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19 April 2026

Author: Nicky Phillips

Baseline assessment providers face ‘robustness’ check

Providers of the new baseline tests for reception children are to be subject to an independent study to ensure their “robustness”. The Standards and Testing Agency, who oversee assessment on behalf of the government, commissioned the study to check the new tests are “of a consistent and high quality”. The study will be carried out […]

Regional Commissioners will represent schools in post-16 government reviews

Regional schools commissioners will act as the voice of all school sixth forms in a government review of post-16 education – a move branded by one union leader as a “farce”, given their remit. The review will shape the future of post-16 provision across England with an eye on moving towards “fewer, larger and more […]

Julie Overend, teacher, Nottingham Children’s Hospital School

It’s a surprisingly sunny autumn day when Julie Overend shows me the outside play and learning area at Nottingham Children’s Hospital School. Away from the clinical corridors of the main hospital, it is a bright, interesting and vibrant alcove on the fifth floor of the Queen’s Medical Centre (QMC)– an “oasis”, as Overend describes it, […]

‘Why the National Reference Test trial should reduce worry about comparable outcomes’

Ofqual trials its national reference test next year, the first big step in gaining information to help to refine GCSE awarding. Earlier this year we announced our plans to develop and pilot a national reference test. Some teachers, parents and students are understandably concerned about “yet another test”, but others are positive, appreciating why we think it right […]

Proactive approach to retention

As leaders we need to be creative in our approach to recruitment, but we also need to look carefully at retention. With compulsory EBacc and Progress 8 at secondary, the demand for specialist teachers is soaring. Similarly at primary, we’re all looking for teachers of reading, writing and mathematics who are excited by the ambition […]

Trojan Horse teachers deny all charges at NCTL hearings

Ten teachers have appeared at disciplinary hearings over allegations of professional misconduct in schools linked to the Trojan Horse scandal. The National College for Teaching and Leadership (NCTL) hearings, which started last month, will run until Christmas at venues across the West Midlands. The teachers are from either Park View, Nansen Primary or Golden Hillock […]

Teachers compete to write textbook activities in best countries

State-prescribed textbooks do not have to be oppressive and could be created by teachers competing to get their best activities into them, delegates at a summit in central London heard this week. Assessment expert Tim Oates told the Politics in Education summit in London that top-performing education systems, such as in Finland and Shanghai, used […]

Half of all radicalisation referrals now come from schools, exclusive figures reveal

Teachers are making “knee-jerk” referrals of pupils they feel may be at risk of radicalisation because they are afraid of falling foul of new terrorism reporting laws, experts say. The number of referrals made from the education sector to the government’s anti-radicalisation scheme, Channel, has soared from 20 in 2012/13 to 424 last year. But […]