Can't choose between two courses? Think about a joint honours

Joint honours degrees produce multi-skilled graduates. Photograph: Alamy

If you found making three A-level choices difficult, you may well struggle to choose just one subject to take at university. Dedicating three years to a single field of study is a daunting commitment – especially if you're not sure what you'd like to do after graduation.

But fear not. If you're an accomplished all-rounder, or perhaps just a little indicisive, a joint honours course could be the answer to your dilemma.

A joint honours degree, sometimes called a combined degree, allows students to study two or more subjects during the same time frame as a single honours course. Last year, around 18% of undergraduates did so, according to data collected by the Higher Education Statistics Agency – a figure that has remained fairly constant over the past five years.

Dave Baldwin, admissions manager at Leeds University said joint honours courses are popular because they allow students to get the best of both worlds. "The greatest advantage is that you study the core topics of two or more subjects and graduate with two subjects named in your degree title. You don't have to sacrifice a subject that you're passionate about – which makes your degree all the more interesting and means you're likely to achieve your best."

Having more strings to your bow is also valued by employers, he added.

Vince Peart, an advisor at the National Careers Service agreed: "Studying a combined degree can be a good idea, particularly if the two courses go well together and the student wants to keep their options open. When you start your graduate career you'll often have to deal with different subjects and styles of tasks – a joint honours course might prepare you for the rigours of the workplace."

"The only downside is that students will not be able to study their subjects in as much detail as those taking single honour courses."

The amount of time students dedicate to each of their subject areas depends upon the set up of their joint honours programme. Some institutions offer a fixed number of established joint honours degrees – these have their own Ucas code and are usually 50:50 combinations.

Students may sit a "cornerstone module" which encourages them to see the overlap between their two fields of study. But for the most part, the two halves of their course are completely distinct.

Other universities offer a pick and mix approach to joint honours, advised Mike Dobson, director of the University of Exeter's flexible combined honours degree programmes.

"At Exeter, we also allow students to build their own degree programmes by selecting two subjects that they are interested in, then we name it appropriately. For example, they might study military history and ancient ethics. This subject wouldn't be registered on the Ucas website because the student has created it themselves."

"Some combinations are fairly predictable – for example, English and history – but the most unusual we had was animal behaviour and English. In her Ucas form the student wrote that she wanted to write stories about animals."

Students can also use this flexible arrangement to adjust the amount of time they dedicate to each of their chosen subjects.

Sophia McCrea, who studied French and philosophy at the University of Bristol said she enjoys the variety that her degree offers, but adds that studying two fields is hard work: "To undertake a joint honours degree, you have to be incredibly organised. My two departments didn't co-ordinate deadlines, and so I could find myself with weeks with very little work set, then weeks with a very heavy workload, with maybe three essay deadlines on the same day."

The style of work expected by different subjects is also likely to vary. "Each department required different things from our work, and it was only really in my final year that I became comfortable juggling that. The essays I wrote for each subject differed greatly from one another, both in content and in style."

If you'd prefer to take a course which integrates your two areas of study, it might be worth veering away from the traditional joint honours programmes on offer, recommended George Jones, head of international business and modern language courses at Aston University.

"With most joint honours courses you have a piece of one degree stuck next to a piece of another degree. Obviously there isn't a conenction with the other side the individual student is taking, because that course is also available to many other students.

"Teaching on our international business and modern langauges course is integrated. In the first year students are taught international business in English, then in the second year they're taught business in French (or whichever langauge they're studying). It means students make simultaenous progress both in subject knowledge and linguistially."

If you're not convinced that a joint honours programme is right for you, it's worth investigating if your university will allow you to take an elective module from outside of your normal department.

"If a student wanted to do a single honours – for example, in French – but also had an interest elsewhere in another course or subject at Leeds, they'd be able to use discretionary modules and elective to purse an intersst in a subsidiary subject," adds Baldwin.

"You wouldn't graduate with a two-subejct degree title, but this does give you more flexiblity."

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England's forests: Messing about on the water

Two people rowing paddle boards in water at dusk. Photograph: Hans Berggren/plainpicture

Perhaps the most unusual of the numerous watery sports you can do in or next to an English forest is to be found on Coniston Water, beside Grizedale Forest in the Lake District. Coniston is, of course, the setting for Swallows and Amazons (you can hire a canoe from Coniston Boating Centre and paddle to the book's Wild Cat Island), but we're not sure what Arthur Ransome would have made of its?latest craze: paddleboarding.

Armed with a long oar and something resembling a windsurfing board (but no sail), you must row while standing upright – and if that sounds easy, it's not. Keeping your balance is the main challenge for a beginner. Yet paddleboarding is a great way to explore a big lake like Coniston.

"I tried it in Australia two years ago and suggested giving it a go here," says Jack Holmes from the boating centre, which hires out paddleboards at ￡15 for a taster session of two hours. "We introduced paddleboards last season and they're getting more popular all the time. People are keen to try it because it's something different."

