https://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. Hitting children (often referred to as smacking) by parents or caregivers as a form of punishment is linked to behavioral problems and worse exam results and should be prohibited in England and Northern Ireland as soon as possible, UCL researchers say. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-physical-children-uk.html Social Sciences Thu, 11 Jun 2026 07:00:08 EDT news700374421 Women are largely absent from the questions, sources, and mark schemes that shape how history is taught and assessed in schools in England. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-women-absent-history-taught-england.html Education Thu, 04 Dec 2025 13:27:19 EST news684077222 The decline of language education in England is a familiar and depressing story. Take-up of French at GCSE is down from 25% in 2009–10 to 18% in 2024–25. German has halved in the same period from 10% to 5%. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-england-national-curriculum-opportunity-revitalize.html Education Mon, 24 Nov 2025 15:06:04 EST news683219161 Australia and England are both multicultural countries where hundreds of languages are spoken. However, in both, levels of language learning at school are worryingly low. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-students-england-australia-poor-languages.html Social Sciences Mon, 08 Sep 2025 14:10:01 EDT news676555415 As over 5 million students await their GCSE results, researchers have conducted the most robust research to date on how periods impact exam results. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-heavy-painful-periods-linked-standardized.html Education Tue, 19 Aug 2025 10:45:16 EDT news674819109 A team of psychologists led by the University of Cambridge have found that it takes parents about a year, on average, to attune to their child's attitudes towards school once they start education. https://phys.org/news/2025-04-parents-year-tune-child-school.html Education Wed, 30 Apr 2025 04:52:04 EDT news665207521 The problem of the disadvantage gap—also known as the attainment gap—is a persistent one in education in England. It refers to how children from certain groups, such as those from poorer backgrounds, ethnic minorities or who have been in care, do worse at school than their peers. https://phys.org/news/2025-04-children-poorer-families-worse-school.html Economics & Business Mon, 07 Apr 2025 13:04:04 EDT news663249842 Pupils in the UK are struggling to afford menstrual products. In a 2022 UK survey, charity WaterAid found that one in five girls were missing school as a result. Limited access to period products can also have a negative impact on learning and attainment. https://phys.org/news/2025-03-english-schools-free-period-products.html Social Sciences Mon, 03 Mar 2025 12:23:03 EST news660226981 Britain's first teacherless AI classroom may be an "outlier", but it underlines the potential benefits and risks of a UK government drive to rollout artificial intelligence in education, experts say. https://phys.org/news/2025-01-uk-ai-classroom-teachers-debate.html Education Tue, 28 Jan 2025 09:30:24 EST news657279018 Even moderate levels of school absence, not just extreme absences, can have a negative impact on exam results and career prospects, but they are frequently overlooked, according to a University of Strathclyde report. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-school-absences-exam-results-career.html Education Mon, 02 Sep 2024 16:05:03 EDT news644511901 Hundreds of thousands of students have now nervously opened their A-level results. These handfuls of letter grades matter, and not just to the students themselves. They have far-reaching effects on our whole education system and public views on standards in education. https://phys.org/news/2024-08-results-patterns-disadvantage-tackle.html Education Sat, 17 Aug 2024 16:20:01 EDT news643022056 Educational damage from the COVID-19 pandemic will have an impact on school pupils well into the 2030s, according to a study involving the University of Strathclyde. https://phys.org/news/2024-04-impact-covid-affect-exam-results.html Education Thu, 25 Apr 2024 15:40:32 EDT news633278428 More should be done to break the "grass ceiling" of hidden school underachievement in rural areas, a new study warns. The research is published in the journal Education Sciences. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-grass-ceiling-masks-barriers-rural.html Education Thu, 07 Mar 2024 16:05:55 EST news629049953 New research by the University of Warwick has found that disabled young people in England experience institutional and structural discrimination in mainstream schools, with two thirds fewer achieving level 2 qualifications compared to non-disabled peers. Academics argue that these experiences are a key barrier to educational and occupational attainment. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-young-disabled-people-discrimination-stigmatization.html Education Thu, 16 Nov 2023 15:56:08 EST news619372562 The UK's brightest pupils' chances of getting top GCSE grades are actually lower in grammar schools than in comprehensives, according to a major new piece of research. