Education
MailOnline muddles professorship ethnicity figures
The Royal Society found that 3.5% of black academic staff working in STEM were professors, not that 3.5% of professors were black. Read
Fact check
Education
We fact check and explain issues about schools, teacher shortages, childcare, universities, and qualifications.
Education
Claim that up to 135,000 children have not returned to school needs more context
Figures supposedly showing that between 95,000 and 135,000 children failed to return to school this term are based on a snapshot of just one day. Read
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Education
A survey of diversity in children’s books is flawed
A BBC News article said 10% of children’s books have an ethnic minority character, but this figure comes from flawed research. Read
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Education
Data doesn’t show parents will ‘insist’ on children wearing masks to school
A Mail Online article incorrectly claims ‘23% of parents of secondary pupils will insist their children wear masks’. Read
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Education
Figure of 100,000 children missing from school is out of date
An Evening Standard article claims that almost 100,000 children have not returned to school since the start of the pandemic. Read
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Education
Nine in 10 girls did not say they’d been sent explicit images
Maria Miller is the latest person to misinterpret Ofsted’s survey on abuse in schools Read
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Health
Why school testing data doesn’t tell the whole story
Data is based on tests reported and so excludes the many tests taken but not reported. Read
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Education
How common is sexual abuse in schools?
An Ofsted survey did not show that 90% of girls experienced it, although it does appear to be a common problem, from other evidence. Read
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Education
Pandemic school attendance: fact checked
The Centre for Social Justice has described around 93,000 pupils as “severely absent” in the 2020 autumn term. Read
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Education
Telegraph columnist wrongly claims literacy at the lowest level in UK history
A Telegraph article was wrong to say literacy was at its lowest level in history, and that every international league table puts the UK near bottom for literacy and numeracy. Neither is true. Read
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Evidence you can rely on
Fact checking claims made by politicians, public figures and viral online content can give you the full picture backed by the evidence.
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