Category: Education

Vincent van Gogh is perhaps equally famous for his sunflowers and his act of self-mutilation. Apart from his paintings, when people think of the artist, they also think of his ear – or lack of it. But references to Van Gogh’s missing ear, and mental health, in souvenirs on sale at the Courtauld Gallery in...

Huge disparities in the amount of classroom time pupils have received across England since schools reopened in September have been revealed by stark new figures on school attendance. Attendance ranged from as little as 37% in the West Midlands borough of Sandwell to 92% in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, during one week alone, according to the first...

At the end of a difficult year for schools, a tawdry row has erupted. In response to Greenwich council asking its schools to close this week – ahead of the end of term on Friday and after a 59% rise in local infections within seven days – the education secretary, Gavin Williamson, has ordered the...

The London borough of Greenwich has been forced to back down over plans to close its schools early and switch to online learning following legal action by the government, which later revealed plans for mass testing in secondary schools across England from January. School leaders and teaching unions expressed outrage at the late-night legal intervention...

Guidance warning schools against using resources from organisations that have expressed a desire to end capitalism will be reviewed by the Department for Education (DfE) following the threat of legal action. The guidance, published in September, was criticised by teachers, MPs and human rights groups over the risk it could impinge on freedom of belief,...

“Do you have as good a chance of becoming president as someone from a fancy neighbourhood?” A teenage girl is interviewing a boy in her class. They’re pupils at a middle school in a banlieue on the outskirts of Paris known by its official department number, “the 93”. It’s the poorest place in mainland France....

Good morning. Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, has been touring the broadcast studios this morning and he has been urging the government to rethink its decision to relax Covid restrictions over Christmas. This is what he told the Today programme: We heard from Matt Hancock [the health secretary] yesterday that it appears the government...

Harrison Shaylor, 23, had planned to do the Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL) for a while, but lockdown made the decision for him. “I had been keeping my options open and looking at internships and jobs, and they all got cancelled, so I ended up going ahead with it this year,” he says. “I’m definitely...

And lo, at the end of an exhausting term, Joseph did knock upon the door of the inn. Only to be told, in the loudest voice a seven-year-old can muster: “Sorry, you can’t come in, the government have ordered us to close. It’s tier 3 round here.” Christmas performances are something that in normal times...

“Harmful” gender stereotyping has helped fuel the UK mental health crisis afflicting the younger generation, an influential report has warned, adding that it is at the root of problems with body image and eating disorders, record male suicide rates as well as violence against women and girls. Stereotyped assumptions also “significantly limit” youngsters’ career choices,...