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8 hr. 42 min. ago |
USA > Education
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Mum and Dad get a D- for homework | Open thread |
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As parents struggle to answer GCSE-level questions, are you confident helping with your children''s schoolwork?Despite claims that exams are getting easier, a survey has shown that parents struggle to answer GCSE-level questions. Faced with 10 questions based on the curriculum in science, maths, history and geography, they managed to get an average of just two correct answers. The results of the quiz, taken by 500 people with children under 16, suggest that helping teenagers with their homework could be beyond the capabilities of many parents....
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11 hr. 56 min. ago |
USA > Education
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Crib sheet 09.03.10 |
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Haikus, socks, robots, smoking guns and emergency lingerieConference season kicked off at the weekend with John Dunford''s swansong appearance at the Association of School and College Leaders. It''s been a particularly gloomy time for heads – 75% more of them were sacked this year than last. There were any number of downbeat stories to dismay ASCL delegates, including the news that Ofsted''s new regime has resulted in the number of inadequate schools doubling, and the proportion of outstanding ones being cut in half. What chance the teachers c...
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13 hr. 24 min. ago |
USA > Education
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Abolish target of sending 50% to university, report urges |
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The government''s strategy has driven down standards and devalued degrees, say graduate recruitersLabour''s target of getting 50% of young people to go to university has driven down standards and devalued degrees – and the next government should abolish it, leading graduate recruiters argued today.The Association of Graduate Recruiters , which represents 750 employers, many of them blue-chip companies, also called for a phased increase in top-up fees. It said its proposals would force higher education institutions to be more open about the job...
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22 hr. 37 min. ago |
USA > Education
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Beware private empire building parading as parent power |
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Whoever starts a new school, it needs democratic governance. Big strategic decisions can''t be taken by one person alone, or by a company answerable only to itselfWhen my children were small, I used to go to extraordinary lengths to arrange my work around the holidays so that I could be free when they were off school. Now I find myself in the opposite situation, praying for the holidays so I can get on with some work.Why? Some may think I am a glutton for punishment but, as chair of two school governing bodies, at least a third of my week in t...
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22 hr. 37 min. ago |
USA > Education
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No problem pupils in my backyard |
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Are recent disputes between special schools and local residents indicative of a growing trend in people refusing to live alongside pupils with behavioural problems?The Continuum school, Canvey Island, is an anonymous-looking place, tucked away down a side street on a gently decaying bit of the Essex coast. Inside, pupils and staff are winding up their day with a little awards ceremony – a bag of sweets for youngsters who managed their best behaviour during the day.Callum Stimson, 14, has just had a bag of Haribos and is fizzing with energy. "I...
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22 hr. 37 min. ago |
USA > Education
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Put a sock on it |
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Walking on icy streets need not be a downhill experience if you put your socks over your shoesSocks over shoes surpass shoes over socks for strolling on slippery city slopes, says a study done in New Zealand. In other words – in the words of the study itself – "wearing socks over shoes appears to be an effective and inexpensive method to reduce the likelihood of slipping on icy footpaths".Lianne Parkin, Sheila Williams and Patricia Priest did an experiment to test the wisdom of a local winter tradition. The trio, based at the University of Ota...
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22 hr. 37 min. ago |
USA > Education
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At home with the android family |
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Work going on in Hatfield could create robot home helps – or even one day robot girlfriends and boyfriendsOn a weekday morning in a Hertfordshire street, people are knocking on the door of an ordinary-looking house. Inside, a living room hosts a sofa, bookshelves, coffee tables and a TV. Through an archway, the kitchen kettle is boiling up, ready for the first of many cups of tea.So far, so normal – but there''s something different about this Hatfield home: it''s stuffed full of more technology than your average branch of PC World. Sprawled ar...
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22 hr. 37 min. ago |
USA > Education
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How to avoid a Climategate scandal |
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Leaked emails between climate scientists at the University of East Anglia have caused a furore. Phil Jones on how not to get caught out by freedom of information requestsThe "climategate" scandal involving the University of East Anglia has sent shockwaves through universities, but many academics still do not fully appreciate the full implications of freedom of information legislation.The problems at UEA arose when emails allegedly written by some of the world''s leading climate scientists were stolen by hackers and published on websites run by...
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22 hr. 37 min. ago |
USA > Education
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Ig Nobel tour showcases the bra that doubles as a gas mask |
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''The idea of a simple and readily available mask came to me after the Chernobyl nuclear accident in Ukraine''
Watch a demonstration of the bra gas mask on YouTubeLast October, at Harvard University, I was awarded the Ig Nobel prize for public health for inventing the Emergency Bra, an item of lingerie that, in case of an emergency, can be quickly transformed into two protective respiratory face masks.Don''t get too excited, boys: this can be done without removing any clothes.My Ig Nobel nomination came as a pleasant surprise. And I recognise...
