#education-secretary

#education-secretary

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Nicola Sturgeon will stand down as First Minister of Scotland after eight years, it has been confirmed.The First Minister will speak at a press conference from her residence at Bute House in Edinburgh at 11am.

Pupils and parents are facing more disruption as tens of thousands of teachers walk out of schools and sixth-form colleges across England.Teacher members of the National Education Union (NEU) are back on picket lines on Tuesday as they stage a fresh strike in a long-running pay row.The NEU which also staged a strike on Thursday believed the majority of schools would either restrict access to pupils or fully close during the walkouts.

Government guidance on teaching relationships, sex and health education should be changed to be more inclusive for pupils exploring their gender identity, a school leaders' union has said.The current Department for Education (DfE) guidance is presenting barriers for schools who want to talk about gender identity with their students, an assistant headteacher suggested.

School leaders will debate whether Government guidance on teaching relationships, sex and health education should be changed to be more inclusive for pupils exploring their gender identity.Some schools are being put off from talking about gender identity with pupils as the Department for Education (DfE) guidance on the topic makes it sound scary, an assistant headteacher has said.

Schools across England could be forced to close after four unions announced coordinated strike action in a long-running dispute over pay.It means teachers and school leaders could stage walkouts at the same time, causing widespread disruption.The National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) will re-ballot its members in England during the summer term on strike action, with possible walkouts in the autumn if the ballot is successful.

Headteachers could join a fresh wave of strike action likely to close schools across England after the National Association of Head Teachers said it would ballot its members on industrial action over teachers' pay.The NAHT joins the other three main education unions in asking its members to formally approve strikes after a motion to hold a ballot was approved by its executive at its annual conference in Telford.

A major teaching union has criticised ministers' insulting new pay offer, raising the prospect of further walkouts in schools this spring.The National Education Union said the offer of a 4.3% rise for most teachers plus a 1,000 one-off payment for the 2023/24 year was not enough and it will recommend that its members reject the deal.

Bosses of a company in which Rishi Sunak's wife has shares and that is expected to benefit from a new scheme unveiled in the Budget reportedly attended a Downing Street reception hours after the prime minister denied having an interest to declare.Top staff of Koru Kids, which lists Akshata Murty as a shareholder, are understood to have been present at a No 11 event for the education sector on Wednesday evening, according to The Guardian.

Bosses of the childcare firm at the centre of a Rishi Sunak conflict of interest row attended a Downing Street reception just hours after he was pressed by MPs over his links with the provider, the Guardian has learned.Koru Kids, which lists the prime minister's wife, Akshata Murty, as a shareholder and is expected to benefit from changes announced in the budget, is understood to have been present at a No 11 reception for the education sector on Wednesday evening.

Bosses of the childcare firm at the centre of a Rishi Sunak conflict of interest row attended a Downing Street reception just hours after he was pressed by MPs over his links with the provider, the Guardian has learned.Koru Kids, which lists the prime minister's wife, Akshata Murty as a shareholder and is expected to benefit from major changes announced in the budget, was understood to be present at a No 11 reception for the education sector on Wednesday evening.

International students could be set for a reprieve from tougher migration restrictions The Education Secretary may challenge the Home Office's plan to cut migration, arguing that the financial boost from international students to British universities was "hugely valuable".Gillian Keegan said she is wanting to expand education export revenues from about £26bn to £35bn by 2030.

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails The Education Secretary may challenge the Home Office's plan to cut migration, arguing that the financial boost from international students to British universities was hugely valuable.

T he Education Secretary may challenge the Home Office's plan to cut migration, arguing that the financial boost from international students to British universities was hugely valuable.Gillian Keegan said she is wanting to expand education export revenues from about 26bn to 35bn by 2030.Speaking with the Financial Times, Ms Keegan said the university sector was one which we should be very proud of.

