Education News Feeds

In the last day...

The UK is slipping behind international rivals in university places, according to figures from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. A report suggests two-thirds of UK students would be put off university by fees of £7,000 a year. UK gets first Sikh temple school

In the last 3 days...

The first 16 'free schools' to be set up are named by Education Secretary Michael Gove. A former boarding school head teacher is jailed for 21 years for sexually abusing and beating pupils. The number of foreign students let into the UK is "unsustainable", minister Damian Green says in his first major speech on immigration. Michael Gove says demand for new free schools has exceeded expectations but Labour says plans for 16 new institutions next year are "laughable". Some schools in the UK are teaching their pupils languages like Mandarin and Arabic rather than the more traditional French and Spanish. Education Secretary Gove says there will be initially only 16 "free schools" in England set up despite 700 expressions of interest. The suspicious object was left in the playground of St Comgall's Primary School and picked up by an eight -year-old pupil.

In the last week...

A Tory councillor defects to Labour over cuts to the government's schools building programme, saying she was "ashamed to be a Conservative". One in four state primary schools in England has no male teacher, statistics show. Fewer children are learning to play a musical instrument than in their parents' generation, a survey suggests. England's first city-wide lottery system aimed at solving the problem of allocating places at over-subscribed schools failed to give poorer children equal access to top schools, academics say. A 15-year-old maths prodigy is set to become the youngest undergraduate at the University of Cambridge for more than two centuries. School lunches can tempt fussy eaters to try new foods, a survey carried out in England for the School Food Trust suggests. Yachtswoman Ellen MacArthur has set herself a new challenge - creating an educational foundation to promote sustainability. Sharon Shoesmith is given leave to appeal over her sacking as the head of children's services at Haringey Council after the death of Baby Peter. Figures obtained by the BBC suggest that in one in nine Scottish primary schools at least 60% of places are unfilled. Imperial College is going to open its first branch outside the UK - a medical school in Singapore, run in partnership with a local university. Millions of graduates will now start paying interest on their student loans again as new interest rates come into effect. Girls believe they are cleverer, better behaved and try harder than boys from as early as the age of four, research suggests. President Barack Obama's daughter, Malia, is now 12 years old and 5ft 9in (1.75m). But what's it like to be a young girl who's taller than the rest? Why do UK leaders all study for the same qualification?

In the last fortnight...

Oxford's head of admissions tells candidates it wants the academically gifted, not 'second-rate historians' who play the flute. Is the big fall in the number of British school children studying French something to be concerned about? The coalition government's Budget announced in June has hit the poorest families hardest, says an economic think tank. BBC Micros help train young student programmers Single sciences and Polish are up, but French and ICT are down A scheme aimed at stopping teenagers from becoming NEETS, could soon be abolished.

In the last month...

Across England, Wales and Northern Ireland thousands of pupils are celebrating and commiserating with each other after receiving their results for their GCSE exams. Teenagers score another GCSE record with almost seven out of 10 exams awarded a C grade or above, as separate science entries rise. The latest figures show that currently more than a quarter of UK university applicants are unplaced. Did the new A-level grade do what it said on the tin? The bright, young things shunning university With UK students facing a tough battle for places at home, universities in the Netherlands are promoting themselves as an alternative - and still have spaces left for this year, reports the BBC's Jonty Bloom. One in 12 A-level entries is awarded the new A* grade, as pupils attain record results. The Charity Commission rejects an appeal by a Roman Catholic charity to allow it to discriminate against gay people seeking to adopt. Some children are not being educated because local authorities are often unable to track youngsters who are not being taught, inspectors warn. Hundreds of playground developments in England are being mothballed as the Department for Education cuts funding for them. More than 100 children a week are turning to the ChildLine helpline with worries about their parents' drinking or drug use, the NSPCC says. A young mother says she was ordered off a Manchester bus because she was breastfeeding her baby. Why are more pupils taking GCSEs early? A couple wrongly accused of hurting their child tell their story