There isn't any tuition provided, but the boards are very user-friendly and you'll be kitted out with a buoyancy aid to keep you afloat when you fall in. You can bring your own paddleboard if you want; the experience of being out alone on a quiet lake in the early morning is extra special.

If you are seeking a more remote setting, Ennerdale Water, the most westerly lake in the Lake District, offers the chance to try canoeing against rugged mountainous backdrops, with ancient oak woodland climbing the valley. The?lake can be reached from car parks at Bowness Knott or Bleach Green.

Much further south, take a spectacular ride in a Canadian canoe from Symonds Yat through the Forest of Dean along the beautiful river Wye (look out for the resident peregrines of Symonds Yat rock). Canoes can be rented from the Canoe Hire Company. More experienced canoeists can attempt the grade-two rapids at Symonds Yat, or test their skills on the sheltered water of Mallards Pike Lake, with raft building on offer at Way2Go Adventures.

For a less frenzied time on the water, try coarse fishing in the New Forest, or fish for trout in Kielder Water, Northumberland. You can also fish at Dalby Forest in Yorkshire and in the Forest of Dean, but note that fishing permits, and in some cases rod licences, will be required at all sites.

Climbing and abseiling
There are sites for experienced climbers on Forestry Commission land, but what about the total novice? As well as its luxurious cabins in the?Forest of Dean, Forest Holidays offers the chance to climb the mighty limestone Symonds Yat crag, then abseil back down to earth again – with instructors controlling a backup safety line. Ages eight-plus, see bit.ly/16ysLVX.

Dog racing
Did you know that sled dog racing – otherwise known as "mushing" – has taken place in England for 40 years, mainly on Forestry Commission sites such as Thetford and Haldon forests? Siberian huskies pull three-wheeled sleds along the forest trails. There's also the newer sport of canicross, in which runners are attached to a faithful friend! Children aged 10+ and dogs over a year old can compete.

Archery
Once the supreme British military tactic, archery is still enjoyed in many English forests with?tuition for budding William Tells. Try, for example, Look Out Archery's "complete archery experience for beginners and intermediate archers" in Thetford Forest. Alternatively, what more appropriate place?to?learn to fire a bow is there than Sherwood?(Pines) Forest?

Orienteering
The first public orienteering competition was held in Sweden in 1910; now the sport has spread around the world and there is pressure to include it in the Olympic Games. Train up a future champion on one of the regular ranger-led days at forests such as Alice Holt, Chopwell and Guisborough, or the permanent courses at Sherwood Pines and Whinlatter.

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Clearing 2013: what about a gap year instead?

Volunteering is a great way to see the world and meet new friends - and it looks great on your CV. Photograph: Jonathan Cole/Alamy

Whether or not to go to university will probably be the biggest educational decision you ever make. After trawling around open days and battling with student finance, deciding whether or not to take a year out can be as terrifying as deciding where to move to for the next three years.

Some students will have planned their year out for months, but, for others, slipped grades may force a gap year, either to retake exams or to apply to different universities. Others might just need time to think. Thankfully, for UK students, taking a gap year remains a viable option and it can be one of the most productive and fulfilling years of your life.

Whether you've planned and budgeted for a year abroad, or have made a last-minute decision to defer your first year, the options are endless. Travel, volunteering, work placements and internships are all there for the taking. With so many things on offer, it's crucial to remember that 12 months won't be enough time to do all of them, so decide early and work towards making whatever you want to do a reality.

Researching a gap year is exciting and daunting, and often the best place to start is at home: family and friends can be a great source of inspiration. Your school or college might be fully equipped to advise you on what to do when further education is on hold, especially if it's a work placement or internship you're interested in. Don't underestimate the power of the internet, either: typing "gap year" into a search engine might seem too obvious, but plans to travel the world for months are not going to materialise by themselves.

To stay at home or go abroad is likely to be the first question you tackle, but, in this era of budget flights, doing both is feasible. A European inter-rail ticket can be as little as ￡159. For those with more wanderlust (and a bit more in the bank), if travelling is what you want to spend your year doing, don't allow yourself to be ripped off in the process. Agencies can organise your year abroad for you: statravel.co.uk is recommended by previous gap-year students as a good place for inspiration and basic country-to-country flights. But, often, it's more cost effective to do the bookings yourself. Flights and other forms of transport within Asia and South America are much cheaper when bought in the country rather than beforehand.

Staying in the UK is not as exotic as?backpacking around Thailand, but if giving back to the community and doing a bit of graft for free?is your bag, it could be the best place to start.

There are many volunteering organisations within the UK that offer accommodation in return for help or labour. Go to the workaway.info website for a work-exchange organisation that lists places in the UK and abroad and does not require a lifetime of saving to become involved with.

