
YouGov survey splits opinions on students using AI for coursework
The poll of 2,221 UK adults found 46% agreed with using AI for punctuation and grammar in school coursework, but 44% did not.Only 16% thought reducing or removing coursework completed at home was the best way to avoid student AI misuse.
Risk to fairness
Ms Duffy called for a strategy on AI after an independent curriculum and assessment review said it would consider reducing the "overall volume of assessment" at GCSE.An interim report, published in March, said the review had heard about the "risks" to standards and fairness concerning AI in relation to coursework.The review, which was chaired by education expert Becky Francis, will publish its final recommendations in the autumn.Ms Duffy said the findings should be seen as a challenge to find a way to "adapt coursework so it is fit for the AI century". "AI is already in our schools and is not going away," she said."A co-ordinated national strategy, with funding to ensure no schools are left behind, will build public confidence in its transformational potential."[AI] enables us to test different skills, and to reduce the intense volume of exams taken at 16."The YouGov survey, which was carried out in June, suggested more than three in five UK adults also oppose teachers using AI to mark coursework, but 27% support it.
Follow Cambridgeshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Auto Car
11 minutes ago
- Auto Car
The BMW iX3 is about to make a BIG comeback
An 800V electrical architecture will mean the iX3's battery will also be able to charge at up to 400kW, enabling a 218-mile top-up in just 10 minutes from suitable chargers. Two powertrains will be available when the iX3 arrives in the UK early next year: a single-motor, rear-wheel-drive one and a dual-motor, four-wheel drive one that can deliver up to 402bhp. The second-generation iX3 also receives a new computing system that is 10 times faster than the network of chips in current BMWs. In addition, to maximise interior space within this set-up and to keep vehicle height as low as possible to aid aerodynamics, BMW will unusually bolt the front seats directly to the pack – another first for the firm. Visually, the new iX3 will draw on the original Neue Klasse models from the 1960s and return to small kidney grilles rather than the bolder, more expansive front ends that adorn the likes of the iX. The double-kidney grille will divide a large, gloss black panel on the iX3's front end – similar in style to the Vizor found on Vauxhalls. The panel is likely to conceal the sensors and cameras required by the latest generation of driver assistance systems. The rest of the car will feature a boxier, more chiselled look than today's models, with angled lights front and rear, plus a rear light bar. The reinvention continues inside the iX3, which will be the fi rst car to employ BMW's new iDrive X system.


BBC News
12 minutes ago
- BBC News
Skyrora becomes first UK-based firm to get space launch licence
A Scottish company has become the first UK-based rocket firm to receive a space launch Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) licence allows Skyrora to launch from the SaxaVord Spaceport in a future launch is successful, the company could become the first British company to manufacture and launch a rocket into space from the welcomed the news. Both the Edinburgh-based company and the CAA both describing it as a "huge milestone". The license will allow the firm to launch and operate its suborbital rocket Skylark L from the hopes to launch the rocket up to 16 times a year by 2030. A number of companies hope to use SaxaVord in Unst, the northernmost point in the UK, as a launch site for commercial January, German firm Rocket Factory Augsburg (RFA) was awarded the first launch operator licence allowing it to launch rockets from says Skylark L has the potential to be used for microgravity experiments at a lower cost than an orbital 11m (36ft) tall rocket was produced using components that were 3D-printed in the UK and it is capable of reaching 3.5 times the speed of is hoped that the rocket would reach an altitude of about 310 miles (500km) and then return to Earth, which would involve passing into and out of space. Rob Bishton, the chief executive of the CAA, said: "Granting a home-grown company, Skyrora, its launch licence is a major milestone for our space sector and our nation."Our work as the UK's space regulator is enabling the burgeoning launch industry to safely grow, bringing new jobs and investment with it."Skyrora chief executive Volodymyr Levykin said the journey to getting the license was a "long but ultimately rewarding one".He added: "Becoming the first homegrown company in the UK to receive a vertical launch operator licence is a testament to the hard work and dedication of everyone at Skyrora."Safety is paramount to us, and so we are grateful to the CAA for its diligence in ensuring any launch activity is held to the highest of standards."Skyrora is proud to be leading efforts that enable launch activity from the UK and we look forward to achieving a reliable commercial launch programme that benefits us all." Scottish Secretary Ian Murray MP called the news "a massive boost to the whole of Scotland and the wider UK's space sector".He added: "I'm very proud that Scotland is at the forefront of such pioneering technology and I look forward to blast off from SaxaVord Spaceport in Shetland."The SaxaVord Spaceport is a former RAF radar year, during a test known as a hot-fire, an engine exploded at the resulted in a some damage to the launch platform and completely destroyed the space industry in the UK is estimated to be support tens of thousands of jobs.


