For many students, pressure and expectation are just another part of the school experience. There is pressure to perform certain tasks, conform to uniform standards and to achieve one’s full potential. Then there are the expectations – that students will do their homework, turn up on time, and perform to the best of their ability. More...

With A-level results day come the countless pictures of jubilant students leaping in the air. But despite those jumping for joy, results day can also be a nerve-wracking time for those waiting to see if they got the grades needed to get into their first choice university. More...

Science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education is a priority for governments around the world. For example, the UK’s current commitment to increasing investment in research and development to 2.4% of GDP by 2027 means that we need to train 260,000 more researchers to carry out this work. More...

GCSE time is here again, with the annual focus on the success stories: the young person who passed all their subjects despite tragedy or illness, as well as the young people who have gained ten or 11 A* grades. More...

Research has shown that children are highly successful learners if they have a lot of exposure to a new language over a long time, such as in the case of child immigrants who are surrounded by the new language all day, every day. In such a scenario, children become much more proficient in the new language over the long term than adults. More...

A-level results will soon be out, with more than 300,000 students eagerly waiting to find out if they’ve made the grade. Then come GCSE results, with even more students keen to find out how they’ve done. More...

Every summer results day gives rise to a raft of headlines about the number of students who have to appeal because of inaccurate marking – though strangely enough, no-one ever appeals because they think their paper has been marked too highly. More...

The number of students achieving GCSEs in technical and creative subjects along with religious studies (RS) has declined yet again, according to provisional data. This is a trend that has been happening since education reforms in 2010 – which led to a narrowing of the curriculum. More...

This is an important year in Chinese history. It marks the anniversaries of two political movements involving students and scholars: the May Fourth Movement and the Tiananmen Square protests – known in China as the June Fourth Incident. More...

Summer is here – for many, a time for holidays and travelling, often by plane. Air travel has risen steeply on a global level. Since 2004 alone, passenger numbers have more than doubled, from two billion to 4.4 billion in 2018, with new record numbers forecast for 2019. Emissions from global air travel are predicted to double or even treble again by 2050 if no action is taken.
Universities play a role in this with a high and rising air travel footprint. Academics are frequent air travellers – to present at international conferences, conduct and review research, network and collaborate. “International recognition” forms an important criterion for academic job descriptions and promotions, and universities increasingly benefit from international student fees and international research funding. Many academics see travelling to far-flung places as the perk of the job – to compensate for long hours and performance pressures. More...