been staged immediately outside their school premises, 20% reported protesters in the local area, 18 schools said protesters had gained access to the school premises, while 20 said they had received communications threatening physical harm to staff. Geoff Barton, the ASCL general secretary, said he was not surprised to see the education secretary steering away from the idea of exclusion zones. “It’s a good idea in principle but difficult to determine exactly how it would work in practice. “The trouble is that by the time protesters have turned up and protested it is difficult to do much about it. If protests are ongoing, then exclusions zones might work, but equally it might be possible to defuse the situation simply through appropriate police support under existing powers. “What we really need is for the protesters to desist from this sort of unhelpful activity. Protests outside schools are completely unacceptable. Students and staff should be able to go to and from school in a calm and orderly environment.” Paul Whiteman, the general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, added: “Whatever your views on vaccination, it is never OK to make children feel scared and intimidated as they arrive at school. “People have the right to express their concerns, but this must be done appropriately – schools are not the place for angry protests. We would urge anti-vaccination campaigners to behave more responsibly and to carefully consider the impact their actions are having on children.” Last month, after a particularly concerning incident involving an anti-vaccination protest, Javid backed the introduction of exclusion zones around schools, saying: “These people are doing so much damage. “First of all, here you have three children who are injured, actually physically injured, and that’s heartbreaking to see, children going about what they should be doing, going to school every day, and you’ve got frankly these idiots outside their school spreading vicious lies. It is becoming a growing problem as time goes by.” Starmer described the demonstrations as “sickening”, adding: “Labour believes the law around public spaces protection orders urgently needs to be updated so that local authorities can rapidly create exclusion zones for anti-vaxx protests outside of schools.”

Tens of thousands of A-level pupils may miss out on first choice university

2022-08-12

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2022/aug/12/tens-of-thousands-of-a-level-pupils-may-miss-out-on-first-choice-university

University admissions will be ‘hardest in living memory’ after government asked regulators to set grade boundaries Tens of thousands of A-level ­students are at risk of losing a place at their preferred university next week after new analysis found a sharp fall in top grades compared with last year. Amid warnings that this year’s admissions round would be “the hardest in living memory”, research suggests a fall of 10 percentage points in the number of A and A* grades in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, following the reintroduction of exams this summer. After two years of higher average grades during the pandemic – when exams were cancelled and work was teacher-assessed – the government asked regulators to set boundaries so that grades, to be published on Thursday, would be halfway between those in 2019 and 2021, with grades to return to pre-pandemic levels in 2023. After record results last year, when 44.8% of grades were either A or A* at A-level, the calculation is that this will fall to 35% (up from 25.5% in 2019). While almost one in five (19.1%) grades were A* last year, this year the proportion is expected to decline to 13.5%. Similarly, the number of A* to C grades are expected to go down from 88.5% in 2021 to 82%. The shift in results is likely to cause a major political fallout in a year that has seen four different education secretaries. The plan for this year’s A-levels was first put in place by Gavin Williamson, who was blamed for the government’s chaotic approach to education during the pandemic. The plan is now being overseen by James Cleverly who may be given a new role when a new prime minister is appointed in September. Labour has accused the Tories of a “miserable failure to help children recover from the pandemic” and of failing to put in place enough extra measures for this year’s exams. One expert said this year’s experience would signal a fundamental shift that will last for a decade, as demand for higher education places remains high. “Instead of universities competing over students, it will be students fighting over limited degree places,” said Lee Elliot Major, professor of social mobility at Exeter University. “Thousands of students with relatively high grades are likely to be disappointed and not secure their first choices,” he added. This year’s results are also expected to show an improvement in the performance of male candidates, who are likely to have benefited from the reintroduction of exams. They will also reflect changing subject preferences, with psychology growing in popularity as the uptake of English continues to fall. Prof Alan Smithers, director of the Centre for Education and Employment Research at the University of Buckingham, has calculated that if each candidate drops an average of two grades due to the post-pandemic rebalancing, up to 60,000 students applying to university could be at risk of losing their preferred place. “The 2022 A-level results are potentially the most interesting in years,” said Smithers. “The return of exams will enable us to begin to gauge the impact of teacher assessment. “The increase in top grades has been extraordinary – they went up from 25.5% of the total in 2019 to 44.8% in 2021,” he said, adding: “Some candidates were given a false idea of their talents and will have made wrong choices, while universities could not tell applicants apart as accurately and fairly as they had been used to. “Universities have reacted to the teacher-assessment boom in top grades by raising requirements and reducing firm offers. For many of this year’s school leavers, the hard work did not end with A-levels, but begins again on results day in the chase for the coveted places. “As a result of bringing down the top grades, about 40,000 applicants could miss out on their first choices, although it could be as many as 60,000.” Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what’s happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion There will nevertheless still be 80,000 more top grades than in 2019 when exams were last held and Smithers said that, though there will be pressure on top courses, there would be plenty of places elsewhere. With the return of exams, which were reintroduced with adaptations to reflect pandemic disruption, Smithers predicted that boys will start to catch up with girls, whose results have improved with the pause in exams and the use of teacher assessment. On subject trends, provisional figures show the numbers studying psychology have gone up 10%, making it the second most popular A-level after maths. Numbers studying English continue to fall, down by about a third since 2009 to 62,000 in 2021, with a further 8% drop in 2022. Major said: “This year will be the hardest admissions round in living memory for many applicants – and it signals a fundamental shift that will last for a decade.” He said this new, more competitive era of university admissions was being driven by rising numbers of 18-year-olds, a rebalancing by some universities which are reducing places after taking in additional students during Covid, and a looming recession cutting off job alternatives. “We must do all we can to ensure that our most disadvantaged and vulnerable students aren’t unfairly elbowed out as candidates do everything possible to secure the most sought-after degrees.” He expressed concern that the gap in A-level results between state and private pupils had also widened. “The biggest challenge for schools in the post-pandemic era will be to reduce the academic divides that have opened – failure to do so will leave a generation permanently scarred.” Chris Hale, interim chief executive of Universities UK, which represents the higher education sector, said that most students were expected to get their first-choice course this year with plenty of high-quality courses available in clearing. “They have taken into account that this year’s applicants will probably have a lower proportion of top grades than the last two years with the return of exams following the pandemic’s disruption. Decisions are not made on grades alone.” A Department for Education spokesperson said: “Ucas expects the majority of students to secure their place at their firm choice this year and in preparation our focus has been on working with universities to ensure offers reflect the grades students will receive this summer. “Competition for places at the most selective universities has always been high and this year is no different, but there will always be lots of options for students either at another university, through clearing or high-quality vocational options that are just as prestigious and rewarding as academic routes.”

Headteacher withdraws request for public support to help stop Ofsted inspection

2023-03-21

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2023/mar/20/headteacher-will-refuse-ofsted-inspection-after-ruth-perry-death

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. She said she would not allow them to enter the premises after the death of Ruth Perry, who took her own life after a negative inspection, according to her family, and called for others to show up at the school and offer their support. The death of Perry, 53, a mother of two and headteacher at Caversham primary school in Reading, has triggered a storm of protest on social media among teachers and headteachers, many of whom are critical of Ofsted and would like to see it reformed. Labour has pledged to scrap the current ratings system and replace it with a report card. Cooper wrote on Twitter: “I’ve just had the call. I’ve refused entry. Doing this for everyone for our school staff everywhere!” She called for outside support: “Can I please get everyone here tomorrow? Would you show up? John Rankin School, Newbury.” She added: “Please! We have to do this! I’m taking the stand!” Later in the day, Cooper sought to defuse the situation and tweeted: “Please can people not come to school now in the morning. I have to protect our children, our staff and our community. Please for the protection of our children and staff.” In an email to parents and carers on Monday night, Cooper announced that the school would be closed until at least 10am on Tuesday in order to “ensure the school site is safe for the whole community”. Perry’s family said she killed herself in January while waiting for an Ofsted report which downgraded her school from outstanding to the lowest possible rating. The inspection report found the school to be good in every category apart from leadership and management, where it was judged inadequate. A petition calling for an inquiry into the inspection of Caversham has collected more than 39,000 signatures. Perry’s sister, Julia Waters, who is professor of contemporary French literature at Reading University, later issued a statement saying her family were in no doubt that her death was a “direct result” of the pressure put on her by the process and outcome of the Ofsted inspection, and calling for an urgent review of the entire inspection system. Waters said some of the conclusions drawn by the inspectors in their report were “sensationalist “and based on scant evidence, such as gaps in record-keeping and typical childish behaviour. She went on: “In our opinion, the findings of Ofsted were disproportionate, unfair and, as has tragically been proven, deeply harmful in their implied focus on one individual. “No doubt the Ofsted inspectors did not mean to cause any harm. We are sure they were only doing their job as best they could under the appalling system that is in place. It is this fatally flawed system which is at fault. “Our only hope is that Ruth’s sudden, appalling death will be the last to occur as a result of the intolerable pressures caused by the Ofsted system. It is the firm view of Ruth’s family, friends and colleagues that the entire Ofsted system must urgently be reviewed and changed, to place the welfare of teaching staff, as well as of schoolchildren, at its heart.” Waters said that following the inquest, which is due to take place later this year, the family hoped that recommendations would be made to prevent further tragedies from occurring. Perry’s sister, Julia Waters, told the Times: “Ruth killed herself because of this Ofsted report. Ruth just saw this one word ‘inadequate’ as summing everything she had ever achieved and it was targeted at her. That is how she felt and it just crushed her.” The National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) and the National Education Union (NEU) called on Monday for a pause to all Ofsted inspections. The NAHT general secretary, Paul Whiteman, said: “Ruth Perry’s death is an unspeakable tragedy and it is clear that school leaders across the nation have been deeply affected by the news. Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what’s happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion “It is clear that school leaders up and down the country are placed under intolerable pressure by the current approach. It cannot be right that we treat dedicated professionals in this way. Something has to change. Whilst it should never take a tragedy like this to prompt action, this has to be a watershed moment.” Dr Mary Bousted, the NEU joint general secretary, said: “That they are phoning leaders this week and initiating inspections speaks to the arrogance of Ofsted and their absolute lack of empathy. This is an agency that is completely out of touch, and which is making claims and judgments which are unreliable.” Geoff Barton, the general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), added: “We’ve seen that a headteacher has tweeted their intention to refuse entry to an Ofsted inspection team, and this shows very clearly the strength of feeling following the tragic death of Ms Perry. “Many school and college leaders and their staff find inspections and Ofsted judgments very traumatic, and this is often damaging to their wellbeing. This case has brought matters to a head and something has to change.” Katie Kearney and Chris Adams, the co-chairs of the John Rankin governing board, said: “We want to reassure the whole John Rankin community that, as always, we will act in the best interests of the children and the schools.” Cooper was approached for comment. A Department for Education spokesperson said it was a legal requirement for schools and nurseries to be inspected by Ofsted. “Inspections are hugely important as they hold schools to account for their educational standards and parents greatly rely on the ratings to give them confidence in choosing the right school for their child. “We offer our deep condolences to the family and friends of Ruth Perry following her tragic death and are continuing to provide support to Caversham primary school at this difficult time.” 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

Brian Harrison-Jennings obituary

2023-03-20

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2023/mar/20/brian-harrison-jennings-obituary

My husband, Brian Harrison-Jennings, who has died aged 82, was a teacher, educational psychologist, trade unionist and humanist. Brian’s first job was as a medical laboratory technician in Moorgate hospital, Rotherham. From Padgate Teacher Training College in Warrington, where he specialised in science and outdoor pursuits, in 1968 he went to Sheffield University, where he obtained a degree in psychology, followed by a master’s in education and child psychology from Nottingham University. He then pursued a career as a senior educational psychologist with Sheffield metropolitan district council. During his time in the city (1974-89), Brian was an active member of his constituency Labour party, twice standing in local elections. Although born into a Salvation Army family, Brian was an atheist from a young age. An active scouter, he was subsequently prevented from being a Scout leader because of his refusal to swear an oath to God. This saddened him greatly but he was rewarded in later years by running his own scout troop, the 267th Sheffield (Dore), and celebrating the success of the British Humanist Association in getting this discriminatory practice overturned in 2012. Involvement with the trade union movement began at teacher-training college when Brian was president of the students’ union. He joined the Association of Educational Psychologists in 1972, and in 1980 became a member of its national executive committee, progressing to vice-president in 1987 and then president two years later. In 1993, Brian was elected general secretary of the Association of Educational Psychologists. He served in this role for 12 years until his retirement in 2005. Brian and I met at a lecture about toy libraries for children with special educational needs that he was giving in Sheffield in 1974; we were married in 1988. After we moved to Stocksmoor, near Huddersfield in West Yorkshire, the following year, Brian was involved in twinning the hamlet with a village near Milan called Olgiate Molgora. The arrangement was formally constituted in 1998 and operates to this day. Born in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, Brian was one of six children of Edith (nee Spillett), a housewife, and John Harrison, a welder by trade and foreman at Robert Jenkins, an engineering and boilermaking firm in Kimberworth. Brian was educated at Kimberworth and Meadowhall primary schools, followed by Rotherham grammar school (1952-57). Brian’s enthusiasm for life was evident, and he touched and enhanced many people’s lives. Living with him was an intellectual challenge as he questioned everything and everybody. He had a wicked sense of humour, was widely read and had a phenomenal memory. He is survived by me and his sister Margaret.

Ken Lawson obituary

2021-11-12

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2021/nov/12/ken-lawson-obituary

My father, Ken Lawson, who has died aged 81 of pancreatitis, had a long career as a teacher and lecturer. Born in Liverpool, the son of Tommy, a machine setter for Meccano, and Alice (nee Yates), a shop assistant, Ken enjoyed a loving childhood surrounded by extended family. He attended the Liverpool Institute high school for boys, leaving after his O-levels to work as an apprentice engineer in a telephone factory. Around this time he met Gill Jones, a teacher, whom he married in 1964. She encouraged him to return to education and he studied for his A-levels at night school, sparking a love of learning that was to remain with him throughout his life. Ken subsequently studied at Didsbury Teacher Training College in Manchester (1961-64), before moving to east London, where he taught by day, at Sebright junior school, Hackney, and took a history degree at Birkbeck, University of London, in the evenings. Teaching in a deprived part of inner London, he found the first term challenging, but when he returned to school after Christmas, his class were thrilled – apparently, no teacher had ever stayed with them that long before. A real bond was born, as was Ken’s love of teaching. In 1966 came a move to Bristol, where Ken taught for eight years at Knowle Park junior school, and where I and my brother, Peter, were born. There was more nocturnal studying (this time a master’s in education at Bristol University), then came moves to Dorset, where Ken became deputy head of Hillbourne middle school in Poole, and Devon, as he was made headmaster at Bradley Rowe middle school in Exeter. In 1985, Ken realised a long-held ambition to work in teacher education when he was appointed principal lecturer in charge of the PGCE course at Rolle College, Exmouth (later part of the University of Plymouth). He relished the chance to steer the next generation of teachers and made many enduring friendships among the students and staff. A highlight came when he helped to lead the college’s student exchange programme to the State University of New York at Fredonia, a trip that inspired many later adventures as he and Gill frequently visited the US, travelling and hiking in more than 20 states. From 2001 Ken enjoyed a happy retirement, full of friends, books, coastal walks, visiting his grandchildren and following the fortunes of Liverpool FC. The warmth, intelligence, kindness and sense of fun for which he was well known remained with him until the end. He is survived by Gill, Peter and me, and by four grandchildren, Honor, Esme, Jacob and Rose.

Schools in England face funding crisis as costs soar, study warns

2022-08-01

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2022/aug/02/schools-in-england-face-funding-crisis-as-costs-soar-study-warns

Institute for Fiscal Studies says spend per pupil set to be lower in 2025 than in 2010, with budgets already under strain from rises in food, energy and wage bills Schools in England are facing a looming funding crisis, with spending per pupil in 2024-25 expected to be 3% lower than in 2010, according to research. After a decade of austerity cuts, ministers pledged to restore per pupil funding to 2010 levels by the end of the current parliament, but the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) says the government is no longer on track to meet its objective because of the cost pressures on schools. The IFS research calculates that the increased costs schools are facing are “just about affordable” for the next academic year because of a £4bn rise in the schools budget this year. It warns, however, that the government’s spending plans going forward are insufficient and real-terms cuts will follow, undermining the role that schools might play in its levelling up ambitions. School leaders, meanwhile, say they are already struggling to balance their budgets in the face of massive hikes in food, energy and wage bills, with many warning of deficits and more cuts to educational provision. One finance manager said a secondary school in her trust had seen its electricity bill jump from £75,000 last year to £213,000. They are also worrying about how to meet teacher salary increases with no additional funding from government and spending already cut to the bone. Julia Harnden, a funding specialist at the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), said: “It is a very poor reflection on the government’s priorities that it will have presided over a 15-year decline in school funding by the end of this parliament. “While it may argue that there are inflationary pressures beyond its control, the fact is that it is the government itself which has proposed a teachers’ pay award for September without providing any additional funding for schools to afford these costs, and it has also consistently ignored our repeated warnings about the impact of soaring energy costs.” The situation in post-16 education is even worse, Harnden said, citing IFS analysis from last autumn which showed college funding per pupil in 2024-25 10% below 2010-11 levels, while school sixth form funding per pupil will be 23% below. “It is likely that rising cost pressures will exacerbate this desperate situation,” she said. “The government simply must respond by ensuring that schools and colleges have the funding they require to at least maintain provision, and if the government is serious about raising pupil attainment it must provide the resources that are needed to make that ambition achievable.” Sarah Ewins, chief finance and operating officer at the Middlesex Learning Trust, said the schools in her trust had struggled to set balanced budgets for September in the face of rapidly mounting cost pressures including energy costs up by 200%, only for all their planning to be thrown up into the air by the announcement of the teacher pay award on the last day of term which added an extra £95,000 to the expected wage bill of each school. “We fully support paying teachers and support staff properly (especially given years of real terms pay cuts) but we simply cannot do this without additional funding.” The Department for Education said it recognised that schools are facing increased costs due the unprecedented rise in inflation. “To support schools, budgets will rise by £7bn by 2024-25, compared with 2021-22, with the total core school budget increasing to £56.8bn. In the current financial year alone, core school funding is rising by £4bn compared to the previous financial year.” The government’s recent schools white paper set a target that 90% of primary pupils should achieve the expected standard in reading, writing and maths by 2030. Ruth Maisey, education programme head at the Nuffield Foundation which funded the research, said: “It is essential that the government addresses the cost pressures highlighted by this IFS analysis, to ensure that schools can deliver on ambitions for student attainment.” Labour accused the Conservative leadership contenders of “blustering” about the return of grammar schools during campaigning, rather than pledging any real action to secure children’s education. Shadow schools minister Stephen Morgan said: “The Conservatives are failing our children with staff numbers falling, school buildings in a state of disrepair and fewer trips, clubs and enriching activities.” Dr Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the National Education Union, said: “School funding has stagnated for too long, letting down generations of young people. It allows buildings to fall into disrepair, the loss of vital staff and the side-lining or removal of whole subjects. These privations long pre-date Covid and the cost-of-living crisis.” Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, added: “There is no doubt that the reality of the government’s current approach to education funding will lead to cuts to education, services and school staff next year.” Luke Sibieta, IFS research fellow and author of the report, said: “The big fiscal choice for policymakers this autumn is whether or not to provide more funding to public services to compensate for rising costs and the significant challenges they face. It will be that much harder for schools to meaningfully contribute to levelling up ambitions when they face real-terms cuts from next year onwards” The Department for Education has been approached for comment.

England and Wales university fees ‘bad value for money’ – survey

2022-08-31

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2022/aug/31/england-and-wales-university-fees-bad-value-for-money-survey

Majority of respondents say £9,250 a year fee is not good value – with 74% backing additional bursaries for poorer students A majority of voters say university tuition fees of £9,250 are “bad value”, according to an opinion poll by YouGov that also found support for graduates in England paying back a higher proportion of their student loans. The poll of nearly 1,500 adults found that just over half said the current level of fees in England and Wales was bad value for money, while only one in five said it was good value. Graduates were more likely to agree than non-graduates, with 69% of graduates saying that £9,250 was bad value, compared with 47% of non-graduates. The results were very similar when the pollsters asked graduates about the education they personally received: 64% said it would be bad value for money at £9,250 a year, while just 23% said it would be good value. Graduates were also more pessimistic about the impact of going to university. Some 44% said most graduates would be worse off in the long run, while 37% thought most students would be better off because their increased earnings would outweigh the costs. Nick Hillman, chief executive of the Higher Education Policy Institute, and an architect of the tuition fee and loan regime introduced in 2012, said that the perceptions of bad value for money were at odds with the popularity of going to university among school-leavers. “University demand is higher than it has ever been before. It might seem overpriced but people are still willing to do,” Hillman said. YouGov’s survey found that many voters appear to support the current structure of tuition fees in England and Wales, as well as the government’s recent changes to the student loan repayment regime in England. But while support was strongest among Conservative voters, there were few signs of enthusiasm for particular policies. Asked what the best way of funding university education would be, 42% backed the current system of fees and student loans, while 26% supported payment out of general taxation, and 11% supported a tax paid by graduates. The survey found little variation in support for either of the two main political parties. Asked which party they most trusted to deal with education, 26% backed Labour, 19% backed the Conservatives and 6% the Liberal Democrats – but the highest proportion, 44%, said they did not know. Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what’s happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion In the last two elections Labour has campaigned on abolishing tuition fees for undergraduates but under Keir Starmer’s leadership the party has so far not committed itself to any detailed policy. The results did show considerable backing for additional bursaries for students from “low economic backgrounds”, with 74% in favour and just 8% opposed. Bursaries for those who “achieve the highest grades” at school were backed by 56%. There was also support for a new proposal by the government that would restrict student loans to those with minimum entry requirements: 65% agreed that universities “should not be able to offer places to people who do not have a minimum number” of A-levels, GCSEs or equivalents. Just 21% said there should be no entry requirements.

NASUWT members call for Ofsted abolition to end ‘reign of terror’

2023-04-10

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2023/apr/10/nasuwt-members-call-for-ofsted-abolition-to-end-reign-of-terror

Conference accuses inspectorate of ‘mercilessly bullying’ teachers and follows NEU in calling for change Ofsted inspectors have been accused of a “reign of terror” over teachers and school leaders in England, as a second major teaching union backed a campaign to abolish the schools watchdog. Delegates to the NASUWT annual conference voted for a motion describing Ofsted as a “major contributor to the excessive workload and bureaucracy that blights the lives of teachers” and instructed the union to campaign for its abolition and replacement. Martin Hudson, a primary school teacher from Newcastle who moved the motion, said there was a “genuine and deep-seated fear of Ofsted” among many teachers. “For the best interests of teachers, for the health and wellbeing of teachers, Ofsted must go,” Hudson said. Several speakers made reference to the death of Ruth Perry, a Berkshire headteacher whose family said killed herself this year after a critical Ofsted inspection. The inspection resulted in Perry’s primary school being downgraded from Ofsted’s highest rating of “outstanding” to its lowest grade, “inadequate”. Hudson said that when a colleague’s school was graded inadequate by Ofsted, it left teachers with an “unbearable” sense of failure. “We know, as teachers and trade unionists, that obsessive monitoring and placing subjective one-word judgments on teachers and schools has never improved standards and never will,” Hudson said. Gherie Weldeyesus, a teacher from north London, told the union’s delegates in Glasgow: “Let’s end this reign of terror – abolish Ofsted.” Hank Roberts, a delegate from London, said it was no longer enough to call for Ofsted’s reform, accusing it of “mercilessly bullying” teachers. “This has been going on for years. We’ve been condemning it regularly. Clearly, this is not enough. They don’t give a stuff what you think. What they care about is what you do, and we have to do a lot more,” Roberts said. The motion also calls for an immediate freeze on Ofsted school inspections, in order to carry out an assessment of the mental health impact on teachers and heads. Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what’s happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion Union officials said the motion was the first time the traditionally more moderate NASUWT had voted to seek to abolish Ofsted outright rather than reform it. Last week, the National Education Union’s annual conference also voted to campaign for the abolition of Ofsted and Estyn, the Welsh school inspectorate, and to replace their inspections with more collaborative ways of helping schools improve. After the NEU vote, Julia Waters, Perry’s sister, sent the NEU a message of thanks, saying: “Ruth’s name must not be lost in vain.” 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.

Lorraine Tollemache obituary

2023-04-09

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2023/apr/09/lorraine-tollemache-obituary

My wife, Lorraine Tollemache, who has died aged 82, was an artist, teacher, social worker and psychotherapist. She was best known for her work as a senior clinical lecturer who trained social workers at the Tavistock Clinic in London. Born in Quetta, in what is now Pakistan, to Leila (nee Portlock) and Freddy Allen, a brigadier in the Indian Army, Lorraine was the eldest of three sisters. Her father was from Bray in County Wicklow, Ireland, and she was always proud of her Irish heritage. After Partition in India, the family returned to England on the Empire Windrush in 1947, leaving from Karachi, and settled in Surrey. She attended Guildford high school and then Roedean school in Brighton, East Sussex, where she excelled at English and art. She studied at Farnham Art School (now part of the University for the Creative Arts) and then at the Institute of Education, University College London, where she and I met. We married in 1962 and moved to Cornwall, both working at St Austell grammar school. Lorraine was a gifted and imaginative art teacher who continued to paint, draw and produce ceramics throughout her life. We adopted two children, Billy and Rosa, in 1966 and 1971 respectively, and moved to Highbury in 1976, where our home was a testament to her visual flair and the location for many a spirited political and literary discussion. Lorraine completed a degree in English at Bedford College, University of London, in 1976, next qualifying as a social worker at Chelsea College in 1979 and then as a psychoanalytic psychotherapist in 1990. Fostering two children, volunteering at Holloway prison and carrying out social work at St Charles hospital in central London from 1980 to 1985, she established the foundations for her successful career at the Tavistock, working there from 1990 onwards as a senior clinical lecturer in social work in its child and family department. Using her expertise in the complexities of fostering and adoption, she was a co-founder, with Caroline Lindsey, of the fostering and adoption team, and a co-convener of the fostering and adoption workshop with Jenny Kenrick. In 2006, she, Lindsey and Kenrick were co-editors of the book Creating New Families: Therapeutic Approaches to Fostering, Adoption and Kinship Care. She also established training for social workers under the title of “children in transition”, which became part of the Tavistock MA in advanced social work. She retired in 2003. Lorraine was fit well into older age. She loved walking, dancing and taking her grandchildren ice skating and swimming, impressing them with her ability to vault over a gate in her 70s. Even after being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2015, she walked and sang her way around Hackney and Islington parks, always looking forward to a celebratory chocolate ice-cream. She is survived by me, our two children, and four grandchildren, Finn, Lizzy, Poppy and Felix.

Government pauses plan to abolish technical qualifications

2021-11-15

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2021/nov/15/government-pauses-plan-to-abolish-technical-qualifications

Education secretary announces year’s delay to unpopular defunding plans, and accepts role of many BTecs Ministers’ planned abolition of technical qualifications is to be delayed for a year, with reassurances that many BTecs are likely to continue to feature in the post-16 education landscape after an outcry from the sector. The education secretary, Nadhim Zahawi, told MPs during the second reading of the skills and post-16 education bill in Commons on Monday that the government’s “ambitious” reforms were being slowed down to allow the sector more time to prepare for the changes. As a result, qualifications like BTecs will not now be defunded until 2024 at the earliest, rather than 2023 under the original timetable, and while Zahawi insisted that the new T-levels and A-levels would be the key qualifications under the reforms, he said BTecs would “continue to play an important role”. “I am clear that T-levels and A-levels should be front and centre of the level 3 landscape,” Zahawi told MPs. “But I am also convinced that we need other qualifications alongside them – many of which currently exist – that play a valuable role in supporting good outcomes for students.” He continued: “It is quite likely we will see many BTecs and other similar applied general-style qualifications continuing to play an important role in 16-19 education, for the foreseeable future.” The announcement follows an outcry from many in the sector, including former Conservative education secretary Kenneth Baker who described the government’s planned overhaul of vocational and technical qualifications at schools and colleges in England as “an act of vandalism”. The Department for Education (DfE) originally announced plans to strip funding from “poor quality” technical qualifications, in order to simplify the post-16 education landscape and clear the way for its new T-levels. Most BTecs were expected to disappear under the reforms. In recent weeks however the DfE appears to have softened its language on BTecs. Zahawi also announced that the exit requirements for English and maths in T-levels will be relaxed because students are being put off taking the new qualification because they are worried that they will fail if they do not reach level 2 in English and maths. Bill Watkin, chief executive of the Sixth Form Colleges Association, welcomed the reprieve but said funding should not be withdrawn for any BTec unless there was clear evidence that the qualification is not valued by students or employers. “An evidence-based approach, involving those directly involved in delivery, is essential if we are to have a qualification system that works for everyone.” David Hughes, chief executive of the Association of Colleges, added: “We warned that it was too soon to be removing pathways and choices for young people when the new T-levels were in their infancy and that it risked leaving learners with no accessible qualifications to study for.”

