Public engagement: what does it mean in higher education today? – live chat
Join our experts Friday 31 May from 12pm BST to discuss benefits, drawbacks, media, message and innovative practice
What does public engagement actually mean? It's one of those terms for which it's hard to find a single definition that reflects its wider purpose and the many forms it takes within the higher education sector.
The National Coordinating Centre for Public Engagement has given it a go and come up with this: "Public engagement describes the myriad of ways in which the activity and benefits of higher education and research can be shared with the public. Engagement is by definition a two-way process, involving interaction and listening, with the goal of generating mutual benefit."
If sharing research and university news with society communicates the benefits of higher education, is a simple press release a form of public engagement – or is the process more sophisticated? What innovative and exciting ways are universities putting engagement into practice, or making their practice engaging?
A few come to mind which have made particular waves: Bright Club, which started at UCL and is now running in seven locations around the UK, encourages researchers to take to the stage and describe their work in a funny way. One of Bright Club's 10 commandments reads: "If the audience and performers don't leave cleverer than they arrived you're doing it wrong."
Humour is one way of disseminating information to lay audiences, but, of course, not everyone is (or wants to be) funny. Technology is another way to get your message across. Professor Martyn Poliakoff CBE has become a YouTube sensation with his Periodic Table of Videos channel, which has more than 66,000 subscribers and over 20 million views in 200 countries.
What is the best approach for institutions and academics to take – and to what ends? In this live chat, we want to dissect the meaning of public engagement, look at the potential rewards and drawbacks, and focus on what universities are doing to develop their strategy and skills base in this area.
With REF (Research Excellence Framework) looming and research impact a major drive for many institutions, we want to discuss innovative practice, from real-time events to media exposure and digital interaction, as well as asking what role collaboration between institutions, departments and individuals plays in successful public engagement?
Join our live web chat Friday 31 May from 12-2pm BST in the comments section below and share your thoughts on what public engagement means to you. You can also follow the debate live on Twitter using the hashtag #HElivechat.
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The UK's immigration crackdown will lead to a loss of international talent | Sarah Mulley
Cuts to foreign student numbers mean a future Indian prime minister might end up studying in Sydney rather than Sussex
The government is making significant progress towards its target of reducing net migration to the UK to less than 100,000 per year. Figures published on Thursday showed estimated net migration down to 153,000 in the year ending September 2012 (from 242,000 in the previous year). But this has come at a cost – in their haste to meet the target, ministers have changed the rules to keep out migrants who can bring huge benefits to the UK.
The decline in immigration has been driven in large part by falling numbers of international students. Focused on their target, it has made sense, at least in the short term, for ministers to focus on students, simply because they are the largest single group arriving in any given year (accounting for around 60% of non-EU immigration). Put simply, while international students are included in the net migration target, the easiest way for the government to make progress towards it (and indeed the only way to meet it) is for ministers to seek significant reductions in their numbers. For all the talk of the UK being "open for business", the government's target is completely incompatible with growth in the international student market in the UK.
Much of the political rhetoric around students has focused on abuse of the visa system. In the past this has been a major problem – the steps taken by the previous and current governments to shut down so-called "bogus colleges", and reduce the number of students with no real intention of studying – were overdue. Abuse of the student visa regime remains an issue, and one that the Home Office need to tackle, but the recent reductions in numbers are not accounted for simply by the government "cut[ting] out abuse", as immigration minister Mark Harper put it yesterday (the reduction in numbers significantly exceeds even the highest previous estimates of abuse). Large number of genuine students are being kept out (or put off) too.
All this comes at a cost. Education is one of the UK's most successful export sectors, albeit an export sector (like tourism) that mostly works by bringing customers (students) to the UK rather than sending goods abroad. International students contribute an estimated £8bn to the UK economy every year, paying high fees to universities and colleges and making a valuable contribution to local economies. The students turned away, or being put off, from the UK would have been customers for bars, shops and restaurants, as well as for colleges, at a time when sources of growth are few and far between.
With higher education facing drastic funding cuts, universities were relying on growth in the international student market to fill the gaps in their finances. Although higher education has, so far, been much less badly affected than other parts of the education sector, UK universities are still concerned. A previous trend of rapid growth has been halted, and a substantial number of international university students come via the UK FE sector, which has seen numbers fall by almost 50% – the full impacts of the new rules on universities have yet to be seen.
