A Gift That Gets Children Reading
Early access to high-quality books can transform lives, improve educational outcomes and help create the next generation of curious and informed citizens.
SATURDAY, 10 JANUARY 2026, 01:44
Early access to high-quality books can transform lives, improve educational outcomes and help create the next generation of curious and informed citizens.
A program for deafblind children helped 3-year-old Annie Garner, born with poor vision and no ears, learn to communicate. The Trump administration cut the program’s funding over diversity goals.

Group asks Keir Starmer for help to persuade Ghanaian government to pay backlog of tuition fees and living allowances
Students from Ghana at UK universities say they are in danger of being deported after being stranded by their own government without promised scholarships or tuition fee payments.
The group representing more than 100 doctoral students has petitioned Downing Street and Keir...

Andrew Bennington was working at a college in Scarborough when he sent messages of a sexual nature.

As the exam regulator consults about introducing onscreen exams amid complaints of hand fatigue, a young aspiring journalist goes head-to-head with a self-professed expert
This week it was reported that students could soon be sitting their end-of-year exams on laptops after pupils complained of hand fatigue, saying their muscles “are not strong enough”.
With Ofqual preparing to launch a public...

Training and qualifications body, acquired by private Greek firm in October, to become ‘leaner organisation’
The training and qualifications body City & Guilds is shrinking its UK workforce as part of a £22m cost-cutting drive after it was acquired by a private Greek business in October.
Founded in 1878 by the City of London and a group of 16 livery companies, the original institute developed a...

Notoriously difficult entrance exam is regarded as gateway to economic security and even a good marriage
The chief organiser of South Korea’s notoriously gruelling university entrance exams has resigned – after complaints that an English test he designed was too difficult.
Passing the exam, known locally as the Suneung, is essential for admission to top universities and regarded as a gateway to...

The government is promising 50,000 more places for children with special educational needs in schools in England.

Bridget Phillipson says £3bn scheme focussed on local state schools will ‘transform lives’, after rise in parent appeals
The government is to invest £3bn in creating bespoke places within local state schools for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (Send), a crucial part of its efforts to grapple with England’s rising numbers of children facing social and mental health...

We’d like to hear from UK students who are – or are planning to – live at home while studying at university
We’d like to find out about students who are living at home while studying at university, rather than living in student accommodation or a flat share.
Why have you taken the decision to live at home? What are the positives and negatives? How has the cost of living affected your university...

Manchester Metropolitan University again wins top spot for climate and social justice in league table
More universities have severed ties with fossil fuel companies, banning them from recruitment fairs and refusing to advertise roles in the industry, according to the latest higher education league table.
The analysis found that eight more universities had signed up to end recruitment ties with...

No parent should worry about their child’s safety while they work. But a crisis in our early-years sector is shielding predators such as Vincent Chan
I remember those initial heart-wrenching days and weeks leaving my daughter, aged nine months, at the nursery. She was distraught as I left, and I – like so many parents – headed off to work feeling guilty for leaving her, wondering if I was...

From deepfake teachers to remote maths lessons – how are schools using tech and AI in the classroom?

Qualifications watchdog launches consultation amid complaints from pupils about writing fatigue in exams
Students could be sitting some of their GCSEs and A-levels on a laptop by the end of the decade, according to England’s qualifications watchdog.
Amid complaints from pupils of writing fatigue in exams because their hand muscles “are not strong enough”, Ofqual is launching a three-month...

More than £10bn was committed to building new schools between 2014-15 and 2023-24, compared with £6.8bn for rebuilding existing schools
Conservative governments spent £325m creating 67 free schools that subsequently failed or disappeared, many through lack of demand, according to data revealed by a freedom of information request.
The figures from the Department for Education (DfE) show that the...

They face long hours, mediocre pay and, at worst, no job, but their optimism is astonishing – let’s support them better
Prof Devi Sridhar is chair of global public health at the University of Edinburgh
When I mentioned to colleagues in the NHS that I was helping with admissions interviews for medical students, several responded with the same wry smile and weary shrug: “Do they know what...

The government sets aside £500m it says is needed to revive services aimed at disconnected teens and young adults.

Report finds children at Mossbourne Victoria Park traumatised by disciplinary measures ‘designed to humiliate’
Staff at a London academy instilled a “climate of fear” among pupils, with a drive for academic success likely to have harmed vulnerable children including those with special needs, according to a damning independent investigation.
The report by Sir Alan Wood, one of the country’s...

Long Beach City college’s Safe Parking Program provides a protected space for students who are homeless to live in their car
When Edgar Rosales Jr uses the word “home” he isn’t referring to the house he plans to buy after becoming a nurse or getting a job in public health. Rather, the second-year student at Long Beach City college is talking about the parking lot he slept in every night...

Flu is on the rise, but ministers say schools should only close in extreme circumstances.

Review finds Mossbourne Victoria Park Academy’s policies are “harmful” to some vulnerable pupils.