New First Minister Humza Yousaf vowed there could not be more unity in the SNP as he unveiled his first Cabinet which he said was the biggest reshuffle since 2007.Mr Yousaf said his new Cabinet, in which he gave top roles to his supporters, brings a mix of new faces and experience as junior ministers Jenny Gilruth, Neil Gray and Angela Constance have moved into Cabinet secretary positions and SNP stalwarts including Angus Robertson and Shirley-Anne Somerville remain.

Humza Yousaf hopes to have Nicola Sturgeon on speed dial if he is elected to replace her as SNP leader.The leadership hopeful has reiterated his admiration for the First Minister, who made her final speech in the role in Holyrood on Thursday.She will be replaced by either Mr Yousaf, Kate Forbes or Ash Regan when the ballot results are revealed on Monday.

Education secretary Gillian Keegan has suggested that she believes 16-year-olds are old enough to decide to change their gender identity as a political row deepened about Westminster's plans to block reforms passed in Scotland.Rishi Sunak's government said it would block a gender self-identification law passed in Scotland, a move branded by Nicola Sturgeon as a full-frontal attack on the Scottish parliament.

This is a very welcome development.There really is no point in having a Department of Education if it's not going to defend, you know, education.From Politico: Miguel Cardona is sick of the political strife that's consuming classrooms, and he's ready to say so out loud...I was hired to improve education in the country.

More than twice as many voters now trust Labour to improve public services as the Conservatives, after the government finally backed down and agreed an improved pay deal for NHS workers aimed at ending months of damaging health sector strikes.The latest Opinium poll for the Observer shows just 17% of people back the Tories on public services against 43% who would prefer Labour to manage them, after the government came forward with an enhanced offer last week.

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Scotland's largest teaching union has announced further targeted strike action to take place in the constituencies of key Scottish politicians, including the First Minister and Deputy First Minister.

The National Education Union has said it will recommend members reject what it called an insulting pay offer from the Government.The NASUWT and the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) said they will ask for feedback from members, while the headteachers' union NAHT said its national executive committee will consider the details on Monday evening before deciding its next steps.

Two of Liz Truss's former cabinet ministers have urged the Chancellor to let capital rip and do more on the generators of growth.Kit Malthouse, who briefly served as education secretary under Ms Truss, told the Commons about the importance of remembering the basic tenets of capitalism and suggested putting shares into the hands of young people.

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails A third teachers' union in Scotland has voted to accept an improved pay offer with Holyrood's Education Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville saying the move means the threat of further strikes in schools has now been lifted.

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails The Government has been urged to include suicide prevention on the national curriculum following a campaign by three fathers whose daughters took their own lives.

The Education Secretary has written to teaching unions inviting them to formal talks on pay, conditions and reform on the condition that strike action next week is cancelled.The Department for Education said it hopes to find a fair and reasonable settlement in a bid to resolve a pay dispute which threatens more walkouts in England and Wales in the coming weeks.

The mass closure of schools expected across England and Wales due to teacher strikes next week will be a good example to pupils, the head of the UK's largest teaching union has said.Kevin Courtney, the joint general secretary of the National Education Union (NEU), told The Independent it was important that children witnessed teachers standing up for what they believed in and said most secondary school students supported the strike.

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails The Government is set to start detailed negotiations with unions on teachers' pay after fresh talks at the Department for Education, the head of the NASUWT union has said.

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Two days of strike action by teachers in Wales next week have been called off after the Welsh Government proposed a revised pay offer.Members of the National Education Union (NEU) were due to take industrial action in Wales on March 15-16 in an ongoing dispute over pay.

Sign up to our free fortnightly newsletter from The Independent's Race Correspondent Nadine White Sign up to our free fortnightly newsletter The Race Report A Black schoolgirl has been left traumatised after a racially motivated attack, a relative has said.Violent video footage was shared online after the attack outside Thomas Knyvett College in Ashford, Surrey, on Monday afternoon.

The front pages for Saturday are dominated by the mystery of missing mother Nicola Bulley after her partner gave his first sit-down interview about her disappearance.The Daily Telegraph, the Daily Mail, The Sun and the Daily Mirror all cover Paul Ansell's interview with 5 News in which he said it had always been his gut instinct she was not in the river.

