Schools Week Reporter | Schools Week

Requires Improvement

Jim is a drama teacher (“any resemblances [sic] to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental”…) tormented that the academic obsessions of “central government” have relegated his subject to third class. He’s also a tormented genius, who – despite losing his father when he was ten and dropping out of school to support his […]

Sue Bailey, assistant head, Arthur Terry School

Sue Bailey is not your average assistant head. Her colleagues are in awe of her, and it’s not just for her (apparently legendary) baking skills. Over her 41-year career at Arthur Terry School, Bailey seems to have held almost every role there is. She’s now teaching grandchildren of former pupils, yet never seems to tire […]

Invisibly Blighted: The digital erosion of childhood

There’s something incoherent about how this book is presented that I’m struggling to articulate. Perhaps it’s that its cover photo of a 16th-century “child-eater” statue makes it looks like a guidebook to the Swiss city of Berne. It could be the pathos-laden title: Invisibly Blighted, or the subtitle’s apocalyptic tones: The digital erosion of childhood. […]

Headteachers’ Roundtable Doorstop Manifesto – General Election 2017

What every child requires is a great teacher. Download the Headteachers’ Roundtable Doorstop Manifesto Our challenge was to provide a straightforward, useful document for everyone to use, on the doorstep, to help to ask candidates and campaigners of all parties the important questions on two key issues: Ensuring our schools are properly funded; Ensuring the supply […]

Teach First Innovation Awards 2017

The Teach First innovation unit offers a year of support, including a salary, to out-of-the-box thinkers who get through to its final round for the annual Innovation Awards. Download the Teach First Innovation Award winners 2017 Set up in 2012, a decade after founder Brett Wigdortz set up the Teach First teacher training programme, the […]

No decline in teacher’s average A-levels, despite squeezed pay

New teachers have the same level of education as five years ago, despite recent squeezes on pay making the profession less attractive to new graduates. A new study by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) shows that the average A-level results for teachers who left university in 2015 was equivalent to three Bs and A-level, and one […]

Most-read opinion pieces of 2016

Here’s a countdown of the most popular opinion pieces from 2016, as voted by you, the reader. (Minus the top 10 “explainers” which you can read separately.) 10. D&T departments must adapt or end up on the scrap heap Design and technology is at a crossroads, announced Steven Parkinson in July, and school departments need to adapt or […]

Top 10 Schools Week expert explainers of 2016

At Schools Week we like to tackle complicated topics by getting people who really understand them to explain them to the rest of us. It seems our readers enjoy this, too, as many of our most popular expert columns this year followed the “explainer” format. In case you missed them, we’ve compiled a list of the most popular […]

Best books of 2016 for teachers and school leaders

The best books 2016 had to offer, chosen by Schools Week features editor, Cath Murray. 1. Don’t Send Him in Tomorrow by Jarlath O’Brien The beautifully written Don’t Send Him in Tomorrow rails against the “cloak of invisibility” over people with learning disabilities and suggests that every mainstream teacher should spend time in […]