National News
Parents pushed to breaking point by Child Maintenance Service, BBC told
Monday 17th August 2026Mothers, like Katy, describe battles to make ex-partners pay, while fathers say they have been wrongly charged thousands...
My son is leaving home for university – and my severe denial has surprised me | Zoe Williams
Monday 17th August 2026My cherished first-born will soon be off to start a big new phase of his life, shiny saucepans in tow...
Cambridge University defends its mental health support for Jason Arday
Sunday 16th August 2026University says it continued to provide support after resignation of academic, who was found dead on FridayThe University of Cambridge has defended its mental health support for the academic Jason Arday...
AI cheating, leaked papers and marking errors: how exam protests went global
Sunday 16th August 2026Student unrest sweeps India, Portugal and Mexico as grievances and pressure for good grades in tough job market collideFamilies with teenagers in education know the private, hidden pain of exam season...
‘Our children are less cognitively capable,’ says neuroscientist who wants to cut screen use in schools
Sunday 16th August 2026Jared Cooney Horvath argues that educational technology undermines how children learn and developJared Cooney Horvath is on a mission...
‘Cheap travel is not a defence’: the parents facing court for school absences in England
Saturday 15th August 2026In one court in Kent, most cases relate to term-time holidays, but non-attendance is a complex issue and post-pandemic rates remain highAs the long school summer break approached its mid-point recently, Margate beach was crowded with families enjoying the brief reprieve between the year’s fourth and fifth heatwaves...
Students squeezed out of university courses after bumper A-level grades
Friday 14th August 2026Students narrowly missing grades are being rejected, while some on oversubscribed courses are asked to deferStudents across the UK have found themselves unexpectedly squeezed out of their desired university courses as this year’s bumper crop of A-level grades has not always translated into the places many were hoping for...
Students squeezed out of university courses after bumper crop of top A-level grades
Friday 14th August 2026Students narrowly missing grades are being rejected, while some on oversubscribed courses are asked to deferStudents across the UK have found themselves unexpectedly squeezed out of their desired university courses as this year’s bumper crop of A-level grades has not always translated into the places many were hoping for...
GCSE results, resits and appeals - what to do if you are unhappy with your grades
Friday 14th August 2026Your full guide to this year's GCSE exams in England, Wales and Northern Ireland...
Are the UK's top universities really 'hoovering up' students?
Friday 14th August 2026The most selective universities have seen the biggest rise in students accepted onto their courses for 2026...
UK universities face ‘financial crisis’ amid collapse in international students
Friday 14th August 2026Higher education figures call on Labour to reverse tax on fees and warn institutions at risk of ‘going under’University leaders are warning of financial turmoil in British higher education after new figures suggested a collapse in international student numbers would deprive the sector of vital income and undermine its future...
The Guardian view on A-level and T-level results: a boost to the nation’s confidence | Editorial
Thursday 13th August 2026Young people should be proud of their achievements...
UK universities face ‘financial crisis’ amid collapse in international students
Thursday 13th August 2026Higher education figures call on Labour to reverse tax on fees and warn institutions at risk of ‘going under’University leaders are warning of financial turmoil in British higher education, after new figures suggest a collapse in international student numbers will deprive the sector of vital income and undermine its future...
Are the UK's top universities really 'hoovering up' students?
Thursday 13th August 2026The most selective universities have seen the biggest rise in students accepted onto their courses for 2026...
London pulls further ahead as A-level regional divide for top grades hits record – as it happened
Thursday 13th August 2026This year’s results expose a widening gap in students achieving top grades in London and north-east EnglandFor international students, 53,740 applicants have been accepted on to undergraduate courses – up by 2% on the 52,640 who were successful last year...
Students set new records for A-level grades in bumper year
Thursday 13th August 2026Northern Ireland best performing with 30.7% of grades being As and A*s but Wales and England close behindA-level results – latest updatesSixth-formers have basked in a summer of record-breaking exam results in academic and vocational subjects, allowing more than a quarter of a million 18-year-olds to go on to higher education...
Record number of A-level students accepted on to degree courses – latest news
Thursday 13th August 2026There are more university places for domestic students as institutions scramble to make up for a fall in overseas studentsFor international students, 53,740 applicants have been accepted on to undergraduate courses – up by 2% on the 52,640 who were successful last year...