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Education Secretary Gillian Keegan must make a concrete pay offer for teachers in talks to avert further strikes going ahead in schools in England, union leaders have said.

Deputy First Minister John Swinney has announced he is leaving the Scottish government after almost 16 years.The 58-year-old has been Nicola Sturgeon's deputy since she became first minister in 2014.Mr Swinney will stand down once a new first minister is appointed later this month.In a letter to Ms Sturgeon, who announced her own departure last month, Mr Swinney said it had been an "honour to serve Scotland".

Schools in England look set for further disruption over the coming weeks after talks to avert planned strike action by teachers ended in failure, with no new offer on the table.Union leaders met the education secretary, Gillian Keegan, on Wednesday morning, the latest of a series of meetings.Though they remarked on a new urgency about the talks, there was still no progress on pay.

Teachers are striking on different days depending on which union they are in.When are NEU teachers striking?All schools in Wales were affected by strike action on 2 March (postponed from 14 Feb), as well as those in south-east and south-west England, and London.NEU teachers in sixth-form colleges in England are also joining the walkouts.

Tens of thousands of teachers will strike this week resulting in the closure of some schools as members of the National Education Union (NEU) take part in three days of industrial action.With little sign of a solution to the dispute on the horizon, teachers in the north of England will strike on Tuesday, followed by members in the Midlands and eastern regions on Wednesday.

Tens of thousands of teachers across England and Wales will strike over three days this week in the long-running dispute over pay.Teachers will walk out across the north of England on Tuesday with the majority of schools expected to either restrict access to some pupils or fully close, the National Education Union (NEU) has said.

T hree-quarters of London schools were estimated to be closed entirely or partially on Thursday as teachers again went on strike.Members of the National Education Union in the capital, South-East and South-West are protesting over pay.Parents have been warned that the worst is yet to come, with further walkouts planned for March 15 and 16 as well as more teachers joining unions.

Parents could be forced to keep their children at home later this week if Monday's last-ditch talks between Scottish Government officials and teaching unions fail to prevent strikes shutting down schools.Staff are preparing to walkout of Scottish primary schools on Tuesday and secondary schools the day after amid the country's teaching unions' battle with Holyrood for higher pay.

Scotland's Education Secretary has insisted there is potential scope for compromise as ministers seek to end a dispute over pay which has seen strike action by teachers close schools across the country.Shirley-Anne Somerville spoke out after talks with teaching unions on Friday, which she described as being constructive and helpful.

Parents should face child benefit cuts if they fail to ensure their children turn up at school, cabinet minster Michael Gove has suggested.Speaking at a think tank, the levelling up secretary said the idea could help restore an "ethic of responsibility".


Mr Gove - who first proposed the idea in 2014 - said it would help tackle anti-social behaviour.

Student loan borrowers and advocates gather Tuesday for a rally during the Supreme Court's arguments on President Biden's student debt relief plan.Jemal Countess/Getty Images for People's Rally A handful of Republican-dominated states seemed on the verge of invalidating President Biden's student loan forgiveness plan at the Supreme Court on Tuesday, with a majority of the court's conservatives indicating great skepticism.

Teachers will strike over pay in England and Wales on seven dates in February and March, the National Education Union (NEU) has announced.National strikes are scheduled for 1 February, 15 and 16 March.There are several regional dates too.The NEU is the UK's largest education union, and says the strike will affect 23,400 schools in England and Wales.

Some 239 schools and sixth form colleges have received funding to replace crumbling classrooms, dilapidated sports halls and dining rooms, the Government has said.Those sites are in addition to 161 which were previously given the go-ahead by the Department for Education (DfE).It means 400 out of a possible 500 projects have now been selected for overhauls, through the department's school rebuilding programme.

Suella Braverman's language on Albanian asylum seekers is exacerbating an already dangerous situation, a veteran Tory MP has warned.Sir Roger Gale condemned rhetoric used by the Home Secretary, who has frequently singled out Albanians after their numbers crossing the Channel in small boats spiralled.

