National News
Exam board Pearson fined £2m for ‘serious’ breaches in standards
Monday 15th December 2025Ofqual issues fines over English proficiency test that some candidates sat at home, A-level Chinese and GCSE EnglishOne of the world’s biggest providers of educational services has been fined more than £2m for a range of serious breaches related to examination standards that could have affected tens of thousands of students...
Pens at the ready! A gen-Z trainee takes on the Guardian’s ‘scribbler-in-chief’
Sunday 14th December 2025As the exam regulator consults about introducing onscreen exams amid complaints of hand fatigue, a young aspiring journalist goes head-to-head with a self-professed expertThis week it was reported that students could soon be sitting their end-of-year exams on laptops after pupils complained of hand fatigue, saying their muscles “are not strong enough”...
Councils to get £3bn for thousands more school spaces for Send pupils
Friday 12th December 2025The government is promising 50,000 more places for children with special educational needs in schools in England...
AI has entered the classroom - but is it the solution for overworked teachers?
Thursday 11th December 2025From deepfake teachers to remote maths lessons - how are schools using tech and AI in the classroom?Read full story...
Councils to get £3bn for thousands more school spaces for Send pupils
Thursday 11th December 2025The government is promising 50,000 more places for children with special educational needs in schools in England...
Labour to create up to 60,000 spaces for children with Send in English schools
Thursday 11th December 2025Bridget Phillipson says £3bn scheme focussed on local state schools will ‘transform lives’, after rise in parent appealsThe government is to invest £3bn in creating bespoke places within local state schools for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (Send), a crucial part of its efforts to grapple with England’s rising numbers of children facing social and mental health problems...
Some GCSEs and A-levels in England could be taken on laptops by 2030, Ofqual says
Thursday 11th December 2025Qualifications watchdog launches consultation amid complaints from pupils about writing fatigue in examsStudents could be sitting some of their GCSEs and A-levels on a laptop by the end of the decade, according to England’s qualifications watchdog...
How can abuse openly take place in a nursery? This is the question we must urgently reckon with | Munira Wilson
Thursday 11th December 2025No parent should worry about their child’s safety while they work...
Tory governments spent £325m on free schools that failed or disappeared
Wednesday 10th December 2025More than £10bn was committed to building new schools between 2014-15 and 2023-24, compared with £6...
Interviewing future medical students gave me that rare thing: hope for the NHS | Devi Sridhar
Wednesday 10th December 2025They face long hours, mediocre pay and, at worst, no job, but their optimism is astonishing – let’s support them betterProf Devi Sridhar is chair of global public health at the University of EdinburghWhen I mentioned to colleagues in the NHS that I was helping with admissions interviews for medical students, several responded with the same wry smile and weary shrug: “Do they know what they’re getting into?” Anyone working with the health service over the past few decades has seen the job conditions get tougher, salaries stagnate and idealism erode within a crumbling system...
A welcome pit stop: the US university using parking lots to help unhoused students
Tuesday 9th December 2025Long Beach City college’s Safe Parking Program provides a protected space for students who are homeless to live in their carWhen Edgar Rosales Jr uses the word “home” he isn’t referring to the house he plans to buy after becoming a nurse or getting a job in public health...
London academy staff instilled ‘climate of fear’ among pupils
Tuesday 9th December 2025Report finds children at Mossbourne Victoria Park traumatised by disciplinary measures ‘designed to humiliate’Staff at a London academy instilled a “climate of fear” among pupils, with a drive for academic success likely to have harmed vulnerable children including those with special needs, according to a damning independent investigation...
Strict school 'harmful' to some pupils, review says
Tuesday 9th December 2025Review finds Mossbourne Victoria Park Academy's policies are "harmful" to some vulnerable pupils...
Some schools disrupted amid rise in flu cases
Tuesday 9th December 2025Flu is on the rise, but ministers say schools should only close in extreme circumstances...
'School punished my child because I missed her parents' evening'
Tuesday 9th December 2025Louise Butcher is one of many parents who say a federation's two schools are too strict with pupils...
‘Bring it on!’: growing support in England for four-day week in schools
Tuesday 9th December 2025Why proposals for a shorter working week are winning over teachers and parents – despite the logistical headaches“A wonderful idea”, “Bring it on!”, “Yes!”, “Brilliant!”, “Absolutely”...
