Disastrous school reform agenda is a solution in search of a problem January 9, 2025 A long time ago I got involved in a battle to help a school leave council control and become an academy. This was shortly after Michael Gove, as education secretary, continued the reforming efforts of his Labour predecessors to inject more choice and freedom into the state education sector. The local council, faced with losing [...]
Freedom and parental choice are under threat from school reforms January 8, 2025 The government’s schools bill will undo all the progress that’s been made in English education and had power over our children’s futures to unions and activists, rather than the people who know best, says Mark Lehain English schools really are better now than 35 years ago, by any number of measures. Things improved by design, [...]
The world’s first AI university January 1, 2025 Over the past year, AI has taken the world by storm. It is no surprise that there is the world’s first University focused exclusively on AI
Private school fees VAT hike to take effect on New Year’s Day December 29, 2024 Private school fees are to become subject to VAT from New Year’s Day as ministers reportedly draw up plans to handle a potential wave of school closures. The government’s policy to end the charitable status of fee-paying schools which exempts them from paying 20 per cent value added tax (VAT) to the Treasury as of [...]
Youth unemployment is at a decade-high. Ignoring it will breed division November 23, 2024 Being left behind while others prosper creates fertile ground for extremism. So we can't afford to ignore youth unemployment, writes Russell Hobby.
Pearson: Educational publisher starts to reap rewards of AI October 29, 2024 Pearson said it is starting to see “commercial benefit” from the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into its services. The education publisher said there have been over five million student interactions with its higher education AI study tools in the nine months to September, leading to double-digit year on year billings growth in its higher [...]
The UK is an economic powerhouse – and we should know October 14, 2024 Brits should be less British about boasting about the strengths of our economy and our enduring spirit of entrepreneurialism, creativity and innovation, says Saker Nusseibeh It is a common characteristic of our national discourse to err towards the negative. An inclination to see, but not celebrate, what this country already does so well. Perhaps it [...]
How do you really improve schools? (Hint: it’s not smaller classes or paying teachers more) October 14, 2024 Malawi, one of the poorest countries in the world with overcrowded classrooms and teacher shortages, is embracing pioneering technology – and turning its schools around, writes Bjorn Lomborg Childrens’ educational test scores are a major cause for concern across the world. Learning plummeted nearly everywhere during the Covid pandemic – but even before that, standardised [...]
‘Challenging policy’: What the pushback to private school VAT plans reveals October 8, 2024 VAT… easy as ABC? It may not quite be Blair’s ‘education, education, education’ mantra, or Michael Gove’s multi-academy trusts. But for Sir Keir ‘my-father-was-a-toolmaker’ Starmer, there’s been one education policy that’s been front and centre of his manifesto and the first 100 days. This is, of course, the plan to impose VAT on private school [...]
The City is a financial knowledge hub, trading in ideas just as much as in goods September 16, 2024 Despite being a hub for meaningful education, there is still too heavy a reliance on qualifications within the City, writes Michael Mainelli.