Daily roundup 6 February: Home schooling, FGM, and 'paltry returns'

Some head teachers are talking parents into home schooling troubled children at risk of exclusion so their results do not count against the school, it has been claimed. The BBC reports that the Association of Directors of Children's Services said it was concerned about the growth in elective home education "as an intervention", especially among pupils just ahead of sitting their GCSEs.


Female genital mutilation (FGM) is rarely reported until 15 or 25 years after it takes place, statistics have shown. Analysis by the of latest NHS data by the National FGM Centre, run jointly by Barnardo's and the Local Government Association, found that the age at which FGM was undertaken was under-10 in fourth-fifths of the newly recorded cases. But the age at which it is reported is around the late-20s or early-30s because in the majority of cases where FGM is first recorded it is during appointments with a midwife or obstetrician.


Many graduates receive "paltry returns" for their degrees despite racking up £50,000 in debt, says the chairman of the education select committee. The BBC reports that Robert Halfon said in a speech on Monday that between a fifth and a third of graduates take non-graduate jobs, and that any extra returns for having a degree "vary wildly".


A total of 21 sets of home-educating parents across Norfolk and Suffolk have been ordered to send their children back to school because they were not learning enough, it has emerged. The Eastern Daily Press reports that a Freedom of Information request revealed that since 2013/14, at least 21 families - eight in Suffolk and 13 in Norfolk - have been handed orders to send their children back to school.