Education

Minouche Shafik appeared beleaguered as House members grilled her over reported upsurge in antisemitism on campusThe head of a prestigious US university clashed with members of Congress today in highly charged hearings over a reported upsurge in antisemitism on campus in the wake of Israel’s war in Gaza.Minouche Shafik, the president of Columbia University, appeared beleaguered and uncertain as one Congress member after another assailed her over her institution’s supposed inaction to stop it becoming what one called “a hotbed of antisemitism and hatred”.This article was amended on 17 April 2024 to correctly identify the school where Elizabeth Magill resigned as president last year. T..

Some say more schools may ban organised prayer after court ruling but others say judgment was based on unique circumstancesThe ruling on a prayer ban at a top London school has created a “classic English policy muddle” that has divided school leaders over its implications, with some experts predicting that more schools could ban organised prayers as a result.The warning came after a high court judge upheld the ban at Michaela community school in Brent, north-west London, dismissing a challenge by a Muslim pupil who claimed it was discriminatory and breached her right to religious freedom. Continue reading...

We would like to hear from Muslims in the UK about theirs or their children’s experiences of prayer at schoolA Muslim pupil has lost their high court appeal against Michaela community school in Brent, north-west London, over its ban on prayer rituals. The pupil had claimed the ban was discriminatory and breached her right to religious freedom.We would like to hear from Muslims in the UK about their experiences of prayer when they were at school. We’re particularly interested in hearing from Muslims aged 18 or over who were able to pray at school in the UK and parents who are comfortable with sharing their children’s experiences. Continue reading...

Charity that uses football to help pupils build relationships found to improve happiness in Greater Manchester projectIntensive mentoring for troubled schoolchildren using football kickabouts can significantly enhance wellbeing, increasing happiness equivalent to an unemployed adult getting a job, a study has found.A project involving more than 2,000 pupils in dozens of secondary schools in Greater Manchester showed that instead of wellbeing declining among pupils at risk of exclusion who had behavioural issues and special educational needs, their happiness scores increased. Continue reading...

The pandemic showed that remote learning is effective. It’s absurd that universities are going back to processes that exclude usRosie Anfilogoff is the winner of the 2024 Hugo Young Award (19-25 age category) recognising young talent in political opinion writingMy route to university was never going to be simple. While my friends were flicking through university brochures and choosing Ucas options, I was signing chemotherapy consent forms in the teenage cancer unit at Addenbrooke’s hospital and throwing up in its weirdly tropical island-themed bathrooms. Even before then, my severe chronic illness made attending traditional university unthinkable – until the pandemic happened.In 2020, ..

The campaign that came to prominence when 276 schoolgirls were kidnapped from their classes in 2014 has had an impact beyond its first rallying cries It was a kidnapping that changed Nigeria’s image internationally. For many, the first inkling of what was going on in the country’s north-east was after April 2014, when 276 girls were snatched from a school in Chibok by the Islamist militia group Boko Haram. It came from social media postings from the then US first lady, Michelle Obama, from the actor Angelina Jolie and Pope Francis, holding up #BringBackOurGirls signs. That became the name of a movement, and a rallying cry for the girls’ release. Ten years on, the girls are not all back..

How one teacher wrestles meaning and relevance from classics of English literatureIt is a truth universally acknowledged that the books you studied at school are the ones that stick with you for ever. In my case it was Pride and Prejudice, but for you it might have been Macbeth or Malorie Blackman’s Noughts and Crosses. These are the texts you know by heart because, once upon a time, you spent two years annotating them using different coloured pens and consigning chunks to memory.But what broader, deeper kinds of learning might be available to teenagers studying English literature at school, asks Carol Atherton. For the past 25 years she has taught both GCSE and A-level in s..

But truancy and illness-related absences can be reversed with good sleeping habits and strong family ties, study suggestsYoung people who spend too much time online are more likely to miss school through illness or truancy, a study has suggested.Teenage girls appear to be more likely than teenage boys to score highly on excessive internet use, the findings indicate. But a good amount of sleep and exercise and a trusting relationship with their parents appear to go some way to reducing the effects of extreme web use on classroom absences. Continue reading...

Muslim pupil loses case against Michaela community school, run by former government social mobility tsar Katharine BirbalsinghA high court decision to uphold a prayer ban at one of the highest performing state schools in England has been welcomed by Rishi Sunak and Kemi Badenoch, who described it as a “victory against activists trying to subvert our public institutions”.The case against Michaela community school in Brent, north-west London, which is famous for its strict discipline code, was brought by a Muslim pupil, known only as TTT in court proceedings, who claimed the ban was discriminatory and breached her right to religious freedom. Continue reading...

The Beaks are among the families in England and Wales who have faced fines over health-related school absencesChloe Beak lives with chronic, debilitating migraines that leave her unable to attend school for days at a time. But instead of receiving support from her school, her parents have been fined by the local authority for her truancy.The family’s current fix is to send their daughter in with a migraine until she gets sent home, meaning her absences are registered as authorised. If they do not, the school will consider her a truant as it believes she has emotionally based school avoidance. Continue reading...

