Is this you? As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.
Claim your profile
Articles by Daniel Kebede
Meta’s $18bn settlement shows why the UK must act on children’s social media harms
When one of the world’s most powerful technology companies agrees to pay up to $18bn over claims that its platforms harmed children, governments everywhere should pay attention. Meta denies wrongdoing, but the scale of the settlement, and the changes agreed for Facebook and Instagram in the United States, should be a wake-up call for the UK.
This annual silence is wearily familiar - Headteacher Update
Once again, schools are waiting on the DfE to publish the final report of the School Teachers’ Review Body over teachers’ pay.
Teacher pay delays: STRB report and strike threat
Once again, schools are waiting on the DfE to publish the final report of the School Teachers’ Review Body over teachers’ pay.
Tech can’t wait for regulation to protect children online
Harmful material in three minutes Most alarming, the experiment found that for every minute spent scrolling, children were shown a piece of concerning content. Harmful material appeared within just three minutes of logging on – and in some cases it was the very first thing served. This matters because teachers are not debating the online harm of children in theory - they are already dealing with its consequences.
The DfE's SEND reforms are the right ones – but where is the money? - SecEd
The government has identified the right reforms to transform an SEND system in crisis, says Daniel Kebede – but if they are work the Chancellor must fund them properly... The government is investing £3.5bn extra in high needs funding by 2028/29, but the NEU is worried that much of that will absorb local authority SEND deficits rather than put new resources into schools - Adobe Stock The SEND system is broken. It is adversarial, fragmented and starved of resources.
Industrial action: Why the NEU is holding its indicative ballot - SecEd
On February 28, the NEU will begin indicative ballots for teachers and support staff across all state-funded schools in England.
Austerity Labour? DfE pay plan is unacceptable - SecEd
The government is pushing for a three-year 6.5% pay rise. Which ever way you cut it, this will result in yet more real-terms pay cuts for teachers, says Daniel Kebede Yet again the government has created anxiety among the teaching profession by putting forward evidence in their submission to the School Teachers’ Review Body that suggests a below-inflation pay award funded out of existing budgets. We expected better from a Labour government.
'How school meals could start to unite a fractured society and combat the far-right'
SPONSORED I was a teacher, and when I used to teach early years I used to line the children up for lunch. Black and white, Muslim and Jewish. Without prompting, they would line up and hold hands. If you ask a group of children in any school in this country to distribute lunch, I guarantee you, they will share whatever food is available equally. Down to the jelly-bean. Read the latest news, analysis and commentary on the 2025 Labour party conference in Liverpool here on LabourList.
How we can rebuild SEND provision in schools?
A decade of destructive SEND policies has left a system in crisis and disarray. Daniel Kebede applauds efforts to rebuild SEND provision but demands proper funding and accountability As educators, we witness daily the profound challenges facing children with SEND. The undeniable crisis in SEND provision is the most pressing legacy left by the 2010 coalition government and successive Conservative governments.
Teachers’ pay, yet another STRB leak, and industrial action... - SecEd
We were hoping for something different, but the latest development in the School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB) is a sadly familiar one. The Times recently revealed that this year’s teachers’ pay settlement would be something “close to 4%” – higher than the government’s proposal of an unfunded 2.8%. Hard-working teachers are sick and tired of finding out their financial futures through leaks to the press.
We must address social media’s impact on our young people - SecEd
The pernicious effects of social media on our children have gone on for far too long. It is becoming an increasing concern for parents and teachers alike. Smartphones have accelerated access to harmful online content and the algorithms of web giants like Instagram and TikTok ensure that it reaches people faster than before. These companies enrich themselves at the cost of the majority. They are exacerbating the mental health crisis of our young people without any sense of social responsibility.
They promised change – but we face continuity austerity - SecEd
At the general election in July the Labour Party made a commitment to restore public services. Five months later, when the new government announced its intentions on pay for 2025/26, teachers were horrified. It was a signal that the fight goes on for the status of the profession and the protection of education. The government’s evidence to the School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB) in England proposed an unfunded 2.8% pay increase for September this year (DfE, 2024).