Whether you're heading to Scotland or Australia, your year off should be designed to help you grow and develop as a person, before what will, arguably, be three years of your life that will change you the most. Make the most of it: use it to make friends, further your knowledge and understanding of cultures and people – and don't be afraid to try new things. Now, more than ever, is the time to do them.

You may be tempted to look only at websites designed specifically for young travellers, but, as with all adventures, it's good to get off the beaten track. Keep an eye out for forums and discussion boards on which people share their travel stories and tips: the best advice could come from someone you may not know on the other side of the world.

There are many different options to explore, but one site that's definitely worth checking out is gapyear.com. It is designed for the traveller, but also for those who want to volunteer, or work at home or abroad. It is user-friendly and has a lot of information to help you to start your research.

A lot of students will plan to spend as much of their gap year as they can afford travelling. For those who are only after a few weeks away, organisations such as World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (Wwoof) could be a solution. In return for work on their land, farm owners offer bed, board and hospitality to Wwoofers, as the volunteers are known – so you only have to find the price of an air ticket.

Understandably, many gap-year students want a complete break from learning, but you might consider taking a Tefl (teaching English as a foreign language, tefl.com) course. You will get a qualification that opens doors internationally and, for one month, you can study abroad, staying with a host family or other students. If you prefer to learn at home, intensive weekend courses are also available.

Tefl is a great idea for those who feel their wanderlust will return after university: with a degree and a qualification in teaching English to people abroad, the world will most certainly be your oyster.

‧ Going abroad for a few months may seem like the ideal thing to do with a big group of friends, but choose your travelling companions wisely. Spending all of your time with the same people can be a true test of friendship. Go away with someone you can trust and who you know will be flexible and open-minded – and be flexible and open-minded yourself. Being away from home for so long will be incredible, but patience-testing.

‧ Some of you will need to spend that year out working just to fund your time at university – remember it's a means to an end and try not to?begrudge your friends when they're off enjoying freshers' week. When it comes to improving your CV, you will have lots of new skills and experiences to make it stand out.

‧ There are hundreds of things you could do in 12 months. It may be tempting to do as many as possible, but be realistic. Research well, make an informed choice and back your decision. This is just one year out of many and everything you weren't able to do is likely to still be there when you've finished university.

Becky Peake-Sexton is in her second year studying English and history of art at the University of Birmingham

"I went away for nearly seven months between college and university. I'd known for a long time that I wanted to take a gap year after seeing the positive change in my sister when she returned. From then on, I started collecting pictures and articles about possible travels.

"In the end, I was entranced by the stories I had heard about India and wanted that to be my first stop. I would have been happy to stay there for my entire travels, but, as I was going with friends, a compromise was made and we also went to south-east Asia, including Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia. Finally, we ended up in New Zealand.

"Travelling is exhilarating and exhausting, particularly if you are on your own. You can never let your guard down as you can when you are with friends."

Ellie Franklin, studying English and communications at the University of Liverpool, used her year out to gain experience and save for her studies

"My gap year was unplanned: I (narrowly) missed the grades I needed to get into university and had to resit an exam. For this reason, I had no money saved to travel and no plans for where to go. I could have worked and saved, and then gone abroad, but I chose to work and save for my first year of uni instead.

"My parents wisely advised that I look for work experience, which I did, alongside working as a waitress. I was at MEC Global, an advertising agency, for a month, and Spotify for three weeks. I found out by asking a family contact if she knew of, or could get me, any work experience.

My work experience taught me a lot about those industries and whether I wanted to seek a job in them in the future.

It also instilled a good work ethic in me: my boss at the wedding venue where I worked as a waitress said I was much more proactive and responsible when I came back to that job after the internships I'd been on."

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Letters: It's time Michael Gove came clean about his real agenda

Illustration by Gary Kempston

Michael Gove's assertions about free schools paint a distorted picture (Wrong again, Ed, 1?August). I challenge him to provide the evidence to support his comment that in England "the evidence shows that children benefit from … a knowledge-rich curriculum". He claims the free schools policy is supported "right across the political spectrum", but then admits that doesn't stretch to the Labour party. He ignores the disquiet among policymakers about the lack of accountability of these schools, which is partly about the disproportionate amount of taxpayers' money they receive. He omits to mention the huge concern among those who teach in, administer and lead our schools, about?opening schools where no extra places are needed.

Inspections from 24 free schools are not sufficient to back his claims that they are driving up standards or that their Ofsted inspections outstrip those of other state schools. And he chooses not to mention that their inspection results are only slightly better than for schools generally, with 58% rated good, compared with the national figure of 54%.

The freedoms he claims are available only to free schools actually apply to all state schools. But, since he hardly ever visits "bog standard" schools, he wouldn't know that many of them buzz with innovation. The one freedom available to free schools, which no sane school leader would want, is the right to employ unqualified teachers – how is that best for children's education?

