Life's A Picnic

‘Boring and mindless’ GCSEs scrapped

Nine of the top ten in The Times independent schools league table offer the 'more rigorous' International GCSE

School lotteries would help the poor, says charity

Leading education charity's report finds that children from middle-class families still dominate the best state secondaries

A badge for the better-off

Heralded as a return to old-fashioned standards, the O-level style IGCSE could end up heading a drift into educational segregation

Radical shake up of GCSEs announced

Plans for teenagers to take GCSEs early and have a year without examinations before starting A levels announced

Volunteer work could count towards a degree

University students could earn marks to improve their results by volunteering with a charity or completing work placements

Students to get marks for charity work

University students who volunteer with a charity or complete work-placements during their studies could earn marks towards their degrees

Children who go to nursery better at maths research suggests

New research signals that children who attend pre-school are better at maths aged 10

Ration children's time in front of the TV says government

The progress toward national targets in the three Rs has ground to a standstill prompting a call from ministers for parents to spend more time...

Postgraduate degrees being dumbed down says academic

PhDs no longer constitute a reliable qualification for academia, an academic argues today

Most teenagers who want to live abroad can't speak another language

The research is further evidence that most young people assume they can get by in a foreign country by speaking English

Edexcel to re-mark disputed SATs papers

Exam board expected to help re-marking of at least 41,000 pupils after test fiasco that led to the removal of ETS

Children 'put at risk' in out-of-school clubs

Ofsted report finds many schemes are insufficiently staffed and are hiring workers who have not even attained good GCSEs

A report deserving scrutiny

Childcare is now regarded as the mother of all issues by the major political parties

Somali single mother beats inner-city odds

Teenager who arrived in Britain five years ago sets her sights on a medical degree after scoring five As at GCSE level

Young children should be taught about sex

Cross-party group of MPs is urging the Government to make lessons on sexual health and relationships mandatory

Overhaul of design and art degrees urged

Teaching should move away from studying just one subject and instead focus on interdisciplinary learning, say campaigners

Too clever to be good at spelling

Analysis by lexicographers finds common misspellings are often made because many of us know a little too much about words

Wordsearch solution

Nursery booklet is ‘blatant propaganda’

Campaigners claim ministers are using misleading information in an attempt to head off a revolt by parents of children

Finance body slams new functional maths GCSE

Charity says combining maths and personal finance is a 'fundamentally flawed' way of teaching children how to handle money