Education News
School heads given the right to ban veils
Published: 20 March 2007
Government guidelines being unveiled today will spell out the right of headteachers to ban the Muslim veil or other religious dress from the classroom if they feel it is getting in the way of learning.
So, did your parents go to university?
Published: 17 March 2007
Plans to establish the social background of university applicants provoked widespread controversy yesterday, with critics saying they amounted to "social engineering" while others praised them for encouraging diversity.
Errors in exam questions confuse pupils
Published: 16 March 2007
Thousands of young people taking A-levels and GCSEs were especially baffled last summer - they were unable to write answers because of errors in the questions by exam boards.
University applications to include parents' education
Published: 16 March 2007
Would-be university students will have to declare whether anyone in their family has a degree in a move to increase participation among poorer people.
The national curriculum for the under-5s
Published: 14 March 2007
Children will face their first assessment before their first birthday under a new national curriculum for the under-fives.
Foreign languages to be compulsory from age seven
Published: 13 March 2007
Ministers may have to reconsider compulsory language lessons for 14 to 16-year-olds.
Languages 'to be compulsory for seven-year-olds'
Published: 12 March 2007
The Education Secretary has revealed recommendations for an overhaul in the way French, German and other subjects are taught.
Headteachers jobs in danger
Published: 12 March 2007
Headteachers are "only one poor inspection away from their P45", the leader of the country's secondary school heads said yesterday.
Languages are the hardest GCSEs, research finds
Published: 12 March 2007
GCSEs in languages are much harder than any other subject, research has confirmed. As a result, heads are less likely to enter pupils for French, German or Spanish for fear of doing badly in exam league tables, it was claimed.
Manchester students ban Coke in human rights protest
Published: 10 March 2007
Students at Manchester University have banned Coca-Cola in protest at the American company's alleged abuses of human rights and the environment.
Johnson: Exam reforms could go 'horribly wrong'
Published: 10 March 2007
The Government's flagship exam reforms could go "horribly wrong", the Education Secretary Alan Johnson admitted yesterday.
The colourful way to teach children with dyslexia how to read
Published: 09 March 2007
Ruth Kelly provoked fury when she decided to send her nine-year-old son to a private school because she lacked confidence in local state schools to deal with his dyslexia.
The Academic: Oxford professor defends his anti-immigrant views
Published: 09 March 2007
It started as a petition to stop Professor David Coleman using his academic position at Oxford University to promote controversial views on the need for curbs on migration.
Students accused of copying university application forms
Published: 08 March 2007
Prospective university students are cutting and pasting material off the internet to pep up their application forms, admissions officers have discovered.
Schools storing up cash surpluses to face fines
Published: 08 March 2007
Schools which save money by storing it away in their balances will face "fines" under a new blueprint devised by ministers.
Nursery children 'lack communication skills'
Published: 06 March 2007
Children are arriving for full-time primary school lessons weak in language, literacy and communication because teachers are spending too little time on the three Rs in the early years of their education, according to a report by inspectors published today.
Parents likely to oppose new faith-based schools
Published: 06 March 2007
Parents are more likely to campaign against new faith schools than for them, according to research.
Teachers fail to understand black pupils, charity warns
Published: 04 March 2007
A legal charity has called for teachers to receive better cultural training to work with black pupils, following the publication of an official report identifying the existence of "institutional racism" in some schools.
Second council adopts school place lottery scheme
Published: 03 March 2007
A second council is using a controversial lottery system to determine allocations to its most popular schools, it has emerged.
Plan to levy fines on parents of truants 'are in disarray'
Published: 03 March 2007
A government plan to levy fixed-term penalty fines on parents of truants is in disarray, according to research.
Angry parents plan court action over lottery for school places
Published: 02 March 2007
Parents are planning a High Court bid to stop a council introducing a lottery scheme for allocating secondary school places.
Education class war
Published: 01 March 2007
Thousands of schools set to follow Brighton
Published: 01 March 2007
Growing numbers of state schools are expected to back the introduction of a lottery to determine who wins places at the top-performing secondaries.
Parents divided by lottery in Brighton's 'golden halo'
Published: 01 March 2007
Sue Benge admits she made a tactical decision to buy a house only minutes from a high-achieving school so that her daughters would be guaranteed admission to one of the most over-subscribed comprehensives in Brighton.
Education Diary
Published: 01 March 2007
When the controversial top-up fee law passed through parliament in 2003, the Government assured waverers that, over the course of a working lifetime, graduates would earn an average of £400,000 more than non-graduates. Now the official figure is £150,000.
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