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News archive 2: 17-21 August
- 17-21 august This week's headlines include the news that the proportion of GCSE passes has risen, research suggesting Chinese teaching methods may improve pupils' attainment, and the results of a survey indicating that children in the UK are among the world's least happy.
- 17 august In the news today: the prime minister has called for all schools to convert to academy status, the man who introduced GCSEs has said they are no longer needed, and entries for the IGCSE in English have risen as pass rates have fallen.
- 18 august In the news today: the DfE has updated its guidance on the constitution of maintained schools' governing bodies, a former Ofsted chief inspector has said GCSEs waste time and money, and some smaller schools claim they are cutting back the curriculum to pay for free school meals.
- 19 august In the news today: research has suggested that English children are among the least happy in the world, Nicky Morgan and David Walliams have launched a programme to improve pupils' literacy, and the results of an experiment indicate that Chinese teaching methods may improve attainment.
- 20 august In the news on GCSE results day: this year's figures show increases in the proportion of A*-C grades awarded and entries for exams in 'community' languages and computing. However, numbers of pupils taking French, German and Spanish have dropped and heads are raising concerns about maths results.
- Education secretary and comedian launch child literacy scheme (19/8/2015) Nicky Morgan and David Walliams have announced government funding for a literacy charity to open more book clubs in schools and encourage pupils to become library members.
- English children among the world's unhappiest, research suggests (19/8/2015) A report for The Children's Society suggests that bullying, feeling excluded and a lack of body-confidence are leading English children to feel unhappy with their lives.
- Gcse entries in community languages on the rise (20/8/2015) Entries for GCSEs in languages such as Urdu and Polish are on the rise, as schools and pupils take advantage of the opportunity to claim more top grades.
- GCSE passes rise as top grades dip Today's GCSE results indicate a higher proportion of A*-C grades on last year, but a slight fall in the percentage of A* grades. Results may have been influenced by that fact that older pupils are sitting the exams.
- Prime minister calls for all schools to become academies (17/8/2015) David Cameron has announced that his vision for education involves all schools converting to academy status, amid warnings from union leaders.
- Thousands more gcse passes for sixth formers (21/8/2015) This year's GCSE results reveal that many more pupils aged 17 and over sat GCSE exams. This is in part due to a new requirement for those who do not pass English and/or maths at GCSE to resit the exams. However, critics have questioned whether this approach is beneficial for older pupils.