2019 annual report on education spending in England

Education spending is the second-largest element of public service spending in the UK behind health, representing about £91 billion in 2018-19 in today's prices or about 4.2% of national income. The level of UK education spending has risen significantly in real terms over time, growing particularly fast from the late 1990s through to the late 2000s, before falling in real terms from 2010 onwards. Whilst important, such overall trends in total education spending tell us little about what has happened to the different areas of education spending. Our second annual report on education spending in England provides measures of spending per student in the early years, schools, further education and higher education back to the early 1990s. These series of day-to-day spending per pupil allow us to understand how policy decisions have affected the resources available to students in different stages of education over the long run. We also analyse the effects of the 2019 Spending Round and the longer-term spending options for policymakers

Iron-catalysed C(sp²)-H borylation enabled by carboxylate activation

Arene C(sp2)-H bond borylation reactions provide rapid and efficient routes to synthetically versatile boronic esters. While iridium catalysts are well established for this reaction, the discovery and development of methods using Earth-abundant alternatives is limited to just a few examples. Applying an in situ catalyst activation method using air-stable and easily handed reagents, the iron-catalysed C(sp2)-H borylation reactions of furans and thiophenes under blue light irradiation have been developed. Key reaction intermediates have been prepared and characterised, and suggest two mechanistic pathways are in action involving both C-H metallation and the formation of an iron boryl species

Eating As Treatment (EAT): A Stepped-Wedge, Randomized Controlled Trial of a Health Behavior Change Intervention Provided by Dietitians to Improve Nutrition in Patients With Head and Neck Cancer Undergoing Radiation Therapy (TROG 12.03)

Purpose: Malnutrition in head and neck cancer (HNC) treatment is common and associated with poorer morbidity and mortality outcomes. This trial aimed to improve nutritional status during radiation therapy (RT) using a novel method of training dietitians to deliver psychological techniques to improve nutritional behaviors in patients with HNC. Methods and Materials: This trial used a stepped-wedge, randomized controlled design to assess the efficacy of the Eating As Treatment (EAT) program. Based on motivational interviewing and cognitive behavioral therapy, EAT was designed to be delivered by oncology dietitians and integrated into their clinical practice. During control steps, dietitians provided treatment as usual, before being trained in EAT and moving into the intervention phase. The training was principles based and sought to improve behavior-change skills rather than provide specific scripts. Patients recruited to the trial (151 controls, 156 intervention) were assessed at 4 time points (the first and the final weeks of RT, and 4 and 12 weeks afterward). The primary outcome was nutritional status at the end of RT as measured by the Patient-Generated Subjective Global Assessment. Results: Patients who received the EAT intervention had significantly better scores on the primary outcome of nutritional status at the critical end-of-treatment time point (β = −1.53 [−2.93 to −.13], P =.03). Intervention patients were also significantly more likely than control patients to be assessed as well-nourished at each time point, lose a smaller percentage of weight, have fewer treatment interruptions, present lower depression scores, and report a higher quality of life. Although results were not statistically significant, patients who received the intervention had fewer and shorter unplanned hospital admissions. Conclusions: This trial is the first of its kind to demonstrate the effectiveness of a psychological intervention to improve nutrition in patients with HNC who are receiving RT. The intervention provides a means to ameliorate malnutrition and the important related outcomes and consequently should be incorporated into standard care for patients receiving RT for HNC

Iron‐catalysed C(sp²)‐H Borylation with Expanded Functional Group Tolerance

Arene C(sp2)-H bond borylation offers direct and efficient access to aryl boronic esters. Using in situ catalyst activation and photoirradiation, the iron-catalysed C(sp2)-H borylation reaction of carboarenes, pyrroles, and indoles has been developed using only bench-stable pre-catalysts and reagents. Good functional group tolerance was observed including those not reported using previous methods (ArNH2, ArOH, ArSiR3, ArP(O)(OR)2, ArC(O)NR2). Mechanistic studies revealed iron-catalysed reductive deoxygenation, C—F protodefluorination, and a demethylation of aryl methyl ethers by C—O sigma bond hydroboration

Iron-catalysed alkene and heteroarene H/D exchange by reversible protonation of iron-hydride intermediates

C–H functionalisation reactions offer a sustainable method for molecular construction and diversification. These reactions however remain dominated by precious metal catalysis. While significant interest in iron-catalysed C–H activation reactions has emerged, the isolation, characterisation and mechanistic understanding of these processes remain lacking. Herein the iron-catalysed C(sp(2))–H bond hydrogen/deuterium exchange reaction using CD(3)OD is reported for both heterocycles and, for the first time, alkenes (38 examples). Isolation and characterisation, including by single-crystal X-ray diffraction, of the key iron-aryl and iron-alkenyl C–H metallation intermediates provided evidence for a reversible protonation of the active iron hydride catalyst. Good chemoselectivity was observed for both substrate classes. The developed procedure is orthogonal to previous iron-catalysed H/D exchange methods which used C(6)D(6), D(2), or D(2)O as the deuterium source, and uses only bench-stable reagents, including the iron(ii) pre-catalyst. Further, a new mechanism of iron-hydride formation is reported in which β-hydride elimination from an alcohol generates the iron hydride. The ability to produce, isolate and characterise the organometallic products arising from C–H activation presents a basis for future discovery and development

2020 annual report on education spending in England

In our annual series of reports on education spending, funded by the Nuffield Foundation, we bring together data on education spending per student across the life cycle and provide analysis about the major issues facing different sectors. In this year's report for 2020, we update our estimates of spending per student and analyse the challenges facing each phase of education due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. We focus on the medium-term challenges facing providers as they respond to substantial changes in student numbers, as well as the loss of learning and increased inequalities that are likely to have emerged during lockdown. The challenges facing each sector will be very different and our analysis partly draws on special reports we have already published looking at the financial challenges facing the early years and higher education sectors. As our special report on the early years makes clear, the main challenge facing the early years is simply remaining open as parental demand remains well below pre-pandemic levels. The widespread closure of settings would represent a significant economic and social cost, particularly if closures are concentrated in certain areas of the country. Evidence suggests that the closure of schools to most pupils during lockdown has led not only to a significant loss of learning but also to a widening of existing educational inequalities. Mitigating these effects will be a major challenge facing the school sector over the next few years. Further education colleges and sixth forms will also face challenges around education catch-up, but may also need to expand to accommodate extra students as apprenticeship and employment opportunities dry up. As our special report on higher education demonstrates, higher education institutions are heavily exposed to financial losses as a result of pension scheme losses, declines in international student numbers and changes in domestic student participation. These calculations are updated in this annual report