Education & schools work update
Headlines from the world of education and schools work:
Education review of the year 2010: review of the year by the Telegraph.
Children in poverty ‘as happy as more affluent classmates’: Research shows kids are most likely to say they feel happy if they can talk to their parents about their worries. Children living in poverty are as happy as classmates from wealthier homes, a study of 32,000 young people has found.
More than 500 pupils excluded for assault or abuse every school day: On an average school day 511 pupils in primary, secondary and special needs schools across England are excluded for abusing or assaulting an adult, according to statistics from 2008-9. On average, 503 of the exclusions are temporary. Of these, 412 are for verbally abuse or threats, while 91 are for physical assault. A further eight exclusions are permanent and are equally distributed between physical and verbal abuse. In total, 96,990 pupils are excluded each school year. Ministers said the statistics, from the Department for Education, justified their view that plans to “restore discipline in classrooms” were long overdue.
Schools ban pupils from using gossip website: Several leading independent schools are trying to block a “pernicious” website which they say encourages pupils to bully each other by posting anonymous gossip.
Scrap compulsory acts of worship in schools, say teachers and campaigners: The National Secular Society (NSS) has written to Michael Gove arguing that the legislation, dating from the 1944 Education Act, infringes children’s human rights and discriminates against pupils of no faith and non-Christians.
No web access at home for 2m poor pupils, warns charity: E-learning Foundation fears gap between rich and poor at school will widen unless more get home internet access. More than one million children in Britain live in homes without computers and a further two million have no internet connection at home. The charity analysed a survey of family spending in Britain, published by the Office for National Statistics last year. The study found that 75% of households had a home computer and 71% had an internet connection, a rise of three and five percentage points respectively on 2008. In the richest 10% of homes, 98% had a home computer and 97% had internet access, but in the poorest 10% of homes only 38% had a home computer and 30% an internet connection.
Poor pupils ‘fall further behind between seven and 16’: The gap between rich and poor pupils widens throughout primary and secondary school, figures show, as middle-class children benefit the most from state education.
Rules on school expulsions ‘will fuel bad behaviour’: Schools will be powerless to expel the worst behaved children under controversial Government reforms, head teachers warn.
What I’d like to know about the National Secular Society’s campaign to end school assembly is how many members they have. I notice that one person always seems to speak for them. I’m a fan of atheist presences in RE, and I don’t believe in compulsory worship (oxymoronic idea). But I doubt that NSS represent much support on this issue. A more thoughtful change to the law than anti-religious hate speech might be good.
I agree with you Lat, they often seem to manage to make a lot of noise with not much support, so frustrating.