VIEWS & OPINION
The importance of harnessing ‘social power’ to help level the
educational playing field Comment by SUSANNAH HARDYMAN, CEO of national charity Action Tutoring
Long before the National Tutoring Programme (NTP) was announced by the Government, Action Tutoring’s mission was to make the benefits of tutoring available to those who couldn’t otherwise afford it. Ultimately we are passionate about helping to narrow the attainment gap and give pupils the best possible chance of progressing in life, regardless of their socio-economic background.
Education in this country isn’t fair. Pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds aren’t less able, but they have less access to the tools that support them to progress in school, which can be barriers to reaching their full academic potential.
Even before the pandemic, disadvantaged pupils were, on average, 18 months behind their non-disadvantaged peers by the end of secondary school.
onset of COVID- 19 – which equates to 2.5 years.
There is fantastic evidence that tutoring improves academic attainment; that’s precisely why so many parents will pay for it for their children. But the tutoring industry will drive a wider gap in social mobility if tutoring is not also made available to those who need it but can’t afford it.
That’s why I founded Action Tutoring. Since 2012 we have developed and refined an impactful, proven tutoring model that’s driving results for children from disadvantaged backgrounds at risk of not succeeding in English and maths. Now, through the NTP we aim to double in size and help over 5,000 pupils make additional progress in their education.
I believe it is our moral imperative to help as many disadvantaged pupils as possible who’ve been impacted by the crisis, and that levelling the educational playing field must be a collective effort. Our tutoring is delivered entirely by volunteers as we believe in harnessing the potential of social power to 'do good'. We need more volunteers to join us as tutors to ensure no child is left behind.
Kickstarted by the need for Covid-19 catch-up, the NTP could be a game-changer for social mobility and closing the attainment gap - but only if it continues beyond a year. With others, we are calling on the Government to extend the programme for a further two years and for it to include post-16 education – addressing the inequalities in our society for children and young people will benefit wider society as well as individuals. We look forward to playing our part.
It is estimated that this gap has widened by up to 75% since the
Improving cybersecurity in
higher education Comment by ENZO BRIENZA, Sales Manager, InterSystems
For higher education institutions, the start of the new academic year was unlike one ever witnessed before. The sector was contending with trying to reopen campuses in a COVID-safe way for both staff and students, but also received a stark warning from The National Cyber Security Centre about the rising number of cyber-attacks against colleges and universities. With up to a thousand
attacks a year taking place in higher education institutions across the UK, universities and colleges have long been seen by cybercriminals as an opportunity to exploit information due to the sheer volumes of data, the number of people located in a single community, and the open structure of the technical architecture. A recent spate of ransomware attacks against higher education institutions, including Newcastle University and Northumbria, brought this risk and the significant impact cybersecurity failings into focus. According to Microsoft, 61% (nearly 4.8 million) of malware encounters reported in August 2020 took aim at the education sector. Therefore, higher education institutions must look at ways to protect and safeguard data and networks as a matter of urgency.
December 2020
Why are universities being targeted? The university network is often the home to large volumes of personal and research data, intellectual property, and other assets that are of significant value to cybercriminals as well as the institution itself. As a result, universities face substantial risks, often in the form of phishing and ransomware attacks that can leave staff and students open to account hacking, credential theft, and credit card fraud, and leave networks, which may house large amounts of IP and data, sometimes on behalf of industry and government, vulnerable.
Strategies to minimise risk In order to minimise risk and safeguard data, institutions must begin to adopt transparent strategies and policies. This includes backing up data and keeping it offline at certain points on a regular basis, as well as monitoring network traffic and managing access controls. With many thousands of staff and students to protect, active two-factor authentication should be considered to give every network user an extra element of security. Higher education institutions must also plan for solutions in the event
of a security breach and consider the possibility of shutting down entire network and systems for a period of time, if required. This will enable actions to respond to an attack and identify the infection point and reset and analyse the infrastructure allowing the institution to get back up and running safely.
The implications of GDPR A further consequence of security breaches for higher education institutions can be significant fines due to GDPR implications. Therefore, institutions must involve their Data Protection Officer in the creation of all security policies, ensuring comprehensive protection for valuable data. This article is the first of a two-part series looking at improving
cybersecurity in higher education. The second part will focus on the importance of processing data securely.
www.education-today.co.uk 21
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