Consultation responses made by LACA in 2011, 2010 and 2009. Recent work includes LACA's response to the Hargreaves IP review and letter to President Barroso of the EC on orphan works.
LACA's response to the BIS Select Committee Inquiry into the Hargreaves Review of Intellectual Property
The Business, Innovation and Skills Committee conducted an inquiry into the Hargreaves Review of Intellectual Property and the Government’s response to it. The Inquiry focused on the recommendations set out in the Review and the Government’s plans for the implementation of its recommendations.
LACA's response to Hargreaves' Review of Intellectual Property and Growth
The response proposes non-legislative and legislative solutions.
"We would support the creation of a Copyright Advisory Board by the Intellectual Property Office in order to redress the balance between rights holders' and users' needs in relation to copyright."
LACA letter to President Barroso of the European Commission on orphan works and the proposed amendment to the European Information Society Directive
"We strongly advise the Commission to seriously reconsider and to consult much more closely with representatives of European libraries and archives and their professional associations."
Online Infringement of Copyright and the Digital Economy Act 2010
The response states that LACA is deeply concerned by the potential impact of the Digital Economy Act and the Ofcom Code upon public bodies.
LACA's response to the consultation on the Draft Ofcom Initial Obligations Code
Taking forward Gowers review of intellectual property: second stage consultation on copyright exceptions
The response covers extension of fair dealing and library and archive copying for research or private study to film, sound recordings and broadcasts, copying for preservation, contracts versus exceptions and limitations, and LACA's answers to specific questions.
LACA Briefing paper on the Digital Economy Bill
The Briefing Paper was sent to all members of the House of Lords on 21 December 2009 outlining concerns in the Bill including the measures against online infringement of copyright (clauses 4-17) and Orphan works (clause 42). The Bill is in its committee stage of the whole of the House of Lords in early January 2010.
LACA Briefing paper on the Digital Economy Bill
Extension of Public Lending Right to rights holders of books in non-print formats
From the response:
"Given that in the UK the lending right of the rightholders in film, sound recordings and other non-print works, including audio-books and e-books, already exists under the copyright regime and thus public libraries require licensing to lend these materials, we therefore generally favour the transfer of the administraton of lending right in non-print books from copyright licensing to the existng PLR scheme. It has proven itself to be an efficient partner in the administraton of PLR for both libraries and the beneficiaries of the lending right."
Extension of Public Lending Right to rights holders of books in non-print formats
Strategic Advisory Board for Intellectual Property (SABIP) strategic priorities
From the response:
"We welcome the establishment of the Strategic Advisory Board for Intellectual Property, and the indication it gives of the Government’s recognition of the centrality of intellectual property issues in modern society. We look forward to participating in a continuing dialogue with the Board on matters of mutual interest and concern."
Strategic Advisory Board for Intellectual Property (SABIP) strategic priorities
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JISC is delighted to announce that this year’s live-streaming partner Sonic Foundry will make JISC11 its most interactive conference to date. With over 600 delegates expected to attend JISC11 on 14 and 15 March in Liverpool, those unable to attend will still have the opportunity to participate in the conference thanks to a new online experience through Sonic Foundry’s Mediasite.
Those unable to attend JISC11 will still have the opportunity to participate in the conferenceSean Brown, Vice-President of Education, Sonic Foundry says, “Mediasite is the first of its kind to bring real-time picture capture. We take video, audio and visual and join all of that data together to bring it to your browser in real-time.”
Robert Haymon-Collins, JISC Director of Communications and Marketing, explains the value that Sonic Foundry is able to bring: “Past conferences have used social media and live-streaming, the difference this year is that Sonic Foundry is helping us to offer our online participants a truly inclusive experience and as though they are physically here with us in Liverpool. The video, audio and presentations, alongside the Twitter feeds, will all be streamed to their computers in real-time, and there will also be opportunities to ask questions, take part in online polls and contribute to the sessions taking place.
“Although there isn’t a replacement for attending an event in person, our live-streaming highlights, combined with delegate and speaker interviews, do provide the opportunity to take part in JISC11.
“It is our aim that in the future, wherever appropriate, our events will be delivered through these multi-media channels so that as many people as possible have the chance to learn about digital technologies for education and research.”
JISC11 – financial challenges – digital opportunities offers managers within education and research practical solutions to solving their business challenges.
Find out how you can be an online participant at JISC11
Get the most of your online experience by seeing how to use Mediasite
Find out more about Sonic Foundry
JISC EMBEDDED OBJECT
(Duration: 4.42)
Alternative YouTube Version
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What's new?
March 2012
In December last year The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) published a consultation paper on amendments to UK copyright law.
February 2012
LACA supports the concept of a DCE, beliving it would benefit users and creators alike.
"Copyright for Creativity is a broad-based initiative of European civil society, libraries, industry, and creators that seeks an informed debate on how copyright can more effectively support innovation, access, and creativity for all Europeans".
LACA supports IFLA's work at the World Intellectual Property Office (WIPO).
IFLA is working with WIPO Member States to gain support for a binding international instrument on copyright limitations and exceptions to enable libraries to preserve their collections, support education and research, and lend materials.
You can follow progress at WIPO through news on the dedicated IFLA website at: http://www.ifla.org./copyright-tlib
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A host of imaginative events in public libraries across the country will take place on Saturday 5 March to celebrate World Book Night. Events include author talks, parties, book gifting, quizzes, creative writing sessions, live music, salsa dancing, fancy dress and a set from the world’s (former) fastest rapper.
World Book Night is an ambitious celebration of adult books and reading. One million books will be given away by an army of passionate readers to members of the public across the UK and Ireland. 40,000 copies of each of the 25 selected titles will be given away by 20,000 ‘givers’, who will each distribute 48 copies of their chosen title to whomever they choose on World Book Night. The remaining books will be distributed by World Book Night itself in places that are more difficult to reach, such as prisons and hospitals.
On Saturday, BBC2 will dedicate an evening of programmes to books and reading. Programmes include three Culture Show specials and a premiere of BBC Films adaptation of Brideshead Revisited. Culture Show specials will be broadcast between 7.30pm and 10pm. The third Culture Show special will include radio presenter and author Stuart Maconie broadcasting live from an open mic event organised by Manchester Libraries and The Mustard Tree, a centre for the homeless.
A pick of the library events taking place:
Hornsey Library in North London is staying open all night in celebration. An incredibly varied evening of entertainment is planned; including a set from the world’s former fastest rapper, an interview with the author Linda Grant, the chance to help create a collaborative digital book about dreams in twelve hours, and a picnic breakfast with live jazz.
William Patrick Library in Kirkintilloch will have a piper, and a soprano singing Scottish songs. There will be an author talk by Doug Johnstone and World Book Night cake.
City Library in Newcastle is hosting a murder mystery night, including an event with Rebecca Jenkins, author of Death of a Radical.
