-
Recent Posts
- How to: find out about pupil place shortages in local schools
- Students seeking counselling goes up by one third
- How we did it: looking at the data behind academic zero hour contracts
- Students’ parents don’t know they have credit cards – and other “truths” about student spending
- Hundreds of academics on zero hour contracts at midlands universities
Recent Comments
- Paul Bradshaw on MAPPED: How many hours do children spend at school around the world?
- Spritzy on Students and phone sex: “Why not work as a phone sex operator and pay your way through University”
- Michael Rolinski on MAPPED: How many hours do children spend at school around the world?
- D J Steward on Academies and the Freedom of Information Act
- Paul Bradshaw on Help Me Investigate Education are looking for a new editor
Blogroll
- Academic FOI
- Ask Parents First
- Box of Tricks
- Building Future Education
- EducationState
- FE Week
- Graduate Fog
- info4local: Education and Skills
- Intern Aware
- InternWatch
- Learn SEN
- Mike Baker's Blog and Education News
- Scenes From The Battleground
- SchoolDuggery's Blog
- Student Parents
- The Student Journals
- Universities UK blog
- Zero Hours University
Archives
- December 2013
- October 2013
- August 2013
- July 2013
- June 2013
- May 2013
- April 2013
- March 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
- December 2012
- October 2012
- September 2012
- August 2012
- July 2012
- June 2012
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
Categories
Meta
Explore by keyword
academies academy schools applications birmingham birmingham university data department for education DfE disability education FOI foieg freedom of information free school meals from:pinboard funding gcse guardian he hefce help me investigate HESA higher education hmitwt ifttt immigration infographic intellectual property IP links Michael Gove non-completion Northern Ireland Ofsted schools Scotland secondary schools SEN staffing transport tuition fees ucas universities university university funding
Category Archives: Tips and How-Tos
How to: find out about pupil place shortages in local schools
TweetIn some places of the UK primary school pupils are expected to rise by up to a fifth in the next few years, with new funding announced this week to help local authorities cope with the rise. But if you … Continue reading
Students’ parents don’t know they have credit cards – and other “truths” about student spending
Tweet How do students spend their money? Are they careful? Do they lie about it to their parents? What about the dreaded overdraft? An infographic (shown below) created by ZenithOptimedia and Natwest has revealed how young adults spend their money … Continue reading
Posted in Links, Tips and How-Tos
Tagged banking, Christina Hirst, GMI, infographic, NatWest, overdrafts, spending, students, ZenithOptimedia
Leave a comment
Tip: finding leads in university council minutes
TweetThe minutes of meetings at public institutions are an often-overlooked source of possible story ideas and leads. Local authorities and hospitals regularly have their board meetings scrutinised by reporters – but university council meetings are less closely followed.
Posted in Tips and How-Tos
Tagged accountability, advanced search, council minutes, freedom of information, leads, universities
Leave a comment
When is a leak not a leak: An investigation into children’s home data
Tweet While working on a story relating to children’s care homes, Beth Ashton stumbled across some data that shouldn’t have been public. What she did next illustrates the ethical and legal issues facing journalists and public bodies dealing with sensitive subjects. A few … Continue reading
What information do universities record – and what might be requested?
TweetTimes Higher Education reporter David Matthews wrote about “stumbling blocks” to university transparency this month – and in the process highlighted some useful tips for those wanting to investigate higher education. Here are the highlights: Who makes the decisions? Most … Continue reading
Posted in Data, Links, Tips and How-Tos
Tagged annual reports, data.gov.uk, David Matthews, executive board, Ferdinand von Prondzynski, FOI, governing council, Higher Education Statistics Agency, Key Information Sets, senate meetings, Student Loans Company, Thomas Docherty, Times Higher Education, Trac, transparency, Transparent Approach to Costing, ucas, Unistats, universities, university executive committee
1 Comment
Do you want to join the HMI Education team?
TweetAs explained earlier, we’re creating some new roles at HMI Education. If you’re interested in getting involved there’s no minimum or maximum commitment needed just a passion to help investigate and improve the UK’s education system. You may have an idea for … Continue reading
Posted in Tips and How-Tos
Tagged community management, curation editor, data journalist, editor, multimedia journalist, roles
1 Comment
New investigations, new data and new roles at Help Me Investigate
TweetHelp Me Investigate Education has a new team of editors, brand new investigations – and lots of ideas for new ones. We’re also looking for new contributors to get involved with the website.
Academies and the Freedom of Information Act
TweetThe number of academies in the UK is increasing by the month and their set-up can often be complex, with multiple parties involved in the running of the school, but the Freedom of Information Act provides a useful tool to … Continue reading
School food hygiene ratings: how to find them in your area
TweetWith food hygiene in the news following the horsemeat scandal, I thought I’d put together a quick guide on getting information about your own local schools’ hygiene ratings. You can download FSA ratings of food hygiene for each local authority. … Continue reading
University Governance deconstructed… then constructed again…
TweetIf something has a Wikipedia entry that’s difficult to understand, it’s bound to be an intricate, complex, and rarely explained subject. University governance is one of those subjects. Rarely looked into, examined or explained, (outside of academia at least) the … Continue reading
Posted in Tips and How-Tos
Tagged convocation, council, court, hefce, legislation, management, managing structures, senate, university charters, university governance
Leave a comment
Data: BBC reveals locations of proposed new primary school academies
TweetBBC Radio 4’s The Report has done a nice bit of investigative journalism and revealed “the locations of 173 English primary schools the government wants to convert into academies.” Here’s the data The Report collected. The full report will air tonight, 16 February, … Continue reading
Posted in Data, Tips and How-Tos
Leave a comment
VIDEO: Tips on investigating education from Fiona Millar
TweetFiona Millar is an experienced journalist and campaigner who publishes The Truth About Our Schools, a website and blog covering the education sector. I met up with Fiona to ask what advice she would give to people wanting to investigate … Continue reading