It's time Mr Gove came clean about his real agenda. One thing he does know is that free schools and academies are ripe for takeover by global businesses seeking to make a profit from education. Is this really what taxpayers should be funding? And how is this going to improve children's education?
Dr Mary Bousted
General secretary, Association of Teachers and Lecturers

‧ It is now clear, despite Gove's protestations, that free schools are indeed ideological and based on no objective evidence whatsoever. The only source he cites is Ofsted, an organisation that, since the days of Chris Woodhead, has not been renowned for its impartiality. There is a considerable body of evidence on what makes a good school and how young people can be helped to become better learners. On his doorstep, Professors Peter Mortimore and Dylan Wiliam of the University of London's institute of education have, in their different ways, contributed to this body of evidence, but I have the feeling they might well be dismissed as "leftwing academics".

Gove wants us to believe that he is driven by a desire to get more children "to succeed academically". I have never met a teacher who did not want children to succeed academically, but teachers know that there is a lot more to education than narrow academic success. The secretary of state has ridden roughshod over the views of parents, the concerns of teachers and the advice of academics. The tragedy is that, as Bruce Millan, as secretary of state for Scotland in 1977, said of education policy, "at the end of the day, the system does change, and change significantly, but it just can't be done by administrative or ministerial fiat … It just doesn't work like that".
Brian Boyd
Emeritus professor of education, University of Strathclyde

‧ If free schools are doing well (except for some) because they are free from local authority control and can decide things for themselves, does that mean Gove will now introduce a bill bringing the national curriculum to an end instead of extending it, as he currently proposes, even including pressure on how to teach reading – by synthetic phonics? The national curriculum does not have to be taught in free schools or academies, any way, so why impose it on local authority schools?

Surely a Marxist of Mr Gove's intelligence cannot be so confused as to advocate freedom for schools and at the same time deny it.
Professor Norman Thomas
St Albans, Hertfordshire

‧ Since Gove believes that the freedom "to choose to open for longer; offer academic and other courses unavailable in other local schools; and hire the best people to teach" is a good thing, why does he not extend it to all publicly funded schools, for which he is supposed to be responsible, rather than restricting it to his favoured ones? Without a level playing field, how can any valid conclusions be drawn?
Ron Glatter
Emeritus professor of educational administration and management, Open University

‧ Few ministers can have initiated more changes that ignore the evidence Gove claims his are rooted in, nor been shown to have done so on so many occasions. Who are these adherents of Robespierre, Mill and Marx whose support he claims for free schools? And how can he assert their "remarkable success" after a single year? They have received preferential funding, top-sliced from the education budget; in many cases they amount to no more than one year-group as yet and have no statistically significant track record. Roll on Dotheboys Hall.
Ian Roberts
Baildon, West Yorkshire

‧ Michael Gove writes about the performance of free schools after publication of data showing that three-quarters of them have been rated good or outstanding. He states that "if a single local authority performed this well we would applaud its commitment to excellence". In Reading, 80% of schools are rated good or outstanding. I trust he will applaud the commitment to excellence of the Labour council in Reading.
Peter Kayes
Reading

‧ It is overwhelmingly documented that children require unconditional Gove in order to thrive.
Bob Buntine
Northampton

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Confused about the national curriculum? Here, have a pre-loaded tablet

Will pupils be taught in future through tablets pre-loaded with curriculum content? Photograph: Thomas Tolstrup/Getty Images

Next year schools don't need to follow the national curriculum. The year after, only some of them will. And the year after that, robots will be teaching our children. Don't believe me? Read on.

To surprisingly little fanfare, the government has "disapplied" the national curriculum from September 2013, except for English, maths and science in some primary years. Schools should still teach all subjects named in the current curriculum, but it will be up to each teacher to decide what content to include. The logic is that removing the old curriculum for a year gives teachers a chance to prepare for the new curriculum, starting in 2014. Problem is, the next draft of the new content won't be out for consultation until July – a particularly bad time to consult with teachers – and it will mean the final curriculum will not get into the hands of schools until at least September. Teachers are therefore facing the distinct possibility of needing to create a hybrid curriculum ready for autumn but not knowing what that will involve until they are back in their classrooms.

So … won't teachers just stick with what they already have? They can't. The government's endless fiddling with assessments means even teachers wishing to recycle old materials must spend hours reworking them to meet new requirements. "Disapplication" sounds as if everyone is going to have a year off: to plan, and think, and innovate. That's an illusion. Instead, teachers will probably still spend next year revising their previous lessons, while painfully aware that the following autumn they will have to throw them out and write new ones.

Then, in September 2014, teachers must rein in all their innovative tendencies and follow the government's new "highly prescriptive" programmes of study. Unless the teacher works in an academy. Academies don't have to teach the national curriculum, ever – somewhat undermining the title.