Particularly worrying is the fact that many strategically important Stem (science, technology, engineering, and maths) departments depend heavily on international students for their very existence. The student unable to get a visa to study at a UK FE college this year might have been the star student in a university maths department in 2015, and the top lecturer in that department in 2030.
As well as bringing immediate economic benefits, foreign students bring dynamism, innovation, and international connections which can benefit the UK in the long term. Fewer Indian students now (down 38% in the year to March 2013) might mean that 2015's IT entrepreneur finds herself graduating from Stanford, handily located for Silicon Valley, rather than from Imperial, handily located for Silicon Roundabout. Or that 2020's industrial magnate finds himself fondly remembering student days in Toronto, rather than Manchester, when making his investment decisions. Or even that India's prime minister in 2030 finds that she has a greater affinity with Australia, the country where she completed her graduate studies, than with the ever-more-distant former colonial power of the UK.
None of this is to say that there are not difficult trade-offs here. Taking steps to reduce abuse in the visa system, for example, will always lead to some genuine applicants being turned away. But in their rush to meet an arbitrary net migration target, the government are making bad decisions; decisions that will, in the long-term, do more harm than good.
Sarah Mulleyguardian.co.uk © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Bank holiday and half-term events for families around the UK
Street art in Bristol, a Neverland theme park opening in Plymouth and raft racing in Portrush are just some of the family-friendly events taking place around the country over the bank holiday and half term
Surrey: the Big Picnic at Hampton Court Palace, 25-27 MayHead over to Hampton Court Palace over the long weekend, but don't forget your sandwiches and scotch eggs, as all ticket holders are invited to join a mass picnic in the grounds. Admittedly, the agenda doesn't sound particularly appetising – offering picnickers the chance to meet a blood-sucking leech and have a "smallpox makeover". But plenty of gruesome tales over lunch means kids will enjoy it far more than the usual riverside picnic. For those with more refined tastes, there's a Pimm's bar and cream teas, as well as a barbecue for those who forget their hampers.
• 0844 482 7777, hrp.org.uk, adults £16.50, children free
It's hard to mention Bristol street art without mentioning a certain graffiti artist that comes from the area. But so much great street art has sprung from here, both before and after Banksy started stealing all the headlines. So much so that the city has a well-established urban paint festival, Upfest. Now in its sixth year, the event has an emphasis on live demonstrations, rather than just admiring local murals (which you can do anytime, solo or with Bristol Street Art Tours). For one weekend only, the city is making way for 250 artists from across the world, who will take part in live painting and illustration battles, plus there's music across four stages and a variety of food stalls. Family activities include face-painting for younger kids and spray paint workshops for older ones.
Also in Bristol, from 24-26 May, is VegFestUK, Britain's leading veggie festival, where aside from plenty of food, there'll be live music from performers not usually associated with healthy lifestyles, including Happy Mondays, Peter Hook and 808 State.
• Upfest at the Tobacco Factory and throughout North Street, from 11am until 8pm, free. VegFestUK at Amphitheatre and Waterfront Square. Ticket pricing is somewhat complicated, depending on the time and day (from £2 to £25) – check bristol.vegfest.co.uk for details
Pinning their superhero celebration to the release of a new Superman film (Christopher Nolan's Man of Steel), Crealy Great Adventure Park is offering a loose but perfectly acceptable excuse for getting dressed up in tights. All ages are encouraged to get into the spirit of Tuesday's theme, but it's kids who'll receive half-price entry for dressing up as their favourite comic book character or cartoon character. Superman, Batman and Captain America will be appearing throughout the day. The park, near Newquay, also has 40-plus regular rides and attractions for three to 13-year-olds, including a brand-new reptile house, Crocodile Corner, and 40,000 sq ft of indoor play areas, which could come in very handy if the weather turns.
• Near Wadebridge, 01841 540 276, crealy.co.uk, family of three £40.68, family of four £54.24 (online ticket prices)
Oakwood Theme Park is celebrating another family favourite: Peter Pan. Neverland, their new £4m attraction, will be up and running in time for half term. Spread over three acres, it includes a pirate-themed log flume, a crocodile rollercoaster, Hook's House of Havoc soft play and a Sights of London taxi ride, featuring Big Ben, the Tower of London and Nelson's Column. Older visitors seeking a few more thrills shouldn't miss Megafobia, often said to be one of the world's best wooden rollercoasters.
