Education

Subterms

    More stories

    • 138 Shares149 Views

      in UK Politics

      Universities pursuing ‘divisive agenda’ by ‘cancelling national heroes’, Gavin Williamson says

      by

      Gavin Williamson has accused some UK universities of pursuing a “divisive agenda” through actions such as “cancelling national heroes” and “debating statues”.The education secretary said such moves only “widen divisions” in a speech on Thursday. “Although our universities are in the main fantastic communities, we would all admit, like anywhere in society, they are not perfect,” he said.“Whether it is antisemitic incidents, the use of non-disclosure agreements to silence victims of sexual assault, or increasingly casualised workforce or inadequate teaching provision for disabled students, there are genuine injustices that we should strive to get right.”But he added: “Too often, some universities seem more interested in pursuing a divisive agenda.”Mr Williamson said this involved “cancelling national heroes, debating about statues, anonymous reporting schemes for so-called micoaggressions and politicising their curricula”.“Vice-chancellors who allow these initiatives to take place in their name must understand they do nothing but undermine public confidence, widen divisions and damage the sector,” he said.The education secretary has been a vocal supporter of free speech on campus, amid campaigns and conversations over decolonising curriculums, removing controverisal statues and de-platforming speakers over views.Earlier this year, he backed a Oxford College’s decision not to remove a statue of white supremacist Cecil Rhodes, which students have been campaigning for years to have taken down.Mr Williamson also condemned students in another Oxford college who had taken down a picture of the Queen, which they said was an emblem of “recent colonial history”.The National Union for Students told The Independent the education secretary’s involvement in the matter “posed questions” over the government’s commitment to free speech.The education secretary has previously said he was “deeply worried” about the “chilling effect on campuses of unacceptable silencing and censoring”.The government has put forward a bill that would create new requirements for universities and student unions over freedom of speech, with a regulator able to issue fines for any breaches.But unions have accused the government of “exaggerating” the threat to push through these laws and said there was “no evidence” of a freedom of speech crisis at universities. More

    • 150 Shares169 Views

      in UK Politics

      Vast majority of nurseries say they are underfunded by government, poll finds

      by

      The vast majority of nurseries have said they do not get enough funding from the government, according to a poll.In a survey of providers, 95 per cent said government funding for three- and four-year-olds did not cover costs. More than 79 per cent also said the rate of funding for two-year-olds was not enough. Most respondents in the poll by the National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA) – 85 per cent – said they expected to either break even or make a loss this year.The NDNA said their survey showed “underfunding is a growing issue” in the sector, which is facing uncertainty around reduced income, increasing operating costs and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. “This is pushing more early years providers into the unsustainable position of operating at a loss,” the charity said in their new report. Purnima Tanuku OBE from the NDNA said the results were the “most shocking” the charity has seen over a decade of member surveys. “Throughout the pandemic, we have highlighted challenges facing nurseries with increased costs and reduced incomes,” the charity’s chief executive said. “But underfunding is a long running issue that must be tackled.”All three- to four-year-olds in England are eligible for 570 free hours of childcare a year, which is often taken as 15 hours a week across 38 weeks. Working families are able to get up to 30 hours a week. For disadvantaged families with a two-year-old child, the government offers 15 hours of funded childcare a week.The government funds 55 per cent of early education and childcare hours across England, according to the NDNA poll. In areas of deprivation, government funding rose to 72 per cent of hours.“The government is the largest purchaser of early education and childcare from providers, and this share is growing according to this survey,” the NDNA said in the report called Stop Underfunding – Start Building Futures. “Any underfunding of these places will have a greater impact on the sustainability of nurseries and the viability of children’s places.”A Department for Education spokesperson said: “We recognise that the pandemic has created challenges for early years providers, which is why we provided significant financial and business support throughout to protect them.”They added: “We have invested more than £3.5bn in childcare in each of the last three years, and we’re making millions more available through our early years recovery work to level up children’s outcomes.” More

