Tag Archives: education

Pupil ‘bonuses’ “totally unjust”, says Laws

By Stephen Tall | Tue 4th November 2008 - 2:23 pm

David Laws, the Lib Dems’ shadow secretary of state for schools, has criticised the policy of paying poorer students for, among other things, attending class. The Telegraph reports:

In some cases, students are paid £250 each in taxpayers’ money for attending every class over the course of a year. Middle-class students with the same academic record are ineligible for the payments.

The cash is paid on top of a basic £30-a-week grant handed out to all students from deprived backgrounds to remain in education up to 18 – instead of getting a job. … bonuses worth a record £100.5m were

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One in four trainee teachers struggles with simple spelling

By Mark Pack | Wed 22nd October 2008 - 9:45 am

So says The Sun today:

More than 11,000 starting at schools this year flunked a basic test.

The shocking statistic was revealed after a whopping 20,000 last year were found to be duffers in arithmetic.

Student teachers take the tests online but can do so as many times as they want — until they finally pass.

The number who botched their spellings at the first try was 16 per cent higher than seven years ago — sparking claims that standards have been lowered.

Lib Dem schools spokesman David Laws said: “Spelling is a key

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