JL Dutaut | Schools Week

Books for teachers and school leaders 2019

For policy nerds The Educated Guess By Warwick Sharp Publisher: Self-published The Educated Guess is a gem of a book written from someone at the heart of the Department for Education (Sharp was the former principal private secretary to education secretary Damian Hinds). The book shines a light into the murky world of cognitive bias […]

The SEND system desperately needs transformation in 2020

The new government needs to make the education of young people with SEND a top priority throughout the next parliament, says Chris Rossiter It doesn’t matter which politician occupies No.10 or takes the helm at Sanctuary Buildings, they need to get to grips with the entrenched problems with the SEND system and the dismal outcomes […]

Secondary schools 2019. Great Expectations or Bleak House?

The dictionary of secondary schooling has seen a few new additions in 2019. Helena Marsh catalogues them, and makes some early suggestions for the 2020 edition December marks the final instalment of updates to the Oxford English Dictionary for 2019. While terms such as ‘omnishambles’ and ‘fake news’ have achieved headword status this year, there […]

No money. No ideas. A year of pure political purgatory

Schools have been visited by the ghosts or Christmas past, present and future this year, writes Laura McInerney. It’s about time they had their happy ending It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Oh, who are we kidding? This year has been the political pits and there’s no pretending otherwise. […]

James Pope’s top edu blogs of the week, 2 December 2019

SEND-friendly teaching, antisocial behaviour and teacher wellbeing are the top picks of the education topics this week, chosen by James Pope Breaking the Barriers @ASTsupportAAli It can be so difficult, in the whirlwind of teaching a full timetable, to be properly reflective about the way we create an environment to promote learning for all students. […]

Profile: Micon Metcalfe

Micon Metcalfe’s rise was never a given. Jess Staufenberg meets the school secretary turned government adviser Micon Metcalfe, one of the best-known figures in school finance, seems to have got there almost by accident. She wanted to be a school secretary. With an O-level in maths and a history degree, she wasn’t a chartered accountant […]

The Incredible Teenage Brain by Hohnen, Gilmour and Murphy

The Incredible Teenage Brain promises to tell you everything you need to know to “unlock your teen’s potential”. As someone with considerable professional and personal experience of teenagers (and their brains), the sheer size of this 17-chapter book was off-putting. It audience is unclear too. The authors’ styles are upbeat and positive – somewhat gratingly […]

PISA 2018: What we have learned about children’s life satisfaction

While the study reports that most English 15-year-olds are happy, Dr Angela Donkin says the figures indicate some concerning trends for children’s welfare The OECD’s PISA 2018 results for England were published this week by the Department for Education and NFER. While the study reports that 93 per cent of English 15-year-olds are happy some […]

Character education is just another hurdle to jump

The development of the Department for Education’s work on “character” doesn’t always fit with the experiences of the most vulnerable children, says Lynsey Burridge Our heroes in popular culture are often children in care. Harry Potter, Batman and Lyra Belacqua all grew up outside their birth families and epitomise what we might imagine “character” to […]