ISC Daily News Summary

ISC Daily News Summary 18 January 2022

Coronavirus: Schools turn away air filter donations, says parents group

General education

Parents group SafeEdforAll has said that schools are turning away parents who offer to donate air filters that limit COVID transmission in their children’s classrooms "because of insufficient government guidance". By Georgina Quach, The Guardian.

According to a report by the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER), the pandemic has caused a "sharp increase in the number of families in poverty”, with the number of children eligible for free school meals jumping by about a fifth. By Will Hazell, iNews. Tes also reports on the NFER research, which warns that changes to free school meal eligibility will make it almost impossible to track the attainment of disadvantaged pupils over the next decade. By Callum Mason.

Megan Dixon, director of research at Holy Catholic Family Multi-Academy Trust, writes for Tes on keeping children's voices at "the heart of all the decisions that we make about education" recovery.


School staff to be included in new guidance on identifying self-harm

Child welfare

School staff in England and Wales are for the first time to be included in draft guidance produced by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence on identifying self-harm. By Philippa Roxby, BBC News.


Don't teach children about the Holocaust on Tiktok, says Auschwitz survivor

Teaching and learning

Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, a 96-year-old Holocaust survivor, has warned that children need to be taught about the Holocaust and Jewish history but not on the social media platform Tiktok. She said: "Don’t tell me I need to go on TikTok and do it in a 30-second video because that’s how long young people’s attention span is — that’s ridiculous." By David Sanderson, The Times.


Video games could boost children's reading speed and accuracy, research suggests

Teaching and learning

A study from the University of Trento in Italy has found that action and adventure video games that challenge the player’s memory, attention and reasoning skills can improve a child’s reading speed and accuracy, even if they contain no reading tasks. By Kaya Burgess, The Times.


Universities pressured to revaluate "low-value" degrees

Higher education

According to iNews, universities are to look at whether their courses get students into jobs which help the environment or contribute to UK culture to help decide whether they should scrap them, following pressure from the Government to tackle “low-value” degrees. By Will Hazell.


Scottish standardised assessments to cost the taxpayer £17 million

Scottish education

According to Tes, a new contractor, AlphaPlus, has been brought on board to deliver Scotland's standardised national assessments in literacy and numeracy, with the cost to the taxpayer expected to be £17 million over five years. By Emma Seith.


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