Boys outperform girls in A-levels for second consecutive year as record number of students accepted on to degree courses – latest news
Thursday 13th August 2026Almost one in three boys’ A-level entries scored an A8 or A* this summerFor international students, 53,740 applicants have been accepted on to undergraduate courses – up by 2% on the 52,640 who were successful last year...
A-level results: students across England, Wales and Northern Ireland await grades – latest news
Thursday 13th August 2026More expected to get their first choice of university place as institutions scramble to make up for a fall in overseas studentsThe education secretary has said she will not oversee a “two-tier system” in education and ensure youngsters have good options to pursue technical and vocational routes and university...
Jason Arday is now the stick the right will use to beat back racial equality. Don’t let that happen | Afua Hirsch
Thursday 13th August 2026The UK is far from equality in academia or society...
‘Always cracking jokes’: questions raised over Jason Arday’s claim he was non-verbal as a child
Wednesday 12th August 2026Fellow pupils at his primary school have challenged Cambridge academic’s story, though others support itThe story of Jason Arday’s extraordinary rise to becoming the youngest black professor in the history of the University of Cambridge is all the more remarkable for one claim: that he did not learn to speak until just shy of his 12th birthday...
Jason Arday’s life may be a warped fantasy. But so is this conversation around DEI
Wednesday 12th August 2026Cambridge’s youngest Black professor has resigned...
University of Cambridge whistleblower who reported alleged bullying wins employment tribunal
Tuesday 11th August 2026Prof Wyn Evans, who raised concerns over treatment of female staff at Institute of Astronomy, was subject to ‘baseless’ investigation, judge rulesA University of Cambridge whistleblower who alleged bullying of female staff inside the university’s Institute of Astronomy has won a tribunal against his employer...
An HBCU has banned durags and bonnets. That reinforces anti-Blackness | AD Carson
Tuesday 11th August 2026Tuskegee University’s dress code is a marker of a harmful politics of respectability...
Good luck if you’re waiting for A-level results. Just don’t ask me what to do next | Zoe Williams
Tuesday 11th August 2026I’m all in favour of university – but I don’t have to pay the enormous feesIn one of the most poignant vox pops I ever did, I wasn’t even looking for Neets, AKA young people who aren’t in education, employment or training...
Could you predict which children will be Neets? No – and it’s unfair to ask that of teachers | Daisy Christodoulou
Tuesday 11th August 2026The idea of government adviser Alan Milburn sounds laudable...
Students face ‘ticking timebomb’ of debt and higher taxes
Monday 10th August 2026Exclusive: Analysis finds cost of higher education ‘falls overwhelmingly on the individual’The government is piling mountains of debt and higher tax rates on young people heading to university, according to analysis into the “ticking timebomb” of costs faced by future students...
How much parents could save from September's new school uniform rules
Monday 10th August 2026Parents should not have to buy more than three branded items, plus a tie for secondary schools...
Parents of baby girl killed at nursery fear unsafe sleeping ‘rife’ in sector across England
Sunday 9th August 2026Katie and John Meehan say responses to campaign they launched after death of daughter Genevieve must be ‘wake-up call’The parents of a nine-month-old girl who died after being placed in an unsafe sleeping position at nursery said they feared poor practice may be “rife” across England...
The Guardian view on Jason Arday: diversity advocates must stand firm | Editorial
Friday 7th August 2026Serious failings by one academic, and his bosses at the University of Cambridge, should not be allowed to undermine wider progressive goalsJason Arday’s resignation from the University of Cambridge on Wednesday marked a full stop of sorts, but not an end to the furore surrounding his promotion to a professorship at the age of 37...
With their assault on science, Trumpists aren’t just harming America – they’re harming themselves | Jan-Werner Müller
Friday 7th August 2026The administration is subjugating science to political imperatives, a major blow to US soft power and technological progressThe Trump administration is waging an unprecedented war on institutions devoted to research and higher learning...
Primary schools to be told to identify children at risk of future unemployment
Friday 7th August 2026Exclusive: Neet crisis review to call for teachers to be asked to spot those at risk of leaving education jobless at 16What can Dublin teach us? Milburn goes on quest to learnPrimary schools in England should be required to identify children at risk of leaving education at 16 without finding a job, a government review is to recommend...
Friday briefing: What the Jason Arday row reveals about equality in modern Britain
Friday 7th August 2026In today’s newsletter: Reputational power operates unevenly across elite organisations in British public life, shaping whose mistakes become scandals and whose are quietly absorbedGood morning...