• Oakwood Theme Park, Narberth. Adults £19, children £13, family of four £59 (online ticket prices)
If you live in – or near – West Sussex, avoid doing battle with the usual bank-holiday traffic and stay closer to home to witness a fight of a different sort: Arundel Castle's three-day enactment of a battle between the Houses of Lancaster and York. Though such a siege never actually happened here, the idea is to give visitors a sense of life during the War of the Roses and how it would have felt for the castle to come under threat. Over 200 participants from the Raven Tor Living History Group will be dressed in replica outfits, plus they'll be medieval craft demonstrations and 14th-century armour to try on. Expect plenty of cannons and combat on the edge of the river Arun.
• arundelcastle.org, tickets £8, free for under 5s
Landlubbers are invited to get a taste of life as a pirate in Plymouth over the bank holiday weekend. Historical ship the Bessie Ellen will be berthed in Sutton Harbour, and visitors will have the chance to go on board to explore (free, from 10am to 4pm) with a costume competition judged daily at 3pm. There's also a treasure hunt through the area – download the map on visitplymouth.co.uk or pop into the Barbican-based tourist office. Plus there'll be sword-fighting demonstrations, a pirate-themed puppet show, face painting and craft workshops around the harbour and Barbican.
• Barbican and Sutton Harbour, from 10am to 4pm, free, visitplymouth.co.uk
Enroll at Roman soldier school to mark 10 years since Hadrian's Wall Path was relaunched as a national trail. Maximus, the centurion, will be leading activities that include making paper Roman helmets, handling ancient artefacts, dressing up and taking part in a Roman drill. There are various other events along the wall, including walks along the Cumbrian section. • Housesteads Roman Fort, near Bardon Mill, visithadrianswall.co.uk. Adults £6.20, children £5.60, English Heritage members free
Leeds: Food Festival, 24 May-9 JuneYou've got a window of more than two weeks to visit the Leeds Loves Food festival, as well a range of over 50 venues to choose from. There's pop-up dining and cocktails in the Trinity shopping centre, the chance to show off your baking skills during the Great Leeds Bake Off, blind whisky tasting, a night food fair, and all manner of food stalls. Masterchef finalist Sara Danesin-Medio will also be giving a cooking demonstration and serving dinner to a lucky few at the Northern Ballet Dinner Club. The event culminates in the final weekend (7-9 June) with the Yorkshire Food and Drink Show in Millennium Square. See leeds-list.com for a mouth-watering look at the highlights.
• See visitleeds.co.uk for many free events and some ticketed dinners
This local tradition is in its 32nd year, and around 80 homemade rafts are expected to fill the waterfront. Many are imaginative, lots are colourful, some are just plain silly, but all have the primary aim of staying afloat from the West Strand beach to Portrush harbour. Fortunately, the RNLI – who run the event – is on hand throughout, just in case. There's a festival atmosphere and no shortage of entertainment along the quay. There's a waiters' race, too, which takes place in the harbour on Sunday at 3pm and is also quite the spectacle, with lots of fancy dress and crowd participation.
• portrushraftrace.co.uk, free
Wiltshire: Sunrise festival, 30 May-2 JuneThe poor crowd at Sunrise festival didn't see much sun last year, when the British weather turned the site into a mud bath. This year, organisers vow to make it more watertight, having moved from their site on an organic farm in Somerset to Thoulston Park, Wiltshire. Said to be the most sustainable festival in the UK, it is powered entirely by renewable energy (including waste vegetable oil). There's even a solar-powered dance stage. Let's hope they have some sort of back-up, just in case. The Storylands area will keep the kids entertained, and there's music across 10 stages, with a line-up including Dub Pistols, Krafty Kuts and the Beat.
