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6 June 2026

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Opinion

Testing times

Emma Marshall opens her lockdown diary to reveal hope for young people’s futures amid testing times for schools

Plotting a ten-year course is the sensible response to Covid

A ten-year education plan like Blackpool’s is precisely the kind of policymaking our communities need and deserve, writes Frank Norris When a town is viewed as having an educational problem, it affects so many things. Senior school leaders looking for a new challenge think twice about applying. Teaching positions, particularly in shortage subjects, go unfilled. […]

We must secure education technology’s great leap forward

Education technology has taken great strides in the past year. Now the legacy of its impact must be secured for a generation, writes Gavin Williamson There haven’t been many rays of sunshine during this pandemic but one we can celebrate is the incredible way education communities have been using technology to deliver remote education. Even […]

What have we learned about moving education online?

After the initial buzz of moving our curriculum online, the new lockdown is slowly revealing the pedagogical approaches we need to keep our students engaged, writes Amy Curtis Twelve months ago, terms such as ‘online learning’ and ‘virtual schooling’ were virtually unheard of and held no importance in school improvement plans. However, with the turn […]

Our assessment system contributes to poor mental health

There is plenty of inspiration to draw on worldwide if we seek to reform our assessment system – as we surely must now do, writes Olly Newton As we all know too well by now, the announcement of another drawn-out lockdown is terrible news for our mental health, and especially that of young people. The […]

Discrimination against BAME school business professionals is nothing new

A new report into diversity among school business professionals (SBPs) offers new insights into this under-researched workforce, writes Sandy Tomlinson Last month, ISBL published its first report on diversity in the school business profession. Penned by Dr Fiona Creaby, its findings are based on a small-scale research project because sadly, a more complete data set […]

Vax on. Vax off.

Ian Thorssteinsson opens his lockdown diary to reveal it’s been another week of resilience-building in education leadership

Alternative provision infrastructure is at risk and that’s bad for everyone

The lack of referrals during the Covid crisis means that funding for alternative provision is likely to be reduced in future – just when we are going to need it most, writes Sarah Dove Over the past nine months I have heard from a number of senior leaders of pupil referral units (PRUs) and alternative […]

How can teachers’ learning contribute to better inclusion?

Inclusion is a constant teacher priority and our research shows some forms of professional learning foster more effective approaches to getting it right, write Rachel Lofthouse and Mhairi Beaton Few, if any, teachers in the UK work in monolingual, monocultural schools. Every class is a community of learners with a range of individual characteristics and […]