Rename ‘home-to-school transport’ to tackle spiralling costs, MPs told
Monday 8th December 2025Costs in England have now risen to £2.3bn a year, with local authorities arguing eligible pupils don’t always need a ‘door-to-door taxi service’“Home-to-school transport” should be renamed “assisted travel to school” to help manage parental expectations, MPs on the public accounts committee have been told...
A four-day week for teachers? This is why that isn’t a luxury for us – it’s a necessity | Lola Okolosie
Monday 8th December 2025Teachers in England and Wales are burnt-out and barely functioning...
50,000 new apprenticeships promised in youth employment push
Monday 8th December 2025Funding will be used to help employ young people in sectors including AI, hospitality and engineering...
Nigel Farage aide dismisses alleged racism as ‘playground banter’
Sunday 7th December 2025Danny Kruger says he is ‘relieved’ Reform leader is facing scrutiny over his past rather than present-day politicsOne of Nigel Farage’s key aides has suggested the Reform UK leader was involved in “playground arguments or banter” when he allegedly made racist and antisemitic comments while at school...
Young unemployed told to engage with jobs scheme or risk benefit cuts
Sunday 7th December 2025About 350,000 work and training places in care, construction and hospitality available but ‘sanctions’ may apply if ‘neets’ refuse offersYoung unemployed people will be offered training or job opportunities in construction, care and hospitality as part of a UK government scheme, but could have their benefits cut if they do not take up offers...
Nigel Farage should apologise after racism allegations, says former watchdog head
Sunday 7th December 2025Kishwer Falkner says Reform leader should apologise to people who say he targeted them at school, even if he rejects being deliberately racistNigel Farage should offer an unreserved apology to people who allege he targeted them with racist or antisemitic behaviour while at school, the outgoing head of the government’s equalities watchdog has said...
Young unemployed to be offered work in construction and hospitality in UK
Sunday 7th December 2025About 350,000 new places to be offered to ‘neets’ with ‘sanctions’ levied for those who do not engage, says DWPYoung unemployed people will be offered training or job opportunities in construction, care and hospitality as part of a UK government scheme, but could have their benefits cut if they do not take up offers...
Artificial intelligence research has a slop problem, academics say: ‘It’s a mess’
Saturday 6th December 2025AI research in question as author claims to have written over 100 papers on AI that one expert calls a ‘disaster’A single person claims to have authored 113 academic papers on artificial intelligence this year, 89 of which will be presented this week at one of the world’s leading conference on AI and machine learning, which has raised questions among computer scientists about the state of AI research...
Why a play about a fatal punch has gripped younger audiences and will tour schools
Saturday 6th December 2025James Graham’s play Punch touches on gang culture, restorative justice and masculinity in crisis, and for the playwright the true story was a privilege to tellWhen thousands of schoolchildren came to see James Graham’s play Punch in the West End, the playwright, actors and producers were struck by one thing...
‘Empathy that lasts a lifetime’: charity bridges gap between Bradford schools
Saturday 6th December 2025Pupils from schools with differing demographics meet and play under charity scheme set up after city’s 2001 riotsDonate to the Guardian Charity Appeal 2025 hereCommunities are our defence against hatred...
Government pledges to end children living in B&Bs
Friday 5th December 2025The strategy also includes making childcare more accessible for families on Universal Credit...
Tell us: have you lived in temporary accommodation in the UK with children?
Friday 5th December 2025We want to hear from UK parents with experience in temporary accommodation about the impact on their lives, family and schoolingMore than 172,000 children were living in temporary accommodation in England at the end of June, according to the latest quarterly official figures from October...
How a 'fertility gap' is fuelling the rise of one-child families
Friday 5th December 2025The proportion of UK families with one child has grown since the turn of the century - with knock-on effects for societyRead full story...
We'll end children living in B&Bs, government says
Thursday 4th December 2025The child poverty strategy also includes making childcare more accessible for families on Universal Credit...
'My son is asking when his school will open again'
Thursday 4th December 2025More than 200 pupils of Nazareth House primary school in Derry are at home for a second day because of concerns over the building's roof...
