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The Independent •

Protests, confusion and anxiety: Venezuela a month after Trump seized Maduro

In the early hours of 3 January, Sader Guerra and his family were shaken awake when the bombing ordered by Donald Trump started in Caracas. “My daughter called me, she said: ‘The Americans are bombarding us, Dad, we are under attack’,” he recalls.Caraqueños like Guerra are used to the sounds of military demonstrations and low-flying planes disturbing their sleep, particularly those living within earshot of Fort Tiuna military base. “I saw the planes but I thought they were Venezuelan,” Guerra sh...
The Independent •

Why Ipswich deserves its place on TripAdvisor’s emerging destinations list

Call off the ski season and cancel Marbs because the algorithms have finally lost the plot: Ipswich, county capital of Suffolk, has been crowned king of destinations for 2020.

That is to say, this sleepy historic town (no, we’re not a city) has somehow snuck its way onto TripAdvisor’s emerging destinations list for 2020 – the only UK entry to make the cut. In the words of Red Hot Chili Peppers frontman Anthony Kiedis addressing the crowd at Portman Road in the summer of 2006: “Ipswich? Where th
The Independent •

This is the perfect country escape for city-weary Londoners

There’s a distinct stillness that only comes with being a certain distance from the city. When turning into Sibton Park, London could not feel any further away. Trains, planes and automobiles are kept to a minimum this deep in the Suffolk countryside, though arrangements can of course be made for the odd private light aircraft or helicopter used by the famous screenwriters who visit the Wilderness Reserve for their weekend breaks (one rhymes with Speven Stielberg).

’Copters aside, the view of S
The Independent •

How middle-class parents are damaging their children, according to a child psychologist

Middle-class parents are damaging their children by not being able to say “no”, a top child psychologist has claimed.

For many teachers, bad behaviour in the classroom does not stem from the pupils themselves but the parents, according to Dr Amanda Gummer, a research psychologist specialising in child development.

“Wild, unruly children are increasingly likely to be the progeny of so-called ‘helicopter’ parents,” said Dr Gummer writing for the Daily Mail, “those who give intensive, one-on-one
The Independent •

UK universities top global rankings for first time ever despite Brexit reputation fears

British universities have taken the top two places in global league tables for the first time in 13 years, with Oxford University crowned the best in the world.

Cambridge jumped from fourth to second place in the influential World University Rankings – the first time both institutions have held the top two positions.

Collated by Times Higher Education (THE), it is also the first time two European institutions have been placed in the top two spots.

The California Institute of Technology (Calte
The Independent •

These are the best universities in the world

British universities have been named the best in the world for a second year running, this time boasting the two top positions in the prestigious World University Rankings.

Oxford University is ranked in first place in this year’s table, after beating US champion the California Institute of Technology for the first time last year.

An even greater achievement, arguably, was seen by rival Cambridge this year, as the institution jumped from fourth place up to second thanks to a perceived improvem
The Independent •

Increasing tuition fees to £9k went too far, says man responsible for previous hike

The Government has gone “too far” in increasing the cost of university, according to one of the main architects of the tuition fees system.

Tripling fees from £3,000 to £9,000 per year and beyond, along with punishing interest rates placed on students loan repayments, leaves students at an unfair disadvantage, Tony Blair’s former Higher Education minister suggested.

Speaking to The Independent, Bill Rammell, who is now vice chancellor of the University of Bedfordshire, said the proposed 6.1 pe
The Independent •

Thousands of pupils left without permanent teachers over shortages

The teacher recruitment crisis has deepened to “worrying levels”, latest figures have revealed, with schools facing an increasing struggle to fill vacancies.

As pupils across the country return to the classroom this week, as many as 300,000 will be left without a permanent teacher, analysts have warned.

Vacant teaching posts have risen by almost a quarter over the past two years, and are set to worsen as the school-age population rises.

Using data from a quarter of the UK’s schools, analysts
The Independent •

A third of girls worry about their personal appearance after summer holidays

Going back to school can be an anxious time for pupils and parents alike, with new rules, textbooks and academic expectations often keeping children awake the night before the first day of term.

But in 2017, one of the biggest worries for young people heading back into the classroom is in fact the way they look, new research suggests.

Not only are girls more likely to have concerns about their appearance than boys as they return to school after the summer holidays, but all genders were found t
The Independent •

Schools warn of ‘crisis’ as half of councils could fail to meet rising demand for pupil places

Parents vying to secure a secondary school for their children in the next five years face the worrying possibility of not getting a place, as councils warn of an impending crisis over a lack of pupil capacity across Britain.

Almost half (49 per cent) of councils are at risk of being unable to meet rising demand for places within the next five years. This means up to 125,000 children are predicted to miss out in September 2022, according to the Local Government Association (LGA).

The LGA’s anal
The Independent •

Grammar school 'unlawfully threw out' students who failed to get top grades

One of the UK’s top grammar schools faces legal action after expelling A-level students who failed to achieve top grades.

Around 16 Year 12 pupils at St Olave’s grammar school in Orpington, south east London, were told they could not return for their final year of school because they had not reached the three B grades required at AS level.

