All posts tagged: education

Sir Kevan Collins to lead Department for Education board

Sir Kevan Collins to lead Department for Education board

Published by skeptic

Sir Kevan Collins, the government’s school standards tsar, will lead the Department for Education’s non-executive board, it has been announced. Collins, a former chief executive of the Education Endowment Foundation, was appointed as a non-executive board member at the DfE after Labour won the election in July. Now he has been promoted after former Co-operative boss Richard Pennycook’s latest term of office came to an end. Pennycook, who was recently appointed as chair of the new Skills England body, has served in an interim capacity since November. Collins will serve as lead non-executive board member from February 11 for a period of three years. He will be paid £20,000 for around 24 days each year. The DfE said Collins was appointed “through an open recruitment process where he was deemed to be strongest candidate for the role by the panel”. Education secretary Bridget Phillipson said: “Through our plan for change, we are driving high and rising standards for every child, in every school, in every part of the country, breaking the link between background and …

‘Their Kind of Indoctrination’

‘Their Kind of Indoctrination’

Published by skeptic

Donald Trump and his supporters have hardly been shy about his ambitions for education. They can be found laid out concisely in three documents: the Republican Party’s brief platform for his presidential campaign, known as Agenda 47; the Heritage Foundation’s Mandate for Leadership publication, a sprawling, group-authored right-wing policy plan better known as Project 2025; and the […] Source link

Phillipson faces first education committee grilling

Phillipson faces first education committee grilling

Published by skeptic

Education secretary set to be questioned by MPs over SEND, wellbeing bill and private school fees Education secretary set to be questioned by MPs over SEND, wellbeing bill and private school fees More from this theme Recent articles Bridget Phillipson will face questions about SEND provision and charging VAT on private school fees during her first education committee hearing next week. The education secretary will also be grilled over aspects of the new children’s wellbeing and schools bill, including how unique identifier codes and a national register of children not in school will be developed. Susan Acland Hood Members of the committee may also examine why the legislation does not include provisions for eligible children to be auto-enrolled for free school meals. On SEND, issues like how to make mainstream settings more inclusive and what action will be taken to stop councils from declaring effective bankruptcy over high needs costs in future years will be tackled. Phillipson will also be questioned over the potential impact VAT on private school fees could have, the government’s progress …

Education Minister refuses to let schools become integrated, defying 80% parent support

Education Minister refuses to let schools become integrated, defying 80% parent support

Published by skeptic

Minister for Education of Northern Ireland Paul Givan | NI Assembly TV Northern Ireland Humanists has expressed deep concern over a decision by Education Minister Paul Givan to reject two North Down schools’ plans to become integrated, ignoring a sizeable majority of parents voting in favour of the proposals. A ballot of parents of children attending Bangor Academy and Sixth Form College found that around 80% supported the proposal to transform to integrated status. A similar ballot held by Rathmore Primary School saw 82% of parents in favour. ‘Transformation’ refers to the legal process where an existing state school – either a ‘maintained’ school (Catholic) or a ‘controlled’ school (de facto Protestant) – changes its status to become an integrated school, following a clear parental wish to do so. Integrated schools bring together children from different backgrounds – Protestant, Catholic, and those of other faiths and beliefs – to learn side by side in a single, inclusive environment. Northern Ireland Humanists has long advocated a single system of education, and campaigns for a fully inclusive …

A Break in the Weather for American Middle School Climate Education

A Break in the Weather for American Middle School Climate Education

Published by skeptic

More American public middle school science teachers are teaching, and teaching more about, recent global warming, although more of them are also giving “equal time” to doubts that recent global warming is human-caused, according to a new study I coauthored with Eric Plutzer, a political scientist at Penn State University, and Amanda L. Townley, the executive director of the National Center for Science Education. Published in June 2024 in a special climate change education issue of the peer-reviewed Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education, the study (“Climate Change Education in U.S. Middle Schools: Changes over Five Pivotal Years”) compared the results of two nationally representative surveys of public middle school science teachers in the United States from 2014 and 2019.  Why focus on middle school? Although there are opportunities to study climate change in high school biology, chemistry, and physics classes, the course most hospitable to climate change is high school earth science. But such classes are few and far between; according to a 2018 study, only eight states required the study of earth and …

