2 d. ago Britain's 'bullying' school WhatsApps: How parents gang up on teachers, embarrass children and humiliate parents in cliquey group chats

A WhatsApp chat of parents seems innocent on the surface but, according to testimonies from parents across the nation, they are a place where clique behaviours and humiliation run rife.

Society

8 d. ago Florida teacher fired after calling student their ‘preferred name’ without parents’ permission

Melissa Calhoun worked for Brevard Public Schools for 11 years

Society

8 d. ago Now even a union boss calls for a total mobile phone ban in schools to ease 'pressure' on teachers and warns pupils are accessing 'damaging' porn

Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the National Education Union (NEU), joined the growing chorus demanding a ban, saying it would alleviate the pressure on parents and teachers.

Events

1 week ago Parents slammed for 'ruining their kids' life' after teacher reveals struggle to pronounce bizarre name

Mike, from New York, recently took to TikTok to relay a story told by a teacher friend of his, who came across a name that was more riddle than moniker.

Society

2 w. ago My life in class limbo: am I working class or insufferably bourgeois?

I have two degrees, two books to my name and I write for the Guardian. Yet I spent time in care, live at home and struggle for money. Can Karl Marx help me make sense of myself?I have been obsessed with and confused by social class all my life. Both of my grandparents grew up in Liverpool in the 1930s in traditionally working-class households. They were clever and conscientious and managed to earn scholarships to university, eventually becoming teachers. My parents have university degrees and own property; one of them is now a judge. To most people, all these things place me squarely and categorically in the middle class. But I was in special educational schools from the age of nine, spent part of my childhood in care, left education altogether at 14 and collected the dole until getting my first job in a cotton mill. All these things make me a dyed-in-the-wool prole.And yet I have two degrees, I have written two books and I freelance for the Guardian – you can’t get m...

Politics

2 w. ago How and why parents and teachers are introducing young children to AI

Guardian readers share the ways and reasons they are preparing their children and students for a future that may necessitate familiarity with generative artificial intelligenceSince the release of ChatGPT in late 2022, generative artificial intelligence has trickled down from adults in their offices to university students in campus libraries to teenagers in high school hallways. Now it’s reaching the youngest among us, and parents and teachers are grappling with the most responsible way to introduce their under-13s to a new technology that may fundamentally reshape the future. Though the terms of service for ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini and other AI models specify that the tools are only meant for those over 13, parents and teachers are taking the matter of AI education into their own hands.Inspired by a story we published on parents who are teaching their children to use AI to set them up for success in school and at work, we asked Guardian readers how and why – or why not – others are...

Society

2 w. ago Moment father who complained about teacher recruitment process in parents' WhatsApp group is arrested for 'harassment', led away by six police officers and interrogated for 11 HOURS

Police questioned a father on suspicion of harassment and malicious communications after he complained about a teacher recruitment process in a parents' WhatsApp group.

Events

3 w. ago 'Warped' teacher's sick campaign of sex abuse exposed after parent saw messages to daughter

Simon Clark was described as 'a sexual predator who preyed on young girls' by detectives who investigated the case which began with a parent concerned about their child

Events

3 w. ago Jelly Good Show! But enjoy frogspawn magic in its natural home

RSPCA experts have appealed to children, parents and teachers to resist the temptation to take frog and toad spawn home to watch it grow into adult amphibians.

Politics

3 w. ago Parents issued warning over putting towels around their kids' shoulders

Certified US swim coach Nikki Scarnati has issued a stern warning for parents to avoid wrapping a towel around their children's shoulders, and By The Dunes has come up with a cute and safe alternative.

Events

3 w. ago Parents issued warning on putting towels around their kids' shoulders

Certified US swim coach Nikki Scarnati has issued a stern warning for parents to avoid wrapping a towel around their children's shoulders, and By The Dunes has come up with a cute and safe alternative.

Events

3 w. ago School forced to apologise after pupil's parents discovered the truth

Kian Mills' parents said he had so many detentions, exclusions and isolations for 'tiny things'

Politics

3 w. ago After more than 250 punishments from teachers, his parents took on the school, and they found out the truth

A school has been ordered to apologise to a pupil and his parents and update its behaviour policy after a tribunal found it had discriminated against him. An Education Tribunal Wales hearing concluded that St Joseph's Catholic School in Port Talbot failed to reasonably support Kian Mills and discriminated against him in the way it applied its behaviour policy.

Society

3 w. ago Teachers are 'out of their depth' over secret emojis code: Warning over 'rife' toxic culture ravaging schools as sinister messages revealed in Netflix's Adolescence

Former deputy head Amit Kalley said a 'hell of a lot more' needs to be done to support parents and teachers after Netflix drama Adolescence sparked a national conversation.

Events

4 w. ago Catholic infant school teacher suspended as parent exposes her as OnlyFans model

Elena Maraga, 29, says her wage as a teacher isn't 'sustainable', which forced her to consider other ways she can make more money - and she was 'curious' about OnlyFans

Society

4 w. ago Catholic infants school teacher, 29, is suspended after pupil's parent spotted her in raunchy videos moonlighting as OnlyFans model

The school in Italy decided to suspend Elena Maraga this week, judging that her behaviour was not in line with the religious values of the institution.

Culture

4 w. ago Catholic nursery teacher fired after parents recognised her in racy photo online

Elena Maraga, a Catholic nursery teacher, has been left devastated after her pupils' parents found her raunchy online snaps and reported her to the school - getting her suspended

Society

4 w. ago Keir Starmer praised Adolescence. Now he needs to show he’s learned from it | Gaby Hinsliff

The government balked at protecting children from the perils of social media. TV has made the issues plain; now politics must do its jobIt’s the story every parent of teenagers I know has been watching horrified through their fingers. The Netflix drama Adolescence starts with armed police breaking down an ordinary front door to arrest a 13-year-old boy for murder, in front of his bewildered parents. Though initially it seems there must have been some terrible mistake, Jamie’s Instagram account soon yields clues that all the adults – police, parents and teachers alike – had initially blundered past, oblivious.Though talk of misogynistic “manosphere” influencers such as Andrew Tate hovers over the storyline, this isn’t really a story of radicalisation. What it skewers is the feeling of growing up very publicly in a world where sending nudes risks them instantly being shared round the class and everyone automatically films playground fights on their phones, and how that intensifies dan...

Politics