The Library Theatre in Birmingham will run events out and about in the city. A reading-themed flash mob will take place in Victoria Square and New Street. Books will be given away at a variety of city centre locations. The evening will end with an event outside Central Library featuring Birmingham Poet Laureate Roy McFarlane and former Birmingham Young Poet Laureate Matt Windle.
Southampton Library is organising storytelling, poems and songs for children, adults and families. Books will be given out to Red Funnel Ferry passengers, at St Mary's Fire Station and Southampton Police Station.
Full list of World Book Night events
World Book Night is supported by the Publishers Association, the Booksellers Association, the Reading Agency with libraries, World Book Day and the BBC.
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Contact World Book Night organisers
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Analysing the reading records of approximately 150, 000 UK pupils.
As World Book Day brings children’s reading habits into the spotlight, this report, now in it's third year, identifies the most popular fiction and non-fiction books read by pupils from Years 1-11 in British schools.
Written by Professor Keith Topping of Dundee University; this information was gathered from data available as part of Renaissance Learning’s Accelerated Reader (AR) programme.
Features of the 2011 report include:
Visit www.readtoamillionkids.co.uk to request a copy of the report.
Renaissance Learning sponsors the CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Children’s Book Awards, along with ALCS, the Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society and Scholastic Book Clubs.
A shadowing scheme for school and public library reading groups accompanies the CILIP awards. From today you can also download a comprehensive guide to the 2011 shadowing scheme: Inspiring and challenging young readers.
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Participation in the Revalidation Scheme will be recognised by the award of a certificate on successful completion of each three-year cycle of revalidation.
Read the Qualifications Blog and follow Qualifications on Twitter. You can contact the Qualifications and Professional Development team on 020 7255 0610 or quals@cilip.org.uk
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The CILIP archive incorporates the archives of The Library Association and the Institute of Information Scientists.
We have a significant and fascinating archive going back to the beginnings of the Library Association and relating to the history and development of CILIP. It consists of such items as:
FLA Theses, Photographs, Slides, Artefacts, Council and Committee Papers, Publications (own), Journals (own), Leaflets, Major project/event files, The Thorne Papers, some Group/Branch archives.
Most of the archive is now housed with University College London (UCL), who provide a controlled environment in which to store the archive, as well as facilities for researchers to view selected material.
CILIP retains on site a complete set of bound Library Association Records, Library Association Yearbooks, Council minutes from 1990 to present, FLA thesis and essays, and a collection of Library Association Publishing books.
The draft CILIP archive policy can be viewed in the branches and group section of the website.
In the first instance, all enquiries should be made to the CILIP Information and Advice Team. You can send an enquiry using the online enquiry form or email info@cilip.org.uk or ring 020 7255 0620
As we are a small team, please ring us to make an appointment.
To access material held by UCL, you will also need to make an appointment, allowing at least a week before you plan to visit.
For general appointments and enquiries, email spec.coll@ucl.ac.uk or telephone 020 7679 5197.
UCL Special Collections are located on the first floor at 140 Hampstead Road, Camden, NW1 2BX. They are open from Monday to Thursday, 9.30 to 17.00, and on Fridays from 9.30 to 16.45.
Due to the relocation of Special Collections to temporary premises during the Summer of 2011 (Late March to September 2011), services will be be affected as follows:
The Reading Room at 140 Hampstead Road will be closed for two days a week from early February to the end of the Spring Term, 2011. From late March onwards there will be no access to the Reading Room, and from then until late September there will be no access to the collections, to allow for the physical move of the facilities and collections.
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I think that it sounds like an interesting idea to have a collated set of resources. However I quite like my resources to be discrete as a learner as they seem less daunting in smaller sections. As a tutor I also want to keep adding to the resources so I wonder if this would require […]
Continuing Professional Development log
Final Continuing Professional Development log
Submission form
CPD audit sheetRevalidation Assessment form (30.0KB)
Please note that Revalidation for Fellows should normally be at a commensurate level with an application for Fellowship.
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Revalidation is open to all Chartered Members and Fellows who wish to gain evidence and recognition of the commitment to personal professional development.
A certificate is awarded on successful completion of each three-year cycle. Your portfolio is an evaluative review of your professional development meeting CILIP's criteria of assessment.
Read the Qualifications Blog and follow Qualifications on Twitter. You can contact the Qualifications and Professional Development team on 020 7255 0610 or quals@cilip.org.uk
"When I Chartered I was in the public library sector. Now I work in the academic sector in the more specialised field of art and design librarianship.
The Revalidation process enabled me to really reflect on how much I have developed in my role. It has also disciplined me in terms of recording my own professional development, which means I am much more prepared when asked for this sort of information."
Feedback from Revalidated Chartered Member of CILIP
There is no cost to register
Submitting your portfolio £35
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Study shows little difference in work prospects for poorer children who attend grammar schools and comprehensives
Working-class children are no more likely to move up the social ladder and hold a middle-class job if they attend a grammar school, rather than a comprehensive, a study has found.
Researchers at the universities of Oxford and Bath Spa used data from the National Child Development Survey, which has tracked thousands of adults now aged 53, since they were born.
The academics took a sample of more than 3,300 adults, a third had attended comprehensive schools, a quarter had gone to grammar schools and two-fifths had been educated in a secondary modern.
They compared the jobs the adults did at the age of 33 with the work their fathers had done 17 years earlier – when the adults were 16 – and analysed the results to see whether the adults had climbed the social ladder.
The researchers also looked at the salaries the adults earned at age 33 and compared these to how much their fathers had earned 17 years earlier, having converted this into today's figures.
All those in the sample had sat a test to measure their academic ability at the age of 11. This enabled the researchers to compare what difference going to a grammar, comprehensive or secondary modern makes in terms of earnings and social status for adults of a similar ability.
The study, which appears in the latest edition of the British Journal of Sociology, found children from working-class homes were no more likely to move up the social ladder if they went to a grammar school rather than a comprehensive. Attending a grammar school did improve a working-class child's chance of earning slightly more than their parents. But children from middle-class homes, who went to grammar schools, also earned slightly more than their parents had done.
However, across the sample, the advantages of going to a grammar school were cancelled out by the social disadvantages experienced by those who went to secondary moderns. These adults did not have a different social class or earning power to their fathers.
Vikki Boliver, a sociology lecturer at Bath Spa, said many "bemoan the introduction of the comprehensive school as depriving academically able children of a crucial ladder of opportunity. Our analysis provides a more rounded approach."
Her co-author, Adam Swift, a politics lecturer at Oxford, said that grammar schools "confer no more advantage" to working-class children than to those from slightly more wealthy backgrounds.
• This article was amended on 8 March 2011. The original referred to Vicki Boliver. This has been corrected.
Details of all the consultations CILIP has responded to in 2011
The new method of review for HE in FE colleges in England will replace the integrated quality and enhancement review (IQER) and will be introduced for 2012-13. CILIP's response to the online survey focuses on the needs of students. If students are to benefit from the higher education experience, they need access to resources, spaces and support which enable a learning experience appropriate for higher education.
