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.
Education secretary Michael Gove has written a letter to an old teacher, expressing regret for his behaviour at school. We asked some writers who they would apologise to and why
If someone you know is finding the going tough, here’s what you can do to help them
Bristol University students and representatives have spokenup about the student mental health crisis and the state of provisions at the university. While student activists continue to push for better support, there are things we can do on the ground to support our friends who are struggling.
As Cambridge University Students’ Unions’ welfare and rights officer, a big part of my job is training students not only on mental health and wellbeing, but also on peer support. Alongside services, friends are well placed to help. We know each other better than service providers. We can be easier to open up to, serving as a bridge to getting more formal support.
Much-disputed events centring on Birmingham schools is subject of ambitious drama
The notorious Trojan Horse inquiry into an alleged Islamist takeover of a number of inner city schools in the east of Birmingham is the subject of a documentary play that explores the devastating impact of the affair on the city and those whose lives it touched.
Based on more than 200 hours of interviews with about 90 witnesses, including many of the teachers, pupils, parents and governors whose lives were turned upside down by the events four years ago, the play will have its premiere in Edinburgh next month.
Lewis Bailey, 14, from Dudley, was told on eve of event his act was not ‘age appropriate’
A school has been criticised by a teenager and his family for blocking his participation in its end-of-term talent show because he wanted to perform in drag.
Lewis Bailey, 14, said that he was left distraught after spending weeks perfecting a lip-sync dance routine only to be told on the eve of last Tuesday’s event that he could not take part.
Public Health England says overweight pupils are more likely to live in most deprived areas
One child in every class in the final year of primary school is severely obese on average, an all-time high, official figures show.
Public Health England (PHE) said that one in 25 (4.07%) of 10- to 11-year-olds in year six in 2016-17 were severely obese, meaning they are at risk of serious acute and chronic health problems.
Young people should have everything to be happy about, but as the generation with the least responsibility we actually experience the most stress. A 2013 survey by the Nightline Association found that 65% of students feel stressed.
Students juggle part time jobs with university, worry about assignments and stress about the future and how to make the next step. Trying to manage all these things at once can leave you feeling overwhelmed.
In two letters, hundreds of academics call for Goldsmiths to bring its cleaners back in house, and for James Newell to be reinstated as professor of politics at Salford University
We write as staff at Goldsmiths, University of London, in support of our cleaning colleagues, and their union Unison, who are campaigning to be brought in-house (The cleaners who won fair wages, 18 July). Currently outsourced to ISS, our cleaners already face unacceptable working conditions, receiving no sick pay, holiday pay or pension entitlement.
ISS is now imposing a restructure that will only entrench the existence of a two-tier workforce. In testimonials collected by Unison, cleaning staff expressed fears of losing their homes, having to miss meals in order to feed their families, and being forced to choose between unmanageable childcare costs or leaving their children home alone. Women in particular said the prospect of new shifts ending after midnight made them anxious for their safety as they have to travel long distances to get to work. Despite this, ISS is pushing ahead with these changes.
The rebranded subject is ‘relationship (and sex) education’. Sex is now reduced to a bracket. Are they having a laugh?
A year ago the government announced there would be an overhaul of sex and relationship education. It was a welcome move, given that the current curriculum is older than the iPod. Last week, after much delay, ministers finally unveiled the new plans, with the subject rebranded as “relationship (and sex) education and health education”. So sex is now reduced to a bracket. You have to wonder: are they having a laugh?
The reason for the change in name is pure politics. When the former education secretary Justine Greening said she would make sex education compulsory for all schools, tabloid headlines shrieked that four-year-olds would be learning about nookie. Of course, this isn’t true. If you want to teach teenagers about sexually transmitted infections, a foundational piece of knowledge is how germs spread. Teaching infants to wash their hands is therefore a starting point of sex education, even if it doesn’t seem directly related, and no one should be afraid to explain this to bellicose critics.
Researcher Jess Wade says efforts to attract girls into science are not evidence-based – and are not working
Jess Wade is a scientist on a mission. She wants every woman who has achieved something impressive in science to get the prominence and recognition they deserve – starting with a Wikipedia entry.
“I’ve done about 270 in the past year,” says Wade, a postdoctoral researcher in the field of plastic electronics at Imperial College London’s Blackett Laboratory. “I had a target for doing one a day, but sometimes I get too excited and do three.”
There is mounting criticism of the ‘chaotic’, ‘brutal’ free school policy and lack of government support as at least five free schools shut down this term
When Lorna Middleton was interviewed for her job as headteacher at St Anthony’s free school in the Forest of Dean in March 2017, she felt full of optimism about the future. The little school, based in two Victorian houses linked by an extension, had been lined up to join a local academy chain and move to new school buildings.
By the time she started the job that September, however, that plan had been abandoned and instead a programme of refurbishment had begun – work that would cost taxpayers £840,000. Middleton has never been given a reason for the change of plan.
Concern has been growing about bullying in the world of academia. We want to hear from academic staff about their experiences
A top cancer genetics professor quit her job at the Institute of Cancer Research after facing multiple allegations of bullying dating back 12 years.
Prof Nazneen Rahman, who was head of genetics and epidemiology at the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR), was given leave of absence last November after a letter signed by 45 current and former employees accused her of “recurrent bullying and harassment”.