Telegraph
12 minutes ago
- Telegraph
British rockets to launch for first time in 50 years
British rockets will launch for the first time in 50 years. The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) announced it had granted the first-ever vertical launch licence to Skyrora, a UK-based company, which will allow 16 flights from the SaxaVord spaceport in Shetland. It would be Britain's first vertical launch since the Black Arrow programme in the 1970s, in which a handful of UK rockets were fired from Woomera in Australia, including one that took the Prospero satellite into space. The licence is for Skyrora's suborbital rocket, Skylark, which can reach 62 miles high and could carry small payloads, such as scientific experiments that need access to space-like conditions. For example, observing the effects of cells in microgravity. The company is also planning a larger rocket that would place satellites into orbit. Mike Kane, the aviation and space minister, said: 'I am thrilled we've reached this important milestone in the UK space sector, and I congratulate Skyrora for being the first UK company to receive a rocket launch licence. 'This is the kind of scientific innovation and exploration that will help the UK cement itself as a global player in the space race.' Britain first began developing space rockets in the 1950s, as a way of repurposing Blue Streak ballistic missiles, which were developed as a nuclear deterrent. UK engineers had even contemplated using the rocket to put British people on the Moon and drew up plans for an Apollo-style programme that would have beaten the US to the lunar surface and established a Moon base. The launch programme was cancelled at the beginning of the 1970s after it was deemed less expensive to use American rockets to send satellites into orbit. Earlier this year, the CAA granted the first vertical licence to the German company Rocket Factory Augsburg (RFA) and had also previously licensed Virgin Orbit for horizontal launch before the company folded following a failed launch from Cornwall. UK-based Orbex has also applied for a launch licence but it has not yet been granted. Rob Bishton, chief executive of the CAA, said: 'Granting a home-grown company, Skyrora, its launch licence is a major milestone for our space sector and our nation. 'Our work as the UK's space regulator is enabling the burgeoning launch industry to safely grow, bringing new jobs and investment with it.' It is likely that RFA will beat Skyrora to launch from Britain, but both companies have faced setbacks in recent years. In Oct 2022, Skyrora attempted to launch Skylark from Iceland, but a software problem led to it falling into the sea shortly after lift-off. Likewise, an RFA rocket exploded on the launchpad at SaxaVord during testing last summer. The CAA said that it would be closely monitoring operations to ensure that Skyrora met all the requirements for launch. The company is aiming to do the initial test-firing of this rocket's first stage this year. Volodymyr Levykin, the chief executive of Skyrora, said: 'Skyrora is proud to be leading efforts that enable launch activity from the UK and we look forward to achieving a reliable commercial launch programme that benefits us all.' The licence comes with a number of conditions that will need to be met before launch including adequate insurance, a data-sharing agreement with the UK Government, satisfactory arrangements with SaxaVord, and airspace agreements with other countries. Dr Paul Bate, chief executive of the UK Space Agency, said: 'Congratulations to Skyrora. This demonstrates the growing strength of our domestic launch capabilities, and the thriving commercial space economy we are building across the country.'