Cabinet Office: Making Open Data Real
November 2011
CILIP welcomes recent developments to the Open Government Licence that help to increase the accessibility and re-use of government information. We would welcome an ongoing engagement in developing the open data programme further.
Cabinet Office: Open Public Services White Paper
October 2011 CILIP's submission
Council approved this full response at its meeting on 22 September 2011. It sets out CILIP’s views on the Government’s proposals for public sector service provision in the future.
As the ways of direct response were limited, paragraphs 6-22 (CILIP’s comments on the five principles of public service modernisation) were submitted in response to relevant questions in the formal questionnaire.
A shorter version of this response is being prepared and printed to be disseminated more widely across the LIS community, politicians and other opinion shapers. An electronic version will be widely distributed.
The shortened version will include a brief summary of the White Paper and refer to this Full Response as it includes notes and references as well as a lengthier text.
BIS: A New, Fit-For-Purpose Regulatory Framework for the Higher Education Sector. Technical Consultation.
October 2011
In August the Government published a Technical Consultation document on their commitment to introduce a new, fit-for-purpose regulatory framework, as set out in the White Paper "Higher Education: Students at the Heart of the System" (see CILIP's response to the White Paper below).
CILIP has responded to this technical consultation both as a professional body with a large number of members working in higher and further education, and as an accrediting body for Library and Information Studies courses in higher education.
Department for Business Innovation and Skills: Higher Education - Students at the Heart of the System
September 2011
CILIP welcomes the White Paper’s focus on students, the commitment to give teaching a similar status to research and the affirmation of the Robbins principle. However we are anxious about the absence of an overall vision or purpose for HE, its broader links to the information society and the knowledge based economy and the sparse attention given to learning and HE's part in the overall learning environment and the development of lifelong learners and critical thinkers. Our response expands on these themes and also illustrates our belief that libraries and information services are an integral part of teaching and learning within HE institutions and have a significant impact on the quality of the learning environment and learning outcomes.
Ofsted: Inspection 2012 - Proposals for Inspection Arrangements for Maintained Schools and Academies from January 2012
May 2011
Our response has been submitted online. We have responded to five different areas of the consultation. We say that we believe the school library should be seen as an integral part of a school's level of achievement and should be part of the Ofsted inspection process.
Department for Education: National Curriculum Review - Call for Evidence
April 2011
CILIP's submission
Our response has been submitted online. We have limited our response to certain sections of the document. Among other things, we highlight the importance of teaching information literacy skills across the curriculum.
Find out more about the review
Healthy Lives, Healthy People: Public Health White Paper
April 2011
CILIP's response to the White Paper
There is much to commend in the proposals, especially the closer integration of this work with kindred services provided by local authorities.
Public Administration Select Committee (PASC) Inquiry into the Government's proposals for the Big Society
March 2011
CILIP's submission (BS 78, pp.107-114)
CILIP outlines the role libraries of all types have in the Big Society and the risks to their contribution from public library budget cuts.
See also: Big Society - Opportunity or Dog's Breakfast? (blog post by Guy Daines, Director of Policy & Advocacy at CILIP)
Education Select Committee Inquiry: participation of 16-19 year olds in education and training
March 2011
CILIP's submission
CILIP outlines the opportunities and challenges faced by school libraries and school librarians that the gradual increase in participation will bring. The submission highlights what a number of school libraries are already offering and says what the school librarian can do to make this change a positive one for the whole school.
Liberating the NHS: An Information Revolution
January 2011
CILIP's response to the consultation paper
The response has been put together by CILIP's Health Libraries Group following consultation within the broader professional community of CILIP. We welcome the idea of an information strategy. Our main concern about the proposals is their partial nature. In our view they do not cover information - most focus on the internal management of NHS data - and neither do they constitute a strategy. We would hope revised proposals would have inclusivity, leadership, partnership and build on expertise and skills that exist. We propose a lead role for the National Commissioning Board in drawing up and delivering the information strategy.
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Details of all the consultation responses CILIP has responded to in 2010
CILIP's response to the consultation paperCILIP's response
CILIP's response to the consultation paperCILIP's response to the White PaperCILIP submission to the Government consultationCILIP's submission to the CommissionCILIP's submission to the Inquiry CILIP's response to the proposals CILIP's response, prepared by members of the Standing Committee on Official Publications (SCOOP), a committee of CILIP's Information Services GrouCILIP's response
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The CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Children's Book Awards are the UK's oldest and most prestigious children's book awards.
Awards background
The two Medals are awarded annually and judged by a panel of expert children's and young people's librarians.
A shadowing scheme for school and public library reading groups accompanies the awards. Download a guide to the 2012 shadowing scheme.
For further details about the Awards and shadowing visit:
Awards website
Shadowing website
For key dates visit the Awards Timetable
To explore and review all past winning books take a look at the Living Archive
For nomination details, the shortlists and press releases visit the Press Desk
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We are currently recruiting for the following roles:
Volunteer
Private home
London (central)
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Travel expenses will be paid
Our ref: 4291
A private individual seeks a willing and enthusiastic volunteer to sort out a large collection of business papers; in fact a lifetime’s worth. There are twenty-five boxes of work to sift through and organise. Work in an agreeable, domestic setting in central London, and gain some valuable skills to add to your CV; this would particularly suit someone who is looking to gain some skills pre or post course, or maybe someone who is thinking of changing career direction. If you are interested please contact Infomatch quoting ref: 4291
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Speaking at an MPs debate Libraries Minister Ed Vaizey confirmed that while volunteers contribute to the public library service they do not replace professional library staff, saying, “Volunteers are an important element of library provision, but they must never take the place of professionals and must work with them.” Mr Vaizey went on to say that library services should be staffed by a mix of professionals.
"We welcome Mr Vaizey’s recognition of the vital role professional library staff play," said Annie Mauger, Chief Executive of the Chartered Institute of Library & Information Professionals, "Professional staff have a range specialist skills and knowledge that are integral to the public library service. The staff bring the service, the stock, and the buildings to life.”
In the debate Mr Vaizey did not, however, address the issue of community managed libraries. Some communities have been told by their local authority that unless they take over the management of their local library it faces closure. It has not been made clear what support these community managed libraries will receive, if they will be part of the Council’s public library network, nor what level or quality of service they are expected to deliver.
The Libraries Minister did confirm that there are no plans to repeal the statutory provision of libraries under the 1964 Public Libraries and Museums Act. The Act requires local authorities to provide a public library service which is comprehensive and efficient, and available to all who wish to use it. Ed Vaizey said, “The statutory duty remains a very important safety net for the provision of libraries.”
Brian Hall, President of CILIP, said, “We hope the message gets through to all politicians and journalists loud and clear: public libraries are a statutory service. We have been really concerned to see the myth that they are not statutory perpetuated by some politicians and reported in the media.