Number of top A-level grades falls sharply as north-south divide grows

2022-08-18

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2022/aug/18/a-level-results-a-and-a-star-grades-fall-sharply

As and A*s down 8.4 percentage points on last year’s teacher-assessed grades, amid warning of ‘stark’ private-state divide The number of top grades at A-level has fallen sharply this year after a return to examinations, with warnings about large regional variations and a “stark” divide between the state sector and private schools, where pupils were almost twice as likely to get an A or A*. Results awarded in England, Wales and Northern Ireland revealed top grades down by 8.4 percentage points on last year’s record results, while A*s alone decreased by 4.5 points, in line with government plans to bring results gradually back to pre-pandemic levels. The attainment gap between the more affluent London and south-east regions and the north-east is growing, however. While the gap between the south and the north-east was between 4 and 5 percentage points in 2019, it now stands at more than 8 percentage points. Chris Zarraga, the director of Schools North East, said: “We are incredibly proud of the students and school staff in our region and all they have achieved despite unprecedented circumstances. However, the results also reflect the disproportionate effect the pandemic has had on our region.” The shadow education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, said: “Students in the north-east are no less capable but, after 12 years of Conservative governments, they’re seeing their results go backwards compared to their peers across the south of England.” In England just under 36% of A-level entries gained A and A* grades this year, compared with 44.3% last year. The number of high-flyers who got three A*s at A-level has also gone down, from 12,865 last year to 8,570. England’s exam regulator, Ofqual, has urged students not to compare their results with 2021 when grades were awarded based on teacher assessments, insisting that a comparison with 2019 when exams were last sat is more appropriate. On that measure, results overall are higher than pre-pandemic levels, with the proportion of As and A*s up from 25.4% in 2019 to 36.4%, and in the three years since exams were last sat the share of A*s has gone up by almost seven percentage points, from 7.7% to 14.6%. Meanwhile, university admissions have fallen on last year after one of the most competitive admissions cycles in recent memory, but, at 425,830 so far, are still the second highest on record, according to the university admissions service Ucas. The number of students without a university place increased by a third, the highest in a decade, while about 24,000 are estimated to have missed out on their first choice. The Ucas chief executive, Clare Marchant, said: “My advice is to take advantage of the wide range of choices on offer, which includes over 27,000 courses in clearing, along with a range of apprenticeship opportunities.” University admissions teams reported high levels of interest in clearing, a process that matches unplaced students with unfilled courses. Ella Kirkbride, the head of admissions at the University of Hull, said calls had risen by 286% on last year, with many of the students having received better results than expected. “They are relieved that they have not been faced with the kind of disappointing results that they were really concerned about as a result of all the speculation and uncertainty. In fact they have achieved Bs and Cs – and are very well prepared to go through the clearing process,” she said. Some students complained about unpredictability in results. Will, 18, who attended a state grammar in Bradford, achieved grades AAB and missed out on his firm offer at Newcastle but was accepted at Royal Holloway, University of London, to study psychology. “Many friends who had excelled throughout the whole two years and who had revised a massive amount to account for poor Covid teaching ended up dropping three to four grades from what they were predicted or what they achieved in mock exams,” he said. Dr Jo Saxton, the chief regulator of Ofqual, said this year’s results were pitched broadly midway between 2021 and 2019 and marked a staging post on the return to pre-pandemic grade levels next summer. “Today’s results are higher than those of 2019, and – as we have always said – lower than in 2021, when there was a different method of assessment. “I felt strongly that it would not have been right to go straight back to pre-pandemic grading in one go but accept that we do need to continue to take steps back to normality.” Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what’s happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion Female students fared worse in grade deflation, though still outperformed their male counterparts. Whereas 44.3% of students in England achieved an A grade in 2021, that fell back to 35.9% this year, an 8.4 percentage point drop. But female students’ grades fell by 9.5 percentage points compared with 7 points among males. Teacher-assessed grades, which replaced exams across the UK last year, resulted in a huge boost in grades across the board, but disproportionately benefited those at independent schools, where the proportion of top grades rose 9 percentage points to 70%, compared with 6 percentage points overall. This year they continued to have the highest proportion of top grades, with 58% achieving an A* or A, 12.4 percentage points lower than in 2021 but still above pre-pandemic levels, and the gap between secondary comprehensives and private, fee-paying schools remains large. There was a 27 percentage point difference in students graded A or above between independent schools and secondary comprehensives this year, slightly smaller than in 2021, when the difference between both schools reached 31 percentage points. The Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) said the overall pass rate – the proportion of entries graded A* to E – fell by 1.1 percentage points from 99.5% in 2021 to 98.4% this year. But this is up by 0.8 points from 97.6% in 2019. The proportion of entries graded A* to C dropped from 88.5% in 2021 to 82.6% this year, though it is up from 75.9% in 2019. Maths remains the most popular A-level and the number of students taking psychology and business studies jumped by more than 10% this year. Just 53,323 students took one of the three English subjects available to them, down from 75,000 in 2017. In Scotland, results published last week showed a similar pattern as pass rates for Scottish pupils fell significantly with the return of exams for the first time since 2019. The overall pass rate for Highers, heavily used for students aiming for university, fell from 89.3% in 2020 to 78.9%. As well as A-levels, approximately 200,000 students received BTec results. This year has also been a landmark year with 1,000 students receiving results for the first time for the new T-level technical qualifications, for which they began studying in September 2020. Kath Thomas, the interim chief executive officer of the JCQ, said: “These students are the first to have taken formal summer exams in three years, so we should all celebrate this achievement.”

‘It’s quite depressing’: the UK students struggling to find accommodation

2023-09-27

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2023/sep/27/its-quite-depressing-the-uk-students-struggling-to-find-accommodation

Three students share their experience of trying to find somewhere to live as academic year begins As freshers’ events get into swing for Manchester Metropolitan University students this week, mechanical engineering student Karl still doesn’t know where he will be calling home for the first year of his studies. After Karl gained a place on his course through clearing, he quickly realised securing housing would be a struggle. The 20-year-old was told by his university that they wouldn’t be able to offer him accommodation shortly after he gained his place. “I didn’t expect first year to be like this,” Karl says. “It’s quite depressing – I see all of these freshers having fun and I’m just looking for somewhere to live.” He has joined the waiting list for a private hall of residence but has heard nothing back. “I was really looking forward to living in halls, where other first years are – it’s way more easy to socialise,” he says. While he was deeply disappointed not to be able to enjoy the typical first-year experience, as term approached his focus turned to just finding somewhere safe and affordable to live. He moved from Newcastle to Liverpool at the beginning of the month to stay at his aunt’s house and is sharing his cousin’s room. Karl is flat-hunting in Manchester with two other first-years from different universities in the city whom he met through an online group. “This has put so much stress on my mental health as I’m spending all my time looking for accommodation – which is either too expensive or too far away,” he says. “I’ve given up on the expected first year experience.” For Maanya, freshers’ week at the University of Surrey hasn’t gone quite as hoped. Instead of settling into her flatshare and socialising with new friends, the 18-year-old first year has had to commute from her family home in Sutton to attend any events, up to a 90-minute journey each way. “From Guildford, there are no trains after midnight, so I’m only going for one night when I’ll be picked up by parents by car,” she says. “It’s definitely not what I expected from freshers’ week – I’m quite upset.” After Maanya secured her place on the university’s media course through clearing, she was told by the university that they could not offer her a room in their halls, and advised her to search for private accommodation. She was one of about 200 students who joined a groupchat to vent their frustrations after not being offered rooms. “The university should not accept so many people on to their courses if they cannot accommodate them,” Maanya says, adding that there were others in the group who did not get their place through clearing. “Or [they should] make it clear that not everyone will get accommodated so people can look for other options earlier.” Maanya was relieved when she finally managed to secure a studio flat, rented by a private provider – but then her move-in date, originally due to be 18 September for the first day of freshers’ week – was pushed back by two weeks because of construction work on her block. She has missed most of the freshers’ week events and will be spending her first week of lectures in a Travelodge. Costs have been an issue too, as her studio flat costs £305 a week – twice the 18-year-old’s original budget, set when she expected to live in university halls. “I’ll be able to afford less things like going out. Because I’ll have my own kitchen, there’s the additional cost of buying everything myself rather than sharing some things. And then there’s obviously the experience of having flatmates that I won’t [get].” Chloe Field, vice-president for higher education at the National Union of Students, called on universities to provide affordable accommodation and the government to introduce stronger protections for student tenants. “The 2023 National Student Accommodation survey published earlier this year showed that 63% of students struggle to find the money to pay accommodation costs and two in five have considered dropping out due to rent or bills. “Universities should ensure their accommodation options are affordable, but the student housing market is broken, and urgent action is needed from the government, too. We need rent controls to stop landlords exploiting students, and we need the government to resist the lobbying of landlords seeking to water down the protections offered to students by the renters reform bill.” A spokesperson for the University of Surrey said: “All students who applied for university-owned accommodation before the deadline have been allocated a room on campus. We regret that we have been unable to allocate campus accommodation to some students who applied for a room after the deadline or secured their place with us through clearing. Most students found alternative accommodation within days, following our guidance and support.” A Manchester Metropolitan University spokesperson said: “There is always variability in the number of students who require accommodation. On average around 20-30% of our first year students will choose to get accommodation through university-owned or leased options. The remainder choose to seek accommodation in the private rental market or to commute from home. We provide an accommodation guarantee for all those first-year students who make us their first choice and apply for accommodation before 15 June.” Others further along in their studies, where students usually turn to the private rented sector for accommodation, also shared their turbulent journeys in finding housing. Charlotte, an art student in their fourth year at Edinburgh University, isn’t sure where they’re going to live for the first seven weeks of term. While the 23-year-old has a flat secured with two friends, their lease doesn’t start until November. What’s more, Charlotte’s name isn’t on it, as they and their two flatmates, who are a couple, could only manage to find a two-bed. Classes are well under way at the university, but Charlotte is living out of a suitcase and bouncing around friends’ homes. They are worried about the impact of sofa-surfing for half the term. “I’m staying with friends for a few nights a week, an Airbnb, and then probably the occasional escape to my sister’s in Aberdeen. I am sure my learning and student job are going to suffer because I won’t have a quiet space to work on my own until the semester is more than halfway through.” Charlotte anticipates spending abour £800 a month in September and October on temporary accommodation and travel. “I am still hoping to find someone with a spare room for the next two months, but at this point that seems like a miracle,” they say. This article was amended on 27 September 2023 to replace an image that showed Manchester University rather than Manchester Metropolitan University.

Class sizes in England could go up to 60 warn heads in funding pay row

2023-05-20

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2023/may/20/class-sizes-in-england-could-go-up-to-60-warn-heads-in-funding-pay-row

Headteachers say they will be forced to double class sizes and introduce four-day weeks to tackle underfunding Schools in England are preparing to move to class sizes of as many as 60 children from September to deal with a funding crisis that headteachers say will force them to cut staff. The government insists that there is still room in school budgets to cover the 4.5% pay offer that teachers overwhelmingly rejected last month, as well as rising costs. But angry headteachers have warned that next year they will reach the brink, with no option but to cut staff and increase class sizes. Some schools are also considering shortening the school day to cut teaching time, with one academy leader warning that another year of underfunding would force many schools into a four-day week. A senior leader in a large multi-academy trust, speaking anonymously to avoid alarming parents, said: “We will be forced to collapse classes. I’m looking at going from 10 sets to eight in maths and English, with a top set of up to 50 or even 60 kids in a big space.” The leader said they were already having to “double up classes” to cover absences, and this would get worse. One of their secondary academies had 15 staff off last week, with stress-related illness noticeably on the rise. “The senior team has been teaching 100 kids a time in the hall to relieve pressure on teachers,” he said. “Cover lessons make behaviour worse.” As well as cutting less popular sixth-form subjects and increasing A-level class sizes – in some cases to twice the optimal number of pupils – he is considering cutting costs by starting the school day late or finishing early once a week. He said: “If we have another year of this underfunding, by next year I think you’ll have lots of schools going to a four-day week because they can’t afford to teach for five.” He has just voted to strike for the first time. “Not being funded has happened so many times,” he said. “I’m fed up with being lied to by the government.” Education secretary Gillian Keegan insisted last week that schools could afford a 4.5% average teacher pay rise with just £90m of additional funding, after the government committed £2bn for each of the next two years in last year’s autumn statement. But headteachers and unions say the extra funding has been hoovered up by soaring energy bills, largely unfunded pay rises for teachers and support staff last summer, and increased costs for everything from school meals to exercise books, leaving many schools facing staff cuts next year. James Bowen, director of policy at the National Association of Head Teachers union, said: “School leaders are angry. They are being told this is all affordable, but there is no money left. Our members say it’s been spent on keeping their heads above water.” Dave McPartlin, head of Flakefleet primary school in Lancashire, said: “With a 4.5% pay rise and no extra money, we would be in deficit, so staff would have to go. We already can’t afford to replace some great staff who are leaving.” The head of a primary academy, who asked to remain anonymous, said: “For our older children, class sizes will have to increase. That means we won’t meet their needs fully.” Jonny Uttley, chief executive of Teal multi-academy trust in Yorkshire, said that any cuts to teacher numbers next year would hit the poorest children hardest. “We rightly focus on disadvantaged children, and the single biggest factor in their success is the quality of the teacher in front of them.” Suzanne Best, head of Great Kingshill Church of England primary school in High Wycombe, said: “If support staff continue to leave, we will not be able to replace them. Is that the right decision for the children? Absolutely not.” The DfE said: “Since this government took office, there are now more than 24,000 more teachers in our schools, and our secondary schools have an average of 22 pupils per class.”

Education experts counter government attack on critical race theory

2020-11-13

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2020/nov/13/education-experts-counter-government-attack-on-critical-race-theory

Academics speak out amid controversial crackdown on teaching materials in schools More than 80 leading academics specialising in the field of education and social sciences have accused the government of misrepresenting critical race theory in a controversial crackdown on teaching materials in schools. In a letter to the Guardian, senior figures from University College London’s Institute of Education said they were concerned about a pattern of statements and guidance from politicians “proscribing” certain resources and bodies of work from classrooms. It follows guidance issued by the Department for Education in September that said schools should not under any circumstances use resources produced by organisations that take “extreme political stances”. “This is the case even if the material itself is not extreme, as the use of it could imply endorsement or support of the organisation,” the guidance stated. Examples included groups who had expressed a desire to end capitalism. At the time, the Coalition of Anti-Racist Educators (Care) and Black Educators Alliance (BEA) warned the guidance would prevent teachers from using material from groups including Black Lives Matter and Extinction Rebellion, limiting anti-racism teaching. Then last month the women and equalities minister, Kemi Badenoch, said teachers who presented the idea of white privilege as a fact to their students were breaking the law and described critical race theory as “an ideology that sees my blackness as victimhood and their whiteness as oppression”. The UCL Institute of Education is the UK’s leading centre for studies in education and related disciplines. The signatories to the letter said they were particularly concerned about the misrepresentation of critical race theory, which they described as a well established, diverse body of work, and warned against stifling debate and critical thinking in education. They said: “At a time when racism is on the rise, in Britain and globally, teachers and pupils can benefit from the tools and resources developed by critical race theorists to understand how racism operates across society, including in education. “To target this body of theory at this moment in time amounts to an attack on Black scholars and activists who are already struggling against racial injustice.” Instead of limiting the range of ideas on offer, teachers should be encouraging their students’ critical capacities and political agency through informed engagement with a wide range of resources, the letter said. Dissent, diversity and critique were “the lifeblood of democracy” and of educational experience, the letter said, and it warned policymakers they were in danger of stifling the climate of pluralism on which democracy depends. “At a time when democratic institutions and hard won commitments to equalities are under threat from populist politicians, and when a human-made environmental crisis threatens communities and individuals, classrooms should be places of creative, critical thinking and engagement with ideas that can help society move towards more just and sustainable ways of living. “The recent student climate marches and the Black Lives Matter protests have demonstrated that young people are only too aware of current injustices and willing to act collectively for change. “As educators, we should be supporting and encouraging their critical capacities and political agency through informed engagement with a wide range of resources. Attempts to limit the range of ideas on offer undermine this core educational and democratic goal.” Responding to the letter, a DfE spokesman said: “Where political issues are brought to the attention of pupils, it is important they are offered a balanced presentation of opposing views. We have provided guidance and training resources to equip schools to do this, which is intended to promote tolerance and respect. We expect all schools to comply with this guidance, which will be covered by Ofsted’s inspection regime.”

Jamie Oliver calls for expansion of free school meals in England

2022-12-27

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2022/dec/27/jamie-oliver-calls-for-expansion-of-free-school-meals

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. Speaking on the programme, Osborne, a Conservative former chancellor, criticised the current “Tory dance” on the issue. While stopping short of supporting Oliver’s campaign, he said: “The overall objective, which is having better fed, healthier kids, is a good one I certainly support and it may well be, in my mind – I’m not active in politics today – that providing for better free school meals for a much larger group of the population is the right way forward.” Referring to the footballer Marcus Rashford’s successful campaign to get free school meals extended to the holidays during the Covid pandemic, Osborne added: “Certainly I think the current kind of Tory dance of like, ‘no, no, no’, and then footballer jumps up and says yes, and they go ‘all right’, is not a good one politically for my party.” He also suggested the government needed to do more to tackle obesity, with an expansion of sugar taxes. Asked what approach he would take if he was still in government, he said: “I would extend the sugar levy to non-sugary products. And I would actually go ahead with that ban on advertising because I think that’s been well-versed now for many years and I think would be a good thing.” At the moment, only the lowest income households get free school meals. Children of parents who are on universal credit and have an annual income of no more than £7,400, or are on another benefit such as jobseeker’s allowance, are eligible for free school meals. There is also still controversy over free school meals during the holidays. In 2020, Rashford called for the government to extend its £15 free school meal vouchers – initially set up to feed children in term time when schools were closed by the pandemic – into the holidays. Johnson, and his then chancellor, Rishi Sunak, dug their heels in and refused, only to be forced into a humiliating U-turn each time after waves of criticism. However, since then councils across England have been quietly axing holiday food voucher schemes. Blair said it was possible to find the money for free school meals and people would accept that investment in children’s future was critical. The former Labour prime minister said it was important “particularly today, when the pressures on families are enormous, and when there are levels of poverty that we really haven’t seen in the country for a long period of time. “For the sums of money you’re going to spend on early years, if you really have the will to do it I promise you, having been in government, you could find the money necessary to do this,” Blair added. He urged Oliver to “do it as you did it before, which is to sit down with political leaders from both political parties and get them to make the commitments”. The government did not put forward a government minister for the programme. A Department for Education spokesperson later said: “We understand the pressures many households are under; that is why we are supporting more children and young people than ever before. “Over a third of pupils in England currently receive free school meals in education settings and we have just announced a further investment in the national school breakfast programme, extending the programme for another year backed by up to £30m. “We have acted on soaring energy costs through the energy price guarantee, saving a typical household over £900 this winter. The energy bills support scheme is also providing a £400 discount to millions of households this winter; further support is available for the most vulnerable, who will receive £1,200 each this year.”

London school uses law change to replace striking staff with agency workers

2022-10-11

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2022/oct/11/london-school-uses-law-change-to-replace-striking-staff-with-agency-workers

Drapers’ Pyrgo primary in Romford, where top managers were paid total of £1.49m in benefits, cut salaries or hours of 10 support staff A primary school whose top management were paid £1.49m last year has become among the first to use strike-busting legislation allowing them to hire agency workers to replace striking staff. Temps have been brought in to break a strike by 10 support staff at Drapers’ Pyrgo primary in Romford, east London , who are protesting against cuts to their wages and working hours. It is believed to be the first use in schools of a new law enacted in the final days of Boris Johnson’s administration that allows agency workers to be brought in to replace striking workers The Trades Union Congress, Labour and rebel Conservative MPs had warned that the legislation, approved in July, would undermine workers’ rights. A Labour MP had described it as being akin to a “scabs charter” while the TUC accused Johnson of taking a step that “even Margaret Thatcher did not go near”. Drapers’ Pyrgo is one of five academies within the Drapers multi-academy trust where the total benefits’ packet for its trustees and 12 members of senior management was £1,488,140 in 2020-2021, up from £1,213,373 the previous year. One agency, Pertemps, had agreed to provide supply staff to the school but claimed it subsequently refused on being informed of the reason by the National Education Union (NEU). The company’s managing director, Andrew Anastasiou, suggested in a letter to the NEU on 21 September that it had been misled, a claim that has been strenuously denied by Drapers multi-academy trust. “We were completely unaware of the strike action,” Anastasiou wrote. “Drapers’ Prygo is not a client school of ours. They called us for the first time a couple of weeks ago for help in finding 3 TAs [teaching assistants] for two days, which we were informed was for sickness cover. We had availability and was happy to help a ‘new’ school. “However, now we fully understand the situation, we will refrain from supplying any staff until the dispute has been resolved. We have no intention involving ourselves or undermining any parties and fully appreciate the ethical responsibility. We wholeheartedly do not knowingly supply workers to cover for industrial action.” A second agency, Simply Education, did agree to provide staff but, in response to this newspaper’s questions, the company apologised and said it would no longer do so. A spokesman said: “We have reviewed our company policy and as a result will no longer be supplying teaching or support staff to cover strike action. Rest assured, our focus is always on providing the best support we can to our teaching staff, the education sector and to the schools we work with. We understand what a difficult and emotional subject this is and offer our sincere apologies for any upset caused.” The 10 support staff on strike, comprising teaching assistants and learning mentors, have been withdrawing their labour on and off since 17 May. The industrial dispute centres on the downgrading of the salary grades of five support staff and a cut of 2.5 hours to the wages of a further five. A teaching assistant on a salary of £15,000 faced losing £100 a month, the NEU said. Patricia Akel, 62, a teaching assistant, who has worked at the school for more than 17 years, said she would lose £95 a month but that others faced a cut of £300. “It is just an injustice. I asked the temps whether they were teaching assistants but they are teachers,” she said. “I mean, the amount we are asking for as compared to what this is costing the school is ridiculous. They are just digging their heels in and it is spiteful.” Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what’s happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion A compromise appeared to have been found under which the wages of the downgraded group would be protected for two years while those facing a cut in their hours would receive a one-off payment of £1,000 each in compensation. The NEU insisted that the tax on the payment should be covered by the trust, which has since claimed that the tentative deal is unaffordable. In a letter sent to parents on 31 August, Louise Fisk, the school’s principal, wrote that the school would exploit the new legislation to cover the gaps. She said: “A change in legislation in July means that schools can now use agency/temporary workers to cover the work of striking employees. This change in legislation allows the school to manage the impact of the strike days more effectively and, more importantly, we can fully continue with the educational service.” The teaching assistants are planning to strike for three days a week until the half-term. A ballot is to be held over continuing the action. Bushra Nasir, Drapers’ multi =-academy trust’s chief executive, said a “generous offer” had been rejected by staff over the summer and that the strike risked damaging students’ education. She said: “The recruitment agencies were made fully aware their staff would be used as cover for the strikes. The temporary staff are all covering teaching assistant roles and are paid at the corresponding rate.” She added: “In putting our students first, we reluctantly took the decision to hire some agency staff to cover some roles during the strike, in line with government legislation. “This was to ensure that all pupils could attend school during any further disruption. It was not politically motivated or done to undermine the strike but purely in the best interest of our children and their families.”

One in 10 UK teachers forced to do second jobs ‘to keep eating’ amid rising costs

2022-11-27

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2022/nov/27/one-in-10-uk-teachers-forced-to-do-second-jobs-to-keep-eating-amid-rising-costs

Monthly pay does not cover basic outgoings, with many having to drive taxis, clean and do bar work in their spare time Teachers are being forced to take second jobs, including driving taxis, bar work and private tutoring, in order to pay bills and eat, headteachers and unions warned last week. The NASUWT teachers’ union has found that one in 10 teachers now have a second or even third job because their teaching pay doesn’t cover their monthly outgoings. With teachers resorting to school food banks, heads are warning that the recent 5% pay rise will still leave many unable to manage basic living costs. Garry Ratcliffe, chief executive of the Galaxy Trust, which runs nine schools in Kent, said: “At one of my schools, as well as those doing private tutoring, I’ve got a teacher who has to dance at the weekend in a Greek restaurant, a teacher working as a farm hand, and one doing shifts in a bar.” Ratcliffe said they weren’t doing second jobs to fund extras such as holidays, but “to keep eating”. He added that this school was running a food bank for pupils’ families, but had also introduced an emergency free food cupboard in the staff room too. “It’s there for staff in need to take food without judgment. That cupboard has to be refilled every day.” Ratcliffe’s trust recently conducted a staff wellbeing survey across all its schools, which showed that teachers’ inability to manage their living costs was starting to seriously affect their mental health and happiness at work. He said: “They are worrying about money, there is a greater reliance on public transport as some can’t afford to run their cars. This is about working to survive, not working to thrive.” Patrick Roach, general secretary of NASUWT, said that despite coping with “unprecedented workloads”, more teachers were having to take on extra work outside school, including “precarious gig economy work”, such as delivery to cope with rising costs. “Our members say they are burnt out from working harder for less, with many barely scraping by and considering how much longer they can afford to keep teaching,” he said. A survey of teachers’ wellbeing, due to be published on Tuesday by the charity Education Support, will show that stress is at crisis proportions and more than half of educators have been looking to leave their job. Sinéad Mc Brearty, the mental health charity’s chief executive, said that her organisation has had to double the amount of hardship grants it gives out to teachers this year. “Now the biggest reason for support is buying food,” she said. “We’re also supporting them with rent or mortgage payments, bills and travel to work.” Oliver Taylor, a physics teacher at a community school in south London, fixes people’s cars and does private tutoring in order to pay his bills. “My salary makes me feel totally undervalued,” he said. “I’m a really good teacher and I’m teaching a subject where there are huge shortages, and I just don’t earn enough to make ends meet.” Taylor lives alone and says his rent takes half of his monthly pay cheque. He has had to increase his work outside school to manage rising costs. “I chose to work in a challenging school, and it feels good being there. But it’s hand to mouth all the time.” A spokesperson for the Department for Education said the government had “confirmed the highest pay awards for a generation” this year, including a rise of 8.9% for new teachers. She added: “We understand the pressures many teachers, like the rest of society, are facing at the moment due to the challenge of high inflation.”

Music education in UK schools devastated by pandemic, survey finds

2020-12-06

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2020/dec/06/music-education-in-uk-schools-devastated-by-pandemic-survey-finds

Students will lose out emotionally and academically, say teachers, as lessons and concerts are cut back for all age groups Music education in schools is facing an “unprecedented crisis” as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, with singing, instrumental lessons, extracurricular activities and end-of-term concerts all badly hit, a new report says. There is “genuine cause for alarm” over the impact of the virus on music provision, says The Heart of the School is Missing report produced by the Incorporated Society of Musicians (ISM). “Beyond the intrinsic value of studying music for its own sake, there is a plethora of evidence that studying music builds cultural knowledge, creative skills and improves children’s health, wellbeing and wider educational attainment.” More than two-thirds (68%) of primary school teachers and more than a third (39%) of secondary school teachers reported a reduction in music provision as a direct result of the pandemic in a survey carried out by the ISM at the beginning of this academic year. Almost one in 10 primary and secondary schools are not teaching music as part of the curriculum at all. Some lessons “contained no practical music-making”, the report says. Singing has ended in more than a third (38%) of primary schools, and instrumental lessons have ceased in almost a quarter (23%). Extracurricular musical activities have been discontinued in nearly three-quarters (72%) of UK primaries and two-thirds (66%) of secondaries. Schools in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have been hit harder than those in England. In addition, more than half (53%) of primaries and almost two-thirds (63%) of secondaries that normally hold a festive concert at the end of the first term of the academic year will not do so this year. “We cannot sing, and the children are hugely disappointed when they ask to sing and we tell them no,” one primary teacher told the ISM. Another said: “Due to staggered breaks/lunch and the need to constantly wash hands, the amount of time spent on music has been reduced.” A secondary teacher said: “Honestly, it’s impossible to state how devastating this will be in the long run for music as a subject. There is no provision at all for instrumental lessons, ensemble projects, bigger inclusive performances or even classroom ensemble work. This will, of course, harm students emotionally and academically.” The health and wellbeing of both children and music teachers had been affected by the changes to music provision, according to the report. “Music is central to the recovery curriculum, playing a vital role in schools helping their students to explore and express the varied emotions and challenges that they will have experienced during the pandemic, building stronger relationships and communities within schools and with families.” Almost all instrumental teachers (99%) reported that teaching had changed for them this year, with a third (35%) of primaries and just over a quarter (28%) of secondaries discontinuing instrumental lessons in person. One teacher told the ISM: “They [pupils] need instant feedback and guidance on their vocal pieces in order to build confidence and control in their voices and performance. It’s almost impossible to do this if they record and send it to me.” Deborah Annetts, the ISM’s chief executive, said: “We are disappointed but not surprised to discover that music provision is being reduced in our schools as a direct result of the pandemic, with opportunities for pupils to make and create music becoming severely limited both in and out of the classroom. “It is vital that every child can access a quality music education. Therefore there needs to be sustained and meaningful leadership across all levels of government, actively encouraging safe music teaching in schools and in the wider community. We need to see clear, timely and consistent guidance across all four nations for the rest of the 2020/21 academic year, and beyond, so that music education is not disrupted further.” The ISM surveyed more than 1,300 music teachers across the UK in September and early October this year.

