48 h. ago My verdict on the 'woke' review of England's school curriculum? It isn't radical enough | Simon Jenkins

When I heard it was dumbing down education, my heart sank. In fact, it’s outspoken about the chaos of Michael Gove’s reforms and the changes neededSchooling in Britain today is where medicine was in the days of bleeding and leeches. It is trapped in the past, between teachers wedded to their subjects and politicians obsessed with tests. Doctors generally know if they have cured you, lawyers know if you are found not guilty. Educators have only exams to measure their professional success. The result is that English schools cower beneath an examination mountain – a global outlier in terms of the volume of assessment.This week’s report on reforming the curriculum in England was greeted by conservative critics with cries of wokery, dumbing down and falling standards. My heart sank, until I read its 200 pages. As a former education correspondent, I can only say I found it uplifting. There was the odd reference to diversity but it was hardly “woke”. What shocked me was its outspoken comme...

Politics

61 h. ago Paul Gascoigne rushed to the aid of Celebrity Traitors star after he was beaten up

Paul Gascoigne and David Olusoga went to the same school in Gateshead and the former England international was the TV historian's unlikely hero during a tense moment

Politics

64 h. ago London classrooms empty twice as fast as the rest of England as school places drop

London classrooms empty twice as fast as the rest of England as school places drop  London Evening Standard

Politics

64 h. ago London classrooms empty twice as fast as the rest of England as school places collapse

The number of children in London primary schools plummeted by 34,000 in one year, according to think tank research

Politics

65 h. ago England has enough empty school places to fill 23,000 classrooms following birth rate drop

The Institute for Government (IFG) said a drop in the birth rate has left 611,300 primary school places were unfilled in the 2023-24 academic school year.

Politics

4 d. ago One in 10 children in first year of primary school in England is obese

Overall, 1.1m children were measured at state-maintained schools as part of data collection.

Politics

2 w. ago Poland’s birth rate is in freefall. The cause? A loneliness epidemic that state cash can’t solve | Anna Gromada

Bonuses for families have done nothing to fix a baby bust caused by post-communist Europe’s relationships crisisIn 2015, I found myself advising Poland’s president on the nation’s demographic woes: the country’s fertility rate had stalled at 1.3 children per woman, among the lowest in Europe. I thought I understood the problem. Most Polish couples wanted to have two kids but settled for one. The culprits, I believed, were predictable: precarious jobs, not enough childcare, apartment prices out of reach. At 27, flush with the confidence that comes from being both right and young, I sparred with politicians and policymakers twice my age, usually men, who insisted that women like me would reproduce if only the state threw enough cash into the cradle.We were all, it turned out, fighting the wrong battle. In the decade since then, unemployment in Poland has sunk to one of the lowest in the EU. Incomes have more than doubled. Nursery and childcare places are multiplying. The government no...

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2 w. ago Teacher banned from classroom after telling pupil ‘imagine this was your mum’ in lesson about honour killings

Mr Lloyd will be unable to teach in any school, sixth form or children’s home across England

Events

2 w. ago The play that changed my life: ‘Waiting for Godot revealed that less is more – it made me fearless’

A school production of Samuel Beckett’s masterpiece, with Nigel Planer in the cast, provided a lesson in forgetting about failureUntil I was 12 I was in the French school system, where theatre was Molière, Corneille, Racine. Going to the theatre meant The Sound of Music or My Fair Lady. Then it was decided I would switch to school in England. So, at 13, I arrived at Westminster school. It was 1968, and the world opened up.I went to see a school production of Waiting for Godot in French in a small room with a little stage, and I was sitting at the back. Musically, I was pretty sophisticated – I already knew about all the psychedelic music that had been happening. I’d seen the Mothers of Invention. I’d seen lots and lots and lots. But I didn’t know there was stuff like this. I suddenly became aware that, just like in music, there was a whole new world out there. Continue reading...

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