Education

Acasia Welburn pleaded guilty to three charges of sexual activity with child by person in a position of trustA school worker has been jailed for sexually abusing an autistic boy who was under 16 at the time, police said.Acasia Welburn, now 26, had been working at a school in North Yorkshire in a “trusted care position” when she abused the child. Continue reading...

Education secretary ‘to consider options’ including repeal of controversial powers introduced by last governmentUK politics live – latest updatesPowers introduced by the Conservatives to protect freedom of speech in universities have been halted by the new government in a dramatic about-turn, paving the way for ministers to scrap the legislation.Only days before it was due to come into force, the education secretary said she had decided to “stop further commencement of the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023, in order to consider options, including its repeal”. Continue reading...

Warning of risk of serious harm as synthetic drug spice found in vapes in 28 of 38 schools testedOne in six vapes confiscated in English schools are spiked with the highly addictive “zombie drug” spice, according to research.Analysis from 38 schools revealed that the synthetic street drug, classified as class B alongside ketamine and GHB, was in nearly 100 devices. The researchers said they believed the substance was being put into vapes marketed as containing cannabis oil. Continue reading...

Increased demand for children’s services leading to meltdown, warn local authority leadersA £5bn debt crisis caused by out-of-control overspending on special educational needs could explode in less than two years, bankrupting scores of England’s local authorities, the UK government has been warned.The crisis stems from the failure to properly fund a huge increase in demand for Special Education Needs and Disability (Send) services over the past decade, triggering an “existential” crisis for councils which have “no obvious means of paying off the debt”. Continue reading...

Study finds 33.3% of squad went to private schools, up nine percentage points from 24% in 2016 teamThe proportion of privately educated athletes in the Team GB squad has increased to a third of all competitors, a study has found.Of the 318 athletes in the 2024 Team GB squad schooled in the UK, 106 or 33.3% were privately educated, up nine percentage points from 24% in the 2016 team that travelled to Rio de Janeiro in 2016, analysis by the Good Schools Guide revealed. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Safeguarding minister outlines measures to protect women and girls, including plans for ‘Raneem’s law’Plans to tackle misogyny in schools could take up to 20 years to have an impact on society, the safeguarding minister, Jess Phillips, has said as she outlined measures to protect women and girls.Phillips spoke the day after the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) estimated that 2 million women were victims of violence perpetrated by men each year in an epidemic so serious it amounts to a “national emergency”. Continue reading...

Exclusive: E Street Band and Sopranos star visits south London to see his TeachRock programme in actionLegendary guitarist and Sopranos star Stevie Van Zandt has made an impassioned plea for more arts and music in England’s schools as a way of engaging disaffected young people during a visit to south London.It was a last day of term like no other for pupils at Beckmead College – a school for students aged 14-19 with social, emotional and mental health needs – when the E Street Band member turned up, dressed like a rock star in purple velvet, winkle picker boots and trademark bandana. Continue reading...

As Those About to Die brings swords and sandals back to the screen, the ‘Colosseum consultant’ who advises all the epic productions about accuracy tells us why he is ‘paid to be ignored’One of the many things Alexander Mariotti wants you to know about Those About to Die, the new Amazon Prime show set in ancient Rome, is that gladiators rarely actually died in colosseum combat. Although the phrase “Kill or be killed” is a powerful marketing tool, real gladiators tended to have long, healthy careers. “But let’s be honest,” says Mariotti, “if you had a show coming out tomorrow called Those Who Rarely Die, you’d say, ‘That’s a crap show. I don’t want to watch that. I ..

To mark the end of the personal statement for university applications in Britain, we would like to see your old onesThe Ucas personal statement has long been a dreaded stage in the university application process for teenagers.But from next year, the 4,000 character statement will be replaced by a set of questions on why students want to study their chosen subject and how they are prepared. Continue reading...

A reader who was a university programme director responds to the news that personal statements are to be scrappedRe your article (Farewell, Ucas personal statements: I won’t miss your hackneyed, cliche-ridden prose, 20 July), while I was the director of an interdisciplinary (combined honours) programme at a Russell Group university, the most common question I received at pre-application open days was: “How should I write my personal statement if I am applying for both single- and joint-honours programmes, and your programme?” It was clear that personal statements were the cause of great stress for applicants – and people advising potential applicants.But this was a question I was nev..