English universities face fines over dropout and employment rates

2022-09-30

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2022/sep/30/english-universities-tests-low-quality-subjects

Criteria on career outcomes, drop-out rates and degree attainment unveiled for system of sanctions Universities will face sanctions if not enough students go on to graduate-level jobs within 15 months, if too many drop out or fail to earn degrees, England’s higher education regulator has warned. The Office for Students published its new tests of “low quality” subjects that could see large fines or deregistration imposed on universities where fewer than 60% of graduates in a university’s subject area find work, set up their own business or go on to further study after finishing their course, with allowances made for those with caring responsibilities or travelling. Sanctions could also be applied by the OfS against universities in England where more than one in five full-time undergraduates drop out, or where more than one in four of those who complete the course ultimately fail to gain a degree. The OfS said it would investigate subjects at colleges and universities that failed to meet any of the three thresholds, which come into force next week, and examine the reasons for the results. The regulator said that it “has the power to intervene and impose sanctions for a breach of its conditions of registration” in cases where it remained unhappy with an institution’s explanations. Susan Lapworth, the OfS’s chief regulator, said the new thresholds would not affect the majority of students but would be “a clear incentive for universities and colleges to take credible action to improve the outcomes of courses which may be a cause for concern”. “Too many students, often from disadvantaged backgrounds, are recruited on to courses with weak outcomes which do not improve their life chances. We can now intervene where outcomes for students are low, and where universities and colleges cannot credibly explain why,” Lapworth said. “We recognise that students choose higher education for a variety of reasons. Many are focused on improving their career prospects and it is right that we’re prepared to tackle courses with low numbers of students going into professional work.” But universities leaders argue that rates of graduate employment can be affected by economic forces beyond their control, while initial careers in subject areas such as creative arts were difficult to compare with subjects that have conventional career paths such as finance and accounting. A spokesperson for the Universities UK group said its members already used information about student outcomes and progression to tailor their courses, with the “vast majority” of graduates enjoying their student experience and meeting their personal goals. “However, the data is not perfect and can only ever capture aspects of student success. ‘Good’ outcomes need to be considered in the context of students’ aspirations and the circumstances of their studies. Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what’s happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion “This should include the wide range of benefits that students take from their university education, including meaningful and satisfying careers which have value far beyond income,” the UUK spokesperson said. Different thresholds will be applied for part-time or postgraduate courses or apprenticeships. Figures for 2020-21 published by the OfS showed that just over 3% of full-time undergraduates were studying at universities below the continuation measure, while 2.5% were on courses below the employment threshold. The figures suggest some universities will struggle to meet the thresholds: the University of Bedfordshire was well below the OfS benchmark of 80% of undergraduates not dropping out, although it met the degree completion and employment thresholds.

Disruptive behaviour leaves excluded pupils’ units in England ‘full to bursting’

2023-06-24

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2023/jun/24/disruptive-behaviour-leaves-excluded-pupils-units-in-england-full-to-bursting

Referral unit providers warn of overwhelming demand from unprecedented poor behaviour after pandemic lull Referral units for children who have been excluded from mainstream schools are warning that they are full to bursting because of unprecedented levels of disruptive behaviour across the country. Providers that take children excluded from mainstream schools say that after a lull during the pandemic, the situation has deteriorated, and they have seen permanent exclusions rising across the country in the past year. The situation had appeared to be improving with the latest government data on permanent exclusions in England showing that they fell in the spring term last year to 2,200 from 2,800 in 2019. Many councils have pupils permanently outside the general schools system with nowhere to go, and they are asking pupil referral units (PRUs) to take more despite being full. Steve Howell, headteacher of City of Birmingham School, one of the largest PRUs in the country, which takes children from five to 16, said the situation was becoming “dangerous”. Many local authorities are asking PRUs to “double stack”, meaning to take more children than they have space for, according to the PRUsAP, the umbrella group for the sector. “Double stacking places isn’t OK,” said Howell. “It risks the quality of provision, the safety of the children and staff and has consequences that run deeper for leaders when Ofsted comes around.” He said that there had been some spare capacity in the system, because schools were closed during Covid and exclusions dropped, but this “has eroded with alarming speed”.“There is no space left,” he said. “I don’t think there will be anywhere near enough space for next year.” Anne Longfield, former children’s commissioner for England and chair of the Commission on Young Lives, said: “Schools are buckling under the pressure of children with increasingly complex needs and being almost the only ones left in the system to deal with them.” She added: “These schools don’t want to exclude vulnerable children, but the kind of serious incidents they might have seen every month or two they are now seeing frequently, and they are getting more extreme.” After years of cuts to public services, she said, “when schools look around for support or referrals, too often there is no one there”. Warning that being pushed out of the mainstream was a “disaster” for many vulnerable children, Longfield called on the government to invest in youth workers and educational psychologists to help schools support children at risk of exclusion. “This isn’t going to go away. It’s only going to get worse, and it can’t wait for another parliamentary cycle,” she said. Emily Carr stepped down as head of a PRU in Stockton recently and is developing training programmes to help teachers in mainstream schools to deal with challenging behaviour. She said: “I’ve had children spit at me, kick me and swear at me. If you haven’t had experience of dealing with that sort of behaviour it can be really daunting.” She said that PRUs used to take children with behavioural issues on short outreach programmes to try to improve their prospects, but they were now so overloaded that this was rarely happening. “What was supposed to be a revolving door is becoming a bottleneck, and children are coming to PRUs too late to re-engage them in mainstream education,” she said. Carr, who is on the executive board of PRUsAP, agrees that permanent exclusions have been rising across the country, but she doesn’t blame schools: “They are seeing more and more disruptive behaviour, but if there is no outreach offer and they can’t access any mental health support what are they supposed to do?” Many PRUs already struggle to hire teachers in the present sector-wide recruitment crisis, and it can be difficult to attract applicants to settings seen as very challenging. Carr worries that councils aren’t giving them enough time to hire staff to manage extra pupils. “PRUs used to be described as dumping grounds, but they are places of hope which can reignite a love of learning,” she said. “But we need smaller groups and a higher ratio of staff to pupils to meet the needs of our children.” Dave McPartlin, head of Flakefleet primary school in Lancashire, said: “The additional need we are seeing in schools is absolutely unprecedented and everyone is seeing more behaviour problems.” He said complex needs were emerging much earlier too, with children in nursery and reception exhibiting emotional, social and communication issues. “I worry that some children with special needs are ending up in PRUs when that is the wrong place for them and they need more specialist support,” he said.

Sunak’s maths to 18 plan ‘misguided’, says man asked to promote it

2023-04-18

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2023/apr/18/sunaks-maths-to-18-plan-misguided-says-man-asked-to-promote-it

Film-maker asked by No 10 to be ‘maths champion’ says ‘nobody thought to ask me whether I support this policy’ Downing Street has reportedly ditched a campaign to promote Rishi Sunak’s “maths to 18” policy after officials obtained only one case study – a film-maker who believes the proposal to be “misguided” and “tone deaf”. The prime minister’s office appears to have left it until the last minute to seek endorsements from people across British industry for a social media push, the Times reports. Stephen Follows, a leading film data analyst, was approached on Friday, three days before the PM relaunched the policy with a speech in London. Follows was never asked whether he agreed with Sunak’s mission for mandatory maths for all students beyond GCSE to the age of 18. Writing for the Times, Follows, who says he was approached last Friday to become a “maths champion” for the campaign, said: “Nobody thought to ask me whether I support this policy”. He added: “I’m delighted to have this platform to share my views because I think their one-size-fits-all policy is misguided, tone deaf to the actual needs of students and may even be counterproductive. “To prioritise maths over these skills is shortsighted, out of touch and grossly unfair on students,” he writes. “Forcing students to study maths until the age of 18 risks stifling the passions and interests of individual students, the very qualities that education should be cultivating. “Instead of imposing a blanket requirement that many will resent, schools should focus on helping students discover who they are and then provide the necessary support and resources for them to become the best version of that person.” Follows said instead of a “hurried, last-minute” search for individuals who use maths in their job, policymakers at No 10 should “apply themselves to understanding the diverse educational needs of students and to researching and developing strategies that encourage individual growth and empower our young people”. Downing Street has been approached for comment. Sunak first set out his plans to make it compulsory for everyone to study maths in some form up to the age of 18, rather than the current minimum of 16, in a speech in early January. Critics, including opposition parties, said the promise was meaningless without a coherent plan, including money to recruit and train more maths teachers. Relaunching the policy on Monday, Sunak admitted the UK needed time to recruit more maths teachers, adding that the plan would not involve forcing students in England to study the subject to A-level. Speaking at the London Screen Academy, a sixth-form college in Islington, Sunak mounted a robust defence of the policy, saying it was his personal passion to change the “anti-maths mindset” that made it acceptable to joke about having poor numeracy. But he gave no guarantees that the changes would be made before the next election. A UK Government spokesperson said: “The government communicates policy detail to the public in a number of different ways. We published a range of Maths to 18 content yesterday across all of our digital channels to highlight the vital importance of maths in different sectors.”

Jeremy Hunt announces £2.3bn per year boost for state schools

2022-11-18

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2022/nov/18/jeremy-hunt-announces-23bn-per-year-boost-for-state-schools

Extra money meets previous pledge to restore funding for pupils up to age of 16 back to 2020 levels State schools in England will receive a funding boost of £2.3bn a year for the next two years, Jeremy Hunt has announced, with the Treasury saying the extra funds amount to an “avera​​ge cash increase for every pupil of more than £1,000 by 2024-25” compared with last year. The extra cash would see core schools funding rise from £53.8bn this year to £58.8bn by 2025, meeting a previous pledge by the government to restore funding for pupils up to the age of 16 back to 2010 levels in real terms. The Institute for Fiscal Studies noted that the extra money was funded “in large part by recycling £5bn previously earmarked for increasing overseas aid spending”. The £2.3bn also includes £300m that the Treasury will no longer claw back from schools, after being budgeted for the planned rise in national insurance that was reversed earlier this year.​ The funding announcement was greeted with relief by school leaders, who have been lobbying ministers publicly and privately to counteract the effects of steep rises in pay and energy costs wreaking havoc with their budgets. Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said the announcement was “positive news” that suggested the concerns of parents and school leaders were being heard by government. “We’ll be closely looking at the figures to fully understand the implications. In particular, we’ll be looking at where this leaves special educational needs and post-16 provision, which are both facing extraordinarily difficult financial circumstances,” Barton said. “We recognise this commitment to education is made in the context of a bleak economic picture, but to put it into perspective this comes after a decade of real-terms cuts to schools and colleges.”Karen Roberts, chief executive of the Kemnal Academies Trust, which runs 45 primary and secondary academies in England, said the extra money would make “some headway” in bridging funding gaps. “However, with costs rising on average by 7% and the increase in funding announced equating to approximately 3%, it is not clear where the extra funding needed to plug the gap will be found. My concern is that it will be up to individual schools to find the money,” Roberts said. The decision not to extend extra funding to sixth form or further education colleges was hugely disappointing, according to sector leaders. David Hughes, chief executive of the Association of Colleges, said: “I’m pleased to see some extra school funding – they need it. But the failure to extend that to colleges is devastating.” Hunt ​also took a swipe at Labour’s policy of ​increasing ​funding​ for​ state schools by adding ​VAT to private school fees​. Hunt told MPs that “according to certain estimates this would result in up to 90,000 children from the independent sector switching to state schools”​​. Hunt was referencing a 2018 report commissioned by the Independent Schools Council, which represents many private schools​. It claimed ​that ​adding VAT would cause many private schools to close.​ The ISC’s figures for 2022 showed that its members charge an average of £15,000 annually for day school pupils, rising to £18,000 a year in London.

David Larder obituary

2022-03-18

https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2022/mar/18/david-larder-obituary

My husband, David Larder, who has died aged 88, was an educationist, going on from schoolteaching to posts as a college lecturer. After promoting safety education for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (Rospa), he worked for a student welfare organisation. Born in Boscombe, Dorset, to Rose Sque, a cleaner, and Walter Larder, a builder’s labourer and farm worker, he was educated at Brockenhurst grammar school in the New Forest and then the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. His youthful acting career was cut short in 1953 by national service with the Devonshire Regiment in Kenya during the uprising of the Land and Freedom Army there. Seeing it as a colonial war, he refused to use the propaganda term Mau Mau and after eight months’ service applied to register – successfully – as a conscientious objector on political grounds. In 1958 he qualified as a teacher at Bretton College of Education in Yorkshire before teaching first at Darton school for boys, Barnsley (1958-60), then drama and English at Woldgate comprehensive school, Pocklington, Yorkshire (1960-65). David then moved on to become a senior lecturer at Madeley College of Education in Stoke-on-Trent, where he set up one of the first degrees in drama, dance and film. In 1970 he took up a post at Trent Polytechnic (now Nottingham Trent University) as a senior lecturer in mass media. In 1975 he gained a degree in education at the University of Birmingham. Two years later David took up the post of director of safety education for Rospa, where he had much to do with the introduction of the Green Cross Man campaign, involving the Darth Vader actor David Prowse, into schools. Leaving Rospa in 1980, he became the manager at Mary Morris Student Housing in Leeds for 17 years, helping to care for thousands of international students from across the world, many of whom stayed in touch with him. He retired in 1997, when we moved to Harrogate. David’s experiences in Kenya informed the rest of his life, and he was involved in peace activism, including as chairman of the North of England committee of the United Nations International Year of Peace in 1986. He was a passionate supporter of the Labour party, which he had joined at the age of 15. In his spare time he was a keen amateur actor and director, and had small roles in shows such as the ITV drama Marcella (2016) and Mister Eleven (2009), as well as Sky One’s Dream Team. Above all he was a keen family man. An early marriage to Gertrude ended in divorce, and David and I were married in 1975. He is survived by me, our twin daughters, Victoria and Nicola, his four children from his first marriage, Helen, Brendan, Duncan and Mary, 11 grandchildren, and his sister Mary.

Mary Fraser obituary

2022-01-04

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2022/jan/04/mary-fraser-obituary

My aunt Mary Fraser, who has died aged 91, was head of the Inner London Education Authority’s visionary Unified Language Service (ULS) from the late 1960s until its abolition in 1990, helping to shape the teaching of English as a second language to immigrant and refugee children. During her time at the ULS Mary championed the idea of teaching English to newly arrived pupils by integrating them into mainstream classrooms – a more inclusive approach that helped to change attitudes as well as policy within state education at a time when students were separated according to their different abilities. Under her direction, the ULS also fought to include the traditions, politics and histories of its new students’ home countries within an Anglocentric syllabus. Mary was born in Edgbaston, Birmingham, to Hilda (nee Walker) and her husband, Fred Fraser, a sales rep at a watch and clock making company. She went to Cheltenham Ladies college before going on to Westfield College (now Queen Mary University of London), from which she graduated in 1951 in French and Italian. Her career teaching English as a foreign language began with the British Council in Sweden and Brazil, and in the late 60s she was selected to lead the ULS, which expanded under her leadership from its first office in Islington’s Centre for Urban Education Studies to have bases in 12 London boroughs. Throughout her career and time at the ULS she continued to teach abroad during school holidays in countries such as Syria, Nigeria, and again Brazil. The abolition of the ILEA prompted Mary to take early retirement, but she continued teaching in other ways, including via a long association with a group of Eritrean child refugees whom she had met in south London not long after their arrival in the UK. Initially teaching them English, she also acted as a mentor throughout their school years until their first jobs, developing a form of extended family relationship and lifelong friendships. In later years Mary researched and led history walks around London with the University of the Third Age and its Shape of London architectural group. She also pursued her longstanding love of chamber music, often attending as many as three concerts a week. Mary was a generous, kind and fearless spirit who showed exemplary dedication to the communities that she was part of. She remained sharp and active to the end of her life. She is survived by her sister Jean, me, and a cousin, Anthony.

Michael Clarke obituary

2023-02-26

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2023/feb/26/michael-clarke-obituary

My friend and ex-husband Michael Clarke, who has died aged 74, was an expert in the field of teaching English to speakers of other languages. He not only taught for many years but became involved in teacher training and also helped to devise various courses at home and abroad. Mike was born in Liverpool, to Eileen (nee Sinker), a barmaid, and Mike, a bricklayer, and had two younger sisters, Elaine and Jan. He attended St Francis Xavier’s Jesuit college – where his love of languages, hillwalking and football began – and went on to Westfield College (now Queen Mary University of London) in east London, graduating with a degree in classics in 1969. After toying with teaching classics he decided that teaching English to speakers of other languages was a better option, and went on to work in Italy, Bradford and Kuwait. After gaining an MA in applied linguistics from Leeds University in 1977, he took up a post at the University of Leicester School of Education in 1980, developing an English language teacher training programme for Saudi students and teaching on MA and MEd programmes for language teachers. He subsequently worked on similar programmes at the University of East Anglia and the University of Nottingham, and at both institutions also took part in the development of English language courses in other countries, including Algeria, Swaziland, Malaysia, Brunei and Hong Kong, often teaching on them too. He took a particular interest in, and wrote articles on, the subject of cultural imperialism in English language teaching. After taking early retirement on grounds of ill health in 1999, Mike travelled widely, including to India, Greece and Italy, and managed to complete the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage walk in Spain. Mike was a captivating and intelligent companion with a sharp wit and a great knowledge of literature, music, religion, politics – and football. No one was ever bored in his company. In his later years he became a much-valued friend and neighbour to many people in Leicester, helping others in any way he could. He was also a devoted father and grandfather who loved to share his interests with his offspring. He and I were married in 1969 and divorced in 2000, but remained friends. He is survived by our three children, Harriet, Adam and Rachel, four grandchildren, Amelie, Naomi, Kye and Isobel, and his sister Jan.

GCSEs and A-levels are well past their sell-by date | Letters

2022-08-25

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2022/aug/25/gcses-and-a-levels-are-well-past-their-sell-by-date

Readers on the curriculum changes and alternative degrees that could benefit students I was interested to read about the proposals of the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change for the reform of education in England (Scrap GCSEs and A-levels, says Tony Blair Institute in call for ‘radical reform’, 23 August). Would this be the same Tony Blair who, back in 2004, vetoed the introduction of the radical reforms recommended by the Tomlinson report on the 14-19 curriculum? As I remember, Mike Tomlinson’s plans were comprehensive, coherent and widely supported by those of us keen to see the introduction of a more appropriate curriculum for young people. What a shame that, when it was required, Blair lacked the political courage to support the radical reforms so clearly needed. How strange that he is now calling for a commission to investigate curriculum reform. How disappointing that we had an analogue prime minister for a digital age.Lloyd HarrisBristol I support the Tony Blair Institute’s suggestion to reform the outdated GCSE and A-level exams. I am a university lecturer and see the effects of our school system on a daily basis. The current system is narrow, valuing only memorisation of bare academic facts, and does not allow children to learn how to think outside the box and to develop independent critical thought. Many young people arrive at university lacking basic communication skills (verbal and written) and without any experience in experimentation and making mistakes. They are fearful of discussion and of doing anything they consider might be “wrong” because they are so used to being rewarded only for getting an answer “right”. Many panic when they are not given every last detail on how to do an assignment and ask endless questions, down to what font size they should use. Young people’s imaginations and potential are being stifled by a system that accepts only one answer as being correct, that does not teach them basic life skills and fails to prepare them for life beyond the school gates. Universities do their best to reverse this mentality, but it is hard when it is so ingrained throughout schooling, and compounded by the ever-dwindling resources that we have at our disposal.Name and address supplied The education system is already enjoying a radical change. This can be seen from the success of the first cohort of T-level students who collected their results alongside A-level pupils last week. A T-level is the equivalent of three A-levels and 92% achieved a pass grade or above. T-levels are set to become the new gold standard for technical education because they are designed by employers in collaboration with the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE), an independent, employer-led organisation. They stand out from past skills training because they include a work placement that typically lasts 45 days. T-levels are building on the success of apprenticeships, of which there are now nearly 650, including 150 at degree level. As well as all the traditional trades, apprenticeships now train tomorrow’s economists, nurses, aerospace engineers, countryside rangers, brewers, laboratory scientists, graphic designers and even archaeologists. We encourage GCSE students who received their results this week to consider these alternative routes, especially those who feel they will benefit from time in the workplace and a different type of assessment.Jennifer CouplandChief executive, IfATE Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication.

Euan Blair apprenticeship firm gets licence to award degrees

2022-09-01

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2022/sep/01/euan-blair-firm-multiverse-gets-licence-to-award-degrees

Multiverse, founded by son of former PM, is first provider allowed to award degrees Tony Blair was the prime minister who met his aim of enrolling more than half of all young people in higher education by this century. Now his son is pioneering a way of awarding degrees with no need for a university or college at all. Euan Blair’s company, Multiverse, has become the first apprenticeship provider granted a licence to award degrees on the job. Multiverse will be able to award degrees in subjects such as data science and technology, with all learning taught on the job through apprenticeships. The first cohort of 170 will enrol on to Multiverse degrees this month, with about double that number expected to start when applications for 16- to 24- year-olds open later this year. They will train alongside full-time jobs at partnered companies including Rolls-Royce, Travis Perkins, Mastercard and Trainline. Training will be free, meaning no student debt, a significant selling point as the cost of living soars. Last year Dyson became the first company with a licence from the Office for Students to award degrees on the job, but Multiverse is the first apprenticeship provider to do so. The Office for Students is considering applications from other providers at present. Writing on LinkedIn on Thursday morning, Euan Blair said the moment was a “huge step forward” for the company. “From today, we have the power to award our own degrees. This is no small thing: it’s been a rigorous, detailed process that started some time ago, and builds on inspections and audits from a host of government regulators.” The new powers allow the education tech company to award certificates up to bachelor’s degree level to those who complete their programmes. Blair said: “Unlike a traditional academic degree it will signify what you can do, not just what you know. It is completely free to the individual, fully paid for by employers, with no debt and no deferred earnings. You’re paid a salary all the way through, as it is ultimately a job, so you don’t need to take your chances in what will likely be an increasingly challenging labour market. “These powers give us another powerful tool to break open an academic-only education system and fundamentally transform who gets access to the very best careers. Apprentices start in the UK this month, and I couldn’t be more excited.” Multiverse works with more than 8,000 apprentices and was founded by Blair junior in 2016 to match those without university degrees with jobs and training paid for by employers. Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what’s happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion It was valued at $1.7bn (£1.4bn) in July this year when it sought extra investment. The company intends to use the new round of funding to expand the business in the US as well as extend its range of tuition programmes. Elisabeth Barrett, VP of learning at Multiverse, said the programme was more inclusive than apprenticeships tied to traditional universities. “In degree apprenticeships at universities, just 12% of those aged 19-24 are from the most deprived areas. Among under-19s, degree apprentices are more than five times more likely to come from the most advantaged neighbourhoods.” In contrast, Barrett said more than a third of the apprentices placed by Multiverse so far met “one or more indicators of socio-economic disadvantage”. Jean Arnold, the director of quality at the OFS, said all applications for degree-awarding powers had to be tested for factors such as their academic governance, experience and standards. Arnold added: “We support innovation in the sector to enhance the options and quality of courses for students. We’re pleased to grant degree awarding powers to Multiverse as a provider that delivers opportunities and choice to students.” This article was amended on 1 September 2022. An earlier version stated that Tony Blair “met his aim of enrolling more than half of all young people in university”; this should have referred to higher education.

Children who get free school meals in England earn less as adults, study finds

2022-08-04

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2022/aug/04/children-who-get-free-school-meals-in-england-earn-less-as-adults-study-finds

At age of 30, half of FSM recipients earn £17,000 or less, while top 10% from independent schools earn £71,000 or more Children in England who receive free school meals go on to earn less than their peers, even when they achieve the same qualifications, with half of them earning £17,000 or less at the age of 30, according to research. Analysis by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reveals a persistent earnings gap between those who grew up in poorer households compared with those from wealthier ones. The gap can be explained largely by access to higher education – disadvantaged children are less likely to go to university and therefore typically have lower earnings. However, researchers found that children who received free school meals (FSM) and had both the same level of qualifications and similar attainment in secondary school as more affluent pupils still went on to earn less. The findings, based on an analysis of long-term data collected on 38 million individuals, also showed that children who attended independent schools earned more than their state school counterparts – both FSM and non-FSM – at all levels of qualifications. “Of everyone who left school after GCSEs, individuals who went to independent school have the highest earnings, likewise for bachelor’s degree and those with no qualifications,” the report says. The data shows that at the age of 18 there are only small differences in earnings, but the gap widens dramatically as people get older. Before the age of 22, non-FSM state school pupils had the highest average earnings, but from that point on independent pupils out-earn the rest. Women earn less on average than men in all three groups. According to the ONS data, at the age of 30 the top 10% from independent schools were earning upwards of £71,000 a year, while the top 1% were earning more than £180,000. In contrast, the top 1% of non-FSM state school pupils were earning more than £85,000, while the top 1% of FSM pupils were on £63,000. Sara Ogilvie, the director of policy, rights and advocacy for the Child Poverty Action Group, called on the government to do more to support children from disadvantaged backgrounds. “Children who grow up in low-income households have to play catch-up with their peers from an early age. “All kids deserve a fair start in life and the best way for the government to deliver that is to invest in social security for families. But at the moment we are falling well short of giving the nation’s children the opportunity that everyone deserves.” A spokesperson for the Department for Education said: “Since 2011, we have narrowed the attainment gap between students from disadvantaged backgrounds and their peers at every stage of education up to the pandemic, and recent figures show that a record proportion of the most disadvantaged students are progressing to higher education – including the highest ever proportion of pupils on free school meals.”

Universities urged to allow for Covid impact on poorer students’ A-levels

2022-08-04

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2022/aug/04/universities-urged-to-allow-for-covid-impact-on-poorer-students-a-levels

Pandemic has compounded working-class applicants’ disadvantages as teachers fear growing attainment gap, charity finds Universities are being urged to give disadvantaged students who narrowly miss their required A-level grades “additional consideration” after research laid bare the disruptive impact of Covid in the run-up to exams. One in five A-level students (21%) who applied to university missed more than 20 days of school this year due to Covid disruption, while a third have missed 11 days or more, according to research by the Sutton Trust educational charity. Amid concern that the most disadvantaged have been hit the hardest, almost three-quarters of teachers (72%) were worried that the attainment gap between the most and least disadvantaged will increase. Almost half (45%) of the 4,000 teachers polled thought the adjustments to exams designed to mitigate the impact did not go far enough. The Sutton Trust chief executive, James Turner, said: “Today’s research highlights that the impacts of the pandemic on education are far from over – and the consequences are still being felt among young people and their teachers. “As we approach results day and a more competitive university admissions cycle than ever, we must make sure that poorer youngsters have a fair chance to succeed. “Universities should give additional consideration to disadvantaged students who have just missed out on their grades and make sure recent gains in widening access to higher education are not lost.” The research shows anxiety is high among students who are the first to sit exams for two years, at a time when the government is seeking to rein in grade inflation and competition for university courses is intense with record numbers of applicants and fewer places on some of the most popular courses. Just half of the 430 students (52%) who took part in the Sutton Trust survey felt this year’s exam arrangements took the impact of the pandemic sufficiently into account and 62% felt they had fallen behind with their studies compared with where they would have been without the pandemic. Almost two-thirds (64%) were worried about their grades, compared with 58% last year, and applicants from working-class backgrounds were more likely to be concerned. Dr Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the National Education Union, said: “It is these students [from disadvantaged backgrounds] who will suffer most from the new rationing of university places.” Meanwhile, analysis by PA Media of figures published by the Department for Education (DfE) showed there were almost 13,000 school exclusions in England last year due to breaches of coronavirus rules. Of 12,965 exclusions for “wilful and repeated transgression of protective measures” from schools in England in the last academic year, 12,888 were temporary and 77 permanent. The Covid breaches included non-compliance with social distancing and causing distress by purposefully coughing near to others. The DfE was contacted for comment.

Teachers to vote on strike action over pay across Great Britain

2022-10-14

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2022/oct/14/teachers-to-vote-on-strike-action-over-pay-across-great-britain

Two largest unions to send ballots to members after rejecting ‘unacceptable’ offers of 5% rise The two largest teaching unions have announced they will vote on industrial action after the government failed to improve its pay offer, raising the prospect of strikes closing schools and colleges this winter. The NASUWT union said ballots were being sent to its members, with voting to close on 9 January, while the National Education Union said it would do the same next week after the vast majority of its members said they supported a ballot on strike action. The Department for Education has offered a 5% pay rise to teachers and headteachers in England for the current academic year but the NASUWT said it wanted a 12% rise to meet the rise in the cost of living. Offers of 5% have also been made in Scotland and Wales. The union said the ballot came after ministers “failed to engage in negotiations” despite repeated calls to do so. Last week the schools minister Jonathan Gullis said the government would “not budge” over the 5% pay award. Patrick Roach, the NASUWT’s general secretary, said ministers “will be entirely responsible” for industrial action unless they deliver a better deal. “The government has failed to recognise the damaging impact of years of real terms pay cuts on the morale of teachers, which is fuelling the teacher recruitment and retention crisis,” Roach said. The 5% pay offer was “unacceptable” when inflation was more than 10% and would cause “even more financial misery for hard-working teachers”, he said. “The government must ensure additional money is provided to schools and colleges to ensure that this year’s pay award does not become a lottery.” The NASUWT will ballot members in England, Wales and Scotland, while the NEU will ballot members in England and Wales. The NEU said more than 60% of teachers had voted in a preliminary ballot over the last three weeks, with 86% supporting strike action. If the results of the preliminary ballot were repeated in the formal ballot, the NEU would comfortably meet the government’s legal criteria for a national strike, which requires at least 50% of a union’s total membership to vote in favour. Mary Bousted, the joint general secretary of the NEU, said: “The latest pay rise, which the present government refuses to fully fund, will simply not do. Our members expect a fully funded, above-inflation pay rise and have today demonstrated their willingness to consider strike action in pursuit of one.”

