Reading Time: 2.6 mins

March 22, 2023

Head teacher’s family blames death on school inspection pressure

  • Headteacher, Ruth Perry took her own life ahead of the publication of an Ofsted school inspection report.
  • Her family have since issued a statement saying that they believe Ruth’s death was “a direct result of the pressure put on her by the process and outcome of an Ofsted inspection.”
  • Ofsted have been accused of unfairly reaching conclusions that were “sensationalist and drawn from scant evidence.”
  • An inquest on Ms Perry’s death will begin this summer.
  • A member of the public spoke to Nicky Campbell on BBC Radio 5 Live, who told of her mother taking her own life eight years ago following an Ofsted inspection.
  • More than 120,000 signatures have been collected so far for an inquiry into Ofsted’s inspection.
  • For more on this story, please visit the BBC News and the Independent’s website.

TikTok is revamping its community guidelines

  • Ahead of a potential ban in the US, TikTok is overhauling its community guidelines.
  • The new rules will have a dedicated section for AI- generated and “synthetic media.”
  • New rules state that synthetic or manipulated media that portray realistic scenes must be clearly disclosed.
  • This can be done by using a caption or sticker such as ‘fake’, ‘not real’ or ‘altered’.
  • The rules also state that synthetic media of “any real private figure” is prohibited and cannot be used for political or commercial means.
  • These guidelines are due to take effect next month.
  • For more on this story, please visit Engadget’s website.

Bard: Google’s rival to ChatGPT launches for over-18s

  • Google has started rolling out its AI Chatbot ‘Bard’, but only to users over the age of 18.
  • Google’s senior product director stated that the chatbot is being launched as “an experiment.”
  • Bard can access up to date information from the internet, has a “Google it” button to search and publicly names its sources for facts e.g., Wikipedia.
  • Like Chat-GPT, Bard will be able to mimic the writing style of others.
  • Google have warned that Bard has “limitations” and may provide misinformation and display bias.
  • Bard has been programmed to not respond to offensive prompts and not share harmful, illegal, sexually explicit or personally identifiable information, however Google warn that this may sometimes fail.
  • Google have stated they will monitor Bard closely to ensure it adheres to its own “AI principles” which include creating or reinforcing bias.
  • For the full story, please visit the BBC News website.

Census 2021: No qualifications for 24% of over 16s in Northern Ireland

  • The latest census figures have revealed that 24% of people aged 16 and over in Northern Ireland have no qualifications – academic or professional.
  • This is a 5% decrease from the 2011 census.
  • It was found that 32% of people have a degree or equivalent level in education, this is a 24% rise from the previous census.
  • The unemployment rate was recorded at 2.8%. This is thought to be one of the lowest unemployment rates recorded in the census, equating to 42,000 respondents.
  • The figures showed that 2.1% of people aged 16 or over identified as LGB+.
  • For the full story, please visit the BBC News website.