While some of Mr Vaizey’s words are heartening, we are gravely concerned that some local authorities are making disproportionate cuts to library services, especially when they do not properly consult with local communities.”
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Press contact:
Mark Taylor, Head of Corporate Marketing and Media Relations, CILIP
Tel: 020 7255 0650
Email: mark.taylor@cilip.org.uk
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Peter Wilby speaks to Kenneth Baker, who has an ambitious plan to revolutionise education with new university technical colleges
The hair is greyer, the voice a touch fainter, the figure somewhat paunchier, but Kenneth Baker is back. No secretary of state in the last 50 years has left his stamp on education as decisively as Baker during Thatcherism's high noon in the 1980s. He can be credited with – or blamed for, depending on your taste – the national curriculum, tests, league tables, delegation of budgets to heads and governors, parental choice, academies (then called city technology colleges), student loans, expansion of universities to admit a third of the age group, and the whole idea that schools should be "set free" from local authority control.
Rather hubristically, he christened the legislative centrepiece of his programme the Great Education Reform Bill (the sceptics preferred Gerbil), echoing the Great Reform Act of 1832, which set Britain on the road to democracy. He even, like saints, had days named after him: the five annual "Baker days" for in-service teacher training. When he started at the education department, he hit the ground running. For a time, he was a hot tip for prime minister. "I have seen the future and it smirks," said one wag. Baker in those days always seemed to be smiling. Asked why, he once replied: "I can't help it. It's the shape of my face."
Now 76 and transmuted into Lord Baker of Dorking, he is smiling again as – in his office at 4 Millbank, a few yards from the houses of parliament and with ITN just across the corridor – he outlines his latest vision for English education. He is reviving the long-forgotten technical schools, which were enshrined, alongside grammar schools, in the 1944 Education Act, but which never got off the ground. They will be grandly, if rather confusingly, called university technical colleges (UTCs). One has already opened in Staffordshire – across the road from its sponsor, the big machinery maker JCB – and Baker has government support and funding to set up another 15. But that's just the start. "I want a hundred by 2015," Baker says. "After about 10 years, there will probably be 200 to 300." At the minimum, the initial costs will be £3m each. To hear Baker talk, you'd think the words "deficit reduction" had never been uttered; his fellow ministers used to say he was never knowingly underbid in public spending rounds. He has no truck with suggestions that the colleges are experimental. "This has become a movement," he proclaims.
He developed the idea four years ago with the late Sir Ron Dearing, who had chaired several government committees on education, and it first got approval from Labour's Lord (Andrew) Adonis, then schools minister. The colleges, for 14- to 19-year-olds, will teach engineering, product design, health sciences, construction, environmental services and food technology – in short, anything that requires practical skills and specialised equipment – with employers asked to name specialisms that will be of most value locally. But pupils will also do English, maths and science, as well as humanities and foreign languages, though these will be, Baker explains, "German for business, the history of engineering, that kind of thing". A third strand will involve "bridging subjects" such as IT and starting a business. A special tech baccalaureate is being designed as an equivalent to the English baccalaureate that Michael Gove, the education secretary, now requires other state schools to aim for. To cram all this in, along with 40-80 days' work experience a year, students will attend nine hours a day, 40 weeks a year. "That way," says Baker, "we shall gain a whole extra teaching year over a five-year period."
If anybody thinks Baker's scheme could eventually unravel comprehensive education, they would be right. The UTCs will be non-selective – "the pupils select themselves," says Baker – but he is clear about his wider vision. Up to 14, he says, children should have "a shared experience", with a "fairly prescriptive national curriculum". After 14, they should move on to four different pathways, taught in separate schools: grammar, technical, vocational (things that train you for jobs, such as beauty, fashion and floristry, but don't necessarily involve working with your hands) and artistic. Age 11 is too early for such large choices, Baker argues, but 16 too late. "The educational world is going to realise that 14 should be the age of transfer."
Did he regret not bringing back grammar schools when he was education secretary? Baker gives a long, regretful sigh. "There was so much change going on in the education system, I could not have done that as well. I would have had such a row on my hands. I already had a teachers' pay dispute and I stopped them negotiating their salaries through their unions – by law. So it was very draconian stuff."
Baker was born in Newport, south Wales. He says he never felt the least bit Welsh nor, from what I could gather, the least bit Labour. Yet both his grandfathers were Welsh dockworkers and one – with whom he shared a bedroom for four years – became secretary of the local dockers' union, knew the Labour pioneers Keir Hardie and Ben Tillett, and could have become a Labour MP if he hadn't been poor. But the family was aspirational as well as Labour. The grandfather became a dockyard manager, while Baker's father entered the civil service. The latter's work took him to Twickenham in south-west London, Southport and then Twickenham again. After being educated in a Victorian state primary in Lancashire, followed by two years at grammar school, the young Kenneth found himself at St Paul's, one of London's poshest public schools. "I was very surprised at this translation," he wrote in his memoirs. He tells me: "It must have stretched my father very, very much to pay the fees. But he was always very keen on getting on to the next stage." After national service, he read history at Oxford – the first member of his family to attend university – and became president of the university Conservative Association and secretary of the Oxford Union.
He went into industry, working first for Shell and later becoming chief executive of a clothing company that supplied Marks and Spencer and "which I saved from bankruptcy". But he also became a Tory councillor in Twickenham and, in 1968, an MP. Though he lost his seat in 1970, he got another almost immediately. He then remained continuously in the Commons until 1997.
What made him a Conservative? "It wasn't self-interest. Not at all. I'd read a lot of JS Mill and I was interested in what he said about liberty. Labour seemed too prescriptive. Joining the Conservatives was not a class thing. It was very much the philosophy." This is a characteristic Baker answer, seeming to address the question without revealing anything much at all. His memoirs are wholly uninformative about his motivations and, though called The Turbulent Years, make the Thatcher governments sound about as turbulent as a drizzly morning in Dorking. Baker is a doer, not a thinker.
By the time he arrived at the education department, he already had a track record as a minister who pushed through big projects. Though he got on the first rung of the ministerial ladder in 1972, joining the civil service department under Ted Heath's government, his career stalled after Heath's fall in 1975, because Margaret Thatcher thought him too close to the wet Tory left. He carefully repositioned himself. "I never became a Thatcherite," he says, "but I moved to right of centre." He finally got another frontbench position in 1981, writing his own job specification for minister for information technology, a new post for something most politicians then regarded as mysterious and exotic. He started the cabling of Britain and launched the first major privatisation (British Telecom) before, as local government minister, he abolished the Greater London Council and, less auspiciously, put out a green paper proposing a flat-rate "community charge", which eventually became the much-hated poll tax. Then, as environment secretary, he launched another privatisation, this time of water.
