Universities outsource mental health services despite soaring demand

July 17, 2018, 12:00 am

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Critics say shifting counselling resources into ‘wellbeing’ is perverse and dangerous when depression and suicide among students are at worrying levels

Amid mounting concern over student suicides, some universities have found a surprising solution to their long mental health waiting lists – they are reducing or outsourcing their counselling services in a move apparently designed to shift the burden on to the NHS.

Unable to keep up with rising demand, they are rebranding their mental health student support as “wellbeing” services. Some universities plan to maintain a reduced number of counsellors, but others are sending students to local NHS services. Professional counsellors are being told to reapply for jobs as wellbeing practitioners, or face redundancy.

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Country diary: metamorphosis in a museum tower

July 17, 2018, 1:59 am

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Oxford University Museum: For 70 years, researchers have been watching ‘particularly hideous’ young swifts turn into long-winged angels

This glorious structure is a place rich in history. As we walked through the galleries our guide paused to show us the great oak door behind which Bishop Wilberforce confronted “Darwin’s bulldog”, Thomas Huxley, in their famous debate on evolution. We, however, were intent on a more modest fraction of the building’s past. For it was here in 1947 that the ecologists Elizabeth and David Lack noticed how breeding swifts were vanishing into air vents in the roof’s slate-covered tower.

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Religious education needs overhaul to 'reflect UK', says report

July 17, 2018, 9:00 am

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Ex-education secretary says assemblies, syllabus and admissions policy need change

Religious education in schools is outdated and should be replaced with a new subject: religion, belief and values, and the right of parents to withdraw their children from classes should be scrapped, according to the former Labour education secretary Charles Clarke.

Significant shifts in the UK since the Education Act 1944 mean changes to the way religion and belief is taught in schools to reflect modern Britain are long overdue, Clarke and his co-author Linda Woodhead, a professor in the department of politics, philosophy and religion at Lancaster University, say in a pamphlet published on Tuesday.

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Schools alone cannot solve childhood obesity crisis, Ofsted warns

July 17, 2018, 4:01 pm

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Head of watchdog says teachers do not have ‘silver bullet’ to cure health problem

Schools cannot provide a “silver bullet” to tackle childhood obesity and should not be expected to solve society’s wider problems, the chief inspector of Ofsted has warned.

Amanda Spielman said teachers were already stretched and should not be distracted from their primary role as educators. She said that while schools could help encourage healthy lifestyles and exercise as part of the curriculum, they could not address all aspects of the obesity problem.

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10 things teachers want to say to parents, but can't

June 9, 2014, 11:20 pm

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The long school year is coming to an end and one primary teacher has a few things to share

• 10 things parents want to say to teachers

1 Your kids are not your mates

Something I'm starting to hear with worrying frequency within the primary school setting is "my daughter's my best friend". Often, this rings alarm bells. Your kids aren't your mates. You're their parent, and your responsibility is to provide them with guidance and boundaries, not to drag them into your own disputes. Your nine-year-old doesn't need to know about your bitter feud with his friend's mother, or which dad you've got the hots for at the school gate. In the years to come he or she may realise that some of their own problems (social alienation, in its various forms, being a prime example) might have something to do with exposure to that sort of talk at an early age. Continue at your own risk.

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Top 10 podcasts to help you learn a language

February 9, 2015, 4:45 am

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From videos in Japanese to news in German, language blogger Lindsay Dow recommends her favourite podcasts to keep you motivated and inspired while improving your skills

I became a language addict way back in the early noughties thanks to Shakira. Since then I’ve gone on to pursue a degree in French and Spanish with the Open University, and I’ve also studied Mandarin, Italian, German and various other languages along the way. With formal studying never quite being enough, I’m always looking for other methods to engage my language learning brain, podcasts being one of them. Here’s a few of my favourites:

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Does music really help you concentrate?

August 19, 2016, 11:30 pm

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‘I won’t be able to focus if you turn that off,’ a gazillion teenagers have whined at their parents. Is it possible that they’re right?

Many people listen to music while they’re carrying out a task, whether they’re studying for an exam, driving a vehicle or even reading a book. Many of these people argue that background music helps them focus.