• sunrisefestivals.co.uk, adults £115, children £25, family tickets £255
There must be something in the water, because Chelsea Fringe has certainly grown in its second year, now sprouting some 200 projects as offbeat alternatives to the Chelsea Flower Show. Moving far beyond SW3 and spreading right across the capital and beyond – including Bristol, Canterbury and even Vienna, the three-week event is already well underway. The botanical garden-inspired gin bar sounds like a fine idea, but more child-friendly activities include a treasure hunt through Chiswick herb gardens and a dog show at Inner Temple Garden. But the pick of the crop has to be the tie-in events with Battersea Power Station, primarily because it makes the perfect excuse for visiting its new pop-up park (open until September).
• chelseafringe.com
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The Eton entrance questions every 12-year-old future PM should be asked | Daisy Buchanan
'You are the prime minister,' candidates were told, not implausibly. But how would they fare with these humdingers?
Much is made of the fact that girls are expected to enter their teens in a state of anxiety, uncertain of their wishes, ambitions and future powers. Whether this is true or not, such allowances are rarely made for adolescent boys, who are expected to be filled with careless confidence. Especially if they're adolescent boys who hope to attend Eton.
The 12- and 13-year-olds competing for the school's King's scholarships in 2011 probably felt quite confident encountering a question that stated "You are the prime minister". We can't know whether the majority pictured themselves off camera in The Thick Of It or dancing around Downing Street a la Hugh Grant in Love Actually, but their moods may have darkened when it emerged they were being asked to justify the act of deploying soldiers who had opened fire and killed 25 protesters.
The scenario for the question was set in year 2040, when one of the candidates could feasibly be in a position to answer the question for real. Which makes me think Eton is the perfect training ground for future leaders, not because it offers an education better than anything else available in Britain, but for the reason that it forces its students to make their minds up about moral issues at an early age. If you want a decision made quickly and efficiently, you go to a person who sees the world in black and white – ideally, someone who thinks like a fairly bright 12-year-old.
Having made its privileged participants resolve the thorny issue of avoidable, government sanctioned fatalities, one can only hope the rest of the scholarship exam was packed with the sort of questions that would prepare them for other dramas that might present themselves as they approached middle age. For example:
• You're in the Royal Enclosure at Ascot when you notice your female companion is wearing the same hat as the Duchess of Cambridge. Do you?
a. Use your origami skills to quickly construct a brand new hat from your companion's pashmina.
b. Cry "Oh no, the wind!", grab hold of the offending headgear and fling it into the Grandstand.
c. Force your companion to spend the duration of the event locked in the lavatory.
• The year is 2050, and it's time to look into some London property for your grown-up children. Based on the anticipated fluctuations of the housing market, which area represents the best investment? Show your workings.
• Is it ever acceptable to appear on a reality television show? Write an answer, remembering to take into account the risk of besmirching your family name, the damage a camera crew could inflict upon any inherited carpets and the value of potential merchandising opportunities.
• You're staying at a friend's place in the country, and after too much port you eat your host's collection of Fabergé eggs when he's asleep. Write a full and profuse apology in 3,500 words.
Ultimately there are no right answers here – but as long as your response reveals the full, unwavering weight of your convictions you should be well on your way to leading the country, via the country's top public school. Perhaps a better question to set prospective Etonians would be "The year is 2041. You are the prime minister, and a full-scale class war has broken out …"
Daisy Buchananguardian.co.uk © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Suffolk and Hackney schools join up
Sex education struggles with porn
'Porn made me think sex was brutal'
Automated marking: bad for essays?
Knowing that your work will not be seen by the human eye takes all the satisfaction out of essay writing
How would you like your work to be marked by a robot? If you're a student on a free online course – like those run by EdX – then you can expect to have your essays assessed through instant grading software. It works by recognising and rewarding the key words, phrases and structures in your work.
Using this type of technology on a free, unaccredited course is one thing but the New York Times recently reported that four US states – Louisiana, North Dakota, Utah and West Virginia – now use automated essay grading systems in secondary schools. Automated essay grading is also increasingly being used in large-scale standardised tests in the United States.
But academia is not on board. A petition against its use has collected 3,600 signatures, and has the support of the well-known computational linguist, Noam Chomsky. The petition argues that automated essay grading should not be used in any decision affecting a person's life or livelihood and should be discontinued for all large-scale assessments because "computers cannot read", or measure the essentials of effective writing.
