As part of our new publication ‘OnCohesion’ read Bob Hindle’s blog which focuses on the counter-terrorism Prevent Strategy in schools and colleges. Schools and colleges provide environments for debate and meeting points and a rising proportion of young people from mixed race backgrounds suggests we have more in common than what makes us different. Is […]
The Case for Optimism amid the ‘Broken’ NHS
NHS organisations and the professionals who staff them are under tremendous pressure. The University of Manchester’s Professor Leo McCann has been working closely with NHS paramedics in England over the last five years, learning about the changes they have gone through as professionals and the pressures that ambulance trusts face as organisations. In this blog, […]
Transforming children and young people’s mental health services: taking one step forward and two steps back
In this blog Dr Terry Hanley, Senior Lecturer in Counselling Psychology and Dr Laura Anne Winter Lecturer in Education and Counselling Psychology both from The University of Manchester set out their response to the Government’s Green Paper on children and young people’s mental health. The Green Paper focuses on earlier intervention and prevention in schools […]
Bridging the skills gap: primary to higher education
The UK’s skills gap in science, technology, engineering and maths has been widely acknowledged, but the measures needed to address it are less clear. Here, Donna Johnson, Head of the Science & Engineering Education Research and Innovation Hub, lays out the current debate and argues for cross-sector support between schools and universities and a focus […]
Why language statistics might be misleading
This month’s issue of The Economist included an article entitled ‘Why central and eastern European children lag behind in British schools’. Here, Professor Yaron Matras responds to the article and discusses the difficulties of using official statistic to record languages. The article looks mainly to languages as being a factor in differential educational achievement, but […]
The Prevent duty: can teachers be judges?
Prevent is one of the four Ps that make up the government’s post 9/11 counter-terrorism strategy: Prepare for attacks, Protect the public, Pursue the attackers and Prevent their radicalisation in the first place. Bob Hindle looks at how the Prevent duty is applied in schools and colleges and highlights areas of necessary reform. Teacher decision-making […]
The battle over skirt-only uniform codes – does it matter who wears the trousers?
Nowadays everywhere you look you will see women and girls wearing trousers: at work, at play, at formal and informal occasions. But many schools still impose skirt-only uniform codes for girls which Claire Hale says is gender discrimination and out of step with the modern world. The Queen has been seen in public wearing trousers. […]
Where next for education policy?
This year’s Manchester Policy Week witnessed a lively debate on how we can close the socio-economic attainment gap in education. Dr Kirstin Kerr heard some clear recommendations emerge. If there’s one thing the major political parties agree on, it is that the link between poverty and poor educational outcomes must be broken. Ever since Tony Blair set out his priorities […]
Where next for Labour’s schools policy?
With the Labour Party conference in town, Manchester Institute of Education (MIE) invited four leading figures in education to join teachers, academics, teacher educators, parents and others in a public debate on what a future Labour government should do on schools. Prof Ruth Lupton considers some of their key ideas. Panel members were Rt. Hon David […]
Trust Teachers – The first Manchester Education Debate
Educationalists, teachers and academics have taken part in the first of a series of debates about the future of our schools in the run up to the 2015 election. Dr Andrew Howes pulls together some key strands from the discussion. If one in four good, trained teachers is saying ‘I’m leaving teaching, I need a […]