Category: Educational Tales Unveiled

John Kohutanycz, a sports teacher at a high school with vast playing fields so large that he needs a golf cart to get around them, expresses incredulity at the notion of school playing fields being sold. "I have never heard of anything like that here, ever. Wow. That's scary," he exclaims. This is in reference to the controversial practice of selling school playing fields which caused...

A recent report has revealed that civil liberties in the UK have been eroded over the last decade. David Davis MP criticised the government for disregarding civil liberties. However, the report was not created by seasoned campaigners, but by students from the University College London Student Human Rights Programme, set up just two years ago. The programme has already published five monthly...

According to the shadow education secretary, Angela Rayner, white working-class children need to be motivated to become more aspirational at school and learn to "push themselves" like their peers from other backgrounds. In an interview with the Spectator, Rayner expressed her belief that the educational system's focus on women and minority ethnic groups may have had an unintended...

John Penfold, my father, passed away at the age of 89. He devoted over 30 years to training teachers in craft, design, and technology after initially teaching the subject at secondary schools. Born to Edwin, an accountant, and Alice (nee Rogers) in Edgware, North London, he attended Orange Hill grammar school in Burnt Oak before enrolling in Shoreditch teacher training college in East London....

In the heart of the Malawi wilderness, where lions and hyenas roam free, one can easily envision the ruins of the Kamuzu Academy. Clocktowers collapsing, Romanesque arches crumbling, and wrought-iron gates rusting and bending. The man behind the grand plan was Hastings Kamuzu Banda, known as Ngwazi, or conqueror and chief of chiefs, bore a name derived from a little root plant. Though, beyond his...

David Hale, my father, dedicated his life to imparting knowledge of mathematics. He began his career in 1959 at Thomas Bennett School in Crawley, Sussex, which had newly opened at the time. He remained loyal to state education throughout his professional journey. After teaching mathematics for a few years in Crawley, he moved to Glossop School in Derbyshire, where he served as head of...

A historic moment is set to occur as the University of Cambridge's Jesus College will return one of the Benin bronzes to Nigeria, making it the first British institution to do so. The Okukor, a royal ancestral heirloom, was taken from the kingdom of Benin during a punitive expedition in 1897 by British forces. The return of the bronze is expected to spark further repatriation ceremonies, bringing...

Ellie Colegate spent five years studying French at a school in Kent, England. However, she chose not to pursue it beyond Year 9. According to her, language education failed to appeal to her because it was purely academic, and her teacher only made her copy and complete exercises from books. Despite being a top set French class, her teacher never spoke the language much, and only a few of the best...

Julie Maxton, an unpretentious lawyer from New Zealand who talks about her role with modesty, has stepped into the eye of the storm that is convulsing Oxford University. She took on the role of registrar in April 2004, just as the anger caused by the new vice-chancellor, John Hood, was reaching a fever pitch. Hood's plans to streamline the 900-year-old university and install a managerial regime...

Ellie Grant, a straight A* student, dreams of pursuing a maths degree at a prestigious university. To make this dream a reality, she has applied to Cambridge knowing that she would need to pass the traditionally used Sixth Term Examination Paper (Step). However, she was surprised when two other universities, Bath and Imperial College, made passing Step a requirement for their offer of a place in...