Last updated 08/02/2007
EDUCATION - FURTHER EDUCATION
Not 'failing', but 'on the path to excellence'
The Guardian
06/02/2007
Details published today show how 60 training providers must brush up on their act or face closure.
'Perform or else' threat to colleges
Times Educational Supplement
26/01/2007
Funding chiefs at the Learning and Skills Council are threatening the "nuclear option" against colleges where too many students fail to stay the course or pass exams. Tough new measures could see some colleges losing more than a quarter of their income from the council. This could force drastic measures such as dismissing the principal, merger with another college or closure.
Successful colleges should go private, says 157 Group
The Guardian
17/01/2007
Successful colleges should consider opting out of the public sector to become private companies free of state control, the head of a new lobby group for further education has said.
EDUCATION - HIGHER EDUCATION
Hostilities on the home front
The Guardian
06/02/2007
The relationship between town and gown has always been an uneasy one. The housing crisis doesn't help.
RAE selection gets brutal
Times Higher Education Supplement
02/02/2007
Careers are on the line as universities exclude all but 'world-leading' submissions. More academics than ever before will find themselves stigmatised as research inactive.
Tesco shoppers bag a bargain with Open University
The Guardian
06/02/2007
A new partnership between the Open University and Tesco will see shoppers able to pay for all or part of an OU course by exchanging Tesco Clubcard vouchers.
UCU battles private enterprise
Times Higher Education Supplement
02/02/2007
A recent wave of private takeovers of university departments has raised fears about the creeping privatisation of higher education.
University form will ask about parents' education
The Times
29/01/2007
University applicants will be asked to declare whether their parents have a degree. The Government wants its information for its campaign to attract more working-class students into higher education.
UUK report demonstrates economic benefits of a degree
UUK Media Release
07/02/2007
A new report from Universities UK today highlights the economic benefits associated with higher education qualification attainment.
EDUCATION - SCHOOLS
Council's watchdog challenges SEN spending
The Guardian
06/02/2007
The rising costs of placing children with the most complex special educational needs in independent schools has set alarm bells ringing at the Audit Commission.
Five more authorities go 100% specialist
DfES Press Release
01/02/2007
Seventy-two more schools gain specialist school status, Education Minister Andrew Adonis announced today. As a result five more authorities now have 100% specialist secondary schools which are Cornwall, Ealing, Trafford, Thurrock and Walsall, bringing the total of 100% authorities to seventeen.
Heads rejoin workload agreement
BBC Education News
25/01/2007
The National Association of Head Teachers has voted to end its opposition to the agreement governing teachers' workload.
New trust school partners announced
DfES Press Release
07/02/2007
Schools Minister Jim Knight announced seven new Trust School partners today as one of the Government's flagship education policies continues to gain momentum.
Pay parity in sight for part-time teachers
The Guardian
06/02/2007
Teachers have welcomed plans for part-time teachers' pay to reflect the amount of hours they work, but warned that teacher shortages would continue until the government commits to a "substantial" pay increase for all teachers.
