Family education

The government's radical shakeup of England's system for children with special educational needs (SEN) is facing mounting criticism from charities, teachers' unions and pressure groups, who say pilot schemes set up eight months ago to test the proposals have yet to begin, and are not being allowed enough time before legislation is introduced. After a green paper published in March 2011, the government's plans for change were included in last month's Queen's speech. A draft bill will be published during the summer, and the Department for Education says it aims to have new arrangements in place "for 2014". To test the reforms' key elements, 20 "pathfinder" schemes, involving 31 local authorities, were announced last September. At the time, Sarah Teather, the children and families minister, said her department was "proposing the biggest reforms in 30 years to help disabled children and those with special educational needs, so we need to make sure we get them right". She was also "looking … [Read more...] about Give special educational needs changes more time, say campaigners

When Diane Reay, Cambridge University professor of education, started researching her book about working class children’s experiences of education, she had no idea just how much inequality she would uncover in state schools today. “The most important thing I found out was that we are still educating different social classes for different functions in society.” She expected to find the English state system was providing roughly the same education for all. “But it doesn’t. Even within a comprehensive school, when they’re all in the same building, the working classes are still getting less education than the middle classes, just as they had when my dad was at school at the beginning of the 20th century.” Reay’s background informs her book and her opinions. The daughter of a coalminer, and the eldest of eight, she grew up on a council estate and received free school meals. She then spent 20 years working as a teacher in London primary schools … [Read more...] about ‘Working-class children get less of everything in education – including respect’

Creativity, culture and the arts are being systematically removed from the education system, with dramatic falls in the number of pupils taking GCSEs in design, drama and other craft-related subjects, a new report has revealed. A year in the writing, the Warwick commission report, published on Tuesday, examines all aspects of the creative arts sector: from film, theatre and dance to video games, pop music and fashion. It estimates the sector represents 5% of the British economy valued at £76.9bn. The report describes arts audiences as overwhelmingly middle class and white. It says that the wealthiest, best educated and least ethnically diverse 8% of society make up nearly half of live music audiences and a third of theatregoers and gallery visitors. Vikki Heywood, the chair of the commission, said two of the most eye-opening aspects of the inquiry were to do with cultural education and the lack of diversity in arts audiences. The cultural and creative economies were one ecosystem, … [Read more...] about Arts and culture being ‘systematically removed from UK education system’

When it comes to getting enough exercise, wealthier children are beating their poorer classmates, research from Sport England suggests. Only about two in five children (42%) from low-income homes do the recommended 60 minutes' exercise a day.But this rises to 54% for children from better-off homes, a survey of more than 130,000 five- to 16-year-olds suggests. "Significant inequalities remain in the areas of family affluence, gender and race," Sport England says. Children from more affluent homes also enjoy exercise more, the online survey of 132,835 children and 4,480 parents indicates, with 43% of those from poor homes saying they enjoyed being active, compared with 59% of those from wealthy families. There is also an exercise gender gap, the researchers say, with about half of boys but only two in five girls meeting the recommended minimum for sport and exercise. How fear puts girls off PE 'I forget my PE kit deliberately' - the boys who hate sport The researchers also found the … [Read more...] about Poor children lose out on exercise, research suggests

Universities should make greater efforts to spot talent among disadvantaged students and place special emphasis on encouraging white working-class men in order to widen access to higher education, according to a new report backed by British universities. The report – produced by the sector at the request of the government – found that “socio-economic disadvantage has more persistent and far-reaching impact on access to and outcomes from higher education” than any other single cause. But the study by Universities UK’s social mobility action group offered few concrete suggestions on how to overcome the effects of disadvantage, and instead called for further data collection, analysis and sharing of best practice between institutions. Nicola Dandridge, the chief executive of Universities UK who chaired the advisory group, said: “The evidence provides a stark reminder of the work that still needs to be done to improve social mobility. Disadvantage is … [Read more...] about Universities urged to work harder to recruit disadvantaged students