Scheme denounced as ‘shocking waste’ by new home secretary could have funded teachers, border force officers or renewable energy farmsFailed Rwanda deportation scheme cost £700m, says Yvette CooperThe home secretary, Yvette Cooper, has revealed the Conservatives’ Rwanda scheme cost taxpayers £700m, calling it the “most shocking waste of taxpayers’ money I have ever seen”.Here we take a look at what £700m could and could not be used for: Continue reading...

Education secretary acknowledged crisis in sector with many institutions facing severe financial difficultiesUniversities in England facing severe financial difficulties should not expect a government bailout, the education secretary has said, despite warnings from the sector of thousands of job losses, course closures and even bankruptcies.With 40% of institutions projected to run budget deficits this year, Bridget Phillipson acknowledged the crisis. She said she was “determined to develop a brighter future for universities” and put them on a “sustainable footing in the long term”. Continue reading...

The answers to today’s puzzlesEarlier today I set you these three problems from Parabola, a wonderful magazine from Australia that was first published 60 years ago this month. Here they are again with solutions. Continue reading...

Rosemary Fowler discovered the kaon particle during her doctoral research in 1948 but gave up PhD to have a familyA trailblazing physicist who gave up her PhD 75 years ago to have a family has received an honorary doctorate from her former university.Rosemary Fowler, 98, discovered the kaon particle during her doctoral research under Cecil Powell at the University of Bristol in 1948, which contributed to his Nobel prize for physics in 1950. Continue reading...

Ripsnorting riddles from Down UnderUPDATE: Read the solutions here.Parabola, a wonderful Australian maths magazine for secondary school pupils, celebrates its 60th birthday this month. Today’s puzzles are taken from a recently published compilation of its best problems. Continue reading...

Doctoral student at Renmin University of China school of liberal arts in Beijing posted recordings on WeiboA top Chinese university has fired a professor, a day after a graduate student accused him of sexual harassment on social media in a rare public allegation and posted recordings as evidence, drawing widespread support.The woman, who identified herself as Wang Di, said she is studying in a doctoral programme at Renmin University of China’s school of liberal arts. She posted a 59-minute video on Sunday on the Weibo social media platform in which she said her supervisor, an ex-vice dean and former Communist party representative at the university in Beijing, physically and verbally abused..

Independent pay review bodies for teachers and NHS staff have reportedly advised increases of about 5.5%Rachel Reeves has indicated that the government could agree above-inflation pay rises for teachers and other public sector workers, saying there is “a cost to not settling” pay negotiations.The chancellor, who did not dispute reports that independent pay review bodies for teachers and NHS staff had advised increases of about 5.5% – higher than the current 2% inflation rate – said she would set out full details later in July. Continue reading...

Balls, bikes, possibly boredom. As the summer holidays begin, and nostalgia for the good old days kicks in, it’s worth wondering if it really was better back thenAs the school holidays begin, parents tend to behave in one of two ways. The first is to pray, not to God or the universe, but to time itself, begging it for some leniency, a bit of give. Please time, this year please stretch and fold around our external pressures and internal needs. You will recognise these parents by their blank white eyes and empty pockets, and skin that ripples then turns grey across the long month of August.The second type of parent (I say parent, I’m being coy, of course, we’re talking about mothers here..

State of the Art reveals that while Germany, France and Finland have each increased culture spending by up to 70%, Britain has cut its budget by 6%Britain’s cultural sector is in a critical condition, with levels of investment and development far lower than in many other European countries, says a major arts report to be unveiled on Monday evening.Analysis shared exclusively with the Observer shows that while Britain has cut back its total culture budget by 6% since 2010, Germany, France and Finland have each increased their spending by up to 70%. Continue reading...

The evolutionary expert discusses the triumphs and challenges of the groundbreaking research on Galápagos Islands finches she undertook with her husband, PeterStudying Darwin’s finches has been the life’s work of the renowned British evolutionary biologists Rosemary and Peter Grant. For several months every year for 40 years, the husband-and-wife team visited the Galápagos Islands in the eastern Pacific to meticulously track the fate of thousands of finches on two small islands there. The Grants demonstrated that evolution by natural selection can be observed in the wild in real time: they were the first to see and measure it in action in nature. One Step Sideways, Three Steps Forward ..

Experts say 5.5% pay increase for public sector not ‘consistent’ with spending plans that rule out tax risesLabour is fast approaching a moment of truth over its election pledges on tax and spending, experts have warned, after Rachel Reeves indicated the government could agree above-inflation pay rises for public sector staff.The chancellor promised a full statement on pay board recommendations that teachers and NHS workers should receive 5.5% pay awards, ahead of an autumn budget that is set to be one of the most difficult economic balancing acts in years. Continue reading...

