Ros McMullen | Schools Week

The problem isn’t the framework, it’s high-stakes accountability

Ros McMullen gives ‘a big thumbs-up’ to the emphasis on curriculum – although, she says, she struggles with how inspectors will judge its impact I have a confession – I really like Amanda Spielman, our HMCI, and I really like her intentions. I am also one of those who believe schools should be all about […]

Let’s subvert the ‘centres of excellence’ policy

Following Schools Week’s revelation that the government will allow MATs internally to select pupils by ability, Ros McMullen suggests trusts be creative in how they do this. Last week Schools Week ran a front-page story about the possibility of selective grammar schools developing within multi-academy trusts (MATs) without the need for any legislation. The new […]

Lack passion? Bloody difficult? – Women leaders know this language all too well

Back in December 2014 I first wrote a blog entitled “What I am learning about sexism” and was surprised at how many hits it received. I talked about how draining sexism is, and how it had taken me 50 years to see its patterns, particularly in the way women are talked about, and realise just […]

‘Tread warily in this brave new academy world’

Teacher training needed reform. But are school-led routes the only solution? Accountability, parent power and the question of who controls schools all need to be addressed too – and soon Last week, I explained how the school-led system is stifled by a lack of true autonomy for school leaders, and is failing to improve education […]

From the frontline: thoughts on the school-led system

Former executive principal Ros McMullen sets out her vision of what a school-led system now needs. In the first of a two-part series, she says it is time to think about how to join the social policy agenda with the education reform agenda, and to unleash the best school leaders to operate as community leaders […]

The Collapse of Parenting – how we hurt our kids when we treat them as grown-ups

“By age 10, an American child is more likely to look to peers than to parents for guidance about what really matters in life. But children are not competent to guide other children. That’s what grown-ups are for.” It was once I got to these sentences that I jumped up and said “Yes – that’s […]

‘The job that we love is being undermined’

Government policy on curriculum, exam and assessment is crippling headteachers. The result? There will be no one left to do the job . . . We have 23 years of headship experience between us, all of them in communities that face challenging issues. We are both national leaders of education (for now!) and we both […]