FutureLearn, the UK's online university platform, has reached a million students signing up for courses. The provider of so-called Moocs (massive open online courses) says interest has been rising sharply, with 20% more UK students in the last three months of 2014. Read More

A delay in starting school for summer-born or premature children may be linked with poor academic performance later on, a study suggests. Some experts believe delayed school entry benefits this group of children. Read More

Pupils in some parts of England are unlikely to take exams that could be vital to their job prospects - such as sciences and languages - due to a subject "desert", a study has found. The Open Public Services Network examined GCSE statistics from 2013 and found in some authorities a third of schools did not offer triple science. Read More

In a competitive jobs market, sixth formers need to gain skills that will help them stand out. Education secretary Nicky Morgan has called for a new focus on “the character skills we all need to get on in life” – including resilience, grit, self esteem and self confidence. Read More

England’s funding council will be given powers to regulate the entry of new providers and universities to the sector, a move described as “an early job application” for the council to be the chief regulator after the election. Meanwhile, the University and College Union has accused the Higher Education Funding Council for England of furthering the marketisation of higher education through the programme for its annual conference. Read More

The government’s flagship policies for improving schools – encouraging them to convert to academy status and establishing free schools – have had little or no effect, according to a major parliamentary inquiry to be published this week. Read More

Behaviour of boys from poor homes is worse when they grow up with wealthier neighbours, suggests research. By contrast, poor boys in "hard-pressed" areas had the lowest rates of antisocial behaviour, data on 1,600 children in England and Wales suggests. Read More

Women accepted to study at university outnumbered men by record levels last year, with female applicants dominating entrance to medicine, law and biology undergraduate degrees. The 2014 admissions data from Ucas, the UK’s universities clearing house, also revealed record numbers of acceptances for disabled people and Asian and black ethnic groups, with a falling proportion for students from independent schools. Read More

When tuition fees in England's universities rocketed to £9,000 per year, applications plunged in the opposite direction. Applications slumped by the biggest ever amount, down by about 40,000 in England when they were introduced in 2012. It looked like thousands of young people were going to be frozen out of higher education. Read More

The work of local educators across Leicester and Leicestershire to encourage young people to progress to higher education has received a boost today after it was announced that the local REACH Partnership, based at the University of Leicester, will over the next two years receive £240,000 in government funding after being chosen as one of the new HEFCE National Networks for Collaborative Outreach. This will expand upon the operating budget of £60,000 currently provided by the University of Leice...