If this hasn't convinced you that automatic grading shouldn't be let loose on students, see the example of Les Perelman. While working as a researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he submitted a nonsense essay to the US Educational Testing Service's automated grading system e-Rater. It got the highest possible mark. Here's an excerpt from his work: "I live in a luxury dorm. In reality, it costs no more than rat-infested rooms at a Motel Six. The best minds of my generation were destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked, and publishing obscene odes on the windows of the skull." The essay is hilarious, but the idea that our marks could be entrusted to the same software is not so funny.
Perelman concluded in his critique of automated essay marking that longer writing and bigger words got better grades and that the ways to corrupt the auto-grader are almost limitless. E-rater, the creators of the software that graded his essay, responded by saying that if students were smart enough to deceive the software they deserved good grades. Considering that Perelman's advice leads to the absolute nonsense quoted above, I wonder whether any of the humans at E-rater actually read his essay before they made that comment.
It appears that automated grading isn't ready to replace human markers. We don't have to worry about it coming to our universities just yet. But one day it might be wise enough to recognise a good essay from a mediocre one – and this raises some questions.
Do we get a discount on our fees equal to the wages saved by getting an unpaid computer to do the marking in a nano-second?
In all seriousness though, the biggest question for me is not pragmatic but romantic. I wonder how it will feel to slave over a piece of work for hours and know that no-one at all will ever read it. It's not like I kid myself that my undergraduate essays are actually furthering the debate. The process is essentially an exercise, pretty much just for the benefit of the student. But I can hope for more… that if my essay is inspired, it might pique the interest of the marker, surprise or entertain them. If nobody reads it there will be no illusion it is more than practice: a you-and-back-to-you feedback loop.
The beautifully crafted essay will simply disappear into the void, unread.
Kalia Rosaguardian.co.uk © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
New curriculum workload 'too high'
Ban for teacher who spent two years trying to woo pupil, 15
Summer-born children, sex education and school swimming: research in brief
Our weekly round up of the latest research papers, methods and ideas related to teaching and learning
Future of school swimmingMore than 1.1 million primary school children will start their half-term holidays being unsafe around water, a new report claims.
The Amateur Swimming Association (ASA), the governing body for the sport, surveyed 3,501 primary schools in England for its report and found that more than half (51%) of key stage 2 children were not able to swim one length of a standard (25 metres) pool unaided.
The report, the largest ever investigation into the state of school swimming, also found that the average state school pupil spends just eight hours and 15 minutes each year having swimming lessons at school – less than the national curriculum recommendation of 22 hours.
The ASA report shows almost 45% of schools stated the biggest barrier to delivering better quality school swimming was budget constraints.
This September, each primary school will receive a minimum of £9,000 additional ring-fenced funding as part of the government's £150 million injection into school sport. The ASA is calling for curriculum swimming and water safety to be a priority for this funding, with schools that are not currently meeting the statutory requirement to ensure that every child has the opportunity to swim 25 metres by the time they leave primary school.
Summer-born childrenThe issue of summer-born children having a lower academic attainment than their older classmates has been the subject of countless studies and theories. Growing evidence suggests that the month in which a child is born matters for a range of skills and behaviours and can have an effect on self-esteem and a child's confidence in its own ability within class.
New research from the Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS) suggests that attainment is predominantly to do with the age a child takes a test.
The authors of When you are born matters: evidence for England suggest that UK national test scores could therefore be age-adjusted to allow for this or the child would sit the test at a particular age rather than on a particular date. However, it points out that this would not help problems that summer-born children face, such as engaging in risky behaviour, such as underage smoking.
Compulsory sex education callCalls are being made for sex and relationship education to be made compulsory in secondary schools, following a new report.
The report, from the End Violence Against Women (EVAW) coalition, whose members include Amnesty International and Refuge, assessed the government's pledge to prevent violence against women and girls. It says that the Department for Education (DfE) is failing to take action to protect children and shape positive attitudes to women and more needs to be done to promote a solid campaign in schools.
The report asks for a number of measures to be implemented by the DfE including making it a legal obligation to teach children about sexual consent and respectful and equal relationships and also to make it law for schools to collect data on assaults. The report also highlights the needs for ongoing training for teachers to allow them to spot and respond appropriately to any signs of abuse.
