It will take around a decade to introduce the baccalaureate-style education programme announced by Rishi Sunak in his conference speech, Downing Street has admitted.
In his address to the Tory Party conference in Manchester, the prime minister announced the creation of a new school-leaver qualification called the “Advanced British Standard” in England to “bring together A-levels and T-levels into a new, single qualification”.
It will see students study English and maths to age 18 – an announcement that has previously been made public.
Mr Sunak said the new system will “finally deliver on the promise of parity of esteem between academic and technical education” because “all students will sit the Advanced British Standard”.
He also said it would help “raise the floor ensuring that our children leave school literate and numerate”.
However, education unions have warned that the plans are “pie in the sky” and “are likely to prove a pipe dream” due to teacher shortages.
Former Conservative PM turns on Sunak amid HS2 backlash – Tory conference latest
Asked how long it would take for the prime minister to bring in the new system, Mr Sunak’s press secretary said: “I believe it will take about 10 years for the advanced British standard to replace A-levels.
“This is a big change to the education system, we will have to work with education experts to work it through.”
Mr Sunak had previously trailed that he wanted pupils to study maths to 18, describing it as his “new mission”.
His spokesperson confirmed the policy will be limited to England as education is a devolved matter, but added: “If the devolved administrations want to use the same standard then they can, and that would be a good thing.”
Elsewhere in his speech, the prime minister announced that sixth-form students will study five subjects rather than three and that the number of taught hours for all post-16 students will rise to at least 1,475 over two years – an extra 195 hours for most students.
Mr Sunak also repeated his plans to crack down on what he called “rip off degrees”, saying he would stop universities from “enrolling students on courses that doing nothing for their life choices”.
Read more:
Akshata Murty’s speech humanised Rishi Sunak
Buying cigarettes to become illegal at all ages eventually under PM’s plan
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
What you missed from Sunak’s speech
Turning his fire on Labour, Mr Sunak said the party had created an assumption that the “only route to success” was through university and that was “one of the great mistakes of the last 30 years”.
He pointed to Gillian Keegan, the education secretary, saying she is the first ever apprentice to fulfil that post.
Mr Sunak announced an initial investment of £600m over two years to lay the groundwork for delivering the Advanced British Standard – which will include funding for tax-free bonuses of up to £30,000 over the first five years of the careers of teachers in key shortage subjects.
A consultation on how to implement the qualification will open this autumn.
‘Completely out of touch with reality’
Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), said that while the “principles of these proposals are good, the practicalities are daunting because of the severity of the teacher recruitment and retention crisis”.
“We’re not convinced that the prime minister’s plan for an early career bonus payment for teachers in key shortage subjects in schools and colleges will be anywhere near enough,” he added.
“Teacher shortages are widespread and very problematic in many subjects. This problem requires a much broader strategy to improve pay, conditions and education funding.
“Without this commitment, the prime minister’s plans for an Advanced British Standard are likely to prove a pipe dream.”
Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders’ union the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT), said the announcement “raises so many questions”, while Daniel Kebede, the general secretary of the National Education Union (NEU), said Mr Sunak was “completely out of touch with reality”.
“There is no magic wand to create English and maths teachers in sufficient numbers to educate 11 to 16-year-olds, let alone at A-level too,” he added.
The proposals were described as “ambitious” by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), which also warned that “policy churn” in recent years has had “its own costs, making it more difficult for schools, young people and employers to understand the value of qualifications and to navigate the system”.
Tech giant Meta has been given the green light from the European Union’s data regulator to train its artificial intelligence models using publicly shared content across its social media platforms.
Posts and comments from adult users across Meta’s stable of platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger, along with questions and queries to the company’s AI assistant, will now be used to improve its AI models, Meta said in an April 14 blog post.
The company said it’s “important for our generative AI models to be trained on a variety of data so they can understand the incredible and diverse nuances and complexities that make up European communities.”
Meta has a green light from data regulators in the EU to train its AI models using publicly shared content on social media. Source: Meta
“That means everything from dialects and colloquialisms, to hyper-local knowledge and the distinct ways different countries use humor and sarcasm on our products,” it added.
However, people’s private messages with friends, family and public data from EU account holders under the age of 18 are still off limits, according to Meta.
People can also opt out of having their data used for AI training through a form that Meta says will be sent in-app, via email and “easy to find, read, and use.”
EU regulators paused tech firms’ AI training plans
Last July, Meta delayed training its AI using public content across its platforms after privacy advocacy group None of Your Business filed complaints in 11 European countries, which saw the Irish Data Protection Commission (IDPC) request a rollout pause until a review was conducted.
The complaints claimed Meta’s privacy policy changes would have allowed the company to use years of personal posts, private images, and online tracking data to train its AI products.
Meta says it has now received permission from the EU’s data protection regulator, the European Data Protection Commission, that its AI training approach meets legal obligations, and the company continues to engage “constructively with the IDPC.”
“This is how we have been training our generative AI models for other regions since launch,” Meta said.
