As part of the subject-level teaching excellence framework, the Department for Education is consulting on whether to introduce a new measure of teaching intensity. One of the six options presented for consideration as part of the current consultation is a “gross teaching quotient” weighted by qualification/seniority of teacher. This would weigh contact time by qualification/seniority of […] … learn more→

Megacities are on the rise. There are currently 47 such areas around the globe, each housing more than 10 million residents. More than half the global population now lives in urban areas, comprising about 3 percent of the Earth. The ecological footprint of this growth is vast and there’s far more that can be done to […] … learn more→

“A university,” wrote Robert Maynard Hutchins, “must stand for something, and that must be something other than what a vocal minority, or majority, demand at the moment.” As president of the University of Chicago, Hutchins was pretty sure of what his university should not stand for. A prime example was big-time intercollegiate sports. In axeing […] … learn more→

Spelling, a problem limited to the school sphere? The question of spelling has for a long time remained exclusively a matter of the educational system alone, with the ministry setting objectives to be achieved per cycle and periodically evaluating the level of students. Several studies agree on the regular and consistent decline in the level […] … learn more→

As college tuition continues to rise at a staggering rate, people tend to worry about how much harder it becomes for students and families to pay for college. As researchers who focus on higher education, we found a different reason to worry. We examined tuition hikes at public four-year colleges and universities over a 14-year period. We wanted to see if […] … learn more→

The American dream is built on the notion that the U.S. is a meritocracy. Americans believe success in life and business can be earned by anyone willing to put in the hard work necessary to achieve it, or so they say. Thus, Americans commonly believe that those who are successful deserve to be so and those who […] … learn more→

When two black men were arrested at a Philadelphia Starbucks where they had been waiting for a business meeting on April 12, the incident called renewed attention to the bias that racial minorities face in American society. A few days later, a similar incident unfolded at an LA Fitness in New Jersey. While these two incidents involved adults at […] … learn more→

A common question to start-up founders is: “What problem does this solve?” Massive open online courses (Moocs) are a solution in want of a problem. That’s not surprising because they did not emerge from a problem. Instead, they arose from the boredom of Stanford University computer science professors fed up with teaching the same lectures […] … learn more→

Teacher strikes are generating a healthy focus on how far public education funding has fallen over the past decade. The full explanation, however, goes beyond basic funding cuts. It involves systematic advantages in terms of funding, students and teachers for charter schools and voucher programs as compared to traditional public schools. Increasing public teacher salaries may end the current […] … learn more→

The United States Bill of Rights grants American citizens numerous freedoms such as those of association, religion and protest. US leaders have notably honoured and guarded James Madison’s prescriptions for this great experiment in democracy. Our courts and representatives have also systematically adjusted the scope of these freedoms to craft a safer and more equitable […] … learn more→