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-evidence-grammar-school-brightest-pupils.html Social Sciences Sun, 27 Aug 2023 19:00:01 EDT news612181886 The education of care-experienced children should be redefined to include a much broader range of activities to better support their development and success, a new study says. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-broaden-definition-children-urges.html Social Sciences Wed, 02 Aug 2023 16:11:18 EDT news610211475 Encouraging adolescents to feel capable and purposeful—rather than just happy—could improve their academic results as well as their mental health, according to new research which recommends changing how well-being is supported in schools. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-adolescents-purposefulnot-happymay-grades.html Social Sciences Wed, 05 Jul 2023 19:00:01 EDT news607790582 Secondary school pupils feel the climate change education they receive is too focused on passing exams and doesn't equip them with the skills they need to tackle the climate crisis, according to a new report. https://phys.org/news/2023-06-pupils-tackle-climate-crisis-uk.html Social Sciences Mon, 05 Jun 2023 13:25:04 EDT news605190301 Music in secondary schools is at risk of extinction unless teachers embrace new technologies and incorporate contemporary genres in the classroom, a leading academic has warned. https://phys.org/news/2023-06-teachers-reluctant-technology-music-experts.html Education Thu, 01 Jun 2023 13:23:46 EDT news604844623 Children living with long-term poverty and whose families rely on food banks are more likely to achieve lower GCSE grades, finds a report co-authored by UCL researchers. https://phys.org/news/2023-05-gcse-grades-children-families-food.html Social Sciences Thu, 25 May 2023 12:58:52 EDT news604238326 GCSE exams are under way and many students will be feeling the pressure to get the grades they need to pursue their education or employment goals. https://phys.org/news/2023-05-teenagers-combat-exam-anxiety.html Education Tue, 23 May 2023 12:45:03 EDT news604064701 The old adage of use it or lose it doesn't appear to run true when it comes to someone's ability to retain and use a foreign language, a new study has revealed. https://phys.org/news/2022-08-knowledge-foreign-languages-lifetime.html Social Sciences Thu, 25 Aug 2022 11:14:54 EDT news580644891 No clear relationship exists between GCSE test anxiety and exam performance among Year 11 pupils, a UCL study has found. https://phys.org/news/2022-06-high-anxiety-gcse-exams-effect.html Education Wed, 15 Jun 2022 11:41:03 EDT news574512062 With the exam season in full swing, teenagers taking their GCSEs are hoping their teachers covered everything so they can achieve top marks. The methods teachers use in the classroom could also hold the key to improving pupils' grades, according to a pioneering report published today. https://phys.org/news/2022-05-reveals-techniques-boost-exam.html Education Tue, 24 May 2022 10:12:03 EDT news572605921 As exam season begins, parents, caregivers and teachers will be looking for various ways to motivate students to do well in their studies. But the messaging you use to motivate them should depend on their level of confidence, according to research by psychologists. https://phys.org/news/2022-05-students-exam-psychologists.html Education Fri, 13 May 2022 11:22:03 EDT news571659722 "From my own knowledge of these things, physics is not something that girls tend to fancy. They don't want to do it … There's a lot of hard math in there that I think that they would rather not do," Katharine Birbalsingh, chair of the U.K. government's Social Mobility Commission and a secondary school head teacher, told the Commons Science and Technology Committee on April 27 2022. https://phys.org/news/2022-05-girls-dont-physics-math.html Education Tue, 10 May 2022 13:54:59 EDT news571409696 The U.K. government has introduced a new sustainability and climate change strategy for schools. However, our research shows that it does not go far enough to meet what young people and teachers want. https://phys.org/news/2022-05-sustainability-climate-strategy-schools-england.html Education Wed, 04 May 2022 12:20:02 EDT news570884949 Pupils who feel particularly joyful do not do any better in their GCSEs than peers who do not feel as happy, according to UCL research led by Professor John Jerrim. https://phys.org/news/2022-04-teenagers-well-being-effect-gcse.html Education Thu, 28 Apr 2022 12:13:54 EDT news570366832 Young people who consider themselves 'multilingual' tend to perform better across a wide range of subjects at school, regardless of whether they are actually fluent in another language, new research shows. https://phys.org/news/2021-11-students-self-identify-multilingual-exams.html Education Thu, 11 Nov 2021 03:36:20 EST news555824175 Some 87 percent of UK secondary schools report making substantial changes to history teaching to address issues of diversity, according research by the universities of Oxford and Reading, based on an Historical Association survey of history teachers. https://phys.org/news/2021-10-history-substantially-diversity-teachers.html Education Mon, 25 Oct 2021 09:30:01 EDT news554371194