• chevron_right

      Beatings, humiliation and a loss of self-worth: how Edinburgh Academy victims were scarred

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Yesterday - 17:16

    Former schoolboys at the private school gave raw testimonies about abuse meted out by John Brownlee

    The enormity of the abuse suffered at the hands of the Edinburgh Academy housemaster became clear when the first witness was asked a simple question about the moment his mother left him alone at the elite private boarding school.

    John Graham, now a trim 56-year-old with a goatee beard, was asked: how did he feel? Until then fluent and factual in the witness box, Graham froze. His face crumpled. In that moment, Graham again became the eight-year-old boy who had felt “not good” that day, but with the awful adult hindsight of the abuse he would endure there.

    Continue reading...
    • chevron_right

      ‘Sadistic’ teacher in Scotland found to have assaulted pupils for 20 years

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Yesterday - 17:15

    John Brownlee, deputy head at private Edinburgh Academy, inflicted pain on children as young as eight, sheriff hears

    A “sadistic” deputy headteacher at one of Scotland’s most prestigious private schools has been found to have conducted a systematic campaign of violence and torture against children as young as eight over a 20-year period.

    John Brownlee was found by a sheriff on Wednesday to have committed more than 30 assaults after the former Edinburgh Academy housemaster was formally excused from trial due to his advanced dementia.

    Continue reading...
    • chevron_right

      Free lunches, brain breaks and happy teachers: why Estonia has the best schools in Europe

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Yesterday - 15:14 · 1 minute

    How did a small, relatively poor country become an educational powerhouse? Creativity, autonomy and a deep embrace of the digital age

    Today’s subject in the sci-fi class at Pelgulinna State Gymnasium is Blade Runner. Thursdays are “voluntary” lesson days, where students at this upper secondary school in Estonia’s capital, Tallinn, can choose from a range of subjects; others taking place today include a rights and democracy course, programming and creative writing in English. The seven 17-year-old students in the sci-fi lesson have just finished watching 30 minutes of the film and are preparing to discuss it when I sneak in at the back, switching to perfect English for my benefit. “We’ve talked about Jungian archetypes, persona and the superego,” says Triin, one of the students. “It has been really helpful for me to understand the different aspects of being human and how to create deeper characters.” They’ve also studied Brave New World and 2001: A Space Odyssey. In the few minutes I am there, the students touch on US history, child labour, empathy and more. “I have so many questions,” says Triin.

    Me too. How did Estonia, a small country that is relatively poor compared with most of the EU, become an educational powerhouse? In the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa) rankings, which measures 15-year-olds’ abilities in maths, reading and science, the top spots are held by a handful of Asian countries, but Estonia ranks next – the best in Europe. Its teachers are highly educated, the focus is on social and personal skills as much as academic learning and the typical curriculum is packed with a wide range of subjects, from robotics to music and arts. British politicians are taking note. In 2022 Labour’s shadow education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, visited to see what Estonia is doing right.

    Continue reading...
    • chevron_right

      Special educational needs in English schools in ‘crisis’, minister admits

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · 2 days ago - 10:53

    Gillian Keegan says parents having to ‘fight to get right support’ as unions say provision falls short of what is needed

    Special educational needs provision in England is in the grip of a “crisis”, the education secretary has said, as school unions questioned whether a funding boost promised for the sector by the government was actually new money and said it fell a long way short of what was needed.

    Days after figures showed about two in three special schools were at or over capacity in the last academic year, Gillian Keegan also acknowledged parents were having to “fight to get the right support” for children with special educational needs.

    Continue reading...
    • chevron_right

      Teachers facing threats and harassment at work offered a lifeline in official report

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · 3 days ago - 18:06

    Creation of a ‘cohesion and conflict unit’ to stop intimidation at schools in England is one of the recommendations in a new government-commissioned review

    School leaders have welcomed proposals for the creation of “a cohesion and conflict unit” to support teachers who face “freedom-restricting” threats and harassment during the course of their work.

    It is one of a number of recommendations in a government-commissioned review into threats to social cohesion in England, which highlights the case of a religious studies teacher at a school in West Yorkshire who was forced into hiding following accusations of blasphemy.

    Continue reading...
    • chevron_right

      Playground bullies do prosper – and go on to earn more in middle age

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · 4 days ago - 07:00

    Five-decade UK study finds that aggression at school leads to better-paying jobs, while those with emotional instability went on to earn less

    Children who displayed aggressive behaviour at school, such as bullying or temper outbursts, are likely to earn more money in middle age, according to a five-decade study that upends the maxim that bullies do not prosper.

    They are also more likely to have higher job satisfaction and be in more desirable jobs, say researchers from the Institute for Social and Economic Research at the University of Essex.

    Continue reading...
    • chevron_right

      Hard-up English councils ration access to special needs tests

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · 4 days ago - 05:00

    Many local authorities are increasingly rejecting requests to assess children who need help in schools, new data reveals

    Councils are increasingly ­rejecting requests to assess children for ­special needs such as autism amid the financial crisis in the education system, according to figures seen by the Observer . Long-term underfunding combined with rising demand ­aggravated by the pandemic has left many councils facing significant ­deficits on their schools budgets.

    Freedom of information data sourced by the website Special Needs Jungle shows that councils in England have responded by increasingly refusing to carry out education, health and care needs assessments (EHCNAs).

    Continue reading...
    • chevron_right

      How Covid lockdowns hit mental health of teenage boys hardest

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · 5 days ago - 16:00

    New research findings are contrary to what had previously been thought about pandemic’s effect on children’s wellbeing

    Teenage boys were hit hardest by the Covid lockdowns, with their mental health failing to recover despite the return to normality, according to the most comprehensive academic study of its kind.

    Early research into how lockdown affected children indicated that girls had suffered more significant mental health problems than boys.

    Continue reading...
    • chevron_right

      Boarding school matrons and the ‘abuse that is hardly ever spoken of’

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · 5 days ago - 07:00

    After Charles Spencer’s revelation, former borders tell of abuse by women – and complicity in crimes of male colleagues

    There were muted cheers among other boarding school survivors this week after Charles Spencer spoke of the sexual abuse he suffered at the hands of an assistant matron.

    “It’s an incredibly helpful revelation because this specific sort of abuse is hardly ever spoken of,” said Jon Bird, head of knowledge and insight at the National Association for People Abused in Childhood .

    Continue reading...