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Education News

More schools likely to be failed

More schools are being judged inadequate under a new inspection regime, figures from England's schools watchdog are expected to show.

Ofsted introduced a new framework in September 2009 which requires schools to achieve higher results to be rated as good or outstanding.

The watchdog has insisted its new-style inspections would "raise the bar" on its expectations of schools.

Data on schools' performance under the system will be released on Wednesday.

Last week the Times Educational Supplement said the new regime had seen a near doubling in the proportion of schools judged "inadequate", while the proportion rated "outstanding" was less than half of what it used to be.

But inspectors said they now had "higher expectations on behalf of pupils and parents".

Lottery cash to get students into sport

Universities are to be given £10m of National Lottery money to encourage more students to get involved in sport.

This comes as a new poll of 1,005 people suggests university students are spending almost twice as much time in pubs as they do on pitches.

Sport England wants to get 100,000 more students participating in sport at least three times a week.

It says students who play sport are far more likely to continue participating after they have left university.

Sport England's chief executive, Jennie Price, said: "There's already a strong tradition of competitive sport within universities, but this is a big opportunity to increase participation through more informal and social formats."

Call to scrap 50% student target

The government target of getting 50% of people under 30 into higher education should be scrapped, the Association of Graduate Recruiters (AGR) has said.

It also wants a phased increase in student top-up fees by 2020, with safeguards for disadvantaged families.

AGR's chief executive Carl Gilleard said the proposals would help "reaffirm the value of a degree".

But the lecturers' University and College Union said fewer graduates would not benefit the economy.

The government's target to get 50% of under-30s into higher education has "driven down standards and devalued the currency of a degree and damaged the quality of the university experience", according to the AGR report. "The focus must shift back to quality rather than quantity," it says.

It argues that lifting the cap on university tuition fees, which from next year will be £3,290 per year in England, is "inevitable".