The Crisis of UK Secondary Education: Pressures and Accountability

This chapter explores the increasing centralization and academic pressures in UK secondary education, stemming from reforms like the 2017 GCSEs. It addresses the mental health challenges faced by students and the financial difficulties encountered by schools and teachers, advocating for better accountability in media portrayals of the educational system.

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There’s a mystery of violence swirling in and amongst the kids these days. Especially boys. What could it be? Snapchat? Video games? Andrew Tate? A hit Netflix series points to issues, and policy. But is it pointing in the right direction?

Today we’ll look at “Adolescence”: the origin story, the strengths and liabilities of its one-take technique, and its deceptively conservative messaging. Should it be shown in Parliament? Schools? Does it tell us much about the kids it is worried about? Does it offload responsibility for misogyny and violence onto ambient internet chaos, when there are so many other causes closer to home? And why, if it is a meditation on violence committed by boys, do we learn so little about the girls who are harmed?

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Correction: In the episode, Matthew said that Axel Rudakabana was of South Asian descent. He was born in the UK of parents from Rwanda.