Super Education Info

Sunday, June 30, 2013

Half a million new school places to cope with surge in primary-age children

Schools will offer places to another half a million children within the next decade to cope with a surge in the population, ministers have said.

The Coalition will create more school places

The Coalition unveiled a £7.5 billion expansion of the school system, just hours before parliament’s spending watchdog warned of a huge squeeze on places.

Danny Alexander, a Treasury minister, said the extra places will be created between 2015 and 2021, amid rising concerns about a lack of places for primary school children.

Medical exam questions were on revision app

Hundreds of medical students are being forced to resit their exams because the paper they took replicated questions that featured on a revision ‘app’ apparently designed by one of their lecturers.

The app is sold through iTunes and other retailers for £1.49 and is described as “essential” for anyone sitting an obstetric and gynaecology exam

The revision 'app’ for smartphones and tablets had been specially designed to help medical students revise for one of their fourth year obstetrics and gynaecology exams.

But when around 400 students at King’s College London (KCL) sat down for the Reproductive and Sexual Health paper on Monday, they found that the questions closely replicated those on the app - effectively arming them with the answers in advance.

Thousands of teachers are today staging a one-day walkout in the first of a new wave of strikes over pay, pensions and conditions.

Members of the National Union of Teachers (NUT) and the NASUWT are taking part in industrial action across the North West of England.

Around 2,765 schools in 22 authorities will be affected, the unions claim, and rallies are due to be held in Liverpool, Manchester, Preston and Chester.

£117,000 boost from a degree 'far outweighs tuition fees'

Even taking tuition fee costs into account, a degree is a significant boost to earning power, according to a new OECD study.

Degree costs: there is "a good case" for "sharing" the cost of a degree between state and student, says the OECD.

A university degree is worth up to £117,000 in additional earnings over a graduate's working life, according to the OECD.

But, for the first time since 2000, its benefit for 25 to 64–year–olds in Britain fell below the average of developed countries in 2011.

England’s teachers are paid some of the highest salaries despite working fewer hours than their counterparts in other countries.

England's primary teachers delivered 684 hours of lessons in 2011, significantly below the OECD average

Primary school teachers in England are among the youngest in the world but they still earn almost £4,000 more on average than their counterparts across the rest of the OECD.

The average salary for a primary teacher in the OECD countries was £24,690 in 2011, compared to £28,660 in England.

English children 'missing out at nursery'

Children may be missing out on educational opportunities early in life because of a lack of qualified staff in nurseries, the OECD suggested.

Nurseries: Nick Clegg recently vetoed proposals to relax the adult–to–child ratios in nurseries in England

High ratios of children to adults in nurseries are more likely to undermine a child's education than large classes later in life, the think tank said.

However, in the UK, classes are smaller than average for older ages, while nursery supervisors are in charge of groups that are larger than average.

Scotland’s Education Minister has faced accusations of complacency after teachers and examiners warned this summer’s Higher mathematics paper was dumbed down.

This year's Higher maths paper had been attacked for being far too easy

Labour said Mike Russell must explain concerns raised about the 2013 exam by Clive Chambers, Scotland’s former principal examiner of maths, who said it was the easiest he had ever seen.

He said fewer than one in six questions posed were deemed suitable for the brightest pupils and one was simple enough to be included for the much lower level Standard Grade exam.

UK primary teachers 'among youngest in the world'

Britain has the youngest teachers in Europe and the youngest primary school teachers of any developed country, according to a new study.

English teachers start their career with higher than average salaries, the OECD study found.

Almost a third (30.8 per cent) of UK primary teachers are under 30, in "stark contrast" with other wealthy countries where teachers are much older, the OECD's annual education study has found.

The next-youngest OECD country by primary teacher age is South Korea, where just 22.5 per cent are under 30, while in Italy a mere 0.3 per cent fall in that age category.

A girl who grew up with a travelling fairground has received a First from Cambridge University.

Zoah Hedges-Stocks will graduate with a First in History, after studying for three years at Murray Edwards College

Zoah Hedges-Stocks, 23, who was born into a travelling fairground, will graduate from Cambridge University this week.

Ms Hedges-Stocks, who never completed a full school year and grew up in a caravan, spent every summer term working on her mum's food van selling burgers, toffee apples and candy floss to fairgoers.

Young people can expect to spend more than two years out of work before they reach the age of 30, a major international study has found.