It was a formidable ministerial record, achieved in just five years, and it hardly suggested hesitancy about the merits of Thatcherism. At education, he did not entirely follow the recommendations of the Thatcherite thinktanks, but he went about as far as was practicable. His predecessor, the late Keith Joseph, was thought sounder ideologically, but a ditherer. "Keith held seminars from morning till night," recalls Nick Stuart, a senior civil servant at the time. "Baker came in and said we were going to do this, this and this, and we should get on with it. If we wanted more money, he said, he would go to Thatcher and get it." He was as good as his word. Private sponsors, he announced, would pay half the money for city technology colleges. When they failed to do so, Baker compelled a protesting Treasury to meet the shortfall. He got his policies so emphatically laid out in the 1987 election manifesto that U-turns were unthinkable.
Most of his policies were bitterly contested, but none more so than the national curriculum. Thatcher wanted to cover only maths, science and English, which Baker dismissed as "a sort of Gradgrind curriculum". Does he regret including so much prescriptive detail? "No, the only tests we had were at 16. There was nothing else. We were the only education system in the world like that, and we weren't the best. In some countries, you're tested every term." But the tests were too complicated? "They were done after I left. I would have had much simpler tests." So he has no regrets? "I should have extended the teaching day by at least one period. But I couldn't do that while settling the teachers' dispute."
The job done, Baker left the education department in 1989. Even admirers thought he was too eager to move on. Good at starting things, he showed little interest in consolidating. His move to the Tory party chairmanship killed his prospects of the premiership. This supposedly astute politician failed to spot that Thatcher was on the slide. Compelled by his position to remain loyal, his star waned with hers. John Major gave him the Home Office job, but he didn't enjoy it because, he says, "I couldn't change anything as I did at education". Plagued by prison riots, IRA breakouts, illegal deportations, verdicts that found him in contempt of court, and over-hasty legislation on dogs, he acquired a reputation – as home secretaries often do – for being accident-prone. Offered the Welsh office after the 1992 election, he returned to the backbenches.
No wonder he wants one last big education project, recalling his glory years of the 1980s. "The UTCs are taking off much faster than city technology colleges," he enthuses. "Parents love them. The first one was over-subscribed for its first year and it will be heavily over-subscribed next year. Employers love them. Jaguar, Rolls-Royce, National Grid, British Aerospace, Siemens, Toyota all want to support them. I don't feel I'm swimming against the tide, as I often did in the 1980s."
Would he have sent his own children to these schools? "If I'd had a son who was technical, I'd have sent him to the one in Staffordshire. No doubt about it. We'll get spectacular results and the students will definitely get to university. I'll take an absolute bet with you or anybody that our GCSE results will be much higher than those of other local schools. This is going to be the answer to all the mistakes we've made in English education."
My eyes half close – Baker's relentless enthusiasm can become a little wearying – and for an instant I think we are back in the 1980s, with Thatcher still in Downing Street. But if the occupant of Number 10 has changed, Baker hasn't. Now, as then, he is the best salesman in the business. Whether it's snake-oil he's selling, we shall eventually discover.
The 'nappy curriculum' - assessing the under-fives - seemed like a ridiculous idea to Dorothy Lepkowska, until she had a child of her own
Some mornings in our house are more exciting than others, and Mondays and Fridays are particularly so since our one-year-old daughter realised that being up and dressed early usually means one thing – it's nursery day.
Like every other setting in the country, hers follows the Early Years Foundation Stage. Launched in September 2008 amid huge controversy, and dubbed the "nappy curriculum" by the media, it requires every child to leave their early-years setting "ready for school", having successfully met 69 learning objectives. Last summer, barely two years since its implementation, a top-level review was ordered by the coalition to advise ministers on whether it should continue, and in what form.
The eminent academics and child development experts who were against the EYFS are no doubt delighted that it may be nearing the end of its natural life so soon, and until fairly recently I would have agreed with them. They had argued that, far from enhancing the development and education of children, the EYFS might actually harm them. Boys in particular, who tend to develop more slowly than girls, would be labelled as failures before they had even stepped into a classroom. Babies and toddlers needed to play; to develop dexterity, to learn to share and to socialise – not to endure a continuous stream of observations and assessments.
An image was created of childminders and nursery staff following babies and toddlers with a clipboard, ticking off that they had managed to throw a ball in the air, could hold a paintbrush or were sharing their toys nicely. When the campaigners launched a Downing Street petition, it attracted 8,000 signatures within weeks. The evidence and sheer level of opposition from the profession seemed overwhelmingly stacked in their favour. Completely convinced by their argument I, too, signed it.
But then I became a parent.
Our daughter, Daria, was eight months old when she began attending nursery. It was clear from very early on in her life that she loved being with people and around other children, and by September last year we decided it was time she took her first independent steps away from us.
My husband and I feared choosing a nursery was going to be difficult, but it was easier than we'd imagined. The fact that every setting has to do the EYFS by law was a great leveller. During our visits, staff were eager to show us children's folders, all neatly labelled and headed under different developmental and chronological stages. The EYFS was absolutely at the heart of everything they did. The record-keeping was meticulous, clear and easy to follow, and there was something comforting about knowing that whichever setting we chose for Daria, a similar structure would be in place. She was not going to be disadvantaged because staff at one nursery would be doing less with her than another down the road.
In the end, we chose Toad Hall Day Nursery, in Bicester, which not only felt right for her from our very first visit, but had also been judged outstanding in every category following the most recent Ofsted inspection – the only one in our town to have done so. Just as I had been opposed to the EYFS, I always thought I'd look beyond an Ofsted report when choosing a nursery or a school. But when presented with a choice, what parent would not opt for the best setting possible for their child?
For the first two months we hardly gave the EYFS a second thought. What concerned us most was that our little girl was happy and had settled in well. Periodically, staff sent home a questionnaire asking us to update them on any particular interests or activities she enjoyed doing, so they could organise her time at nursery effectively. This is harder than it sounds. When you're with a child constantly, it's easy not to attach any great significance to subtle changes in behaviour – like the once-favourite toy cast aside for another or that Miss Molly's sick dolly now elicits a bigger smile than the wheels on the bus going round. Quite rightly, though, there was an expectation by the nursery that we would work in partnership with them on bringing out the best in our child.
It wasn't until the first parents' evening last November that reality hit home and, actually, with quite a thud. We wondered what on earth staff were going to talk to us about. Daria had been there two months and was only 10 months old. It was exciting and nerve-racking all at once. But there, beautifully presented, was a folder of our daughter's "work": finger and table paintings and photographs of her playing and taking part in activities, with notes and comments on her reactions and progress. There were pictures of her in fancy dress at Halloween and on Children in Need day, and even some of her playing on her tummy – something she hated doing. It was a revelation, and a wonderful insight into the part of Daria's life that was hers alone.
Her lead professional, Sarah, took us through the comments and explained some of the tasks. We were particularly pleased that the staff had spotted very early on that Daria is musical and a problem solver. Every observation was linked to a stage in her development and followed by recommendations for further activities to ensure that her progress continues and her interests are nurtured.
