Ethnic minority students less likely to win university places. Black, Asian and other ethnic minority students face a persistent gap in winning university undergraduate offers in England compared with white applicants, even when exam performance is taken into account. Data published by the admissions service Ucas show that even after adjusting for A-level scores, ethnic minority students are marginally less likely to be given offers of places, while white students with similar predicted grades at A level are more successful at getting offers. Publication of the figures, comparing applications rates and offers at English universities by ethnic groups between 2010 and 2014, follows calls for greater transparency by the universities minister Jo Johnson.
The analysis suggested that while the gap in successful applications by ethnic minorities is more narrow than previous measures, a small but stubborn gap in success rates remains. Les Ebdon, the director of Office for Fair Access, welcomed the release of the data. Grammar school 'unlawfully threw out' students who failed to get top grades | Education. One of the country’s leading grammar schools has been accused of acting unlawfully by throwing out sixth-form students who failed to get top grades in AS and equivalent internal exams ahead of their final A-level year.
About 16 pupils at St Olave’s grammar school in Orpington, in the London borough of Bromley, were told their places for year 13 – the last year of school – had been withdrawn after they failed to get the required three Bs. One father accused the school of dumping his son like “old garbage”. Other students were told they would be allowed to continue on a discretionary basis and were asked to sign a contract warning that if they did not get a minimum B grade in their mocks the school reserved the right not to enter them for their A-level exams.
Lawyers acting for two of the affected families have issued judicial review proceedings against the school’s governing body, also naming Bromley, the local authority responsible for maintaining the school, as an interested party. Where did all the GCSE pupils go – and why has no one noticed? | Education. When Ofsted inspectors published a report on Hewens College in Hillingdon, west London, in January 2016, they gave it a clean bill of health. Leadership and management were impressive, teachers had high expectations of their charges and the education provided overall was adjudged “good”. Any school would be proud of such a report. However, one striking fact was not mentioned. The year group that had taken GCSEs the previous summer, and on whom much of the school’s latest achievement data was based, was only just over half the size it had been when these pupils joined the school in 2010.
For while 44 girls and 41 boys – 85 in total – had started out at Hewens in year 7, by the time they reached year 11, only 24 girls and 22 boys remained. Where had these young people gone? These are questions raised by an Education Guardian investigation that shows school year groups can shrink dramatically without Ofsted inspectors even noticing. The league tables are not the only cause for concern. What's a Boss Worth? - HBS Working Knowledge - Harvard Business School. We all have our boss horror stories. The underminer. The bad communicator. The credit hog. The snake. Then again, if we’re lucky, we’ve all had those amazing bosses as well—the supervisor who encourages all employees to take their work up to the next level; the manager who makes everyone around them look better.
But how much of an effect does a good or bad boss have on workers, really? Harvard Business School Assistant Professor Christopher Stanton sets out to ask that question in The Value of Bosses, a paper recently published in the Journal of Labor Economics—and finds out the answer is, quite a lot. “If you have a better boss on a team, you get more out of each individual worker” Academics and practitioners alike are interested in how to construct the best teams to get the most productivity out of people working together. A good boss improves a team’s performance, but researchers aren’t sure why. Measuring boss quality “These results suggest the most important peer is your supervisor” Almost a quarter of teachers who have qualified since 2011 have left profession | Education. Almost a quarter of the teachers who have qualified since 2011 have already left the profession, according to official figures that have prompted further concerns about the pressures on the profession.
Of those who qualified in 2011 alone, 31% had quit within five years of becoming teachers, the figures show. The official rate of dropouts from the profession was published as the government came under pressure to relax the 1% pay cap that has been placed on teachers’ pay until 2020. Analysis of official figures shows that more than 27,500 teachers who trained between 2011 and 2015 had already left the job by last year. It means that just over 23% of about 117,000 teachers who qualified over the period have left. The figures follow complaints by Tory MPs that the overall schools budget is too small and needs to be increased. “Teachers are leaving our classrooms in record numbers, and the crisis is getting worse year after year. It was 19% longer than the average elsewhere of 40.6 hours.
Schools in England cut back on teaching hours to save money | Education. Schools across England are trying to save money by cutting back on teaching hours and trimming the length of their week, as the ongoing funding crisis casts a shadow over next year’s operations. While state schools face a combination of frozen budgets, rising prices, higher pensions and staff costs, many are choosing to reduce hours rather than cut teaching staff in their efforts to save money. A primary school in Leicestershire is among the latest to consult parents over adopting a shorter week, with children to be let out early on Fridays – but schools large and small are looking at similar solutions. Sandon secondary school in Essex has told parents that next year’s pupils could have an hour less teaching a week, along with cuts to PE and personal, social, health and economics (PSHE) lessons for some year groups.
