AI can help stop teachers leaving the profession
Something needs to change and AI can help. A ballooning workload is one of the reasons most commonly cited by teachers leaving the profession, and has become such a part of teaching's reputation that it puts people off joining in the first place. AI has the potential to tame the demands of the job so that they at least more closely map on to the confines of
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The Independent
25 minutes ago
- The Independent
The government must ensure the promise of free childcare is delivered
Takeup of the government's offer of free childcare has been one-quarter higher than predicted, which has prompted some voices in the sector to warn of its imminent 'collapse', because it is unclear how the planned expansion of the scheme in September will be funded. Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, in an exclusive interview with The Independent, says the unexpectedly high numbers signing up for the scheme is a 'good problem to have'. There is no doubt that there is a problem, however. The higher takeup meant that the Department for Education spent £2bn on the scheme in the last financial year, covering most of the first year of the Labour government, rather than the planned £1.6bn. That gap was covered by additional funding announced in the spending review in March, but as we report today, the Institute for Fiscal Studies estimates that the gap will continue to widen as the scheme expands. The next expansion will happen in September, when working parents with children aged nine months and older will be offered 30 hours a week of 'free' childcare. Of course, the care is not 'free' in that it has to be paid for by taxpayers generally – on the grounds that helping the parents of young children to work is a public good. As Ms Phillipson puts it: 'If people are able to work, or work a few more hours, that helps us all as a society as well and it gets economic growth going.' The funding of the scheme will continue to be under pressure, but the most important fact about the scheme so far is that it has not collapsed. The Independent was among those voices warning that it had been underfunded by the Conservative government, but to its credit the new government has increased the money available. The finances of the scheme may be stretched, and many childcare providers continue to say that they cannot recruit enough staff at the wages they can afford, but the gloomier warnings of chaos and thousands of parents left without places have not yet been borne out. It is crucial to remain vigilant as the scheme expands so that remains the case. At the insistence of Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor in the previous government, the scheme was designed to start small, with a limited offer of free hours to older children, before expanding gradually to provide full coverage. This September's expansion is the final stage of that planned rollout, which so far has gone more smoothly than we expected. If the last stage is a stretch too far and some parents cannot immediately find the places they want, that would be a blow to the government's ambitions. Ms Phillipson is right that the problem facing the scheme in its final phase is the problem of success. The higher-than-expected demand means additional pressure on the public finances in the later years of this parliament – pressure that coincides with other increased demands on Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, from slow growth, higher interest rates and a government U-turn on disability benefits spending. Providing greater access to free childcare is a good policy that will help working families. Its success and ambition should be applauded. The government must now make sure that its expansion is a success.
The Sun
an hour ago
- The Sun
Charming English town is getting new £42million train station that will reopen key link shut for over 60 years
A RURAL English town has been given the green light for a new £42million train station that will reopen a vital link. After more than 60 years without a railway station, Cullompton has been granted funding by the Department of Transport and HM Treasury. 2 2 The announcement is set to turbo-charge the economy of the Devon town and provide desperately needed transport links for locals and visitors. The funding will also help to support plans for a new station in Wellington. Cullompton station first opened in 1844 and closed in 1964. The reopening will be key to enabling the Culm Garden Village development, which will create around 5,000 homes. The new station will also be next to the motorway services at Junction 28 of the M5. Councillor Jacqi Hodgson, Devon County Council Cabinet Member for Climate Change and Biodiversity, said: 'Further investment in rail infrastructure in Devon is always welcome and this railway station for Cullompton is key to the town's economic growth and will help reduce carbon emissions in the county. "People need improved public transport options if they're going to be encouraged to change their travel habits. "Hopefully Cullompton could follow the success of Okehampton Station and the re-opening of the Dartmoor Line, which is a great example of what can be achieved given the necessary funding from government.' In April, a delegation of 30 people from the region travelled to London to hand-deliver powerful letters of support to rail minister Lord Hendy. Backed by a cross-party group of South West MPs and Wellington Town Council, the letters stressed how restoring rail links to both Okehampton and nearby Wellington could unlock major economic, social and environmental benefits. Lord Hendy said: 'The stations would contribute to sustainable development, connecting new residential areas with regional employment, education and healthcare opportunities. "The case for taking a combined approach presents significantly higher value for money compared with a stand-alone project in either area.' He added: 'Reopening Cullompton and Wellington stations would be a strategic investment aligning with the Government's goals to drive economic growth, reduce environmental impact and improve social mobility.' Economic growth Gideon Amos, who also backed the scheme, said: 'For the cost of around £42 million, £180 million of economic growth would go into the region — which I know the Government would want to see. 