Battle of the dictionaries to decide if boys' school should admit girls
It is commonplace for alumni of Newington College to look back on the halcyon days they spent at the elite Sydney boarding school with a degree of nostalgia. Only recently, however, have they given yearning for a lost youth a whole new meaning. After 160 years of educating only boys, the school had planned to admit girls for the first time next year. Scandalised by the prospect of girls entering the school's hallowed sandstone walls, however, a group of alumni have set out to thwart the plan, launching a class action in the New South Wales Supreme Court, citing a 217 year old definition of the word 'youth.'
Lawyers for the former Newington pupils on Friday told a judge that allowing girls in classes would
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BBC News
4 hours ago
- BBC News
New Alconbury Weald school approved after cost-cutting changes
A new secondary school will be built after cost-cutting changes were made to its school will be built at the Alconbury Weald Education Campus, near Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, with space for 600 of being built in the originally proposed "H" shape, the main teaching block will be a "T" school is being built to serve the new development in Alconbury which will turn a former airfield into about 6,500 new homes. In planning documents, Cambridgeshire County Council and developer Morgan Sindall said the changes "introduced improvements to the design of the scheme".The plans, which have been approved by the council's planning committee, said it was a "more efficient use of area and improves pupil and staff circulation between the school facilities".It could also allow for an expansion to create an enclosed external courtyard space. If expanded, the school could double its pupil capacity to 1,200, said the Local Democracy Reporting Service. Last year, the council proposed not installing a sprinkler system in the new school as construction costs had "significantly" exceeded the £37m project was thought a sprinkler system could cost between £850,000 and £900,000, although it was later suggested this figure may have been "on the high side".The report said a risk assessment found it was acceptable not to include sprinklers, with other fire protection features the time, some councillors disputed the proposals not top have final plans for the school include a sprinkler tank – a tank that typically provides the water for a sprinkler system. Follow Cambridgeshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
The Guardian
7 hours ago
- The Guardian
‘They are making young people ill': is it time to scrap GCSEs?
It's approaching 8.30am on a Wednesday in June and 140 grim-faced teenagers are making their way into an exam hall. Today it's GCSE maths paper 2 (calculator). A posse of smiling staff encourage and cajole: 'Good luck, hope it goes really well.' 'Bags at the back please!' 'Use a black pen only.' A few stragglers reluctantly make an entrance. 'Find your seats quickly, please. Good luck!' Once everyone is seated, there's the exam prayer. (This is Urswick school, a mixed Church of England secondary in north-east London.) 'Heavenly father, be with me as I take this exam, keep my mind alert and my memory sharp, calm my nerves and help me concentrate.' Some candidates bow their heads, others stare glumly into the distance. Then, a few final words of encouragement. 'So, year 11, this is your time to shine. Good luck – you have an hour and a half. You may begin.' And they're off. Welcome to the 2025 summer exam season. GCSEs – the qualifications taken by 15- and 16-year-olds at the end of their secondary education – are well under way in assembly and sports halls across England, Wales and Northern Ireland. But so too is a growing debate about whether it might be time to reform, or even abolish, the exams that have shaped young people's fortunes for almost four decades. The government's national curriculum and assessment review, including potential reform to GCSEs, will be published later this year. Not a moment too soon, for many. The GCSE – or general certificate of secondary education – was introduced in 1986, replacing the two-track 'sheep and goats' system of O-levels and CSEs (certificate of secondary education). Since then they have undergone several changes, most significantly under David Cameron's government and the then education secretary Michael Gove, who wanted a more 'rigorous' set of qualifications. He increased content, and replaced modules and coursework with end-of-course exams, graded by a number (from 1 to 9, with 9 being the best) rather than a letter. Critics have argued there are too many exams: students in England typically sit between 24 and 31 hours of exams in year 11, which is double, even triple, the totals for countries such as Ireland (16) and Canada (10). They say the curriculum content is vast and unwieldy – teachers struggle to cover it in the allotted time and pupils struggle to master it – and the high-stakes nature of the assessment creates excessive anxiety and stress for teenagers, more of whom now experience poor mental health, particularly since Covid. They are worried about the narrow academic focus, the danger of teaching to the test and the alarmingly high failure rate. Every year, about a third of GCSE pupils across England finish year 11 without achieving a grade 4 pass in English and maths. Then there's the fact that children in England are now required to remain in education or training until they're 18, making GCSEs at 16 kind of redundant. The roll call of industry leaders who would like to see them scrapped is growing. Among them are the former Ofsted boss Sir Michael Wilshaw and Kenneth Baker – the former education secretary who introduced GCSEs. They join institutions that have spoken out against the exams, such as Eton college, Bedales school, St Paul's girls' school and the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change. Many teachers, parents and pupils still under the GCSE cosh would concur. 'While there is a place for these sorts of exams', Blair wrote in the Telegraph in 2022, 'we cannot rely on them alone: they only measure certain skills, they do not always do this accurately, and they invite narrow teaching styles aimed at passing tests rather than building other key aptitudes.' Writing in the Guardian earlier this year, Simon Jenkins condemned what he described as the destructive cult of the exam, warning it was harming young people. 'Just say it,' he urged. 