The Government announced a raft of new proposals last month aimed at tackling the problem of "failing" schools. A total of 638 schools were identified in this category and as many as 270 could be threatened with closure.

The nation's youth, parents and teachers are miserable, for exam season is upon us once again. But this year, there has been a bigger outcry than usual with claims that the nation's children are being tested too much, too often. Add to this problems with exam scheduling, computer glitches, and accusations of "teaching to test" and the whole sorry business looks set to make everyone even more unhappy.

New plans unveiled by the Conservative Party last month, called "Giving Power Back to the Teachers" promise to help schools deal with disruptive children by giving them greater powers. Is this the support teachers have been waiting for, or just more pre-election hype? Stephanie Norbury investigates.

Homework should be scrapped because it makes kids unhappy. Every child in the country must have perked up at that headline! What next, no stressful exams, no early morning starts and longer summer holidays?

New figures were released last month, which once again suggest that UK schools are facing a teacher shortage in certain key subjects. This time, the research was carried out by Professor John Howson at consultants Education Data surveys. He points out that the number of teacher trainee applicants has fallen by nine per cent compared with this time last year. The drop is most noticeable in subjects such as Physics (down 30 per cent) Maths and English (down 15 per cent) Information and Communications Technology (16 per cent) and Geography (14 per cent).

The headlines are shocking: "Pupil, 15, admits raping teacher in classroom", "Pupil charged over teacher attack", "Pupil films head teacher ‘happy slap'" and they are occurring with increasing and alarming frequency. Since when did teaching become such a dangerous profession? And who is to blame? Society, bad parents, violent movies and games - or the government itself?

Next year’s secondary school intake will be the first to be legally required to stay in school until the age of 18, according to new plans, which will be outlined in this year’s Queen’s speech. The plans to raise school leaving age – for the first time since 1972 – form the cornerstone of Labour education policy.

A young language student is found murdered in her digs in Italy during her exchange year from Leeds University, a toddler is abducted from her hotel room in Portugal and an 11-year-old boy is shot dead while playing football in a pub car park in Liverpool. These are the headlines that have dominated papers in recent months. Can there be a parent out there that hasn’t read these stories with mounting dread and vowed to keep their children under closer supervision?

It’s a summer tradition – as inevitable as rain stopping play during Wimbledon – the A level results come out and the press declare: “Exams are getting easier”.
Part of the problem is one of shared personal experience. I still believe that my A Levels were the most difficult examinations I ever sat – far worse than University finals. And given that I am a reasonably intelligent person, and shared a classroom with other intelligent people – how come we didn’t get the same kind of results we read about in the papers?

We have a new Prime Minister, and with him, of course, comes a new education policy. Like all new bosses, Gordon Brown is eager to stamp his authority on the job and bring new people to key positions.

Climate change – is a subject close to all our hearts and constantly in the news. We all try to do our bit and to teach our children by example to do the same. Now some schools have taken up the challenge to go greener, not only because of the energy saving benefits but because many of the lessons that can be learnt in the process are relevant in other areas of a child’s education, whether it be reading meters in maths or learning about solar power in science classes.

Independent schools are under fire from the government and the Charity Commission to prove their charitable status in order to continue to benefit from lucrative tax breaks. Education secretary Alan Johnson has put forward various suggestions as to how private schools can serve their communities better, from opening up more facilities to state schools, to actually lending teachers.

The government is urging teachers to use more praise than criticism in the classroom and even suggests using prizes as an incentive to get pupils to behave. These latest recommendations from Education Minister Alan Johnson have been made at the same time as legal powers came into force last month allowing teachers to restrain physically violent pupils, following an increased number of complaints from the profession about spiralling violence in the classroom.

The scourge of bullying is back in the headlines but this time it is not only the students who are the victims – but the teachers too. The relatively new phenomenon of cyber-bullying, where mobile phones, emails and the internet are used, is affecting one in six UK teachers according to the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL).

Making the move from primary to secondary school is probably one of the most stressful events in a child’s educational career. It is the first step toward being a “grown-up” and the gateway to the other big stresses to come, GCSEs, A Levels and perhaps even further education.

Hands up who likes homework? Setting it, supervising it and worst of all actually sitting down and doing it – homework is not high on anyone’s list of favourite things. But now a new study from America claims that it actually has a detrimental effect on children’s academic progress as well as damaging parent/child relationships.

Compiled by a government think-tank headed by the former head of John Major’s policy unit – Lord Norman Blackwell – the report is scathing about the success of comprehensive schooling over the last 40 years, claiming there has been reduced educational standards and increased social inequality.