College days
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Name: Henri OguikeBorn: September 26 1970Occupation: Dancer and choreographerCollege: Swansea CollegeCourse: GCSE dance and A-levels in dance and dramaAttended: 1987-1990Head of performing arts, Martin Johnson recalls: “When Henri started with us, he wasn’t enamoured of education. He’d been messing around, break-dancing with his friends. During his time at college, he was involved in many college [...]
The student mother
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I was 16 when I fell pregnant. I’d just finished my GCSEs. Becoming a mum so young really focused my mind. I knew I had to get an education, so I could get a good job and support my daughter.After a year out with my baby, I went back to college. With all the worry [...]
A lifes journey
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Nur knew that as a bedouin - an Arab nomad - living in poverty in Israel’s Negev desert, the likelihood of going to university was remote. As a woman, it was almost unheard of. Tribal norms and finances ruled it out.So the 18-year-old applied in secret to Ben-Gurion University - and was accepted. Nur (a [...]
Schools offered cash to sponsor academies
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Top state schools are to be offered up to %26pound;300,000 to sponsor an academy, ministers revealed yesterday.The announcement is in addition to the pledge made by the schools secretary, Ed Balls, last year to exempt successful universities, colleges or schools from raising the %26pound;2m fee to sponsor an academy. It marks a significant change in [...]
Diplomas off to a halting start
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The government has a long way to go to convince secondary headteachers that their new, and much trumpeted, diplomas for 14- to 19-year-olds will be a success. This was one of the findings of a survey, published for the first time today, of 803 UK primary and secondary heads’ views.The study, which quizzed heads on [...]
Letters
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Alarming failure on payIn her outline of the issues raised for schools as a consequence of the Single Status project, Louise Tickle (Equality backpay comes at a price, January 15) points out that John Sutcliffe, of the Local Government Employers, is “adamant that schools have set their own salary levels” and are therefore liable for [...]
Tara Brabazon Bowling Google a googly
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It comes as no surprise to learn that Germaine Greer is featured in Ladies Who Lunge, one of Professor Tara Brabazon’s growing pile of published works. Like Greer, Brabazon is an iconoclastic Australian who has hit these shores with some force and begun to make waves in her own branch of academia. That book, says [...]
Green dreams
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Following planes and scooping up their emissions, making buildings out of carbon, weighing rubbish and getting staff on their bikes: these are just a few of the ideas that universities are coming up with to combat climate change, according to a report out today. It all sounds wonderful, but it’s hard to believe that this [...]
Moodle nudges forward
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The Moodle versus commercial learning platforms debate is set to grow throughout this year, particularly with recent surveys suggesting Moodle is now the number one platform in secondary schools and number three in primaries.Be that as it may, arguments are strong on both sides. Advocates of learning platforms, most proprietary, argue that the Building Schools [...]
New year new union
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The National Union of Students has staged a quiet revolution over the course of last year, gently steering the traditionally feisty, hard leftwing organisation into more corporate Blairite waters.Its president, Gemma Tumelty, has been instrumental in making the changes. She wants the organisation and students to be seen as more than just firefighters, reacting to [...]