Budget 2024: A concerning lack of urgency - SecEd
The new government has spoken of arresting a decline in the state of the public sector and made this a centrepiece of its work. This is undoubtedly a welcome shift in tone after 14 years of essential services being cut to the bone through austerity measures and deliberate neglect. Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ long-awaited Budget at the end of last month is a turning of the page, but it won’t be enough. There remains a long road ahead.
Budget 2024: A concerning lack of urgency - Headteacher Update
The new government has spoken of arresting a decline in the state of the public sector and made this a centrepiece of its work. This is undoubtedly a welcome shift in tone after 14 years of essential services being cut to the bone through austerity measures and deliberate neglect. Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ long-awaited Budget at the end of last month is a turning of the page, but it won’t be enough. There remains a long road ahead.
Autumn Budget Reeves Kebede 2024 education schools NEU
This government says that it values teachers, but what price will they put on education? That is the question at the centre of the National Education Union’s thinking right now. Chancellor Rachel Reeves will set out her Autumn Budget on October 30 and has dropped heavy hints that tough choices will have to be made on public spending. Fourteen years of deliberate underfunding of our schools and colleges has left our education system hanging on by a thread. Investment is needed and needed urgently.
VAT on fees: Know the law if you're making cuts
On 29 July 2024, Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, confirmed that VAT at the standard rate of 20 per cent will be added to independent school fees from 1 January 2025, drawing a line under speculation over when this policy will come into force. Private schools’ eligibility for charitable rates relief will also be removed.
'Why not tax families who buy their way into state schools?'
Schools minister Catherine McKinnell recently said she was “deeply concerned about the inequalities in our education system” and highlighted the independent sector once again. It is a view consistently expressed among the leadership of the Labour Party. It is such a shame that rather than applaud the success of these schools, they – and the parents who send their children to them – are being made to feel like pariahs in society.
VAT consultation timing 'wholly unfair'
A new campaign group made up of independent school leaders has called upon the Treasury to delay adding VAT to school fees, The Times reports. The new Chairs, Heads, and Bursars group is also demanding that – launched on July 29 and due to end on September 15 – be extended until October 25.
VAT on fees: 'Employers taking advantage will be challenged'
We now have a Labour Government – and in the independent sector there has been much focus on its policy on private schools. In its first King’s Speech for fifteen years, Labour confirmed plans to remove the exemption from VAT for private school fees. The National Education Union (NEU) is concerned about the potential impact on our members’ jobs and terms and conditions. We will robustly defend our members, as the largest union of teachers and support staff in the independent sector.
'This is nothing for Rishi Sunak to boast about' - SecEd
You may have seen a recent speech from Rishi Sunak. It was an election speech in all but name, delivered at the headquarters of the Policy Exchange think-tank in London. Following his humiliation at the local elections, the prime minister desperately wants to move the political conversation onto the future and the "transformational" years ahead. In education terms, this amounts to very little.
Women and Ordination in Ethiopia: In the Case of the Ethiopian Evangelical Church of Mekane Yesus*
Since the inception of the Evangelical Church of Mekane Yesus (EECMY), women have been part and parcel of the holistic ministry; however, their role has only been limited to providing social welfare activities for a long time. Meanwhile, a communist regime took power in the 1974 revolution and caused severe trials and persecution of evangelical churches, and prominent Mekane Yesus congregations opened for charismatic moves.
Teacher Strike: An option members will seriously consider - SecEd
I’m going to begin by doing something I wouldn’t normally do, which is to approvingly quote something Rishi Sunak has said. In his speech launching the unwanted Advanced British Standard in October last year, he said: “Education is the closest thing we have to a silver bullet – it is the best economic policy, the best social policy and the best moral policy.” I couldn’t agree more. The problem is that ever since, he hasn’t put his money where his mouth is.
Ofsted is not reforming – it is rebranding - SecEd
Blink and you would have missed it, but at the start of term Ofsted took a two-week pause on inspecting schools. The reasons are well known. Ruth Perry, a headteacher in Caversham, Berkshire, died by suicide just over a year ago. The inquest held by senior coroner Heidi Connor led to damning conclusions about the role of Ofsted in the weeks leading up to her tragic death. The inspection "lacked fairness, respect and sensitivity".
