Expert Contributor | Schools Week

How well do you know your school’s curriculum?

Too many schools (and their leaders) know more about pupils’ scores than what they’ve actually learned about, says Tom Sherrington More schools seem to be undertaking some form of curriculum review, which is encouraging. In primary schools this is often around the foundation subjects; in secondary schools it’s mainly about key stage 3. No doubt […]

Jon Hutchinson’s top blogs of the week 25 Feb 2019

Let our voices be heard Sam On March 15, children across the country walked out of their lessons. Why? “To protest against the world leaders’ attitudes towards climate change”. This protest was difficult for adults for a number of reasons. The flush of guilt as we quietly kick the can down the road. The sense […]

The new baseline assessment is fairer than what we have

The new reception baseline is a fairer way of assessing primary schools because it means we’ll get credit for the work we do early on, argues Cassie Young The reforms keep on coming. Not since Gove’s day have we seen such a quick pace of change in education. There’s of course the juggernaut that is […]

There’s no shortcut to quality relationships and sex education

Effective relationships and sex education is a partnership, and it needs an appropriate investment from government so that schools can access training, argues Lucy Emmerson Parents should have high expectations for the quality of education their children receive at school in all areas of the curriculum. The new government guidance makes clear that relationships education, […]

Fighting for a level playfield in English and maths

Technical alternatives for those learners who don’t want to choose traditional academic routes are becoming more important than ever and we believe that NCFE is fantastically placed to help learners get the most from technical learning. Under current guidelines in schools, English and maths GCSE learners are subject to a compulsory re-sit if they achieve […]

How edtech could help schools with flexible working

The Department for Education has promised a competition for innovative edtech solutions to promote part-time and flexible working. But how could this work? James Browning takes a look At the end of last month the government published its long-awaited teacher recruitment and retention strategy, with Damian Hinds pledging that teacher workloads would be cut. This […]

Designing a Prosocial Classroom

When educators discuss the management of behaviour in schools, they often seem to fall into one of two camps: those who favour a restorative approach and those who believe that a strict sanction-based system is the only solution. As a senior leader in a school that is currently redefining its behaviour system, and by extension, […]

We need to talk about teacher wellbeing

Developing students’ self-regulatory abilities in school is under scrutiny. But what about occupational self-regulation for those working there? What are we doing about that? In the 1980s, Stevan Hobfoll, a hospital doctor and Kent State University academic, worked up an idea called “conservation of resource” (COR) theory (Hobfoll, 1989). Dissatisfied with how stress was conceptualised […]

New Church of England model articles – what’s changed?

New model articles should simplify and clarify the operation of multi-academy trusts with Church of England schools, says Susan Newell Earlier this month the Department for Education published some long-awaited new model articles for multi-academy trusts that include Church of England schools. These will significantly improve governance and clarify the responsibilities of the bodies involved […]