'Frankly, there is no other rail project in the south-west that is ready to go and could be built and completed in the next two years, as the project is so far advanced. 'In fact, had it not been for the review in July last year, the spades would be in the ground and the platforms under construction, because the contract was about to be let and the detailed design was almost finished.' And Labour MP Simon Lightwood added in the Commons: 'The strategic objectives are clear. "Enhancing public transport connectivity will support growth and productivity in Exeter, Taunton and Bridgwater, while also reducing road congestion, car dependency and carbon emissions. ' He continued: 'The stations would contribute to sustainable development, connecting new residential areas with regional employment, education and healthcare opportunities." This comes as satellite images of a new £15million train station at Okehampton were revealed. The station, which will be the newest addition to the Dartmoor Line, connecting West Devon, Torridge and North Cornwall with Exeter and beyond, will also benefit education and leisure services in the region. GWR Regional Growth Manager David Whiteway said the project would provide "valuable support for the community and local economies". Satellite images show the rapid development of the £15million scheme, which is being funded by the Department for Transport with contributions from Devon County Council and West Devon Borough Council. Since work began in January, major progress has been made to create the new station on the edge of Okehampton, two minutes from the A30. In March, 300 metres of the single-line track was moved 90cm north to allow a new platform to be built alongside it.
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Competition shows humans are still better than AI at coding
Computers have taken the crown in chess, Go and poker, but when it comes to competitive coding, humans still have the edge – just. Przemysław Dębiak, a Polish coder and mind sports champion, narrowly clinched a victory over OpenAI's entrant in the AtCoder World Tour Finals 2025 in Tokyo earlier this month. The elite coder, however, who goes by the online name Psyho, predicts he may be the last human to win the prestigious title given the incredible pace of technological progress. 'That's probable,' said Psyho, 41, who worked at OpenAI before retiring five years ago. 'I would prefer not, mostly because I like these competitions and knowing there's this magical entity that can do it better than me would be a little bit frustrating.' There is an irony, Psyho acknowledged, in the fact that coders have contributed to their own professional demise. 'Before the contest, I tweeted 'live by the sword, die by the sword',' he said. 'I helped developing AI and I would be the one who would be the loser of the match. Although I won, in the end, for now.' The AtCoder euristic division included 11 human participants invited on the basis of world rankings and a coding algorithm designed by OpenAI, which finished in second place, 9.5% behind Psyho's winning score. Sam Altman, OpenAI's CEO, tweeted his congratulations. The 10-hour contest involves solving a complex optimisation problem. A classic in the genre is the 'travelling salesman problem', where the salesman needs to figure out the shortest possible route between various cities, each visited once. These problems are simple to state, but finding an optimal solution is computationally very complex. So while ChatGPT is now routinely used to write boilerplate code, the AI's performance on an open-ended logic problem will be viewed as impressive. 'At the current state, humans – top humans, to be clear – are still much better at reasoning and solving complex problems,' said Psyho. But humans are 'bottlenecked' by how quickly they can type code, while an AI can try out lots of small adjustments very rapidly. 'The model is like cloning a single human multiple times and working in parallel,' he said. 'AI might not be the smartest right now but it's definitely the fastest. And sometimes multiplying a single average person many many times produces a better result than a single, special human being.' The result comes as major tech companies, including Meta and Microsoft, are turning to AI to write software code. The Anthropic CEO, Dario Amodei, said in May that AI could take 20% of white-collar jobs in the next one to five years. 'Every profession has this right now, more or less,' said Psyho. 'Some people have it coming right now – all of the white collar jobs. For manual jobs, robotics is lagging by several years.' Like many in the industry, Psyho is ambivalent about the potential impact of ever more powerful AI models. 'We have a tonne of issues,' he said. 'Disinformation, social impact, humans not having a purpose in life. Historically society moves at a very slow pace. Technological progress right now is moving at a faster and faster and faster pace.'