The new education secretary talks about her background, the ‘incredible state schools’ she went to, and her plans to transform the system• Labour makes working-class children key to schools reformBridget Phillipson is standing up to welcome us into her large, very smart new office. A government red box is sitting on her desk, and a big union jack fills one corner. She is smiling broadly but wears a look that suggests she is not 100% at ease, not entirely comfortable, in her plush new surroundings.Opulence is not her thing. The secretary of state for education’s room was expensively refurbished with faux vintage clocks and tables, a cream leather sofa and chairs, to create a bout..

Minister pledges more sports and drama in curriculum review as row deepens over two-child benefit cap• Interview Labour’s Bridget Phillipson: ‘I will help working-class pupils defy the odds to succeed’Expanding opportunities for working-class children by broadening the school curriculum to include more sport, drama, art and music alongside core academic subjects will be top priorities for the Labour government, the new education secretary says today.In her first newspaper interview since being appointed to the cabinet by Keir Starmer, Bridget Phillipson insists her aim is to “break the link between background and success”, and to ensure every child has the same level of opportuni..

Policy will move to keeping vulnerable pupils in school as focus shifts to root causes of exclusionsIsolation booths, frequent suspensions and strict behaviour regimes look set to be phased out in England as the Labour government shifts focus on how to keep the most vulnerable pupils in school.Education leaders close to the new government say ministers are planning to change the inspection regime so that all schools are judged on whether they are properly representative of their local community, and aiming to stop schools telling parents their child with special educational needs would be better off at another school, or being repeatedly suspended because they aren’t meeting strict behavio..

Above inflation deal could lead to government having to find an extra £10bn in total across the public sectorIndependent pay review bodies representing teachers and NHS workers have reportedly recommended above-inflation pay rises that could require the government to raise up to £10bn, a leading economist has said.The bodies are going to recommend a 5.5% rise for the 514,000 teachers and about 1.3 million NHS staff they represent, according to the Times, well above the figure the government is thought to have been preparing for. Such a move would present an early challenge to Rachel Reeves’s fiscally rule-bound treasury. Continue reading...

These hated essays are going to be scrapped. It’s good news for those who can’t afford private tutors – and for those who had to read themEvery autumn, as the fruit fills with ripeness to the core and the small gnats mourn among the river sallows, my inbox fills with requests for help from parents whose children have been tasked with writing an essay of 4,000 characters in which they explain to their prospective universities why they want to study a given subject. Except that, unable to articulate why they want to study English at Nottingham, they have begun to question why, when it comes down to it, they do anything at all.Obviously, this is good preparation for the working world. Thi..

Analysis of imagery from conflict zones shows evidence of burned-out and flattened buildings, with long-term impacts on educationAirstrikes, arson, shelling and ground fighting between the military and armed rebel groups have damaged at least 174 schools and universities in Myanmar since a military coup in 2021, according to a new report.Open source investigator, the Centre for Information Resilience (CIR), said analysis of imagery from conflict zones showed burned and collapsed buildings. Continue reading...

Ruling in favor of University of Texas at Austin is setback for movement that ended race-conscious admissionsA year after the US supreme court ended race-conscious admissions in higher education throughout the country, a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit claiming that the University of Texas at Austin continued to unlawfully use affirmative action policies. The lawsuit, initially filed in 2020 by Edward Blum’s legal advocacy group Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA), signals a setback to the conservative activist’s movement.On Monday, the US district judge Robert Pitman ruled that UT Austin’s revised admission policies are lawful under the US constitution’s 14th amendment and Title V..

Parents or carers in full-time work said to be ‘dreading’ expense, and sum may be even higher in Wales and south-east EnglandParents can expect to spend more than £1,000 per child for care over the school summer holidays, according to research.A survey by the children’s charity Coram found that British families will be paying, on average, £1,049 for summer childcare for children aged from four to 14 – £635 more than they would pay for six weeks of after-school childcare during term time. Continue reading...

We’d like to hear from recent UK graduates how it has been to find their first graduate roles after universityWe’re interested to hear from people who have recently graduated and have been trying to secure their first graduate job in the UK.Whether you have just left university or have graduated in the past few years, tell us how your graduate job hunt has been going, how many applications you have sent out, how many interviews and job offers you’ve had, what pay offers you have received, if applicable, and whether you’ve been successful in landing a role you are happy with. Continue reading...