Education
Women’s homelessness
I’ve just published Chapter 8 of my open access textbook. This new chapter focuses on women’s homelessness.
An English summary of the new chapter can be found here: https://nickfalvo.ca/womens-homelessness/
A French summary of the new chapter is here: https://nickfalvo.ca/litinerance-chez-les-femmes/
All material related to the textbook can be found here: https://nickfalvo.ca/book/
Women’s homelessness
I’ve just published Chapter 8 of my open access textbook. This new chapter focuses on women’s homelessness.
An English summary of the new chapter can be found here: https://nickfalvo.ca/womens-homelessness/
A French summary of the new chapter is here: https://nickfalvo.ca/litinerance-chez-les-femmes/
All material related to the textbook can be found here: https://nickfalvo.ca/book/
Video: thousands gather for Gaza at Columbia as professor condemns uni’s ‘day of shame’
History professor Christopher Brown describes scandal of university president setting riot police on peaceful anti-genocide demo and condemns craven congressional testimony
Thousands have again gathered on the lawns of Columbia University in New York, despite the attempted repression of the university’s management and the New York police – where they heard speeches from faculty members as well as students against Israel’s genocide in Gaza and the authorities’ attempts to silence them:
Despite the state’s aggression, which has included the use of riot police and state troops in various locations – and the shameful demonisation of peace protesters by politicians and pro-Israel lobby groups willing to collude in Israel’s war crimes, mirroring the tactics used in the UK – the protest movement is growing and the US public is increasingly aware and condemning of Israel’s mass murder of Palestinian civilians, mostly women and children.
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‘Back Door into Student Loan System for Organised Fraudsters Left Hanging Wide Open’
Organised fraudsters are targeting student loans to make millions of pounds because of a lack of government oversight of the university finance system, according to a new parliamentary report.
The House of Commons’ Public Accounts Committee has identified a “back door” into the student finance system, caused by growing numbers of universities outsourcing courses to commercial partners.
A lack of regulation means that many of these franchises are unregistered by the Office for Students and employ commercial agents to recruit students – a number of them not able to speak English – to enrol on these courses and claim loans.
Conservative MP Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, the committee's deputy chair, said: “A back door into the student loan system for organised fraudsters has been left hanging wide open here by the lack of oversight by government. Fraud involving franchised providers now makes up a little over half of all fraud identified by the Student Loans Company.
“These issues must be addressed with some urgency, as the use of franchised providers only looks set to grow. Indeed, concerningly the franchising out of education seems to be viewed by some providers as a way of underpinning their finances. The risk to the taxpayer from unchecked fraud is clear, but the systemic risks to the quality of education provided to students must also be taken in hand."
The amount of fraud detected by the Student Loans Company at these franchised institutions was £2.2 million in 2022 – accounting for 53% of all fraud discovered by the company. Yet these franchises account for just 4.7% of the student population in 2021. But the number of places provided by them doubled between 2018 and 2021, from 50,440 to 108,000, and is rapidly growing as more universities makes these financial arrangements.
An investigation by The New York Times last year discovered one provider, Oxford Business College, had been recruiting students who didn’t speak much English and did not have the admission requirements. It paid agents per the number of students recruited. Another agent offered students £500 a time to recruit their friends with no limit on the number of people they recruited.
An investigation by the National Audit Office also discovered that some franchised colleges were taking a big cut on the loans students received – anything between 10 and 30% of the value of the loan. This is equivalent to more than £3,000 for a £9,250 tuition fee loan in the worst cases and meant that less would be spent on teaching the student.
The committee described this as a “shocking” revelation, pointing out that the student would not know if this had happened.
“Because these recruitment practices are unregulated, agents may not make it clear what students get for their money, and there are incentives to recruit student numbers rather than ensuring students enrol on the most suitable courses," the report states.
It is highly critical of the lack of government oversight of these operations. Oversight is currently split between the Department for Education, the Office for Students, and the Student Loan Company.
The Office for Students can set standards for registered franchises, but two-thirds of the providers chose not to register. The Student Loans Company can spot potential fraud, but cannot act to stop it without Department for Education approval. The Department for Education has no guidance on checking whether students obtaining loans are attending the colleges.
A Student Loans Company spokesperson said it took "financial crime seriously" and that it is "working closely" with the Department for Education and Office for Students to "continue to take action to protect public funds wherever possible”.
A spokesperson for the Department for Education said: “All higher education providers in receipt of government funding must provide value for money for the taxpayer and we will not hesitate to act if we see malpractice of any kind.
"We’re already taking action to crack down on poor quality providers, and we’re making clear that those that use franchising understand their responsibilities and have strengthened our data sharing rules."
It said it is "working closely" with the Office for Students and the Student Loans Company "to identify and prevent any abuses of public funds”.
The chief executive of the Office for Students said it welcomed the report, which "highlights a number of important issues relating to higher education courses delivered through franchise arrangements".