Childcare disaster is a result of government neglect | Letters

2022-07-31

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2022/jul/31/childcare-disaster-is-a-result-of-government-neglect

Iram Siraj points to a lack of investment, Emanuele De Luca calls Liz Truss’s proposed tax break an insult and Jol Miskin looks to Norway for answers Your editorial (28 June) highlights the economic absurdity of current policy, but overlooks the economic case for investing in quality early learning. I was an expert adviser to the select committee on children’s centres when Liz Truss was undersecretary of state for childcare. Sadly, she did nothing to support this innovative service, which produced such excellent outcomes. I have provided evidence to several all-party parliamentary groups on early education and childcare, including the current one; yet the only changes in the last 12 years have been damaging deregulation, privatisation and profiteering. It is unarguable that there are greater benefits to society from investment in early learning than from later investment. This is because the foundations for lifelong learning are laid in the first five years. This is when key areas of development mature at an astonishing rate. Disadvantaged groups have even greater risks of poor health, social, emotional, behavioural, cognitive and language problems – which affect basic skills, employability, health, adjustment and criminality. Currently, 22% of UK children enter school with developmental problems, and so do not go on to achieve full functioning in society. The rhetoric of governments that they want “high-quality, affordable childcare” is nonsense: no other sector of education is described in such an ignorant and irresponsible way. It is not possible to provide the quality of education and childcare needed in a modern nation with poorly paid, undervalued, low-qualified staff in an outsourced, profiteering, market-driven sector.Iram SirajProfessor of child development and education, University of Oxford Prospective prime minister Liz Truss proposes to only help a parent with a tax break if he or she chooses to give up a career. This is an insult not only to parents who choose to not give up their professions, but to a modern society struggling to offer mothers a true choice between family and career. It is true that the main political parties seem to have run out of ideas to tackle the British childcare disaster (the main article refers to England, but the disaster reverberates throughout the UK). But don’t be fooled, these same parties know perfectly well what needs to be done to fix the childcare mess. They just choose every day not to act. They choose to force women out of flourishing professions. They choose to make the childcare sector a private equity jungle exploiting dedicated educators. And they choose to make children, the most wonderful creatures in the known universe, a private business, a heartbreaking economic choice.Dr Emanuele De LucaGlasgow My son’s son will go to his Oslo nursery in September. He will be there five days a week from 8am until 5pm and the monthly cost will be about £300. Yes £300. My daughter’s daughters attend their nursery in Sheffield for two days a week. The monthly bill is about £1,000. So on a like-for-like basis, full-time for one child per month in Norway is £300 and in Sheffield it’s about £1,200. And that’s just the start. In Norway, there must be one staff member for three children when the children are under three years of age. Qualifications are required for all staff and I’ve little doubt they are better paid than here and that they have the status such work deserves. Furthermore, the Norwegian system is specifically designed to create more gender equality. Not so here. As with so many aspects of our lives today – social care, transport, social housing, education, etc – we need to “start all over”. Profit shouldn’t be the driver, need should be.Jol MiskinSheffield Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication.

Wanted: former teachers who don’t mind risking their lives | Letter

2021-12-20

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2021/dec/20/wanted-former-teachers-who-dont-mind-risking-their-lives

Zero-hours contracts and exposure to Covid – Doreen Worthington on the delights of education policy under the Conservatives You report that Nadhim Zahawi plans to encourage former teachers to help fill the gaps left by staff shortages (Omicron leads many UK schools to close early for Christmas, 16 December). How will that encouragement read? Might I suggest: “Dear former teacher, we have made such a complete mess of protecting our vulnerable children and adults in schools, with no masks, distancing, air filtration or adequate ventilation, that many teachers are now absent from school suffering from Covid after repeated exposure to both the Delta and Omicron variants. Please would you, as a former teacher, sacrifice your own health to replace them, even though you probably left the job you loved because of our government’s educational mismanagement and contempt for your professionalism since 2010? “We are especially appealing to retired teachers, as you are of course especially vulnerable to this coronavirus and have probably tried hard to keep yourself safe and healthy for the last two years, not even seeing your grandchildren as much as you would wish. You will be on a zero-hours contract, through an outsourced agency that will take more than half of what the school pays you. We can guarantee that teaching is nothing like the profession you left; you will not be expected to care about the mental health of vulnerable children, but you will be blamed for their attainment in exams failing to reach Ofsted’s arbitrary standards.” I am sure Mr Zahawi will be inundated with applications.Doreen WorthingtonLincoln Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication.

Michael Gove was a toxic education secretary; Gavin Williamson is even worse | Fiona Millar

2021-01-07

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2021/jan/07/michael-gove-toxic-education-secretary-gavin-williamson-worse

With schools holding Williamson in contempt, their trust in government can only be rebuilt if he goes Only a very sad person spends New Year re-reading old Michael Gove speeches. Unfortunately, that person is me. Whatever your view, he is, unlike many politicians, a political survivor whose actions, unfortunately, have had a lasting impact. Gove’s most passionate cri de coeur has been about freedom and autonomy – whether “taking back control” from Europe or, as education secretary, proclaiming the liberating power of autonomy for headteachers so they could be “captains of their own ships”. But there is nothing like a crisis to expose vacuous, headline-grabbing gimmicks, which is what these mythological “freedoms” have turned out to be. For more than 30 years English education policy has been marked by the loud rhetoric of autonomy, eclipsing the quiet march of centralised government control. Whether it is the need to conform with Ofsted or league table requirements, or the “freedom” for heads to set their own curriculum, as long as it complies with ministers’ preferred suite of academic subjects (Gove is alleged to have personally handwritten lists of which medieval monarchs English schoolchildren should learn about), the dream has turned out to be a fantasy. Hundreds of schools are now trapped in supermarket-style chains managed by instruction manuals from HQ. One academy trust boss described this as the 80/20 principle, where roughly 80% of what went on in schools was set centrally and 20% at local discretion. Even Sam Freedman, Gove’s former adviser, recently acknowledged the implicit contradiction in arguing that academies should not have to follow the national curriculum, while simultaneously prescribing in minute detail how primary children should be taught to use language devices such as a fronted adverbial. But these examples pale into insignificance compared with the new and poisonous level to which the relationship between schools and government, and the concept of autonomy, has sunk. In the past few weeks schools and local authorities have been threatened with court when they wanted to close for public health reasons. Then, only weeks later, they were ordered to close for the same public health reasons – which, had they refused, would have led to court action by the government under new Covid laws. Christmas holidays were spent preparing for mass testing, plans that had to be ripped up on the first day of term when heads and teachers were summarily commanded to switch to online teaching, with one prominent head observing wryly on Twitter that he had been sent hundreds of pairs of rubber gloves but no laptops. Along the way, the usually cautious headteachers’ union the ASCL felt obliged to consider legal action to force the Department for Education to release school Covid safety scientific advice so heads could ascertain the true nature of the public health catastrophe. And, in a barely noticed legal judgment last November, the court of appeal found the DfE had acted unlawfully in failing to consult children’s bodies in its rush to water down regulations on social care to cope with the pandemic. It is understandable that ministers require extra powers, embedded in the Coronavirus Act, to allow them to mandate the actions of schools and other public services. But goodwill, respect and a spirit of partnership (inevitably more important than empty promises of freedom) have become lost in a quagmire of bitter recrimination. A relationship that is marked out by litigation, rather than dialogue and listening, is going nowhere. Rebuilding that relationship will be essential and almost certainly will need someone other than Gavin Williamson, who seems particularly unsuited for any government role, let alone education secretary. Gove was sacked from the role because he had become toxic to teachers. Williamson’s position is much worse: he is not only toxic but held in contempt, even managing to take the sheen off his own “trust the teachers” exams announcement by threatening schools with Ofsted online learning inspections in the same breath. Giving up power and control is usually much harder than acquiring it, so this will be a delicate process. But it is time to admit that, just as complete autonomy is unrealistic in a public education system, schools usually do know better than the man or woman in Whitehall their communities’ health, education and social needs. That is true whether in a pandemic or not, but a lot of trust will need to be rebuilt before either side in this fractious dispute will believe it to be real.

Fall in England’s GCSE grades signals a return to pre-pandemic normality

2022-08-25

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2022/aug/25/england-gcse-grades-fall-return-to-normality

The hard work and resilience of teachers and pupils to reach this point is the most impressive result of all This summer’s GCSE results are the first from examinations in three years. Results are significantly lower than last year but we should not read anything into that. After two years of grades increasing with the use of teacher-assessed grades, the government signalled its intentions early that we should begin the process of returning to pre-pandemic grade distributions. In September, the qualifications regulator, Ofqual, announced results would be around the midpoint of those in 2019 and 2021. This is exactly what we have seen in today’s data. The proportion of entries from 16-year-olds awarded a grade 4 or above is down from 79% last year to 75% today, and the proportion getting the higher grades (grade 7 and above), which peaked at 30% in 2021, has fallen to 27% this year. But on average, that means results are still about a fifth of a grade above where they were in 2019. This, along with a number of mitigations ahead of exams such as optional topics in some subjects, struck a balance between fairness across different cohorts, whilst recognising the level of disruption experienced by those students getting their results today. Remember, this is a group of young people who have not had a year at school that was not affected by the pandemic in some way since they were in year 8. The hard work and resilience of this cohort and their teachers to get through to today is surely the most impressive result of all. Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what’s happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion Away from the headline figures, there has been data published today that gives us a better understanding of what has happened in schools over the course of the pandemic. Results from the national reference tests in English and mathematics, which are sat by a representative sample of year 11 students, provide a good way of tracking standards over time. In English, results have held up, despite the effect of the pandemic, with no statistically significant change in outcomes. The same cannot be said for mathematics, where there have been falls across the attainment distribution. The breakdown of results by region continues to reflect the geographic disparities in pupil outcomes, with those in London outperforming those elsewhere. A third of grades awarded to pupils in London on Thursday were at grade 7 or above, whereas in the north-west and Yorkshire and the Humber it was under a quarter. These differences have grown slightly since 2019. We cannot yet say whether this is as a direct result of the pandemic, but our own analysis of learning loss for younger pupils did highlight that the pandemic’s effects on education were felt more acutely in parts of the north and the Midlands than in London. But whether it is the pandemic or longstanding differences in outcomes, it means a pupil opening their GCSE results in London was considerably more likely to receive grade 7s than a pupil in the north. Boris Johnson’s rhetoric about levelling up opportunity at the start of his time in office has, for now at least, not translated into a more equitable education system. The way the school system has dealt with the challenges thrown its way over the last two years is extraordinary. But the challenges continue, and as we move into the new school year, among everything else, school leaders are scratching their heads about how they are going to meet increased energy and staff costs within already stretched budgets. The arrival of a new prime minister in the coming weeks could also mean the appointment of a new secretary of state for education, the fifth in the last year. What are the chances they will still be in post to comment on GCSE results next summer? And crucially, if they are, what will they have done to help schools through another difficult year? Jon Andrews is head of analysis at the Education Policy Institute

Ministers consider rule to let single-sex schools bar transgender pupils

2023-04-18

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2023/apr/18/ministers-consider-rule-to-let-single-sex-schools-bar-transgender-pupils

Guidance for England also likely to tell teachers to inform parents when children question their gender identity The government is considering issuing guidance to single-sex schools in England saying that they cannot be legally obliged to take transgender pupils, as part of advice to be released this term. The advice, first reported by the Telegraph, is also likely to include direction for schools to inform parents about children questioning gender identity. The prime minister, Rishi Sunak, is understood to be particularly keen that the rules clarify in detail that parental consent is paramount in the way that schools approach pupils questioning their gender identity. The advice, which is being drawn up by the education secretary, Gillian Keegan, and Kemi Badenoch, who holds the equalities portfolio, comes after the Girls’ Day School Trust said last year it would only admit pupils based on sex, rather than gender. However, schools have sought legal advice about enforcing the rule amid concerns it could breach the Equality Act. A government source said the guidance being drafted was hoped to clarify the legal situation for schools on admitting transgender pupils and on using preferred pronouns. A draft version of the guidance is expected to be put out to consultation within weeks. The guidance is expected to say that schools would not be breaching the Equality Act 2010 if they did not accommodate transgender pupils, although no pupils would be required to leave a school if they started questioning their gender identity. This would mean that girls’ schools would be able to reject applications from pupils who identify as female but whose legal sex is male, and vice versa for boys’ schools. The changes are expected to be announced before the summer recess, Keegan told Times Radio on Monday. “We need to be sensitive obviously to children but more importantly make sure parents are fully involved as well,” she said. “We need to look after the wellbeing of all pupils. In that case, the wellbeing of girls is also very important and ‘good morning, girls’ is absolutely fine to say in a girls’ school to a girls’ class. We have to be sensible and have a big dose of common sense here. “We can’t mix up sex and gender. We’ve seen what happened in Scotland when it got that round the wrong way. And really our guidance needs to provide safeguarding for all children and make sure that, you know, it does cover all children’s rights as well.” The new advice comes amid changes that could be made to the Equality Act, backed by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) but condemned by LGBTQ+ groups. Badenoch is considering changing the Equality Act to allow organisations to bar trans women from single-sex spaces and events, including hospital wards and sports. The change by the equalities secretary would redefine sex in the 2010 act to specifically refer to legal protections for “biological sex” – the sex assigned at birth. The EHRC, the equalities watchdog, said the new definition would make it possible to exclude trans people from same-sex spaces even if they hold a gender recognition certificate (GRC). Stonewall said the EHRC’s letter in support of the change offered “no substantive evidence of demand” for it, and the group did “not see a world where cis women are desperate to exclude trans women from their spaces”.

Rishi Sunak’s learning catch-up fund is ‘false economy’, says former schools tsar

2021-10-28

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2021/oct/28/rishi-sunaks-learning-catch-up-fund-is-false-economy-says-former-schools-tsar

Sir Kevan Collins says saving made by chancellor’s ‘meagre’ offer will be dwarfed by cost of lost learning A former education recovery tsar has described the chancellor’s latest catch-up offer as “meagre” and warned that the government’s “half-hearted” deal for children was a “false economy”. Sir Kevan Collins said he was “frustrated” and “disappointed” by the government’s continuing lack of ambition for children’s learning recovery, and that Rishi Sunak’s budget showed that education had slipped down the pecking order of priorities in Whitehall. The former teacher resigned from his role as the government’s education recovery commissioner in June after his proposals for a £15bn long-term catch-up programme for children whose learning has been disrupted by the pandemic were scaled back to just £1.4bn by the Treasury. Asked to comment on the additional £1.8bn for catch-up announced by the chancellor on Wednesday, he said any additional funding for education was welcome, but it still meant less than £500 of recovery funding for each child in England, compared with £1,800 in the US and £2,100 in the Netherlands. This latest top-up means that the government has now committed close to £5bn for recovery programmes, including the national tutoring programme and funding allocated directly to schools. “It’s great to see additional money – always – in education, but it’s not enough,” Collins said. “I’m concerned that these meagre measures reveal a failure to recognise the kind of foundational role schools play in creating fair and prosperous communities. We know the pandemic and learning loss has hit our poorest communities hardest. “We know potentially we have wiped out all the work we did to narrow the gap and the gap is now widening between disadvantaged children and their peers. The short-term saving offered by a limited recovery programme will be dwarfed by the long-term cost of successive cohorts leaving education with lower skills.” Collins stood by his original proposal for a £15bn investment. “I’m not naive. I understand that my job was to give advice and it’s perfectly right the government can decide whether to accept it or not. But that was the advice based on the best available evidence.” Analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies found that the increases in education spending in England was lower than the increases enjoyed by other departments. While the DfE’s funding is to rise by 2.2% in real terms, the average increase across government is higher at 3.3%, with the Department of Health and Social Care receiving a 4% increase.The new spending announced by Rishi Sunak means that, by 2024-25, a pupil spending in England will have returned to the levels last seen in 2009-10, but the IFS’s Paul Johnson noted that post-16 colleges would still be suffering a “significant squeeze” on their budgets.“A decade and a half with no growth in spending despite, albeit insipid, economic growth is unprecedented. Spending per student in further education and sixth form colleges will remain well below 2010 levels. This is not a set of priorities which looks consistent with a long-term growth strategy,” Johnson said.According to the IFS, spending on post-16 colleges would be 10% below funding in 2009-10 in real terms, with projected spending on sixth form colleges alone down by 23% by 2024-25, despite the government’s claims of funding a “skills revolution”. School budgets should be able to cope with the increases in staff salaries anticipated next year, as funding a pupil rises 4% in real-terms in 2022 and then by 1% in 2023 and 2024.

England tutor scheme closing tuition gap between rich and poor, data shows

2023-03-09

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2023/mar/09/england-tutor-scheme-closing-tuition-gap-between-rich-and-poor-data-shows

Sutton Trust calls on government not to cut post-Covid funding as figures show 37% of children in poor homes had tutoring The tuition gap between rich and poor families in England has almost disappeared thanks to the government’s pandemic recovery programme, but funding cuts threaten to widen it once more, according to a new report. The Sutton Trust disclosed that the government’s national tutoring programme (NTP), which targeted extra help for disadvantaged pupils through their schools, has almost eradicated the gap in access to tuition enjoyed by wealthier families. Research by the trust, which campaigns for greater social mobility through education, found that 32% of children in the worst-off households reported taking up extra tuition in school, compared with 22% in the most well-off families. Once private tuition was included, the trust found that 39% of those from the most well-off households were tutored last year, compared with 37% from the worst-off households. The report’s authors said that while use of private tutoring was continuing to rise, “the national tutoring programme is allowing a much wider group of pupils to access tutoring, with the potential to help level the playing field between the most and least disadvantaged”. The data shows that regions with the lowest rates of private tutoring, such as the north-east, east Midlands and Yorkshire, now have the highest rates of in-school tutoring. The tutoring programme was launched in November 2020 to help children in England make up for learning lost during the coronavirus pandemic, when schools were closed to most pupils for months at a time during 2019 and 2020. The government currently funds 60% of the costs of tutoring, with schools paying 40%. But later this year the government’s subsidy is to be cut to 25%. Sir Peter Lampl, chair of the Sutton Trust, called for the subsidy to be maintained at current level and for the national tutoring programme to continue. “Although there have been issues with delivery, the NTP … has changed the landscape of tutoring, giving young people the opportunity to receive tuition who would never have been able to afford it. Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what’s happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion “Rather than treating it as a short-term catch-up programme, it should be part of an ongoing national effort to tackle the attainment gap,” Lampl said. Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, said that without subsidies schools would struggle to continue the programme because of budget constraints. “The government must not think short term when it comes to tutoring. The NTP has a real possibility to help with levelling up, if it is invested in properly. But if subsidies are left as they are, the government could end up destroying its own initiative just as it begins to do some good,” Whiteman said.

Education department to review English schools guidance on anti-capitalist groups

2020-12-15

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2020/dec/15/education-department-to-review-schools-guidance-on-anti-capitalist-groups

Campaigners threaten legal action over attempt to ban material from groups including Black Lives Matter Guidance warning schools against using resources from organisations that have expressed a desire to end capitalism will be reviewed by the Department for Education (DfE) following the threat of legal action. The guidance, published in September, was criticised by teachers, MPs and human rights groups over the risk it could impinge on freedom of belief, speech and expression in the classroom. In a pre-action letter sent in October, the Coalition of Anti-Racist Educators (Care) and Black Educators Alliance (BEA) said the guidance would prevent teachers using material from groups including Black Lives Matter and Extinction Rebellion, limiting anti-racism teaching. On Monday, the education secretary, Gavin Williamson, notified the group’s lawyers that “the wording of the guidance is being reviewed in light of issues which your clients have raised”. In the guidance issued for school leaders and teachers in England, the DfE categorised anti-capitalism as an “extreme political stance” and compared it with opposition to freedom of speech, antisemitism and endorsement of illegal activity. The guidance said schools should not “under any circumstances” work with or use material from groups that do not “condemn illegal activities done in their name or in support of their cause” or promote “victim narratives that are harmful to British society”. A letter sent to Williamson in early October by the law firm Bindmans on behalf of Care and BEA claimed the guidance failed to properly account for issues of discrimination, and that it was vague and poorly written. The groups launched a crowdfunding page to proceed with a judicial review if the department refused to withdraw the guidance. The announcement of a review was welcomed. “Within the process of evidence collection, we have heard from many students, teaching staff and parents of the impact of the guidance, which would see conversations on injustice and inequality outlawed from the classroom,” a spokesperson for Care said. Rachel Harger, of Bindmans, said: “We hope that given the obvious failures and shortcomings of the current guidance the secretary of state will accept that, as part of this review, a broad consultation with teachers, parents and trade unionists is not just desirable but entirely necessary. We will now stand by our clients as they anxiously await the outcome of this review.” A DfE spokesperson said: “We have provided schools with the materials that will give them the confidence to construct a curriculum that reflects diversity of views and backgrounds, including how to offer a balanced presentation of opposing views where political issues are brought to the attention of pupils. “We are clear that schools should not under any circumstances work with external agencies that take or promote extreme positions or use materials produced by such agencies and have set out a non-exclusive list of extreme political positions in the guidance. “We are reviewing wording of the guidance to explore where we can provide further clarity on these points.”

Etta Khwaja obituary

2022-09-06

https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2022/sep/06/etta-khwaja-obituary

Like many of the Windrush generation, my mother, Etta Khwaja, who has died aged 88, went to Britain to train to be a nurse. She became a deputy headteacher and a long-serving community leader in Haringey, north London. Born in Lititz in St Elizabeth parish, Jamaica, to Vera (nee Stephenson) and William Parchment, both smallholder farmers, Etta left home in 1954 as a 20-year-old and in London met and married, in 1955, Wazir Khwaja. Etta worked initially as a nurse, and she and her husband went on to have eight children. In 1971, Wazir suffered a stroke, which left him permanently disabled and unable to work. As the main breadwinner, Etta took jobs in various Haringey schools in north London, first as a playground supervisor and as a teaching assistant. She then trained as a teacher at the College of All Saints, Tottenham (which merged with Middlesex Polytechnic), and began teaching in 1979. From 1986 until her retirement in 1998, she was deputy headteacher of Lordship Lane primary school in Tottenham. Etta made a significant contribution to race equality in Haringey over many years and was the leading light in the Haringey Race Equality Council. As one of her NUT colleagues said, “She consistently challenged tyranny, racism, and the ill-thought-out ideas so often foisted upon schools. She was a committed advocate for the multicultural approach to education well before this became the norm in Haringey. She had a major influence on Haringey council and on all Haringey schools, not just her own.” Etta was the first woman to be elected as the chair of the West Indian Leadership Council, and was instrumental in setting up the West Indian Cultural Centre, in Wood Green, which was opened by Bernie Grant MP in 1987. She was the education officer for the Association of Jamaicans (UK) Trust, and the vice-chair of the Caribbean Teachers’ Association. In 1991, Etta started to send books and teaching resources to schools in St Elizabeth. But she also wanted to create a public library there. Etta successfully petitioned the Alpart bauxite mining company for a site and building and she provided 5,000 books. The library opened in Nain in 1997 with a collection named in honour of her mother. She continued her interest in health matters, through her work with the Patient and Public Involvement in Health forum for Haringey. She prepared a paper to discuss the health and safety of bauxite mining company workers, which was presented at the Jamaica Diaspora Conference held in Jamaica by the sponsored delegate of the Association of Jamaicans (UK) Trust. Whatever she was involved in, Etta worked tirelessly to advance the education and health opportunities and the working conditions of others both in the UK and at home in Jamaica. As the secretary for the Mary Seacole Memorial Association from 1998 to 2005, Etta helped to commission a statue of Mary Seacole for St Thomas’ hospital, London, which was unveiled in 2016. Wazir died in 1988. Etta is survived by six of her children, Elaine, Barbara, John, Diana, Peter and me. Two children, James and Brenda, predeceased her.

Fears A-level grade crackdown could harm pupils’ mental health

2022-08-12

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2022/aug/12/uk-covid-generation-students-unfair-deal-university-grade-inflation-mental-health

Teachers say ‘Covid generation’ students will feel they got ‘unfair deal’ if they miss out on university Final-year pupils awaiting their A-level results next week will feel they have got an “unfair deal” if they miss out on university places due to a crackdown on grade inflation, according to teachers who have shared their fears about the impact on students’ mental health. Julie Richardson, the headteacher of Verulam school in St Albans, said her pupils would be “frustrated” if predictions from the University of Buckingham of a 10% fall in A and A* grades materialise next week. The “Covid generation” of year 13 students have experienced two years of disruption, including the 2020 U-turn over their GCSE results – when the government agreed marks should be awarded by teacher assessments after the use of an algorithm led to almost 40% of predicted grades being downgraded. “That was remedied but that did cause significant strain on year 11s at the time. That won’t be forgotten, so they will feel incredibly hard done by if [they receive lower grades] next week,” she said. “My biggest concern when it comes to our students, if results are 10% lower, is the impact that could have on their mental health and wellbeing. They’ve already been through significant stress at GCSE.” Although there have been no lockdowns this academic year, there has still been disruption due to staff taking time off to recover from Covid and the stress caused by the pandemic. Richardson said her school – like many others – had significant issues with staffing, including having no religious education teacher for a long period. While her staff will be on hand to advise students on how to go through clearing if they miss their university place, she said many would be disappointed. “I think it’s very difficult for young people when they’ve got their heart set on going to a particular institution. It’s quite hard to get them to understand that there are other options and that it’s not a completely lost cause.” Maija, a teacher at a state school in Portsmouth, said she was feeling “very nervous” for her pupils next week. “All the offers my students have received are for really high grades and it’s really difficult to say right now what’s going to happen. My hope right now is that the universities will be flexible in their offers.” She said four of her students who were not expecting to meet their offer conditions were already planning to take a year out and apply again next year, which is unusual in her school. She felt some pupils had underperformed relative to their potential because online learning did not reach the same standard as in-person lessons and they had been deprived of exam experience in their GCSEs.“I know a lot of teachers did their best. I did my best, but the content I delivered isn’t comparable to what you can do face-to-face. Even the best students said they switched on the lesson and then they switched off. It’s very difficult to follow. They had a full timetable and a lot of learning was lost,” she said. Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what’s happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion “I think most of them, if you spoke to them, would say they had an unfair deal. On the other hand, they’re all in the same position. Most of them do understand that it’s not their fault, but some life choices were taken away by this.”

Pearl Norman obituary

2023-04-02

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2023/apr/02/pearl-norman-obituary

When my mother, Pearl Norman, a former English teacher, who has died aged 96, was approaching 90, she wrote out her “nine reasons to be thankful”: being born and living in England’s green and pleasant land; having had a loving and secure childhood; having had excellent educational opportunities throughout life; finding a good man with whom to share life; the joy of raising children; enjoying good food, health and material comfort (which were reasons 6, 7 and 8); and finding fulfilment in work, hobbies and recreation. The daughter of Margaret (nee Doarks), a teacher, and Charles Harris, an accountant, Pearl was born in London in the year of the General Strike – 1926 – and used to joke that the workers came out to celebrate. She had many happy memories of her childhood; especially roaming over the fields in Barnet, north London, and holidays in Exmouth, Devon. Pearl loved her early schooling at St John’s school, Whetstone. She won a scholarship to board at Christ’s hospital, Hertford, and became a student teacher before moving on to do teacher training in Cheltenham, where her love of literature flourished. She started a part-time degree in English at Birkbeck College, London, which she completed in 1962, and obtained a master’s in education through the Open University when she was 70. Like the best of teachers, she never stopped learning. She started her career at the Alder school, East Finchley. In 1950, she married Peter Norman, a telecommunications engineer, and she taught in Welling, then at Bexleyheath county school for girls for two years, before they settled in Dartford. She spent 18 years at Dartford West secondary modern school for girls, rising to be head of the English department. Pearl and Peter were committed to a vision of a fairer, more equal world through their involvement in the Labour party. At Dartford West school, Pearl was innovative in providing exam options for girls whom she felt had unfairly been written off by failing the 11 plus. She volunteered in later life with the Citizens Advice Bureau and Oxfam. After what she described as a “23-year holiday” in retirement in Devon, Pearl returned to Meopham, Kent. Wherever she lived, Pearl loved to walk, explore and garden. She dabbled in numerous crafts and was a prolific knitter. She loved quizzes, both writing them and taking part – she led the family to victory in 1969 on the TV quiz Ask The Family, and had appearances on Countdown, 15-1 and Brain of Britain. She was active in the Women’s Institute in both Devon and Kent, serving as president more than once. She swam, sang, and enjoyed scrabble, crosswords, reading and writing groups. Pearl self-published several books, including Seven Ages, The Life of Margaret Harris 1895-1995, about her mother’s life, and Snippets from the Minutes – Eighty Years of Women’s Institutes in Budleigh Salterton. She made and kept friends throughout her life, and remained full of gratitude. Peter died in 2011, and my brother Bob, her middle child, died in 1996. Pearl is survived by two children, my older brother Mick and me, four grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

Sister of Ruth Perry urges headteachers to resist Ofsted ‘culture of fear’

2023-04-29

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2023/apr/29/ruth-perry-sister-headteachers-ofsted-inspections-naht-conference

Julia Waters criticises ‘fatally destructive’ inspections and calls on school leaders to refuse to cooperate with watchdog Headteachers should undermine Ofsted’s “culture of fear” by refusing to cooperate with the schools inspectorate or work as inspectors, the sister of headteacher Ruth Perry has told a conference of school leaders. Prof Julia Waters said her sister had been “destroyed” by Ofsted’s critical inspection of her school late last year, which downgraded it from outstanding to inadequate, and that her family had been left with an “intense, painful, overwhelming” sense of loss after her death. “Going public about these circumstances, and the link with the Ofsted inspection of Ruth’s school, has added new layers of complication, pain and outrage to this grief,” Waters told the annual conference of the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT). “But we had to speak out, because Ruth was not the first headteacher to take her own life after an Ofsted inspection.” Perry’s death and the link to the Ofsted inspection set off a wave of anger among school leaders at the pressure and mental toll imposed. However, Amanda Spielman, the chief inspector of schools in England, and Gillian Keegan, the education secretary, have said they remain happy with Ofsted’s use of single judgments, with Spielman saying she regarded the inspection of Perry’s school as “sound”. Waters said: “I confess – and this will haunt me for the rest of my life – that I had not fully appreciated how fatally destructive a poor Ofsted judgment could be to a dedicated headteacher like Ruth. “Since going public, however, I have been contacted by countless headteachers who do understand only too well quite how despairing and hopeless Ruth must have felt.” Waters added: “Here are some single-word judgments that have been levelled at Ofsted inspections by headteachers like yourselves who have contacted me: arbitrary, subjective, unsubstantiated, callous, punitive, evil, inhumane, brutal, traumatic. “Yet Ofsted’s own self-ass essment – supported by Gillian Keegan – remains that everything is just fine.” Waters said she would not rest until there had been meaningful reforms of the inspectorate. “I call for an urgent, independent review of Ofsted’s framework, systems and culture. Expose Ofsted to the transparency, scrutiny and accountability you require of others. “And what if Ofsted still won’t budge? Then it’s up to you – headteachers and teaching unions – to make Ofsted budge, to undermine their culture of fear from below and from within” by refusing to work as part-time inspectors or displaying banners with Ofsted inspection grades on their schools, she said. Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what’s happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion “Please, stand up for Ruth; stand up for yourselves; stand up to Ofsted. Speak out. Take down your banners. Hand in your badges,” Waters told the conference in Telford. A spokesperson for Ofsted said: “We always want inspections to be constructive and collaborative and in the vast majority of cases school leaders agree that they are.” Spielman has written to Reading borough council with an offer to meet Perry’s family. A primary school in Cambridge has said it will launch a judicial review against Ofsted after a recent inspection downgraded it to inadequate, with the school’s headteacher telling the BBC she was left feeling “crushed” by the process. Sarah Jarman, the headteacher of Queen Emma primary school in Cambridge, said: “The experience of that day has shattered every piece of self-belief I have, both in myself and the Ofsted system. Without doubt, the negative connotations will stay with me for the rest of my life.” Ofsted said: “We completely refute these allegations.” More than 20 judicial reviews against Ofsted inspections have been taken over the past 15 years. In most cases the legal action has been withdrawn or settled before reaching court. Paul Whiteman, the general secretary of the NAHT, has said the union’s lawyers are also “putting the finishing touches” on bringing legal action against Ofsted.

