Nicola Sarah Hawkins

Heading of Arts Education with the description "A society in which the arts are healthy is one in which high-quality arts education is valued and available to all, fostering creativity and developing the artists and audiences of the future."

📌 THE STATE OF THE ARTS: One Year On 📌

Last July, we published a landmark report with
@ccmpswarwick.bsky.social examining the State of the Arts in the UK across 5 health metrics. One year later, we’re revisiting each one 🧮

#2 is Arts Education, with the @neunion.bsky.social

What’s it really going to take to ensure Ai and EdTech benefits our many disadvantaged and vulnerable pupils?

@nic-s-h.bsky.social of the @neunion.bsky.social
‬ tells teachers how to avoid the 'AI ready-meal diet'

READ 👉 www.twinkl.co.uk/l/si9z5

Statement from U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Transforming the U.S. AI Safety Institute into the Pro-Innovation, Pro-Science U.S. Center for AI Standards and Innovation Under the direction of President Trump, Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick announced his plans to reform the agency formerly known as the U.S. AI Safety Institute into the Center for AI Standards an...

US AI Safety Institute reformed into Center for AI Standards and Innovation. Mission: “represent US interests internationally to guard against burdensome & unnecessary regulation of US tech by foreign govs & ensure US dominance of int’l AI standards” www.commerce.gov/news/press-r...

Sir Jon Cunliffe: put public ownership back on the table! From day one, the government’s “largest review of the water sector since privatisation” - a.k.a the Cunliffe Review - has ruled out the solution that 82% of the British public want: public ownership. ...

The Govt’s “largest review of the water sector since privatisation” ruled out public ownership - a solution 82% of us support - before even starting.
This review is a sham - but we still have a chance to be heard. Sign @labourlewis.bsky.social’s open letter: actionnetwork.org/petitions/si...

School phone policies in England: Findings from the Children’s Commissioner’s School and College Survey | Children's Commissioner for England Over the last four years, I have spoken to a million young people and thousands of parents about the most pressing issues facing children growing up in

“…crucially, technology companies must step up and take responsibility for making the online world safe by design.“ The children’s commissioner is right. We should force tech firms to ensure children can safely enjoy protected online spaces.
www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/resource/sch...

Palestine: NUJ condemns further killings by Israeli bombing At least 159 Palestinian journalists and media workers have been killed since the start of war.

NUJ condemns further killings by Israeli bombing.
At least 159 Palestinian journalists have been killed since the start of war. The NUJ strongly condemns Israel's targeting of journalists, including Yahya Subaih and Nour El-Din Abdo killed on 7 May. www.nuj.org.uk/resource/pal...

Petition: Make the arts part of UK National Renewal | Campaign for the Arts The Chancellor is reviewing all public spending from scratch. The arts make our lives happier and our communities stronger. Now is the moment to invest in them.

🚨🌱 The Chancellor is reviewing all public spending from scratch. Please join me in signing the @campaignforthearts.org petition to remind the UK Govt: the arts make our lives happier & our communities stronger. Now is the moment to invest in them. www.campaignforthearts.org/petitions/sp...

Debate: Where to next for universal school-basedmental health interventions? Time to move towardsmore effective alternativesJack L. Andrews & Lucy FoulkesDepartment of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UKThere is an urgent need to improve mental health outcomes among young people. One approach taken toaddress this problem has been the design and delivery of universal school-based prevention, based on thera-peutic models such as CBT and mindfulness. Such interventions are delivered to groups of young people, irre-spective of risk or need. However, in this commentary, we argue that the initial appeal of universalinterventions has not been supported by the evidence: universal school-based prevention is less effective thantargeted approaches, often leads to null or unsustained positive effects, has the potential to elicit negativeeffects and is not well liked by young people themselves. In addition, many young people in each classroomalready meet the criteria for a mental disorder, meaning that prevention approaches may not be appropriateor effective for this group. In this commentary, we respond to Birrell et al.’s (2025) paper by arguing that thefield should move away from universal prevention and instead invest our limited resources in the refinementand dissemination of interventions with a stronger evidence base, such as one-to-one, targeted and indirectapproaches.

For me, these new findings are exceptionally useful for suggesting we should stop universal MH interventions in schools, and focus on one-to-one, targeted and directed interventions instead. @jackandrews.bsky.social and I argue this is more detail below

doi.org/10.1111/camh...

