Expert Contributor | Schools Week

Ignore the rise in school-led teacher training routes – universities are here to stay

The Department for Education’s recent Teacher Training Performance Profiles for 2015/16 prompted inevitable cries in the media of “the end of initial teacher training in universities”. They’re wrong, argues David Spendlove. Once again the DfE’s training figures, which showed an increase in school-led training, are more down to its own creative accounting than any radical […]

We know how to close the attainment gap – but government and schools must commit to it

The answer to closing the attainment gap begins at home, and in helping poverty-stricken parents as much as their children, says Jaine Stannard A report came out last week from the the Education Policy Institute, saying that the educational gap between richest and poorest ‘will take 50 years to close’. With over four million children in the UK […]

The NFF is saved – but major issues still remain for schools funding

The government has rescued the National Funding Formula by the skin of its teeth. The Education Policy Institute was clear that Justine Greening would need to give clarity over whether the National Funding Formula would be introduced in 2018 as planned, before parliament breaks for the summer recess. Today she gave that clarity, along with […]

Corbyn and Rayner have the wrong ideas for schools

Tory education policies in the 2017 election didn’t hit home with voters, but Jeremy Corbyn has the wrong ideas for schools, argues George Looker The government’s election campaign has been widely criticised for failing to set out a positive vision and lacking broad appeal to voters. Now that the campaign is over (for the time […]

Schools need to address the last acceptable form of racism

Racism is treated with due seriousness in all schools. Except, that is, for racism against gypsies, Roma and travellers, says Ellie Mulcahy Gypsies, Roma and travellers are the most underrepresented minority group in UK universities. About 3 to 4 per cent of GRT people aged 18 to 30 access higher education, compared with 43 per […]

We need to ditch Progress 8

Progress 8 is an embarrassment, says Tom Sherrington, a measure far removed from any sense of what the quality of schooling should be Every time I blog about Progess 8 and the disproportionate impact a few students can have or the depressing curriculum decision-making that it drives in schools, someone will try to explain the […]

Free schools are a cost-effective option

Amid reports that plans to expand free schools could be scrapped to fund the manifesto promise of an additional £4 billion for education, Barnaby Lenon argues that free schools are actually a cost-effective option I am chairman of governors of a free school with 420 pupils. The school is in a converted office block rented […]

Multi-academy trusts are great for career progression

Ignore the headlines: multi-academy trusts are showing great potential for maximising the talents of teachers, leaders and others, says Michael Pain There’s no doubt the academy system has received a pretty harsh press of late. If we’re not seeing headlines comparing trust leaders to the bankers who crashed the financial system, we’re being told of […]

What can school leaders do to improve career prospects for Muslim girls?

Schools can be instrumental in addressing the discrepancy in the number of Muslim girls in the world of work, says Mehwash Kauser A report published in 2015 by the Muslim Council of Britain concluded that only 29 per cent of Muslim women aged between 16 and 24 are in employment, compared with 50 per cent […]