National news
Cutting Asian language courses at Australian universities hurting students’ job prospects, experts say
Thursday 15th April 2021Axing of four subjects in 2021 a ‘crisis’ that will disadvantage businesses in the future, says president of Asian Studies Association of AustraliaAustralian universities are failing students and leaving them unprepared for the future job market by cutting courses in Asian languages, according to teachers and experts...
‘Left behind’: students respond to news that unis still won’t reopen
Wednesday 14th April 2021Four students at English universities on why they are desperate for a return to face-to-face learning Coronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageUniversity campuses in England will not reopen fully until mid-May at the earliest, the government has announced, leaving many students to continue remote learning for at least another month...
‘Left behind’: students respond to news that uni campuses won’t reopen
Wednesday 14th April 2021Four students at English universities on why they are desperate for a return to face-to-face learning Coronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageUniversity campuses in England will not reopen fully until mid-May at the earliest, the government has announced, leaving many students to continue remote learning for at least another month...
Pimlico Academy parents told: future disobedience will be punished
Wednesday 14th April 2021Lord Nash’s letter says pupils should be warned of consequences of further protests at London schoolThe chair of the trust which runs Pimlico Academy, the London secondary school at the centre of pupil protests over allegations of race discrimination, has written a letter to parents warning that any future disobedience by pupils will result in disciplinary action...
LGBT homelessness: 'I had to put on a straight persona'
Tuesday 13th April 2021Lockdown has pushed some young LGBTQ people into homelessness rather than face abuse...
LGBT homelessness: 'I had to pretend to be straight'
Tuesday 13th April 2021Lockdown has pushed some young LGBTQ people into homelessness rather than face abuse...
Cressida Cowell: Children's Laureate leads call for £100m primary school library fund
Monday 12th April 2021Cowell and other leading writers want yearly funding to aid primary school libraries post-pandemic...
Help sixth-formers make up lost learning, say UK college leaders
Monday 12th April 2021Students who have fallen behind during pandemic should get six months to a year to repeat studies, Association of Colleges recommendsCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageSixth-form students should be allowed to repeat part of the year to make up for lost learning, college leaders have said, as research showed three-quarters had fallen between one and four months behind during the coronavirus pandemic...
Children’s laureates campaign for £100m a year to fix primary school libraries
Monday 12th April 2021Current laureate Cressida Cowell leads demands to ringfence funds to renew ‘deteriorating’ facilities that fail to appeal to studentsAll of the UK’s children’s laureates, including Cressida Cowell, Quentin Blake, Philip Pullman and Michael Rosen, are uniting to call for the government to dedicate £100m a year to revitalising “deteriorating” primary school libraries across the country, amid fears that literacy levels have dropped severely during the pandemic...
All N. Ireland year groups return to school
Monday 12th April 2021It is the first time all pupils in Northern Ireland have been in school since before Christmas...
Liverpool teacher banned over 'extensive' coursework changes
Monday 12th April 2021John Wiseman made "significant modifications" to work sent to an exam board, a panel finds...
UK students: share your experiences of university during coronavirus
Monday 12th April 2021We’d like to hear from university students about their experience during the pandemic, and any frustrations they might haveThe government’s refusal to put a date on when university students can return to campuses is putting immense strain on the mental health and wellbeing of young people, university vice-chancellors and students warned this weekend...
UK university students struggle with stress as uncertainty grows over return date
Sunday 11th April 2021Failure to include campuses on Covid roadmap is leaving young people ‘in limbo’, say vice-chancellorsCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageThe government is putting the mental health and wellbeing of young people at risk by refusing to set a date when students can return to university campuses, university vice-chancellors and students have warned...
Why do my children find me so annoying? I fear it is nothing to do with lockdown | Zoe Williams
Sunday 11th April 2021How much of teenage behaviour is due to the pandemic, and how much is garden-variety adolescence? It’s a difficult knot to tease outIn the old days, I used to follow the news pretty closely, but lately the inevitability of it being bad has turned me off, and I mainly follow dogs on social media that have got their heads stuck in things...
Returning pupils need a gold star, not ‘behaviour hubs’. Poor work, Mr Williamson | Tim Adams
Sunday 11th April 2021Generosity of spirit can play a pivotal role in the classroom – perhaps someone should tell the education secretaryI went to a grammar school in which praise was, in that repressed British tradition, very strictly rationed...
Schools fear second grading fiasco for GCSEs and A-levels
Saturday 10th April 2021Heads are under pressure to carry out too many assessments and use data on previous pupils’ performance, teachers warn Fears are growing over how GCSEs and A-levels will be awarded in England this summer, with headteachers under pressure to carry out an “excessive” number of assessments on students and use historical data about previous pupils’ past performance to “unjustly” suppress the grades of individual high achievers...
