Get the facts on education

21 December 2021

Iain Duncan Smith’s figures on school absence are out of date

The former Conservative leader claimed that more than 90,000 pupils are now absent from school.

1 November 2021

Observer Twitter poll data on air monitors is meaningless

The Observer has reported that only 8% of schools have received CO2 monitors, based on a meaningless Twitter poll.

12 October 2021

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.

5 October 2021

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.

23 September 2021

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.

7 September 2021

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’.

16 July 2021

Figure of 100,000 children missing from school is out of date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.

14 July 2021

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

6 July 2021

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.

30 June 2021

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.

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Education

Iain Duncan Smith’s figures on school absence are out of date

Observer Twitter poll data on air monitors is meaningless

MailOnline muddles professorship ethnicity figures

Claim that up to 135,000 children have not returned to school needs more context

A survey of diversity in children’s books is flawed

Data doesn’t show parents will ‘insist’ on children wearing masks to school

Figure of 100,000 children missing from school is out of date

Nine in 10 girls did not say they’d been sent explicit images

Why school testing data doesn’t tell the whole story

How common is sexual abuse in schools?

Full Fact fights bad information