So far Michael Gove, the education secretary, has given no clear reason why not all schools should follow the new curriculum. He recently praised individual schools for developing their own curricula, including Ark schools' maths programme and Pimlico academy's content-rich curriculum. But this praise for school-based development contrasts sharply with speeches made earlier in his tenure. Back in 2011, Gove repeatedly emphasised the impact of rigorous, prescribed curricula in the world's best-performing countries and was taken enough with the idea of compulsory core knowledge that he even asked experts to investigate the practicalities of having nationally required textbooks. Why has he suddenly gone cold on the idea? Oh yes, the robots …

Last week in the House of Commons Gove was asked whether children would be better served by having the national curriculum revised at fixed periods rather than at the personal whim of ministers. Gove, in an opaque statement, claimed he did not wish to prescribe in a way that might hinder changes arising from new technologies. "I have this sense of significant innovation coming," he said with a mystical flourish. "I don't want to unnecessarily constrain it."

One can't help but wonder if this "sense" has anything to do with Amplify, an educational group already selling tablet computers to schools in the US pre-loaded with curriculum materials. Amplify, as it happens, is part of Rupert Murdoch's education company. Also, Marketing Magazine reported in March, following a Freedom of Information request, that Gove had been visited in 2012 by officials from the TabletsForSchools programme – whose staff include Andrew Harrison, chief executive of Carphone Warehouse, and Sebastian James, chief executive of Dixons. Gove gave a seal of approval to the scheme and ordered his department to help the company with its plans of trialling and then rolling out tablets across the country. Results are due out in September of the first trials evaluating the impact of tablet teaching on student achievement.

So the robots aren't coming just yet. But it's not too much of a leap to imagine that schools full of over-worked teachers scrabbling to keep up with change might think an off-the-shelf curriculum on sale from another school, or a tablet replete with pre-planned lessons, is an answer to their nightmares. I don't know about you, but I have this mystical sense of significant profit to be made. No wonder some people don't want to constrain it.

‧ Laura McInerney taught in London for six years and is currently a Fulbright scholar

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Students stay silent about mental health problems, survey shows

Mental health charities fear students are suffering in silence. Photograph: Peter Lawson/Eastnews Press Agency

Universities should do more to encourage students with mental health problems to seek help, a leading charity has warned.

More than a quarter (26%) of students who say they experience mental health problems do not get treatment and only one in 10 use counselling services provided by their university, according to a National Union of Students (NUS) study.

Of the students surveyed by the union, one in five say they experienced mental health problems while at university. This is in line with national statistics estimating that in any one year 23% of British adults experience a mental disorder.

Those who do experience mental health problems cite coursework deadlines (65%) and exams (54%) as triggers of distress. Financial difficulties (47%), pressures about "fitting in" (27%) and homesickness (22%) also contribute to mental ill health.

Stress is one of the most common symptoms of distress (80%), with many students also reporting a lack of energy or motivation (70%), anxiety (55%) and insomnia (50%). Some 38% experience panic, while 14% consider self-harm and 13% report suicidal thoughts.

NUS researchers admit that their survey was self-selecting and may exaggerate the prevalence of mental health problems among students. But Hannah Paterson, NUS Disabled Students' Officer, says the "primary concern" is that very few of the students experiencing distress speak about their problem.

Of those who do experience mental health problems, 64% do not use any formal services for advice and support.

Students are more likely to tell their friends and family about feelings of anxiety, than they are to approach a doctor, academic or university counsellor.

Paul Farmer, chief executive of Mind, says this may be because of the stigma attached to mental illnesses. He adds that universities should do more to reach out to students.

"Higher education institutions need to ensure not just that services are in place to support mental wellbeing, but that they proactively create a culture of openness where students feel able to talk about their mental health and are aware of the support that's available.

"Opening up to friends and family can help those feeling stressed or anxious, but anyone experiencing suicidal thoughts or consistently feeling down may have an enduring mental health problem, so it's best they visit their GP. Nobody should suffer alone."

Poppy Jaman, chief executive of Mental Health First Aid England says the NUS' findings are unsurprising: "The student community is considered high risk for mental ill health, with exams, intense studying and living away from home for the first time all contributing factors.

"Where symptoms of poor mental health are spotted early and appropriate support and treatment is put in place the subsequent rate of recovery is significantly improved. Much more needs to be done within educational settings to improve the prevention and intervention of mental ill health."

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British students talk about a revolution: From the archive, 15 June 1968

Everyday student activism at the London School of Economics in the 1960s. Photograph: Terrence Spencer/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Image

Students from British colleges and universities yesterday founded the Revolutionary Socialist Student Federation. About 500 of them packed a lecture theatre on the first of the two-day founding conference at the London School of Economics.

Amid the jungles of revolutionary ideology, speakers grappled manfully with 1848, Rosa Luxemburg, the personality cult, worker hostility to students, and the sad sparsity of ranks and files.