‘Cost of eating’ crisis: price of school lunches up by a third in parts of England

2023-05-01

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2023/may/01/cost-of-eating-crisis-price-of-school-lunches-rise-by-third-in-parts-of-england-since-2019

Exclusive: Increases since 2019 also outstrip funding for free school meals as costs jump, Lib Dems find The price of school lunches has increased by more than a third in parts of England, increasing the pressure on school finances and family budgets during the cost of living crisis, according to figures revealed by the Liberal Democrats. Families with two children can be facing a bill for more than £1,000 a year for school lunches, a rise of more than £200 since 2019, because of inflation and rising energy and staff costs, according to the party’s estimates. The increases have outstripped the funding that schools receive for pupils on free school meals (FSM) and the free lunches for infants up to year 2 in primary schools. This means schools have to make up the difference from their existing budgets. While some school catering services charge £2.80 a day or more for lunches, the government only gives £2.41 for free infant meals, an increase of just 7p a day since last year. Munira Wilson, the Liberal Democrats’ education spokesperson, said the government had created a “cost of eating” crisis in England, particularly for children from families who did not qualify for free meals but still struggled to afford school lunches. Wilson said: “These price hikes are a double blow for parents, who are forking out hundreds of pounds more a year. Yet they’d be paying even more if schools weren’t sacrificing their teaching budgets to keep costs down. Under the Tories, schools choose between teaching children and feeding them. This isn’t a fair deal for parents, pupils or schools.” Parents at 15 schools in East Sussex have seen daily lunch prices rise by 30% since the 2019-20 school year. The local authority told parents that its contract with school caterers meant prices had risen in line with inflation, with the cost of ingredients such as eggs up by 33% and cheese and chicken up by 20% between 2021 and 2022. In a letter to parents, East Sussex county council said: “We want to assure you that we have explored all avenues to keep the meal price as low as possible as we understand this is a challenging time.” In Hampshire, lunch prices at more than 400 primary schools have risen from £2.40 in 2020 to £2.80 in the current school year. Hampshire county council, which provides the lunches through its catering arm, blamed “significant increased costs including food and pay” for the rise. The council has given extra support to schools to meet the difference between government funding for FSM and the additional costs. The Lib Dems submitted freedom of information requests to local authorities that run their own school catering services or central catering contracts. They revealed price rises across the country, with the highest increases in London and the south-east of England. Families on universal credit are eligible for FSM lunches if their household income is less than £7,400 before benefits and after tax, with the income ceiling frozen since 2018. The government’s restrictions mean more than 800,000 children in poverty miss out on free school meals, according to the charity Child Poverty Action Group. About 1.9 million state school pupils in England – more than one in five of the total – were eligible for free meals last year, with a further 1.2 million receiving universal infant free school meals. Wilson said the Lib Dems proposed extending FSM eligibility to every child living in poverty, and increasing the daily rates of funding that schools receive for providing free meals. The Welsh government is to provide free lunches for all primary schoolchildren by 2024. In Scotland, children receive free meals for the first five years of primary school.

Universities to defy government pressure to ditch race equality group

2022-06-30

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2022/jun/30/universities-to-defy-government-pressure-to-ditch-race-equality-group

‘Line has been crossed’ say English universities, after request to drop scheme identifying barriers to ethnic minority students Universities in England have launched a fightback against government attacks on their autonomy, telling ministers they “crossed a line” by pressurising them to abandon a scheme designed to improve equality on campus. In what may be a turning point in the so-called “culture wars” over free speech, Universities UK (UUK) took on the education minister Michelle Donelan after she warned them to reconsider membership of a race equality charter, run by the charity Advance HE. The scheme – which counts the majority of Russell Group universities among its members – aims to identify barriers to success for black, Asian and minority ethnic students. But in a letter to vice-chancellors this week, Donelan claimed that membership of the charter was “in tension” with universities’ duties to uphold free speech. In its letter of response on Thursday, Universities UK said: “An important line has been crossed with the letter appearing to direct universities to take a specific approach” on equalities. In a later statement, UUK confirmed that it intended to ignore Donelan’s request and remain affiliated with Advance HE. A spokesperson for UUK said: “Universities take their responsibilities to promote and protect free speech very seriously. We have yet to see any evidence of how this voluntary, non-prescriptive scheme works against this. “The scheme is voluntary and provides a means through which universities can address racial inequality within the sector and we will continue our work with Advance HE to support this goal.” The row comes as the higher education freedom of speech bill is being debated in the Lords, where it has come under fire from Conservative, Labour and cross-bench peers. It has been criticised for imposing a new free speech regulator with new powers to fine universities for failing to comply with free speech provisions. Vice-chancellors said Donelan’s letter was a chilling forerunner of how a regulator could interfere with internal university affairs if the bill is passed in its current form, with one describing it as “an unambiguous attack on university autonomy”. David Willetts, the Conservative peer and former universities minister, said: “I do wish to see protections for freedom of speech, but it’s very odd to protect freedom of speech at the same time as further intervention. “I think one of the reasons why universities in Britain are so internationally respected is because of their autonomy. I don’t think it’s as much a line being crossed as a slippery slope that we are on, in which the autonomy of our universities is gradually eroded.” The letter to Donelan, signed by Prof Steve West, vice-chancellor of the University of the West of England, reminded the minister that racism remained “a pervasive societal issue” that affected students from ethnic minority backgrounds. But it added: “Universities, as autonomous institutions, must also remain free to decide how best to foster inclusivity and tackle societal issues such as racism which have a serious and detrimental impact on staff and students.” The letter continued: “We do not believe that free speech and voluntary external assurance frameworks are at odds with each other – rather they can help to address power imbalances and ensure a more diverse range of voices are empowered to speak up. “We understand from our members in England that a number will likely respond to you directly, both to restate their commitment to ensuring free speech and to highlight how external assurance schemes play an important role in tackling serious issues such as harassment and degree awarding gaps.” While Donelan’s letter noted that universities were autonomous and free to join schemes such as the race equality charter, she went on to say they should “reflect carefully” on membership. While Advance HE’s race equality charter was the only example mentioned by name, Donelan went on to say that “there are of course a number of other, similar, schemes, and this letter invites careful consideration in respect of all these”. Advance HE also administers the Athena Swan charter that seeks to improve gender equality within higher education and research. Donelan has previously described the scheme as “at worst a dangerous initiative that undermines scholarship”. “Bearing in mind the substantial sums invested by the taxpayer into higher education, I would ask you to consider whether membership of these schemes; the initiatives that flow from them; and the creation of new, highly paid, management roles in these areas truly represent good value for money for taxpayers or students,” Donelan said. Criticising the higher education freedom bill when it was debated this week, Shami Chakrabarti, a Labour peer and a former director of Liberty, said: “How can it be a protection of academic freedom to give more and more power over independent institutions of scholarship to the government’s Office for Students and the new director for freedom of speech?” Willetts said that the current bill was heavy-handed and questioned how the bill’s freedom of speech regulator could balance the government’s demands that some forms of legal speech, such as holocaust denial, would not be allowed on campus. “They are expecting the regulator to be more restrictive than simple lawful, freedom of speech. We need to know exactly what things he or she is not going to protect despite them being lawful,” Willetts said. Willetts said he hopes the government would make “significant” amendments to the bill, pointing out that universities could find themselves punished for suppressing some forms of speech at the same time as tech platforms were punished under the government’s new online safety bill for transmitting the same opinions.

Ditch GCSEs and make education more inclusive | Letters

2020-08-26

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2020/aug/26/ditch-gcses-and-make-education-more-inclusive

Responses to Melissa Benn’s call for a transformation of England’s schools There are now many voices calling for a reform of the flawed examination system. We support all the reasons Melissa Benn outlined in her well-reasoned and eloquent case for GCSEs to be dispensed with (Let’s use this exams debacle to transform England’s schools, 20 August) and would add one more: the huge costs that fall on schools’ hard-pressed budgets. Secondary schools spent just under £2bn on GCSE entries in 2019. A GCSE subject entry costs nearly £40. And the private examination boards (collectively – no competition here) have raised costs by 17% over the last three years. We spend more on the entry than we spend on resources for students to prepare for this irrelevant examination. We have some of the best trained and academically qualified teachers in the world. Parents recognise this. The government should as well.Tim Brighouse Former director, London ChallengeBob Moon Emeritus professor of education, Open University I fear that for once Melissa Benn does not take her argument to the heart of the matter. While the farrago of recent assessments of young people does illustrate some of the flaws in education (for instance, a lack of trust in teachers’ professional judgments), to focus only on exams misses the real point. There is much more at stake. The heart of what schools do, what teachers do, should not be simply determined by children and young people’s attainment against narrowly defined criteria of knowledge, but about what they could do as citizens of the future. That is more likely to depend on their understanding and respect for each other, and their ability to collaborate rather than compete. Today’s attention on exam results reiterates a debate founded on competition and individual ranking; with winners and losers, it is an exclusionary debate. What is needed more than ever is a curriculum that enables young people to learn about difference, diversity and civilised society. The main transformation of education should therefore have an aim of promoting inclusion.Simon GibbsProfessor of inclusive educational psychology and philosophy, Newcastle University Melissa Benn is right to call for a transformation in our schools, but the main problem in successfully bringing it about will be having to rely on “here today, gone tomorrow” politicians to bring forward the best policies. The history of the damaging changes to our education system over the last 40 years has been described many times. GCSEs were introduced to replace the outmoded segregation of CSEs and GCEs, and were intended to show what each young person “knows, understands and can do”, against elaborate sets of criteria for each subject. A noble aspiration, but it was hamstrung from the outset because the grade-inflation paranoia of successive secretaries of state led them to refuse to let go of the norm referencing of grade boundaries. This obsession continually overrides the proper recognition of a young person’s achievements in favour of a crude and unnecessary ranking of schools. This, and other legion examples of inappropriate impositions on schools, makes it imperative to re-establish properly independent professional bodies such as the lamented Schools Council for Curriculum and Examinations, and the Assessment of Performance Unit for recognising achievement (with sampling and teacher-led moderation at its heart).Frank NewhoferOxford Join the conversation – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com Read more Guardian letters – click here to visit gu.com/letters

Why A-levels are far from returning to pre-Covid normality

2022-08-18

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2022/aug/18/why-a-level-results-far-from-return-pre-covid-normality

Analysis: Students have faced huge challenges in pandemic and impact of lost learning will linger for some time After a two-year hiatus, exams are back. With the usual coverage of celebrating students receiving their grades, a casual observer would be forgiven for thinking this is a return to normal for results. It’s easy to forget the challenges faced by students receiving their results on Thursday. This cohort received teacher-assessed GCSEs, followed by a first year of post-16 study limited by prolonged periods of school and college closures. With certain adjustments in place, policymakers agreed the distribution of grades this year should be set somewhere between pre-pandemic levels and those of 2021, when teacher assessments led to record high grades. This represents the first step in gradually returning exam results to pre-pandemic levels, while avoiding a large drop in results for any one cohort. It was therefore a foregone conclusion that fewer students would achieve top grades this year, with 36% of A-levels awarded an A or A* in 2022 compared with 44% in 2021. We know disadvantage and poverty were perpetuated during the pandemic, for example through unequal access to technology or safe and quiet places to study. Teacher-assessed grades in recent years may have masked these inequalities, but minor adjustments in this year’s return to exams will not account for the vast differences in disruption students from different backgrounds have faced. We cannot yet assess how students from different backgrounds fared in the results they received. Female students continue to outperform males in most subjects. However, the gap between female and male students achieving top grades was less this year, likely driven by a return to exams; however, in chemistry and biology the gap was narrower than in 2019. The proportion of students achieving top grades in independent schools was lower, but to be expected given increases in 2021. Further education colleges saw a much greater than expected decrease in top grades since 2021. This may reflect approaches to teacher assessment in 2021, greater learning losses experienced by these students, or the result of taking on students who would not usually have had the grades to access A-levels, but did so under the teacher-assessed GCSEs of 2020. Differences seen in grades for students from different backgrounds will affect equality of access to university or other higher education destinations. During the pandemic, teacher-assessed grades meant fewer unpleasant surprises on results day, with students less likely to fall short of their university offers. This year, teachers have had a hard time setting predicted grades, accounting for disrupted learning alongside new examination and grading processes. Given higher numbers of students applying, fewer and tougher offers than in 2021, and the 2022 cohort being more likely to fall short of their predicted grades, this year’s clearing process will be a highly competitive affair. Students may need to take a broad view when considering their alternatives, such as considering whether an apprenticeship or vocational route would be right for them. We should also remember that students taking BTecs and other technical qualifications received their results. Indeed, your average 16- to 18-year-old is as likely to be studying other qualifications or taking an apprenticeship as they are to be taking A-levels. Our research highlighted that under teacher assessments, those entering BTec-style qualifications lost out compared with A-level students, driving a widening of the attainment gap between disadvantaged students and their peers to over three A-level grades in 2020. With A-level grades still pinned partially to 2021 results, we risk preserving these differences. Although some detail on BTec pass rates was published on Thursday, more information is needed to understand the impact on students. All students receiving their results on Thursday should be recognised for what they have persevered through, as should the teachers and school staff that have supported them. While we’re returning to pre-pandemic style exams, the impact of lost learning may be with us for some time to come. Sam Tuckett is a senior researcher for post-16 education and skills at the Education Policy Institute.

School pupils’ pass rates fall in Scotland for Highers and National 5s

2022-08-09

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2022/aug/09/pass-rates-fall-scotland-highers-national-5s-exams

Decline coincides with end of teacher-led grading after cancellation of exams in 2020 and 2021 Pass rates for Scottish pupils have fallen significantly after schools returned to using exams to grade performance for the first time since 2019. This year’s results showed the overall pass rate for Highers, heavily used for students aiming for university, fell from 89.3% in 2020 to 78.9%. The pass rate for National 5s, awarded largely to 16-year-olds, fell from a peak of 89% in 2020 to 80.8%. The Scottish Qualifications Authority said the fall marked the end of teacher-led grading of performance after exams were cancelled in 2020 and 2021 during the Covid crisis, with a return this year to pre-pandemic exams and external marking. The SQA added that, despite that shift, pass rates were up compared with 2019, the last year involving formal exams. In 2019, the pass rate for National 5s was 78.2% and for Highers 74.8%. Students were given extra support this year, and a “generous” approach taken to grading because of the ongoing impacts of the pandemic, with grade thresholds lowered for a majority of topics. Shirley-Anne Somerville, Scotland’s education secretary, said she was confident that this year’s approach had produced “a credible, consistent and fair set of results for our young people”. “This is one of the strongest ever sets of results for any exam year, which is particularly impressive given the significant challenges learners have faced as a result of the pandemic,” she said. The shift back to exams also had the effect of greatly decreasing pass rates for children from Scotland’s most deprived communities compared with teacher-based grades during the pandemic, lowering their chances of entering university. SQA data showed the number of Higher A grades awarded to pupils from the most disadvantaged areas fell by more than a third from 35.8% in 2021, when grading was teacher-led, to 22.1% this year. Nonetheless, that was an increase on 2019, when 16.7% of most-deprived pupils achieved A grades. By comparison, 45.3% of pupils from the most privileged parts of Scotland achieved As this year, compared with 57.8% in 2021 and 38.7% in 2019. Somerville said her government was investing £1bn in raising attainment. “We know that the pandemic has disproportionately impacted learners from more disadvantaged backgrounds,” she said. The assessment process in 2020, at the height of the Covid crisis, was marred by a controversy over the Scottish government’s and SQA’s handling of marking. John Swinney, Somerville’s predecessor as education secretary, faced a no-confidence vote and was forced to reinstate 120,000 teacher-assessed results, which had been downgraded by the SQA. The agency is being scrapped and replaced by 2024, as part of reforms induced by the controversy. Michael Marra, Scottish Labour’s education spokesperson, said these results masked “system-wide problems” because schools were working to a reduced curriculum, post-Covid, which meant there had been a “significant loss of learning and knowledge across Scotland’s education system”. He said the reversion to exam grading by ministers also penalised the poorest pupils, while cutting funding to local councils across Scotland. “This SNP administration has dramatically cut funding to the poorest communities in Scotland and we are years away from any substantive reform,” Marra said. “They have no plan, no leadership and their continued failings in this work are a rolling national scandal.” Andrea Bradley, general secretary of the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS), Scotland’s largest teachers’ union, said pupils and staff had achieved great results in very difficult circumstances; she said most pupils had never sat formal exams before, because of the Covid crisis. “Teachers have consistently risen to the challenge in order to ensure the best possible outcomes for young people,” Bradley added. “The return to an exam diet this year was needlessly rushed, arguably a backward step, and has been an additional stressor to teachers and students alike.”

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

2022-12-26

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2022/dec/26/uk-student-housing-reaching-crisis-point-as-bad-as-1970s-charity-warns

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. Experts say there are growing numbers of students experiencing periods of hidden homelessness or accepting unsuitable housing out of desperation. Students say they have been forced to couch-surf with friends, live with parents some distance away or accept unsuitable rooms such as those without windows. “You’re beginning to see student housing moving into shortage across the majority of universities – not just the ones you read about,” said Martin Blakey, the chief executive of the student housing charity Unipol. “The reason is that purpose-built student accommodation has stopped expanding to the extent it was, and we don’t think that’s going to change. At the same time we think there’s a significant decrease in shared houses – [landlords] are moving back to renting to professionals or leaving the market.” This had been compounded by universities running less of their own accommodation in favour of partnerships with private providers, which were hamstrung by the wider investment freeze and hostile planning regimes in some cities, he said. Planning regulations had made it more difficult for private houses to be subdivided, and Scotland now required landlords to apply for house in multiple occupation (HMO) licences, he added. Data compiled by the StuRents accommodation portal, which says it represents 70% of student beds in the UK, suggests there is a shortfall of 207,000 student beds, and 19 towns and cities where there is more than a 10% undersupply of beds, ranging from 28% in Preston and 25% in Bristol to 10% in Birmingham and Swansea. Blakey said the shortage was acute this year due to several factors, including growing demand for rentals in cities, rapidly expanding universities and international students returning amid the easing of the Covid pandemic. He predicted the situation would deteriorate in January when a new intake arrived, and again in September 2023, which is expected to be another record university recruitment round. Chloe Field, the National Union of Students (NUS) vice-president for higher education, said the “unprecedented” housing shortage was “jeopardising students’ university experience and forcing them to make difficult decisions”. “Without urgent action to increase the amount of affordable housing, it is inevitable that both dropouts and student homelessness will increase,” she said. In Glasgow, students have begged their university not to halt recruitment after those left unhoused were told not to register for their courses; students in Durham queued overnight to reserve housing for next year; students at Bristol were housed in Newport, Manchester students in Liverpool and York students in Hull; and students in Northern Ireland have set up their first housing cooperative. Michael Rainsford, co-founder of StuRents, said while different cities would advertise student rooms for autumn 2023 at different times, “we’re seeing the earliest searches ever by students who are scrambling to secure somewhere to live”. In Durham nearly every property available for autumn 2023 was let by the end of October. Rainsford said strong competition for homes had pushed up prices, averaging at about a 10% increase and as much as 20% in some towns, compared with last year. Students are also struggling with affordability – the NUS estimates that one-third of all accommodation costs more than the average maintenance loan. Last year, a report by the Higher Education Policy Institute warned that student homelessness would increase due to the cost of living crisis, while a survey of 3,000 students by Student Beans in October suggested that one in 10 had faced moving back in with parents or examples of homelessness such as couch-surfing, or living in Airbnbs, hotels or in their cars. Portsmouth and east London universities confirmed there had been higher numbers of homeless students this year. Universities are being urged to collect and publish more data on where their students live and to provide better information to prospective students. Blakey highlighted the example of Nottingham as a potential solution: the local authority has collaborated with the town’s two universities on a student living strategy to determine how much housing is required and available. He added that universities could “put their hands in their pockets and develop some of their own housing again”, because “in a housing shortage the people who’re really badly affected are those who are last in the queue”. A spokesperson for Universities UK said that “universities worked closely with students and the housing sector to ensure students find appropriate accommodation” this year but that it was aware of problems, for which it was exploring possible solutions.

Not enough black headteachers in England, says Nadhim Zahawi

2021-10-09

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2021/oct/09/not-enough-black-headteachers-in-england-says-nadhim-zahawi

Education secretary says schools must be inclusive and representative and should reflect their communities There are not enough black headteachers working in schools in England, and more are needed to improve inclusivity and representation, the new education secretary, Nadhim Zahawi, has told a conference of school leaders. In response to a question on diversity and leadership at the National Association of Head Teachers conference on Saturday, Zahawi said: “School leadership is not representative when it comes to race, and as you say, there aren’t enough black headteachers. “I’d go further and say there aren’t enough black leaders in the civil service and higher echelons of departments across government, and we need to do better there as well.” Zahawi added: “I really do think that it’s critical that teaching is an inclusive profession. Schools and their leadership teams should reflect their communities and their pupils and I’m absolutely determined to see improvements. “I think we need inspiring teachers to represent and motivate pupils from all walks of life.” Frances Akinde, the headteacher of Rivermead community special school in Gillingham, asked Zahawi: “In nearly every room that I enter as a school leader I’m often the only person who looks like me. Even more so when it comes to special education ... I would like to know what you are committed to doing to remove barriers to leadership and to increase diversity.” Saying that current levels were “not good enough”, Zahawi said: “I want us to make sure that we continue to encourage more black and ethnic minority candidates into the profession.” In his first speech to the sector since replacing Gavin Williamson as education secretary, Zahawi told the NAHT delegates that he wanted to investigate why some children were still absent from state schools in the wake of the pandemic. “I want us to put wellbeing at the centre of everything we do in schools, alongside a drive for rigorous standards and high performance. “But, of course, we can’t do this if children are not at school, so another key priority for me will be getting to the root of what is causing children to be persistently absent and then tackling it head-on,” Zahawi said. In secondary schools the attendance rate dropped to fewer than 87% of pupils at the end of September, according to Department for Education figures. Pre-pandemic absentee rates were about 6%-7% of school sessions. The figures showed more than 3% of secondary students were absent for Covid-related reasons, leaving the remainder unaccounted for. But Zahawi refused to reveal any details of the DfE’s bid for increased schools or recovery funding, telling delegates in London that he wouldn’t “provide a running commentary on the spending review” but was “making the case” for investing in education. Paul Whiteman, the general secretary of the NAHT, said: “What we heard from Mr Zahawi was encouraging. The real test is what he is prepared to do immediately to prise more investment from the Treasury in the comprehensive spending review, and then how he chooses to develop policy.” Earlier, delegates had voted overwhelmingly to oppose any attempts by the government to remove the 1,265-hour annual cap on teachers’ “directed time” workload. Amy Lassman, the head of Nelson Mandela primary school in Birmingham, said the proposal said to be under consideration “reeks of disrespect” for the profession. “We cannot use teachers to fill a gaping hole in the government’s failing tuition policy,” Lassman said. The conference also backed a motion calling for next year’s national Sats tests in England to be scrapped because of ongoing disruption caused by the pandemic.

Universities condemned over threat to dock all pay of striking staff

2022-11-27

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2022/nov/27/universities-condemned-over-threat-to-dock-all-pay-of-striking-staff

Queen Mary in London and Wolverhampton criticised for ‘brutalising’ stance against employees Two universities have threatened striking academics that they will be docked all of their pay “indefinitely” in a move that has been described by a union as “brutalising staff into submission”. The University and College Union (UCU) claims record numbers of its members, at 150 higher education institutions across the UK, went on strike on Thursday and Friday. More action is planned for Wednesday. Academics expect to have their pay docked for the three days they are striking. However, Queen Mary University of London (QMUL), a member of the prestigious Russell Group, and Wolverhampton University have caused outrage by threatening to continue docking 100% of academics’ pay unless they reschedule all the classes they have missed. Dr Zara Dinnen, co-chair of the Queen Mary UCU branch, told the Observer: “The impact of having no pay now, during a cost of living crisis, would be devastating for people. Many members here are already using credit cards and loans to get by.” QMUL has already shown it is prepared to crack down harder than other institutions on those who take industrial action over pay, contracts and pensions. In July the university deducted 21 days of full pay from more than 100 staff members, because they refused to mark students’ work in June. Many staff opened payslips with nothing in them. However, Dinnen said her branch had seen its highest-ever turnout on picket lines last week and insisted staff would not be cowed. “This isn’t putting people off. It’s making them really angry,” she said. Jo Grady, UCU’s general secretary, said: “Vice-chancellors are using immoral pay deductions to bully staff and intimidate them from taking lawful industrial action. It is beyond disgraceful.” She added: “They are attempting to brutalise their own staff into submission. But they need to know that our members will not take it lying down, and nor will our students.” Both QMUL and Wolverhampton have told union members that failure to reschedule teaching activities will be regarded as a breach of contract and that they will deduct pay for “partial performance”. But academics feel they would be undoing the whole point of the strike if they conceded. Queen Mary said that its “overriding priority has been to protect our students’ education”. It said strikers had been asked “to prioritise all educational activities” when they returned to work, stopping all other work, including research, if necessary. But one lecturer in Queen Mary’s humanities and social sciences faculty, who asked not to be named for fear of reprisals, said: “This threat that you could have your pay docked indefinitely is really scaring people. These are real people with bills to pay and children to look after. No one can afford not to get paid.” The lecturer said these threats were “completely demoralising” and would have a lasting effect on staff wellbeing. “After the strike we will return to extremely high workloads, committing long hours, evenings and weekends,” he said. “And all the while management tells us we won’t be paid unless we make up the cancelled teaching.” Striking academics at Wolverhampton are similarly outraged. Dr Catherine Lamond, negotiating chair of the local UCU negotiating committee, said: “I’ve had so many emails from staff who are really worried about how they will pay their rent or mortgage or put food on the table. It could knock people off the edge.” Wolverhampton University said: “We will only deduct pay in the event that people do not adhere to their contractual requirements and proper discharge of their duties.” It said Wolverhampton reserved the right to withhold up to 100% of staff members’ salaries for each day they were considered to be performing action short of a strike. But Lamond said: “They are reserving the right to deduct full pay indefinitely for every day we don’t rearrange the classes we miss in this strike.” She added: “People are legally allowed to take industrial action, but this feels like they are trying to frighten people into giving up that right.”

