Opinion

Gerry Robinson opens her lockdown diary to record the past week with year 10 poetry still echoing in her mind

Its intentions are reasonable, but it’s hard to see any positive outcomes from Oqual’s proposal, writes Tom Richmond “I am afraid your grades were almost derailed by a mutant algorithm,” said Prime Minister Boris Johnson last August following the exams fiasco of the preceding weeks. Five months later, the unenviable (and arguably impossible) task of […]

After months of dithering and conflicting messages, the government’s latest noises on trust in teacher grading look likely to put them in the firing line, writes Alison Peacock When the secretary of state announced exams would be cancelled this year, he said he wanted to place his trust in teachers. In September 2020, The Chartered […]

A new report by the NFER shows that regardless of lockdown all schools are struggling with Covid-related schools and the poorest are faring worst, writes Jenna Julius   Since the beginning of the pandemic, schools have been taking additional safety measures to protect pupils and staff, mitigate the spread of infection and provide support to […]

These are the strategies we need in order to address the particular problems faced by migrant children during the Covid lockdowns, write Dr Shoba Arun and Aleksandra Szymczyk When children with migrant backgrounds are discussed in educational terms, much is made of immigrant communities’ high levels of aspiration – particularly educational ambition. This is in […]

Dan Morrow opens his lockdown diary to document another topsy-turvy week in education leadership

The venom habitually directed at the teaching profession by the media commentariat has plumbed new lows during the lockdowns, writes Sarah Gallagher I was 16 and my teachers were on strike when I first saw the profession smeared in the press. I remember my parents saying it would be ever thus. “If you choose this, […]

Lockdown 2.0 is having a much greater effect on primaries while inequalities continue to manifest, writes Laura McInerney This year’s lockdown is not like the other! Despite the fact that this year’s spin to remote learning actually came with less warning (in that it happened literally overnight), schools were nevertheless readier for its consequences. Since […]

We’ll only get sustained school improvement when we start to treat teachers and school leaders as masters of their craft rather than furnish them with flat-pack solutions, writes Chris Kirkham-Knowles Thirty-two years ago, my first year of teaching was signed off by a local authority adviser who gave me professional development advice I’ve never forgotten. […]