With the price of university halls or digs doubling in a decade, we look at the pros and cons of living with your parents while studying. For Abla Klaa, one of the main perks of living with her parents while studying is that the fridge is always stocked. “I’m saved from worrying about grocery shopping or choosing between a greasy takeaway or cooking dinner – if I knew how to,” says Klaa, a second-year broadcast journalism student at Leeds University. The downside is she has to help do the dishes...

Banning mobile phones from schools has the effect of giving pupils an extra week's education over the course of an academic year, researchers say. The study, published by the London School of Economics, looked at schools in four English cities and found test scores increased by more than 6% in those which banned phones. Low-achieving and low-income students improved the most, researchers claim. More than 90% of British teenagers own a mobile phone. Read More.

Children as young as 10 worry that doing badly in their school SATs tests could set them up for failure in their lives, new research shows. More than half of pupils – 55 per cent – said they were worried that failing to achieve the required standard would damage their chances of success in the future, in a poll of more than 1,000 children who took their Key Stage Two SATs exams last year aged 11. Six out of 10 children claimed they had been told by teachers that SATs were important for the schoo...

Research shows a decrease in tuition fees could see students from poorer backgrounds choosing different courses and working less during term time. Tuition fees have been at the forefront of political parties’ pre-election campaigning, but what do we really know about how the cost of higher education affects the number of students going to university, and the choices they make when applying? What happened following the trebling of tuition fees in 2012 has surprised virtually all of those working ...

Single sex education is better for teenage girls as it takes the pressure off them to try and impress boys in a “sexualised world”, the headmistress of one of Britain's best boarding schools has claimed. Rhiannon Wilkinson, head of Wycombe Abbey in Buckinghamshire, suggested female pupils were allowed to "remain girls for longer" at boarding school so they can focus on their work. She added single boys hold girls back because girls mature faster and it is best for their education to grow in a "b...

The decline in the number of part-time students in the UK university sector is a “tragedy” for individuals, families and society, according to the new vice-chancellor of the Open University. Peter Horrocks will use his first speech to call on the next government to put part-time study at the “front and centre” of the higher education agenda. Read More

Pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds who want to go to university will be able to make contact with each other for the first time through a groundbreaking social messaging service. The new Focus Point website, which has been developed to help widen access, has a unique student forum where pupils from low participation schools can discuss their university applications and other issues online.  Read More.

Children as young as eight are being put off sport by the behaviour of their parents, a survey has found. Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), which is responsible for cricket's laws, and cricket charity Chance to Shine spoke to 1,002 children aged eight to 16. Of those surveyed, 45% said the bad behaviour of parents made them feel like not wanting to take part in sport. Read More

New National Reference Tests to help set GCSE grade boundaries could be made compulsory for thousands of pupils in England. The exams regulator Ofqual previously suggested the tests would be voluntary. But the Times Educational Supplement (TES) says hundreds of schools could be forced to enter a sample of their year 11 students. Read More