‘Every school in England should set up a council so pupils can have a voice in the appointment of teachers and running the school, a Commons committee says,’ reports the BBC News website today under the headline ‘School councils a must, say MPs.’ Based on research done by London University’s Institute of Education [where, notably,… [Read More]
The NHS remains in crisis. More catastrophes barely make an impression on the British public. They no longer seem to make a difference: the NHS limps on with the efforts of the doctors and nurses that still treat medicine as a vocation. Some targets are hit, others are missed, and amid the crushing burden of… [Read More]
By Will Thavenot David Cameron is set to make a speech today outlining his vision for Europe, calling for Europe to focus on the ‘three-g’s’ – globalisation, global warming, and global poverty. He has also published a joint letter with the Czech Prime Minister, Mirek Topolanek, saying that Europe should be underpinned on three basic… [Read More]
Who is going to win this lottery? It looks as though the answer might be the private sector – and not social integration.
The Telegraph reports today that over 200,000 pupils in the UK will miss out on their first choice of secondary school this year. Going by last year’s figures, the problem is concentrated particularly in inner-city areas. In 2006, 33% of Birmingham students failed to get their first choice place. In London, Wandsworth, Brent and Westminster… [Read More]
By Pete Quentin At the heart of the EU debate (as with almost everything else in politics) is the question of identity. Which groups, or communities do individuals believe themselves to be members of? What is it that allies them to these groups and separates them from others? A major factor in determining the answer… [Read More]
School ‘improvement’ strategies which alienate teachers and thereby set schools back, have become a recurring theme under the New Labour government.
immigration, EU, Europe, capital economics
One can easily agree with the premise of Timothy Garton Ash’s search for ‘the story Europe wants to tell’; namely that ‘Europe has lost the plot’. In an essay recently published in Prospect magazine Garton Ash states that ‘as we approach the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome…most Europeans have little idea where we’re… [Read More]
‘Class war over classics’ is the Times Education Supplement’s front-page headline. Following the Government’s list of books in their Key Stage 3 reforms, the TES reports that staff are planning to simply disregard the diktat: ‘They said it was misjudged, politically motivated and “will not be taught”’. Whilst education secretary Alan Johnson describes the texts… [Read More]