We have compiled the most important education news nationwide for October 2018 to keep you up-to-date on the most pressing issues affecting children and their schooling. Whether it’s reports on the benefits of tuition, government-led school reforms, research surveys of exams, or hard-hitting journalism about the social aspects of education in the UK, you’ll be the first to know!
24th October – Silence in the hallways!
A school in Birmingham has banned all talking between lessons.
Ninestiles Secondary School has banned all communication between students when moving about the school. The children will only be allowed to communicate with one another in designated spaces and at certain times.
Some parents are likening the school to “a prison” and Hannah Jane Parkinson for the Guardian notes an eerie resemblance to the despotic educational regime of Roald Dahl’s Agatha Trunchbull.
The school stands by its approach. It isn’t the first school to introduce this measure and it argues that these strict rules help to boost grades and overall attainment.
23rd October – Britain’s highest earning degrees
Courses such as law and economics are considered to be among those with greatest earning potential in later life. However, a new report finds that some of the highest earners are actually graduating from lesser known institutions and with degrees you might not have expected.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/0/uks-highest-paying-degrees-according-graduate-salary/
17th October – Why city parents are sending their children to boarding school
Greater numbers of London dwellers are skipping local schools and instead sending their children away to a boarding school. Nicky Adams for City AM writes that the “good all-round education” and “logistically easier family life” that a boarding school can provide might justify the higher fees.
http://www.cityam.com/265789/why-city-parents-sending-their-children-boarding-schools
12th October – Banning mobile phones in the classroom
Eton College has caused controversy by announcing they are banning students from bringing their mobile phones into the classroom. The ban, introduced as a trial, has annoyed some of Eton’s own teachers. They argue that the use of phones in the classroom is often educational and can in fact aid the learning process.
11th October – Exam results not the be all and end all
Ofsted have announced they are to stop using exam results as a marker for success. Issues such as pupil behaviour and quality of education will now be given more weight when it comes to assessing schools.
8th October – School Funding
The schools minister Nick Gibb has claimed ‘more money than ever is being put into England’s schools’ but Sir David Norgrove of the UK Statistics Authority argues that the government has misrepresented investment in schools by failing to give an account of investment in real terms.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-45678670
1st October – Private school parents unfairly criticised
A leading headmaster is claiming private school parents are unfairly criticised by friends for sending their children to fee paying schools. Shaun Fenton, of Reigate Grammar School, argues parents often get a ‘hard time’ for sending their children to private schools even though they are simply “doing the best for their children.”
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