"Student loan funding provided by taxpayers must be properly protected in these circumstances. The Office for Students will continue to use its regulatory powers to help ensure value for money for students and taxpayers, and to make sure that universities have effective oversight of courses delivered by their partners.
“Students studying on franchised courses are entitled to expect a high-quality education and positive outcomes, and the Office for Students will place particular emphasis on these partnerships in the next phase of our regulation of quality.
“We will continue to work closely with the Department for Education and the Student Loans Company on these important issues.”
US unis even arresting TEACHERS as Israel lobby group demands anti-Palestine crackdown
Students and teachers targeted by police as ADL demands government breaks student anti-genocide protest movement
At least one US university has called in police to arrest faculty members as well as students, as the so-called ‘Anti-defamation League’ (ADL) demanded a crackdown on the spreading anti-genocide protest movement among US students.
NYPD officers took NYU teachers as well as students away from a demo against Israel’s genocide in Gaza, as demonstrations spread to universities around the country. Columbia University, also in New York, has seen further student arrests as a sit-in demo by students against Israel’s slaughter of innocents continues undeterred.
In a tactic reminiscent of the recent rigged stunt in the UK by the Israel-linked, so-called ‘Campaign against Antisemitism’ (CAA), the ADL has claimed Jewish students are unsafe and demanded the immediate suspension of anyone who dares protest against mass murder:
Innocent women and children in Gaza are being slaughtered by the tens of thousands by Israel – and Palestinian students have been attacked, leaving at least one paralysed, by morons whipped up by the Islamophobic speech of politicians and pro-Israel lobbyists – but it seems we are meant to treat the feelings of the friends of genocide and apartheid as more important, on both sides of the Atlantic.
SKWAWKBOX needs your help. The site is provided free of charge but depends on the support of its readers to be viable. If you’d like to help it keep revealing the news as it is and not what the Establishment wants you to hear – and can afford to without hardship – please click here to arrange a one-off or modest monthly donation via PayPal or here to set up a monthly donation via GoCardless (SKWAWKBOX will contact you to confirm the GoCardless amount). Thanks for your solidarity so SKWAWKBOX can keep doing its job.
If you wish to republish this post for non-commercial use, you are welcome to do so – see here for more.
Our entire view of the world remains insular. How can Australia change?
Unlike virtually every non-Anglophone country on the planet, Australia still has no mandatory teaching of foreign languages in its schools. Why do we assume, as a matter of colonial entitlement, that people from non-Anglophone countries will understand us, but it is not even a matter of decency to make the same effort to understand them? Continue reading »
‘The Prayer Ban at Michaela Community School Will Not Set a Landmark Precedent’
The High Court’s ruling that a ban on ritualistic prayer at Michaela Community School in Wembley is lawful – following a legal challenge by a Muslim student – has created a storm of controversy in recent days.
Muslims and human rights advocates have bemoaned the outcome, with many seeing it as a flagrant attack on the right to manifest one's religious belief in public, particularly if you’re a Muslim.
Those on the right of the Conservative Party have celebrated the ruling as a win for ‘British values’ – a concept they seem to believe excludes Islam.
Despite their differences, there is one idea that these groups share: the belief that this is a landmark case that establishes a strong legal precedent.
However, as a lawyer with 20 years’ experience and the CEO of the Islamophobia Response Unit, I argue that this is not the case. In fact, I believe that this ruling will soon, and for good reason, fade into distant memory.
Katharine Birbalsingh, founder and headteacher of Michaela Community School. Photo: Paul Davey/Alamy
Last year, a Muslim pupil at Michaela Community School decided to challenge the school’s ban on ritualistic prayer, arguing that it indirectly discriminated against the school’s Muslim cohort, which makes up around 50% of its 700 students.
Some right-wing commentators celebrated the prayer ban. Some also praised headteacher Katherine Birbalsingh for imposing it.
The pupil’s case was, from the beginning, a very narrow one.
Although Muslims are required to pray five times per day, she accepted that strict school rules meant that she would not be able to fulfil this obligation. Nevertheless, she argued that the ban on ritualistic prayer violated her right to religious belief under the European Convention on Human Rights. That it indirectly discriminated against Muslim pupils under the Equality Act of 2010. And that it failed to have 'due regard’ to the need to eliminate discrimination, also under the Equality Act.
In the end, the court surprisingly rejected all three of the pupil’s claims, essentially on the basis that she could, if she chose to, attend a different school that did not hinder her religious practices.
The court said that the pupil "at the very least impliedly accepted, when she enrolled at the school, that she would be subject to restrictions on her ability to manifest her religion”. But this was a strange argument to make considering that the ban was imposed after the girl enrolled at the school.
Michaela Community School’s well-documented strict behavioural regime is so unique to that institution that other schools in England and Wales simply could not rely upon it to deny prayer facilities to their pupils.