    • 125 Shares199 Views

      in UK Politics

      Significant disruption to school year still possible, warns education minister

      by

      Significant disruption to education could still happen this academic year, according to a government minister. Nick Gibb told the education select committee that the government is “trying to avoid” this situation.Children no longer have to isolate after coming into contact with a Covid case, unlike during the last academic year.Hundreds of thousands of students were off school as they were self-isolating as the summer holidays approached.Dr Caroline Johnson, a Tory MP, said during Tuesday’s education select committee: “If you now get coronavirus, you have to isolate for 10 days, which is a maximum of eight days missing school. You’re unlikely to get it a second time.“And then, the children who have been in close contact no longer have to isolate.”She asked whether Mr Gibb believed – given this change and estimates around half of children have already had Covid – there was “going to be any significant disruption to children’s education” this academic year. “I think so,” he replied. “I think there could be. And that is what we are trying to avoid.”The schools minister said: “The figures that you cite about the proportion of children you already have the antibodies is correct.” “That still leaves the other half of the … four million 12 to 15 year olds who don’t have those antibodies, who may contract the virus, who may then be off school.”Also at Tuesday’s committee, MPs heard how the government and England’s exam regulator will set out contingency plans this autumn in case exams have to be cancelled again next year.Ian Bauckham, the interim chair of Ofqual, said there were plans for a joint consultation this autumn to put forward proposals for what should happen if the “unthinkable” happens and exams are disrupted for the third year in a row amid the Covid pandemic.But Mr Gibb insisted the government does not want to cancel exams.“​​We do know that teachers and the school sector does want details of the contingency because they want to know what data they might or might not need to collect should the worst happen and we end up having to cancel exams,” he said. More

    • 100 Shares159 Views

      in World Politics

      Critical Race Theory: A Dictatorship of the Woke?

      by

      In Washoe County, Nevada, parents protest critical race theory (CRT), while a conservative group is pushing for teachers to wear body cameras to make sure they aren’t indoctrinating students. In Loudon county, Virginia, home to Leesburg, a town named after Confederate General Robert E. Lee, wealthy white parents scream in school meetings. Across the US, mostly white parents picket school board meetings, holding up “No CRT” signs as though it were 1954 and their schools were about to be integrated.

      Understanding Racism in All Its Forms

      READ MORE

      This demonization of an academic theory is supported by virulent media discourses. Fox News says that the teachers’ unions support CRT and will push it on your schools at a cost of $127,600. Breitbart takes it further, suggesting that CRT is going to set up “a dictatorship of the anti-racists.” On Twitter, opponents compare CRT to anti-white racism and the far-right conspiracy of white genocide.

      Undoing Racism

      So what is critical race theory? Is it a radical anti-racist Marxist program bent on overturning power structures for an amount equivalent to what Tucker Carlson earns in a week? Scholars say CRT is in fact a framework from critical legal studies emphasizing not the social construction of race but the reality of racism, in particular racism’s deep roots in American history and its perpetuation in legal and social structures. Kimberlé Crenshaw, who coined the term, emphasizes that it is an ongoing scholarly practice of interrogating racism.

      Is it being taught in your schools? Nobody is teaching CRT to kindergarteners. Critical race theory has become part of education studies, one of many frameworks influencing researchers and instuctors who want a framework for understanding, and undoing, racism in education. Some link CRT in schools to The 1619 Project launched by The New York Times that seeks to center black history and slavery in the story of America’s founding.

      Unique Insights from 2,500+ Contributors in 90+ Countries

      So why does your uncle who spends too much time on the internet think this is a dictatorship of the woke? The moral panic over CRT is the brainchild of Chris Rufo, who began using the term to refer to a catch-all, nefarious force behind all kinds of social change, from Joe Biden’s weak liberalism to Black Lives Matter. Conservatives link CRT to trans rights and communism, the Heritage Foundation compares it to Marxist critical theory. The Trump administration launched a counter to The 1619 Project, the 1776 Commision, to elevate whiteness and fight “critical race theorists” and “anti-American historical revisionism.”

      Moral panics position one idea, process, identity or group as evil, a threat to public order, values and morality, but they align institutional power with popular discourses to enforce the social positions and identities behind them. As of July, 22 states have proposed bills against teaching critical race theory and five have signed them into law. These bills ban teaching CRT, which they insist makes white students uncomfortable and introduces “divisive concepts.” For the right, the vision of US history is one that teaches color-blind unity and pride in being American. Of course, it also teaches that the KKK was OK.

