Archive for September, 2009
Teaching assistants don’t do the job
Posted by Anastasia de Waal in Education on 04/09/2009
A report for the Deployment and Impact of Support Staff (DISS) project, presented at this week’s annual British Educational Research Association conference, shows that teaching assistants ‘do not help’ pupils. The research, based on the views of 20,000 teachers and the experiences of 8,000 pupils, whilst kindly keen to emphasise that TAs have ‘huge potential’, places a large question mark over their current impact.
McKinsey’s prescription for the NHS
Posted by James Gubb in Health on 03/09/2009
£20bn cash savings necessary in the NHS by 2014, David Nicholson, the NHS Chief Exec, announced some months ago now. Only now is one grand-plan ‘leaked’: a report from back in March by the management consultants McKinsey commissioned by the DH. It paints a stark picture of type of cuts that will be necessary.
Shining a Light on the EU’s Energy-Saving Scheme
Posted by Claire Daley in European Union on 02/09/2009
EU regulation came into force yesterday banning the manufacturing and importing of 100w incandescent (clear and non-clear) bulbs and inefficient halogens writes Ariane Poulain. This ban is the first phase of the regulation which requires a progressive phase-out of all inefficient light bulbs over the next three years.
On the Wisdom of Doing Away with Dad: Where Should the Burden of Proof Lie?
Posted by David Conway in Family, Marriage and the Culture on 01/09/2009
Lesbians are about to be able to name as the second parent on the birth certificate of any child one might have through IVF their female partner rather than its biological father.