Opinion

Leaders have a chance to rest and reflect over Easter. Ministers should do the same and come up with a plan to support them better, writes Ruth Davies Challenging. Exhausting. Stressful. The School Leadership Supply Crisis report published today reveals these are the top three words school leaders use to describe their experience of the […]

The ubiquitous algorithm to improve children’s reading is a blunt tool that could be doing more harm than good, writes Shivan Davis Allow me to lay my cards on the table: I don’t like Accelerated Reader. I don’t trust the accuracy of its Star Reader test. I don’t think their quizzes prove a student has […]

We can’t allow complacency to set in as we battle Covid. Ventilation remains a major issue for schools and now is the time to act, writes Azeem Majeed Unless the limitations of current social distancing and infection control measures in schools is properly dealt with, the prime minister’s wish to see schools reopen for good […]

The regulator may be ‘stronger and clearer’, but if it’s leaving teachers feeling like empty husks then the balance is still wrong, writes Andrew Faux Sometime in 2019, James Morley made a mistake. He joked about his sex life on social media. His pupils found the jokes. One referred to a student’s comment during a […]

If successive ministers can’t even agree on how to define a large MAT, there should definitely be more debate about their purpose and scope, writes Emma Knights At the beginning of this month, education secretary, Gavin Williamson said he and his department will be encouraging more schools to join multi academy trusts (MATs); this was […]

Staff buy-in is an important part of increasing the scope of MATs. A new survey reveals encouraging trends and work to be done, writes Leora Cruddas The Secretary of State has recently set an ambition for many more schools to benefit from being part of a strong family – in other words, a trust. He […]

The legal powers and precedent make shorter summer holidays a possibility. The question for ministers and schools alike is whether they can sell the idea, writes Esther Maxwell As the UK’s schools welcome pupils back through their doors after a sustained period of remote learning, the education sector is rife with questions around whether going […]

It’s a change that has garnered little attention, but the new Teaching School Hubs could transform the way we improve teaching and schools, writes Matt Davis Lateral flow tests and the removal of the mute function from their classrooms might be dominating teachers’ attention this week, but schools are reopening to a potentially transformative change that has gathered few […]