      Anti-Anti-Racist Panic

      This is far from the first moral panic over education. Historian Adam Laats compares the fight against CRT to the fight against the evolution of teaching. This first moral panic led to widespread distrust in public schools. More recent moral panics also led to divestment in social institutions. In the 1980s, a panic about satanic kindergartens in the US led to the reinforcement of dominant gender and racial power structures, but also to the withdrawal of support for daycare and early childhood education.

      Panics over sex education, from Australia to Aabama, called for defunding these programs, shrinking already limited school budgets while increasing conservative opposition to public education. In the UK, the Conservative Party wants to ban teaching white privilege because it hurts working-class boys — while at the same time dismantling the free school meals program.

      What will the effects of this anti-anti-racist panic be? Will they curb the freedom of teachers to share the truths of history or push them to teach a still more nationalist version of the American story? Will history classes explicitly celebrate white masculinity, full of heroic founders fulfilling a holy promise for freedom and capital? Or might it also serve as another push to demonize public schools, painting them not as (unequally funded) shared democratic institutions but as anti-American indoctrination centers?

      Embed from Getty Images

      Even if the bills do not reshape education standards, the dramatic language around CRT and white genocide continues the longstanding push to defund and privatize public schools. As education scholar Michael Apple notes, the right’s education reform has long linked neoliberal privatization with neoconservative curriculums, something that continues with the opposition to CRT.

      Breitbart mentions Utah’s Say No to Indoctrination Act that will “keep taxpayer dollars from funding discriminatory practices and divisive worldviews,” linking cost and curriculum. It is not a coincidence that conservative media mention the price of anti-racist interventions and the dog whistle of “taxpayer dollars.” Fighting CRT might mean bills to change curriculum standards, but it could equally mean a push to cut funding for public schools reframed as cutting funding for CRT — as Senate candidate J.D. Vance suggests on Twitter — or a call for greater support for private, religious and home education.

      Both increased nationalism and privatization of education were key issues for the right. Donald Trump’s 2020 education platform’s first point was to teach American exceptionalism; his second was to have school choice. With this panic over critical race theory, far-right drama serves to reinforce the more banal nationalism of capital and conservatism. Painting schools as cultural-Marxist madrassas makes it a lot easier to stop paying for them.

      *[Fair Observer is a media partner of the Centre for Analysis of the Radical Right.]

      The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Fair Observer’s editorial policy. More

    • 200 Shares199 Views

      in UK Politics

      Private school pupils likely to ‘elbow out’ state students in scramble for university places, experts warn