Ofsted criticised the Foundation Learning programme for failing to push enough teenagers into the workplace.

Britain’s high drop-out rates from education and employment represent the country’s “biggest challenge,” the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development warned.

But raising the school and college leaving age, a process beginning next year, will not solve the problem as simply “locking people up” in class will not give them the skills they need, the institute said.

Pupils shun 'unfriendly and old-fashioned' Oxbridge for American universities

Nine of Britain's top state school pupils have snubbed places at Oxford and Cambridge after becoming disillusioned with its stuffy image and high fees.

Cambridge university

Most of the group plan to attend Ivy League universities in America, in part because they consider them to be friendlier.

The departure of some of Britain's brightest pupils from its elite universities follows a warning from the government's social mobility watchdog that Oxford and Cambridge are failing to meet targets for widening their social mix.

Private schools must do more to help state pupils, says Ofsted chief

Private schools are "marooned on an island of privilege" and "must do more" to help raise standards in state education, the head of Ofsted says.

Sir Michael Wilshaw

Sir Michael Wilshaw demanded that independent schools fulfil their moral "duty" to the rest of society by allowing state pupils to attend their classes, use their sports facilities and receive coaching for Oxbridge interviews.

Ofsted’s chief inspector said he was issuing a “direct challenge” to independent school head teachers to shed their “splendid isolation”. He suggested that more private schools should enter formal partnerships with state comprehensives.

Official Government advice telling people how to bring young children up should be torn up because it is “corrosive and harmful” and can damage family life, a new academic report argues.

The so-called “positive parenting” approach which involves avoiding punishment or even criticism while constantly accentuating the positive can do more harm than good

The so-called “positive parenting” approach which involves avoiding punishment or even criticism while constantly accentuating the positive can do more harm than good and simply “sets parents up to fail”, it concludes.

In the study, published in the journal Ethics and Education, Helen Reece, an expert in family law at the London School of Economics, argues that the official obsession with being “nice” to children all of the time is “arduous, if not impossible” and can simply destroy the spontaneity of the parent-child relationship.

The number of young children being taught in over-sized classes has risen by 52 per cent in a year, official figures disclosed.

Under the last Labour government a new law was brought in banning infant classes of more than 30 pupils, apart from in exceptional circumstances

Primary schools are being forced to admit more children into infant classes, which have a legal limit of 30 pupils, amid rising birth rates and increases in immigration.

Figures from the Department for Education showed that there were 71,935 children aged between four and seven in classes of more than 30 in January this year.

A school has banned parents from attending their children’s sports day for fear of causing the pupils stress.

Sports day: stress is 'invariably linked to being watched by a large crowd'

Staff have told parents the sports day is for children only but have invited parents from other schools to attend another sports event the next day.

Kenningtons Primary Academy in Aveley, Essex wrote to parents saying the annual sports day for children would be for "children only."

British universities lose ground on rivals in Far East

British universities are losing ground on rival institutions in the Far East because of funding cuts and rows over immigration, according to education experts.

New tables prompted claims that Britain’s universities faced being “usurped” by nations such as South Korea and Singapore which are investing heavily in higher education

The standing of “young” British universities among global competitors has slipped in the past year, international rankings show.

The new tables have prompted claims that Britain’s universities face being “usurped” by nations such as South Korea and Singapore, which are investing heavily in higher education.

In his latest Education Committee blog, Chris Skidmore MP describes the start of a new inquiry into school partnerships – and asks if they really do benefit pupils.

Around 20 per cent of secondary schools are now in some kind of partnership or federation.

Another week on the Education Select Committee, and the start of yet another new inquiry. Under the enthusiasm of our Chair, Graham Stuart, the Education Select Committee seems to be one of the most prolific of all committees; we meet not once but twice a week, and other ongoing reports include school sports, school governance and Surestart.

Hundreds of schools and colleges are failing to send any of their sixth-formers to Britain’s most prestigious universities, figures disclose.

There were 359 state-funded schools and colleges that failed to send a single student to one of the 24 highly regarded Russell Group universities in 2010-11

For the first time, the government published results showing schools’ success rates at securing places for their pupils at leading institutions, including Oxford and Cambridge.

The data showed that state-educated sixth-formers in some parts the country were more than twice as likely to go to university as their peers living in other areas where drop-out rates are high.

