What are the major arguments in the abortion debate?

Thomas Fuller

Earlier this year the United States Supreme Court reversed their 1973 decision on Roe v Wade, removing the federal right to abortion. There are a variety of opinion on the subject. However, many of the arguments put forth by pro-choice activist often reside in the practical applications of the prohibition of abortion, arguing that a prohibition of abortion does not stop abortions, but rather makes them less safe. The argument rests in the legality of abortion, rather than the morality of the action itself. So, I thought it prudent to recap some of the formal arguments put forth by ethical thinkers, focusing on the consideration of whether a foetus has an alienable right to life.

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T-Levels: a much-needed step forward in the British education system

It has been a long-standing view that the UK’s provision of technical courses falls far short of European alternatives. Rishi Sunak’s Autumn Budget Review revealed the government’s revitalised intention to invest in upskilling, an increase of 42% (£2.8bn). Included in this figure are T-Levels – a new qualification set to provide an alternative route to the current dichotomy of A-Levels and apprenticeships.

T-Levels are 2-year courses entailing an 80:20 mixture of classroom and industrial placement, respectively. They were first introduced in the Careers Strategy in 2018, and were launched in September 2020. The planned trajectory of courses available is auspicious: digital production, health, construction, and education, shifting to industries such as finance, media, and law by mid-2023.

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Education in times of Covid-19: Challenges and Opportunities

On February 10th, 2021, the Education Policy Centre hosted an event to discuss the impacts of Covid-19 on the English schooling system and its approaches to creativity. Considering the multidimensional nature of creativity, the event afforded a broad understanding of the word as well as a specific reference to the arts. The event’s title “Education in times of Covid-19: Challenges and Opportunities” served as a springboard for two experts, Professor Catherine Boyle and Laura Mcinerney, to share their insights and experiences in their respective field.

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The unseen challenges of refugee youth in the face of COVID-19

The lockdown period in the UK has variably affected different groups in the country. One group consistently overlooked has been refugees and refugee children, in particular. Official figures state that there are 126,720 refugees in the UK, of which 10,295 are children. Prior to the pandemic, refugee children were already in an unfavourable position in society that affected their access to education, with many schools unwilling to allow their enrolment over fears that they would have an adverse impact on schools’ academic performance and their positions in league tables.

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Overcoming the Legacy of Section 28: Reaffirming the Need for LGBT+ Inclusive Education

In 2018, Scotland became the first country in the world to commit to fully integrating LGBT+ identities and the history of gay rights into the national curriculum following the recommendations of an LGBTI Inclusive Education Working Group. From 2021, all public schools in Scotland will be required to teach lessons on the HIV and AIDS epidemic, the history of equality campaigning, same-sex marriage and same-sex parenting, alongside an exploration of homophobia, transphobia, and biphobia, and their impact upon wider society.  

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Event Review: ‘Skills Share’ Networking Event

The Education policy centre’s goals encompass not only evaluating and recommending education policy, but also helping to enrich the experience of students who study at our university.  For this reason, we hosted ‘Skills Share’, an opportunity for current students to get helpful advice on how to excel in various stages of the job application process. The event’s premise hinged on the identification that that UK higher education is not doing enough to equip students with skills that are essential to entering the workplace following their degrees. As a result, students frequently feel lost when starting job applications and balancing them  with their studies. This is especially difficult for students from under-represented backgrounds in Higher Education, including disabled and first-generation students. 

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Sports Initiation Culture is not worth the ‘shot(s)’: Mental Health, Alcohol, and the University Experience

It’s a Wednesday night, which means it’s time for me to start getting ready for a busy shift at the student bar. It is also time for all of us to think about, look into and discuss university sports initiations and the culture behind them. I firmly believe that education, especially at university, goes beyond academic studies., I will be sharing research and thoughts on education with a focus on culture, wellbeing and inclusion as well as incorporating potential points of policy change. Given student initiations are the baptism into society life, I consider this the best place to start the conversation. 

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Is there space for minority voices in teaching about the past?

While British universities pride themselves as centres of international education and cosmopolitanism, an increasing number of voices in recent years have questioned the ‘global’ nature of the curriculums on offer.  A ‘global’ environment may be perceived by the extent to which it includes and continuously works towards promoting a truly diverse community. By questioning whether higher education in the UK is truly ‘global’, students around the country have begun a very important, and often neglected, conversation: which voices get to be heard in our education about the past? As a history student, my personal experience with  learning about the past at university has enabled me to reflect on whether (and how) diversity can be allowed institutionally. Universities are under pressure to diversify their history curricula and, as students, it is our responsibility to inform ourselves on this topic. However, it is even more important to look at the same problem at an earlier, and potentially more important, level: that of school education and minority voices. This article addresses the lack of diversity in university curriculums and argues that the teaching of history at schools must shift towards inclusivity and away from grand narratives. It additionally maintains that this shift is crucial in attracting students from more diverse  backgrounds to enrol in arts and humanities, and that it is the only way to combat the ‘us versus them’ mentality so prevalent in perceptions of both history and current events. 

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Event Review: Introduction to Policy Making Session with the King’s Scholars’ Programme

We should give all children on this planet a future that is worthy of their talents and dreams.

On 21 January, the King’s Think Tank’s Education Policy Centre held an event that brought one of our key objectives, making education more accessible, to life. In collaborating with the King’s Widening Participation Department on the King’s Scholars’ Programme, we presented the Think Tank and our work to different groups of Year 7 students. The primary aim of the event was to teach young people from under-represented backgrounds about policy making, as well as  opportunities to get involved with it at university. 

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The Failing State of British Education

For around a decade, immigration has been among the most salient issues for British voters, and particularly in the years since the decision to leave the European Union, British news coverage has been overwhelmingly preoccupied with Brexit and all of its corollaries. Though social institutions such as the NHS have come to the fore during this period, the issue of the quality of British education has largely been neglected, despite the fact that over half of all voters consistently view education as one of the most significant factors when choosing a party to vote for. When education has featured in contemporary political discussion, it has largely been invoked in relation to immigration, and as such, has been utilised as an ideological cudgel in televised polemics. For these reasons, though many Brits are keenly aware of the existence of education inequality within the UK, few are aware of the extent of the problem, and many continue to view Britain as a meritocratic society.  

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