JL Dutaut | Schools Week

Schools have led the way through the pandemic and can lead the way out

There is no better time to put forward a positive vision of the future of schools than amid this crisis, writes Nick Brook Since the NAHT’s new commission first met to discuss the question “how can we better support schools to improve?”, the world of education has changed in ways we could scarcely have imagined. […]

Going beyond tutoring to help pupils envision a world beyond Covid

Tutoring alone is insufficient to help pupils emerge from the collective trauma of the past year, writes Sue O’Brien With news today of a vaccine on the horizon, it is clearer by the day that the situation of the past year is redeemable. But as we experience a second national lockdown, our children and young […]

Tougher guidelines, but trustees need better data on executive pay

Government must step in to support MAT trustees to validate executive pay or face trying to fix a distorted market later, writes Samantha Hulson The ability of schools to unshackle themselves from local authority control and become academies can feel invigorating but intoxicating. Alongside new freedoms to set their own curricula, academies and MATs have […]

Exams 2021: Wales now has a clear direction. What about us?

England shouldn’t cancel its exams but it should follow Wales’s lead in one key regard – taking action now, writes Natalie Perera The debate over what to do about exams next summer rumbles on. Earlier this week, the Welsh government confirmed that it would be scrapping GCSEs and A-levels for the second year in a […]

Exams 2021: Inequality grows with every positive test

The disparity of educational fortunes between some of our communities is ingrained. Covid-19 is making it a lot worse, writes Hamid Patel Each morning is the same. The phones ring from 8am with parents reporting their children have tested positive overnight. A carefully orchestrated routine kicks in. The headteacher and the “Covid Silver Team” speak to […]

Does class size matter? Rethinking the debate

Covid is forcing some schools to create supersized classes, but is that necessarily a bad thing? Peter Blatchford reviews the evidence According to our surveys of teachers’ views and experiences, teachers worry about large classes, arguing that they adversely affect teaching and learning. However, many researchers and commentators have a different view. For them, the […]

Jon Hutchinson’s blogs of the week, 2 November, 2020

This week’s top picks of the education topics are multiple-choice questions, this summer’s exams, cultural capital, talking about racism in school and making every day a black history day Talking about racism in schools @nickdennis A cool-headed but appropriately forthright blog Many schools were left rather perplexed a few weeks ago when the Minister […]

Review: The Fascist Painting by Phil Beadle

Gerry Robinson discovers a humourous and provocative book that gets past the emotive responses to its subject to propose a change for the better Since its inclusion in Ofsted’s inspection handbook, cultural capital has become a well-worn phrase in schools. But what is it really? Phil Beadle’s latest book opens by addressing Ofsted’s assertion that […]

Profile: Stephen Chamberlain

Twelve months into the job of CEO at The Active Learning Trust (ALT), Stephen Chamberlain talks to James Carr about a year that has been more tumultuous than anyone could have expected Stephen Chamberlain has always enjoyed a challenge. But, as we have all collectively learned, there is a stark difference between the challenges of […]