Latest parliamentary news on education

Schools, access to higher education and support for students has been debated on several occasions in Parliament recently. Find all the latest information on the Education Bill and other parliamentary material.

Education Bill

The Government's Education Bill was introduced into the House of Commons on 26 January 2011.The Bill seeks to implement the legislative proposals in the Department for Education’s schools White Paper, 'The Importance of Teaching' and measures from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills relating to skills and the reform of higher education funding.

The Bill had its second reading on 8 February 2011 and is currently being considered by a Public Bill Committee.

    Commons news: Second reading of Education Bill
    Department for Education: Schools White Paper 'The importance of teaching'

Keep up to date with all the proceedings and documents on the Education Bill. Also find out how a Bill becomes an of Parliament.

    Bills before Parliament 2010-12: Education Bill
    About Parliament: Passage of a Bill

Academies Bill [HL]

The Government's Academies Bill was introduced into the House of Lords on 26 May 2010. The Bill completed all its stages in the House of Lords and was then sent to the House of Commons for consideration.

The Bill received Royal Assent on 27 July 2010. The Academies Act 2010 enables more schools in England to become Academies.

    Bills before Parliament 2010-12: Academies Bill [HL]
    Lords news: Academies Bill receives second reading (7 June 2010)
    Lords news: Academies Bill committee stage: day one (21 June 2010)
    Lords news: Academies Bill committee stage: day two and three (23 and 28 June 2010)
    Lords news: Academies Bill report stage (6 and 8 July 2010)
    Lords news: Academies Bill receives third reading (13 July 2010)
    Commons news: Second reading of Academies Bill (16 July 2010)
    Commons news: Committee stage and third reading of the Academies Bill (21, 22 and 26 July 2010)

House of Commons Library analysis

The House of Commons Library regularly produce briefing papers which inform MPs about key issues. The Library has published a number of briefing papers on the Education Bill and higher education.

    Commons Library Research Paper: Education Bill (PDF 837 KB)
    Commons Library Research Paper: Academies Bill [HL] (PDF 563KB)
    Commons Library briefing paper: Changes to higher education funding and student support from 2012/13 (PDF 347KB)
    Commons Library briefing paper: Entrants to higher education (PDF 249KB)
    Commons Library briefing paper: Higher education finance statistics (PDF 146KB)

NEWS BY:http://www.parliament.uk/business/news/2011/april/latest-parliamentary-news-on-education/

Reading University's Mr Impeccable

It is surprising to learn that Sir David Bell is still only 52. He has been chief education officer of Newcastle, chief executive of Bedfordshire county council, head of Ofsted and, most recently, permanent secretary at the Department for Education. Now he is vice-chancellor of the University of Reading and can, as he puts it, "call 'house!' on the bingo card of educational jobs", which isn't bad for a man who started as a primary school teacher in his native Glasgow. He got most of his jobs at ridiculously early ages: a deputy headship at 26, a headship at 29, chief executive at 36. He doesn't think he's Reading's youngest vice-chancellor, but he must be the first who trained as a primary teacher.

If you ask how he got these jobs, people will say it's because he's good at running things. They can quote, for example, from a "capability review" on the education department carried out by the Cabinet Office during Bell's tenure: he was "visible, decisive, engaging and inspiring". Or Ofsted's verdict on Newcastle in 1999: that a "remarkable improvement" in its performance "to a large extent results from" Bell's appointment four years previously. He did so well as permanent secretary that he was at one stage tipped for cabinet secretary.

But other people are good at running things, and even Bell has mishaps. At the education department, for example, he accepted a measure of responsibility when Michael Gove, the secretary of state, left himself open to legal challenge over axeing school building projects and, on his watch at Ofsted, the inspectorate was berated for issuing a number of flawed reports.

So perhaps it is Bell's authoritative manner that has taken him so far. Everything he says sounds balanced and measured – "I am extreme in my moderation," he explains – and the certainty and confidence probably derive (though he is no longer a churchgoer himself) from his Scottish Protestant background. Estelle Morris, a former Labour education secretary, describes him as "one of the calmest men I've ever met".

The manners are impeccable. In his office at Reading, with its panoramic views over the university's Whiteknights Park, he greets me with the firmest of handshakes, warmly recalls our previous encounters, introduces me to his personal assistants, and regularly drops my Christian name into his answers. You admire the smooth functioning as you might admire a Rolls-Royce. I learn from the university's communications officer that, while undergraduate applications for next autumn are down 7% generally, Reading's are up 10%. This cannot have anything to do with Bell, who has been in post just four weeks, but you can't help feeling that, when he appears on the scene, things inevitably go well.

At Ofsted, he was often sharply outspoken, criticising the Labour government for turning down the Tomlinson report's recommendation to scrap A-levels and GCSEs and lamenting the effects of "the target culture" on schools. Permanent secretaries, however, aren't allowed to express controversial opinions in public, even after they've left the job. So reports of tensions between him and Gove have never been publicly confirmed. Bell has always been described as "close to New Labour", though nobody would ever be rude enough to call him a crony. When he left the education department at Christmas, newspapers reported "a difficult relationship" with Gove. "Here's a knighthood, good references, off you go," was one account of his departure.

Bell is having none of it. "I never had a difficult relationship. I told the secretary of state in the summer of 2010 that I didn't expect to do a full parliament, and expected to be away around the end of 2011. That's exactly what happened."

He has no quarrel with either free schools or Gove's rapid expansion of academies. "I have always believed that if you maximise the independence of schools you have a better chance of securing progress. Academies are not a huge step from local management of schools. They are a logical continuation of policies to increase levels of school autonomy." Pushing the Academies Act through parliament as soon as he came to office was "a brilliant decision" by Gove. Free schools are "a good addition to the system" that "will have a galvanising effect". As for suggestions that the creation of these schools, outside the local authority system and wholly dependent on Whitehall, amounts to a power-grab, "that's a caricature – the secretary of state won't be taking every micro-decision about schools from Cornwall to Cumbria". Gove's reforms haven't caused the same "brouhaha" as the health reforms, Bell points out. "That's because they haven't been imposed systemwide. It's not been a top-down reform in which every school has to become an academy."Education's ex-top civil servant 'never had a difficult relationship' with Michael Gove, he says. And in fact, when he speaks, his phraseology sounds eerily similar to that of the secretary of state, says Peter Wilby


NEWS BY:http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2012/feb/06/david-bell-interview

Sony Provides UK University With 3D Stereoscopic Technology

Sony Computer Entertainment has teamed up with the University of Central Lancashire in the UK to provide 3D stereoscopic rendering as part of a final year game development course.

Three graduates at the university worked closely with Sony's PlayStation 3D technology experts to incorporate the technology into their final year projects, including research into methods for making 3D stereoscopic games run faster.

Another 40 students at the university were also involved in an SCEE trial that looked into whether stereoscopic 3D users have a competitive advantage in gaming over those who do not.

The company is planning to present its findings at the 3D Entertainment Summit in Los Angeles this week.

Simon Benson, senior development manager at SCEE, commented, "I've been extremely impressed with the graduates' work and it shows what potential they have going into the gaming industry."

"It's been great working with UCLan because the staff are keen to move with developments and have taken on board a vision of 3D gaming. They are providing their students with industry informed skills that are very much needed in the future of gaming."


NEWS BY: http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/37369/Sony_Provides_UK_University_With_3D_Stereoscopic_Technology.php