Musa Okwonga: ‘Boys don’t learn shamelessness at Eton, it is where they perfect it’
Saturday 10th April 2021The writer and podcaster talks about his private school days, and why a system that prides itself on creating leaders is selling Britain shortRead an extract from his memoir One of Them belowIt’s 1996 in a perfectly ordinary suburb just north of Heathrow airport...
After a year of Covid, a behaviour crackdown is an insult to England's children | Carolyne Willow
Friday 9th April 2021Gavin Williamson’s plan to create ‘behaviour hubs’ for schools is as dispiriting as it is predictable and unimaginativeHaving worked in children’s policy for more than two decades, I found the government call this week for a crackdown on behaviour in schools as heart-sinking as it was predictable and unimaginative...
Macron announces closure of elite school that hothoused French leaders
Thursday 8th April 2021The grande école, or ENA, has been the pathway to power for top civil servants and four presidentsEmmanuel Macron has announced the closure of the École Nationale d’Administration, the elite French finishing school for the country’s leaders, where he himself studied...
Gavin Williamson as spineless as Pinocchio, says teachers’ leader
Thursday 8th April 2021Robin Bevan, of National Education Union, mocks education secretary at annual conferenceThe president of the UK’s biggest teaching union has compared the education secretary to Pinocchio, saying Gavin Williamson was “limp and spineless” as he attacked him for his actions during the pandemic...
One in three teachers plan to quit, says National Education Union survey
Thursday 8th April 2021Workload and diminishing respect for profession are main reasons why 35% of teachers wish to leave within five yearsOne in three teachers plan to quit the classroom within five years because of increased workload and diminishing respect for the profession, according to a major union survey...
Macron to close France’s elite finishing school ENA
Thursday 8th April 2021Institution has been pathway to power for country’s elite, including four French presidentsEmmanuel Macron is expected to officially announce on Thursday the closure of the École Nationale d’Administration, the elite French finishing school for the country’s leaders where he studied...
Macron to close elite school that hothouses French leaders
Thursday 8th April 2021Institution has been pathway to power for country’s elite, including four French presidentsEmmanuel Macron is expected to officially announce on Thursday the closure of the École Nationale d’Administration, the elite French finishing school for the country’s leaders where he studied...
Walsall NHS trust scholarship awards colleague of nurse who died of Covid
Thursday 8th April 2021First to receive nurse training funds set up in memory of Areema Nasreen is support worker Sheila KeraiA former colleague of a 36-year-old nurse who died from Covid-19 last year has vowed to “make her proud” after being awarded a scholarship in her memory...
Leicester University may strip professor of title over social media barbs
Thursday 8th April 2021Peter Armstrong, 81, has been critical of management’s financial competence and ‘bullying’ tacticsThe University of Leicester has threatened to strip an 81-year-old professor emeritus of his title after he posted comments on social media criticising the institution, which is currently facing a strike ballot over redundancies...
While Williamson calls for discipline, our children’s hopes crumble around them | Polly Toynbee
Thursday 8th April 2021The education secretary’s idea of ‘behaviour hubs’ to teach other schools how to keep order shows just how little he cares“There is nothing Dickensian about a classroom that is a well-ordered, disciplined environment, where firm and fair teaching gives every child the chance to learn...
Schools 'a lifeline to many students' in past year'
Wednesday 7th April 2021School staff helped families struggling financially during pandemic, says the National Education Union...
How can the UK stop harassment and sexual abuse in schools? – podcast
Wednesday 7th April 2021The Everyone’s Invited website has collected 14,000 testimonies so far, painting a picture of widespread sexual harassment and violence in our schools...
Covid: teachers reject catchup options of extended school day and shorter holidays
Wednesday 7th April 2021Union survey in England, Wales and Northern Ireland also shows lack of enthusiasm for tutoring schemeCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageThe overwhelming majority of teachers – 98% – are opposed to an extended school day and shorter holidays as a means of helping children’s learning recovery after the pandemic, according to a major union poll, which also revealed a lack of enthusiasm for the government’s tutoring scheme...
Covid: Young and poor more likely to be lonely in lockdown
Wednesday 7th April 2021Loneliness in the pandemic has been more intense for young people in poor, urban areas...
Mobile phones should be banned in schools - Gavin Williamson
Wednesday 7th April 2021Phones should not be used or seen during the school day, the education secretary says...
Where are Britain's loneliest places in lockdown?
Wednesday 7th April 2021Loneliness in the pandemic has been more intense for young people in poor, urban areas...
Ofsted to visit English schools where sexual abuse was reported
Wednesday 7th April 2021Inspectors will attend "a sample of schools and colleges" to see how well they support pupils...
Ofsted inspectors to visit schools facing sexual abuse claims
Wednesday 7th April 2021Checks on institutions named on Everyone’s Invited website will form part of emergency reviewOfsted inspectors are to carry out checks on schools that have been the subject of recent complaints about sexual harassment and assault...