No matter, though, for once more the keen-eyed had seen visions of a red dawn in the west and, not for the first time in history, one speaker even believed that "the death knell of capitalism has sounded". An Irish printer, Comrade Wise, of the Dalston branch of Sogat, a print union, handed over a cheque for ￡50. He appealed to the students not to be vicious, violent, or pull up paving stones. But he promised that if the newspapers misrepresented their case, he would do his best to bring the newspaper distribution workers out on strike.

In the first session ("Trends in capitalism") it was notable that activists like Messrs Tariq Ali, Pat Jordan and Paul Foot were present but not at the microphone (one revolutionary student even told the press: "Tariq Ali represents nobody but himself.")

A handout for the press emphasised once more that the aims of the federation are "opposition to the control of education by the ruling class, support of all anti-imperialist struggles and solidarity with national liberation movements, opposition to racialism and immigration control, and workers' power as the only alternative to capitalism."

One of the most warmly applauded speeches was from a left-wing journalist, Mr John Palmer, who said that for 20 years capitalist society had not been more clearly rent by contradictions. The federation would build bridges from the ghetto world of the student revolutionaries to the working classes. The heart attacks of modern capitalism would get more frequent and severe.

A Black Power spokesman told the "revolutionaries" to weed out those who were only interested in talking about revolution and then his organisation could co-operate with the RSSF. When he uncomfortably asked: "How many people sitting here know how to make a petrol bomb ?" a man shouted back, "How many want to ?"

Before the meeting there was a curious press conference, in which a student, who declined to be named or even described as a spokesman, said that the federation was not going to be just another Labour student organisation. It would not be committed to violence, though it might be necessary on occasion. He made the point, that was to become clearer later, that RSSF was more concerned with revolution in capitalist society as a whole than in mere student power.

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Top 5 best and worst things about my time studying abroad in America | Richard Morris

50 States and their Mottos by artist Emily Wick, from the book Mapping America, Exploring the Continent. Photograph: Black Dog Publishing Ltd

A Brit studying abroad across the pond might not sound that adventurous, but it's been an eye-opening year for me at the University of West Georgia in the much stereotyped US south. Here's the best and worst of what I learned about America:

I'm not very good with numbers, so maybe this didn't help me, but I still cannot understand American coins after living here for 10 months. One of the coins which is larger actually has a lower value than a coin which is smaller (and of the same colour), go figure. "Dimes" and "nickels," still mean nothing to me.

Having said that, you get phenomenal value for money everywhere. Buy a drink which isn't alcoholic (because you're under 21) and you get free unlimited refills at the vast majority of establishments. First few months I was here I kept rejecting refills, presuming they'd show up on the bill, but they never do. You'll also find the portion sizes here are more than generous, taking home meals in "to-go boxes" is commonplace.

Beyond meals, shopping is also generally cheaper in America. Even organic foods are basically on sale.

I paid $687.44 per semester for the mandatory international student health insurance that all internationals must take upon enrolling at my institution. It covered me for the student health centre, a couple of practices outside the campus and one hospital. Republicans say that Britain's National Health Services is evil and doesn't work … try private medical insurers.

When you're not embroiled in a spat with a local hospital as to whether or not your insurance plan covers you for that particular treatment at that particular hospital, the hospitality you receive when visiting American homes is second to none. I have been shown nothing but kindness from Americans, and I've been invited to countless people's homes during the year to spend the weekend with them, rather than being trapped in university dormitories. The TVs are also huge, which makes a day of Netflix after finals a reliable choice.

I don't know about you, but there is nothing better than hearing the same Top 40 songs repeated over and over again. I thought the repetition of songs on Capital FM in the UK was bad enough, but here it's just the same playlist, almost hourly. In the south it's either that or country music stations, choose your poison.

Also, try and get any informed debate from any major national news network in the US, MSNBC will invite on mostly liberals to their shows and come to the conclusion that background checks for gun buyers are a good thing. Fox News will do the exact opposite. CNN doesn't quite have the open debate that I'd like to see. As a result, all politics here is skewed towards spin, not facts. Don't get me started on the one third of every televisual hour being advert breaks, either.

Yes, Intercourse, PA does really exist. There are also some amazing street names, if you fancy living on a student visa in a country in which most streets use any of the following names "Creek", "Lakeview", "Circle", "Way", "Court" and "Drive" then be my guest. I have no issue with the names here, but some of them are a little bizarre, if overly optimistic: "Happy Valley Circle", for instance, in Georgia. The numbering idea for towns and cities is very wise, however, "1st Street", "2nd Street" and so on. I like the system, the names just take a while to adjust to.

The interstate highways are a beautiful system, modelled by President Dwight Eisenhower on the autobahns in Germany, but unfortunately that is where my love for American roads ends. Each junction in America is of increasing complexity, it seems to me, with some angles almost making it impossible to make a turn quickly enough. Road networks here also seem to have either too much information, meaning an information overload three miles before an exit is due, or not enough, and without a GPS you'd be completely stuck.