      by

      Poorer pupils are more likely than ever to miss out on top university courses, experts have warned, as this year’s A-level results widen the gap between private and state schools.The proportion of A-level students given top grades reached a record high, with nearly half achieving an A or above, after exams were cancelled and marks were determined by teachers. But data from regulator Ofqual showed the increase in A grades was 50 per cent higher in independent schools than in secondary comprehensives – prompting fears that this would combine with the record number of university applications to “compound” inequality in the education system.The data also showed that black students, those on free school meals and those living in areas of high deprivation were all less likely to achieve the top A or A* grades than their more privileged peers.The relative success of private schools means state school pupils still trying to pin down a place at university in the weeks ahead could be “elbowed out”, experts warned.Dr Lee Elliot Major, professor of social mobility at Exeter University, said he was worried many students from low-income backgrounds could lose out during the fierce battle for places – including on top courses at “selective” Russell Group and Oxbridge universities.“It is deeply concerning to see widening socioeconomic divides in this year’s A-level results, confirming our worst fears – that the pandemic has exacerbated educational inequalities that were already there,” Dr Elliot Major told The Independent.“On the basis of the results, my worry is that some disadvantaged students won’t get into the highly prestigious courses, and will be elbowed out by those from privileged backgrounds. I also worry whether some [disadvantaged students] who didn’t get the expected grades will get a university place at all.”The gap between the most privileged and least privileged pupils in securing university places has widened, according to data shared by Ucas on Tuesday. The admissions body admitted that the lack of progress in opening up higher education to all was “disappointing”.Ucas said a record number of students (395,770) had secured a place on their first-choice university course – up 8 per cent on last year. The data shows 20.7 per cent of all 18-year-olds from the most disadvantaged backgrounds in the UK have secured an undergraduate place, up 2 per cent on last year.However, the most privileged students are doing far better than before at securing university places. Some 48.4 per cent from the most privileged backgrounds have secured an undergraduate place this year – up 6 per cent on last year.Carl Cullinane, head of research at the Sutton Trust education think tank, said there is a danger of pupils from independent schools “pulling away” from those in state schools. “The widening gaps in top grades have obvious knock-on implications for admissions to selective universities and widening participation,” he told The Independent.“We fear it’s likely to have an impact on admissions for disadvantaged students. The scramble for places will be most sharp at the most selective universities. Applications to those universities have shot up this year, so they’re much more competitive than usual.”The proportion of A-level entries awarded an A grade or higher rose to an all-time high after students were given grades determined by teachers, rather than based on external exams. In total, more than two in five (44.8 per cent) of UK entries were awarded an A or A* grade, up by 6.3 percentage points on last year.Although teaching unions hailed the success of students in the face of Covid disruption, dismissing concerns about “grade inflation”, experts fear students from less privileged backgrounds won’t be able to take advantage of this year’s record results.Private schools have seen an absolute increase in A or A* grades of 9.3 per cent this year, compared to 6.2 per cent among secondary comprehensives. The gap in achieving A-level grades between candidates who are black, receive free school meals, or experience a very high level of deprivation and those who are not in those categories widened by 1.43, 1.42 and 1.39 per cent respectively.Kate Green MP, Labour’s shadow education secretary, said the government’s “chaotic” last-minute decision on exams and assessment over the past year had “opened the door to unfairness”.Research by the Sutton Trust found that independent, fee-charging schools are more likely than state schools to use a wide variety of assessments – including prior access to questions as well as “open book” tests, which allow pupils to refer to coursework notes.Parental pressure is also more prevalent at private schools, research has shown. Some 23 per cent of teachers at private schools said parents had approached or pressured them about their child’s grades this year, compared to just 11 per cent at the least affluent state schools, according to the Sutton Trust.Many pupils spent large parts of this year unable to study effectively due to a lack of appropriate devices, access to the internet or acceptable space to study – factors not included when assessing this year’s results.Sam Tuckett, senior researcher at the Education Policy Institute, said the impact of the attainment gap was likely to be felt among those trying to get places on the most popular courses at Russell Group universities.Recent analysis showed that just over two-thirds of applications to selective universities had resulted in offers by July, compared to almost three-quarters at the same stage last year. And the number of courses being offered by selective universities through clearing has fallen by a third, from 4,500 last year to only 3,000 this year.“We may see some universities unable to offer places to students who have just missed out on expected grades – especially when it comes to high-demand courses at selective universities,” said Mr Tuckett.“The clearing process could be even more competitive. The A-level results suggest that if you’re from a disadvantaged background, grades won’t have increased as much since last year on average – so you may be more likely to need to apply to university through clearing.”Educators and campaigners have expressed concerns that basing this year’s A-level results on teacher predictions rather than exams has left black students in particular at a disadvantage.Research shows that gaps indicating lower outcomes in 2020 for black African, black Caribbean and mixed white students relative to their white British counterparts have increased by between 1.85 and 2.97 percentage points in 2021.Lavinya Stennett, CEO and founder of The Black Curriculum, a social enterprise, said: “This form of assessment leaves room for teacher biases to determine a student’s worth. For black students in particular, grades will be predicted on the basis of assumed capabilities, stemming from generalised characteristics of their ethnic and socioeconomic background.”Meanwhile, education secretary Gavin Williamson joined the teaching unions to defend this year’s results amid concerns over grade inflation, calling on people to celebrate young people’s success during a difficult year.But influential Conservative MP Robert Halfon, chair of the Commons Education Committee, suggested that grade inflation was so “baked” into the system it could cause universities even more problems with admissions in the years ahead.He told BBC Radio 4’s The World At One: “I do think in the long term, because of the huge increase in As and A*s, that we need to look at our exam system in general.” More