This content is brought to you by Guardian Professional. Looking for your next role? Take a look at Guardian jobs for schools for thousands of the latest teaching, leadership and support jobs.Emma Druryguardian.co.uk © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Employers warned against giving jobs to unpaid interns
Children's Commissioner: pupils 'raised on a diet of porn'
Protect children from internet pornography, report demands
Report finds evidence of a high correlation between exposure to violent and sadistic images and behaviour
Children are exposed to violent and sadistic imagery which risks distorting their attitudes towards relationships and sex, according to the children's commissioner for England.
A report released on Thursday by the commissioner's office found that children who watch pornography are more likely to develop sexually risky behaviour and become sexually active at a younger age.
It called for urgent action to "develop children's resilience to pornography" after discovering that a significant number have access to sexually explicit images. It also called on the Department for Education to ensure all schools delivered effective relationship and sex education, including how to use the internet safely.
"We are living at a time when violent and sadistic imagery is readily available to very young children … even if they do not go searching for it, their friends may show it to them or they may stumble on it while using the internet," said the commissioner, Maggie Atkinson.
"For years we have applied age restrictions to films at the cinema but now we are permitting access to far more troubling imagery via the internet. It is a risky experiment to allow a generation of young people to be raised on a diet of pornography."
The report, based on a review of academic research, also found that pornography could influence children's sexual attitudes, foster a negative attitude towards relationships and lead them to engage in risky behaviours such as unprotected anal sex, sex at a younger age and the use of alcohol and drugs during sex.
Sue Berelowitz, the deputy children's commissioner, said compulsory education was the only way to ensure children were guarded "against the possible impact of pornography on them and their relationships". She said: "As part of our inquiry into the sexual exploitation of children in gangs and groups we have seen that young perpetrators of sexual abuse describe their activity as 'like having been in a porn film'. This report provides the evidence to support there being a high correlation between exposure to pornography and it influencing children's behaviour and attitudes."
Miranda Horvath, senior lecturer at Middlesex University, which led the review of academic evidence, said: "When pornography is discussed, it is often between groups of people with polarised moral views on the subject. Rather than adopting a particular ideological stance, this report uses evidence-based research to draw its conclusions and further the debate."
The report's recommendations echo calls made by the End Violence Against Women coalition to make sex and relationships education compulsory in secondary schools. A recent survey by the National Association of Head Teachers found many parents believe schools should teach about the dangers of pornography as soon as children are old enough to use the internet.
Alexandra Toppingguardian.co.uk © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Survey finds today's university students are anxious to find alternative social activities that do not involve drinking
The class of 2013 are a sober bunch - anxious to escape from the clutches of alcohol while socialising at university, a survey out today finds.
Survey finds today's university students are anxious to find alternative social activities that do not involve drinking
The class of 2013 are a sober bunch - anxious to escape from the clutches of alcohol while socialising at university, a survey out today finds.
Nursery reforms could cut childcare costs by 28%, DfE calculates
New calculations released by Department for Education will boost those seeking to push stalled plans through
The cost of childcare could be cut by as much as 28% if the government was to go ahead with stalled plans to raise ratios of children to staff in nurseries.
Government plans are currently stalled due to a disagreement within the coalition between the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives.
The new calculations released by the Department for Education under a freedom of information request said parent costs could be cut from £4 an hour to £3.49 an hour (a 12% cut) while teacher salaries could go up. Alternatively, if the extra revenue was used solely to reduce costs for parents, this could yield costs savings for parents of up to 28%.
Conservative ministers had been hoping to relax staff-child ratios by September, but Nick Clegg, the deputy prime minister, vetoed the plans saying he thought the proposed ratio changes would lower the quality of childcare. Conservatives are likely to use the figures to show they have been on the side of parents and choice, but are being blocked by the Liberal Democrats.
Department estimates suggest that if legal ratios for under-threes rose from four children for each member of staff to six and increased from a ratio of one to eight to one to 13 for staff looking after over-threes, the number of full-time places could be expanded by 52% to 73.
This increase in places creates a gross additional revenue of around £200,0000 based on the nursery charging £4 an hour. Even assuming the setting required the employment of a graduate, revenue would rise by £166,0000. Distributing this over 73 childcare places for 52 weeks a year and 39 hours a week the nursery could maintain its revenues and reduce its fees from £4 an hour to £2.88 an hour, a reduction of 28%.
