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Teachers' unions threaten strike action

Mon, 28 May 2012 17:30:20 GMT

The Government is facing the threat of co-ordinated strikes by the two biggest teachers' unions in the autumn after being accused of plunging education into a state of “crisis.”

Two biggest teachers' unions threaten strike action

Mon, 28 May 2012 09:26:20 GMT

The two biggest teachers' unions today threatened co-ordinated strikes in the autumn against Government “attacks” on jobs, pensions, workload and pay.

Postgraduate students are being used as 'slave labour'

Sat, 26 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

Postgraduate research students are increasingly being used as 'slave labour' to cut teaching costs at universities across the UK, a London conference heard yesterday.

Teacher exodus as thousands go for early exit

Sat, 26 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

The number of teachers quitting before reaching retirement age has reached a record high, as thousands of staff are driven out by plummeting morale and stiffer pension rules.

Student Loans Company head to stand down

Fri, 25 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

The head of the Student Loans Company will stand down when his contract expires next year in the wake of controversy over his tax arrangements. Ed Lester was paid through a company in order legally to reduce his liability for tax, until ministers intervened.

Michael Gove defends school Bibles scheme

Fri, 25 May 2012 13:57:19 GMT

Education Secretary Michael Gove has defended his plan to send copies of the King James Bible to schools across England.

Student loans chief Ed Lester to stand down

Fri, 25 May 2012 11:04:22 GMT

Student Loans Company head Ed Lester will stand down when his contract expires next year in the wake of controversy over his tax arrangements.

Over 250 schools to receive repair funding

Thu, 24 May 2012 13:53:40 GMT

Around 250 of the most dilapidated schools in the country are to be given funding to repair their buildings, ministers announced today.

Michael Gove rejects demands for more grammar schools

Thu, 24 May 2012 13:44:21 GMT

Education Secretary Michael Gove today rejected demands by Conservative MPs to allow the creation of more grammar schools, insisting they were not a “magic bullet” to solve the problems of the education system.

Chalk Talk: Roll up, roll up - if your school is not an academy yet, it soon will be

Wed, 23 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

I must confess my visit to the Academies Show in London's Olympia left me feeling a little mischievous last week. Not sure whether it was the sharp-suited stewards ushering everybody hither and thither with a kind of discipline even new chief schools inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw could only dream of. Or maybe it was the language used by some of the speakers – "structured customer feedback" particularly stuck in the throat. (There had been no mention of children up until then.)

GCSEs' value questioned by CBI

Wed, 23 May 2012 07:36:37 GMT

Business leaders questioned the value of GCSEs today.

Mike Sheridan: Confessions of an Ofsted inspector

Tue, 22 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

They stalk the corridors of schools, striking fear into the hearts of even the most senior teachers. They are the Ofsted school inspectors – but until now their voice has seldom been heard.

Parents join striking teachers at academy row school

Tue, 22 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

Parents joined striking teachers on the picket line outside a primary school yesterday, in a protest against Michael Gove's "ideological" attempts to impose academy status.

Teachers strike to block academy

Mon, 21 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

Teachers will be striking today at a school being forced to become an academy.

Children who start school with poor maths may never catch up

Mon, 21 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

Children who start school at five years old with poor maths skills are often doomed to failure, struggling to keep up in class and never able to regain the ground lost at such an early stage.

Clegg condemns divide in schools as 'corrosive'

Sat, 19 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

Nick Clegg will condemn the "rift in opportunities" in the British education system this week as new figures reveal that privately educated children are more than three times more likely to get good grades at A-level than state school pupils.

Rise in 'copied' university statements

Fri, 18 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

Almost 8,500 students were suspected of copying in their university applications last year, with new figures showing the number suspected of plagiarising their personal statements has more than tripled in a year.

Private university regulation 'a mess'

Thu, 17 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

A scheme to fund more student places at private universities is under fire after the Universities minister, David Willetts, admitted that no checks are made on whether undergraduates complete their course.

Mossbourne Academy: A class act that's hard to follow

Thu, 17 May 2012 08:00:01 GMT

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it." On the face of it, a reasonable motto for Peter Hughes to have adopted on securing his first headship. He is the man who has succeeded Sir Michael Wilshaw, now chief inspector of schools at Ofsted – the education standards watchdog – as principal of Mossbourne Academy in Hackney, east London.

'No benefit' to short apprenticeships

Thu, 17 May 2012 06:03:49 GMT

Apprenticeships of less than six months provide "no real benefit" to trainees or their employers, a parliamentary report warned today.

Hundreds of thousands of 11-year-olds leaving primary school unable to swim

Wed, 16 May 2012 23:00:24 GMT

More than 200,000 11-year-olds quit primary school every year unable to swim, according to a report out today.

English university students working harder since introduction of top-up fees

Wed, 16 May 2012 23:00:07 GMT

Students at English universities are working harder since the introduction of top-up fees - but have got little else from universities, according to a report out today.

Chalk Talk: Where in the world can you find a decent education?

Wed, 16 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

First it was Michael Gove wanting to embrace the Swedish schools' reforms to try and inject new life into efforts to raise standards in schools.

A class act that's hard to follow

Wed, 16 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

Teachers in regions may be paid less

Wed, 16 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

Teachers in Wales and the North and South-West of England face earning less than their counterparts in the South-east after the Education Secretary, Michael Gove, called for the scrapping of national pay rates for the profession.