Will we finally get to grips with teacher workload? worklife balance wellbeing working hours teaching schools education NEU
Just 1% of teachers and 10% of support staff say their workload is manageable all the time. Daniel Kebede says the work of the government’s workload taskforce must be a priority in the coming months When I look back at our recent pay dispute, I remember the commitment of our members not only to the children they teach and their ambitions for them, but also their frustration with workload intensity and extremely long working hours.
Unions slam Government plans for minimum service levels during teachers’ strikes
Teachers and school leaders have reacted angrily to a Government announcement that minimum levels of service are to be introduced during education strikes. Education Secretary Gillian Keegan has written to union leaders inviting them to discuss proposals on a voluntary basis, but added that the Government was committed to use powers granted through recent legislation aimed at providing minimum levels of service (MSLs) in a range of sectors including the railways and fire service.
special education needs SEN National Education Union NEU schools funding Daniel Kebede
A programme of educational and social reconstruction must be at the heart of the looming general election campaign, says Daniel Kebede – and SEND provision must be a major part of this Whoever invented the term polycrisis must have been thinking of SEND provision in schools in England. Its problems are multiple, serious and growing. Developed behind a smokescreen of denial, government policies are making them worse.
special education needs SEN National Education Union NEU schools funding Daniel Kebede
A programme of educational and social reconstruction must be at the heart of the looming general election campaign, says Daniel Kebede – and SEND provision must be a major part of this Whoever invented the term polycrisis must have been thinking of SEND provision in schools in England. Its problems are multiple, serious and growing. Developed behind a smokescreen of denial, government policies are making them worse.
In Britain, Everything Is Crumbling
The Government’s education policy merges austerity with a deep hostility towards those working in schools and an indifference to those studying in them. These qualities have shaped the incompetent policy-making that has dominated the last thirteen years. The pandemic and its aftermath displayed this combination in disastrous technicolour, and the teacher recruitment and retention crisis provided further evidence of its effects.
School chiefs told to ‘get off their backsides’ and fill out concrete survey
Ms Keegan has been criticised for shifting the blame onto schools during the concrete crisis, with one union leader describing the remarks as “outrageous”. The Education Secretary, who railed against those who had “sat on their arse and done nothing” in a sweary outburst on Monday, said 5% of schools, or the bodies responsible for them, had still not responded to a questionnaire sent out by the Department for Education (DfE) in March 2022 about Raac.
Ministers accused of ‘incompetence’ for aerated concrete school closures
Guidance to shut affected buildings was issued this week to 104 schools, school nurseries and colleges – which have been told they will have to fund their own emergency accommodation.
Keegan ‘living in fantasy land’ over challenges facing schools – union boss
During a speech to the union’s annual conference, Dr Bousted said many schools are “running on skeleton staff” and support staff are leaving because they “earn more stacking shelves in a supermarket”. Addressing NEU members in Harrogate, she said: “Gillian Keegan is airily unconcerned about all of this.
Teachers Are Striking for the Future of Education
2023-02-01 10:14:47 Our schools are in crisis. The government has missed targets for teacher recruitment in secondary schools once again, and, unlike previous years, it has also missed the target for primary teachers. In figures that headteachers organisations have described as nothing short of catastrophic, only 59 percent of the secondary teachers needed were recruited.
Deaths after police contact show that racism is still alive
YES, YOUNG black men have every right to fear the police. The CCTV footage of the final moments of Rashan Charles's life has shocked many. The distressing scenes ended with a young black man ending-up lifeless following contact with the police. Social Media, which has become a barometer for society's opinions, was awash with anger and rage but also full of comments praising the death of a supposed 'drug dealer'.
Show More
loading
Actions
Is this you?
As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.Get in touch with Daniel
Contact Daniel, search articles and posts on X, monitor coverage, and track replies from one place.
Learn more about Muck Rack