Education

The government is splashing stretched education cash on affluent pupils as the gap between rich and poor grows, union GMB has claimed. Theresa May’s first flagship grammar school, set to open in Croydon in 2019, highlights the yawning chasm between the haves and the have-nots, it says, with the school allowed to cherry pick 1,000 pupils and get direct Government funding. GMB, the union for school support staff, says the decision to give cash to a selective school in the midst of...

When girls reach the tender age of six-years-old they begin to doubt their own intelligence and start to believe that boys are actually smarter. It is thought that this change in thought process damages girls’ ability to reach top jobs in the future and limits their aspirations. This leaves these senior posts open to men at the expense of women. Research found that females get an inferiority complex at such a young age and they don’t fee they can be...

Money that was pledged by the Government to convert failing schools into academies has been clawed back by central government. The money was going to be used to force every school to become an academy, but a backlash, including a rebellion by backbench Tory MPs, led to the Government ditching the policy. In total £384m will return to the Treasury, in a move that has exasperated teaching staff who hoped the funding could still be used to improve the educational...

A quarter of courses are struggling to meet tough new targets on gender balance in Scottish colleges. In total, five out of 18 subjects have failed to meet the goal of ensuring that at least 25 per cent of students on the course are male or female. The figures show just how difficult it will be for the colleges to fall in line with the Government's targets by 2030. Subjects such as nautical studies and construction are dominated by male...

Student debt in the United Kingdom was well on its way to reaching crisis proportions before the recent changes in student finance instituted by the government. With the changes, student debt and the accompanying economic and societal problems it is creating is expected to triple from its present level of about £101 billion to more than £298 billion in 30 years. Although the $1.3 trillion in student debt in the United States dwarfs the UK’s debt load, on an individual...

The head of a chain of academy schools earned the equivalent of a whopping £25,000 a month for running the trust, it has emerged. Mike Ramsay, 61, pocketed a total of £127,000 for just five months' work as interim chief executive of the academy trust, which runs 21 schools. Mr Ramsay's firm, Hi Tech Group Ltd, were also paid to provide IT services to the trust. Wakefield City Academies Trust (WCAT) defended the sky-high rates, saying it was in line with...

Britain’s universities are plagued by a culture of sexual harassment and discrimination, according to a new study. Almost 55 per cent of students said they have either witnessed or experienced sexual harassment or discrimination by a lecturer, professor or other member of university staff, with the average student witnessing or experienciong five instances throughout their university life, either from staff or fellow students. According to the report, which was commissioned by McAllister Olivarius, one female student ended up being propositioned by...

Kent University has faced backlash after it picked Zayn Malik and Sadiq Kahn as poster-boys for Black History Month. The Canterbury-based university was labelled a  “national embarrassment” by furious students for picking two representatives who are both half-British, half Pakistani and both born in Britain. Black History Month tweeted soon after the announcement: “Deeply disappointed at Kent University’s ill thought and misdirected Black History Month celebrations. “With Asian Heritage Month being observed by a growing number of countries in May, will...

Modern children are able to operate a TV remote control before they can recite the alphabet, according to shocking new research. The average British child can confidently channel-hop at the age of four years and ten months, but don't have a full grasp of the alphabet until they are almost five years-old. But the loss of traditional skill sets may not be all doom and gloom. Nine in ten adults admit their children have a better of grasp of tech than...