Get all your news in one place.

100’s of premium titles.
One app.

Start reading

Get all your news in one place.

100’s of premium titles. One news app.

Start reading

The Guardian - UK

National

Judy Friedberg

Cribsheet 19.10.11

Pret coffee — Not Boris's cup of tea? Photograph: Tom Jenkins for the Guardian

Private schools, it seems, have taken note of headteacher David Levin's recent speech about the rise of apartheid in London schools. Though he was warning of a race divide in state schools, his audience of private headteachers clearly took a mental peek at their own playing fields.

A scholarship scheme has been launched to get more inner-city kids into private schools and "encourage more mixing of ethnic and faith groups", starting with two places at 11-plus and 13 places in the sixth form at Levin's City of London school for boys, where fees are £4,350 a term.

If successful, it will be extended to other private schools in cities across Britain.

Interestingly, Levin argues that private schools are already ethnically fairly diverse. The latest census by the Independent Schools Council shows that almost a quarter of their pupils are from an ethnic minority background.

Meanwhile London mayor Boris Johnson also wants to tinker with what's going on in schools in the capital. Why? Because of Pret A Manger, of course:

"Look at Pret A Manger. If you've been to Pret A Manger recently, how many native Londoners served you? What's going on? We want to address that problem.

Somehow or other, it strikes me that young people growing up in this city who are born here are not necessarily getting the encouragement, the skills, the work ethic, that they might.

Or the ability to cope with work, the desire to do the job - whatever it is, there's something missing. I don't know what it is.

I don't have the answer. They need to be given the skills to compete."

The mayor (@mayoroflondon) apparently plans to set up a commission to inform his views on the problems that could benefit from a pan-London approach, including availability of school places across boroughs, access to information about schools and standards, and curriculum issues.

More education news from the Guardian

• A fifth of council-funded secondary schools finished the 2009-10 school year in deficit, raising fears about how they will cope with expected budget squeezes, a National Audit Office report says. Many have no experience of leading a school in a period of financial constraint, the report warns.

• Stephen Twigg (@stephentwigg) says he's going to shift the education debate "to the classroom". The classroom may be in a free school.

Jeevan Vasagar's excellent blog on the problem free schools pose for Labour is attracting a high standard of discussion.

• The number of primary school pupils playing truant each day has reached a record high, new figures show. Jessica Shepherd's story will be on the site in moments.

Education news from around the web

• There's a rip-roaring row going on on the Local Schools Network (@localschools_uk), where @allanbeavis has written a piece explaining why charter schools are not the model for success that Michael Gove has claimed. He is particularly scathing about the New Schools Network website, which he says is uncritically parroting unreliable and selective data.

Free school poster boy Toby Young (@toadmeister) has waded in, saying not all charter schools have to be a success for the model to have merit.

Not content with starting one ruckus, a new post from Beavis has just accused the new schools commissioner Elizabeth Sidwell (@liz_sidwell), of being interested only in free schools and academies:

"Is Elizabeth Sidwell's appointment in this role to be a mere advocate of academies and free schools? If so, then who - or what - is responsible for the majority (60% or so) of community schools that she does not acknowledge or care to visit?"

• A nine-year-old dyslexic boy in Belfast has won the right to challenge his lack of direct access to a specialist literacy teacher, the BBC reports.

• The UK research base is the most productive in the world but its position could be threatened by relatively low investment, a government-commissioned report warns. According to the THE, the report says the UK generates more articles and citations per researcher, as well as more downloads per article authored, than any of the comparison nations.

• US university students are skipping meals to cut down on calories so they can binge drink at night, in a disorder known as "drunkorexia", Huffington Post UK reports. University of Missouri research based on 1,000 students claims one in five, mostly female, are drunkorexics.

• New on the blog Shit My Students Write:

Illegal cavity search:

"Dollree Mapp's house was entered illegally by law enforcement officials without a labial search warrant."

Size-ism:

"Especially in the 1930's, there was a great fear of munchkins, however unethical, it was a reality."

Post-race America:

"Racism only exists in the eyes of the ignorant. Don't people realize that Ghandi Mohandas put an end to rascism in America in the early part of the 18th century? Obviously not since professors keep quoting him. I don't mean to sound holier than thou, but sometimes i think I have a better handle on the cultural constructions of the modern world."

On the Guardian Higher Education Network

• Hackers are vital to the university culture of openness and innovation: next month, 150 undergraduates will attend DevXS to develop prototype open-source web applications. Joss Winn and Mike Neary explain the aims of the event.

• Should degree classification be a thing of the past? Professor Bob Burgess explains how Higher Education Achievement Reports will provide students with verified information about their academic and personal achievements.

On the Guardian Teacher Network

• The importance of inclusion: why I learned British sign language

• Fifty strategies for helping pupils who are learning English as an additional language

Education seminars from Guardian Professional

The Guardian Teacher Network runs training sessions for teachers throughout the year in Yorkshire and London. Upcoming courses include:

Is your school thinking of becoming an academy?

This seminar will provide an independent view of the advantages and disadvantages of converting to academy status. It will look at the process of conversion, the implications of academy status, and the support and funding available. November 30, in London. February 21, 2012 in Yorkshire

Protecting young people in a digital age

Led by school digital safety experts, this one-day course will provide safeguarding policy and Ofsted criteria updates, as well as looking at social media and offering practical advice to help your school develop its digital safety policies. February 1, 2012 in London. February 8, 2012 in Yorkshire.

For a full list visit the Guardian Teacher Network

Teachers seminars from the Guardian Education Centre

Reading for pleasure – bringing classics to life

This half-day conference for secondary school teachers will explore the use and teaching of classic books from Dickens and beyond. Keynote speakers will be Simon Callow, actor and Dickens enthusiast and Judy Golding, daughter of William Golding, author of Lord of the Flies.

20 October, London

Insight into digital journalism

Spend a day at the Guardian and find out how an international news media organisation works. The seminar will focus on aspects of digital journalism including writing and editing for a news website, the relationship between print and web journalism, live blogging, the use of social media, podcasting and video production.

2 November, Kings Place, London