How can a Brit go abroad and not mention the weather? While Georgia weather is bipolar (it snowed in February, the next day it was 24 celsius, we also had hailstorms during spring break), when it is beautiful, it is stunning. Fortunately, the weather being beautiful accounts for about 70-80% of the year.

Asking for Oregano in any Subway sandwich causes a minor crisis at every outlet I have been to. For some reason, all the syllables from this word are removed, yet one of my host "moms" complains how the Brits drop the ends of words (Buckingham, Birmingham, Manchester, etc), usually, Americans are the ones to extend the vowels, but with oregano, this does not apply at all, clearly. I did once find myself saying to a friend on Skype after three months of being here, "oh, what a beautiful accent you have", I thought that was something only Americans said.

Clumsy sentences are also abound, "Gotten sick" and "Keep off of the grass/rocks/enjoyable water feature" are personal favourites.

America is beautiful. I went travelling out west over the Christmas break and took over 1,000 photos in a week. Even the scenery where the houses are set in Georgia is beautiful. A lot of America is truly stunning. The suburbs are peaceful and quiet, with birdsong and the gentle rustle of wind through the trees as you step out of a car. I've heard California is even nicer, but I really can't imagine how that's possible.

I'm so torn, America is far better than I ever expected, but at the same time I must return to the UK to continue my studies. As much as this country has been great to me, and it really has, the people are just fantastic, I must return to the UK, where no one talks on public transport and where we'll complain when it's too hot and moan when it's too cold, despite packing inappropriate clothing for both occasions. I can't wait, but at the same time I'm leaving a fan of our former colony.

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Suli Breaks: The secret of success? Forget exams – it’s all about getting the Breaks

Somehow a twenty-something spoken-word poet from Wood Green in north London named Suli Breaks has bagged millions of hits with exactly that, with his breakthrough monologue “Why I Hate School But Love Education”. Following it up with “I Will Not Let An Exam Result Decide My Fate” and his EP “The Dorm Room”, he has even drawn attention from the likes of the Washington Post in discussions of childhood rebellion and reforming the way kids learn in class.

His tracks aren’t for everyone – even while remarking upon his success, the Post criticised “factual inaccuracies” and “grammatical errors” in his delivery. Yet they have evidently struck a chord worldwide – as a quick glimpse at the online comments from adults and children alike will attest. Speaking to The Independent, Suli argues that the education system, as it stands, is out of date. “The world has changed with innovations in the internet and social media having made it very open, giving everybody the opportunity to do something,” he says – before adding that he believes the way we’re preparing our children for work and for grown-up life in Britain sadly doesn’t reflect that.

“It’s a predated system but also the structure of it doesn’t allow for fluency of thought, it’s so rigid in its application, everything has to be yes, no, black and white, but I don’t think the world is in that stage at the moment,” he says. “We’re in a period of innovation, a sort of renaissance. People are becoming millionaires by building their own companies on YouTube, people promote their businesses on Twitter, I can speak to someone who’s in Tokyo on Skype without even needing to have their phone number. But you’re not taught any of the opportunity that is right there in front of you.”

Being introduced to social networking in the classroom is not high among Education Secretary Michael Gove’s priorities for schoolchildren. Yet exam boards may find some agreement with Suli on his opposition to grades, contemplating the effect of realising as a pupil that you “were only one mark short of the top grade”. Cambridge Assessment recently argued that candidates can have quite different marks but end up with the same grade – or results just one mark apart but divided by a huge grade boundary.

In fact, listening to his tracks, it is startling how many of his questions are being debated by think tanks and advisory groups. “We all have different abilities, thought processes, experiences and genes – so why is a class full of individuals tested by the same means?” he raps – an argument echoed by Demos, who believe that students should be assessed in subjects they enjoy rather than what the state deems important.

While the messages in his work might sound political, Suli doesn’t see it that way. “To me what I’m saying is common sense, it’s what I see around me. There aren’t any political figures that I can relate to.” The people he admires are Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, David Beckham. “He wasn’t the cleverest guy, he wasn’t even the best footballer, but he has made the most of what he had”.

Breaks himself grew up as one of three children in “a conventional African family, where education is paramount”. He went to Enfield Grammar for a year before accepting a scholarship to play basketball in Middlesbrough. From there he went on to study law at Sheffield.

Despite excelling in academia and being top of the class in his school life, when he left, Suli says, the real learning began: “The whole process of education seemed futile in terms of what I would get from it, what I enjoyed doing and what I saw other people in the world excelling at.”

He argues that if teachers incorporated YouTube or sessions on social media in class, it would help engage children who “have unintentionally shut off to education”. These days he spends a lot of time talking to the kids on his estate who “would rather spend their time doing something that is passive rather than engaging their minds”, trying to convince them that there is a different way of learning. “Everybody has a different path. I have friends who are as smart as anybody but just because they can’t excel in the traditional way then they’ll be looked on as stupid and that has an effect on your whole life.”

