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Institute for the Study of Civil Society
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13 May

Primary and Secondary Education

  • The full text of the coalition deal. This includes consensus that new providers will be able to enter the state school system in response to parental demand and that schools will have greater freedom over the curriculum. The Lib Dems may be able to abstain in any vote about university funding if they disagree with the conclusions of Lord Browne's review. Guardian

  • The new Schools Secretary has been announced as former journalist and party moderniser Michael Gove. Gove has advocated a return to traditional values in the classroom, stating he expects pupils to wear ties and be set by ability. He had pledged to increase the academic standards required to train as a teacher and turn the 'very worst' schools into academies within 100 days of taking power. Guardian

  • Parents at a primary school in Ipswich have said they are 'distressed' by the content of a film, shown as part of the National Curriculum, which made explicit reference to genitalia. From the age of 5, children can be taught to recognise differences in the male and female bodies and led to understand touch as part of PSHE lessons. Parents are concerned their children will sexually experiment after seeing the film. Telegraph

  • Chair of the Independent Schools Association has called for a 'common sense approach' to education to reignite children's sense of adventure and self-awareness. He reinforces the comments of Play England that youngsters are spending far less time playing outside in local neighbourhood because of fears around security and litigation amid a health and safety culture. Telegraph

  • A 14 year old Roman Catholic girl has been marked down for 'unauthorised absence' after refusing to go on a school trip to a mosque as she objected to conforming to the dress code of a headscarf and wearing long skirts or leggings. Telegraph

  • The Globe's Playing Shakespeare programme has been running since 2006 and already worked with 57% of London's schools. Participation is free and children of between 14 and 16 take part in workshops and later see the finished production of the play at the Globe. More than 14,000 have attended these performances. Telegraph

  • Figures have shown that 2008/9 saw the first rise in book borrowing from libraries in ten years. The number of children's books being taken out rose by 5% and visits to library websites increased by 49%. Telegraph


Higher and Further Education

  • Universities fear the new government will announce millions of pounds of further cuts as early as next month. As universities operate on a different annual cycle to government (August-July), any cuts the government announces for next year will affect the last four months of the universities' existing financial year. It is currently unclear whether universities will remain within the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, under Vince Cable; it is thought Michael Gove may have charge of the area. Guardian

  • The British Council is launching an international initiative to target organisations and individuals who bring bogus students to the UK. 80% of UK universities use legitimate agents who recruit abroad for a commission but some dishonest agents advertise courses as a route to migration and claim to guarantee success in admission. BBC


Family

  • Iain Duncan Smith has been appointed Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. He will take charge of the government's biggest spending department and so is likely to face significant cuts and reform, particularly to social security. The coalition has agreed that 'receipt of benefits for those able to work should be conditional on the willingness to work' and IDP will focus on making work or training compulsory after six months for unemployed individuals under 25. Guardian

  • The Chair of the Independent Schools Association has claimed that middle class children are missing out on quality family time because their parents enrol them in endless after-school and weekend activities. He said that children lose the capability to amuse themselves if everything they encounter is in the structured form of a club. Guardian

  • Cameron's 23-strong cabinet has only four women and one member of an ethnic minority. Fewer than 20% of the Cabinet is female, compared to 53% of Spain's cabinet, 50% of Sweden's, 38% of Germany's and 33% of France's. Brown's final Cabinet also only contained four women. Guardian

  • The first roadshow aiming to stop South Asian youngsters being forced into marriage is about to get underway. Around 2,000 students go missing from school registers every year and are suspected to have met this fate; the roadshow will include explanations of how to use the Forced Marriage Act and survivors will speak about their experiences. BBC

  • Scotland Yard claim to be having successes and a heightened flow of information about sex traffickers following a reorganisation of the force's dedicated units. There have been high-profile arrests and the force claims to have more police than ever investigating trafficking. Guardian

  • The new government has pledged to end the practice of locking asylum seeker children up in immigration detention centres. The Lib Dems and SNP have long campaigned against the issue, many groups have applauded the announcement. Times

  • A mother questions whether teen-on-teen violence has become an avoidable rite of passage for teenage boys growing up in London. Her own son is thirteen and has already been mugged three times. Can the advice of police to look 'streetwise' and hand everything over and his own avoidance of bus stops and top decks, short cuts and walking keep him safe? Times

  • Two boys age 10 and 11 on trial for rape at the Old Bailey are thought to be the youngest ever to be charged for rape in Britain. They are charged for the rape of an eight year old girl but deny the charges of rape and attempted rape. Times

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