There is usually radio silence over at the Pearson-owned FT whenever Pearson-owned Edexcel are in the news, so Guido was surprised to see the paper wade into the debate on exam boards this morning. They argue: “Mr Gove’s plan to approve just one exam board for each subject…is a welcome step forward. Abolishing competition need not lead to falling standards if the government sets the bar high enough.” According to FT education correspondent Chris Cook, this was a rare sign of editorial independence:

The FT supports the "one exam board per subject" measure: ft.com/cms/s/0/7f9e67… That's editorial independence, for you.—
Chris Cook (@xtophercook) June 22, 2012

However, he added one crucial caveat:

(I say that: the big exam boards might do rather well out of enforced monopoly)—
Chris Cook (@xtophercook) June 22, 2012

Cook went on to admit that the move “might not be as bad for Edexcel as many people suspect“. Guido can’t imagine why he would back abolishing the competition…

The FT‘s education correspondent Chris Cook has inexplicably missed out on yet another great story. An A-level maths exam due to be sat next week has been scrapped after a major security breach – it turns out the exam board, Edexcel, accidentally delivered a batch of papers to a British school in Egypt. The news was picked up by all the main news outlets, yet somehow the FT missed it, again:

• Telegraph: A-level exam axed following major security breach
• BBC: Maths A-level exam paper scrapped
• Mail: Thousands of A-level exam papers pulped after security error
• Press Association: Maths exam sent to schools in error

It’s not like the FT and Edexcel are owned by the same company or anything…

Once is chance, twice coincidence, but three times just looks like poor form from the FT’s Education Correspondent Chris Cook. Once again a story that is awkward for his proprietor – Pearson “the world’s leading learning company”- has failed to make the pages of the pink ‘un. After years of denials, Ofqual have finally ruled that exams are getting easier – a pretty big story it seems:

• Sun: GCSE is too easy
• Independent: Exams are easier now, report finds
• Mirrror: Exams now easier than 10 years ago
• Telegraph: Exam system ‘undermined after decade of dumbing down’
• Mail: The proof that exams really have got easier
• Guardian: A-level exams have become easier, says regulator
• Times: A-levels have got easier, says exam chief

And nothing in the FT. Surely that pious and righteous bastion of journalistic integrity would not suppress the truth because of its commercial interests?

Given that the system is already at breaking point, it isn’t necessarily a bad thing that the number of university applications is falling, but nearly all the papers this week have agreed that it is happening:

Mirror: “University applications fall 25,000″

Mail: “University applications down by 23,000″

Indy: “University applications down despite late surge”

Times: “Fewer British and European students apply to universities despite surge before deadline”

Telegraph: “University demand falls by 8%”

Guardian: “University applications slip by 8% as fees triple”

Only the FT bucked the trend with: “Students undeterred by higher University fees”

Guess which one of those pieces was written by a former adviser to David Willetts, the Minister responsible for universities?

Take a bow, spinner turned Education Correspondent and blog favourite, Chris Cook of the FT…

There are 22 articles currently listed on Google News regarding this morning’s Education Select Committee. They all mention the appearance of Rod Bristow, president of Pearson UK. The publishers own the exam board Edexcel, as well as the Financial Times.

While the Telegraph, Times, Guardian, BBC and PA are running with the grilling that Bristow got, there is absolute silence, once again, from the FT’s Education Correspondent Christopher Cook.  It’s not as if he hasn’t been filing copy, a piece by him about other matters went on the website at 3:51 pm. Plenty of time until deadline though…

Another day and another good secret camera sting. This time it’s the Telegraph catching out exam board officials briefing teachers, for cash, what will be in the exams in order for their pupils to up their grades. Nearly every other paper has picked up the scoop, except one. The FT…

It’s not their education correspondent Chris Cook’s ongoing grudge against Gove that is the issue this time, instead the answer lies significantly above his pay grade. Pearson PLC who own the FT also owns Edexcel – one of the the exam boards named in the Telegraph story. Move along people, nothing to see here…

The FT’s cerebral editor Lionel Barber gave the Fulbright Lecture last night about media matters of concern to the chatterati (“The Future of News and Newspapers in the Digital Revolution“). Barber joins the chorus for a Media Standards Commission, with teeth, to replace the discredited Press Complaints Commission.

Of interest to Guido was that he wants the regulator’s remit to cover blogs:

Should the new system embrace new media such as the Huffington Post UK or individual political bloggers such as Guido Fawkes?  My answer is Yes, not simply in the interests of a level playing field but also because the distinction between old and new media are rapidly becoming meaningless in the new digital eco-system.  New media is moving into reporting. Old media is blogging and tweeting, and using social media to promote and distribute news and analysis around the world.

If bloggers don’t cooperate he wants “a statutory levy on advertising revenues for non-participants, with such levies being used to fund the new body”. Good luck with that, because it will require some extra-territorial innovations in international law. It is never going to happen, you’ll have to prise the keyboard out of Guido’s cold dead hands…