Education
Fact checks about schools, teacher supply, childcare universities and qualifications
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 more…
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 more…
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 more…
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 more…
Figure of 100,000 children missing from school is out of date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 more…
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 more…
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 more…
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 more…
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 more…
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. …
Read more…
Full Fact fights bad information
Bad information ruins lives. It promotes hate, damages people’s health, and hurts democracy. You deserve better.