This level of painstaking information-gathering is undoubtedly burdensome for the nursery staff. Only they know if the time taken up with bureaucracy might be better spent giving attention to our daughter and her friends. Diane Clark, Toad Hall's manager, admitted the EYFS had created more paperwork than before, but said that, generally, it had had a positive impact on policy and practice and had led to consistency of delivery. In other words, it provided a framework that allowed progress to be tracked for the benefit of the child, the staff and parents.
Purely from a parent's perspective, that is certainly true. If nothing else, all the observations and analysis of our daughter's development should pick up, sooner rather than later, any signs of learning, behaviour or other problems, allowing early diagnosis and interventions to be put in place before she enters full-time education.
As for Daria, all the signs are that she will tell us in good time what she thinks of being observed and assessed if, indeed, she is aware this is happening.
• Is it time for campaigners against the EYFS to admit they were wrong? education.letters@guardian.co.uk
The perception of Cambridge as a university for the privileged is very difficult to overturn, argues David Clifford
The fallout from December's vote on tuition fees seems unlikely to settle. Universities are looking for ways to replace the 80% cut in their teaching budgets, and leading institutions are gradually lining up to announce their intention to ask for the full £9,000. The universities minister unabashedly encourages a supermarket-style of higher education, when he tells them they may look "rather silly" if students opt for the "budget" brand of university, revealing surprisingly little confidence in modern students' capacity to evaluate or discriminate.
His Lib Dem colleagues have also been taking turns to scold any institution angling towards the higher end of the scale. Nick Clegg, the deputy prime minister, reminded universities last month that permission to charge the highest amount would only be granted where they could show they were accessible to students from poorer backgrounds. His harshest criticism, inevitably, was directed at Cambridge and Oxford.
Twenty years ago, I might have been the kind of student Clegg had in mind. A bookish lad, with no family tradition of higher education, from a middling Essex comprehensive whose students rarely troubled themselves with fantasies of an offer from Oxbridge – those who did, and achieved them, could expect to see themselves in the local paper cradling an improbable stack of randomly selected books beneath an awkward grin.
That didn't happen to me, though I did eventually get into Cambridge. Not as an undergraduate – I teach here, and every December I sit opposite a few dozen anxious, bright, ambitious and usually delightful young people hoping to persuade me to include them among the English students my college will admit the following year.
The educational backgrounds of applicants interest me very little. You can't teach passion, and native intelligence is more likely to show itself in a flash of individuality than by any amount of coaching. It may be the case that the expensively educated have a greater share of self-confidence than their peers from the maintained sector, but interviewers can see through that. A good deal of effort goes into ensuring only the best applicants receive offers, regardless of where they were educated or the cost to their parents.
These applications, obviously, in no way reflect the fact that 93% of young people go to state schools, and 7% to independent schools. If we exclude overseas students, 35% of applicants to Cambridge in 2009 came from independent schools. But it must be worth asking what proportion of parents whose children go to state schools, compared with those who pay to send them to independent schools, expect them to go on to higher education. My guess is that this is where the biggest gap exists.
The fact is that Cambridge University does not disproportionately reject maintained-sector applicants. It does not proportionately receive them in the first place. But the perception of Cambridge as the university for the privileged is fiendishly hard to overturn, despite our admissions tutors' tours of state schools and open days, access programmes, generous bursaries and the efforts of schools liaison officers. Even the best state applicants hesitate to view Cambridge as the natural place for them to flourish, and if they apply elsewhere because of this, it's our loss as much as theirs. If we are to correct the imbalance at Cambridge, we need more exceptional state students to feel confident that they will fit in here.
The government's answer? That students regard their education as an investment rather than an expense, which may well be an everyday habit of mind for the wealthy who populate the cabinet. Not so for families with modest savings books and no tradition of higher education. It fails to acknowledge that a debt of £27,000 means something quite different to a household for whom this represents a gross annual salary rather than an agreeable shares dividend. It fails to observe that if £6,000 per student will cover, barely, what the government has sheared from the education budget, any requirement to enlarge bursaries must be met by other means. The government offers universities no other means, except the option to charge more than £6,000.
Punitive fees will make it harder than ever to attract the best state students to apply. And if they don't, we are hardly able to admit them. Cambridge has tried for years to attract more state students, precisely to correct the imbalance – with a little, if only a little, success. This will lurch sharply into reverse when even fewer state students apply. We will then witness the irony of the universities minister and the deputy prime minister telling us that we have failed, and probably fining us accordingly.
• David Clifford is a lecturer in English at Homerton College, Cambridge
UK universities would benefit by seeing themselves as European and participating fully in the Bologna process, says Peter Scott
The famously little-Englander headline "Fog in the Channel – Europe cut off" was a long time ago. But at times the Channel still seems almost as wide as the "pond", the description of the Atlantic favoured by enthusiasts for the Anglo-American "special relationship".
Certainly this is true of universities. From the rest of Europe we feel we have little to learn. Rather it is the other way round; slowly and uncertainly, other European universities are becoming more like us – more autonomous, more market-oriented and raising their academic game.
With the US, the opposite is true – uncritical, and somewhat skewed, admiration. Our admiration is uncritical because we fail to notice that, although the US has some of the world's best universities, it also has some of the worst (and the two are connected). It is skewed because we believe that the heartland of American higher education is its famous private universities – Harvard, Stanford, Princeton – when in fact it is to be found in the great state universities such as California, Michigan and Wisconsin (which, incidentally, charge lower fees to in-state students than the new £9,000 maximum set by the government here).
But back to Europe. We feel we are superior to most European universities in three ways. First, British universities are not part of state bureaucracies. They employ their own staff (although, in practice, pay and many key conditions are negotiated nationally), determine their own courses, curricula and awards (under the beady gaze of the Quality Assurance Agency) and own their buildings (and even maintain them and build new ones, when they can afford it).
Second, British universities are more enterprising, and even commercial. They have greater financial freedom – including, of course, the freedom to go bust. They have also been blown along by a pro-market wind that every UK government since 1979, including New Labour, has encouraged.
Finally, our universities are, well, just better. They feature much more prominently in global league tables of "top" universities. They are also not obliged to cram in everyone who has passed the baccalaureate, abitur or equivalent, but can choose which students to admit.
However, these supposed superiorities are frailer than they appear. They rely on outrageously anachronistic stereotypes of other European higher education systems. Most European systems have retained more vocationally directed, business-aligned and (possibly) closer-to-market institutions, like the higher professional schools in the Netherlands, a form of education that was abandoned 20 years ago in the UK when polytechnics became universities. While a binary system is not necessarily a good thing, because the comprehensive multi-faculty universities that now dominate UK higher education are probably more flexible and (potentially) entrepreneurial, it is a fact nevertheless.
Even the higher academic quality of UK universities may be exaggerated. League tables measure the effectiveness of global "brands" – and have a marked anglophone bias. But detailed subject-by-subject citation indices often show that our fellow Europeans are our equals and sometimes our superiors in high-quality scientific production.