'Spit it out. Abolish GCSE. It has nothing to do with young people or their advancement. It has everything to do with quantifying, measuring, controlling and governing their preparation for life.' Then there's the chronic unfairness of the system. Covid fuelled the attainment gap between rich and poor pupils; now a boom in private tutoring is adding to the sense that there's a two-tier system, with wealthier families able to pay to secure their children advantages that poorer families cannot afford. According to a 2023 Sutton Trust survey, almost half (46%) of pupils in London received private tutoring, compared with 30% for England as a whole. 'GCSEs are failing the fairness test,' says Lee Elliot Major, a professor of social mobility at the University of Exeter. 'We must face up to the stark truth that they reward children not just for what they know, but for the resources their families can draw upon – whether it is extensive help via the booming industry of private tutors or the middle-class assumptions embedded in our curriculum that alienate and disadvantage those lacking a particular cultural capital. 'We've created an exam system that perpetuates privilege from one generation to the next. Our meritocratic elites, obsessed solely with narrow academic memorisation tests, are losing the bigger political battles over our failure to nurture all talents in society.' Ben Davis, headteacher at St Ambrose Barlow Roman Catholic high school in Swinton, Salford, is among those who want change. 'GCSEs have run their course and are not fit for purpose. I'd go so far as to say they are making young people ill and they impoverish teaching.' They are not inclusive, failure is 'baked in' and 'there is a disconnect between GCSEs and what employers need and expect,' says Davis. They should be replaced, he suggests, with a single diploma-based system for all young people, so that vocational, life skills, apprenticeships and academic qualifications sit alongside one another and pupils can combine these in the way that suits them best. Sammy Wright, head of school at Southmoor Academy in Sunderland and author of Exam Nation: Why Our Obsession With Grades Fails Everyone – and a Better Way to Think About School, agrees the system is ripe for change. 'The short answer is that GCSEs are designed to fit an academic trajectory. The model of learning they follow dovetails neatly with A-levels and then university, but that isn't what many kids do. 'Essentially, GCSEs ask children to try an academic pathway, and then only when they fail do they offer a different version of what education might be. My favoured alternative,' he says, 'is a passport qualification, where instead of discrete grades, they get an overall mark, within which there are many different elements. But this is long-term, it must be thought through and not rushed. It's a decade's work, really.' It is a huge challenge, says Dr Mary Richardson, professor of educational assessment at UCL's Institute of Education, 'because GCSEs are (a) not 'bad' assessments at all; it is the culture they support and breed that is our major societal challenge, and one which I feel adds little value to both education and to the lives of teenagers. And (b) they are part of a massive, corporate assessment industry. 'I've been castigated in the past for suggesting that we should review national testing of this kind at 16, mainly because there are thousands of jobs that rely on this aspect of our education system. However, if we could invest more money in teacher education, and supporting teachers to assess in schools, then that is a way to reorientate all that expertise in assessment. And by that I mean a really rich type of assessment that adds value to learners and learning, not simply a one-off test situation with limited context.' Maybe, but concerns would doubtless persist about the reliability of and potential for bias in any teacher assessment-based system. No prizes for guessing what Britain's strictest headteacher thinks. Katharine Birbalsingh, who founded the high-achieving Michaela Community School in the London borough of Brent, is a firm supporter of GCSEs. She approved of Gove's changes and thinks it's important for children to face challenges such as exams, to help build the resilience that will get them through the vicissitudes of life. 'Look, GCSEs are not perfect. I would be the first one to say that. All exams have problems. But exams hold institutions to account. It's not just about holding the children to account. Most of it is about holding the entire system to account. 'There needs to be something to set the standard. It's also the case when it comes to employers that they have some sense of how the child has done. Otherwise it's just a free-for-all where everybody's just making up whatever they're doing.' Richard Brown, headteacher at Urswick, may not see eye to eye with Birbalsingh on everything, but he does agree that GCSEs should be retained, with some changes. 'At the end of the day, this is an outcomes-driven business,' he says ruefully. This is his last summer of exams before retirement. 'Personally I would not get rid of GCSEs. They are such a powerful brand and children do thrive on the challenge of them. 'I can just about remember when I took exams and I'm sure I was nervous, but I went in and did it. That's grit and resilience, isn't it? That's what schools have to look at and make sure their youngsters can deal with setbacks.' We are chatting in his office, reflecting on his 40 years as a teacher. Over in the exam hall, maths paper 2 draws to an end. It seems to have gone reasonably well, though the question on angles caused some problems. 'It was OK,' says Scarlett cautiously. 'A lot of predicted topics came up.' 'Challenging questions but nothing I couldn't overcome,' Kelvin adds confidently. 'Topics that I didn't revise came up but I used my foundation mathematical knowledge to work it out,' says Fatou. 'Perfecto!' breezes Joshua. And so the annual ritual continues. The see-through pencil cases, the clocks, the rows of desks, the last-minute revision and prompt cards, and the final reassuring words from ever-attentive teachers who are desperate for their students to do their very best. Maths paper 2 is over but there's maths paper 3 still to go, plus religious studies, history, French, English language, geography … Elsewhere in Urswick's bright, modern classrooms, year 10s are well on their way through their GCSE courses, preparing for next summer's exam season. The debate will go on, but in all likelihood, so too will the exams. In some shape or form. For the time being.
