In a new monthly series of best practice articles exploring character education, expert Matt Bawden from the Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues asks what aspects of character should be central to our education system and details a new DfE-backed pilot project to teach character through the curriculum. Read more
Debates about both religion and secularism are entering the British public sphere with increasing frequency. The UK isn’t terribly well-prepared for this, as mainstream religious attendance has long been in decline and knowledge about religion hasn’t been high on the agenda. So is it time for universities to rethink secularism to deal with religious diversity? Read more
Education has become dominated by a ‘morbid focus on qualifications’ at the expense of students’ and teachers’ wellbeing, and the government is ‘letting down’ a generation of young people. Tricia Kelleher, principal at the Stephen Perse Foundation school in Cambridge, has warned that wellbeing ‘appears to be quite far down the government’s agenda for schools’. Read more
One of the most useful skills a citizen can learn is how to save the life of another. How to give CPR, stop someone from bleeding to death or assist if a person begins to choke are simple lessons which can, quite literally, be a matter of life or death. Yet these life skills are still taught to young people primarily through social groups. So is it time for First Aid to be a compulsory part of the school curriculum? Read more
With an increasing number of students heading to university each year, the value of a university degree is not the same as it once was. Even the word ‘value’ indicates that universities have become more like businesses rather than places of education. As the graduate market becomes more saturated, it is becoming more interesting to tell an interviewer why you chose not to go to university. Read more
Something strange is happening to our children and young people. Far fewer, apparently, have special educational needs and disability (SEND). Government figures show that in the course of the last year there have been 200,000 fewer students classified with SEND. This is a dramatic decline – so the question must be asked: where have they all gone? Read more
Maths, science and literacy are deemed to have greater currency in a competitive global economy. Competition with the international education system has also led to greater focus on these subjects in our schools. But should more attention be given to the arts? Although the evidence is unclear, many of the arguments in favour hinge on the belief that arts education is linked to academic attainment. Read more
School governors should be paid for their work, according to the chief inspector of schools, who has called for an overhaul of school governing bodies amid growing concerns that too many are not fit for purpose. In the last academic year, governing boards at almost 500 schools were deemed to be failing so badly that urgent external reviews were ordered. Read more