    • 163 Shares129 Views

      in UK Politics

      Top A-level grades soar at private schools in widening divide with state students

      by

      The divide between private schools and state schools when it comes to achieving top A-level results has widened this year, sparking alarm among education leaders.The increase in A grades awarded today is 50 per cent higher among private schools compared with secondary comprehensives, according to Labour analysis of government data.The Ofqual data also shows that black students, those on free school meals and those living in areas of high deprivation were all less likely to achieve the top A or A* grades than their more advantaged peers.Education experts said existing inequalities had been exacerbated by the pandemic this year – urging universities to address the “unfairness” by giving extra consideration to disadvantaged students this year.“We’re seeing growing gaps between independent and state schools at the top grades,” said Sir Peter Lampl, chair of the Sutton Trust think tank. “The pandemic has compounded existing inequalities and today’s results are a reflection of that.”Sir Peter added: “It’s of real concern that the gap between those from less affluent areas and those from well-off areas has grown. Given that disrupted learning has affected lower income youngsters more, we urge universities to give additional consideration to disadvantaged students.”The Sutton Trust said disparities in remote learning and changes in assessment during the Covid crisis have hit those from the poorest backgrounds the hardest.Many pupils spent large amounts of this year unable to study effectively due to lack of appropriate devices, access to the internet or acceptable space to study – factors not included when assessing this year’s results.Private schools have seen an absolute increase in A grades of 9.3 per cent this year – compared to 6.2 per cent among secondary comprehensives. The increase in A grades at private schools was more than double the 3.8 per cent rise seen among students at sixth form colleges.Independent, fee-paying schools have seen the biggest rise in the number of A or A* grades during the pandemic – soaring from 44 per cent in the year before the Covid crisis to 70 per cent this year. By comparison, secondary comprehensives had seen the number of A or A* grades rise from 20 per cent to 39 per cent over the past two years.When it comes to achieving A or A* grades, the gap between black candidates, free school meal candidates, and candidates with a very high level of deprivation and other students has widened by 1.43, 1.42 and 1.39 per cent respectively this year.Kate Green MP, Labour’s shadow education secretary, said the government’s “chaotic” last-minute decision on exams and assessment over the past year had “opened the door to unfairness”.The Labour frontbencher added: “The increase in A grades is 50 per cent higher among private schools, while black students, students on free school meals and in areas of high deprivation are being increasingly out performed by their more advantaged peers.”Research by The Sutton Trust found that independent, fee-charging schools are more likely than state schools to use a wider variety of assessments – including giving prior access to questions and “open book” tests, which allow pupils to refer to coursework notes.Parental pressure is also more prevalent at private schools, research has shown. Some 23 per cent of parents at private schools said parents had approached or pressured them about their child’s grades this year, compared to just 11 per cent at the least affluent state schools, according to the Sutton Trust.The Education Policy Institute (EPI) also warned of “inconsistencies” between assessment in different kinds of schools. A spokesperson for the EPI said: “The nature of private schools means their teachers are more directly accountable to parents, increasing the risk of pressure to increase grades.”The proportion of A-level entries awarded an A grade or higher has risen to an all-time high after exams were cancelled for the second year in a row due to Covid-19. In total, more than two in five (44.8 per cent) of UK entries were awarded an A or A* grade this summer, up by 6.3 percentage points on last year.Ucas said a record number of students have secured a place on their first-choice university course following the bumper year for results.But youngsters who missed out on the grades required to meet their offers are likely to face greater competition for a place at top institutions as there could be fewer courses on offer in clearing.Lee Elliot Major, professor of social mobility at Exeter University, said he was worried students from poorer backgrounds could lose out in the “intense” competition for degree courses.“It is deeply concerning to see widening socio-economic divides in this year’s A-level results, confirming our worst fears – the pandemic has exacerbated educational inequalities outside and inside the school gates,” said Dr Major.“The government urgently needs to set out its plans for a return to national exam system from next year that is fair to all pupils irrespective of what school they attend or home they come from. Unless universities up their game, we could see social mobility put back years.”Tory MP Robert Halfon, chair of the Commons Education Committee, shared his concerns about the fierce competition for university places. “I do worry about the fact that we seem to have, in essence, baked a hard rock cake of grade inflation into our exam results.”He told BBC Radio 4’s World at One programme said the rise in top grades could store up problems in the immediate years ahead. “I do think in the long-term, because of the huge increase in As and A*s, that we need to look at our exam system in general.” More