Rowers at Cambridge University have been fined for urinating in public, using foul and abusive language and drinking alcohol while competing in the annual May Bumps races.

Cambridge rowers

Three boats were fined after their crew members urinated in front of members of the public during the traditional 200-year-old competition on the River Cam.

Fears over childcare as Osborne warns of cuts to education

George Osborne has warned that Britain needs an “education system we can afford” amid reports that the Treasury wants to make £2 billion of cuts to Michael Gove’s Whitehall department.

Add caption

It is feared that the childcare budget could be slashed as part of the Chancellor’s Spending Review.

The Treasury is seeking £11.5 billion of savings across all departments and is expecting the Department for Education to submit to its share of cuts.

Mr Osborne has pledged to protect spending on schools, but it is reported that the protected part of that budget only covers children aged between five and 16.

National winners of the Read For My School scheme were announced today – a competition that engaged 100,000 pupils from 3,600 schools across England, reading more than 400,000 books

Popular books on the Read For My School scheme

There was a worrying survey last September which revealed that large numbers of children were embarrassed to be seen reading.

Just a month later, at the Telegraph-sponsored Bath Festival Of Children's Literature, a major new initiative, Read For My School, was launched. How pleasing it is to report that this literacy programme has been a resounding success.

International pupils: boarders from beyond our borders

Overseas students are good for British schools – and British pupils – says Christopher Middleton. Now teachers are burnishing their diplomatic skills.

Venn you’re ready: a pupil at International College, Sherborne, about to correct the spelling of 'vegetarianism’

Back in Billy Bunter’s day, the only foreign pupil at Greyfriars School was Hurree Jamset Ram Singh, an amiable Indian prince with a roundabout way of speaking English (“the perhapfulness will be terrific”).

These days, by contrast, overseas students can make up anything from 15 to 40 per cent of a British boarding school’s population. Figures from the Independent Schools Council show that, of the 68,476 boarders at its member schools last year, some 26,376 (38 per cent) were non-British, with parents living abroad.

Nigel Farage has branded the Scottish protesters who last month hijacked his visit to Edinburgh as a “feral, baying mob of subsidised students”.

Nigel Farage, the Ukip leader, has branded the Scottish protesters who last month hijacked his visit to Edinburgh as a 'feral'

The Ukip leader had to be locked in a pub after being surrounded by a hostile crowd as he launched a by-election campaign in May.

He had been left stranded in the middle of Edinburgh’s Royal Mile, surrounded by around 50 nationalists and socialists calling him a racist, but demanding that he: “Go home to England”.

Lord Adonis: The academies programme will continue to flourish under Labour

Labour will enable more parent-led academies, like the West London Free School, to be established where there is a local demand for places, Lord Adonis writes.

Lord Adonis

Labour created academies to improve state education radically. We are proud of their success and we stand resolutely behind the sponsors, parents and local communities who have created and sustained these independent state schools founded to provide a first-class education to children of all backgrounds.

Top universities should admit teenagers from poorly-performing state schools with lower A-level grades than their privately-educated peers to boost “sluggish” levels of social mobility, according to a major Government-backed report.

Alan Milburn said top universities were not representative of society.

An estimated 3,700 more places at leading Russell Group institutions should go to state school pupils to make the higher education system “more representative” of society, it is claimed.

Alan Milburn, the Government’s social mobility tsar, said that Britain’s most selective research universities had become more exclusive over the last decade.

Labour is preparing to drop its blanket opposition to free schools in a further major change in policy.

Labour will say that parents should be allowed to set up their own schools provided that there is a strong demand for places in their area.

The party will say that parents should be allowed to set up their own schools provided that there is a strong demand for places in their area.

This echoes reforms introduced by Michael Gove, the Education Secretary. Labour has recently announced it will scrap winter fuel allowances for Britain’s richest pensioners and will cap the state pension budget.

Porn stars could teach sex education, says private school head

The headmaster of a £28,000-a-year private school has indicated he is considering inviting a porn star to teach sex education to his pupils.

Children must be made aware of the differences between online porn and genuine relationships, The Leys' headmaster said.

Mark Slater, head of The Leys in Cambridge, said students at the historic school need to be aware of the unrealistic nature of the online material.

It is vital that children are made aware of the differences between online porn and genuine, fulfilling relationships, he argued.

