December 2015

The House of Commons Education Select Committee has launched an inquiry into the purpose and quality of education in England, with a call for written evidence [ deadline 25 January ] addressing the following points: * What the purpose of education...

If you've not been following the discussions around the future regulation of higher education in England, maybe spending too much time in Paris, for example, you may have missed the controversy over HEFCE's consultation about quality assurance, and whether (or not)...

There are four references to education in the Paris Agreement [1]. Page 11 – In Section #83 of the Adoption section of the Agreement: "Calls upon all Parties to ensure that education, training and public awareness, as reflected in Article 6 of...

The Times Higher has a story this week on the effect that universities have on the development of, so-called, soft skills: citizenship, innovation, developing personal values, etc.  The answer, in short is not a lot compared to the development of...

I wrote a few weeks ago about a seminar at Bath given by Professor John Loughhead, chief scientific advisor to DECC.  His powerpoint slides are now available on the I-SEE website.  In what I wrote, I singled out a particular...

Here are two recent letters written by the Ofsted Chief to the DfE Secretary of State about the problem of unregistered schools: November 10th and December 11th.  They do not make good reading either in terms of the problems reported, or...

Thanks to Jamie Agombar and the NUS team for alerting me to an analysis of British Social Attitudes survey data carried out by NatCen which found that those with a degree were [i] more likely to feel that they understood the...

A great new deal, or just a fraud and a fake, as Jim Hansen says?   As I've noted already in a post-COP21 script to an earlier post, the new target of 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels is more political than scientific....

If you have ever wondered why there is so much attention paid to the touchstone idea of a 2 degree Celsius limit on the temperature rise above pre-industrial times, the Economist has the answer: It was born in the 1970s,...

Whilst it's relatively easy to come across bullshit these days as there's so much of it around, do you find there's a worry in the back of the mind that there might sometimes be something to it?  If so, then a...