“If a member of staff leaves, we now think very carefully as to whether to replace them. Parents have reacted with dismay, according to the Mercury. No baptism, no school: Irish parents fight for equal access to education. Instead of starting school last month, Reuben Murphy found himself back in his Dublin nursery for another year as his mother, Nikki, re-embarked on her quest to find a place at a local state primary for her four-year-old son. She has already applied to 15 schools. But, following rejections from nine last year, Murphy is far from confident that a place will be found for Reuben. In a country where more than 90% of state schools are run by the Catholic church, unbaptised children like him are at the bottom of their admissions lists. “I’m desperate,” said Murphy. “I’ve met tons of parents who’ve baptised their children just to get a school place.
We thought about it, but it goes against our conscience. I feel it would be an abuse of other people’s deeply held religious beliefs.” A drive to repeal the legislation that allows Irish schools to operate admissions criteria based on faith is gathering momentum. High Court Judges Back Humanists Over GCSE. The High Court has ruled against the Education Secretary after she left "non-religious world views" out of a new religious studies GCSE. Three families, backed by the British Humanist Association, had brought the case against Nicky Morgan, arguing she had taken a "skewed" approach to the subject. Ms Morgan argued equal consideration was not a legal requirement The families said Ms Morgan's new GCSE did not reflect the pluralistic nature of the UK.
Mr Justice Warby agreed to allow a judicial review into the matter ruling there had been "a breach of the duty to take care that information or knowledge included in the curriculum is conveyed in a pluralistic manner". Video: Author Slams Barbarian Politicians Kate Bielby, mother of Daisy and one of the people who wanted a review, said before the hearing: "I completely recognise the importance of children learning about the different religions, especially in our increasingly diverse society. Video: June: Tough New School Targets. Academy trusts accused of failing disadvantaged pupils. The government’s policy of using academy sponsors to revive struggling schools in England has been called into doubt by analysis showing that some large chains of schools were hindering the education of disadvantaged pupils.
While some academy trusts – chains of sponsored schools grouped under single management – have had outstanding success in improving the results of children from deprived backgrounds, several of the 34 trusts surveyed showed significantly worse results than those seen nationally. The research commissioned by the Sutton Trust, which aims to increase social mobility through education, also found that the worst performing academy chains had seen a decline in their performance between 2012 and 2014, when a similar survey had been conducted – suggesting the chains were unable to improve their own record. Russell Hobby, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, said: “A significant part of government policy is left on shaky ground. Couple face court after taking children out of school to see sick grandfather. A couple who took their children out of school without permission to visit their sick grandfather in India are being taken to court this week as part of the government’s continuing crackdown on term-time absence.
Shahnawaz and Sofiya Patel had put in a request to their two sons’ primary school for an authorised absence to make the trip last December when the children’s grandfather was undergoing surgery. It was the first time the Patels, from Preston, Lancashire, had made such a request, and their children – Omar, 11, and Eiad, eight – have had no previous unauthorised absences, but their school, the English Martyrs Catholic primary in Preston, refused permission. The children’s grandmother died three years earlier in a car crash; they did not go to the funeral and had not seen their grandfather, who survived the accident, for five years – so the Patels went ahead with the trip.
The Patels have since been issued with four penalty notices and fined £480. John Oliver Tackles Sex Education with an Honest P. By Conor Soules | Indiewire August 10, 2015 at 1:15PM "Human sexuality, unlike calculus, is something you actually need to know about for the rest of your life. " On the latest episode of "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver," in anticipation of the upcoming school year, John Oliver discussed the discrepancies in sex education throughout the United States, highlighting some major flaws in dire need of attention. As a result of parents not wanting to talk to their kids about sex and kids not wanting to talk their parents about sex, the role of educator falls on the school system, and the sad truth is schools are failing to prepare their students.
Who doesn't remember the painfully awkward sex education classes? READ MORE: Watch: John Oliver Lists His Favorite HBO Documentaries for Your Viewing Pleasure Kids have a lot of important questions regarding the topic. Taxpayers to pay investment firm annual £468,000 rent for free school. Taxpayers are footing an annual bill of nearly £500,000 for one small free school to rent premises from a private investment company, Education Guardian can reveal. Is this what we must now expect from the education system: taxpayers’ money going into the hands of private landlords, instead of the old-fashioned network of state schools operating free on state-owned land?
