You've got your degree, what do you do now? Might I suggest a persual of today's Guardian Graduation Special? We've got advice on job-hunting, successful people telling you what they wish they'd known when they started out, Patrick Kingsley on some novel forms of self-promotion, and Tom Meltzer on how to keep despair at bay.
All this comes in the wake of the news that nearly 9% of the class of 2010 were unemployed six months after graduating. Interesting that the institution with the best figures is Buckingham, a private university. Social entrepreneur Robert Ashton argues that those who can't find jobs should have the option of voluntary national service - and become "big society interns".
• More than 100,000 students are going to miss out on a place at university this summer - and will then be hit with the prospect of trebled tuition fees when they try again in 12 months' time. The official figure is made up of 75,000-85,000 who want to do standard university courses and a further 10,000 to 20,000 nursing, midwifery and teacher training applicants.
Usman Ali (@UsmanAli1984) of the NUS says:
"The most determined choose to reapply the following year, but those who miss out this year will find themselves with fees trebled and government funding slashed simply because the government is not willing to expand investment in skills and education for young people when it is most needed.Those students will find themselves stuck between the rock of high youth unemployment, and the hard place of spiralling debt."
• He's the man who made YouTube clever, says Carole Cadwalladr. With his TED Talks series, the former magazine mogul Chris Anderson has racked up 500m web video views for speeches by academics and technological experts. But that, he says, is only the start of an educational revolution.
• Barbara Ellen comes to the defence of Charlie Gilmour who's been sentenced to 16 months for violent disorder over his role in the student protests:
"There seems to be a distinct whiff of scapegoat about Gilmour's severe sentence, especially as he was not even charged for swinging on the Cenotaph, which, of his acts, was found the most repulsive. Even if he is released sooner, that 16-month sentence has turned the conveniently high-profile rich kid Gilmour into a 'head on a spike', acting as a very effective deterrent for all those compelled to protest."
The Mail's Liz Jones agrees with her, oddly enough.
• Rebecca Front comes to the defence of proper competitive sports days, with winners and losers and cups and stuff:
"Children are going to fail at stuff. They do not have to be taught to do it. But it probably does not hurt them to see that it happens to everyone. And, particularly when the kids who don't shine in the classroom get a chance to show off in some other arena, I reckon that affording them a moment of glory is an admirable thing."
• Joanna Briscoe explains why she had to beg for homework at a series of chaotic schools. Here's a flavour of a colourful account:
"My peripatetic parents having moved ever further into the wilds, this was the third village primary school I'd attended, situated in the middle of Dartmoor, and it appeared to be unregulated: little more than a drop-in centre for farmers' children in need of a natter and a fight, with lunch thrown in. My teacher, the head, taught the top two years together, primarily by chatting on the phone outside the classroom and rapping on the window if the pandemonium reached a certain decibel level."
• Kicking off with a tweet from Warwick Mansell (@warwickmansell) about the government's acceptance of the recommendations of the Bew report:
"Gov response to Bew: accepts that writing should be teacher-assessed. Lots of teachers pleased with that, I'm guessing."
He's summarised all the key points of the government response on Twitter - do check it out.
• Trinity College tops the Tompkins table at Cambridge University this year, pushing Emmanuel into second place and regaining the lead it held in 2009, according to a report in the Independent. The table, which analyses results from all 29 colleges entering students for BA final exams, has been compiled since 1981 by Peter Tompkins, a consulting actuary who studied at Trinity.
• Resign or be fired, 178 cheating teachers in Atlanta have been told. Some of them spent nights erasing student answers and putting in correct ones; others sat weak students next to strong ones so they could copy their answers, says the Mail. Why did they do it? Because of the pressure to produce results:
"One principal forced a teacher to crawl under a desk during a faculty meeting because her test scores were low… Another principal told a teacher on her first day that the school did whatever was necessary to meet testing benchmarks, even if that meant 'breaking the rules.'"
• David Cameron would have handled the News of the World crisis better "if he had gone to a comprehensive", says Alastair Campbell in his blog.
• In response to a challenge from Toby Young, the Local Schools Network (@localschools_uk) has come up with an interesting piece about the role local authorities can play in improving all the schools in an area, using Hackney as a case study.
Lovely writing on the newteachersblog about knowing when to give kids a bit of space. The tale, by @newteacherstalk, is coincidentally also set in Hackney:
"They were tough, no-nonsense and often battle-hardened even by the age of 10 or 11. Full of personality, character and talent and they demanded good teachers who would stick around for more than a single tour of duty. They could spot a 'clean-shirt' a mile away."
Find out how it all goes very very wrong…
The Guardian would like to highlight your pupils' GCSE and A-level success this summer. We are asking schools to respond to a few quick questions about their pupils' results as soon as you receive them - on 18 August for A-levels and 25 August for GCSEs. Please take a note of the following web pages and return to them to fill in your results on those days:
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We want to tell our readers how well your pupils have performed and are looking forward to mapping the success of young people across the country.
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20 September, London.
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22 September, London.
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Whether it's getting published, convincing an employer that you have transferable skills, or securing an academic post, you need to be fully prepared to achieve your goals. This course will help you identify career opportunities for those with research skills and specialist knowledge.
4-5 October, London.
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