Arts education is essential – yet on both sides of the Atlantic, the humanities and critical thinking are under attack. With massive redundancies announced at this London institution, is it the canary in the coalmine?It is a couple of days before Easter, and the students who have been holding a sit-in in the Professor Stuart Hall building in Goldsmiths, University of London are packing up. The large basement smells of duvets and camping mats and solidarity and liveliness, and deodorant sprayed on in a hurry under a T-shirt, and it smells like a place where people have slept, which 20 of them have done since 20 February, with crowds swelling to 100 for spontaneous lectures.This isn’t a st..

In a historic achievement, Benard McKinley, 39, was accepted to Northwestern Pritzker School of Law in ChicagoSince leaving prison in December 2023, Benard McKinley, 39, has been busy preparing for huge next steps.Between working and visits from friends and family, McKinley is getting ready for his first year of study at the prestigious Northwestern Pritzker School of Law in Chicago, a historic achievement. Continue reading...

As calls grow for Labour to reinstate the centres for early years support, we hear from some of those who saw its benefitsBaby massage classes, breastfeeding support, early intervention for children with special needs and advice on hair clips for nervous dads were just some of the multiple benefits of Sure Start, according to parents who used the service.“My Sure Start centre had wings and a halo,” is how one grateful parent puts it. “I would have been lost to postnatal depression if it wasn’t for our local centre,” says another. “Sure Start steadied me, held me, kept me from being lonely,” adds another parent. “It was good for me, my family and the community.” Continue rea..

Booker-winning author says course ‘shouldn’t be seen as dispensable’ as university seeks to cut 130 academic jobsThe Booker prize-winning author Bernardine Evaristo has criticised the “amputation” of Black British literature and queer history courses at Goldsmiths University in London, as part of a cost-cutting programme in which 130 academic jobs are to go.Evaristo, along with former students and writers, issued a plea to Goldsmiths to reconsider the removal of “pioneering” postgraduate courses after plans were announced to cut the jobs in 11 departments. Continue reading...

AI to be used by researchers to scour documents for information on women omitted from chronicles written by men about menFour centuries ago Dublin had an official city “scavenger” who was tasked with running sanitation teams to clear streets of human and animal waste. In return, the scavenger earned tolls from shopkeepers and traders.It could have worked well, except the contractor decided to cut costs and maximise profits by deploying just two carts rather than six. Dung piled up and the city stank. Continue reading...

Nancy Fraser, professor of philosophy at the New School, condemned killings in Gaza carried out by the Israeli militaryA leading Jewish American philosopher has been disinvited from taking up a prestigious professorship at the University of Cologne after signing a letter expressing solidarity with Palestinians and condemning the killings in Gaza carried out by Israeli forces.Nancy Fraser, professor of philosophy and politics at the New School for Social Research in New York, said she had been cancelled by the university, which has withdrawn its invitation to the Albertus Magnus Professorship 2024, a visiting position, which she had been awarded in 2022. The letter was written in November 202..

In a country where 77% of 10-year-olds are illiterate, a reading scheme in Pakistan is reaching thousands of children in slumsPedalling down a narrow alleyway in Karachi’s crowded Lyari Town, Saira Bano slows as she passes a group of children sitting on the ground, listening to a man reading aloud from a book. The eight-year-old gets off her bike, slips off her sandals, and sits on the mat at the back.She has already heard the story from Mohammad Noman, who is entertaining more than a dozen children with the tale of Noori, an insecure yellow parrot. “I don’t mind listening to it again,” says Saira. “He’s so funny.” Continue reading...

Christine Gilbert will examine response to headteacher Ruth Perry’s suicide after her school was downgraded A former head of Ofsted is to lead a learning review into the inspectorate’s response to the suicide of headteacher Ruth Perry, prompting concerns from the family about how independent it will be.Dame Christine Gilbert, who served as Ofsted’s chief inspector from 2006 to 2011, will produce a written report of her findings later this year, it was announced on Monday. Continue reading...

Gordon Brown and three former education ministers say New Labour’s acclaimed early-years programme benefited millionsVeterans of the last Labour government have called on Keir Starmer to put a new Sure Start-style programme at the heart of his election manifesto after research showed its transformational impact on poor children.Gordon Brown, the former prime minister who first announced the Sure Start initiative as Labour chancellor in 1998, was among those urging the opposition leader to prioritise the early years last night. Continue reading...

Protecting children from pornography is one aim of the online harms bill. But other problems have not been tackledAmong teachers and headteachers, concerns about the influence of misogynistic online content, including violent pornography, are widespread. So last week’s call by Daniel Kebede, the head of the National Education Union, for an inquiry into misogyny in schools is important – although the government is unlikely to act on it. Even during the pandemic, Conservative ministers failed to cultivate the kind of constructive relationship with teaching unions that would lead to such proposals being taken seriously.Currently, 79% of young people encounter material depicting degrading or..