Simpson Millar solicitors have initiated judicial review proceedings against the governing body of the school in regards to two students affected, and a hea
The Independent •

PSHE lessons 'must be made compulsory to reduce pupil self-harm'

Children are being put at risk of self-harm due to a lack of personal, social and health education lessons (PSHE) within schools, new research has suggested.

Experts said the number of young people affected by mental health problems, including self-harm, was “alarming”, and called on the government to address the issue with the introduction of compulsory PSHE in all schools.

The new study, by the University of Hertfordshire, found young people who have a “low sense of belonging” in their schoo
The Independent •

Top British university has 95% of senior EU researchers headhunted by other EU countries

Top EU academics are already being poached from UK universities ahead of Brexit, the head of one of the country’s leading universities for research has claimed.

Industry leaders have expressed fears of a Brexit “brain-drain” as increasing numbers of staff are said to be leaving, or thinking of leaving British universities as a result of the referendum vote.

Speaking to the Guardian, University College London provost Michael Arthur said the vast majority of UCL’s senior researchers from EU coun
The Independent •

A-Level students say they were left underprepared and disadvantaged for this year's exams

A-level students were left underprepared for this year’s exams, they have claimed, thanks to out of date textbooks and exam paper mistakes putting them at a disadvantage compared with previous years.

Responding to a survey conducted by online student community The Student Room, more than half of 5,252 A-level students polled said they did not have access to suitable practice papers while studying.

Almost a quarter (22 per cent) of current A-Level students didn’t have access to up-to-date textb
The Independent •

Record numbers of women going on to university this year

Teenage girls are now more than a third more likely to go to university than boys, according to new figures, as the gap between the sexes reaches record levels.

In total, upwards of 30,000 more women than men are set to start degree courses this autumn, official Ucas data shows.

The difference is the largest ever recorded by the university admissions service by this point in the year.

The figures show around 6,600 fewer students have been placed on courses this year, compared with the same po
The Independent •

Three top private schools are under investigation after exams 'cheating' scandal

Three of the UK’s top public schools have become embroiled in an exams “cheating” scandal, following claims pupils were given “advanced knowledge” about upcoming papers.

Laurence Wolff, head of art history at independent boys’ boarding school Winchester College, is said to have been suspended for reportedly giving pupils “prior information” on exam questions on two exam papers.

Results for two exams sat by around 13 of the school’s students have been disregarded, with grades given using estima
The Independent •

Tough new GCSE grades will cause success rates in England to 'plunge'

Tough new GCSE exams designed to bring British pupils up to a “world-class” standard will cause success rates to “plunge”, experts have warned, leaving some 360,000 pupils below the benchmark grade.

Publishing a major new report comparing international standards, researchers from the Education Policy Institute (EPI) think tank said the education system in England and Wales in particular must undergo “significant improvement” if it is to compete with the rest of the world.

Tens of thousands mor
The Independent •

Tough new GCSE exams risk pupils' mental health, warn school leaders

Tough new GCSE exams brought in for the first time this year are taking a toll on pupils’ mental health, experts have warned.

Young people taking a typical set of new reformed GCSEs will sit about eight hours more of exams than under the old system, analysis by the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) has found.

As thousands of teenagers wait to receive their exam results on Thursday, pupils in England are the first to receive grades under the new assessment structure – scheduled t
The Independent •

Noam Chomsky just got a new job

Noam Chomsky is to start a new role as a laureate professor in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Arizona (UA).

The 88-year-old linguist and political philosopher retains his position as Institute Professor Emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), but will also make time to teach and speak at UA, where he already makes guest appearances.

He will also take the title of “Agnese Nelms Haury Chair” as part of the University’s Environment and Social Justice progr
The Independent •

The age girls and boys lose their risk-taking confidence is very, very different

Adult women have less of an appetite for taking risks than men, new research suggests, as girls suffer a significant drop in confidence during their teenage years.

A study published by researchers at the University of Stockholm found while pre-teen girls and boys are equally willing to take risks in high-stakes situations, girls lose the confidence to do so by the time they reach adulthood.

If girls find themselves in a male-dominated environment, however, they are likely both to take on more
The Independent •

Here's what the new GCSE grades mean

This summer’s GCSE candidates are the first to sit new, more rigorous exams as part of a shakeup to secondary school teaching and qualifications.

Thousands of teenagers across England can expect to receive their results on Thursday – but English and maths scores will come in the form of a new numbered grading system, rather than the traditional A*-U grades.

The dramatic reforms come as part of a government drive to improve schools’, pupils’ and employers’ confidence in the qualifications, ensu
The Independent •

New GCSE exams 'toughest since O-levels'

New GCSEs brought in this summer are the most difficult exams seen in schools in over 30 years, education leaders have claimed.

Pupils awaiting their results on Thursday are the first to undertake tough new exams under a reformed system focusing more on end-of-year assessments than regular coursework.

The changes come as part of a government drive to counter grade inflation and better provide school leavers with the skills needed to go on to higher education and jobs.

But the new system has f
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