Labour’s great nature sellout is the worst attack on England’s ecosystems I’ve seen in my lifetime | George Monbiot The horrifying planning bill, which rips up environmental protections, was drafted with CEOs in mind. We know because Keir Starmer told us, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot

Labour’s great nature sellout is the worst attack on England’s ecosystems I’ve seen in my lifetime | George Monbiot

Reminds me that I once asked @sonialivingstone.bsky.social what area of public policy we could learn from when thinking about digital life and her answer was ‘town planning’

"[English now] is something that is no longer really literary study at all but rather the performance of a new kind of English that is very different and far less enjoyable"

School phone policies in England: Findings from the Children’s Commissioner’s School and College Survey | Children's Commissioner for England Over the last four years, I have spoken to a million young people and thousands of parents about the most pressing issues facing children growing up in

“…crucially, technology companies must step up and take responsibility for making the online world safe by design.“ The children’s commissioner is right. We should force tech firms to ensure children can safely enjoy protected online spaces.
www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/resource/sch...

6% is a cut too far - Protect Adult Learning It’s no secret that after decades of cuts, adult learning remains woefully underfunded whilst continuing to deliver impressive outcomes not just in skills but for health and wellbeing, work progressio...

This cause is close to my heart - please sign: you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/6-...

This is Utah in case anyone’s wondering how pissed off people are. I have never seen anything like this.

Trump Says Union Rights Are a Threat to National Security President Donald Trump signed an executive order attacking the union rights of employees at several federal agencies, citing national security.

Trump Says Union Rights Are a Threat to National Security

rollingstone.com/politics/pol...

linktr.ee/shareneu?utm...

This is Julia, she live drew a whole session today at #wedemandchange. An incredible skill and makes events engaging and accessible.

Julia is available via www.juliamiranda.uk

⚠️ With no mention of school funding, Chancellor @RachelReevesMP made a choice this #SpringForecast:

To continue to deprive school budgets.

To refuse to start properly funding schools.

This is not the change that this Government promised.

Our letter in @financialtimes.com calls on the government to resist spending cuts in the #SpringBudget. After years of stagnation, we cannot cut our way to growth. Public investment is essential for delivering sustainable growth and strengthening our economy.

Read the letter ➡️ bit.ly/4bV89zl

Keir says: No return to austerity……….. REALLY?!

The money is there, they just need to look in the right place.

It’s about making the right choices: pitting the poor against the poor isn’t that!

🗣️ No cuts, No austerity, yes to a #WealthTax! RT 🔇🔇🔇

The chancellor of the exchequer Rachel Reeves has outlined plans to cut several billion from the UK's welfare budget.

Cuts to disability benefits will worsen health and the economy
www.bmj.com/content/388/...

Will Europe Sacrifice the Digital Services Act in Negotiations with Trump? | TechPolicy.Press Jakob Ohme, LK Seiling, and Claes H. de Vreese write that European leaders must protect the DSA to ensure a democratic future.

As EU-US relations change Europe must stand firm for the DSA

The DSA is imperfect, it cannot fix everything. But the DSA is a shield to defend European democracy.

@dscheykopp.bsky.social @lkseiling.bsky.social and I argue this in @techpolicypress.bsky.social ⬇️

www.techpolicy.press/will-europe-...

Also obvious, but Persuasion. And Mansfield Park has a crucial turning point when Fanny Price is sent to live with her birth family at Portsmouth and the great scene of the tour of the docks.

Gordon House: Radio drama is a powerful medium. To endanger its future is tragic Audio drama is a potent and unique form of entertainment that is important both for listeners and for the writers, actors and directors it gives opportunities to. Cutting its output is a mistake, says former head of BBC radio drama Gordon House

Audio drama is a powerful medium. To endanger its future is tragic, writes former BBC radio drama head Gordon House 👇

Those of us working in any tier of education recognise this crisis for the arts and the creative skills that should be threaded and embedded across the curriculum
neu.org.uk/assessment/c...

Can we all finally agree that billionaires owning our media is a bad thing?

Go sound thy trumpet in the market-place

Today is the official start of #RightsCon2025 in Taipei 🌏

On Wednesday, I will be co-facilitating "Safeguarding (Digital) Cultural Heritage as an Act of Resistance: Connecting Palestine to EGOV"

📅 Wed, 26/02
⏲️ 7:30 AM to 8:30 AM UK
💻 In person and online: www.rightscon.org

A profile photo of Chancellor Rachel Reeves wearing a navy blue suit and a red poppy pin holding a red budget briefcase. The text reads: 'The first Labour Chancellor since 1979 to force schools to make cuts.' The words 'first,' 'force,' and 'make cuts' are highlighted in yellow. Below, additional text says: 'Write to your MP' and provides the website 'schoolcuts.org.uk' with a cursor icon pointing at it. A black and yellow caution tape design runs along the bottom edge of the graphic.

More cuts mean more damage to our schools. But we have the power to stop them.

Join parents and educators taking action—commit to Spring Action now ⬇️

https://buff.ly/3X3yWDv