JL Dutaut | Schools Week

Growing workload threatens MAT chairs but can be tackled

As evidence grows that the role is at risk of becoming untenable, Emma Knights warns that we can’t afford to take our chairs of trustees for granted Today, the National Governance Association reports on interviews with 18 MAT chairs and sounds a warning about the sustainability of the role. This new publication follows our 2019 […]

Profile: Dr Kate Chhatwal

Equity and social justice are what drives Challenge Partners CEO, Kate Chhatwal – and yes, you can call her stubborn, writes JL Dutaut Call it fate or serendipity. Sometimes, the most transformative moments in life can come to you in the form of a chance conversation in a swimming pool in Loughborough. Though on social […]

Making every MFL lesson count

Crista Hazell finds a useful guide to getting the best out of MFL lessons but worries about rushing its implementation Making every MFL lesson count is a book whose simplicity should not lead anyone to underestimate it. Like the other subject-specific counterparts in Allison and Tharby’s edited series, it is faithful to the original themes […]

Penny’s podcasts, 27 January 2020

Penny Rabiger takes over our ‘blogs of the week’ slot once every half-term to point to the best of the education podcasts How to Own the Room In this podcast, brilliant women reveal the secrets of brilliant speaking. Viv Groskop meets a wide range of women who use their voices in their work and who […]

Wishing grammar schools away fails to answer important questions

Unless we come to terms with these five questions, we’ll never put the academic selection genie back in its lamp, writes Nick Hillman If I were to be granted three wishes by a genie, one of them would be that I never have to speak about grammar schools ever again. Whenever we at the Higher […]

Can professional development help improve teacher retention?

The National Foundation for Education Research and Teacher Development Trust have partnered up to research CPD’s impact on teacher retention and develop resources to help break the ‘autonomy ceiling’ Much has been written on the pressing teacher supply challenge facing the school system. Rising pupil numbers, combined with too few teachers entering the profession, makes […]

Raising diversity in STEM is a matter of leadership vision

Getting more girls in STEM is everyone’s business, and we all benefit from the outcomes, writes Shamsa Mahmood. Here’s how we’ve done it in a school once tarred by the Trojan horse scandal It is encouraging to see that more and more women are now employed in core STEM roles in the UK. The WISE […]

Why Ofsted is (very nearly) right about the three-year KS4

Despite criticism, the case for ensuring schools deliver a broad and balanced curriculum is unarguable and Ofsted are right to take a dim view of those that don’t, writes Jon Coles In its approach to curriculum breadth, the UK (and England in particular) is an absolute outlier. No similar country specialises as early or as […]

Profile: Jeremy Hannay

Headteacher Jeremy Hannay speaks to JL Dutaut about beating scepticism and building a culture of trust “I haven’t seen a volleyball in ten years!” Once the sport’s regional director of athlete development for Ontario, Canada, Jeremy Hannay has been occupied with other things during his decade in England. Reflecting on his first experiences in English […]