The Guardian view on mental health: the new secretary of state should make it a priority | Editorial
Thursday 6th August 2026Parity for people with physical and psychological ailments has been promised for years...
All schools in England to get pupil attendance targets, government says
Thursday 6th August 2026The BBC understands schools will not be penalised for missing targets, but they will be monitored...
Danish pupils will have to orally defend essays in attempt to combat AI cheating
Thursday 6th August 2026Government introduces several measures, including monitoring of computers, for pupils aged 16 to 19Europe live – latest updatesDanish teenagers will have to make an oral defence of their written essays to combat AI cheating, the government has announced...
Students using AI to cheat will face stricter rules, says Danish government
Thursday 6th August 2026Teenagers must make oral defence of essays and schools will monitor computers during exams under crackdownDanish teenagers will have to make an oral defence of their written essays to combat AI cheating, the government has announced...
The 'education gap' hiding behind picture-perfect Cornwall and Devon
Thursday 6th August 2026Behind the South West's postcard image, poverty and isolation are limiting opportunities for many young people...
Teachers need help with AI. A union is offering training – with $23m in funding from big tech
Wednesday 5th August 2026Partnership between American Federation of Teachers, one of the largest labor unions in the US, and AI firms has stirred controversyDarius Saczuk, a high school teacher, views artificial intelligence as his enemy...
They gave me to someone who could not read or write … it would be better if you buried me alive
Wednesday 5th August 2026I was the top student in my university class but when the Taliban took Afghanistan again I was forced to marry and my dreams of being a pilot endedOn my last day of school it seemed years of effort were now contained in one small piece of paper...
Montessori learning is being shut down at Leah’s school – is a push towards ‘explicit instruction’ to blame?
Monday 3rd August 2026Critics say the one size-fits-all approach doesn’t work for all students and there are questions about the body that helped design itMichelle’s year-eight daughter, Leah*, has been in and out of hospital since birth with complex medical issues, and Michelle says flexible learning through a Montessori program has allowed her to keep up with school...
Children using social media at younger age appear to do worse in school tests
Monday 3rd August 2026Pupils who open accounts aged 11 to 12 score lower in some subjects than those who wait a few years, study findsChildren who open social media accounts at the start of secondary school appear to perform worse in tests than those who delay, with researchers suspecting that the constant checking for updates is a major distraction for many students...
How parents and pupils took on 'cruel', 'authoritarian' schools - and won
Monday 3rd August 2026Discipline at an academy trust went too far - parents, pupils and former teachers tell BBC Panorama...
‘I want to be ripped to shreds’: writers flock to MFAs - but does it breed elitist literature?
Monday 3rd August 2026Thousands of budding US novelists enlist in courses each year, hoping to gain credentials that often influence who gets publishedThomas Pynchon was known to avoid the press and refuse interviews...
‘Tiger mum’ Lucy Powell on Labour’s vocational skills drive: ‘It’s about ambition for everybody’
Sunday 2nd August 2026New education secretary says it is ‘false trade-off’ by critics to suggest schools cannot pursue academic excellence alongside technical skillsLucy Powell has said she wants to be an ambitious “tiger mum” for all young people, whatever their route through education, after the government was accused of dumbing down England’s schools with plans to create more vocational routes...
I’m all for the nanny state – but we should abolish fines for holidays in term time | Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett
Sunday 2nd August 2026Some parents are sticklers for the rules, yet mass civil disobedience by parents in England and Wales suggests many agree with mePerhaps it’s my stage of parenthood, or the fact that I’ve been lying awake at night, but I think I have an idea that could secure the electoral future of the Labour party...
Could a couch-to-5k for books get you back into reading?
Sunday 2nd August 2026With smartphones stealing our attention, we’re picking up fewer books than ever...
Solitude as a new aspirational lifestyle: 'We are not lonely'
Saturday 1st August 2026A growing number of what the internet has dubbed "loneliness influencers" are spotlighting solo living without children or friends - and it's spurring debate...
If you think kids will respect a robot teacher, you have never met a kid | Dave Schilling
Saturday 1st August 2026A New York school district has paused plans to bring an android into the classroom...
Squishies and ‘a fuzzy book’: 21 things tweens want for back-to-school season, according to tweens
Friday 31st July 2026We asked tweens what is on their school wish list this year – including squishy toys, roller skate shoes and water bottlesBack-to-school sales are unusually early this year...
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