As for student entry in practice, there is little difference. UK higher education, with 2.5 million students, is a mass system with higher participation rates than many European countries. Three out of four applicants find a place in the first Ucas round; many more do so eventually. In some key subjects, nearly every applicant is admitted. And, of course, there are highly selective institutions in Europe – notably the French grandes écoles.
If a gap does still exist between the UK and other European universities, it is narrowing rapidly. Across the Channel the Bologna process (which aims to create compatibility of degrees throughout Europe), now in its 12th year, has stimulated far-reaching reforms. And the Exzellenz initiative in Germany, which rewards high-achieving institutions with more funding, is probably just as effective as our over-complex research excellence framework. It is certainly lighter-touch. We should not forget, too, that many central and eastern European countries have been much more open to private higher education than the UK.
The Bologna process has also been used to create a powerful European higher education "brand". This model, which attempts to strike a balance between market responsiveness and the public good, is an attractive alternative to the US model. I even once heard the state commissioner for education in Wisconsin ask, only half in jest, how Wisconsin could join the Bologna process. Here we still tend to treat Bologna as a dry-as-dust administrative process concerned solely with course structures, diploma supplements (ie course transcripts) and harmonisation of quality assurance regimes. But we are in danger of missing the plot.
Perhaps we should recognise that we always have been and always will be Europeans and join in what is rapidly becoming a dynamic process. After all, the university was a European invention. Maybe we should participate more wholeheartedly in its reinvention, to which the UK has so much to contribute.
• Peter Scott is professor of higher education studies at the Institute of Education
Animals, glass domes and fountains feature prominently among your ideas for The School I'd Like
Five weeks ago we launched The School I'd Like, asking pupils what would make a perfect school. Hundreds of children have come up with ideas. Teachers have submitted class entries. Here are a few thoughts so far:
"My school would have bright, hippy colours on every wall and floor, and the carpet would be so soft and clean that someone could fall asleep on it. Also my students would not sit on hard, cheap chairs; they would be allowed to sit on comfy beanbags. In every classroom there would be a fountain and the room would not have boring, old, cream walls – they will be domes made out of glass. In the corridors there would be rainbow-coloured walls that have been painted by the students."
Sophie Houghton-Hinks, age 12, year 7, St Mary's Catholic combined school, Dorset
"The greatest fault in schools nowadays is the frequent lack of competitive sports – but we can change this. There is strong evidence that most sport coaches just aren't good enough these days, so I propose that top sport stars like Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt can come in and knock us back into shape. In addition to this, we could always go to see football matches and the Olympics to see our fabulous coaches in action and to pick up their valuable skills and techniques, too. Why wouldn't you want this for any of our younger generation?"
Joseph Paskiewicz, age 11, year 6, Lyminge primary school, Kent
"We are a secondary special needs school for students with severe and profound learning difficulties. Our student council recently went out for lunch. These are some of the ideas we came up with:
• Wear our own clothes once a month
• Music in the corridors throughout the day
• Sit on beanbags on floor rather than always at tables on a chair
• Sit with friends to eat lunch rather than my class
• Different mood lighting in classrooms."
Najeeb, Naomi, Danny, Daniel, Mason, Ben, Sean and Trevel, Marlborough school, Kent
"I would like a flying school. Let's say we are learning about India. We would fly there and ask people questions."
Telmo, age 10, year 5, Stockwell primary school, London
"My idea is to invite celebrities to school to teach us their talents."
Bruno, age 10, year 5, Stockwell primary school, London
"Bring dogs to school in case we need a friend."
Maya, age six, year 2, Stockwell primary school, London
"If everyone gets more fresh air, they might concentrate better and if there is a school football team for every year, then nobody will feel left out. If there are chairs in assembly for every year, no one will have to sit on the hard floor. Finally, if we could choose if we want to wear school uniform I think it will make children a lot happier."
Ethan Carrick, age 9, year 4, Turners Hill Church of England primary school, West Sussex
"I think personalised learning is the way forward. I love the thought of having my own timetable that is planned just for me. It would create a generation of socially comfortable and intelligent students! Age would no longer be a problem and people would have friends from all across the school."
Linda Epstein, age 15, year 11, The Compton school, London
"I'd like the sort of school which has fascinating old buildings and cosy little classrooms with wooden bench desks. I want to learn in a building with soul, not the lifeless, faceless portable buildings equipped with nothing but an unreliable electric heater! I'd like the sort of school which has a variety of teachers ranging from the romantic old fools who get all doughy-eyed about literature to the new modern sort who are maths and science geeks and proud to be so."
Sam Sherburn, age 15, year 10, Queen Elizabeth's high school, Gainsborough
"It is my opinion that our school should provide us with iPads. Having an iPad will enable children to do almost everything interactively. We will be able to use it as a book, but also as a portable flat-screen computer. As an extra we will also be able to socialise even more by calling and sending emails to other children."
Ravi Shah, age 10, year 6, St Cedd's school, Essex
"We could have a farm at the school and the kids could look after the animals. They could milk the cows for milk to drink in the canteen; we could have scrambled eggs maybe, if the chickens lay eggs. The farm animals could calm down people who were angry or frustrated. Caring for animals could make the kids calmer and have more respect for animals. Farm work would give the kids physical exercise and help them keep much fitter. My school would teach us about values, which would help us in life."
Michael Anning, age 11, year 7, Hobart high school, Norfolk
"Some of my ideas are: pupils should prepare a welcome pack to schools for new pupils as well as the school, as children have different ideas to adults about what school is all about.
There should be a no-uniform party day for one day every year at every school in the UK, with a theme from a different culture each year to celebrate different ways of living in the world. That would be fun.
Schools should have an internet link-up scheme with schools from a different part of the EU to themselves so we can make friends with children from other EU countries to create an EU family feel. Then people would not feel so angry with each other as they would have made friends with some children from other parts of Europe already. That would help us to learn languages, too.
Schools should have at least an apple tree each.
Eleanor Randall, age 10, year 5, St Anne's school, Chelmsford, Essex
"My dream school would have: swimming with dolphins, school spa, go karting, sky diving, glass dome to look out of, juice fountain, iPads fitted into desks, dimmer lights, school cinema room for a treat, Total Wipeout track, lots and lots of cushions."
Karamveer Kour, year 7, Balby Carr community sports and science college, Doncaster
"My ideal school ingredients: one tonne of an extraordinary school, a small pinch of friendship, 100% of expected manners, 10lbs of smiley faces, 20 litres of superior teachers, 99ml of good children, nine grams of fair competition, a cup of phenomenal clubs."
Josh Abraham, age 8, year 4, St Cedd's school, Essex
"The school I'd like would be where everyone's equal, and everybody's respected and their voices are heard."