This cycle feeds into so many social problems, Breaks points out, like crime and youth unemployment. “A lot of people who I know who have participated in crime are those who in the school system couldn’t find a place for themselves. If a society doesn’t accept you, why would you want to conform to its needs?”

‘I Will Not Let An Exam Result Decide My Fate’: The lyrics

Test us with tests,

But the finals are never final

Because they never prepare for the biggest test which is survival.

What I suggest is fairly outlandish

I don’t except everyone to understand this

Except the kids that know what it feels like to be

Worth no more than that D or that A

That you get on results day

The ones whose best stories, were never good enough for their English teacher

Because apparently you missed out key literal techniques

Didn’t follow the class? plan

And the language was too informal for him to understand.

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Headteachers want four years to teach about the dangers of porn

Delegates to the National Association of Head Teachers' (NAHT) Conference in Birmingham warned that children were being stripped of their innocence by material sexually explicit on the internet as well as television, often projected before the 21st of the watershed.

The call came as a survey of parents showed four in 10 want their five years gave lessons on dealing with child pornography, at the same time as they learn to use the internet.

Amanda Hulme, elementary school principal Claypool in Bolton, said "completely inappropriate themes" such as rape, murder, domestic violence, child abuse, self-destructive abuse, bulimia, alcoholism, prostitution and drugs were now being broadcast before the watershed.

Distinguishes Got Talent of Britain, saying it had helped Sandra Broadbent to sing "you were lying there naked ass with a woman between your thighs", 20:10, followed by a chorus of "kisses" my ass.

ITV Emmerdale SOAP also came under fire for allowing a single character Cain Dingle, shouting "I will kill him and slag I catch with ' at 7.20 pm.

On pornography on the internet, Steve Watkins, head of the school of Millfield primary in Leeds, said schools to talk to children of age maternal 'things that shouldn't be there' if one hardware access by mistake.

A survey of 1,000 parents by the NAHT has shown more than four out of five were happy for their children to receive lessons on the dangers of pornography. In addition, 88 percent said sex education lessons should be compulsory in schools.

Parents are divided as to when the lessons should begin, though, with 42% saying five - and six years were in need of guidance. However, more than half (51 percent) felt the lessons should not start until the children were dressed in their teens.

They were United, however, supporting the idea that all facilities offering internet services should have a block by default on pornographic sites, forcing users to "opt in" rather than to "withdraw." 90 percent of respondents agreed.

Russell Hobby, general Secretary of the NAHT, said: "young people should be protected from pornography and children should receive appropriate sexual education and relationships advice."

On violence on television, Ms. Hulme said leaders should "at least fight to keep the basin in place'.

"Perception is the child has already been reduced from 16 to 12 and one-third of those polled [by Netmums] believe that childhood exceeded 10," she added. "How far are we willing to let this go? -eight? six? I already talk to children in year two (six and seven years) on the inappropriate sexual language. This has to stop".

Meanwhile, parents sign children as young as eight illegally on Facebook, said Mr. Watkins.

He revealed that the majority of its 10 or 11 - years (a class of 33 24) had been signed – despite the fact that the rules of Facebook say that they should not do so until they are 13.

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Headteacher found hanged was worrying about Ofsted rating, inquest hears

Helen Marr, aged 43, was found dead at Sytchampton Endowed First School for four to nine-year-olds in Stourport-on-Severn, Worcestershire, last November.

Dr Stephanie Gait, who chaired the school’s governing body, told the inquest:? “She was very concerned that - if an Ofsted inspection was imminent - the school would lose its ‘outstanding’ rating.

“That had been mentioned in at least one governor’s meeting and we all said we understood that would be the case but not through any fault of her.”

The inquest heard local authority officials had carried out their own assessment of the school and said? it was unlikely to maintain its top ranking.? Mrs Mann had been head of the school for just six months when she died following a five term period when it had been without a permanent headteacher.

The inquest also heard Mrs Mann, a married mother with two children, was worried about having to make a part-time teacher, Angela Mercer, redundant, ”There was an employment issue which was not of her making,” said Dr Gait.? “There was a hearing that Helen was at and I know she found that very difficult.? ...? I was told by the governors that were there that she was visibly distressed following that meeting.”

On the day she was found hanged in the school - a training day when there were no pupils around, she had just returned from a month’s sick leave following collapsing at a meeting.

Dr Gait said that - following the summer holidays - Mrs Mann appeared “weighed down by what she wanted to achieve” and had noticeably lost weight.

“I was concerned ... she was not the bright-eyed bushy-tailed young woman who had joined us and was being weighed down by what she saw as problems,” she added.

Jacqueline Stanley, a teaching assistant at the school, said Mrs Mann had looked ”dreadful” when she had come into the school during her sick leave but added that - as a head - she had been “very hands on, very interactive”.? “She was lovely with the children,” she said.

The inquest, which is expected to last four days, was adjourned until tomorrow.

*If any of the content of this story affects you, the Samaritans are available to talk 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

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