Emily nearly lost access to her baby because of a hair strand test. Experts fear she’s not alone
There are growing concerns over the way hair strand tests are being interpreted in the Family Court.
Education
Government vows to bring in under-16 social media restrictions by end of year
Tech minister Liz Kendall told the BBC the government would publish a response to the consultation in the summer.
Education secretary to ask competition watchdog to review hidden childcare costs
Bridget Phillipson will ask the competition watchdog to examine costs that families are still facing in government-funded childcare.
Nurseries in England charging extra fees to cover funding gap, campaigners say
Head of Early Years Alliance says additional charges paid by parents represent ‘cross-subsidy’
Parents of nursery children in England are being charged extra fees to cover for government underfunding of free childcare hours, with some paying thousands of pounds a year for consumables such as food, wipes and nappies, campaigners have said.
The comments came as the education secretary, Bridget...
Falling Test Scores: Reasons and Fixes
Readers discuss data showing lower reading and math scores. Also: The yuppie factor.
Student Loan Repayments Are Being Overhauled. What Borrowers Should Know.
Starting July 1, millions of borrowers will need to choose from a new menu of repayment options as the Trump administration enacts major changes to the student loan system.
‘Massive’ child abuse scandal in France as school staff investigated for violence and sexual assault
Paris police looking into more than 100 allegations of mistreatment by ‘monitors’ after parents’ groups said they had fought for years to be taken seriously
France is facing a child abuse scandal as ‘monitors’ at dozens of state nursery and primary schools are investigated for violence, sexual assault and rape.
Paris police are examining more than 100 allegations of mistreatment, physical...
UK universities warn of cuts for impoverished students if dire funding issues continue
Nearly a third of vice-chancellors would cut hardship support if necessary over next three years, according to poll
Vice-chancellors have said they may need to cut hardship support for impoverished students and reduce outreach activities aimed at disadvantaged groups if the dire funding struggles at universities continue.
The anonymous poll of leaders by Universities UK (UUK) revealed the...
Labour to expand youth work experience and training schemes
Announcement comes after Alan Milburn says Britain has neglected generation of young people struggling to access work and training opportunities
Ministers are expanding youth work experience and training schemes, after Alan Milburn warned Britain is spending £25 keeping young people on benefits for every £1 spent helping them into work.
Pat McFadden, the work and pensions secretary will...
Bridget Phillipson orders review of hidden childcare charges hitting parents
Education secretary asks UK watchdog to look into nursery practices, including non-refundable deposits and add-ons
Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, is ordering a competition review of hidden childcare charges amid concerns parents are being hit with extra charges, despite the government’s flagship expansion of funded childcare hours.
Phillipson has written to the Competition and...
I avoid AI tools because thinking is supposed to be hard. It’s what makes us human | Wendy Liu
As intelligence itself becomes privatised by big tech, allowing your intellectual faculties to wither in service of inane bots seems a dangerous move
Long before the age of multi-billion-dollar AI companies promising to disrupt the field of software development, I was learning to code the hard way.
It was the mid-2000s, and I was a child with unmonitored access to the family computer. With the...
Pioneering study aims to find out how repeated blows to head in women’s rugby affects brain
Risk of CTE in men’s sports has been widely studied, but female brains are softer and more vulnerable
Cleo Pallister-Turley, a back for Cardiff university’s women’s rugby team, winces as she recalls two major concussions from playing rugby. “Girls ask me, ‘aren’t you worried about getting injured?’,” the biomedical sciences student said. “I enjoy the physicality and the...
Mahmoud Khalil to Appeal to Supreme Court in Effort to Halt Deportation
The move was expected to come after a federal appeals court on Friday ruled against Mr. Khalil, who became the face of President Trump’s crackdown on pro-Palestinian protesters.
Trump Administration Offers Conflicting View of Civil Rights Cuts
Education Secretary Linda McMahon has said she wants to hire more civil rights lawyers, but the White House has proposed cutting that office in half.
Soft power sell-off: anger as British Council announces sale of historic Madrid building
Growing backlash among European staff against radical cuts to pay off Covid-era debt, with some accusing council of ‘colonial attitude’
The historic Palacete building at 31 Paseo del General Martínez Campos in Madrid’s upmarket Chamberí district has been home to the British Council in Spain for about 70 years.
About 5,000 students each year pass through its 35 classrooms, learning English,...
Court Cases About Money and Speech in Politics
Readers discuss court cases about campaign finance. Also: Computer science and the humanities.
Primary schools lose out as Labour slashes sport funding
New scheme will be worth 40% less than current government grants and will be shared with secondaries
Funding for primary school sport in England is to be slashed by Labour, including the abolition of a grant designed to cement the 2012 Olympic legacy, to the dismay of school leaders.
The Department for Education said that the £320m fund paid directly to primary schools each year through its PE...
Want to Move 529 Account Money to a Roth IRA? There’s a Hitch.
A law requires the rollover money to have been in the 529 for at least 15 years. But it isn’t clear what happens if you change the account’s beneficiary.
UK police bosses urge unsafe platforms to be blocked for under-16s
The NCA and NPCC say children should be blocked from accessing sites which do not stop them seeing nudes or being contacted by strangers.
Cuba Needs a New Story
How can Cubans move forward if they aren’t ready to reckon with their past?
Meta settles major social media addiction lawsuit with school district
Kentucky is one of about 1,200 school districts across the US that have each sued Meta, TikTok, Snap and YouTube
Meta agreed to settle a major lawsuit on Thursday with a school district in Kentucky over claims that its social networks are designed to be addictive, leading to harm in children. The settlement comes less than three weeks before the case was scheduled to go to trial in federal...