Heads warn parents not to back pupil protests spreading via TikTok

2023-03-05

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2023/mar/05/heads-uk-parents-pupil-protests-tiktok-stampedes-teachers-social-media

Teachers condemn family support for trend in England and Wales 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. Headteachers told the Observer this weekend that parents were wrong to praise students who “stampeded” through schools, insisting school leaders have every right to use unpopular new rules to deal with behaviour such as vaping and bullying in toilets. Sam Strickland, principal of Duston school, an academy in Northampton that teaches children aged four to 19, told the Observer: “Some parents have been arguing that it is an infringement of human rights for schools to restrict toilet use during lessons. That’s ludicrous.” He argues that parents are “legitimising” demonstrations that could quickly get out of hand and become a serious risk to young people’s safety, by openly questioning the fairness of school rules and the authority of teachers. He had a tipoff last weekend that some of his pupils were planning a protest, in part about the school telling pupils they could only use the toilet at break time. He said he decided “to take the bull by the horns”, confronting each of the secondary school year groups as they lined up in the playground first thing on Monday morning. “I looked at them and said: ‘I know about this. Don’t do this.’ I said we would either suspend or potentially permanently exclude anyone who took part in a protest,” he said. He reminded them that there were better channels through which to address their concerns, such as the student council or talking to their form teacher. The protest never materialised, but he thinks all schools are worried about the social media trend catching on. “It is a fundamental safeguarding risk,” he said. “There is nothing healthy about 200 kids stampeding through a school protesting. If it all goes wrong you also risk a safeguarding inspection visit from Ofsted. It’s serious.” However, he is unapologetic about toilet regulations, pointing out that it is hugely disruptive if teachers are interrupted “every two minutes” by someone asking to go to the loo, and that schools are trying to rein in problems with bullying, vaping and drug use in unsupervised toilets. “When I was a kid you worried about getting your head flushed down the toilet at school. Now vaping is the big problem,” he said. “The difference is that schools are now taking control of these issues.” Chris Stokes, principal of Farnley Academy in Leeds, wrote to parents on 24 February condemning a protest at his school that morning over locked toilets during lessons. A parent told the local newspaper the school was infringing young people’s human rights. Others backed her up on social media. But Stokes said in his letter that the decision to lock toilets had followed “two very serious safeguarding events”. He wrote: “It was a necessary decision to keep all pupils safe.” A school leader in the north of England told the Observer many schools are focusing on preventing bullying in toilets. “We are looking at classic places like stairwells and toilets and PE changing rooms and putting things in place to make children safer.” To this end, the school, like a number of others, has taken the entry doors off its toilet blocks, which were being used for bullying and vaping. The school had heard rumours about a protest a week ago, but managed to head it off. The school leader insists they are not trying to suppress young people’s views. “Our job is to keep students safe. Some parents have been praising children on social media for protesting, but they aren’t appreciating the risks and how quickly these situations can escalate.” Many schools have found themselves at the sharp end of such escalation. At Neale-Wade Academy in Fenland, reports on social media of a protest on 27 February referred to pupils throwing urine and bins. Principal Graham Horn had tried to prevent the protest about toilet restrictions by emailing parents asking them to encourage their children to have “sensible conversations”, but this didn’t work. Sign up to Headlines UK Get the day’s headlines and highlights emailed direct to you every morning after newsletter promotion Penrice Academy in St Austell, Cornwall, confirmed last week it would expel some pupils after reports of protesters flipping tables and climbing fences. Meanwhile, Kent’s largest secondary school, Homewood school in Tenterden, had to call in the police to control a protest last Monday. In the local media, some parents were praising students for making their voices heard, but one said her daughter had told her some pupils were being sick because they were so anxious. A mother whose teenage daughter attends a large secondary school in the east of England told the Observer her daughter had opted out of a protest about locked toilets after they discussed it at home. Her daughter sheltered in a classroom for two hours with a few others while the protest was under way, but said more than half the school took part. The mother, who asked to remain anonymous, said: “Frankly, they’re kids, and these aren’t organised protests, but impulsive ones. Thanks to group psychology, they can turn real quick.” She said she understood why the school was taking action, after an expensive new block had been “totally trashed”, but she disagreed with banning their use outside break time. “It’s really irresponsible to deny toilets to girls who are just starting their periods,” she said. Charlotte Haines Lyon, senior lecturer in education at York St John University, said: “Schools are on their knees with no resources, so I absolutely understand why teachers would go and lock toilets to tackle problems.” But she recently surveyed nearly 200 parents about the school toilets debate and more than half of them reported that their child had avoided drinking so they would not need the toilet at school. “One respondent said that if her child needed to use the toilet in lesson time, she had to get toilet paper from the office. Can you imagine how humiliating that would be?” she said. “And what about girls trying to get their heads around periods? Restricting toilets is just adding more pressure.” Thomas Michael, deputy safeguarding lead at a school in the West Midlands, said schools needed to make sure they explained the reasons behind changes to rules like these. But he said: “In some schools, toilets are a dangerous place. Bullying, fighting, buying and selling drugs – it all takes place there and staff can’t really monitor it, so you can understand their actions.” He added: “When you see people outside of education labelling this child abuse, it really hits those staff in tough schools who are trying to do right by all their pupils.” Will Teece, head of Brookvale Groby Learning Campus, a secondary academy in Leicester, said no one should be lauding students for rioting and damaging property: “Yes, it’s really important to listen to students’ concerns, but adults are the ones in charge.” There has been talk of a protest at Teece’s school, but nothing has happened yet. He has written to parents, and planned an assembly to discuss concerns, but said even doing that felt risky. “If something is posted and shared and liked on TikTok, does that mean it’s real?” he said. “There is a fear that by communicating about it you might fuel something that might never have taken off.”

Students in England face ‘negative impact’ from refusal to tie loans to inflation, admits DfE

2023-02-03

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2023/feb/03/students-in-england-face-negative-impact-from-refusal-to-tie-loans-to-inflation-admits-dfe

Raising maintenance loans by only 2.8% means students will have to cut back on food and books, says report The Department for Education has admitted students in England face a “negative impact” from its refusal to increase support in line with inflation, saying they will have to cut back on food and books as a result. In an equality analysis of the government’s decision to raise maintenance loans by just 2.8% from autumn, the DfE said student support would have needed to go up by nearly 14% to keep up with the recent rises in the cost of living. “Our overall assessment is that these proposed changes will overall have a negative impact for students,” the DfE report concluded. “This is because a 13.7% increase would be required to maintain the value of loans and grants for living and other costs in real terms … due to the recent spike in inflation.” The analysis added that government’s 2.8% rise “is unlikely to prevent a further erosion in purchasing power” for students this year. The 2.8% increase means an increase of £272 in the maximum loan for students away from home outside London. A 14% increase would have added £1,350 and maintained support at the previous level of consumer prices. For maintenance loans to keep pace with the government’s retail prices index measure of inflation, the analysis said an 18.5% increase would be needed, adding £1,800 to the maximum loan. “As a result, many students … will not be able to make the same spending decisions as they did previously with regards to accommodation, travel, food, entertainment and course-related items such as books and equipment, the costs of which will have been rising over time,” the DfE’s analysis said. The DfE’s decision was based on forecasts published last year of just 2.8% inflation in March 2024. In November, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) warned that “because of errors in inflation forecasts, the poorest students will be more than £1,000 worse off this academic year”. Tim Bradshaw, the head of the Russell Group of universities, said the DfE’s own assessment underlined the flaws in the loans system. “What’s worse is that the department responsible and [the Office for Students], which is supposed to be on the side of students, just seem to be shrugging their shoulders,” he said. “Let’s be clear. The government has a choice, it is actively choosing to ignore its own analysis – as well as our analysis and that of the IFS – and this choice will leave students out of pocket by over £1,500.”

Nine in 10 students in England worried about cost of living, survey finds

2022-11-23

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2022/nov/23/nine-in-10-students-in-england-worried-about-cost-of-living-survey-finds

Calls for targeted hardship funding as poll shows many are worried about impact on their degree Half of students in England are struggling with financial difficulties, with a quarter taking on additional debts and three in 10 skipping lectures and tutorials in order to cut costs, according to a survey by the Office for National Statistics. More than nine in 10 students (91%) who took part in the survey said they were worried about the cost of living, and 45% said their mental health had deteriorated as a result during the autumn term. Amid warnings that students risk becoming forgotten victims of the cost of living crisis, nearly one in five of those surveyed said they had considered pausing their degree until next year. Almost two-thirds (62%) have cut back on food shopping, nearly two in five (38%) have reduced their use of gas and electricity to keep costs down, and more than half (52%) have had to rely on savings to get by. More than three-quarters (77%) said they were worried the crisis would affect how well they did in their degree. Four in 10 (40%) said they were studying more at home to save on costs rather than going to campus, and one in five (21%) were attending lectures remotely where possible. Tim Gibbs, of the ONS, said: “In common with most adults we have surveyed, these findings show that most students in higher education are experiencing the impact of cost of living increases. However, for some this may also be impacting on their educational experience, with some cutting back on non-mandatory aspects of their course to save money and considering other options, such as suspending their studies.” The survey, which attracted 4,201 responses from mainly undergraduates at a range of universities in England, found 29% were choosing not to attend non-mandatory lectures and tutorials to save on costs, while 31% were avoiding field trips and conferences to keep costs down. Nearly one in five (18%) students said they had considered moving back to their family home and commuting to their university from there, and 6% were planning to do so. Although 19% of students said they had considered suspending their studies and resuming next year, only 1% were actively planning to do so. Similarly, 19% had considered switching from classroom-based to remote learning, but only 2% were planning to do so. The cost of living crisis is also shaping future plans, with more than a third (34%) now less likely to do further study after completing their course. Of the one in four students who reported taking on new debt in response to the rising cost of living – either by borrowing more or using additional credit – two-thirds (66%) said their student loan was not enough to live on. Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what’s happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion Asked whether they would be able to ask a family member for money, almost half (48%) said they could not. Many universities have offered financial assistance to students worst affected by the cost of living crisis, but only 16% of those surveyed had applied for bursaries, 7% had applied for money from their university hardship funds, and 5% for other financial support. Prof Steve West, the president of Universities UK and vice-chancellor of UWE Bristol, said: “Students risk becoming the forgotten group in the cost of living crisis. We need the government to work with us and provide targeted hardship funding to protect them now, before their living costs become so high that they are unable to keep studying. “If this were to happen it is a tragic loss of talent to the country and a personal loss which crushes hope, opportunity, potential and social mobility. We cannot afford to let that happen.” A separate report from Endsleigh’s student assistance programme, a service providing 24/7 support for students, said calls from students seeking financial support had increased by 39%, while calls relating to student housing were up 46%. Endsleigh said there had been a 70% increase in calls from students seeking support for depression. A Department for Education spokesperson said the government was providing £261m of hardship support in 2022-23 for students in greatest need, adding: “Many universities are doing fantastic work to support their students through a variety of programmes. We urge any student who is worried about their circumstances to speak to their university.”

Social mobility tsar casts doubt over grammar school revival in England

2022-09-23

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2022/sep/23/social-mobility-tsar-grammar-school-england-katharine-birbalsingh

Katharine Birbalsingh says disadvantaged pupils with few resources struggle to win places The UK’s social mobility tsar has cast doubt on Liz Truss’s plans to revive grammar schools in England, arguing that they mainly benefit children whose families can afford to coach them to pass entrance exams. Katharine Birbalsingh, the headteacher named last year by Truss as chair of the government’s social mobility commission, said selective schools educated few disadvantaged or working-class pupils because they struggled to win places. “The problem with grammar schools nowadays is that, because there’s such an industry around preparing children to get into grammar schools, if you don’t have the resources or wherewithal to prepare your child to get in, then you can be left out,” Birbalsingh said in an interview with LBC’s Nick Ferrari. “You look at grammar schools and think, how many children from deprived backgrounds are there, how many working-class children are there? There aren’t so many, these days. “It’s not wrong to suggest that in the [past] grammar schools would propel certain working-class children forward. I’m not sure they do that so much nowadays.” Kit Malthouse, the education secretary, said this week that Truss wanted to “address the strong desire in quite a lot of parents to reflect the benefits that many got from grammar schools, in the wider education system. And so we’re definitely going to be beavering away at that, and see where we get to.” Birbalsingh said she looked forward to hearing how Malthouse planned to address the selection problem, which she suggested “didn’t exist” in 1975. The creation of new grammar schools has been banned in England since 1998, but Truss is said to be keen to repeal the ban. Campaigners against selection say the tests favour those who have been privately tutored or who attend independent schools, leaving few places for children from poorer backgrounds. Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what’s happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion “The problem with exams is they never test raw ability. They are often testing the preparation for them, which is right and proper,” Birbalsingh said. “But if you haven’t had that kind of preparation then how are you meant to compete with those who have? That’s the problem with grammar schools.” Birbalsingh is the founder of the Michaela community school in Wembley, north-west London, known for its firm discipline and high academic standards – which has led her to be known “Britain’s strictest headteacher”.

Bleddyn Harris obituary

2023-02-24

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2023/feb/24/bleddyn-harris-obituary

My dad, Bleddyn Harris, who has died aged 75, after suffering from Parkinson’s, was a man of quiet integrity and dry humour, and was stubborn to the core. Bleddyn grew up in Tonyrefail, south Wales, only child of Ray Harris, a miner, and Peg (nee Turner). He inherited his mother’s kind heart and his father’s shrewd brain. Circumstances had forced Ray to leave school at 14 and start down the pit. It meant the world to his parents that Bleddyn could complete his education at Tonyrefail grammar. Bleddyn’s early jobs included local government administrator, kibbutz farmhand and motorway construction worker. He studied politics at Bristol Polytechnic. Alongside his degree, he acquired an expert knowledge of local pubs, hitchhiked through Europe, and grew out his sensible haircut into a flowing mane – much to his daughters’ delight when we found the photos years later. In 1979 Bleddyn married Barbara Smart, a teacher, and later a primary school headteacher. They built their family and careers together in Yorkshire, where my sister Megan and I were born and raised. Bleddyn taught sixth-form politics and economics at Outwood Grange school (now academy) from the mid 1980s until 1997, when he took early retirement on health grounds. Bleddyn was a staunch trade unionist, fundraising through the miners’ strike, even exploiting the relative novelty of his hands-on fatherhood with a sponsored nappy change. At work, he had no gift for diplomacy with management, but he greatly enjoyed teaching and often kept in touch with former students. Following his Parkinson’s diagnosis in 2002, Bleddyn’s fortitude was matched by that of Barbara. He rejected the description of her as “his rock” as cliched and inaccurate – she was a force rather than an immovable object, with indefatigable energy to advocate on his behalf. Between his determination and her support, they sustained a happy quality of life for more years than anyone could have predicted. Bleddyn was a lifelong Dylan devotee, and believed most conversations were improved by quoting a line from Bob. He collected Left Book Club first editions and rugby player autobiographies with equal enthusiasm. He was stoical in the face of brain surgery but wept freely every time he watched Brassed Off. He was a skilled woodworker, a terrible backseat driver, a connoisseur of cakes and cheese sandwiches. His loyalty ran deep and he made friendships for life. He was the best dad his children could have wished for. In 2018, Bleddyn and Barbara moved to Bristol to be closer to me and my sister. Over the last three years of his life, his mental state sadly deteriorated – but thanks to the care he received at the nursing home where he lived from 2020 he felt safe and comfortable. He is survived by Barbara, Megan and me.

‘They just want parents to go away’: complaints soar as special needs schooling crisis spirals

2022-09-03

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2022/sep/03/they-just-want-parents-to-go-away-complaints-soar-as-special-needs-schooling-crisis-spirals

Chronic underfunding of the Send system in England blamed for failure to offer children adequate support The number of complaints from parents about special needs education has risen by three-quarters in the past four years – with more than one complaint a day filed last year, according to figures from the local government ombudsman. The increase reflects the crisis in the special educational needs and disabilities (Send) system, with rising demand, chronic underfunding, lengthy delays and enduring gaps in provision. Complaints upheld by the local government and social care ombudsman (LGSCO) last year include cases where children missed out on therapy and schooling for a year or more, and severe delays by councils in assessing children’s needs. Figures from the ombudsman – which looks at complaints about councils and adult care providers – show that 430 complaints were filed regarding Send education in 2021-22, up from 305 in each of the previous two years and 244 in 2018-19. The ombudsman doesn’t investigate every complaint it receives, but it consistently upholds about 90% of the Send complaints it does investigate – much higher than in other areas covered by the ombudsman. The Send system has long suffered from underfunding and lack of provision, with councils racking up huge deficits on their Send budgets while children regularly struggle to get the support they need. A spokesperson for the LGSCO said: “We fully understand the massive difficulties faced by lots of families of children with special educational needs and disabilities. Most tell us it’s a constant battle just to secure the support to which they are entitled.” Steve Wright has filed multiple complaints with the ombudsman in recent years due to problems with Suffolk council’s handling of provision for his two adopted children – Jack, 14, and Olivia, 12. Seven of his complaints have been upheld, including three in 2021-22. Jack has moderate learning disabilities stemming from foetal alcohol spectrum disorder that affects his working memory, verbal reasoning, comprehension, executive functioning and managing his emotions. He has significant social anxiety. He started high school in 2018 with an education, health and care plan (EHCP) specifying that he should receive speech and language therapy, occupational therapy, and help with the social and emotional aspects of attending school. “I somewhat naively thought, well, you know, we’ve got a support package in place – that’s kind of protected him, he’ll get what he needs,” said Wright. “And you know, we can relax. But the problem is since that day, his EHCP provision has never been provided.” Jack has ended up attending five schools in five years. They repeatedly failed to provide him with the dedicated one-to-one support he needs to successfully transition to a new environment – provision the council is legally required to secure. “Because he’s had so many failed placements there’s a cumulative effect, which means that the next placement is also much more difficult for him because he’s had this history of difficulty.” At one school he was beaten up on his first day, leading him to run away screaming and crying. He has had no sustained speech and language therapy for two years. Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what’s happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion “In the last four years or so I’ve just been in this constant stream of complaints to the council, who every time just completely dismiss my complaints,” said Wright. “They just want parents to go away. They genuinely don’t seem to understand their responsibilities. They genuinely do not understand that the EHCP is their responsibility.” Suffolk council had 18 Send complaints upheld by the ombudsman in 2021-22 alone – more than one in 20 of all upheld Send complaints, despite being one of about 150 English councils responsible for Send provision. Allan Cadzow, corporate director for children and young people at Suffolk council, said: “Send complaints have been unacceptably high and we accept this is not good enough for the families affected.” He added that the council was reforming its Send services. Wright reserves some criticism for the ombudsman, which often orders councils to make symbolic payments of just a few hundred pounds – far less than the council saves through delaying or denying the provision of services. Using a subject access request, Wright obtained an analysis report on one of his complaints in which the LGSCO investigator wrote “many of us here [at the ombudsman] – including parents of children with EHCPs experiencing exactly the same issues – were equally frustrated by the limitations of the system in which we worked”. An LGSCO spokesperson said: “We don’t have the power to offer compensation (that’s for the courts), or fine local authorities. Where we find fault, our remedies aim as best as possible to put families back in the position they would have been in had the fault not occurred. This is often through, for example, a reassessment, provision of missed services or a payment for those missed services.” A Department for Education spokesperson said: “Councils are responsible for providing the right support for children in their areas, but we know there is variation in how the system works across the country, with too many families still facing an adversarial, complicated process. Our proposals in our Send and alternative provision green paper will create a fairer, more inclusive system that drives accountability and value for money. We are putting unprecedented investment into the high needs budget and helping councils target this funding more effectively so that young people in their area get support promptly.”

Covid drives biggest Sats results gap since 2012 for poorest pupils in England

2022-09-06

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2022/sep/06/covid-disruption-sats-attainment-gap-widens-disadvantaged-pupils

Deprived children fall further behind better-off peers as they lose most learning due to coronavirus Children from deprived backgrounds in England lost the most learning due to Covid, according to tests that revealed the widest gap between them and non-disadvantaged primary school pupils for a decade. The results of standardised literacy and maths tests taken by year 6 pupils this year showed a national decline, but detailed figures published by the Department for Education found disadvantaged children had a steeper fall than their better-off peers. The DfE said the attainment gap between the two groups was the largest since 2012, “suggesting that disruption to learning during the Covid-19 pandemic has had a greater impact on disadvantaged pupils”. Nationally, 59% of pupils aged 10 and 11 reached the expected standard in combined tests of maths, reading and writing, down from 65% in 2019, the previous time the tests – known as Sats – were taken. Just 43% of disadvantaged children – those on free school meals or in care – met the attainment target in all three subjects this year, compared with 65% of non-disadvantaged pupils. Disadvantaged pupils make up one-third of those taking Sats. Natalie Perera, the chief executive of the Education Policy Institute thinktank, said the results “paint a worrying picture for social mobility in England” and needed to be urgently addressed by the government. “This is not just a result of the pandemic. The disadvantage gap for primary school pupils was already widening in 2019 and we can see that the pandemic has made it worse,” she said. “Addressing the increasing inequality in our education system should be an urgent priority for the new prime minister. Given the challenges that loom ahead, ministers must focus on adequately resourcing schools and implementing a cross-government child poverty strategy.” The DfE figures also showed stark variations between regions. In four local authorities – Bedford, Norfolk, Isle of Wight and Portsmouth – fewer than half of year 6 pupils reached expected standards in maths, reading and writing. Only one local authority, Hackney, bucked the national trend and showed an improvement, with 68% of pupils passing each of the three tests, compared with 66% in 2019. But in neighbouring Tower Hamlets, the combined pass rate fell from 72% to 64%. Other areas recorded steep declines, with Blackpool’s combined pass rate dropping from 67% in 2019 to 51%. Schools in Oldham recorded a fall of 13 percentage points. Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what’s happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion Pupils whose first language is English suffered a disproportionate decline in results, according to the DfE’s analysis, which showed 58% of these children met the expected standard in all three subjects, down from 65%. In contrast, 60% of pupils whose first language is not English met the expected standard, down from 64% in 2019. Some local authorities were unable to publish their results, after the DfE admitted that more than 2,000 test papers had been lost, affecting the results for more than 500 schools. Tests this year were the first to be administered by the outsourcing company Capita, under contract to the DfE. Paul Whiteman, the general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, said there had been “significant problems” with this year’s tests. “Although this may be a small percentage of the number of papers overall, it still leaves hundreds of pupils without marks – pupils who are now entering secondary school without the end of primary results the government deems so important,” he said. A spokesperson for Capita told Schools Week: “We recognise that it is unacceptable for there to be delays in a result being received, or for any paper to be lost in the process of being scanned and marked. We have apologised directly to the affected schools and their pupils.”

Teaching unions warn of strikes in England despite reports of improved pay offer

2022-07-01

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2022/jul/01/teaching-unions-warn-of-strikes-in-england-despite-reports-of-improved-pay-offer

Review body said to have told DfE 3% rise inadequate and instead recommended 5% Teaching unions have said strikes may still be called in England despite reports of an improved offer being considered by the Treasury. Mary Bousted, the joint general secretary of the National Education Union (NEU), welcomed suggestions of a 5% pay rise but feared it still amounted to a pay cut after taking inflation into account. The School Teachers’ Review Body, the independent panel that advises the government on pay, is said to have told the Department for Education (DfE) that its proposal for an 3% rise for experienced teachers was inadequate, and has instead recommended 5%. The STRB is due to publish its recommendations before the end of this month, based on proposals by the government and submissions from school leaders and teaching unions. In December, Nadhim Zahawi, the education secretary, told the STRB he wanted a 3% pay increase for experienced teachers next year and 2% the following year, as well as a steeper rise for recent recruits, as part of a Conservative manifesto commitment for teachers starting salaries to be raised to £30,000 a year. But rapid increases in the cost of living have made Zahawi’s proposal out of date, and last month caused England’s two major teaching unions, the National Education Union and the NASUWT, to threaten to hold strike ballots later this year. According to a report in the Daily Telegraph, Zahawi has formally approached the Treasury to approve pay rises of 5%, with teachers in the first five years of their careers receiving a 9% rise. The DfE declined to comment, describing the report as “speculation”. Patrick Roach, the general secretary of NASUWT, said the plans “did not come close” to what was needed, and accused ministers of refusing to engage with the profession. “The deepening cost of living crisis together with 12 years of real-terms cuts to teachers’ pay require a genuine commitment to pay restoration for teachers starting in September,” Roach said. Bousted said the latest figures for applications to teacher training courses revealed an “absolutely dire” picture in several subjects, making it harder to replace teachers leaving in search of better pay and workloads. “If we don’t receive a very much better pay offer we will be looking to ballot our members in the autumn term, in October. But we don’t want to do that,” Boutsted told the BBC. “We’re asking Nadhim Zahawi to engage with us directly and negotiate – we stand ready to do that, and there is time to do that.” Research by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) found that teacher salary levels fell by 4-5% for new and less experienced teachers between 2007 and 2021, while salaries for more experienced teachers fell by 8% in real terms during the same period. The DfE has said any pay rises would be taken from existing budgets, as part of next year’s £4bn increase in the total schools budget in the latest spending review. However, the rise in inflation, especially in increasing energy costs, has strained school finances. The IFS’s Luke Sibieta said while school budgets could “probably” cope with a 4% pay rise, a rise of 5% or more may require extra funding from the government. The increases would mainly affect teachers in state schools, not those teaching in sixth form or further education colleges.

John Richardson obituary

2022-06-03

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2022/jun/03/john-richardson-obituary

My friend and colleague John Richardson, who has died aged 73 of bowel cancer, enjoyed a distinguished career, first in cognitive psychology and lately as a student-centred higher education researcher. He was a leading contributor to the development of the UK’s National Student Survey and a greater understanding of students from traditionally underrepresented groups. Born in Overseal, Derbyshire, John grew up with his mother, Mavis (nee Watts), in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, following her separation from his father, Edwin Evans, a miner and Baptist lay preacher. In 1956 Mavis, by then a civil servant, married Denis Richardson, a clerk whom she had met when both were working in different branches of GCHQ. At a time when access to higher education in the UK was limited, John secured an open scholarship in mathematics at St John’s College, Oxford, having excelled at Cheltenham grammar school and benefited from a role model in his uncle, Cedric Watts (the first in the family to pursue higher education). He transferred to Oxford’s joint degree programme in philosophy and psychology before completing a PhD in experimental psychology at the University of Sussex. In 1975 he took up a lectureship in psychology at the nascent Brunel University, where he was appointed head of the department of human sciences in 1989 and was promoted to professor in 1991. His early research looked at human memory and cognition in healthy individuals, but he also studied the effect of brain damage in human patients (especially after minor head injuries). John promoted the use of qualitative methods such as interviews, diaries and focus groups on the part of researchers and their students. During the 1990s he organised training funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, which led to a widely used textbook on qualitative methods in psychology and the social sciences. In 2001 John moved from Brunel to the Open University where he had been appointed to a new chair in student learning and assessment, based in its Institute of Educational Technology. His work began with the experiences of students who were deaf or hearing-impaired, and later examined the role of gender, social class and ethnicity in participation and attainment in UK higher education. He contributed to a 2003 report on collecting and using student feedback for the Higher Education Funding Council for England (Hefce), and was part of a team that carried out a pilot study for Hefce that led to the introduction of the National Student Survey in 2005 – now a highly influential source of annual information about the experiences of nearly half a million students in UK higher education. John was a fellow of both the Society for Research into Higher Education and the Academy of Social Sciences. He retired from the OU in 2017 and was appointed emeritus professor. He continued to supervise research students and to publish. His last work was a review of the research literature comparing the legibility of serif and sans serif typefaces, published in February 2022. In 1984 John marrried Hilary Robertson, who was working at the OU when they met. Hilary survives him, as do their daughters, Kat and Annie.

John Airs obituary

2022-10-03

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2022/oct/03/john-airs-obituary

My father, John Airs, who has died of cancer aged 81, was a drama teacher who inspired lifelong devotion from his pupils. He was also an active and campaigning socialist, and one of the Guardian’s more prolific letter writers. Born in Edinburgh, John was only three when his father, Wilf, an RAF navigator, was shot down over France during the second world war, leaving his schoolteacher mother, Mary (nee Ward), to raise him and his younger sister, Kathleen. John attended Fort Augustus Abbey school in Inverness-shire before going on to study English at Edinburgh University. It was there that his passion for drama grew and, before graduating, he was rusticated for spending too much time directing and acting in drama society productions. A spell in the Dominican Order reinforced John’s profound sense of justice, but the life was not for him, and he moved to Liverpool in 1967 and qualified as a teacher. In 1968 he joined the English department at Quarry Bank comprehensive school, where he was also responsible for drama productions. A colleague introduced John to my mother, Jane (nee Bryson), in 1972. They married soon after and I was born in 1976. John was a brilliant father, entertaining me, my older half-brother, Rob, and later his grandchildren, with Shakespearean renditions of our favourite children’s stories. In the mid-1980s, John met Chris Ball and together they set up a drama education unit funded by the local authority. It was work that he lived for. Their large-scale immersive productions were outstanding. Both he and Chris were made fellows of the University of Liverpool for the work they did there with students and staff, and John also shared his skills with teachers in Palestine and Jordan. He was a long-term member of the National Association for the Teaching of Drama, contributing to many conferences, the national executive committee, and the editorial board of its publication, the Journal for Drama in Education. He was always as rigorous, insightful and supportive of others in these roles as he was in his practical drama work. The congeniality and radicalism of John’s adopted hometown had always suited him and when he retired he was able to devote his energy and passion to politics. Latterly, he drifted away from the Labour party, but remained a firm advocate of the humane radical approaches of Jeremy Corbyn. He wrote numerous letters to the Guardian, which published more than a hundred of them. John generated deep respect and affection from everyone who encountered him, and this sociable socialist leaves an irreplaceable gap in our lives and hearts. He is survived by Jane, Rob and me, his sister, Kathleen, and two grandchildren, Jack and Molly.

