JL Dutaut | Schools Week

The 2020 ‘holidays’

The lockdown diary is back and this term’s first instalment catalogues the cluster-farce that led to its announcement

Repeated omission of special schools points to an ableist department

Special schools could be forgiven for thinking the department is ableist given that they are routinely treated as less important than their mainstream peers, writes Dr Lauran Doak Amid the widespread frustration of families and teachers struggling with the Department for Education’s rapidly changing COVID-19 education contingency plans, none can be more justified than those […]

Cancelling exams is the wrong decision. They should be reinstated

Far from the worst thing the DfE could do, changing its mind and reinstating exams would be the best for all concerned, writes Stuart Lock “Why are they cancelling exams, Sir?” I don’t know. I can’t even think of a plausible reason for the decision several months before it was necessary to make it. And […]

Could education research be leading the profession astray?

Applying metascientific methods to education research reveals some worrying biases but simple steps can help us navigate our way to a more secure grasp of its results, writes Baz Ramaiah There have been some pretty provocative article titles in the history of science. But few come close to John Ioannidis’ 2005 essay “Why most published […]

Robin Conway’s blogs of the week, 4 January 2021

Certainty in uncertain times, parental engagement, cutting workload, lateral flow tests and a comedic look at the philosophy of education are Robin Conway’s top picks of this week’s education topics Certainties @elucymay A lovely piece by Elisabeth Bowling, whose writing I don’t think I have discovered previously. In a time of great stress, confusion […]

Review: Educating for a Characterful Society

Stephen Lane reviews a book with strong arguments for the importance of character education but too little ackowledgment of its pitfalls What are schools for? This deceptively simple question can generate fierce debate. Some assert that schools are academic institutions that should focus primarily on domain specific curricular knowledge. Others insist that schools should develop […]

These closures are testament to a failed government strategy

The prime minister sounded an optimistic note tonight but it will take a lot more to alleviate our fears and begin to set things right, writes Mary Bousted This is a crisis point for the nation, and a great deal of what got us here can’t simply be blamed on new strains of the virus. […]

Five Top Tips for Blended Learning

As a new term begins and mixed provision looks likely to continue to be the norm, Helen Newies shares her top tips for effective blended learning Consolidate your platforms It is far too easy to take a ‘more is better’ approach and sign up for a dozen different platforms, but the schools we have seen […]

Supporting EAL students through the pandemic’s disruptions

Students with English as an additional language face the same challenges as all other learners, but some are unique to them, writes Ashwini Parulekar When it comes to closing the post-Covid learning gaps, one group is often left out of conversations. Yet, in terms of impact on educational outcomes, disruption to schooling for those with […]