Latest news with #LeeElliotMajor
Yahoo
4 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Experts suggest school holidays shake-up
Researchers in the South West have suggested school summer holidays should be shortened, along with lengthening half-terms. A report on tackling post-pandemic education inequalities, which forms part of a project funded by the Nuffield Foundation, said it was time to consider a reform to school calendars. Experts in the report said reducing the six-week summer holiday to four weeks and introducing an extra week to half-term breaks could help tackle "educational divides" which have grown since the Covid-19 pandemic. The Department for Education said the academic year was structured to provide plenty of time for holidays and schools had flexibility to plan term dates. Experts said they believed benefits achieved through changing the holiday structure would include balancing out childcare costs for parents and improving the wellbeing of pupils and teachers. The report also said spreading the holidays more evenly across the academic year could prevent "learning loss" - a term experts used to describe difficulties pupils when going back to school after the summer break. More news stories for Cornwall Listen to the latest news for Cornwall Prof Lee Elliot Major, from the University of Exeter, one of the report's authors, said the structure of the academic year dated back to Victorian times and it was "time to review this". He said: "We need bold ideas and ultimately trying to find ways of levelling that education playing field so all children from all backgrounds can prosper in school." Mother-of-three Helen Eaton, who runs a blog called Cornwall with the Kids, said her family enjoyed the six weeks of summer holidays. However, she said she understood other families had different issues to deal with during the break and some changes to the structure could be beneficial. Ms Eaton said: "I know a lot of people in Cornwall work in the tourism industry, so maybe when it's quieter at Christmas or October, it might benefit people to have an extra week off." She added her children - aged 11, eight and four - had been able to learn things during the holidays and put their skills from school into practice. "Sometimes you can go out and about and the children are actually learning all the time," Ms Eaton said. "They've learned how to paddleboard and fish, and sometimes you do an activity and maths and English come into that." Follow BBC Cornwall on X, Facebook and Instagram. Follow BBC Devon on X, Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to spotlight@ More on this story Should school summer holidays be shorter? The schools still deciding on two week half term Cost of summer holiday clubs rises to £1,076 a child Related internet links Nuffield Foundation Department for Education
Scottish Sun
12-07-2025
- Business
- Scottish Sun
Huge percentage of BBC staff in top-paying jobs that were privately educated revealed
News will increase claims of elitism at the broadcaster BEEB PAY ROW Huge percentage of BBC staff in top-paying jobs that were privately educated revealed Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) THE percentage of privately educated BBC staff is four times higher in top-paying jobs than in the lowest salary bracket, its own figures reveal. The news will increase claims of elitism at the broadcaster. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up Only seven per cent of Brits have a private education, but 32 per cent of BBC roles with a salary of £150,000 or more are occupied by those who do. And just 6.8 per cent of jobs there with pay of under £30,000 are taken by the privately educated. Social mobility expert Prof Lee Elliot Major said: 'The BBC's disproportionate representation of privately educated individuals in its highest-paying roles starkly illustrates the persistent class barriers in British society. 'The BBC was founded to serve the whole nation — yet we have a public institution that looks and sounds out of step with the lives of the people it is intended to serve and represent. 'It isn't healthy when the most powerful roles come from the same small slice of society. "It means news organisations are fishing in a narrow talent pool, missing out on the perspectives of people from different backgrounds.' The BBC said: 'We're doing more than ever to bring people to the BBC from all backgrounds.' In 2023, an Ofcom report said low-income audiences found the Beeb too 'politically correct'. Breakfast legend returns to BBC daytime for the first time four years after quitting sofa
The Irish Sun
12-07-2025
- Business
- The Irish Sun
Huge percentage of BBC staff in top-paying jobs that were privately educated revealed
THE percentage of privately educated BBC staff is four times higher in top-paying jobs than in the lowest salary bracket, its own figures reveal. The news will increase claims of elitism at the broadcaster. Only seven per cent of Brits have a private education, but 32 per cent of BBC roles with a salary of £150,000 or more are occupied by those who do. And just 6.8 per cent of jobs there with pay of under £30,000 are taken by the privately educated. Social mobility expert Prof Lee Elliot Major said: 'The BBC's disproportionate representation of privately educated individuals in its highest-paying roles starkly illustrates the persistent class barriers in British society. 'The BBC was founded to serve the whole nation — yet we have a public institution that looks and sounds out of step with the lives of the people it is intended to serve and represent. READ MORE ON BBC 'It isn't healthy when the most powerful roles come from the same small slice of society. "It means news organisations are fishing in a narrow talent pool, missing out on the perspectives of people from different backgrounds.' The BBC said: 'We're doing more than ever to bring people to the BBC from all backgrounds.' In 2023, an Ofcom report said low-income audiences found the Beeb too 'politically correct'. Most read in The Sun Breakfast legend returns to BBC daytime for the first time four years after quitting sofa 1 Percentage of privately educated BBC staff is four times higher in top-paying jobs than in the lowest salary bracket Credit: Getty
The Sun
12-07-2025
- Business
- The Sun
Huge percentage of BBC staff in top-paying jobs that were privately educated revealed
THE percentage of privately educated BBC staff is four times higher in top-paying jobs than in the lowest salary bracket, its own figures reveal. The news will increase claims of elitism at the broadcaster. Only seven per cent of Brits have a private education, but 32 per cent of BBC roles with a salary of £150,000 or more are occupied by those who do. And just 6.8 per cent of jobs there with pay of under £30,000 are taken by the privately educated. Social mobility expert Prof Lee Elliot Major said: 'The BBC's disproportionate representation of privately educated individuals in its highest-paying roles starkly illustrates the persistent class barriers in British society. 'The BBC was founded to serve the whole nation — yet we have a public institution that looks and sounds out of step with the lives of the people it is intended to serve and represent. 'It isn't healthy when the most powerful roles come from the same small slice of society. "It means news organisations are fishing in a narrow talent pool, missing out on the perspectives of people from different backgrounds.' The BBC said: 'We're doing more than ever to bring people to the BBC from all backgrounds.' In 2023, an Ofcom report said low-income audiences found the Beeb too 'politically correct'. Breakfast legend returns to BBC daytime for the first time four years after quitting sofa 1
The Sun
24-05-2025
- General
- The Sun
Students in South nearly TWICE as likely to get three A* A-level grades than those in North
STUDENTS in the South of England are nearly twice as likely to get three A* A-level grades than those in the North, data reveals. Just 5,800 of the 258,000 who sat the exams last year came away with three or more top grades. Of those, 3,779 were from the South and 2,021 in the North. Nine out of ten of the best areas for A-levels were in the South. Pupils in reading, in Berks, came out top — with seven per cent hitting the highest grades. Dozens in London suburbs Kingston, Newham, Sutton and Barnet also got top marks. The Government stats show Salford, Gtr Manchester, fared the worst, with a single set of three A* grades. Social mobility expert Professor Lee Elliot Major called it a national scandal, saying: 'These figures lay bare a brutal truth — your chances of the highest academic success at school are still shaped more by where you live than what you're capable of. 'This A-star divide highlights the vast differences in support offered to today's children and young people both outside and inside the classroom. 'Increasingly A-level grades are as much a sign of how much support young people have had as much as their academic capability. 'This isn't just a North-South education divide. It's a London and South East versus the rest Divide.' The Department for Education said: 'We are taking measures to tackle baked-in inequalities.'
