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5 June 2026

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Opinion

The year in school business: When crisis came, we ran towards it

From staff rotas to test and trace, school business leaders have shown how vital their contributions are, says Micon Metcalfe It seems like it must have been a different decade or another life altogether, but 2020 started with a new prime minister. There were big promises on education. Teachers were to be backed on discipline […]

On assessment, teachers are wrong by design

Stop blaming teachers for questionable assessments and start fixing the broken system that means they can’t be right, writes Dennis Sherwood Teachers’ predicted grades are much criticised for being “optimistic”, and teachers are pilloried as a result. But exam grades are unreliable, and so teachers are denied the opportunity to learn. Imagine a primary school […]

What does the latest attendance data tell us about the scale of the Covid problem?

The government must make better data available and provide more catch-up funding to stop pupils falling further behind, writes Natalie Perera. The question over how we support recovery of the education system post-Covid looms large for policy-makers, researchers and those on the front line. The reality is that we are all trying to find solutions […]

Current guidance is failing clinically vulnerable families

Ministers appear to either not understand or not care about the plight of clinically vulnerable parents and guidance only add to their woes, writes Margaret Greenwood For many of the children who live in homes where someone is clinically extremely vulnerable, this year has been especially challenging. It can be hard enough to cope when […]

Research: How can we foster effective teacher collaboration?

Offline or on, effective collaboration shares some common traits. Cat Scutt explores the evidence about making the most of bringing people together Research suggests that opportunities for teacher collaboration are a key feature of school environments where teachers have higher job satisfaction and continue to develop their effectiveness over time. Not only that, but Matthew […]

The year in governance: New ways of working and new ways of seeing

Governing bodies have discovered new – and sometimes better – ways of working, but more importantly they have seen their school communities in a new light, writes Ruby Bhatti Like other governors everywhere, when the pandemic struck I initially felt helpless in the face of the challenges my schools were facing. The whole world of […]

The year in alternative provision: When we became inclusion leaders

Colleagues were sceptical but my shift into alternative provision is now a source of learning for all, says Hammad Ali For many teachers and school leaders, 2020 will be remembered for the prolonged disruption that came with bubbles, blended learning and school closures. My own professional upheaval began, not during the first lockdown of March, […]

The year in special schools: We have redefined what ‘good’ looks like

During the darkest days of the pandemic, teaching staff dug deep and came up with innovative and creative solutions, writes Madelaine Caplin It is said that something good comes out of every crisis. In the midst of it, that can be hard to see and even harder to say; but as we take our annual opportunity […]

The year in secondary: When we learned how vital our schools are

The fundamental lesson of the pandemic is how much teachers and schools matter to the neighbourhoods they serve – and in a huge variety of ways, says Rita Hindocha An image from March 2020: desperate to continue learning, a year 9 girl sits outside her closed local McDonald’s to catch the wifi and do her […]