Nadhim Zahawi makes U-turn on schools bill after criticism

2022-06-30

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2022/jun/30/government-announces-u-turn-on-schools-bill-after-criticism

Minister scraps plans to increase DfE control of academy trusts, derided as ‘ridiculous attempt to centralise power in Whitehall’ Ministers have announced a U-turn on key elements of the government’s schools bill, scrapping or amending clauses that would have given the Department for Education (DfE) greater control over “virtually every aspect” of academy trusts in England. The schools bill, launched by Nadhim Zahawi, has run into opposition from Conservative and crossbench peers for giving the education secretary a veto over appointments of school trustees, the power to rescind funding agreements and even determine the length of the school day within each trust. Kenneth Baker, the former Tory education secretary under Margaret Thatcher, had attacked the bill’s provisions in the Lords, saying “it increases the powers of the secretary of state and the DfE in a way unprecedented since 1870”. A DfE spokesperson said: “We are listening to concerns from peers about how the provisions in the bill would operate in practice, and will make sure the bill protects and strengthens the fundamental freedoms academies enjoy. “That is why we are supporting the temporary removal of clauses 1-18 from the bill, in advance of bringing back revised clauses later in the bill’s passage through parliament.” But Bridget Phillipson, the shadow education secretary, said Zahawi “has ripped up his own plans and is back to the drawing board with his very first piece of primary legislation”. The bill aims to have all England’s state schools join multi-academy trusts by 2030 and sought to impose greater direct authority over how the trusts operate. Currently DfE powers are limited by the legislative framework established under Michael Gove as education secretary. Critics said many of the clauses were vague and open to abuse, with former schools ministers in the Lords complaining that the bill was poorly drafted. Among the clauses being amended are those that would have given the DfE powers to intervene in a trust’s admissions criteria, spending and course content. Geoff Barton, the general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said the bill would have affected “virtually every aspect of the running of academies”. “It was a ridiculous attempt to centralise power in Whitehall over matters which are obviously much better decided by professional educators who know the needs of their schools and their pupils,” Barton said. In a letter to the Lords announcing the climbdown, the academies minister Lady Barran said the bill’s first four clauses dealing with operating standards of academy trusts would be scrapped, and that the government would accept amendments proposed by peers changing a further 12 clauses. “Whilst taking the time to get these measures right is clearly the right way forward, the government is also clear that these measures are essential to secure the path to a system in which all schools can benefit from being part of strong multi-academy trusts,” Barran said. Phillipson said that when she questioned Zahawi in parliament about problems with the bill, “he seemed immensely confident. In fact, he asked me to join him on a journey. Turns out, the journey was a U-turn.” The DfE insisted “the current regulatory system must evolve to retain parents’ confidence and make sure every school in every trust is helping their pupils fulfil their potential”, adding: “We therefore remain committed to the schools bill putting clear academy trust standards on a legal footing, and allowing for the government to intervene directly in the rare cases of academy trust failure.”

Education of poorest pupils in England 'suffers most during Covid isolation'

2020-11-23

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2020/nov/23/education-of-poorest-pupils-in-england-and-wales-suffers-most-during-covid-isolation

Survey for charity Teach First reveals scale of socio-economic divide among schools in England Four out of five schools with the poorest pupils in England do not have enough devices and internet access to ensure all self-isolating pupils can keep learning, according to a leading education charity. The lack of equipment means schools were having to dip into alternative budgets and that it was the the poorest pupils’ education that suffered during self-isolation, Teach First warned. A socio-economic divide was also underlined by the finding that schools with the most affluent intakes were nearly three times (29%) more likely to use donations to pay for digital devices compared with schools with the poorest pupils (10%). The scale of the need for devices to facilitate online learning during the pandemic was “enormous”, said one headteacher, commenting on the survey carried out for Teach First. “At our school we soon learned pupils were using smartphones to complete homework rather than accessing the school’s online work platform on a suitable device,” added Kathryn Hobbs, the headteacher of David Nieper Academy in Derbyshire. “When it comes to schoolwork, a smartphone just isn’t sufficient – but the hard truth is that some families simply can’t afford the most appropriate IT equipment. For schools to continue to support all of their pupils throughout this pandemic, we need more access to IT devices, but looking into our budget, there’s not enough money to meet the need.” The survey – which also found that nearly three in four (73%) school leaders said they do not have enough digital devices and internet access to ensure all self-isolating pupils can keep learning – was based on data collected by Teacher Tapp, a daily survey app that questioned more than 8,000 teachers each day. Teach First’s chief executive, Russell Hobby, said: “It’s not right that some children will fall further behind at school simply because their families can’t afford laptops and internet access.” A spokeswoman for the Department for Education said it had purchased more than 340,000 laptops this term to support disadvantaged children. “By Christmas, this will be an injection of over half a million since the pandemic hit,” she added. This was part of more than £195m invested to support remote education and access to online social care, she said. “We are entirely committed to ensuring as many disadvantaged children as possible benefit from receiving a device this term, and ensuring no pupil, no matter their background, loses out on an outstanding education.” Separately, the DfE has asked schools that are not using 4G wireless routers that have been distributed to sign up for a scheme in which they can be handed back and “reallocated” to other pupils. Schools are being urged to sign up to an online portal to see how much data is being used by each router they’re responsible for. The details were included on Friday in an update to government guidance, which notes that remote learning equipment given to schools during the summer term was owned by local authorities and academy trusts. It added that those bodies could choose to transfer ownership of the laptops, tablets and 4G wireless routers to individual schools or give devices to care leavers, or children and families with social workers. The headline and text of this article were amended on 24 November 2020. The survey in question related to schools in England, not in both England and Wales as an earlier version said.

‘We’re collateral damage’: marking strikes hit students’ graduate careers

2023-06-24

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2023/jun/24/were-collateral-damage-marking-strikes-hit-students-graduate-careers

After struggling through degrees hindered by Covid, those affected by boycott now say they face missing job opportunities Ray, 21, recently missed out on a dream job at a charity after they were unable to present their degree classification. Due to the marking boycott, they have now been waiting for eight weeks for their dissertation result alongside another unmarked module. “It’s been deeply upsetting. I’ve worked really hard, I’ve been in the library until 3am. “Not knowing when I’m getting my grades back, while watching seemingly everyone I know get theirs, has reduced me to tears on a regular basis,” said Ray, who studied history and politics at the University of Chichester, where he said not all modules had been affected equally. Ray is one of thousands of students who have been affected by the dispute over pay and conditions by staff at 145 UK universities, which the University and College Union has claimed could affect more than half a million graduations this summer. When applying for the job, they said the charity tried to accommodate their situation. “They even said they could just take a dissertation grade instead as my dissertation was related, but I couldn’t provide this either so unfortunately they could not accept my application, so I’ve missed out on a very niche dream job. “It’s been so upsetting to have been deeply impacted by Covid in my first year, which saw me spend more than six months at home, continuing my second year with isolating and testing, and now strike action decimating my chances of starting my graduate career as early as possible.” Though Ray has been reassured by the student union that their graduation will go ahead, they are filled with uncertainty about exactly when their classification will be finalised. “I hold the vice-chancellor and senior management responsible,” they added, citing the pay of teaching staff. Jay, 21, is concerned that he may not have his dissertation marked at all. Instead, his degree classification from the University of Westminster looks likely to be calculated by averaging his grades from the previous semester, as strike action has affected his course. “I worked hard toward my degree and dissertation – it feels like a waste of time,” he said. “This fails to reflect our true potential and undermines our hard work.” To Jay, it is the latest in a series of disappointments from the education system. “It feels like deja vu, reminiscent of how our final A-level and BTec grades were calculated,” he said. “During the pandemic our school years ended abruptly and our entire first year of university was spent confined within our rooms – we once again face disruption.” Jay blames the university’s senior management for the uncertain situation students are in. “I think it’s the higher-ups in the university and the vice-chancellor’s fault – the way they devalue both staff and students is disappointing.” The uncertainty is also creating stress for Emily, who recently finished studying philosophy at the University of Southampton. While the 22-year-old, who has a conditional offer for a masters’ course at the University of Edinburgh, has received marks for her work, the boycott means she is unsure when she will receive her official degree classification. Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what’s happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion “It has caused me stress and frustration since everything is still ‘up in the air’ as to whether my classification will be delayed, which I worry may affect whether I can proceed on to my next course,” she said, though the University of Edinburgh has also been affected by the boycott. “I feel like I have to constantly be checking emails and advocating for myself. “They’re sending me reminders on their applicant portal to give my degree classification and the deadline is in August – there’s a bit of pressure there. Students are the collateral damage of a dispute that is not at all their fault.” Others feel trepidation at the possibility of having their final year’s work marked by someone other than their supervisor. Daniel, 24, a history student at the University of Sheffield, is concerned that one of his modules and his dissertation could be graded by another academic who has not specialised in the field his work is on. He says he was informed this could be the case by teaching staff who raised the possibility of non-specialist markers. “The idea that my dissertation on a very niche area of historical research may be marked by someone without expertise in that area angers me beyond belief. I have spent a full year researching and writing it under the guidance and advice of a specific tutor, who will now not be the one reading it. “I definitely support the lecturers and what they are boycotting and striking for. It’s just really disappointing – the fact that strikes have been going on for years without resolution and I’m paying so much money and will be paying it off for decades. “I have been left doubting whether the marks I will end up with actually reflect what I would have achieved had the work been marked by experts in the topic at hand. Whether I achieve a higher or lower mark than I hope for, I feel that there will always be a shadow over my degree classification, and that employers will think the same.”

Record numbers of disadvantaged UK students apply for university

2022-07-13

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2022/jul/14/record-numbers-of-disadvantaged-uk-students-apply-for-university

Ucas data also shows surge in applications from Nigeria, India and China but fall in nursing applications Record numbers of disadvantaged students in the UK have applied to go to university this year, according to official figures that also show international recruitment has held up with a surge in applications from Nigeria, India and China. According to data published by the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (Ucas), overall applications for UK 18-year-olds have exceeded all previous records, raising concerns about competition for places on the most popular courses as some universities try to rein in numbers after over recruiting during the pandemic. Universities will, however, be pleased to see continuing growth in international student numbers, which went up 3% overall with 135,000 applications. International students pay higher fees than their UK counterparts, which help offset the declining value of domestic fees that have been eroded by inflation. The most striking increase in applications came from students in Nigeria, where there has been a 58% jump in the number seeking to study in the UK, though from a low base. Ucas said it had received 5,290 applications, up from 3,360 in 2021 and 1,670 in 2019. Elsewhere there has been a 20% increase in applications from India and a 10% increase from China with 31,400 applications this year. Sarah Stevens, director of policy at the Russell Group of research intensive universities, said: “Today’s figures show that despite a highly competitive environment, the UK remains a world-class destination for international students. “The strong growth in applications from India and Nigeria, prioritised in the UK’s International Education Strategy, demonstrate efforts to attract students from across the world are beginning to pay dividends.” Figures published on Thursday for applications by Ucas’s 30 June deadline show the application rate from 18-year-olds living in the most disadvantaged areas in the UK stands at 28.8%, up from 27% in 2021 and over 10 percentage points higher than in 2013. A total of 38,300 students from the most disadvantaged areas of the country have applied to university this year, and while these figures represent a narrowing of the gap the application rate for 18-year-olds from the least deprived areas remains the same at 59.5%. Clare Marchant, the Ucas chief executive, said: ‘It’s really encouraging to see students from disadvantaged backgrounds apply in record numbers, despite the disruption the pandemic has caused to young people’s education. “Ucas’s analysis shows that universities and colleges are continuing to support the progression of these students with targeted offer-making that we predict will see record numbers of disadvantaged students start university and college in the autumn.” The overall application rate for UK 18-year-olds stands at 44.1%, but Ucas was at pains to reassure students concerned about competition. “Over the next few weeks, we’ll see a huge effort across the education sector to support more than 700,000 students begin the next chapter in their educational journey and we believe that record numbers of students will get their firm choice this year on results days,” said Marchant. “Nearly 30,000 courses are now available in clearing across many courses and institutions. There will be plenty of choice available to students who are unplaced or use Clearing as an opportunity to rethink their plans.” The Ucas data also showed that 490 people have become the first T-level students to apply to university this year. The qualification is a two-year vocational qualification intended to be broadly equivalent to three A-levels and includes an extended work placement. It also showed a fall in the number of nursing applications, with an 8% drop across the UK from the previous year. Royal College of Nursing general secretary and chief executive, Pat Cullen, said this is “further evidence” things are “heading in the wrong direction” during a workforce crisis compromising patient care. The newly appointed minister for further and higher education Andrea Jenkyns said: “It is fantastic to see a record number of 18 year-olds from the most disadvantaged areas applying for university. “This year also marks a key milestone for T Levels and it is encouraging that so many students have applied for higher education.”

English universities over-reliant on overseas students’ fees, report warns

2022-06-14

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2022/jun/15/english-universities-over-reliant-on-overseas-students-fees-report-warns

Public accounts committee says institutions ‘potentially exposed to significant financial risks’, with 80 declaring annual deficit Universities in England face danger from financial instability and falling student satisfaction, according to a report by MPs that blames the government and regulators for failing to ensure students receive value for money for their time in higher education. The report, by the public accounts committee (PAC), says some universities are heavily reliant on overseas students’ fees, using that income to cross-subsidise research and other activities – leaving them “potentially exposed to significant financial risks” if international student numbers fail to keep growing. The committee notes that the number of universities with budget deficits has risen for four years in a row, with inflation, the freeze on domestic tuition fees, pension costs and policy changes on student loans and minimum entry requirements making it likely that students will be affected by course cuts, lower quality teaching or restricted access, or even closures of entire campuses. The report concludes that the Office for Students, the higher education regulator for England, has failed to make sufficient progress “in getting a grip on the long-term systemic challenges facing the sector”. Susan Lapworth, the interim chief executive of the OfS, said: “In the main, universities and other higher education providers entered the pandemic in good financial shape, and there is evidence that the sector in aggregate is well placed to recover from the challenges of the last two years.” The Department for Education said: “Despite the challenges faced by universities and colleges in recent years, the most recent reports from both the [National Audit Office] and the OfS make clear that, overall, the sector remains financially resilient.” However, the PAC notes that 80 higher education institutions have recently reported annual deficits, while 20 institutions have been running deficits for three years or more. The MPs are also critical of the DfE’s failure to anticipate the financial impact of recent A-level grade inflation on student recruitment, “which meant more students were able to take up places at high-tariff providers, and many medium- and low-tariff and specialist providers were undersubscribed.” Meg Hillier, the Labour MP who chairs the PAC, said: “The A-level fiasco of 2020 and grade inflation have a long-term impact on higher education, adding to deep systemic problems in the financial sustainability of higher education. The number of providers in deficit rose dramatically in the four years up to the onset of the pandemic. “Too many providers are too heavily dependent on overseas student fees to maintain their finances, research base and provision – that is not a satisfactory situation in a sector that government is leaning on to boost the nation’s notoriously, persistently low productivity.” The two years of pandemic-related over-recruitment by selective universities has had a knock-on effect this year, with fewer students receiving offers. In another report published on Wednesday, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) says university students from the poorest households are seeing the value of their maintenance loans shrink as inflation increases more rapidly than forecast. The IFS’s economists predict that next year the value of government support for living costs for the poorest students will fall to its lowest level for seven years. “As a result, even students entitled to maximum maintenance loans will have to make do with substantially less than they would earn working in a minimum-wage job,” the IFS says. It calculated that a 22-year-old student would earn £1,000 more than the maximum loan if they worked in a job paying the national minimum wage. Ben Waltmann, a senior research economist at the IFS, said the real-terms cuts in support would cause hardship for students on tight budgets. “Bizarrely, this is happening because student maintenance loan entitlements are routinely adjusted based on outdated inflation forecasts, and forecast errors are never corrected. “This makes no sense at all. The government should use more up-to-date forecasts and correct for any errors in the following year to avoid permanent cuts. Alternatively, maintenance entitlements could be tied to earnings on the minimum wage,” Waltmann said. Larissa Kennedy, the president of the National Union of Students, said: “We’re hearing from students who are working three jobs to make ends meet, who can’t even afford to travel to their university library, and who are cutting back on cooking food due to spiralling energy costs. Our research has shown that thousands more are relying on food banks and buy now, pay later loans.”

King’s College London cuts ties with opioids-linked Sackler family

2023-05-19

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2023/may/19/kings-college-london-cuts-ties-with-opioids-linked-sackler-family

University is latest body to distance itself from sponsorship by owners of Purdue Pharma, makers of OxyContin King’s College London has become one of the latest UK institutions to sever all ties with the Sackler family amid outrage over its role in the deadly opioids epidemic in the US. Several other UK organisations that have recently been funded by Sackler cash, including the Royal Opera House, continue to take active steps to distance themselves from the family and expunge all records of their previous ties. King’s said it planned to change the name of its Sackler Institute on developmental brain disorders because it no longer receives money from the family’s charitable foundations. In 2021 the college accepted £750,000 from the Dr Mortimer and Theresa Sackler Foundation, which helps fund 22 doctoral research students. King’s confirmed to the Guardian that this was the last grant from the family. In a statement it said: “King’s College London and the Dr Mortimer and Theresa Sackler Foundation have mutually agreed that, as funding has now ended, the research the foundation supported will no longer carry the Sackler name.” The move comes after Oxford University confirmed this week that it was also ending its lucrative funding arrangements with the Sackler family and removing its name from buildings, galleries and positions funded through their donations. Members of the Sackler family are the owners of Purdue Pharma, which reached a multibillion-dollar bankruptcy settlement over its role in an epidemic that is estimated to have killed more 500,000 people since 1999. It was accused of aggressively marketing OxyContin and playing down its addictiveness. The family’s other UK-based charity, the Sackler Trust, currently highlights its support for 17 UK organisations on its website. All have been contacted by the Guardian to clarify if they are still accepting Sackler cash. Thirteen responded and said they had now cut ties with the trust. At least three of the charities listed – Ballet Black, the Prison Education Trust and the Spitalfield Crypt Trust – have asked the Sackler Trust to remove their name from their websites. In a statement Ballet Black said it had made a decision in April last year not to seek or accept any more money from the Sackler family “in light of its proven involvement in the opioid crisis in the USA”. It added: “We have also written to the Sackler Foundation to ask them to remove Ballet Black from the website and any other materials.” On Friday the Royal Opera House (ROH) removed from its website the name of Dame Theresa Sackler, a former board member of Purdue who is identified in several US lawsuits, who on Thursday had been listed as a honorary director. In a statement a spokesperson said: “The ROH no longer receives support from the Sackler Foundation, and will not be accepting support in the future. All donations and philanthropy received is assessed through the board of the ROH’s donation and income acceptance committee and is kept under constant review. We have historically received support from the Sackler Trust and Dame Theresa Sackler, which is why they were referenced in this way on our website.” The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, confirmed that last year it had changed the name of its 2006 Sackler crossing, a 70-metre winding path across a waterway, to the Lake crossing. In a statement, a spokesperson said the decision was “based on feedback from members, donors, visitors and staff over time and following meetings with our board of trustees and the Sackler family”. She added: “We have not accepted funds from the Sacklers since 2016 and have no plans to make any requests for funding in the future.” Chris Garrard, a co-director of the campaign Culture Unstained, said: “With King’s College now severing its ties to the tarnished Sackler name, it has joined a near wholesale rejection of the family’s toxic philanthropy in the UK, one that has unfolded over just a few years as Nan Goldin and others shone a spotlight on the harmful ways Purdue’s profits were made. He added: “The days where a museum or gallery might simply ‘take the money and run’ are over. Whether it is dirty money from the Sacklers or cynical sponsorship from fossil fuel companies, numerous cultural and educational organisations are now stepping up and showing that it is possible to draw an ethical red line and reject funds from those that do not share their values.” The Sackler Trust has been approached for comment.

Nearly one in three children in north-east England on free school meals

2022-06-09

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2022/jun/09/nearly-one-in-three-children-free-school-meals-north-east-england

Figures shows 10% rise in FSM across England and school leaders say real child poverty level is even higher Nearly one in three children in the north-east of England are receiving free school meals (FSM), according to figures that reveal a 10% rise across England, as school leaders say the real level of child poverty is even higher. The figures released in the Department for Education (DfE) annual school census show that 22.5% of state school pupils are on FSM, up from 20.8% last year, reflecting the increasing number of households receiving universal credit and earning less than £7,400 a year after tax. Four years ago 13.6% of children were on FSM. That meant fewer than one in seven pupils were eligible. The current rate is one in 4.4. Paul Whiteman, the general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT), said: “Our members have described the rise in poverty in their schools’ communities over the past year as shocking and stark. It is clear that the combined pressures of Covid-19 and the cost of living crisis have driven more families and children into poverty.” While the proportion of children on FSM increased across England, the north-east of England had the highest rate, with 29.1% of pupils eligible, while the north-west, the West Midlands, London, and Yorkshire and the Humber had about 25% of pupils eligible. The south-east of England had the lowest rate, with 17.6%. Anna Turley, the chair of the North East Child Poverty Commission, said: “It’s clear that the current threshold for free school meals – which hasn’t changed since 2018 – is totally inadequate, with many thousands of north-east pupils growing up in poverty but unable to receive this vital support. “That picture is only going to get even worse in the coming months, as families grapple with soaring household bills and even more children face going hungry, with all the obvious consequences for their health and ability to learn.” The Child Poverty Action Group said based on the latest figures, a further 800,000 children were living in poverty but did not qualify for FSM. Julie McCulloch, director of policy at the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), said it was even more shocking that current eligibility “does not even capture all the children who need help. Free school meal eligibility now applies to 22.5% of pupils but we know that the level of child poverty is about 30%.” ASCL, the NAHT and other groups have been lobbying the government to widen FSM eligibility to include children from all households receiving universal credit, not just those earning less than £7,400 a year. More than 50% of Gypsy and Roma pupils were eligible for FSM, as were more than 40% of children from Black Caribbean backgrounds. More than 21% of white British pupils were eligible. Labour’s Stephen Morgan, the shadow schools minister, said: “The alarming rise in children eligible for free school meals is symptomatic of a cost of living crisis made worse by Downing Street. Unchecked inflation and Conservative choices to increase taxes are piling the pressure on families and school budgets.” The DfE said: “We communicate regularly with schools and councils so they know what is available for these children. We know millions of families are struggling with the rising cost of living, which is why we are providing over £37bn to target those with the greatest need.”

NHS to miss out on recruiting thousands of nurses if BTecs are scrapped

2022-07-12

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2022/jul/13/nhs-to-miss-out-on-recruiting-thousands-of-nurses-if-btecs-are-scrapped

Hospital bosses issue warning as government moves to end technical qualifications for healthcare students The NHS will miss out on recruiting thousands of nurses every year as a direct result of the government scrapping BTec courses in health and social care, hospital bosses have warned. NHS Employers wrote in a letter to the education secretary, James Cleverly, that it had “serious concerns” about the plan, which it fears will exacerbate the health service’s acute staffing problems. BTecs are long-established qualifications that help young people get jobs as support workers in nursing, midwifery or allied health professions. Some of them later train to be a fully qualified nurse, midwife, radiographer or occupational therapist. NHS Employers is particularly worried that abolishing BTECs in 2024 and 2025, as part of a move to new T-level qualifications in a shake-up of post-16 education, will damage the NHS in England’s efforts to recruit enough nurses to help fill the almost 40,000 vacancies it has for them. Danny Mortimer, the organisation’s chief executive, told Cleverly in its letter that about a fifth of those studying for a nursing degree had done a health and social care BTec. In 2017, for example, 7,120 of those on a nursing course had already got that qualification – 20% of the total. That was more than the 5,947 who had embarked on a degree after doing A-levels. “This shows that the course provides an effective pathway to nurse training for a significant number of people,” he said. In separate remarks, Mortimer said: “Abolishing these important BTec courses in health and social care is an incredibly shortsighted decision by the government. “At a time when the NHS is already extremely short-staffed and carrying 105,000 vacancies, depriving the health service of a pipeline of fresh nursing, midwifery and other healthcare recruits is both reckless and ill-advised and could well leave the NHS, as well as our colleagues in social care, with several thousand more vacancies in the years ahead.” More than 100 NHS organisations from across England believe ministers “should not be bringing the provision of this course, which nurtures and supports those with an interest in health and social care, to an end at this time”, the letter says. About 30,000 people are currently undertaking a BTec in health and social care, of whom just under half are studying full-time. The Royal College of Nursing urged Cleverly to have an “urgent rethink” of the plan. Its implementation was delayed after MPs and peers from different parties as well as college bosses criticised it. Dr Nichola Ashby, the RCN’s deputy director for nursing education, research and ethics, said: “This is yet another example of the government making it harder, not easier, to get into nursing in England. There is a workforce crisis and every would-be nurse is needed for safe patient care. “BTec health and social care courses ... offer an opportunity for people from low income backgrounds and mature students who might otherwise be denied it.” The Department for Education defended replacing BTecs with T Levels. “It is vital that qualifications meet the needs of employers and support more people into higher skilled, higher wage jobs,” a spokesperson said. “Our health T- level has been co-created with employers, including the NHS, so that students gain the skills and experience needed to start roles within the health sector, and to progress on to university and further study. We will continue to fund BTecs and other qualifications in future where there is a clear need for them so young people have access to high quality options.”

Massive Attack join project to increase diversity of English school curriculum

2022-10-13

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2022/oct/14/massive-attack-join-project-to-increase-diversity-of-english-school-curriculum

Bristol group have written new music for Cargo Classroom project, which they describe as ‘a perfect piece of activism’ Members of the renowned Bristol band Massive Attack have collaborated on a new educational project aimed at increasing the diversity of the school curriculum in England. Cargo Classroom (Charting African Resilience Generating Opportunities) is the brainchild of poet Lawrence Hoo and creative director Chaz Golding, who believe schoolchildren are missing important perspectives on history, a conclusion derived from their own educational experiences growing up and subsequent observations. With the help of academics from the University of Bristol and a team of education experts, the pair developed a series of interactive online lessons aimed at bringing stories of inspiring individuals of African and African diaspora descent into classrooms to enrich history studies. The lessons, which are designed to be included in the key stage 3 history curriculum for pupils aged 11 to 14, use poetry, film and illustrations to make the content more accessible and engaging. Massive Attack, who have previously spoken out on food poverty and environmental issues and are long-term supporters of the work of Hoo and Golding, have written music to accompany the poetry performances. Hoo, Golding and Massive Attack all originate from Bristol, where the statue of the slave trader Edward Colston was toppled from its plinth and pushed into the docks by anti-racism protesters in 2020 as Black Lives Matter protests swept across the globe. “Everything begins with education,” said Massive Attack’s Rob Del Naja, AKA 3D. “Without an understanding of the brutal consequences of British colonial history and the reality of the slave trade, we can’t move forwards equitably. “Without kids knowing that Colston’s legacy was of a philanthropy built on crimes against humanity, you can’t have a reasonable debate about monuments and the legacy of naming civic spaces. “Cargo is a perfect piece of activism, a positive intervention in the education sector, in a backdrop of culture war politics.” The Cargo Classroom project, which is the subject of a new BBC TV documentary, comes at a time of mounting concern about the shortcomings of the curriculum in terms of Black history, with growing calls to “decolonise” the curriculum and increase Black visibility. Golding is however reluctant to be drawn into the debate. “It’s so narrow to talk about Black and white,” he said. “You’re playing into the hands of people that want to use that as a tool against what you’re trying to do.” The use of language in the resources is very deliberate – instead of Black, the lesson materials use “of African and African diaspora heritage”, and “of European heritage” rather than white. Golding was also keen to stress that the Cargo mission is not about removing anything from the existing curriculum, but adding to it and enriching the content, making it more accessible to more children from different backgrounds. “We just want to add variety and engaging stories, because people learn through engagement,” he said. “They can feel uninspired by some of the material delivered at school – material that doesn’t represent them. So these are stories that relate to people from different backgrounds.” Among the figures on the Cargo curriculum are revolutionaries such as Nanny of the Maroons (1686–1733), a leader of slavery resistance in Jamaica, Dutty Boukman, a spiritual leader and instigator of the Haitian uprising who died in 1791, and Paul Bogle (1820–1865), leader of the rebellion of enslaved people in Jamaica. Work is also under way to develop appropriate resources for primary schools. The BBC documentary is being broadcast during Black History Month, but only by coincidence, says Golding, who has mixed feelings about BHM. “It’s a difficult one, isn’t it, because it does raise awareness. But it’s a real shame that it’s just a month that people care, when it should be spread throughout the year.” Queen Nzinga A leader of the kingdom of Ndongo and Matamba, located in present day northern Angola, Queen Nzinga’s was “the empowering story of incredible female leadership and diplomacy against the backdrop of the Portuguese encroachment of south west Africa and the growth of the African slave trade,” says Golding. Nzinga Mbanda was born into a ruling family in the 17th century and became one of the most celebrated African women in the resistance against European colonisation. Imhotep Imhotep was “an individual many people will only know as the baddie from the Hollywood movie series the Mummy”, says Golding. “In reality he was a polymath who designed the first pyramid, as well as a pioneer physician and mathematician.” After his death, Imhotep was deified and elevated to a god of healing and medicine. Knowledge of Imhotep’s achievements later became incorporated into stories about Asklepios, the ancient Greek god of medicine. Lonnie Johnson An American inventor, aerospace engineer and entrepreneur, Lonnie Johnson – now 73 – did a 12-year stint at Nasa working on the Galileo mission to Jupiter and the stealth bomber programme before going on to invent one of the world’s bestselling toys, the Super Soaker water gun. “Nicknamed ‘The Professor’ by his friends, this genius inventor was the only black student in his high school science fair and won first place with a robot that was powered by compressed air,” said Golding. “This inspirational individual went on to work for Nasa as well as invent the world-famous Super Soaker, combining a love for fun and science.” We Are England: The Classroom Revolution is due to be shown at 7.30pm on BBC One HD on Friday (14 Oct). Black History Month: Do our children need more Black history lessons? Join Joseph Harker, Jeffrey Boakye, Lavinya Stennett and Desta Haile as they question how our children are taught about Black people’s contribution to Britain. Monday 24 October 2022, 8pm – 9pm BST. Book tickets at theguardian.com/guardianlive.