The High Court heard an abundance of evidence detailing the strict policies that provided the context making the prayer ban possible. To give just a few examples, pupils are required to move around the school’s building, and enter and exit all rooms, in a single-file formation.
Michaela Community School also maintains a 'rule of four no more’, which means that pupils are not permitted to socialise in groups of more than four.
Lunch break is set at a rigid 25 minutes, and pupils are not allowed to move freely around the school premises during this time.
Constraints on space mean that pupils are not able to move to their next lesson at once, so that the start and end times of each lesson are staggered on a minute-by-minute basis, with movement around the school being heavily coordinated.
These examples are just the tip of the iceberg of what can quite comfortably be described as draconian behavioural regulations. Given these rigid demands on pupils’ time and movements, it is not difficult to see how finding time to engage in group-based, ritualistic prayer at specific times throughout the day – as is required by Islamic precepts – becomes very difficult, if not impossible.
The school contends that these rules are the beating heart of the school’s ethos. This point matters greatly because, if the court had ruled in favour of the girl who brought the case, this would have meant the removal of the prayer ban. Such a decision would have caused widespread disruption to the school’s rigorous – and, some might argue, excessive – behavioural codes of conduct. Muslim students needing to pray would have to violate Birbalsingh’s policies aimed at regimenting student movement around the school.
The court took all of this into consideration and the judgment’s balance tipped in favour of the school. But nowhere else in Britain are you likely to find another case of this nature. It is therefore not a 'landmark’ case because the deciding factor largely came down to the history of Michaela Community School’s uniquely austere rules.
Rather than standing as an example for others to draw upon in order to ban prayer facilities, this case and this school stand very much alone.
Majid Iqbal is the CEO of the Islamophobia Response Unit
The Texas Attack on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Higher Education
Texas legislature has made it clear that Texas institutions of higher education—and, by extension, the state itself—are not welcoming to people of color, queer and trans people, and undocumented immigrants. ...
Navigating New Realms: Generative AI and Literacy Education
How is AI changing the way we teach and learn? In an interactive webinar, I joined Samantha L. Bart-Addison, Raúl Alberto Mora, and Peggy Semingson to discuss the applications for—and implications of—bringing generative AI and the tools it powers, such as ChatGPT, into schools and classrooms. We identified the knowledge needed to effectively incorporate generative AI into literacy instruction that cultivates creativity and critical thinking.
AI in the Classroom; A Brave New World
As we embark on new frontiers in technology, artificial intelligence (AI) is gradually becoming a core component of education. This transformative force is redefining the way we teach and learn, giving rise to a myriad of opportunities and challenges alike. However, understanding how to harness the power of AI effectively requires knowledge and guidance.
The slides for this session are available here.
Defining Generative AI
Generative AI falls under the umbrella of machine learning models that are capable of producing output from input data, often sparking creativity and critical thinking. An example is ChatGPT, a language model by OpenAI that can generate human-like text based on the prompts it receives.
The potential for generative AI in education is vast – from personalized learning experiences to enhancing literacy instruction. But what does this mean for teachers and students? Let’s find out.
Implementing Generative AI in Literacy Education
Understand the Fundamentals
Understanding the fundamental concepts underpinning generative AI before incorporating it into teaching practice is essential. This includes understanding what AI is, how machine learning powers it, and what generative models do.
Grasp the Implications
Generative AI’s implications for literacy instruction are significant. For teachers, it can be used as a tool to create engaging content that stimulates students’ creativity. For students, it can offer personalized learning experiences that foster independent thought.
However, there’s a fine line between its helpful applications and potential pitfalls such as over-reliance on technology or privacy concerns. Thus, educators need to be aware of these aspects when adopting generative AI tools.
Adapt Your Pedagogy
Incorporating generative AI into teaching practice requires adapting pedagogy to accommodate this new tool. This could mean incorporating multimodal approaches that take advantage of different forms of media and communication or developing new strategies for integrating AI tools into traditional teaching methods.
Embrace the Future of Education
The integration of generative AI in education is no longer a distant possibility but a present reality. The right understanding and approach can revolutionize literacy instruction by fostering creativity and critical thinking.
However, as with any new technology, it requires careful consideration and adaptation. As educators, we must stay informed about the latest developments to harness the power of AI effectively for our students’ benefit.
Ready to embrace this brave new world? Join us on this journey by participating and continuing the dialogue. It’s time we shape the future of education together!
Photo by Solen Feyissa on Unsplash
The post Navigating New Realms: Generative AI and Literacy Education first appeared on Dr. Ian O'Byrne.
Knowledge and understanding deficit: The dire state of China Studies
Disgraceful gaps have emerged in our knowledge and understanding of Asian countries. This capability is essential to successful navigation of the future, as Peter Varghese and Joseph Lo Bianco have noted. Whether it is seen as a threat or an opportunity, in recent years China has dominated the rhetoric of politicians and commentators. The shouting Continue reading »