Data: University energy consumption

Posted on November 3, 2011 by Paul Bradshaw

Energy data visualisation

Tony Hirst has written a post on university energy data with plenty of links to data sources and projects. Well worth exploring.

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Data: school populations by local education authority, August 2010

Posted on November 3, 2011 by Paul Bradshaw

Following on from the previous post, here’s some data on school populations to provide some context.

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City of London Corporation: population 9,700, schools: 1

Posted on November 3, 2011 by Paul Bradshaw

Here’s a curiosity from an FOI request to the City of London Corporation on What Do They Know:

“Please note that the City (the “Square Mile”) has a resident population of about 9700 and only maintains one school in its capacity as a Local Education Authority, namely the Sir John Cass’s Foundation Primary School, a voluntary aided school.”

The school’s Ofsted report says they have 233 children on their roll, which makes me wonder how many of that population of 9,700 are parents, and have children in schools outside the City of London?

How much central funding for education does the City get as an LEA, and how does that compare to other local authorities per school or pupil?

And if the City only maintains one school as an LEA, why can they not answer questions about that school’s supply spend (they refer the author to the school itself)?

Can you help?

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The price of a University drop-out 1: higher education funding in context.

Posted on November 2, 2011 by owmyfoothurts

One of the first big data-driven investigations we wanted to put on this site was focused on HEFCE and the way in which higher education is funded.

HEFCE fund 130 higher education institutions in England and 122 further education colleges in England, and we wanted to look at the ways in which funding is derived for each institution.

To put it simply, HEFCE funds each institution for every student that successfully completes a year of study.

This, however, brought a question to mind;

How much do different higher education institutions lose every year as a result of student ‘non-completions’? Continue reading →

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Education news: 470 colleges lose foreign student licences

Posted on November 2, 2011 by Paul Bradshaw

Fascinating story from the excellent Dominic Casciani on how many colleges have been barred from accepting non-EU students following a Border Agency crackdown:

“Earlier this year, tighter rules were introduced on student visas, primarily aimed at private colleges offering language or vocational courses.

“The UK Border Agency investigated more than 100 colleges after officials recorded a spike in applications from South Asia, shortly before language rules were tightened.

“Staff at [one] college tried to avoid an inspection by claiming they were refurbishing the building. Investigators learnt the management were actually hiding inside with the lights turned off.”

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Links for 31 October 2011

Posted on October 31, 2011 by Paul Bradshaw

“The study by the [Schools Health Education] unit, based on data collected from more than 83,000 children aged between 10 and 15, found four per cent of children aged 12 or 13 had drunk 28 units or more of alcohol in the week before they were questioned – exceeding government limits for adult men, who can safely drink three to four units a day.”

The Schools Health Education Unit (SHEU) can be found here – there are plenty of feeds of education data.

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Follow The Money: Where to find data on education spending

Posted on October 31, 2011 by Paul Bradshaw

If you’re interested in following spending in a particular area of education a good place to start is OpenSpending.org. The site, which looks at public spending, has a section devoted to education.

This is further split by sector:

  • Secondary and further
  • University
  • Education admin
  • Extra education services
  • Pre-school & Primary
  • Misc education
  • Education research
  • Post-secondary
  • Unknown

If you want help finding data you can use the GetTheData.org forums to ask others. There’s also the OpenSpending mailing list where you can ask questions and follow developments in public spending data more generally.

What we don’t know

If you can help find out, please let me know in the comments or by emailing paul@helpmeinvestigate.com.
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Why was the SOOBy Bus service withdrawn?

Posted on July 11, 2011 by Paul Bradshaw

Andy Watt and the team at Birmingham Budget Cuts have been investigating the withdrawal of a bus service for children with special needs.

One parent says they were told the service was withdrawn for financial reasons, but the council says it was due to lack of demand.

It’s also not clear whether any consultation was undertaken, despite the requirement to do so.

Help Andy here.

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Welcome to Help Me Investigate Education

Posted on June 28, 2011 by Paul Bradshaw

This is the start of a unique experiment in networked investigation. If you want to ask questions of the education system in the UK – or anywhere else in the world – start contributing in the comments and we’ll try to help you.

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