If so, it might be expensive. The yearly lease being paid from next month for Brook House primary free school in Tottenham, north London, is £468,000 – more than £3,000 for each of the 153 pupils who were registered on its books as of January this year. The story of Brook House involves two academy chains, the Department for Education, a financial firm, a housing association and Premier League football club Tottenham Hotspur. Last year, the school failed an Ofsted inspection and control was transferred from E-Act to the east London-based Lion Academy Trust.
We asked what the rental bill was. Claims of ‘irregularities’ at free schools and academies. Two claims of “financial irregularity” at academies and free schools are being made each month, the Observer can reveal. There have been 58 allegations in the last three years – seven of which were made in the first three months of the 2015-16 financial year. The Department for Education (DfE) has refused to name the schools involved. Last week the government announced the launch of 18 new free schools, adding to the 252 already open, with 98 more in the pipeline. David Cameron has said he wants every school to become an academy, which, like free schools, are outside the supervision of local authorities and have autonomy over their budgets. However, figures released by the DfE have led to calls for an urgent examination of accountability in the system. In 2012-13, the first financial year in which allegations of potential fraud were collated, there were 11 such claims to the government’s Education Funding Agency (EFA).
Europe's largest arms firm BAE chosen to sponsor failing Furness Academy. - Furness Academy in special measures since March 2012 – Campaigners uneasy about curriculum changes ’to suit needs’ The government has chosen an arms manufacturer as its preferred sponsor to turn around a failing academy in the north of England. BAE Systems – Europe’s biggest arms company, turning over £15.4bn last year – is set to take over Furness Academy in Barrow, Cumbria, in September. It has set up a trust to run the school under its submarine-building arm, which is based in the town.
The company will build new nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines, should the UK’s Trident programme get the go-ahead next year. BAE Systems Marine Submarines Academy Trust will be tasked with turning around the troubled school that has been in special measures since March 2012. Despite a subsequent Ofsted inspection in May 2013 and five monitoring visits, inspectors say it is still not improving enough.
“With BAE there is an additional factor – they deal with a controversial product. Teachers urged to 'disengage' from promotion of British values | Politics. Teachers are being urged to ignore the government’s drive on promoting fundamental British values in schools, amid claims that it is “ill-considered, ill-defined and counterproductive”. The policy, introduced after the so-called Trojan horse plot in which hardline Islamists were accused of trying to take over a small number of Birmingham schools, was “totally out of proportion” and vulnerable to misinterpretation, a conference was told.
Robin Bevan, headteacher at Southend high school, told delegates at the Association of Teachers and Lecturers’ conference in Liverpool on Monday that the government’s response to a small number of isolated incidents was a “headline-grabbing act of political posturing”. He said no one would argue against schools and colleges promoting personal morality and a sense of civic duty among pupils, but the move to require schools to promote British values was ill-considered. “If these fundamental British values change with time, then they are hardly fundamental. Fact Check: are free schools raising education standards? 'Just use lots of lube!' – what we learned from sex education.
Government response to education committee report on academies and free schools: the wills and won’ts. Student rewards such as cash and free trips fail to improve GCSE results. No proof that academies raise standards, inquiry finds. Academy boss earns more than chief executive of NHS England. Teachers with top degrees, private schools' tax breaks and weak academies | Teacher Network. Trojan horse affair: five lessons we must learn. Rupert Murdoch - the Dark Lord in the classroom. The U.K.'s Year of Code director, Lottie Dexter, doesn't know how to code. The Michael Gove random policy generator. School appoints 'head of research'
Teachers demand training in neuroscience to improve classroom practice. 'Trojan horse' report suggests Lord Nash is governor of too many schools. 9-Year-Old Who Changed School Lunches Silenced By Politicians | Wired Science. A rather unchristian school admissions policy? School Cafeteria Food vs. Prison Food. Schoolboy made to write 'Sorry' on piece of paper - then eat it. Michael Gove wants baccalaureate qualification for England | Politics.
Michael Gove axes six-week summer holidays for schools. Science community dismayed at decision to axe lab work from A-levels. Teachers: life inside the exam factory. Teachers spend less than half their working week in the classroom. Academies run by 'superhead' received advance notice of Ofsted checks | Education | The Observer. Academy chain accused of 'privatisation by stealth' over plan to outsource jobs | Education | The Guardian. How important is education secretary's core subjects plan? Yeah, Tristram, an oath is really going to turn a bad teacher into a good one. ‘Trojan horse’ schools have done little to fix problems – Ofsted | UK news. Parents in Wales told to send sick children to school. London’s GCSE success due to ethnic diversity in capital’s schools – report | UK news.