Labour’s lack of vision for education is a disappointment

Labour’s lack of vision for education is a disappointment

Published by skeptic

More from this theme Recent articles When the current government and education secretary took office, they carried with them a sense of hope – for stability, clarity and a bold vision to address the growing pressures in our education system. So far, they have fallen short. There has been a lot of action, as Bridget Phillipson was keen to point out on social media yesterday as she signed off for the holidays. But it’s hard to see coherent strategy tying all that action together. If we want to stabilise the system and provide assurance to all stakeholders – teachers, leaders, parents and, most importantly, pupils – then this is what we need. The government’s claim to be “agnostic about structure” is a revealing example of what I’m talking about. This isn’t neutrality; it’s a lack of direction. Without a clear commitment to any approach, this agnosticism risks perpetuating fragmentation and inequality. The new Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill reinforces this concern. It appears to prioritise appeasing unions and a nostalgic return to an idealised era …

Education committee SEND inquiry to focus on solutions

Education committee SEND inquiry to focus on solutions

Published by skeptic

More from this theme Recent articles A major new parliamentary inquiry has been launched in a bid to find new solutions to the growing crisis in special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) provision. The probe will focus on how to stabilise the broken system short-term, and how to achieve “long-term sustainability with improved outcomes for children and young people”. It has been launched by the Education Committee – a cross-party committee of backbench MPs which scrutinises the spending, policies and administration of the Department for Education and its associated bodies. Chair Helen Hayes MP said “across the country, children are being let down” by the SEND current provision, while the crisis is “bleed[ing] into the rest of the education system”, and leaving many local authorities facing “effective bankruptcy”. Terms of reference, published by the committee today, set out the scope of the inquiry. It will examine “every phase of education and development”, from the early years through to the age of 25. MPs will hear directly from young people, families, and professionals about their experiences …

Good sex and relationships education can help teens understand when behaviour is abusive or controlling

Good sex and relationships education can help teens understand when behaviour is abusive or controlling

Published by skeptic

Nearly half of young people aged between 13 and 17 who have been in a relationship in the past year have experienced violent or controlling behaviour, according to a recent survey from charity the Youth Endowment Fund. The finding comes from a survey of 10,000 young people in England and Wales, of which 27% had been in a relationship in the past year. This evidence of abuse in teen relationships comes against a background of sexual harassment and abuse perpetrated by young people against their peers. Over half of the 106,984 child sexual abuse cases in 2022 – the most recent data – in England and Wales involved reported offences by young people aged between ten and 17. This is a rise of 7.6% from 2021. A 2021 survey by schools regulator Ofsted found that sexual harassment is a common aspect of school life for a majority of pupils. The Everyone’s Invited website, an online space for survivors of sexual abuse to anonymously share their stories, has received over 50,000 testimonials of sexual harassment and …

Schools have the power to make education more inclusive now

Schools have the power to make education more inclusive now

Published by skeptic

More from this theme Recent articles What if there was a straightforward way schools could improve inclusion of the poorest pupils in their catchment, support local parents and their communities – and was completely free to enact? There is: changing schools’ admissions criteria. Our research shows that pupils who are eligible for free school meals (FSM) are less likely to attend a top-performing secondary than their more affluent peers – even if there is one in their neighbourhood. We’ve known this since 2016, and there are some indications that the situation has actually worsened since. This means children who would most benefit from excellent schooling are not able to access the best state schools in their area. Rather than providing them with the tools and opportunities they need to become socially mobile, the current admissions system reinforces the status quo.   In fact, Sutton Trust research has shown a correlation between the level of social segregation in a local authority and its disadvantage gap. This is driven by under-performance of disadvantaged children rather than over-performance …

Creationist teaching advocate appointed to chair Northern Ireland Education Authority

Creationist teaching advocate appointed to chair Northern Ireland Education Authority

Published by skeptic

Northern Ireland Humanists is deeply concerned by the recent appointment of Mervyn Storey, an advocate for teaching creationism in schools, as chair of the Education Authority. This places him at the head of the institution responsible for delivering Northern Ireland’s education services. Mervyn Storey, a member of the Free Presbyterian Church and former vice-chair of the Caleb Foundation, has a long history of promoting creationism and opposing evolutionary science in schools. Mervyn is a former MLA. As chair of the Assembly’s Education Committee, he pushed for intelligent design to be taught in classrooms and objected to evolutionary exhibits at the Ulster Museum. His record raises significant concerns about his ability to uphold the impartiality and inclusivity that education demands. Northern Ireland Humanists Coordinator Boyd Sleator commented: ‘Mr Storey’s track record of pushing for creationism in schools raises serious concerns about his ability to lead an education system that should teach children facts, not pseudoscience. We will be writing to the Education Minister to seek reassurance that creationism will not be taught in schools as scientifically …