A tech sector dedicated to boiling things down has raised temperatures in some quarters of the publishing worldHungry for niche knowledge to impress your colleagues? Troubled by the size of a hefty new book? Doubt your abilities to understand complex arguments? Well, today an increasingly competitive industry offers to take away these problems with one product: a book summary app.Since these digital services first promised to boil down a title, usually a nonfiction work, a decade ago, the marketplace has become crowded. So much so that authors and publishers are concerned about the damage to sales, as well as to the habit of concentrated reading. Continue reading...

Women with symptoms are being penalised, National Education Union’s annual conference toldThe UK’s biggest teaching union is to lobby for menopause training to be made mandatory for all school leaders, saying women with symptoms are being penalised for sickness absence and disciplined on competency grounds.Older staff were at greatest risk of “capability procedures”, delegates at the National Education Union’s (NEU) annual conference in Bournemouth were told, while others were being forced out of their jobs, affecting not only their income but their pensions. Continue reading...

National Education Union chief Daniel Kebede says Labour pledges are ‘a long way from the scale of change’ neededA new Labour government could find itself facing a wave of industrial action by teachers in England and Wales if it fails to meet demands over pay and education funding, the leader of the UK’s biggest education union has warned.Daniel Kebede, the general secretary of the National Education Union (NEU), fired a warning shot over Keir Starmer’s bows, declaring that Labour’s current proposals on schools and education were “a long way” off the scale of change needed. Continue reading...

Union poll on school buildings also highlights sewage and wastewater leaks, overheating, severe cold and mouldA survey by the UK’s biggest education union on the state of school buildings in England and Wales has found two in five teachers reporting signs of vermin or pests and more than a quarter complaining of sewage or wastewater leaks.Of the 8,000 members of the National Education Union who responded to the online poll, two-thirds (68%) said they worked in buildings that leaked, with one in 10 describing the problem as “severe”. Continue reading...

Boys and young men need guidance – not punishment – to avoid ‘manosphere’, teacher tells NEUTeachers should promote positive masculinity in schools in England and Wales in order to support boys who might otherwise feel demonised and end up turning to “the manosphere” for hope, a union conference has been told.Charlotte Keogh, a secondary school English teacher from Worcestershire, said boys and young men needed support and guidance as they grappled with ideas about masculinity, rather than being punished and silenced. Continue reading...

Bòrd na Gàidhlig’s language protection scheme holds on to 27 workers thanks to financial lifelineScottish ministers have given emergency funding to save a network of Gaelic community workers who faced being laid off because of government cuts.Gaelic activists, MSPs and community leaders were dismayed after it emerged last month that Bòrd na Gàidhlig (BnG), the body charged with protecting Gaelic, was removing 27 development worker posts across the country. Continue reading...

Prof Julia Waters gives emotional speech at NEU conference and shares video of her late sister addressing pupilsThe sister of Ruth Perry, the headteacher who killed herself after an Ofsted inspection downgraded her school, has appealed to any teachers or school leaders considering suicide to think again, describing it as “a terrible, wrong-headed option”.In an emotional address to delegates attending the annual conference of the National Education Union in Bournemouth on Friday, Prof Julia Waters appealed directly to teachers and headteachers who may be struggling, urging them to seek help.In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org..

People want good lives for themselves, but the UK has taken so much from the Caribbean. Better to help the islands thriveGus John is an academic and an equality and human rights campaignerDoes it matter if we in England are recruiting teachers so heavily in Jamaica that classrooms there don’t have enough of them? Ask those who run school systems in the Caribbean that desperately need their brightest and best. People will always want to be mobile. The issues are in what numbers, and why and how.When I became director of education in Hackney in 1989, the first Black person to hold such a post, there was a massive shortage of primary school teachers and secondary maths and science teachers ac..

Education secretary Gillian Keegan will also squeeze funding for programmes to widen access to higher educationMinisters will cut funding for performing and creative arts courses at English universities next year, which sector leaders say will further damage the country’s cultural industries.The cuts, outlined by the education secretary, Gillian Keegan, in guidance to the universities regulator, will also reduce funding for Uni-Connect, which runs programmes aimed at widening access to higher education for those from disadvantaged backgrounds, to £20m, a third of its 2020-21 budget. Continue reading...

Prof Des Freedman, Michael Bassey, John Sommer and Sally Bates respond to an article about the dire state of Britain’s higher education institutionsGaby Hinsliff (Britain’s universities are in freefall – and saving them will take more than funding, 29 March) says “the story [of decline] starts with the freezing of tuition fees in 2017”.However, this was the outcome, not the cause, of a crisis that began with the decision by the Conservative-Lib Dem coalition government in 2010 to treble tuition fees and to build a “market” in UK higher education. Since then, policymakers and university managers have pursued a disastrous ideological project to turn higher education into a commod..