“We’re following the example set by others, including Google and OpenAI, both of which have already used data from European users to train their AI models.”
Related: EU could fine Elon Musk’s X $1B over illicit content, disinformation
An Irish data regulator opened a cross-border investigation into Google Ireland Limited last September to determine whether the tech giant followed EU data protection laws while developing its AI models.
X faced similar scrutiny and agreed to stop using personal data from users in the EU and European Economic Area last September. Previously, X used this data to train its artificial intelligence chatbot Grok.
The EU launched its AI Act in August 2024, establishing a legal framework for the technology that included data quality, security and privacy provisions.
Magazine: XRP win leaves Ripple a ‘bad actor’ with no crypto legal precedent set
South Korea is expanding a ban on digital asset firms’ applications servicing its citizens. On April 11, the country’s Financial Services Commission (FSC) announced that 14 crypto exchanges were blocked on the Apple store. Among the affected exchanges are KuCoin and MEXC.
The report, which was made public on April 14, says the banned exchanges were allegedly operating as unregistered overseas virtual asset operators. The report also states that the Financial Information Analysis Institution (FIU) will continue to promote the blocking of the apps and internet sites of such operators to prevent money laundering and user damage.
The request to block applications on the Apple Store comes after Google Play blocked access to several unregistered exchanges on March 26. KuCoin and MEXC were also targeted during the blocking of the Google Play apps. The FSC published a list of 22 unregistered platforms operating in the country, with 17 of them already blocked on Google’s marketplace.
The 17 crypto exchanges blocked on Google Play. Source: FSC
According to the FSC report, users will not be able to download the apps on the Apple Store, while existing users will not be able to update the apps. The FSC notes that “unreported business activities are criminal punishment matters” with penalties of up to five years in prison and a fine of up to 50 million won ($35,200).
FIU considers sanctions against unregistered VASPs
On March 21, South Korean publication Hankyung reported that the FIU and the FSC were considering sanctions against crypto exchanges operating in the country without registration with local regulators. The sanctions included blocking access to the companies’ apps.
In South Korea, operators of crypto sales, brokerage, management, and storage must report to the FIU. Failure to comply with registration and reports is subject to penalties and sanctions.
Related: South Korea reports first crypto ‘pump and dump’ case under new law
The latest sanctions come as crypto is reaching a “saturation point” in South Korea. As of March 31, crypto exchange users in the country passed 16 million — equivalent to over 30% of the population. Industry officials predict that the number could surpass 20 million by the end of 2025.
Over 20% of South Korean public officials hold cryptocurrencies, with the total amount reaching $9.8 million on March 27. The assets varied and included Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), XRP (XRP), and Dogecoin (DOGE).
Magazine: Asia Express: Low users, sex predators kill Korean metaverses, 3AC sues Terra
Spot Solana exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are set to launch in Canada on April 16, according to Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas.
In an X post on April 14, the analyst shared a private client note from TD Bank, a Canadian financial institution, claiming the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) greenlighted asset managers Purpose, Evolve, CI and 3iQ to issue ETFs holding Solana (SOL).
The OSC did not immediately respond to Cointelegraph’s request for comment.
Canada does not have a federal securities agency, with its territories and provinces applying their own securities laws. Toronto’s securities exchange is regulated by Ontario’s OSC.
The ETFs are permitted to stake a portion of the SOL holdings for added yield, Balchunas said, adding that the upcoming listings are “our first look at the alt coin race.”
Source: Eric Balchunas
Related: SEC approves options on spot Ether ETFs
Waiting on US approval
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has acknowledged dozens of applications to list ETFs holding alternative cryptocurrencies, or “altcoins,” but so far has only approved funds holding spot Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) for trading.
Staking is still off limits for US crypto ETFs. Bloomberg analyst James Seyffart said Ether ETFs could be greenlighted to start staking as soon as May, but the process may take months longer.
However, investors’ demand for altcoin ETFs may be weaker than for funds holding core cryptocurrencies, Katalin Tischhauser, crypto bank Sygnum’s research head, told Cointelegraph in August.
“[T]here is all this frothy excitement in the market about these ETFs coming, and no one can point to where substantial demand is going to come from,” Tischhauser told Cointelegraph.
Volatility Shares’ SOL futures ETF has roughly $5 million in net assets. Source: Volatility Shares
In March, asset manager Volatility Shares launched the first ETFs to track Solana’s performance using financial derivatives.
Volatility Shares Solana ETF (SOLZ) has seen a lukewarm reception, attracting only around $5 million in net assets as of April 14, according to its website.
“FWIW, the 2 solana ETFs in US (which track futures so not a perfect guinea pig) haven’t done much. Very little in aum. The 2x XRP already has more aum than both the solana ETFs and it came out after,” Balchunas said.
Balchunas added that he “[w]ouldn’t read a ton into it” as a predictor for spot SOL ETFs.
Magazine: Bitcoin eyes $100K by June, Shaq to settle NFT lawsuit, and more: Hodler’s Digest, April 6–12
-
Sports2 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports1 year agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business3 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway