Festive greetings

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Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all my dear readers.

Should women be allowed to wear the veil in court?

Baroness Hale, deputy president of the UK Supreme Court, has recently highlighted the importance of seeing faces in court, when women are testifying or in case the issue of identity or recognition is at risk.

The urgency to be firm in such regard follows a recent family law case, where Lady Hale had to deal with a woman who was found to be misleading the court when she was asked to remove her niqab.

Britain’s most senior female judge believes it would not have been so obvious the woman was lying, if she had only been able to see her eyes, rather than her facial expressions.

This firm approach is not meant to stop people behaving according to their sincerely held religious reasons, as long as they do not do any harm.

However, as soon as a veil perverts the course of justice while giving evidence in court, tougher measures must be put into place.

In 2013 Prime Minister David Cameron had a say on such a contentious subject, declaring he would have considered introducing specific guidelines to judges on when they could ask people to remove their veil in court. 

No actual policy has followed so far, though.

Big changes ahead for GCSE exams

A new era is set to begin for GCSE tests.  

First of all, there will be much tougher English and Maths GCSE exams from 2017 and students are expected to spend three years, instead of the usual two, studying these two crucial subjects.

Changes will also affect both the maximum number of GCSEs pupils will take, reducing from 12 to 8, and the grading system.

In fact, the exam papers will be graded from 1 to 9, with 9 as the top mark, in place of the traditional A* to G grades. According to exams regulator Ofqual, the move will allow greater differentiation at the top end.

At the same time, dozens of subjects including human biology, performing arts and environmental science are expected to disappear from the curriculum by 2017, because too similar to their mainstream equivalents.

With such a revolutionary change on the way, the new Education Secretary Nicky Morgan has warned young people that choosing to study science would keep their options open, while art subjects could hold them back for the rest of their lives.

Meanwhile, Ofqual has confirmed it is making changes to GCSEs and that schools will begin teaching according to the new system in September 2015.