After years of 1% pay cap, only four in 10 teachers in England get recommended 3.5% raise
The majority of teachers in England are to receive a below-inflation pay increase next year, despite the government’s claims that “classroom teachers” will get pay rises of up to 3.5% after years of austerity.
Damian Hinds, the education secretary, told parliament that teachers on the main national pay range would receive a 3.5% pay increase, worth up to £1,366, from September while more experienced teachers on the upper scale would receive 2% and those in leadership positions would get 1.5%.
Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happen, including Dominic Raab and Olly Robbins giving evidence to the Commons Brexit committee
This is a far advanced, well thought-out, principled and pragmatic document and we expect to negotiate on the basis of it. Obviously, we will consider what Monsieur [Michel] Barnier and the EU27 come up with but this is an ambitious approach which takes into account some of the concerns the EU has expressed to us.
Raab has just confirmed the obvious: The government is prepared to make further concessions to reach a final deal. “Of course we will consider what Monsieur Barnier and the European Commission come up with." He did — though — warn there were limits to how much the UK could accept
We will look at this issue in the round and make sure that there’s adequate food supplies. It would be wrong to describe it as the government doing the stockpiling.
Over months now, ministers, the prime minister and the official team supporting them have been sounding European partners out on all the issues the white paper takes on.
But even if we were to try to say ‘Does this package work for you?’ I doubt we would get a straight answer.
About to move my House of Lords motion to cut short the recess so that Parliament does its job in this national crisis rather than going on a 10 week holiday
The DUP MP Ian Paisley has been suspended by the Democratic Unionist party, the Press Association reports. The North Antrim MP will also be excluded from the House of Commons for 30 sitting days from September 4 following a major breach of parliamentary rules. Electoral authorities in Northern Ireland are to begin drawing up measures which could see him face a by-election if enough constituents demand it. He has vowed to fight for his seat if he faces the electorate over his failure to declare two luxury family holidays paid for by the Sri Lankan government.
As the Press Association reports, in March 2014, the MP lobbied against a proposed United Nations resolution to investigate alleged human rights abuses during a civil war on the Indian Ocean island without citing his financial benefits.
The party officers have decided to suspend Mr Ian Paisley MP from membership of the party pending further investigation into his conduct.
Inequality grows when school terms finish, and tackling ‘holiday hunger’ is not enough
Many parents as well as children look forward to the last day of term, even if balancing work and childcare or occupying young ones can be difficult. July and August are when most of us take our longest breaks from work, to travel, visit and spend time with our families and friends. At such key moments as the end of primary school, summer puts the full stop on a stage of life.
But if many people spend weeks planning and peering at maps, for others the holiday is a challenge of a different sort. Last year, MPs warned that up to 3 million children risk going hungry, due to their reliance on free school meals, while a 2013 study found that 30% of people were unable to afford a holiday of any sort. The uncomfortable truth is that, while many of us feel at our most free and joyful over the summer, holidays are also when the experiences of rich and poor families are furthest apart. Where some anticipate weeks of adventure, others see endless blank days to fill.
Education committee report claims too many children are punished for minor incidents
An increasing number of children are being unnecessarily excluded from schools and “abandoned” in alternative provision (AP) which too often fails to give them the education they need to thrive, according to a cross-party committee of MPs.
A critical report by the Commons education select committee said that zero-tolerance behaviour policies meant too many pupils were being punished and excluded for incidents that should be managed within the school.
Kids’ clubs are stepping in to fill the gap and stop children going hungry during the school holidays, as families struggle with austerity
As the summer holidays begin, many families look forward to breaks away from home, in the UK and abroad. Yet for thousands of families, the six-week school break is characterised not by play schemes and day trips in the sun, but acute financial stress, hunger and malnourishment, due to the absence of free school meals for children on low incomes that costs a family £30-£40 a week.
With three million children at risk of hunger during the school holidays, the Trussell Trust has warned that food bank use spikes each summer. And last year, 593 organisations running holiday clubs across the UK provided more than 190,000 meals to over 22,000 school-aged children.
Writing for academic journals is highly competitive. Even if you overcome the first hurdle and generate a valuable idea or piece of research - how do you then sum it up in a way that will capture the interest of reviewers?
There’s no simple formula for getting published - editors’ expectations can vary both between and within subject areas. But there are some challenges that will confront all academic writers regardless of their discipline. How should you respond to reviewer feedback? Is there a correct way to structure a paper? And should you always bother revising and resubmitting? We asked journal editors from a range of backgrounds for their tips on getting published.
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.
If you were ever bored enough in a maths class to turn a number on your calculator into a word you may have only been scraping the surface. There is much more to this art than meets the eye
I own a Casio fx-85gt plus. It can perform 260 functions in less than a second, it can tell me when I've got a recurring decimal and it has a slide-on protective cover so that the buttons don't get pressed when it's in my bag. And even if the buttons do get pressed, I've got two-way power – solar and battery – so I'm sorted.
But as soon as I bought it I was disappointed. If I happened to be bored in a maths class, typed out 0.1134, turned my calculator upside down and slid it across to a friend I wouldn't get so much as a smile. The numbers look too much like normal typeface.