Claire Perry, an adviser to David Cameron, is enjoying a blossoming friendship with Bill O’Neill, a professor at Cambridge University.

Claire Perry MP with Bill O’Neill.

When Claire Perry announced that she was divorcing her husband in March, she dismissed “wild speculation” that she was having an affair. Happily, though, the adviser to David Cameron has not had to wait long before finding a new companion.

Mandrake hears that the MP for Devizes is enjoying a blossoming friendship with an eminent professor at Cambridge University who has advised the Government on technology.

School entrance exams should be scrapped because the traditional selection system is being undermined by a culture of private tutoring, according to one of the country’s leading headmasters.

Dr Christopher Ray, chairman of the Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference.

Christopher Ray, chairman of the Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference, said academically-selective schools should stop admitting pupils based on the outcome of standalone tests such as the 11-plus amid fears rising numbers of pupils are being “hot-housed” to pass.

He warned that many children unable to cope with the academic demands of a top school were winning places after being subjected to intense tutoring.

Britain’s top universities will lead a major overhaul of A-levels amid fears the gold standard qualification is failing to prepare teenagers for the demands of higher education, the Telegraph has learnt.

The Russell Group will review academic A-level subjects to make sure exams and course syllabuses are "fit for purpose".

The Russell Group, which represents 24 leading institutions including Oxford and Cambridge, is to launch an immediate review of exam questions and course syllabuses as part of a sweeping plan to drive up standards.

The investigation will focus on tough subjects that are traditionally seen as preparation for the most sought-after degree courses such as maths, English, science, the humanities and foreign languages.

A-level maths students have complained that they could lose their university places following a blunder which saw an exam board lose a set of papers in the post.

Two schools in Britain and two overseas gave out the original exam papers in error

The complaints came after it emerged that all but 60 of the 34,000 teenagers who sat the Edexcel C3 maths exam yesterday were given an allegedly harder replacement paper.

Pearson, which owns Edexcel, said it brought in the new exam after a batch of the original papers went missing en route to a school in Amsterdam last month.

The long-running agreement over exams between England and Wales was dealt a terminal blow today when it emerged the two countries will run completely different A-level courses.

Wales has confirmed that it will retain AS-level exams.

Education ministers in Wales confirmed that the country would retain AS-level exams – sat in the first 12-months of the two-year course – even though they are being effectively scrapped in England.

The move comes on top of a row between the countries over the future of GCSEs.

Pupils were asked to sit a GCSE test paper with missing questions, it emerged today, prompting fresh criticism over the exams system.

Pupils sitting a maths exam this week were presented with a test paper that had the first seven questions missing.

The higher-tier maths script was delivered to schools minus the first seven questions because of a printing error, it was revealed.

At the same time, some other questions in the exam were repeated.

Thousands of children risk being consigned to educational failure because of Ofsted demands to set pupils by ability in secondary school, teachers’ leaders have warned.

The Association of Teachers and Lecturers warned that setting children by ability caused more harm than good.

A move to scrap mixed-ability groups in favor of low and high sets will have a “negative impact” on standards across the board, it is claimed.

The Association of Teachers and Lecturers said that setting and streaming resulted in a slight improvement for the top set but any gain was more than outweighed by declines in results achieved by traditionally middle- and low-achieving pupils.

Expectations of children are "far too low" in comprehensive schools and must be brought up to the standard of private and grammar schools, the head of Ofsted said today.

Sir Michael Wilshaw, the head of Ofsted, said that bright pupils should be given the same status as those with special needs

In a damning report, Ofsted warned that more than 65,000 of England’s most able schoolchildren ware falling far short of their potential in state schools.

Sir Michael Wilshaw, the chief inspector, said teachers are "teaching to the middle" of the class, rather than helping the most and least able. Schools are also given "false incentives", like getting pupils to attain results in the A* to C band, he said.

Record numbers of students are lodging complaints against universities as more undergraduates demand top degree grades in return for a hike in tuition fees.

Rising numbers of students have lodged complaints with the Office for the Independent Adjudicator over degree grades.

Figures from the higher education standards watchdog show that more than 2,000 students submitted official objections last year – up by a quarter in just 12 months and a four-fold rise in the last seven years.

The Office of the Independent Adjudicator said that the vast majority of complaints related to students’ overall degree classification and failure to progress onto the next year of the course.

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