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22 hr. 37 min. ago |
USA > Education
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Universities need the government to show some commitment in the budget |
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We will be calling on the government to stand by universities – expecting us to take no more than a proportional share of the cuts to public services, says Steve SmithIn the last decade we have achieved a widespread recognition of the importance of higher education to the UK, unprecedented political backing – the introduction of fees was nearly a resigning issue for Blair – steady growth in investment for teaching, and an even more dramatic growth of funding for research.Although we now face serious cuts, when university leaders and politicia...
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22 hr. 38 min. ago |
USA > Education
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Call to scrap 50% student target |
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The government target of getting 50% of people under 30 into higher education should be scrapped, says the Association of Graduate Recruiters. It also wants a phased increase in student top-up fees by 2020, with safeguards for disadvantaged families. Families should be encouraged to save for higher education through a national savings scheme, it says in a report. AGR's chief executive Carl Gilleard said the proposals would help "reaffirm the value of a degree." Higher standards The government's target to get 50% o...
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22 hr. 42 min. ago |
USA > Education
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Budget cuts hit students training to be youth workers |
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The future looks bleak for would-be youth workers – and the colleges that teach them.As local authority budget cuts bite deep, the future looks increasingly uncertain for students training to become youth workers. Not only do they see a shrinking jobs market, but many who study at college for the degree they need to qualify as a full-time professional are struggling to fund themselves.This is bad news not only for them, but also for colleges that run degree courses. They''re seeing significant numbers drop out. In the past, when councils were ...
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08 March, 2010 23:47 |
USA > Education
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Tory review urges science boost |
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David Cameron said he backed Sir James Dyson's ideas The profile of science in the UK must be raised to help diversify the economy and boost growth, a report endorsed by the Conservatives has urged. The report's author, entrepreneur Sir James Dyson, called for more support for science teachers and tax breaks for high-tech firms to conduct research. Conservative leader David Cameron, who commissioned the Dyson review, said the UK needed to "start designing things". Ministers say they have boosted the image of sci...
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08 March, 2010 19:00 |
USA > Education
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The Tory comprehensive school scam | Melissa Benn |
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Michael Gove''s plans for ''socially comprehensive'' schools are simply a way to offer public funds to ailing private schoolsSo Michael Gove wants to encourage the creation of more "socially comprehensive" schools and is hoping to recruit more private schools into the state system in order to do so.This is not the first time that Gove has bandied the term "comprehensive" about. In fact, he''s always doing it. In a major speech last November, A Comprehensive Programme for School Reform, he set out five priorities for school reform, not one of w...
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08 March, 2010 18:45 |
USA > Education
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Sir Kenneth Dover obituary |
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Distinguished classical scholar and academic who broke new ground with his book Greek HomosexualitySir Kenneth Dover, who has died aged 89, was a towering figure in the study of ancient Greek language, literature and thought. Very few could approach the range and quality of his scholarship, especially his synthesis of philological, historical and cultural acumen. His name became known to a wider public partly for his groundbreaking 1978 book, Greek Homosexuality, and partly for the publication of his controversial autobiography, Marginal Comme...
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08 March, 2010 14:30 |
USA > Education
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Sex education is part of growing up | Jennie Hogan |
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Sex education can''t be swept under the carpet. Young people need information, free from prejudice and hang-upsA friend of mine who went to a Catholic school was recently reminiscing about her sex education as a teenager: it involved a video of two dogs … mating. As a young woman she was terrified, and who can blame her? I''m sure her school wasn''t the only one to resort to such methods. Sex education for young people will probably always involve some discomfort. And this is England; we remain famous for our prudishness.Last year Sheffield NH...
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08 March, 2010 11:30 |
USA > Education
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How scientific is political science? | David Wearing |
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The study of politics claims to be objective, but can it – and should it – shake off our own moral and political priorities?In the early stages of my PhD research, I''ve had to tackle some fundamental questions about the nature of my field – political science – and the way in which the study of politics ought to be conducted. There are internal debates within political science that are themselves political, and which have a wider bearing on how ideas are produced and promoted beyond academia. These debates are not "academic" in the narrow sens...
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08 March, 2010 05:00 |
USA > Education
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An Educator’s Change of Heart |
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Re “Leading Scholar’s U-Turn on School Reform Shakes Up Debate” (news article, March 3): Diane Ravitch’s views are finally coming into line with the views of most of those who work in public education. No Child Left Behind fails to address the structural problems in our educational system, and its harsh penalties for underperforming schools only push them further to the bottom. Charter schools drain the more successful students from their neighborhood schools, which then see their scores plummet further....
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