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5 June 2026

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Opinion

How do essential skills shape young people’s life outcomes?

What do we know about the impact of skills-focused interventions and what does it mean for teachers? Will Millard and Dr Elnaz Kashefpakdel review the evidence What is it that young people really need to learn in order to thrive throughout school and later life? This question has always been hotly contested, and rightly so: […]

Schools have led the way through the pandemic and can lead the way out

There is no better time to put forward a positive vision of the future of schools than amid this crisis, writes Nick Brook Since the NAHT’s new commission first met to discuss the question “how can we better support schools to improve?”, the world of education has changed in ways we could scarcely have imagined. […]

Going beyond tutoring to help pupils envision a world beyond Covid

Tutoring alone is insufficient to help pupils emerge from the collective trauma of the past year, writes Sue O’Brien With news today of a vaccine on the horizon, it is clearer by the day that the situation of the past year is redeemable. But as we experience a second national lockdown, our children and young […]

Tougher guidelines, but trustees need better data on executive pay

Government must step in to support MAT trustees to validate executive pay or face trying to fix a distorted market later, writes Samantha Hulson The ability of schools to unshackle themselves from local authority control and become academies can feel invigorating but intoxicating. Alongside new freedoms to set their own curricula, academies and MATs have […]

Exams 2021: Wales now has a clear direction. What about us?

England shouldn’t cancel its exams but it should follow Wales’s lead in one key regard – taking action now, writes Natalie Perera The debate over what to do about exams next summer rumbles on. Earlier this week, the Welsh government confirmed that it would be scrapping GCSEs and A-levels for the second year in a […]

Exams 2021: Inequality grows with every positive test

The disparity of educational fortunes between some of our communities is ingrained. Covid-19 is making it a lot worse, writes Hamid Patel Each morning is the same. The phones ring from 8am with parents reporting their children have tested positive overnight. A carefully orchestrated routine kicks in. The headteacher and the “Covid Silver Team” speak to […]

Does class size matter? Rethinking the debate

Covid is forcing some schools to create supersized classes, but is that necessarily a bad thing? Peter Blatchford reviews the evidence According to our surveys of teachers’ views and experiences, teachers worry about large classes, arguing that they adversely affect teaching and learning. However, many researchers and commentators have a different view. For them, the […]

Navigating Covid-19: five tips to get us to Christmas

This has been a punishing year, and we need to keep strong as winter takes hold. Here are some excellent strategies, writes Sarah Mullin Each new half-term, it seems, is a half-term like no other. Since the summer, teachers have worked tirelessly in innovative ways, from covering the lessons of absent colleagues to teaching live […]

What schools need to know about safeguarding while teaching remotely

Policies, infrastructure, communication and trouble-shooting: these are the four crucial things to consider as online teaching becomes increasingly common, writes Charlotte Aynsley The Department for Education’s (DfE) recent temporary continuity direction, which requires all schools to provide “immediate access to remote education” is likely to be  interpreted in large part as a call for schools to […]