Expert Contributor | Schools Week

Why design T-levels when we already have an equivalent?

Why is the government spending so much on T-levels when a world-class programme that combines academic and vocational study already exists, asks Paul Luxmoore I don’t really understand T-levels. This is either because I’m a bit dumb and slow, or because, as the executive head of a predominantly secondary MAT, I’ve been led to believe […]

What qualities will future teachers need?

As facts become more easily accessible, the role of the teacher is changing. Teachers of the future will need both more authority… and less authority, argues Andy Hargreaves Many of us think a lot about the future, what it will be like to live in a world of robots, a world where there’s more technology, […]

Does competition law apply to academy trusts?

As multi-academy trusts come to dominate in so many areas, concerns are raised about unfair competition and less choice for parents. But the mechanism for challenging a MAT’s dominance is not at all clear, as education law expert Russell Holland explains The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) was established in 2014 to combine the functions […]

How teachers can help minority students get into Oxford

One in three Oxford colleges admitted no black British students in 2015. Samina Khan explains how teachers can make a difference Oxford University recently received a letter from over 100 MPs urging us to do more to admit more students from disadvantaged backgrounds. We know we need to move faster in diversifying and we’re already […]

Women in education leadership: what needs to change

Amanda Spielman, Vicky Beer, Dame Rachel de Souza, Lucy Heller, Rebecca Clark, Janet Renou, Sally Collier: never has education had so many senior leaders that are women. And whilst we should celebrate the growing number of women in these positions, the truth is that we would have even more women in leadership roles were it […]

How can schools better support young parents?

The government recently announced they will be collecting data on pregnant pupils transferred from mainstream to alternative schools from next September. What they do with this data is crucial. New research from Action for Children shows that young people who have become parents by the age of 25 are less likely to have moved into […]

Schools commissioners or local authorities – which is the real ‘middle tier’?

The schools commissioners have morphed into a privileged, parallel middle tier with no discussion on role or accountability, argues Jonathan Crossley-Holland When I first submitted a Freedom of Information request to the DFE on the annual cost of the regional schools commissioners, I believed the figures would clearly indicate, in the absence of policy announcements, […]

How to test interventions in the classroom

Don’t get hung up on methodology – good classroom research starts by establishing meaningful, measurable outcomes, explains Dr Lauren Ballaera It’s August in a classroom in west London and eight new teachers are discussing ways they can use education research to improve outcomes for their pupils. All of them are PhDs – mainly mathematicians and […]

You can’t compare GCSE maths grade boundaries

The new maths GCSEs were designed to be different from the old A* to G GCSEs, says Cath Jadhav, so you really can’t compare new and old. Over the next two months we will be reporting on various aspects of summer 2017, including official statistics. Our very clear aim, in planning for the first new GCSEs […]