
What is Ofsted and how does the new school ratings system work?
The rating system changed after the death of head Ruth Perry highlighted the pressure of inspections.
FRIDAY, 29 MAY 2026, 02:11

The rating system changed after the death of head Ruth Perry highlighted the pressure of inspections.

Meta and its subcontractor disagree over why over 1000 Kenya-based workers were made redundant.

Gothenburg promised to optimise school admissions with a piece of code. The resulting chaos showed how unaccountable systems are ruining lives
We like to imagine that injustice announces itself loudly. That when something goes wrong in the public system, alarms go off and someone takes responsibility or is held accountable if they do not. But in 2020 in Gothenburg, injustice arrived quietly,...

England’s higher education regulator must rebuild trust with troubled sector after series of blunders under previous leadership
In its brief and unhappy life, England’s Office for Students has been offered a series of challenges it has largely failed to meet. This week the latest and most embarrassing of those was unveiled, when the high court decisively rejected the higher education...

Billionaire Stephen Schwarzman’s portrait hangs discretely in a building that promises cultural clout and architectural poise – yet can seem rather bland and bloodless
When the wealthy Paduan banker Enrico Scrovegni commissioned the building of his eponymous chapel in the 14th century, he made sure that he was immortalised in the lavish frescoes adorning its interior. Florentine artist Giotto...

A record fine had been issued by the Office for Students over the university’s trans and non-binary inclusion policy.

Ruling is blow to Office for Students after it issued fine for handling of protests over professor’s trans rights views
Sussex University has overturned a £585,000 fine by England’s higher education watchdog after the high court rejected claims the university had breached free speech regulations involving its former professor Kathleen Stock.
The ruling is a damaging blow to the credibility and...

Research on maths teaching in English secondary schools upends decades of debate over mixed-ability education
Teaching pupils in classes grouped by ability improves the results of high-flyers but does not affect the progress of less able children, according to a study that upends decades of debate over mixed-ability education.
The research by University College London’s Institute of Education...

Social mobility groups say post-16 funding gap risks young people falling out of education, work and training
A coalition of 14 social mobility organisations is urging the government to fund a “student premium” to support disadvantaged young people post-16 and prevent them from “falling through the cracks” into joblessness.
State-funded schools in England currently receive additional pupil...

NAHT survey says widespread disrepair forcing closure of playgrounds and classrooms, with Send facilities also hit
Half of headteachers say parts of their school are either out of use or unfit for purpose due to leaks, damp, mould, asbestos, ageing boilers and malfunctioning fire doors, according to a new survey by the National Association of Head Teachers(NAHT).
Among those who say their...

Scrutiny of the impact of technology on children’s lives and education should be welcomed
A new law banning mobile phone use in schools in England, which ministers reluctantly agreed to last week, is on one level the result of political manoeuvring by Liberal Democrat and Conservative peers – who forced their hand by threatening to derail the schools bill. Until now, the government’s...

Labour, Plaid Cymru, Reform, the Greens, the Tories and the Lib Dems set out competing plans but offer little detail on how they would pay for them
The parties most likely to win the Senedd election next month offer radically different futures for Wales, but all six are facing criticism for not being “upfront” in their manifestos about the fiscal challenges the next Welsh government will...

Hundreds of senior staff in territory benefit from nearly £30,000-a-year grant per child not available to staff in group’s other hubs
HSBC is reportedly reviewing a perk that covers school fees for bankers in Hong Kong as part of a big overhaul of the bank under chief executive Georges Elhedery.
Europe’s largest bank is considering whether to scrap the perk for new employees or make changes...

It feels as if your work and your identity are fused. You’ll get through this, but you may have to use this time to consider other careers
I’ve been a teacher for more than 20 years and loved it. I had promotions every couple of years and was happily making my way up the ladder. This year, however, I was made redundant because of restructuring and this has thrown me into a feeling of complete...

Do No Harm, a conservative group, wants the scholarship, which has helped islands’ underserved communities, declared unconstitutional
Doctors and health experts in Hawaii say a decades-old federal program meant to support Native Hawaiians through medical school and better serve some of the islands’ most underserved communities is under attack after a conservative group filed suit.
For more than...

Lucy O’Brien was shocked when she discovered how high interest rates were leading to ballooning debt
Like many of my drowning-in-debt “plan 2” student loan comrades, I didn’t think twice about diving straight into a master’s degree, bright-eyed and fresh out of my undergraduate course in 2021.
To say I was naive to the additional financial burden would be an understatement. Even less did I...

Bristol University project aims to help directors make better movies and take greater risks – with one already onboard
At first glance, it looks like any high-end cinema: booming surround sound, a razor-sharp 4K projector and rows of reclining seats. But instead of clutching popcorn, a headset records my brain activity and a heart rate monitor wraps around my arm while infra-red cameras capture...

Trade body warns that changes are likely to drive up costs and push pupils to find somewhere to buy junk food
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A government push to get schoolchildren eating more lentils, pulses and beans at lunch could have a “devastating effect”, making catering services unviable, school meal providers have warned.
Proposals for healthier meals in English schools, which would...

More than 70% have cut down in past year on teaching assistants, who play key role in helping children with Send
Two-fifths of school leaders in England have been forced to cut back on support for children with special educational needs due to a financial crisis “more than a decade in the making”, according to a poll.
Seven out of 10 (71%) leaders say they have cut down on teaching assistants...

Government advisers call for review of rules that cause loss of household income when a child takes up job training
Young people from disadvantaged backgrounds are abandoning valuable job training opportunities because of a little-known welfare “apprenticeship penalty” that can leave their families out of pocket by as much as £340 a week.
The problem is caused by benefit rules that classify a...

Measure will also limit device use during passing periods, lunch and recess and block YouTube on district devices
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The Los Angeles unified school district’s board passed a resolution on Tuesday to curb students’ classroom screen time for the upcoming school year, in the latest effort nationwide to address adverse...