• The General Teaching Council for England - responsible for registering teachers and investigating misconduct - is to be scrapped. The move was welcomed by unions - the General Secretary of the NASUWT commented that 'few [teachers] would notice and even less would care'. Gove has also announced that 1,114 schools have applied to become academies. Guardian
• 
  
• Figures from the General Teaching Council in Scotland indicate that 30% of teachers who qualified last year in Scotland had gained a permanent job by April, compared to 39.5% the previous year. The figure was 48% for secondary school trained teachers and 24% for primary school; 13.5% of the newly qualified teachers were completely unemployed, compared to 10.6% the previous year. Times


• A report - Instinct or Reason - highlights how decisions on education policy are influenced more by media pressure and political expediency than evidence-based research. It calls for the setting up of more effective approaches to provide objective advice, drawing on the role of the NICE within the health domain or with the appointment of an independent chief education officer. BBC


• Parents are warned to check the criminal records of private tutors as a tutor is found guilty of seven child offences, including sexual abuse of two girls, age 10 and six, who he was tutoring. It is thought Okorie, 47 exploited his tutor status to travel through South America, the US, Nigeria and the UK as a 'sex tourist'. Telegraph

• A new report for the Higher Education Policy Institute recommends scrapping firsts, 2:1s and 2:2s as they 'prolong the pretence that a degree from one university can be compared with one from another university'. Instead, its author calls for students to be given transcripts of their courses with a general statement of their abilities to prevent universities raising marks as they make cuts to student provision. Guardian

• The coalition agreement contained the pledge to 'extend anonymity in rape cases to defendents'. In Commons exchanges yesterday however, David Cameron gave indications that he may partially back down in order that anonymity would only applied between a defendant being arrested and charged. Telegraph


• Eric Pickles has sent a new chief executive and a team of commissioners to Doncaster to intervene in the local authority run by mayor, English Democrat, Peter Davies. This follows an Audit Commission report last month, said to be the most damning of any local authority in 30 years. It documented a series of failures of child protection, poor housing services, in particular provision for vulnerable groups, and political in-fighting. Guardian


• Cabinet meetings are to moved to 'flexible times' so the two fathers running Britain can take their children to school, a decision Clegg called symbolic of the 'new politics'. Both leaders have spoken about rearranging their schedules to be home early in the evenings and Cameron is due to take paternity leave in September. Mail


• Parents in Wales have warned that under-15s should not drink alcohol, even under supervision, despite figures which show that 40% of 15 year olds drink on a weekly basis. The Assembly Health Minister said the power to make the most significant change lay with the UK government through legislation of price, licensing and advertising. BBC


• A professor at the University of Glasgow writes about how Calton - a neighbourhood in Glasgow with a life expectancy of 54, and one where smoking takes up some 15% of weekly household income - has been affected by regeneration. Guardian


• The lack of social cohesion between Bradford's white and Asian communities is well known, reaching its height during the 2001 riots. Recent ventures by housing providers have created successful mixed housing developments which are seeking to move communities out of their 'safe zones'.They hope lessons will be learnt by other local authorities. Guardian


• Housing Minister Grant Shapps promised to 'shine a light' on salaries paid from the public purse as he revealed that 50 housing association bosses earn more than the Prime Minister. The TaxPayers Alliance heralded the publication, commenting that as recipients of taxpayers money, housing associations should be held to account. Guardian

back to top