Why, though? When you think about it, that doesn’t make much sense. Why would having two things to concentrate on make you more focused, not less? Some people even go so far as to say that not having music on is more distracting. So what’s going on there?

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Students' 20 top tips for picking a course

June 3, 2013, 10:55 am

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As the Guardian publishes its university guide 2014, Lucy Tobin asks students for their handy hints on picking a course

Olabisi Obamakin, 21, is studying biomedical sciences at St George's, University of London

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Where are the black scientists, artists and thinkers in university syllabuses?

July 18, 2018, 3:29 am

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Degrees focusing on blackness should become more of a priority if we are to build a truly inclusive society

What do you think of when you hear the word “black”? Do you think of a colour? A race? A culture? A movement? There are many different ways of interpreting “blackness”, prompting the question: is it a concept worth studying?

Although there is a tradition of “political blackness” in the UK, by referring to someone as black you are usually describing them as having sub-Saharan African origins. These people have been in the UK for centuries, and many important black British figures of the past, such as Olaudah Equiano, Ignatius Sancho and Walter Tull, have too often been overlooked in our nation’s history.

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Why do black male graduates earn £7,000 less per year than their white peers?

July 18, 2018, 7:00 am

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Black men face many barriers when it comes to finding a well-paid job. But the truth is that racism cannot be overcome by amassing more qualifications

‘Education, education, education” is a common refrain that black young people hear from family and community members. Work hard in school, go to university and graduate into a better life than the previous generation. Education is meant to be the great equaliser, our inoculation against ethnic penalty in the workplace – one of the most vicious symptoms of racism.

But the latest research provides a damning indictment of this view. Between 2007 and 2017, black male graduates earned a staggering £7,000 less per year than their white counterparts. The same study showed that black male participation has increased in higher education by 24%, compared with a 15% rise for white men. So, black men have been more likely to invest in higher education, even though the returns are diminished. We have become so used to the idea that we have to work twice as hard to get half as far that we now take it for granted.

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Campaigners criticise delay in updating sex education curriculum

July 18, 2018, 4:01 pm

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Changes will not be made compulsory at schools in England until September 2020

Campaigners have criticised delays to the introduction of a new sex and relationships curriculum that will now not be made compulsory in schools in England until September 2020.

According to draft guidance published on Thursday, pupils are to be given lessons on consent and LGBT issues as part of government efforts to update sex and relationships education for the first time in a generation.

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UK universities draw up plans for EU campuses ahead of Brexit

September 22, 2016, 4:25 am

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Higher education chiefs, struggling with uncertainty and challenges in regulation and funding, look to soften blow of EU exit

British universities are considering plans to open branches inside the European Union in an effort to soften the blow of Britain’s exit, as they struggle to navigate new challenges in regulation and funding.

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How to say goodbye when your child leaves home

September 18, 2013, 8:37 am

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When a child heads off to university the sense of loss can feel unbearable, but planning ahead can help you cope with this new stage of parenthood

Read more advice for parents

"I have had worse partings, but none that so / Gnaws at my mind still."

So writes Cecil Day-Lewis in his poem "Walking Away", written while watching his eldest son head off to school. If a child's first day at school is significant, when they leave home for university can feel like an irrevocable life change for you. Knowing how to say goodbye, and dealing with the sense of loss that can follow, is part of being a parent.

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Should mobile phones be banned in schools?

November 27, 2012, 12:00 pm

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A headteacher says pupil behaviour is better and bullying is down since he barred mobiles in his school. So should others follow suit? Teachers argue for and against

"You'll have someone's eye out with that" used to be the refrain of teachers in my day. In malevolent hands, a pencil, a rubber, even a piece of paper could become a lethal weapon in class, and that's before we got on to compasses and Bunsen burners.

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How anxiety scrambles your brain and makes it hard to learn

November 21, 2015, 1:00 am

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Levels of stress and anxiety are on the rise among students. Juliet Rix has tips to control the panic and thrive academically

Olivia admits she’s always been a worrier – but when she started university, her anxiety steadily began to build. One day she was simply too frightened to leave the house. For two weeks she was stuck indoors, before she was diagnosed with generalised anxiety disorder and began to get the help she needed.

