The Department for Education is set to fund a new peer-reviewed British education journal – and to open up access to other academic work. An independent journal is one of the white paper proposals to “spread cutting-edge research in an accessible format for teachers”. The College of Teaching, which received a £5m pledge from the government last week, is also set to offer its members access to current journals, similar to Scottish arrangements. The General Teaching Council for Scotland funds a scheme allowing members to access more than 1,700 journals at a cost to the council of just 29p per teacher. Schools Week has previously highlighted the equivalent scheme in England could cost just £132,000. Claire Dockar, chair of the College of Teaching, said this week that teacher demand meant access to journals would form a “key part” of college plans. But Loic Menzies, director of think-tank LKMco, said he would be “surprised” if the new journal could compete with the best blogs – “given that they make research evidence accessible in bite-sized chunks, which are far better suited to busy teachers”. Publishers turned down a proposal for a similar open-access British education journal in 1998 from former Institute of Education director Chris Husbands because they said it was not commercially viable.