Universities in US and Canada beat UK in sustainability league

2022-10-26

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2022/oct/26/universities-us-canada-uk-sustainability-league-edinburgh-rank-emissions-targets

Edinburgh is highest-ranked British institution, in fourth place, as fears grow over emissions targets UK universities are below their US and Canadian counterparts in a sustainability global league table that ranks them on their environmental footprint and contribution to society, as student climate campaigners warn that nearly half are falling behind their emissions targets. The rankings place the University of California, Berkeley, at No 1, followed by two Canadian institutions, the University of Toronto and the University of British Columbia, with Edinburgh University the top-performing UK institution in fourth place as a result of its strong sustainability research. The second-highest UK university was Glasgow, in 13th place, which the rankings compiler QS said performed well in equality, thanks to having a large number of female leaders and taking a transparent approach to governance. Next is Oxford, in 16th place, Newcastle at 18th, and Cambridge, which claimed 19th spot. Andrew MacFarlane, the QS ranking manager, said the UK had performed “exceptionally well”, with the second-highest proportion of institutions in the top 100 after the US. “On average, [UK universities] demonstrate good ratios of gender diversity, both at the staff and student level, published commitments to diversity and tolerance as well as climate mitigation and governance, an impressive research focus that speaks to many of the UN’s SDGs and evidence of transparent governance,” he said. However, Quinn Runkle, the director of education at Students Organising for Sustainability, warned that nearly half of UK universities were not on track to meet carbon emissions targets and two-fifths had yet to commit to divesting from fossil fuels. “While it is positive to see UK universities performing well in the overall ranking, I think this is a reflection of how far the sector still has to go. Coming at the top does not necessarily mean institutions are doing all that must be done, rather that they are just doing more than others,” she said. She added that sustainability rankings could be a helpful tool in driving change and she hoped such measures would be included in overall league tables. “Worldwide just 3% of people attend university but graduates make up 80% of leadership positions so universities have an enormous duty to ensure decision-makers get it right when it comes to sustainability,” Runkle said.Fiona Goodwin, the chief executive of the Alliance for Sustainability Leadership in Education, said “sustainability is an increasing factor of choice for where students apply”, adding that she hoped the Department for Education’s new sustainability and climate strategy would provide the leadership and drive for universities to do more. QS’s survey of 3,000 students found that 82% of applicants researched their prospective institution’s sustainability work, while 87% considered its track record on equality and diversity. Nearly three-quarters (73%) of students from western Europe cited the climate emergency as the biggest issue for young people. The rankings are based on two categories: environmental impact, including institutional sustainability and teaching and research on the climate crisis, and social impact, which measures the institution’s equality and diversity, and how social justice features in curriculums and research. Sign up to Down to Earth The planet's most important stories. Get all the week's environment news - the good, the bad and the essential after newsletter promotion Edinburgh’s high ranking was a result of it producing research aligned with the UN’s sustainable development goals, a good record on diversity, a strong environmental sciences department – including a climate institute and courses such as Msc climate change – and lots of partnerships with universities from the global south. Planned initiatives include a carbon sequestration programme, which will sequester more than 1m tonnes of CO2, total divestment from fossil fuels, scholarships for people from the areas most affected by the climate crisis to investigate ways to combat its effects and work supporting the Scottish capital’s net zero target. Dave Gorman, the director of social responsibility and sustainability at Edinburgh University, said the institution aimed to “raise our ambition year on year”, adding that it hoped to further develop on this over the next decade by widening its sustainability focus to include social responsibility, biodiversity, resources and the circular economy.

Adele the academic? Why mature students are top of the swots

2022-10-30

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2022/oct/30/adele-academic-mature-students-career-break-study

The pop singer has announced plans to take a mid-career break and study English literature. As I found out, there’s no better time to do it For more than two decades, I lived untroubled by the quiet disappointment of my parents, who had assumed I would one day go to university. But I didn’t. Getting a degree was never an ambition, and I didn’t need letters after my name to prove an intellectual point. I had Countdown for that. But then, while working in Afghanistan, everything changed. In keeping with the fashion of the time in conflict zones around the globe, I blamed the UN. I had toyed with the idea of joining the organisation, but despite the UN publishing a set of values that included a “respect for diversity”, this in no way applied to academic qualifications when applying for a job with it. To get a foot in the door, you needed a degree. So, at the age of 41, I enrolled at the Open University. I chose to study part-time, because this was a vanity project rather than a pressing need, and I emerged six years later with a first-class BA (Hons) in international studies. I still don’t have a job with the UN, but that wasn’t the point. The point was that I needed to see if I could do it and, clearly, I could. However, my phoenix-like ascension from classic underachiever to classroom swot had as much to do with timing as aptitude. In some respects, school is wasted on the young, and I know with absolute certainty that I would never have achieved a first if I had gone to university aged 18. As a teenager, I wouldn’t have had the life experience I personally needed to approach an academic course with the confidence to present a convincing argument, a basic requirement in most arts subjects. Nor would I have had the editing skills needed to cram everything I wanted to say into a limited, and limiting, word count. But perhaps most importantly, I wouldn’t have had the freedom to choose a subject I was genuinely interest in. Adele’s subject of choice is English literature. “If I hadn’t made it singing, I think I would be an English lit teacher,” the 34-year-old told fans last week . Similarly, I chose international studies because I had always enjoyed the nuts and bolts of geopolitics, which is helpful when you work in journalism. Choosing a subject that interests you rather than pursuing a qualification to suit a career path can relieve much of the pressure that tends to come with education, making the process far more enjoyable. However, for some mature students, it’s walking into the unknown that makes adult learning one of life’s great adventures. My friend Brian, who also came to the freshers’ party late, was in his 40s when he graduated from the OU with a first in humanities with art history. “I wandered into the National Gallery one day to get out of the rain and to take a look at what a £15m painting looked like,” he tells me. “A version of Van Gogh’s Sunflowers had recently sold for about that figure. “Once inside, I started hovering on the edge of organised groups, listening as they talked knowingly about the paintings they were looking at, and I found myself wondering what made one painting worth £15m compared with others that didn’t come close. I wanted to know more, and that’s when I took a huge leap and started an Open University course.” After gaining a first with the OU, Brian went on to acquire an MA with distinction in art history from Birkbeck, University of London. “I feel privileged to have been able to take my degrees in later life,” he says. “If I’d gone to university at 18, I’d have felt the need to take a subject that would have helped launch a career rather than simply study for the love of the subject itself. “I suspect I would not have enjoyed the experience as much.” As well as studying for the sheer enjoyment of learning, another advantage of working for a degree later in life is the confidence that experience adds to your intellectual toolbox. Although it might not work for a BSc in mathematics, in subjective subjects such as international studies there is no such thing as a correct answer: there is simply a correct way of answering a question. That is the point at which learning throws off the shackles of regurgitation and steps into exploration – where the real fun happens. Of course, and because I am now an academic capable of looking at both sides of an argument, there is a downside of being a mature student. Studying for a degree, even part-time, takes a commitment of at least 14 hours a week, and this can be annoying when you have better things to do than perfect your Harvard referencing. However, for those who persevere, education is the gift that has the potential to keep on giving. As is often said, knowledge is power, and working for a degree leaves you with a more agile and inquiring mind. The sense of accomplishment is also a genuine feelgood moment in a world that offers few of them. An added bonus is that continued studying could reduce the risk of cognitive decline. Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what’s happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion Unfortunately, enrolling in any university or college costs serious money these days. However, there are a number of free or low-cost learning sites on the internet, including some that collaborate with top-ranking universities offering foundation-style courses, such as FutureLearn. So, go out, explore, visit a gallery, stop by the library or stick on the latest Adele CD and be inspired. As Albert Einstein once said, “Intellectual growth should commence at birth and cease only at death.” And none of us are dead yet. Steven Spielberg: the ET director dropped out of university to pursue his film career but decided to return to education in his 50s, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in film and electronic arts from California State university in 2002. Shakira: after a sellout world tour, the singer took a short university course in the history of western civilisation at UCLA when she was 30. She dressed as a boy to complete the summer course without being recognised. Lenny Henry: the comedianand actor graduated from the Open University with a BA in English literature in 2007, aged 49. He went on to complete an MA in screenwriting for TV and film at Royal Holloway, University of London, followed by a PhD in the role of black people in the media. Eva Longoria: the Desperate Housewives actor got a master’s in Chicano studies at California State University in 2018, aged 38. She attended classes in person for three years. Untethered by Andrea Busfield is published by Armida Books.

Roger Hennessey obituary

2022-09-06

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2022/sep/06/roger-hennessey-obituary

My father, Roger Hennessey, who has died aged 84, was an inspirational teacher at the Royal Grammar school, Newcastle upon Tyne, from 1962 to 1973, and an effective head of the school’s economics department. After the RGS, Roger was an HMI – a schools inspector – from 1973 until his retirement in 1992, latterly becoming the staff inspector of history. Roger was born in Hammersmith, west London. He was the son of a Royal Navy officer, Sydney, who commanded HMS Scott on D-day. An only child, Roger grew up with his mother, Winifred (nee Palmer), when his father was away at sea. He eagerly anticipated his father’s shore leave, which invariably began with an understated message from a phone box asking for “the kettle to be put on”. After education at Epsom college, Surrey, and national service with the Army Catering Corps, Roger read history at Downing College, Cambridge, specialising in the British economy from 1870 to 1940. He graduated in 1960, completed a postgraduate certificate in education in 1961, and joined the RGS the following year. The headteacher, Mr Hayden, wanted to broaden the curriculum and tasked Roger with establishing an economics department. He also edited the school’s Old Novocastrians’ Association magazine and wrote a number of secondary school textbooks for the Batsford Past-into-Present Series, including Transport (1966), Factories (1969) and Railways (1973). In 1963 Roger married Penelope Coningham, my mother. Although my parents divorced in 1991, they maintained an affection for each other and a shared interest in their three children and four grandchildren. His time as staff inspector of history coincided with the first national curriculum for history being devised. The chairman of the History Working Group, Michael Saunders Watson, wrote in the foreword to the final report: “I wish to single out the quite outstanding support we have received from our observer representative of Her Majesty’s Inspectorate, Mr Roger Hennessey.” Around this time Roger met Jennifer Worsfold, who was in charge of the History Working Group’s secretariat, and they married in 1995. Tempted by generous terms offered when Ofsted was established, Roger retired from the inspectorate in 1992. In retirement he published more books, including Worlds Without End (1999) and Atlantic: The Well-Beloved Engine (2002). Jennifer was diagnosed with dementia in the early 2000s and died in 2016. Roger is survived by his children, Emma, Jasper and me, and grandchildren.

Jean Robertson obituary

2023-02-08

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2023/feb/08/jean-robertson-obituary

My grandmother, Jean Robertson, who has died aged 91, was an activist, teacher and community builder who spent her life giving back and helping others. Born in Deptford, south-east London, Jean was the daughter of Constance (nee Barker) and Alfred, a factory worker. She had a brother, Alfred, and two sisters, twins Muriel and Marian. Aged two, she moved with her family to Welling, Kent, where she was to live (save for evacuation and some adventures abroad) for the rest of her life. She left Dartford grammar school in 1947 and qualified as a chartered secretary in 1952, spending several years using her writing and arithmetic skills at organisations including C&A, John Lewis and the Institute for Psychoanalysis. In 1958 she sailed on the Saxonia from Liverpool to Montreal and spent 18 months working in Canada. She was a remarkably free-spirited person, defying the orthodox expectations of a young working-class woman. After three years as an assistant lecturer in accounting at Gravesend Technical College, Kent, in the mid-1960s she embarked on another adventure, this time to Malawi, to teach accounting at the university in Blantyre. There she met John Blain, a Gambian businessman, and they had their daughter, Antoinette, in 1966. She returned to Britain and trained as a teacher at Avery Hill College in Eltham (1969-73), later specialising in teaching children with disabilities. She taught at Woodside school in Barnehurst (1978-80) and then the Howbury Grange Technical school in Slade Green (1980-91), where she also became head of the special needs department. Jean also attended protests and supported numerous causes. She campaigned against nuclear weapons at Greenham Common and instilled a strong feminist ethic in her daughter and granddaughter. A long-time socialist and member of the Labour party, Jean was chair of the Bexley branch of the National Union of Teachers in the 80s and a founding member of the Bexley Council for Racial Equality. She was instrumental in developing the Danson Youth Trust, in Bexleyheath, volunteering there for over 30 years. Jean had the opportunity to meet the Queen for her services to education, and in 2021 she received a Civic Recognition of Outstanding Achievement award from the London borough of Bexley. In her retirement, she learned to fly a glider plane, went white-water rafting and visited Antarctica. She loved reading, going to the theatre, playing bowls, travelling, playing bridge, singing, spending time with family and engaging in conversation. She adored her nieces and nephews and was close to her grandchildren, playing an instrumental role in their upbringing. Jean is survived by Antoinette, her grandchildren, Remy and me, and by her sisters.

Drop in London primary applications puts future of some schools at risk

2023-04-17

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2023/apr/17/drop-in-london-primary-applications-puts-future-of-some-schools-at-risk

Demand for reception class places fell by 2.7% this year, prompting fears some institutions may be forced to merge or close Applications for reception class places in London have fallen by 2.67% this year, according to new data, fuelling concerns about the financial viability of some primary schools, which may be forced to merge or close as pupil numbers decline. London Councils, the cross-party group representing local authorities in the capital, said there had been a “significant” decrease in the number of applications for reception classes for the start of the academic year in September. Primary schools received 87,277 applications – 582 fewer than last year – with falling birthrates thought to be the main cause for the decline. Between 2012 and 2021 there was a 17% decrease in the city’s birthrate. Other factors thought to be at play include the aftermath of Brexit and Covid, which has prompted some families to leave the capital, while rising rent costs have driven others to find cheaper accommodation elsewhere. London Councils said application numbers vary across different boroughs but warned the reduction in demand in some areas has the potential to impact funding of individual schools as most funding is allocated on a per pupil basis. “This is in the context of many schools struggling to balance budgets this academic year due to a combination of factors, including inflationary price increases, and a shortage of teaching and support staff which has led to increased spending on more expensive agency staff,” the organisation said. Hackney council is one of those affected and is considering closing or merging six of its primary schools as a direct result of the decrease in pupil numbers. According to the council, there were 634 vacant reception places this year compared with just 10 in 2014. In Southwark up to 16 primaries could be at risk. Monday was national primary offer day in England, when families find out which school their four-year-old will go to in September. In the capital – and elsewhere – the decline in applications enabled more families to secure a place at one of their preferred schools. In London 98% of families got one of their preferred school places while 88.5% – 77,260 children – secured a place at their first preference school. This is an increase of 0.6% on last year’s figures. Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what’s happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion Cllr Ian Edwards, London Councils’ executive member for children and young people, said: “It is positive that once again the overwhelming majority of children have an offer from one of their preferred schools. London boroughs are continuing to work with schools experiencing decreasing demand for school places to achieve good outcomes for young Londoners. “We remain keen to work with government to respond to pressures surrounding primary school places and to support the growing demand for development of specialist Send (special educational needs and disabilities) provision at a local level, ensuring that that all London pupils have the best start in life.” Birmingham also saw a drop in the number of applications with 256 fewer than last year, with just under 91% of families getting their first choice. Applications increased slightly in Manchester, up from 6,213 last year to 6,310, and those securing their first choice dropped slightly from 96% to 95%. Elsewhere, a PA Media survey found that 20 out of 35 councils that provided comparable data saw a rise in the proportion of children securing their preferred school compared with 2022. Meanwhile, 14 councils reported a decline in the proportion of families securing their top choice, and one council reported no change. According to PA, the areas where high proportions of pupils obtained their first preference include Stockton-on-Tees in County Durham, where 98.3% got their top choice, and Calderdale in West Yorkshire, where 97.9% were offered their first pick. In contrast, in Wokingham, Berkshire, just 88.8% of children got their first preference, while in Sefton in Merseyside 89% got their top choice. A Department for Education spokesperson said: “Today thousands of families across England will find out which school their child will join in September, and the majority will have received their first choice of primary school.” “We have created almost 1.2m places since 2010, the largest increase in school capacity in at least two generations, and work closely with local authorities to make sure they offer a school place to every child in the country and support the long-term viability of their schools.”

School hair policies are tied up in race and class | Letters

2022-10-30

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2022/oct/30/school-hair-policies-are-tied-up-in-race-and-class

Oladapo Feyisetan and Mike Woodcock respond to an article on discrimination against afro hair As a parent born and raised in Nigeria, I am saddened that a school would suspend a child on account of natural afro hair, or even suggest using a relaxer (Why should my daughter have had to fight for her education because of her afro hair?, 27 October). It’s a theme that I’ve come across too often. I have two daughters, born in England, both now in secondary school. We have never been challenged about their hair. I can only conclude that schools choose to make an issue if those in charge believe that they will get away with it. How else to explain the disparity in hair policy in different schools?Oladapo FeyisetanSouthport, Merseyside From the 1970s to 2006, I taught in good local comprehensives. Headteachers would have hair edicts that were usually focused on one working-class style or another – buzz cuts, for example – and often excluded a child until there had been regrowth. Is it an expectation that we educate or that we demand (white) middle-class behaviours and mores?Mike WoodcockOlveston, Gloucestershire Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication.

George Walker obituary

2022-06-01

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2022/jun/01/george-walker-obituary

My friend and colleague George Walker, who has died aged 80, had a great impact on education, both in the UK and globally. He wrote a number of books on the subject, including To Educate the Nations (2004), Educating the Global Citizen (2006) and An A-Z of School Leadership (2007). Born in Watford, Hertfordshire, George was the son of William, then in service with the RAF and later a primary school headteacher, and Celia (nee Dean), a teacher of French. At Watford grammar school for boys he showed himself to be an accomplished pianist, and after studying chemistry at Exeter College, Oxford, he spent a year at the University of Cape Town under the supervision of the renowned concert pianist Lamar Crowson. Deciding, however, to become a chemistry teacher, he took up his first post at his old school, where I was also working. Then came a lectureship in education at the University of York under the mentorship of Professor Harry Rée, and he went on to take part in several national initiatives in science education. A vigorous supporter of comprehensive education, after a deputy headship at Carisbrooke high school on the Isle of Wight George progressed to his first headship at the Heathcote school in Stevenage, followed by a second at the Cavendish school in Hemel Hempstead. In 1991 he became director general at the International School of Geneva, taking overall charge of its, then, three campuses and overseeing a period of strong growth with calmness, integrity, efficiency and humility. He gained the post despite claiming to be less than fluent in French (the school has bilingual campuses) but was soon chairing meetings in two languages. He was also known for his piano recitals. Eight years later George went on to serve as director general of the rapidly growing International Baccalaureate, never losing sight of the original idealistic aims of the project. This allowed him to stay in Geneva; he loved the mountains, skiing and hiking, and once even attempted an ascent of Mont Blanc. After retirement to Suffolk he continued to be invited to give speeches around the world, and wrote a number of well-received books, including Challenges From a New World (2010), and a book of autobiographical vignettes entitled Glimpses of Utopia (2013). George was appointed OBE in 1992 and awarded an honorary doctorate in education from the University of Bath, where he also served as a visiting professor. He is survived by his wife, Jenny (nee Hill), whom he met in Watford and married in 1968, their children, Catherine and Simon, and grandchildren Robert, Claire, Thomas, and Daniel.

David Lewis obituary

2023-01-05

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2023/jan/05/david-lewis-obituary

My friend David Lewis, who has died aged 85, was an academic botanist and pro-vice chancellor at the University of Sheffield. David’s scientific speciality was the symbiotic relationship between mycorrhizal fungi and their plant partners. Away from university administrative duties, he also served as editor (1970-1983) and then executive editor (1983-1995) of the New Phytologist, elevating its status from a national to an international botanical journal. He was a regular contributor to the publication himself; his last paper appeared just two years before he died. He was born to Emlyn Lewis and his wife, Eluned (nee Hopkin), who together ran a tobacconists in Neath, south Wales, where David developed an early interest in plants. He was sent as a boarder to Colston’s school (now Collegiate school) in Bristol at the age of nine, and after national service in the RAF went to Queen’s College Oxford to study botany. In 1966 he secured a lectureship in the botany department at the University of Sheffield. Moving swiftly up the academic hierarchy, he was awarded a personal chair in 1983 and became head of department in 1987. During the 1980s, when Margaret Thatcher instituted some major changes in higher education, small academic units such as the botany department at Sheffield were deemed “inefficient”, and so the university merged it with zoology in 1988 to become the department of animal and plant sciences, with David as its chair. Under his leadership, the new department prospered and became one of the most respected in the country. In 1995 David was made pro-vice chancellor for research at Sheffield, a prestigious post but in some minor ways a poisoned chalice. One of the first things he had to implement after his appointment was the introduction of car-parking charges at the university – an idea he had previously opposed quite vociferously. After serving as pro-vice-chancellor for four years, David returned to academic life within the department of animal and plant sciences, and retired in 2002. Outside the university, he was a trustee of the Sheffield Botanical Gardens Trust, and helped to secure a large Heritage Lottery Fund grant in 1996 to pay for the garden’s much-needed restoration. He is survived by his wife, Diana (nee Petrie), a district nurse, whom he married in 1990, and his two children, Tom and Katie, from his first marriage to Rachel Waterfall, which ended in divorce.

Current pupils will have left school before tutoring scheme hits goal, says Labour

2022-05-30

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2022/may/30/current-pupils-will-have-left-school-before-tutoring-scheme-hits-goal-says-labour

Analysis claims catch-up plan for English secondary pupils will take more than five years to deliver Take-up of the government’s flagship tutoring programme is so slow that all current secondary pupils in England will have left school by the time the Conservatives finally deliver on their education catch-up promises, Labour has said. Last summer the prime minister announced 100m hours of one-to-one and small-group tutoring over a three-year period to help pupils in England who have fallen behind in their learning due to the disruption caused by the pandemic. At the rate of delivery for this academic year, Labour says that figure will not be reached for at least five anda half years, by which time all pupils currently in secondary school will have completed year 11 and moved on. The national tutoring programme (NTP) was set up with considerable fanfare in 2020 by the former education secretary Gavin Williamson to tackle lost learning caused by lockdown and continuing Covid disruption. According to Labour’s analysis, 1.2m tuition courses of 15 hours began in the 2021-22 academic year, equating to less than 18m hours in total for the year, meaning that at current rates the 100m hours target will not be met in the next five years. The Department for Education (DfE) said Labour’s analysis was flawed as the academic year on which it was based was unfinished and its projections were incorrect. The shadow schools minister, Stephen Morgan, said: “Millions of children will have left school before the government delivers the support it promised. The Conservatives have ducked this generational challenge, leaving children, parents and teachers to pick up the pieces once again.” The delivery of the NTP has been dogged by problems. Randstad, the Dutch multinational responsible for running the programme, has lost the overall contract for next year, with tuition funding going direct to schools through the schools-led tutoring route, where take-up has been higher. A DfE spokesperson said: “These projections don’t stand up; they are based on an academic year which hasn’t even finished. The NTP has already delivered 1.5m tutoring courses, with 1.2m courses starting in this academic year alone. “From next year the NTP will be simplified, with all funding being provided directly to schools, and funding to support education recovery in secondary schools will double.” The DfE also played down reports that ministers were considering overturning a ban on opening new grammar schools, as did Boris Johnson’s spokesperson, who indicated there was no plan to change policy. The Telegraph reported that senior government figures were “open” to the idea of looking again at legislation that outlaws any new academically selective schools, amid calls from some “red wall” MPs to bring back grammar schools as part of the government’s levelling up agenda. The DfE said: “Grammar schools are a valuable part of the school system, with a great ethos, and we want to spread their DNA through the wider education system by encouraging them to join or set up multi-academy trusts. We will protect their selective nature if they do this, but there are no plans to permit the opening of new grammar schools.” Geoff Barton, the general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said evidence showed that expanding the number of selective schools was not the answer to improving social mobility. “Grammar schools, where they currently exist, do a great job for their pupils, but so do many comprehensive schools across the country, and the idea that selective education is some sort of golden ticket is, frankly, insulting.”

Warwick student with cancer wins payout after university denied extension request

2023-02-23

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2023/feb/23/warwick-student-with-cancer-wins-payout-after-university-denied-extension-request

University accepts it did not make adjustments for her illness as a form of disability Warwick University has agreed to pay a student who is seriously ill with cancer £12,000 in damages for the “distress and inconvenience” caused by not allowing her to extend her course as a result of her health condition. Riham Sheble, an international postgraduate film and television studies student at Warwick was diagnosed with uterine sarcoma – a rare and aggressive form of cancer – in February 2021. Her payout has been hailed as a significant victory for overseas students with disabilities in the UK by Unis Resist Border Controls (URBC)) and Warwick University and College Union who fought for her to be allowed to extend her study period. The university has acknowledged that its handling of her extension of studies request submitted in April 2022 did not adequately provide reasonable adjustments for her cancer as a form of disability and after a-seven month battle has agreed to pay her the sum. Sheble, who is Egyptian, welcomed the settlement of her case. “University of Warwick’s initial decision denying me an extension of study period was completely unnecessary,” she said. “These battles were imposed on me at a time when I was contending with death and at war with my own body. I was forced to fight on so many fronts. It was exhausting. More importantly it was utterly unjust.” She was also contending with an initial decision by the Home Office to reject her mother’s application for a visa to visit her. But that decision was reversed after a campaign by more than 200 University of Warwick staff and students with support from Birmingham Ladywood MP, Shabana Mahmood. “There came a point when I didn’t think I was going to see my mother before dying. It was a frightening thought,” said Sheble. A spokesperson for Warwick UCU said: “We are delighted with this outcome and will continue pushing the university to honour their commitments. No university should deprive any student with a disability or a chronic health condition of their education.” Warwick said: “A formal investigation was carried out into a complaint made by a student relating to how the university had processed a request for an extension to her period of registration. “That investigation found that we could have shown greater flexibility in this case. We accepted this conclusion and recognised we had got this wrong – and then worked to put it right. “A decision to reject a further extension to her period of registration was reversed. And we wrote to the Home Office on the student’s behalf asking for her mother to be allowed to come into the UK to support her, which was successful. “We also felt it was the right thing to do to make a payment to the student rather than contest it through a potentially lengthy complaints process, given the unique circumstances involved in this case. “We’re sorry for the way the student was made to feel through this process, which came during a very difficult and challenging time for her. We have sent a letter to her to offer our sincere apologies.”

Pupil numbers in England set to shrink by almost 1 million in 10 years

2022-07-14

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2022/jul/14/pupil-numbers-in-england-set-to-shrink-by-near-1m-in-10-years

Government forecast anticipates 12% decline, mainly due to fewer births, with surplus school places in years ahead England’s school population is set to shrink by almost a million children over the next 10 years, according to the government’s latest data, raising the prospect of surplus places and school closures in some areas of the country in the years ahead. Department for Education figures reveal that predicted pupil numbers, already in marked decline according to earlier modelling, have had to be revised down further in line with projections of fewer births than expected. The data, published on Thursday, anticipates a 12% decline in pupil numbers over the next 10 years, with the entire school population expected to fall from its current level of 7,859,000 this year to 6,915,000 by 2032. The national pupil projections are published annually, and just last year the government predicted that 7,269,000 pupils would be in the education system by 2032. But a further 354,000 have been taken off in the latest projection. For schools whose budgets are already squeezed by rising costs, the fall in rolls will make life harder because school funding is based on head count and fewer pupils will mean less money. Primary schools in some areas of London, which saw a huge expansion in pupil numbers at the start of the century, are already seeing a significant decline in numbers, determined not only by the falling birth rate but also by the impact of Brexit and the pandemic, which prompted some families to move out of the capital. In Hackney, for example, there was a surplus of about 500 new primary school places last year, a situation that will be replicated across the capital. Those surpluses at primary level will start to affect secondary schools as the current population bulge moves on to further and higher education and beyond. According to the DfE, predictions have had to be revised downwards because of notably lower birth projections in the mid-2020s, according to ONS national population projections being used for the first time in this set of data. Primary and nursery school pupils peaked in 2019 and the figures have been dropping since then. The overall population in state-funded nursery and primary schools is projected to be 4,065,000 in 2028 – 532,000 fewer than the current total of 4,597,000. The DfE says a large drop in 2021 may have been connected in part to the pandemic, with parents choosing to home-school during the reception year. The secondary school population, meanwhile, is projected to peak in 2024 – up from the current total of 3,126,000 to 3,230,000 – but then be followed by a gradual decline.