Sophie Scott | Schools Week

White Paper: Erosion of local authorities could see a ‘wild west’ race to the bottom

The first thing that is striking about the White Paper is the change of tone from Michael Gove’s era as education secretary. While Michael Gove wanted to leave education up to the market and hope that “a thousand flowers will bloom”, Nicky Morgan has clearly decided the government needs to proactively boost capacity and give […]

White Paper: ‘Control freakery to the left of me, neglect to the right’

Education Excellence Everywhere is the title of the government’s education White Paper published today. Although it lacks the excitement promised by Enid Blyton’s The Naughtiest Girl in the School, there are similarities. Nicky Morgan’s introduction states that in 2010 the Conservatives “inherited an education system where one in three young people left primary school unable […]

White Paper: Why should Ofsted inspect at all?

Educational Excellence Everywhere is full of fascinating, contentious and highly problematic proposals on a whole range of issues. Here, I focus on one apparently minor proposal which if carried to its logical conclusion could mean the end of visit-based school inspection. The White Paper reports that “Ofsted will consult on removing the separate graded judgments […]

White Paper: QTS will be replaced by ‘tougher accreditation’

The government plans to replace qualified teacher status (QTS) with a new, tougher, accreditation in a bid to “raise the bar”. A shake up of QTS is set out in the Department for Education’s White Paper today. The government said a “stronger accreditation” will be introduced, in which teachers will only receive QTS when they […]

Educational Excellence Everywhere: ITT providers to be given longer-term planning

The “best” teacher training providers will be given allocations over “several years” in a bid to improve planning in the system, the government has announced in its White Paper today. The commitment to longer-term planning comes six months after a new method of recruitment for university-led providers was introduced by the National College for Teaching […]

Educational Excellence Everywhere: Schools White Paper reveals QTS plans

Qualified teacher status (QTS) will be replaced with a “stronger accreditation”, in new proposals from the government. Education secretary Nicky Morgan this morning launched a White Paper – “Educational Excellence Everywhere” – outlining the government’s plans to “transform” England’s schools. It comes a day after Chancellor George Osborne announced every school would be converted to […]

National funding formula: We might benefit from the change but the government needs to be bolder

Southend High School for Boys is one of many schools that gets a “raw deal” under the current funding methodology. We welcome the long-awaited consultation. The Department for Education (DfE) proposals are broadly in line with what we expected, and in some cases feared! Of course, it is hard to assess the practical impact of […]

National funding formula: ‘The debate should be a marathon not a sprint’

The publication of the national funding formula consultation yesterday has fired the starting pistol on the race to create a funding framework that is fit for purpose. There is a palpable sense of relief that we are finally underway. After all, we have been waiting, lobbying and training for this debate for years. The argument […]

Sally Collier named as Ofqual’s new chief regulator

The Department for Education has announced the preferred candidate to take over as Ofqual’s chief regulator. Education secretary Nicky Morgan confirmed that Sally Collier, who has 20 years’ experience in the civil service, is first choice for the role in a letter to education select committee chair Neil Carmichael, published today. Glenys Stacey, who had […]