    • 175 Shares129 Views

      in US Politics

      Fears as more children falling ill in latest US Covid surge and school approaches

      by

      CoronavirusFears as more children falling ill in latest US Covid surge and school approachesNational Institutes of Health director says 1,450 kids in hospital Teachers union shifts, calls for vaccine mandates for teachers Edward HelmoreSun 8 Aug 2021 13.54 EDTLast modified on Sun 8 Aug 2021 13.56 EDTAmid increased fears that children are now both victims and vectors of the latest Covid-19 variant surge, National Institutes of Health director Francis Collins signaled on Sunday that increasing numbers of children are falling ill in the US.His comments also came as one of America’s largest teachers unions appeared to shift its position on mandatory vaccinations for teachers.With around 90 million adult Americans remaining unvaccinated, and vaccines remaining unauthorized for 12 years and under, Collins told ABC News This Week with George Stephanopoulos that “the largest number of children so far in the whole pandemic right now are in the hospital, 1,450 kids in the hospital from Covid-19.”Collins acknowledged that data on pediatric infections was incomplete but he said that he was “hearing from pediatricians that they’re concerned that, this time, the kids who are in the hospital are both more numerous and more seriously ill”.Collins’s comments came as new Covid-19 cases in the US have rebounded to more than 100,000 a day on average, returning to the levels of the winter surge six months ago. But health officials focus on children adds urgency to the situation as the US education system approaches the start of the school year.Collins said his advice to parents of school-age children is to “think about masks in the way that they ought to be thought about”.He added: “This is not a political statement or an invasion of your liberties. This is a life-saving medical device. And asking kids to wear a mask is uncomfortable, but, you know, kids are pretty resilient. We know that kids under 12 are likely to get infected and if we don’t have masks in schools, this virus will spread more widely.”The alternative, he said, “will probably result in outbreaks in schools and kids will have to go back to remote learning which is the one thing we really want to prevent”.Warning that virtual learning that kids have experienced for more than a year is “really bad for their development”, Collins urged that “we ought to be making every effort to make sure they can be back in the classroom. And the best way to do that is to be sure that masks are worn by the students, by the staff, by everybody.”The president of the American Federation of Teachers, Randi Weingarten, went further, calling for vaccine mandates for teachers. “As a matter of personal conscience, I think that we need to be working with our employers, not opposing them, on vaccine mandates,” she told NBC’s Meet The Press.Weingarten’s comments are an advance on the union’s earlier position in which it maintained teachers should be prioritized for the vaccines but stopped short of supporting a mandate. That shift was previewed last week when Weingarten said she would consider supporting vaccine mandates to keep students and staff safe and schools open.Dr Anthony Fauci, chief medical adviser to Joe Biden, also echoed Weingarten’s comments Sunday, saying the best way to protect children from the virus is to “surround them with those who can be vaccinated, whoever they are. Teachers, personnel in the school, anyone, get them vaccinated.”Dr Scott Gottlieb, former FDA commissioner, also weighed in on the concerns, saying that schools are not “inherently safe” from the Delta variant and that society “can’t expect the same outcome that we saw earlier with respect to the schools where we were largely able to control large outbreaks in the schools with a different set of behaviors.”“The challenge right now is that the infection is going to start to collide with the opening of school. And we have seen that the schools can become sources of community transmission when you’re dealing with more transmissible strains,” Gottleib told CBS’s Face the Nation.TopicsCoronavirusUS politicsSchoolsInfectious diseasesVaccines and immunisationnewsReuse this content More