Experts reject claim Covid has worsened behaviour in English schools
Wednesday 7th April 2021Education secretary announces ‘behaviour hubs’, saying some pupils out of control after lockdownCoronavirus – latest UK updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageGavin Williamson’s claim that “out of control behaviour” could destroy the atmosphere in England’s schools has been rejected by teachers and children’s advocates, with experts saying there is no evidence pupil conduct has worsened since lockdown...
Secondary school pupils to keep wearing masks after Easter
Tuesday 6th April 2021Face masks in classrooms in England will remain at least until May, says education secretary...
Universities angry at PM’s failure to include reopening plan in Covid roadmap
Tuesday 6th April 2021Boris Johnson has not said how soon campuses in England can fully reopen Coronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverage University leaders said it was deeply unfair that students could get haircuts or work in pubs next week but still had no idea when their campuses would reopen, as the government announced that school pupils in England will be expected to wear masks until the middle of May...
Teachers reject Covid catchup options of extended school day and shorter holidays
Tuesday 6th April 2021Union survey in England, Wales and Northern Ireland also shows lack of enthusiasm for tutoring schemeCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageThe overwhelming majority of teachers – 98% – are opposed to an extended school day and shorter holidays as a means of helping children’s learning recovery after the pandemic, according to a major union poll, which also revealed a lack of enthusiasm for the government’s tutoring scheme...
'Very intimidating': teachers on sexual harassment by pupils
Tuesday 6th April 2021Teachers highlight toxic culture of sexual harassment and abuse they face in school“I’ve had threats of rape...
San Francisco set to reverse purge of 44 'injustice-linked' school names
Tuesday 6th April 2021Board voted to strip schools of names it said were linked to racism and sexism but critics said effort was hasty and flawedThe San Francisco school board is poised to reverse a much-criticized decision to purge 44 schools of names it said were linked to racism, sexism or other injustices, among them Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Robert Louis Stevenson and Dianne Feinstein, a longtime Democratic senator from California...
Sharp rise in parents seeking to ban anti-racist books in US schools
Tuesday 6th April 2021The American Library Association’s annual Top 10 ‘most challenged’ books is usually dominated by LGBTQ+ reading, but 2020 registered other anxietiesDemands by parents to remove books from library shelves addressing racism soared in the US in 2020, the American Library Association has revealed...
Covid: New Wales curriculum 'must be delayed' to aid pupils
Monday 5th April 2021Implementing the changes in 2022 does not give schools sufficient time post-pandemic, a union says...
‘I miss school’: 800m children still not fully back in classes
Monday 5th April 2021Rights groups warn that children across the world are being pushed into abusive situations, from early marriage to child labour Across the world 800 million children are still not fully back in school, Unicef is warning, with many at risk of never returning to the classroom the longer closures go on...
Black history 'should be taught across all subjects in UK schools'
Monday 5th April 2021Union says narrative that black people only have a history of enslavement and colonisation must changeBlack history should be fully embedded in the curriculum in UK schools and taught across all subjects including maths, geography, food technology, science and music, according to a leading teaching union...
Covid: New Wales curriculum 'must be delayed' to aid pupils
Sunday 4th April 2021Implementing the changes in 2022 does not give schools sufficient time post-pandemic, a union says...
Culture of sexual abuse in schools toxic for teachers too, says union
Sunday 4th April 2021NASUWT leader says some boys’ behaviour not acceptable and no women should feel unsafe in schoolFemale teachers as well as pupils are victims of a toxic culture of sexual abuse within schools, according to a teaching union leader who said harassment by boys is “the tip of the iceberg” of behaviour that some schools are failing to confront...
Race report boss wanted schools to teach 'the truth' about modern Britain
Sunday 4th April 2021Ethnic minority business leaders condemn study by Tony Sewell’s commission as ‘laughably simplistic’The chairman of the controversial review of racial disparities drew up plans to introduce a new compulsory school subject to teach children “the truth” about modern Britain, the Observer has been told...
Are single-sex schools the safe option after abuse scandal?
Sunday 4th April 2021Harrowing testimonies may lead parents to opt for girls-only schools for their daughtersThere’s an old-fashioned piece of hypocrisy that has parents wanting their sons to go to mixed-sex schools to benefit from the civilising influence of girls, and for their daughters to go to single-sex schools, to protect them from the corrupting influence of boys...
School moves are adding to children’s trauma, psychotherapist warns
Sunday 4th April 2021UK teachers urged to look out for children who struggle with move to secondary school during the pandemic Coronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageChildren who moved from primary to secondary school last September need extra care and attention to prevent a decline in their mental health, according to a leading child psychotherapist...
Schools abuse site Everyone's Invited seeks ideas for ‘positive change’
Sunday 4th April 2021Founder Soma Sara has created a new section online to share suggestions for ways to end harassment and violenceHow UK schoolgirls finally found voice to tell of sexual abuseSurvivors of sexual abuse in schools are being urged to share their suggestions on how harassment and violence against students could be tackled...
Was the information on this page helpful? 
