Daily roundup 17 May: Business advice, internet, and empowering girls

Expert business advice is being offered to schools across the country to help them stretch their funding further, the Department for Education has announced. Schools minister Lord Agnew said more than 40 business advisers are signed up to start offering hands-on bespoke business support to schools, with 26 already benefitting.


Preventing children from using internet-connected devices is the equivalent of child abuse and could have long-term implications on a child's development, an academic has suggested. iNews reports that Professor Ellis Cashmore, of Aston University in Birmingham, worked with researchers from Teeside University and the University of South Australia on a study of the habits of more than 2,000 internet users. It found that technology, on the whole, enhances rather than detracts from users' lives, contrary to multiple scientific studies that link excessive internet use to shortened attention spans, depression and mental health conditions.


UK Youth has launched a new programme to empower young women and girls to use their voices for positive change - to mark the centenary of women's suffrage. The new programme, EmpowHER, aims to help young women and girls lead change in their communities, increase their self-esteem and build wellbeing by providing inclusive and meaningful social action opportunities.


A new course at the University of Cumbria to train the inspiring youth and community workers of the future has received accreditation by the National Youth Agency (NYA) and endorsement from the Endorsement Standards Board (ESB) for Community Development. The university's new BA and MA in Youth Work and Community Development, which will launch in September, is aimed at students hoping to work in a wide range of local authority, private and charitable organisations.