Expert Contributor | Schools Week

Governor’s Corner: How we are tackling the A level changes

Exam reforms have prompted a Northampton school to construct a new extended enrichment curriculum for year 12 students The rushed reform of A-levels in England has presented school leaders and governors with real headaches. At the most basic, these pains are about what courses to offer and what advice to give year 11 students about their […]

A duty of care on the sports field

Rugby union is a compulsory sport in many independent schools. Are they putting themselves at risk by compelling under-16s to play the game? A school’s legal duty of care to its pupils applies to sport as to every other aspect of school life. Sport must be taught and games supervised with a degree of “reasonable […]

Pastoral interventions can help to raise student achievement

A greater emphasis on pastoral care to remove barriers to learning has increased attainment at a 1,600-pupil academy Student welfare is a hot topic. January started with worrying reports of young people suffering from poor mental health and the think-tank, 2020health, has recently suggested that heads of well-being may help schools to combat poor physical […]

You’d be forgiven for thinking workload was a marginal issue

The Department for Education last week published the results of its Workload Challenge. It may have been launched with much fanfare, but the department’s reaction is little more than a damp squib According to education secretary Nicky Morgan, the aim of the Workload Challenge was to provide teachers with an opportunity to tell her about […]

College of Teaching: let’s just get on with it for now

The Claim Your College Coalition has put its proposals to the government for a College of Teaching open to everyone interested in education, with chartered membership reserved for practising classroom teachers. Since then, social networks have buzzed with complaints that membership should be solely for teachers. The coalition says that it’s worked hard to get […]

Is technology worth bothering with in education?

What do you do when you have a teacher with a PhD in astrophysics? Find a new method of learning so that pupils in other schools can share his knowledge . . . I’m not going anywhere near the problem of “evidence” or “proof” that technology has an impact in education. That would make for […]

Why the Acas Code of Practice should change

The code discriminates against non-union staff who should be entitled to have a qualified person with them at any disciplinary hearing Business secretary Vince Cable recently announced that he was signing off a “minor” amendment to the Acas Code of Practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures after a year-long consultation. In the next breath he […]

Like it or not: Reception assessments are looming

There are valid reasons for concerns about reception baseline assessment. But don’t be intimidated: it’s a chance to pick a good option that works for your school Primary schools in England are about to be presented with a choice of commercial schemes to act as a baseline for the new primary accountability policy. As I […]

Things to do before you buy 3D printers

First, train your staff. Then plan your curriculum – and think about leasing. It makes it easier to budget When I started as a graphic design teacher we used Camm-2 machines, where computers helped to direct machines. By the time I left, 10 years later, I was working alongside 3D printers and laser cutters. In […]