Kathryn Lagan, age 12, year 7, St Mary's Catholic combined school, Dorset
New rules on research funding will force academics to prove the impact of their work outside their own university
Since the introduction of the research assessment exercise (RAE), an evaluation carried out on behalf of the four UK funding councils every five years, academics have had to do a lot more form-filling to secure funding for future research. Its replacement, the research excellence framework (REF), due to be rolled out in 2013, could make that burden even heavier, putting them under pressure to source hard-to-find data.
Most controversial is the proposal to judge the quality of research based on its impact outside of academic circles. While academics have always been accountable to funding bodies, under new rules announced on behalf of the Higher Education Funding Council for England (Hefce) today, university departments will also have to provide case studies proving the impact of their work beyond their institution. This might include public outreach or details of how a particular piece of work is helping the wider community, for example through medical science.
In the new framework, different weight is given to the three main elements on which research quality is assessed – output (65%), environment (15%) and, now, impact (20%.) The weight for "impact" was originally set to be 25%, but this was reduced after concerns voiced by the academic community.
REF's original implementation date was delayed a year after the universities and science minister, David Willetts, expressed doubt over the use of case studies to judge the impact of research. But after a lengthy pilot exercise based on five different subject areas carried out last year, he is now convinced. "The results of the REF pilot exercises show it is possible to assess impact across a range of disciplines, while preserving academic integrity," he says. "It was right for HE funding bodies to wait until the evidence confirmed that the methodology was appropriate before reaching a decision."
Departments will now have to submit case studies using a standard template that will inform an "impact sub-profile" for each submission, which will rate the proportion of the submission at each level (1* to 4* and Unclassified – 4 is the highest). An overarching impact statement will outline impact within the department more broadly.
Under the guidelines announced today, seen exclusively by the Guardian, departments will have to provide one case study, plus another for every additional 10 academics, giving details of any research from the previous 15 years that makes an impact between 1 January 2008 and 31 July 2013 (panels will have the option to extend this period by five years). They will also have to show how the unit has supported and enabled impact during that time.
Case studies may include any social, economic or cultural impact, or benefit beyond academia underpinned by excellent research the university has done and they can be at any stage of development, so long as some change or benefit beyond academia has taken place during the assessment period. Future or potential impacts will not count.
Members of the panels judging research (http://www.hefce.ac.uk/research/ref/panels/) have just been announced and are already meeting to discuss and decide the criteria by which they will assess research quality in their discipline. More guidance for submissions is due in July, and details of each panel's criteria and methods should be published in January 2012 before academics start submitting their work in 2013. The results of the exercise are due in December 2014.
Last year's pilot exercise in five different disciplines – earth systems and environmental sciences, English language and literature, clinical medicine, physics, and social work and social policy – with departments submitted from a range of 29 universities. It helped to persuade a sceptical academic community of thepossibility of judging the impact of research.
Those in the arts and humanities were particularly dubious. The English pilot, however, worked more successfully than most, according to its chair, Professor Judy Simons. "Most of us on the panel were anxious about what the exercise would prove, but universities put in some really convincing case studies and showed us that departments had been engaging very heavily in outreach programmes and were able to marshal quite a lot of evidence," she says. "We were surprised by the variety of examples and the quality of evidence that people were able to provide.
"Inevitably, people are going to be nervous about something that's new and untried, but it gives an opportunity for applied research to be valued as highly in the REF, whereas it was felt to be marginalised in the RAE," Simons says. Including impact in the exercise will do a lot to promote the value of arts subjects to the national economy at a time of general funding cuts, she adds.
Professor Nigel Vincent, vice-president for research and higher education policy at the British Academy, says the 20% weighting represents a compromise and the number of case studies is "liveable with".
But panels need the latitude to keep criteria appropriate to their disciplines. "If they get that deciding power then it should work OK," he says. "The crucial litmus test will be when we see the draft criteria that come out for consultation in the summer, what different panels say and whether people in those subject areas feel they can live with that."
Vincent says universities, including his own, Manchester, are already drawing up impact case studies to see how they work.
David Sweeney, Hefce's research director, is sure the approach is the right one. "The released results from the pilot exercise showed we had successfully constructed [research quality] profiles and the exercise was a success. A consequence of the pilot is that the government and funders are trusting the academic and user communities, working together to take this exercise forward. It's in their hands to make this work."
The Guardian launches a new adult-free books website for children
How far can you trust children to choose their own reading? And, if left to their own devices, will they read at all? These perennially vexing questions have taken on a whole new complexity with the growth of the internet, and its reputation for increasing chatter and diminishing attention span. But research carried out for World Book Day suggests that a growing number of teenagers are using the new technologies not just to chat to friends but for serious reading. From a sample of 505 teens aged between 13 and 18, 40.8% had read a book on a computer, nearly one in five (17.2%) had read one on a mobile phone, and 13.3% on a Tablet or iPad.
Samantha Shipman, who manages the young persons branch of Liverpool's The Reader Organisation (a charity that aims to get people of all ages engaged with reading), says the internet can be a fantastic tool for young readers. "There is a great online resource of poetry, short stories and novels that children and young adults can access easily, cheaply, and enjoy. Anything that encourages young people to read is excellent in my eyes."
The full results of the World Book Day survey will be released on Thursday – the same day that the Guardian launches the first national newspaper books website devoted entirely to young readers.
The Children's Books website will be an adult-free zone, with contributions from an editorial panel of young people (known as curators) from all over the world. So far, 100 have signed up from as far afield as Peru and Egypt, and have been busily at work deciding which books they want to discuss and how to do it.
Our ad hoc research among these 100 pioneers, who we asked to name books they would like to see discussed on the site, paints an impressive picture of the range of their enthusiasms. Cairo, aged 10, who is Scottish but lives in Egypt, said: "My favourite author is Anthony Horowitz. I also like reading Biggles, Asterix, Tintin, the Broons and lots of Star Wars books." Luke, 13, from Nottingham, said: "My favourite modern authors are people like Stephen King, Bill Bryson, Chris Ryan, Andy McNab, Ian Rankin and John Grisham, although I do love classics by people such as Verne, Hugo, Dickens, Maupassant and Dumas. I won't even attempt to name my favourite book, it's impossible!"
The site will be divided into three reading "zones": seven and under, eight to 12 and 13-plus. The question of what to do about the under-sevens, many of whom can't be expected to write their own reviews, posed no problem to 13-year-old Kieran, from Norwich. As the oldest of six, he is used to reading to his younger brothers and sister and is looking forward to reporting their views.
Shipman sounds one note of caution: "If left to their own devices, many children wouldn't read, and that isn't because they dislike reading, it is because they don't recognise it as a worthwhile and enjoyable activity. Once we have got them reading for pleasure, we should trust young people to choose for themselves. It's when they are forced to read books they don't enjoy that they stop reading."
The children's website will be at guardian.co.uk/childrensbooks from Thursday. To get involved, or tell us what you think, email us on childrens.books@guardian.co.uk
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