The Guardian
8 hours ago
- The Guardian
Fury over year 9 students in South Australia being asked to debate whether the tradwife movement is good for women
Year 9 students in South Australia are about to debate whether 'the 'tradwife' movement is good for women' – but the topic has sparked fierce discussion before the debates have even started. The topic will start being debated next week as part of the third round of Debating SA's competition, for which all schools in the state are eligible. After the topic was announced in May, some people questioned on social media whether the topic was appropriate, with some concerned that female students arguing in the affirmative would be making the case for their own subjugation. On social media women describing themselves as tradwives portray an old-fashioned, homemaking existence of baking and child rearing. But the tradwife movement has also become associated with anti-feminist sentiment, amplified by misogynist figures including Andrew Tate and those in the manosphere. Debating SA said it was shocked and surprised by the reaction. It took the unusual step of sending a clarification to schools at the weekend saying the definition it was using was synonymous with a stay-at-home parent. A spokesperson said when the organisation had researched the topic, the darker side of the trend did not surface. But once it heard about it, it wrote to schools to say it saw 'tradwife' as a portmanteau of 'traditional wife … someone who stayed at home, looked after the children, kept the house', without any concept of submission to the man of the house. The organisation said it had received abusive phone calls. The spokesperson told Guardian Australia people had been 'ringing up screaming, ranting, raving and carrying on' and accusing the not-for-profit of undoing centuries of female advancement. 'They were outside people who've got nothing to do with debating, who don't know how it works,' the spokesperson said. 'Debating is very formal … and not only do we not tolerate incivility, it never happens. If you follow the rules and regulations there's no room for rudeness. 'It's an intellectual, academic exercise bound up in civility, politeness and good manners. 'They didn't follow the rules!' A Queensland-based teen educator and author, Rebecca Sparrow, shared an email on Facebook on 5 June from a reader 'horrified' by the debating topic. 'Fourteen and fifteen-year-old girls and boys are being asked to argue that this is good for women … that women being subjugated is good,' the reader wrote in the email. Sparrow wrote that the term tradwife 'refers to women adhering to strict gender roles akin to a 1950s housewife who eschews a career in place of homemaking because that's her role/place'. ''Trad wife' is not code for stay-at-home parent,' she wrote, and later added: 'For those who think it's a great debate topic – we can agree to disagree on this one.' Sparrow later closed comments on her post, saying she did not have time to continually monitor them to 'ensure a war hasn't erupted'. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion South Australia's education minister, Blair Boyer, told ABC radio on Wednesday that he had to ask his staff what the tradwife movement was. 'And I understand it comes with some controversy, but I think it's a balancing act in terms of debating topics, between having something which is of interest to the people doing the debating … and not having something which is, I guess, overly provocative,' he said. In May the Macquarie Dictionary said the 'controversial term sounds like an insult to some, and a badge of honour to others'. 'However you feel about it, a tradwife is a woman who has willingly embraced the duties and values of a wife in what some call a traditional marriage,' it said. Kristy Campion, a researcher into the far right, told ABC's Radio National in May that tradwife culture drew on 'cottage core' dreams of a simpler life. But she noted the far right had also linked it to 'white womanhood', anti-feminism, anti-LGBTQ+ and anti-immigrant sentiments. 'We also see them fiercely opposing things like abortion or divorce,' she said. Speaking not about the tradwife debate but about debating in general, Fiona Mueller, a public policy researcher from the Centre for Independent Studies, said Australians had become 'strangely fearful' of debating, when it is something that 'is at the heart of our democratic process'. She said she worried that teachers had 'baulked' at teaching it because they were concerned about controversial topics. She wanted to see them confident in running debates as there was solid evidence they helped build thinking, reasoning, reading, researching, persuading and presentation skills. 'We need to rediscover the more considered gathering of information and coming to a conclusion,' she said. 'That is the single greatest responsibility of each generation – to set a good example for the next generation, and one of the things we need to set that example in, is respectful, thoughtful debate.'
