Expert Contributor | Schools Week

Schools need more guidance on how to close the disadvantage gap

Many schools are looking to close the disadvantage gap in their communities, but they need more evidence about what actually works, say researchers Megan Sim and Julie Belanger Children are affected by socio-economic disadvantage from an early age. We see differences between disadvantaged children and their peers not only in early educational outcomes such as reading […]

What is the role of local governing bodies in MATs?

There can be confusion about the roles of the various governing bodies in academy trusts. Sam Henson is on a mission to clear it up. Governance determines who has the power, who makes the decisions, how other players make their voice heard and how account is rendered. In a multi-academy trust, the board of trustees […]

The new Ofsted framework has the potential to transform workload

Ofsted’s new curriculum framework has the potential to transform workload and bring education back to where it should be. Exam grades and test results are hugely important – they are a mark of knowledge and achievement that young people can use as the collateral to win university places, secure apprenticeships and get great jobs. Yet […]

Why we replaced our local governing bodies with committees

As Ofsted demands around accountability have tightened, shifting that responsibility to professionals takes the weight off governors’ shoulders I don’t care whether I’m called a school governor or an academy ambassador. Having experienced both set ups, it’s clear to me that all that matters is ensuring that our young people are getting the best possible […]

The DfE’s repeated misuse of statistics is embarrassing

The Department for Education needs to start using statistics properly, or much of its evidence will simply be dismissed as untrustworthy, says Hetan Shah “I am writing to raise with you serious concerns about the DfE’s presentation and use of statistics”, starts the letter from Sir David Norgrove, chair of the UK Statistics Authority (UKSA), to […]

JL Dutaut’s top blogs of the week 1 Oct 2018

Getting Policies Off the Page @bennewmark The five-page behaviour policy. The vague uniform policy. The never-heard-of-until-Ofsted-call homework policy. Who among us hasn’t experienced their fair share of policy evidently designed to fail? Ben Newmark draws on his own experiences of redundant schemes and draws out simple tips for leadership teams to ensure that when the […]

Exam literacy: A guide to doing what works (and not what doesn’t) to better prepare students for exams

The psychology of learning has been insufficiently embedded in most training over the years, leaving the profession vulnerable to group-think bias or in-service training that’s rarely evaluated for impact. Jake Hunton had a hunch that something was not quite right with many of his enthusiastic language learning activities born out of received wisdom, experimentation and […]

‘They’ll blame the housing crisis on PRUs soon!’

The recent debate about exclusions has become a stick with which to beat pupil referral units, says Steve Howell Almost everyone in education can quote some statistics about pupils excluded from school: • 60 per cent of the prison population were permanently excluded • Less than 1 per cent go on to get five “good” […]

Pupil premium: how to translate evidence into practice

Every month a school from the Education Endowment Foundation’s Research School network shares a research-based initiative it has implemented. A third of our pupils at Springfield are “pupil premium”. Last year we won the National Pupil Premium Awards because our outcomes for “disadvantaged” learners were exceptional, and this year 90 per cent of our 30 […]