Academies (British charters) beating private schools for university places

But probably not for Oxbridge places

Private schools are less successful at getting students into university than academies, an analysis of Ucas data reveals.

Of the 91,485 school-leavers from academies who applied for British last year, 87.81 per cent were successful, compared to 87.14 per cent of the 34,630 private school students according to figures from the university admissions service.

Pupils from academies were more likely than their peers from all other types of school - including grammars and sixth form colleges - to get a place at the university they applied to.

Academies were originally pioneered by New Labour in the 1990s as a way of driving up standards at schools in deprived inner city areas. They were subsequently rolled out on a much larger scale under the coalition Government in 2010 and, along with free schools, now make up the majority of state schools in England.

Academies are not under local authority control and instead are funded by the Education and Skills Funding Agency, an executive agency of the Department for Education.

Leora Cruddas, chief executive of the Confederation of School Trusts which represents academies, told the Times Education Supplement magazine that the results demonstrated "the power of a group of schools working together in the interest of children and young people”.

The Ucas data does not show which universities pupils from different types of schools are applying to, and it could be the case that private school pupils are trying for places at more competitive institutions.

Nick Hillman, director of the Higher Education Policy Institute, said the figures are a “testament to the fantastic commitment that many academies show towards their pupils”.

He said: “In the past, people have not lacked aspiration but they have sometimes lacked the wherewithal to realise their aspirations. Now that academies have some of the freedoms that come with independence, it has become easier for people from a range of school types to reach higher education. 

“Some schools serving middle-class pupils may be coasting and doing what they’ve always done while other schools serving more diverse communities have been making bigger strides.”

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Anyone should be allowed to 'identify' as black regardless of the colour of their skin or background, say university leaders

The Universities and Colleges Union has set out its stance in a report on the ongoing row about whether men should be able to self-identify as women and be treated as female regardless of their anatomy.

The UCU’s ‘position statement’ did not just stand by its support for self-identification of gender, but also insisted people can choose their own race, saying: ‘Our rules commit us to ending all forms of discrimination, bigotry and stereotyping. UCU has a long history of enabling members to self-identify whether that is being black, disabled, LGBT+ or women.’

Recognising ‘self-defined’ women as fully female is deeply controversial among many feminists and others. Theresa May’s Government considered changing the law to allow people to choose their own gender, but Ministers have put those plans on hold after a backlash from female voters.

Many female academics say they have faced harassment from students and activists for questioning trans-inclusive policies, and several high-profile female speakers including Germaine Greer and Dame Jenni Murray have been ‘no platformed’ from university debates for their refusal to accept that anyone who says they are a woman must be accepted as female.

But the union’s position on race was last night mocked as the latest ‘nonsensical’ demonstration of ‘woke’ thinking imported from US campuses. The self-identification of race has proved highly controversial in the US: in 2015, Rachel Dolezal resigned as an official with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People after her white parents disputed her claim to be black.

The British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen also came under fire in the US over his character Ali G, a white man from Staines who asks critics: ‘Is it because I is black?’

In Britain, the actor Anthony Lennon – born in London to Irish parents – faced criticism last year when it emerged he had won funding from an Arts Council scheme to help ethnic minority actors develop their stage careers, because he ‘identifies’ as a ‘born-again African’.

Kathleen Stock, a philosophy professor at Sussex University and UCU member, last night questioned the union’s position on race, saying it was ‘nonsensical, anti-intellectual propaganda’.

The UCU is led by Jo Grady, a lecturer at Sheffield University Management School. A union spokesman confirmed that the UCU considers it is up to individuals to choose if they wish to be recognised as black.

SOURCE 





Australia: Why Catholic teachers’ copycat cash grab is wrong

If the Premier wants to throw a $1250 stimulus payment at public servants, including teachers, the correct response is not for private enterprise to do the same. Reckless spending for the promise of votes should not encourage enterprise to abandon fiscal prudence. I get that Catholic school teachers would like more money, but stooping to stop-work action for a copycat cash grab is wrong.

More than 7000 teachers at almost 200 schools across Queensland have been refusing to perform certain tasks this week. Come Tuesday, they'll be walking out of classrooms at 9am in a dummy spit that kids - and their fee-paying parents - don't deserve.

All this for a one-off payment that is not a genuine pay rise. And, in the big scheme of things, it's not going to go very far. I appreciate that private school teachers have an understanding with their employers that they will not make less than their state counterparts, but let's be clear about something. Church schools are run like private companies. Bonuses have to be earned, not bestowed because some bright spark in another sector entirely decided it was a cracker idea to burn through taxpayer dollars.

In September, the Palaszczuk Government announced that an eye-watering quarter of a billion dollars would be doled out, in individual $1250 lots, to more than 200,000 public servants. The unprecedented move was explained as a bid to drive economic growth and coincided with a commitment to maintain future public service wage increases of up to 2.5 per cent, despite Brisbane's most recent inflation rate being a more modest 1.7 per cent.

You don't have to be an academic giant to see that the figures don't add up. Taxpayers have a right to be unhappy about what is yet another sign that our Government is out of touch with almost everyone except the unions.

As for the many Catholic school teachers taking industrial action, they too seem to have lost sight of the bigger picture. The Independent Education Union of Australia has convinced them that they deserve the random public service sweetener. No matter that it could cost employers up to $25 million collectively to deliver it.

 Queensland and Northern Territory branch secretary Terry Burke claims the payment is "fundamental" to maintain wage parity with state school teachers. Anything less spells the end of "professional respect". What about respect for employers?

Contrary to what some people think - particularly those who mistakenly consider Catholic schools as elite - these schools are generally not wealthy. They don't have buckets of cash lying around. My son was educated in the Catholic system and the fees I paid saved the Government money by not having him schooled by the state.

If Catholic schools are forced to splash $1250 on their teachers, it won't be the Government coughing up but parents, by way of fee hikes.

What the Independent Education Union of Australia also won't tell you is that this ill-founded industrial action is creating division within the schools themselves. Sensible teachers - who either don't belong to the union or who are members but disagree with the union's stance - are picking up the slack of their colleagues and they're not happy about it. Small schools with a stretched staff are struggling the most. It's all very unnecessary.

From the Brisbane "Courier Mail" of 16/11/2019