With support from her GP and university wellbeing service, and courses of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), she was able to stick with her university course and to start enjoying life again.

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Bradford school's ban on sausage rolls and pork pies sparks backlash

September 28, 2017, 2:36 am

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Parents complain as staff at Shirley Manor primary check lunchboxes for unhealthy snacks and drinks

A school has banned sausage rolls, pork pies, pepperoni sticks and fruit squash in a crackdown parents have called “ridiculous”.

The new policy at Shirley Manor primary academy in Bradford states that parents will be called if the prohibited items are found in pupils’ lunchboxes.

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Grace is 25. Her student debt: £69,000

July 10, 2017, 11:14 pm

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With graduates facing a lifetime of debt – at 6.1% interest – pressure is growing for a rethink on tuition fees and maintenance loans. But what should replace them?
• Opinion: Penalising this generation is morally whiffy

When Grace Parkins opened her first statement from the Student Loans Company she wasn’t prepared for what she saw. After four years studying she discovered she was now more than £69,000 in debt.

Parkins was one of the first generation of students to sign up to £9,000 a year tuition fees. Like many recent graduates, she had no idea she was also racking up £8,000 of interest on her student loan while still at university. Students currently pay interest of 4.6% while they study, and this will rise to 6.1% in September. “That should have been made much clearer,” she says. “I didn’t expect that at all. All I really knew was that I wouldn’t be repaying until I earned £21,000 and my outstanding debt would be written off after 30 years.”

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Dog-eat-dog culture is bad for students’ mental health | Lettesr

July 19, 2018, 10:24 am

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Former LSE student counsellor Robert Harris on the psychological horrors suffered by millennials, and Dr Max Davie on worrying cuts to student counselling services

Your article about “perfectionism” and young people in higher education (G2, 17 July) notes, but nimbly skips over, the clear link between neoliberal dog-eat-dog individualism and the psychological horrors suffered by unfortunate millennials who have never known anything but rabid destructive competition. The bullying cultures rife in academia (Report, 17 July) create terrors of rejection and exclusion. Young people are strongly inclined to feel that failure is due to inherent personal weakness, rather than something to be learned from to enhance personal development. A culture that emphasises pleasing those above and keeping up false images of competence and success with peers, rather than the enjoyment and value of pursuing knowledge for its own sake, will inevitably create both internal psychological attackers of guilt and self-blame and external bullies of insecure and anxious managers.
Robert Harris
Former student counsellor and psychotherapist, LSE

• Support for children and young people’s mental health should not be penny-pinched. Without early identification and intervention, mental health problems can lead to a sharp decline in health, leading to alcohol and drug misuse and self-harm – and in extreme cases can cause death. This is why I was deeply concerned to read that some universities are reducing or outsourcing their student counselling services (Education, 17 July).

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Sharp rise in pupil exclusions from English state schools

July 19, 2018, 6:12 am

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Unions point to funding cuts after permanent exclusions rise by about 1,000 from 2016 to 2017

The rate of pupil exclusions from state schools in England rose sharply last year, according to official figures, with teaching unions laying some of the blame for the rise on austerity and funding cuts.

The number of children permanently excluded from state primary, secondary and special schools in England increased by about 1,000 between 2016 and 2017, according to the Department for Education (DfE) figures.

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I’m one of the few male nursery teachers. There should be more of us | Tim Cooke

July 19, 2018, 8:23 am

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Men in early-years teaching are still regarded with suspicion, but the children need to see us challenging stereotypes

A few years ago, when I started to seriously consider a career in teaching, the possibility of specialising in teaching the under-sixes didn’t even cross my mind. For me the choice was whether to train as a secondary English or primary school teacher.

After much thought, I applied for a primary place on the Teach First Leadership Development Programme and, to my surprise, was offered early years – back then, I wasn’t even entirely clear what “early years” meant (it’s from birth to age five). But after some research into the play-based ethos of the curriculum for the under-fives, I chose to accept. A year or so later, I stood nervously at the gates of the east London nursery and children’s centre, at which I was to spend the first two years of my career.

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