The figures are bound to be raised by allies of the education secretary, Michael Gove, and the children's minister, Liz Truss, to show that parents are being denied a large-scale cut in their childcare costs by Liberal Democrat objections.
It is not yet clear if the plans can be revived, but Gove has acknowledged that his plan to introduce the changes by September are looking hard to implement. He claimed that Clegg had vetoed the plans because he was worried he was about to be challenged for his party leadership by the business secretary, Vince Cable.
The Daycare Trust earlier this year showed nursery costs rising while wages are stagnating: it found average childcare costs were increasing by more than 6% a year (more than double the rate of inflation).
After-school care costs more than a family holiday to Florida and the costliest nurseries are more expensive than top public schools.
Patrick Wintourguardian.co.uk © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
US graduation season 2013: the best commencement speeches
Joe Biden, Michelle Obama and Stephen Colbert are just some of the heavy-hitters speaking at college graduations this year
Every year around this time, clusters of newly minted "adults" in caps and gowns sit like sponges, soaking up the wisdom that booms from the front of the auditorium:
"Parents, friends, distinguished guests, graduates of the class of 2013 …"
So begins the commencement speech, a tradition at college and university graduations around the US. They can be boring, they can be painfully sincere, and they can also be the stuff of legend. Nearly 10 years after David Foster Wallace presented This is Water at Kenyon College, the speech was transformed into a short film and went viral.
Last year had some pretty powerful speeches, and 2013 is off to a pretty good start. Navigate this list to see who's taken a turn at the podium so far:
Week one:* Joe Biden
* Michelle Obama (Round One)
* Julie Andrews
* Nate Silver
* Neil deGrasse Tyson
* Bill Clinton
* Melinda Gates
* Barack Obama
* Michelle Obama (Round Two)
* Cory Booker
* Stephen Colbert
* Arianna Huffington
Say what? "There will be no U-Haul truck behind my casket."
Quotes: Steve Jobs.
Theme: Hard to pin down. The veep's speech touched on pretty much everything: immigration, gay rights, climate change, the economy, technological innovation, women's rights, Vietnam, China's expansion and the war in Iraq.
Humor: Five-star. By far the funniest of the recent commencement addresses.
Advice: "I have gained too much wisdom to offer any advice."
Best line: "Don't listen to the cynics. They were wrong about my generation and they were wrong about yours."
In her first of three commencement speeches this year, Flotus urged graduates to go out and find students with different systems of belief. "If you're a Democrat, spend some time talking to a Republican," Obama told about 600 education, business and technology graduates last weekend. "And if you're a Republican, have a chat with a Democrat. We know what happens when we only talk to people who think like we do. We just get stuck in our ways."
Say what? "When I was driving in from the airport, I wanted to get out of the car, go over to a grassy knoll and do my signature turn from the Sound of Music."
Quotes: TH White
Theme: The importance and power of the arts.
Humor: 2/5.
We learned: Andrews never finished high school and she also never went to college.
Applause: Loud.
Surprise: Many more sound of music references than we had anticipated.
Best line: "So congratulations, dear students. These hills are truly alive with the graduating class of 2013."
Say what?: "By election day last year, more people were Googling my name than the vice-president's".
Quotes: Various articles written about himself.
Theme: "The theme of this presentation is data and decisions."
Humor: 2/5.
Advice: "Accountability doesn't mean apologizing. It means learning from your mistakes and changing your behavior next time around."
We learned: "The trees are just the right size at Ripon".
In a word: Literal.
Applause: He doesn't stop talking for long enough to hear any.
Most similar to: One of his columns read aloud.
The popular astrophysicist's powerful speech focused on space funding. He spoke of the current state of space exploration and told the new graduates that the future of the industry is in their hands.
"You know why [private enterprise] can't lead it? Because space is expensive, it's dangerous and it has unquantified risks. You put all three of those under one umbrella – it cannot establish a capital market valuation of that exercise."
Say what? "I am well aware that the commencement speech is the least important part of this day."
Quotes: The Quran, The Bible, The Dhammapada.
Theme: What we have in common is more important than our difference.
Humor: 3/5.
We learned: At Clinton's Georgetown graduation, a hard rain cut the mayor's commencement speech short. "Congratulations. If we don't get out of here we're all going to drown", he said.
