JL Dutaut

  • All signs point to even greater pressure on schools post-Covid

    A raft of new data from multiple agencies points to a rising tide of families in need, with no other place to turn but their schools, writes Whitney Crenna-Jennings When Covid-19 shuttered schools and workplaces earlier this year, our thoughts quickly jumped to the children likely to be most affected: those from disadvantaged homes, already…

    5.00 Dec. 5th, 2020 | Opinion

  • Melissa Jane's blogs of the week, 30 November 2020

    This week’s top picks of the education topics are adapting to change, being black and disabled, mainstreaming accessibility and educating refugee children   Teaching outdoors and incomplete pictures @edifiedlistener A soothing read as we approach the end of term We’re nearing the end of the most unusual term of my teaching career and here, Austria-based…

    5.00 Dec. 5th, 2020 | Reviews

  • The digital divide is only one of the challenges facing edtech

    Our new report shows that despite a transformative year edtech companies face important challenges to meet teachers’ needs, writes Loic Menzies Between 2005 and 2008 the average number of interactive whiteboards in English primary schools tripled. In secondary schools, the number more than doubled. I was a teacher in London at the time and a…

    8.40 Dec. 4th, 2020 | Opinion

  • Now the government must show it can stick to its guns

    This week’s announcement gives welcome certainty but the true test is whether the department can work out how to deliver on it, writes Anna McShane The firm reiteration today by the Department for Education that “exams are the best and fairest way for young people to show their potential” is a step change for a…

    5.00 Dec. 4th, 2020 | Opinion

  • Profile: Jeffery Quaye

    Aspirations Academies Trust’s new national director of education and standards explains his ‘success by design’ strategy to tackle the basic lack of opportunity rooted in too many schools’ culture. By JL Dutaut Jeffery Quaye is living proof that time is relative. Our interview proves he can squeeze into an hour what it would take any…

    12.30 Dec. 2nd, 2020 | Features

  • No more excuses for failing to adopt flexible working

    Opportunities for career progression to school leadership roles are limited for those who do not work full-time, says Suzanne Brown Part-timer. Often the term is derogatory. “You part-timer!” On other occasions it’s expiatory. “I’m only part-time!” It’s a testament to how normalised full-time working is. Our response to Covid demands that we challenge that narrative.…

    5.00 Dec. 1st, 2020 | Opinion

  • Home-schoolers deserve better than misinformation and distrust

    If policymakers want to better understand home-schooling their focus should not be on pushing a failing model into homes, writes Anna Dusseau Publication last week of the Local Government Association’s research into “children missing education” has ensured the topic of home education stays in the headlines. It has also ensured that the conflation of “missing…

    5.00 Nov. 30th, 2020 | Opinion

  • A fighting chance in the parental arms race of tutoring

    Amid criticism of NTP funding rules – with home tutoring disallowed and restricted to one subject per pupil – Becky Francis says it’s a generational opportunity to close the gap The days keep getting shorter, but news of three potential Covid-19 vaccines has provided welcome cheer. The emphasis in early coverage has been on efficacy…

    17.00 Nov. 27th, 2020 | Opinion

  • It’s OK for BAME teachers to hold conservative educational values

    Crucial work is needed to tackle racial injustice in education, but it won’t be achieved by silencing challenging voices like mine, writes Shivan Davis In the educational culture war, new battlelines are drawn almost daily. Over the past few months alone, the killing of George Floyd caused fierce debate about decolonising the national curriculum, we’ve…

    5.00 Nov. 29th, 2020 | Opinion

  • The government’s Covid response has gone from shameful to shameless

    This government has some nerve telling teachers to keep calm and carry on, writes Mary Bousted “Tell your members to hold their nerve,” a government minister said to me last week. He understood, he added, how tired teachers are and how challenging and stressful it currently is working in schools and colleges. But the school…

    5.00 Nov. 27th, 2020 | Opinion

  • How can we adapt to new practices while keeping workload down?

    Covid has reduced our face-to-face contact with colleagues. So how do we sustain school improvement in an era of remote leadership?, asks Tom Stevens Can you hear that awkward silence? It’s the echo of countless unanswered emails in the inboxes of teachers everywhere. Covid has collapsed the ordinary staff meeting, and workload enemy number one…

    5.00 Nov. 30th, 2020 | Opinion