Matt Hancock has said he is hugely disappointed by what he described as a massive betrayal and breach of trust by Isabel Oakeshott, who gave WhatsApp messages from his time as health secretary to the Daily Telegraph.Oakeshott was given the WhatsApp exchanges by Hancock while they were collaborating on a book about the pandemic.

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails A leaked trove of 100,000 WhatsApp messages linked to Matt Hancock's time as health secretary has given a glimpse into the working of government at the height of the coronavirus crisis.

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails The boss of the Confederation of British Industry has stepped aside amid allegations of misconduct.The CBI said director-general Tony Danker had asked to step aside pending an independent investigation into complaints about his workplace conduct.

MPs have demanded a school is investigated after a black girl was attacked in an allegedly racially aggravated assault.Footage shared online appeared to show the pupil being punched, kicked and having her hair pulled, while her attackers were egged on by adults outside Thomas Knyvett College in Ashford, Surrey, on Monday afternoon.

Schools across England and Wales will be forced to periodically shut their doors during a series of walkouts over the next two months.The mix of nationwide and regional strikes began on Wednesday, with the last day of action scheduled for mid-March.The National Education Union (NEU) announced seven days of industrial action across February and March, with more than 100,000 teachers joining Wednesday's walkout in a dispute over pay.

Repeated strikes by health staff are making workloads more challenging, the chief executive of NHS England has admitted.The NHS is bracing for its biggest industrial action ever next month, with thousands of nurses across England going on strike on Wednesday and Thursday this week and around 1,000 ambulance workers in Wales also walking out on Thursday.

A series of strikes by teachers is set to go ahead after talks failed to achieve a breakthrough in a dispute over pay.Teaching union leaders spent six hours with officials at the Department for Education but the row remains unresolved.Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the National Education Union (NEU), said officials were doing their best to discuss issues including pay and workloads, but faced the dead hand of the Treasury.

The education secretary said she was willing to talk to teachers about money but stopped short of promising to review pay, after teachers in England and Wales announced seven days of strike action over February and March.Gillian Keegan, who will meet teaching unions on Tuesday, said she was extremely disappointed in the decision to strike but said the government was prepared to talk to teachers about the challenges faced by the profession.

The Danish film Druk, released in English last year under the title Another Round, is more of a cautionary tale than a guide to schooling.The story concerns four teachers who run a dangerous experiment based on drinking alcohol at work.But in one sense the film offers an illuminating contrast, and that is the way these middle-aged men treat teaching as a career and not a staging post.

Another lawsuit challenging the Biden administration's student loan forgiveness plan is heading to the U.S. Supreme Court.Justice Samuel Alito, who hears emergency applications in the Fifth Circuit, granted the Biden administration's petition before judgment in a lawsuit brought by Myra Brown and Alexander Taylor, two individuals with federal student loan debt who challenged the debt-relief plan because they wouldn't benefit from all the provisions and didn't have the chance to comment on the proposal.

The U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether the Biden administration's plan to forgive up to $20,000 in federal student loans for eligible Americans is legal.Last month, the Biden administration asked the court to lift an injunction currently blocking the debt-relief plan.If the court wouldn't lift the injunction, the administration wanted Justice Brett Kavanaugh to grant a petition for a writ of certiorari and for the Supreme Court to hear the case on an expedited schedule.

The Education Secretary has called for a big dose of transparency when teaching contested political issues in schools.Gillian Keegan said, common sense is needed when it comes to sharing classroom materials and deciding what is age appropriate, as she insisted parents should have full sight of what their children are being taught.

The Education Secretary has committed to meeting children, parents and organisations in the special educational needs sector ahead of the publication of a long-awaited improvement plan early next year.It had been hoped by some that a response to the consultation into special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) support would be published before the end of the year.

It appears that Betsy DeVos is selling her DC penthouse condo.You might remember the former Secretary of Education under President Trump as the person who made Title IX changes to better defend the rights of those accused of sexual assault, helped roll back Obama-era guidance that protected trans public school students, and had protestors show up at several of her public appearances.