Former school could become campus for Send pupils
Thursday 4th December 2025The council says repurposing an old school will "create urgently needed places locally"...
Government pledges end to children living in B&Bs
Thursday 4th December 2025The child poverty strategy also includes making childcare more accessible for families on Universal Credit...
Outcry in Italy over sex education bill to crack down on ‘gender ideology’
Thursday 4th December 2025Legislation is needed to stop leftwing politicians ‘bringing drag queens and porn actors into schools’, minister saysA restrictive sex education bill backed by Georgia Meloni’s far-right government and intended to crack down on “gender ideology and the woke bubble” has provoked fury in Italy...
Regulators open inquiry into University of Greater Manchester amid fraud claims
Thursday 4th December 2025University is already being investigated by police over ‘allegations of financial irregularities’ and has suspended three of its senior staffThe University of Greater Manchester is being investigated by England’s higher education regulator amid mounting allegations of financial misconduct, bribery and bullying...
The Guardian view on a four-day week for teachers: a clever way to end the staffing crisis
Wednesday 3rd December 2025England’s teacher shortage is fuelled by burnout and unpaid overtime...
Scott Galloway on the masculinity crisis: ‘I worry we are evolving a new breed of asexual, asocial males’
Wednesday 3rd December 2025When his book Notes on Being a Man was released last month, it raced to the top of the bestseller lists...
New data reveals Australia’s high-achieving Naplan schools for this year
Tuesday 2nd December 2025Among them is Carlingford West public school in NSW, where 96% of students speak a language other than English...
New data reveals Australia’s highest-achieving Naplan schools for this year
Tuesday 2nd December 2025Among them is Carlingford West public school in NSW, where 96% of students speak a language other than English...
Teachers and parents in England: would you like a four-day working week to be introduced at your school?
Tuesday 2nd December 2025Campaigners are urging the government to allow schools to pilot shorter working weeks and we’d like to hear views of teachers and parents in EnglandThere is a recruitment and retention crisis in England’s schools...
Cost of unregistered children's care homes a 'national scandal' - Ofsted
Tuesday 2nd December 2025The Children's Homes Association says there is no clear national plan and government must 'fix the system'...
The rise of deepfake pornography in schools: ‘One girl was so horrified she vomited’
Tuesday 2nd December 2025The use of ‘nudify’ apps is becoming more and more prevalent, with hundreds of teachers having seen images created by pupils, often of their peers...
Folktales review – taking on tyranny of social media as teens learn to live like hunter-gatherers
Tuesday 2nd December 2025In this documentary, high schoolers camp out in subzero temperatures, making their own fires and driving sledges in the wildThe Pasvik Folk high school in remote northern Norway teaches teenagers to grow as young adults and escape the pressures of toxic social media by challenging them to get back in touch with their “stone age brain” and live like hunter-gatherers in the snowy wild...
Schools urged to trial four-day week to ease pressure on teachers in England and Wales
Monday 1st December 2025Advocacy group tells education secretary ‘working smarter’ can protect staff wellbeing and help studentsCampaigners have urged the government to pilot four-day working weeks in schools in England and Wales saying it would boost teacher wellbeing, retention and recruitment rates...
'We need to teach children about personal finance'
Monday 1st December 2025Headteachers in the south welcome moves to introduce financial literacy to the national curriculum...
School to start swimming lessons in memory of teen
Monday 1st December 2025After the death of former pupil Jack Lloyd, a primary will train children in a portable pool...
The Guardian view on the Send crisis: Bridget Phillipson must be tough with the Treasury so children aren’t penalised | Editorial
Sunday 30th November 2025Tory special needs reforms upended council finances, but Labour’s plan to rebuild public provision won’t come cheap if it’s done properlyThe crisis over special educational needs and disabilities in England is not just a question of cash...
Parents threatened and blamed by authorities as 1,000 adopted children returned to care
Friday 28th November 2025Families seeking help for their children’s complex needs describe threats of police action against them...
What does Neet stand for and how many are there in the UK?
Friday 28th November 2025Ministers want to tackle the high number of young people not in education, employment or training...
'Predatory' head teacher struck off after exposing himself in school
Friday 28th November 2025James 'Jamie' Richards left several staff traumatised and was described as "predatory" by a panel...
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