Expert Contributor | Schools Week

Forget behaviour policies: we need behaviour culture!

Alternative provision takes in pupils who’ve proved too challenging for mainstream education, but the techniques AP teachers use are transferable, writes Sarah Holding Building positive relationships is at the heart of effective behaviour management. A strong relationship connects us to our students and without that connection our ability to influence and lead them is diminished. […]

Teaching thinking skills makes children more intelligent

All the evidence points to significant benefits of teaching children to think as well as cram for exams, argues John Perry The good news that we’re all aware of is that schools are improving. A quick look at the DfE’s performance tables makes it clear that more children achieve more highly than they did 20 […]

Virtual schools: beware ‘mission creep’

Guidance for virtual school heads was updated recently to expand their statutory duties to include previously looked-after children. Sally Kelly welcomes the changes, but warns of mission creep and funding shortfalls I have been a virtual school head (VSH) for seven years now. This revelation used to draw strange looks, but most people, especially in […]

Educational disadvantage: how does England compare?

We know there’s work to do with the disadvantage gap in this country – but where do we stand on the international scale, asks Natalie Perera? The gap in attainment between disadvantaged pupils and their peers is the leading measure used by policymakers to gauge the state of educational inequality in England. Organisations such as […]

How to lead a successful multi-academy trust

There are lots of ways MATs can improve their schools, writes James Toop, but there’s one common factor needed to underpin it all School improvement can only occur with great leadership. This is especially true when we are talking about groups of schools like multi-academy trusts, but the more I learn about the MATs that […]

How schools and communities can work together more closely

Schools urgently need more funding, but they also need more scope to mould pupils into better-rounded members of society, writes Fiona Carnie It is at last becoming clear to the general public that schools are in crisis. Budget cuts are taking their toll and there is talk that education may be a decisive factor in […]

Grade predictions are unreliable – so why do we still use them?

Too many school leaders rely on having their teachers make predictions about pupils’ grades – but no-one’s any good at it, explains Ben White We recently launched a ‘grade predictions challenge’, offering a bottle of sparkling wine to teachers who could accurately predict 80 per cent of the A-level results of a class. We provided […]

3 ways in which government needs to help school governors

School governance is a vital but oft-forgotten aspect of the school system. Here Mike Parker lays out what he reckons needs to change “Governors are the unsung heroes of schools”, were the opening words of Belita Scott, an inspector, at the SCHOOLS NorthEast event in south Tyneside last September. We are increasingly concerned about the […]

Schools’ designated mental health leads will need support

A recent green paper suggests a new role in schools to manage mental health– the designated senior lead. Dai Durbridge considers how it might all work Mental health and pupil wellbeing have been in sharper focus over the past few years. Many adults with mental ill-health are likely to have suffered their first mental health […]