Applause: The man can work a crowd.
Surprise: Addressed the student debt crisis (briefly).
Best line: "Creative co-operation works better than constant conflict and we forget that at our peril."
Quotes: Martin Luther King Jr.
Theme: The possibilities of human connection.
Humor: 0.5/5
We learned: In the 1970s, Duke University used to "grow" mutant frogs in the science building.
In a word: Sincere.
Applause: Rare.
Best line:
I don't want you to connect, for connection's sake alone. I want you to connect because it will inspire you to do something. To take action. To make a difference in the world. Humanity in the abstract will never inspire you the way meeting another human being will. Poverty is not going to inspire you to do something, but meeting people – that will inspire you.
Barack Obama, Morehouse College, 19 May: 'Along with collective responsibilities, we have individual responsibilities'Say what? "Some of you are graduating summa cum laude. Some of you are graduating magna cum laude. I know some of you are just graduating, 'thank you, Lordy.' That's appropriate because it's a Sunday."
Quotes: Benjamin Mays, former president of Morehouse; Martin Luther King.
Theme: Using education to improve community and society; the government's ability to improve the lives of its citizens; the importance of personal responsibility.
Humor: 4/5, with most zingers coming right off the top.
Advice: "Just as Morehouse has taught you to expect more of yourselves, inspire those who look up to you to expect more of themselves."
Applause: Of course.
Best line:
"I will say it betrays a poverty of ambition if all you think about is what goods you can buy instead of what good you can do."
Michelle Obama, Bowie State University, 17 May: 'Be an example of excellence for the next generation'
Say what? "I just wish I could sing. Can't sing a lick."
Quotes: Frederick Douglass, Alice Walker, the Bowie State University school song.
Theme: Overcoming adversity through education.
Humor: 2/5.
Advice: "Be an example of excellence for the next generation and do everything you can to help them understand the power and purpose of a good education."
Applause: Frequent – and at all the points, the speech was designed to elicit them.
Best line:
"... Be that flame of fate, that torch of truth to guide our young people toward a better future for themselves and for this country."
Say what? "That is not Darth Vader's hat, that is Boba Fett for crying out loud!"
Theme: The importance of learning from your darkest moments, and always practicing compassion.
Humor: 3/5
Advice: "Most of all, be kind."
Applause: A fair amount.
Best line:
"Real courage is holding on to a still voice in your head that says 'I must keep going.' It's that voice that says nothing is a failure if it is not final – that voice that says to you: 'Get out of bed. Keep going. I will not quit."
Stephen Colbert, University of Virginia, 18 May: 'This is an impressive institution because it rejected my application'
Say what? "As has been stated before, the most impressive ranking of all has once again has to be Playboy naming you the number one party school in America. Now to be clear, I only read Playboy for the rankings."
Quotes: UVA founder President Thomas Jefferson.
Theme: The need for this generation to forge its own path to success.
Humor: 5/5
Advice: "If you must find your own path, and we have left you no easy path, then decide now to choose the hard path that leads to the life and world that you want. And don't worry if we don't approve of your choice."
Applause: A ton, but this was outnumbered by the laughs.
Best line:
"While traditional paths may seem harder to find, that also means that you will learn the hard lesson sooner than most generations that you must always make the path for yourself."
Arianna Huffington, Smith College, 19 May: 'Lead the third women's revolution'
Say what? "Congratulations. You have reached the light at the end of the tunnel. And I'm sure that when you first arrived at Smith four years ago you never would have imagined that at the other end of that tunnel would be a lady behind a podium talking to you in a funny accent."
Quotes: Archimedes, the Founding Fathers, Dr Seuss.
Theme: The need for today's women to redefine success.
Humor: 5/5
Advice: Get some sleep. Seriously.
Applause: Frequent.
Best line:
"Remember that while there will be plenty of signposts along your path directing you to make money and climb up the ladder, there will be very few signposts reminding you to stay connected to the essence of who you are, to take care of yourself along the way, to reach out to others, to pause to wonder, and to connect to that place from which everything is possible."
- Graduation
- Joe Biden
- Michelle Obama
- Nate Silver
- US education
- Barack Obama
- Stephen Colbert
- Arianna Huffington
- Cory Booker
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