Archive for education
How Ofsted outperforms the Department for Education in the email stakes
Yesterday I blogged about how only a third of emailed newsletters and circulars sent out by the Department for Education to schools and teachers are read by the recipients. I also mentioned that you could choose who to blame for the low readership rate: Who is to blame for this? If nothing else I suspect [...]
Goodbye EBacc, hello mansion tax
You'd have thought there must be a crunch by-election on the way...
“The net effect of grammar schools is to disadvantage poor children and help the rich”
That's the conclusion of the FT's Chris Cook in a piece that looks at how educational results vary between selective and non-selective areas in England.
Michael Gove declares war on curves (square corners are OK though)
Bizarre micro-management at its worst, courtesy of Michael Gove. Now, it’s easy to see why he’s keen to seen if schools can be built at lower costs. It’s also easy to see how a bit more standardisation between different new school designs could reduce costs. So looking for more standardisation in design? No problem. Demanding [...]
How progressive is the new tuition fees system?
The Institute For Fiscal Studies (IFS) has been running its calculators and slide-rulers over the new system, and here are some of the key points that it has concluded: “The new system eventually saves the taxpayer around £760 million per year, driven by a dramatic cut in direct public funding to universities.” “But for universities, [...]
A graph, a dip, a policy: why the nursery premium is so important
Liberal Democrat conference in Brighton saw the a motion passed calling for the party to investigate the practicalities of introducing a ‘nursery premium’. At first glance this sounds like an obvious extension of the party’s existing pupil premium policy. Delving more closely into the data, however, shows that it is more than simply an obvious [...]
A longer watch for the weekend: Martin Lewis on tuition fees
24 minutes and 1 second of the financial advisor and consumer champion Martin Lewis talking about the tuition fees system, how it works and what people get wrong about it:
* Mark Pack has written 101 Ways To Win An Election and produces a monthly news...
Another day at conference, another education policy launched
Tax, tax and a bit more about tax: that’s been the main theme of the Liberal Democrat conference, from the slogan on badges and the banner outside the building through to the content of speeches and the main policy focus of the media coverage. When it comes to new policy announcements, however, it is education [...]
Lib Dems announce further £100m for summer schools to help children catch-up
2012 saw £50m spent on a new summer schools scheme to help the most disadvantaged children: Nearly 2,000 new summer schools will open their classroom doors … to help some of the most disadvantaged pupils in England in the step up from primary to secondary school. Around 65,000 children are expected to benefit. Following the [...]
“A welcome outbreak of plain speaking from Nick Clegg”
Political, journalistic, public and party views span the full range from “brilliant” to “dreadful” on Nick Clegg’s apology this week over the tuition fees pledge. No surprise that Harriet Harman is not a fan of the Liberal Democrats (a view largely reciprocated, of course.) What matters more is the views of those 5-10% of the electorate [...]
