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5 June 2026

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Opinion

Exasperation has driven me to retire early

The heart attack didn’t cause me to give up leadership, writes Robert Campbell. Losing heart did I never intended to go early. I was always going to be the one who kept on keeping on. When I used to wind up my partner, Sarah – who is nine years younger than me – by saying […]

Prioritising well-being doesn’t make you a ‘snowflake’

Amid daily guidelines and Daily Mail headlines, we can’t lose sight of what it takes to run happy and successful schools, writes James Kibble While we pride ourselves on taking a sensible approach to change and regulation in education, the current pandemic has inevitably led to some additional pressures for staff that we haven’t been […]

How can we help students to commit to action – then act on their commitment?

New research suggests a relatively simple technique could have teachers WOOPing at their students’ achievements, says Harry Fletcher-Wood We usually want students to do something differently, whether it’s working harder in lessons, doing homework more regularly, or being nicer to a peer. To get students from feeling broadly positive about an idea to actually acting […]

What does good online teaching and learning look like?

Jon Eaton reflects on an early foray into online learning and how EEF research helped him learn lessons fast for the benefit of his students It was the first week of lockdown and I had to plan a lesson that involved analysing imagery in Othello. To help students get to the point where they were […]

Grammar schools can and do tackle social mobility

Funding for expansion is exactly how grammar schools like ours will deliver on our social mobility promise, writes Gary Hickey The grammar school debate has once again reopened, this time because of reporting on the ineffectiveness of the government’s selective schools expansion fund (SSEF) in increasing access to selective schools for disadvantaged children. Unfortunately, it […]

Making the vulnerable visible is how we will close gaps

Policy makers are able to really see vulnerable students for the first time, but will they choose to look? Ask Harry Quilter-Pinner and Kiran Gill “I had such an extreme reaction to being shouted at. I would often have big meltdowns.” It was when Tara’s headteacher understood that her mother had bipolar disorder that the […]

Covid adaptations have actually improved some aspects of school life

It’s not very new any more – and it certainly isn’t normal yet – but the adapted school day offers some benefits that might be worth keeping, says Tim Roach A month into term, the changes teachers have made to make their classrooms and their practices Covid-secure following several instalments of government guidance are now […]

Few certainties, but exams are fairest and should go ahead

Schools can be confident that Ofqual and exam boards have the tools to make summer 2021 exams fair, writes Dame Glenys Stacey Teachers and school leaders are working in truly exceptional circumstances with students both in school and at home, and to get them ready for GCSE, AS and A-level exams next summer. I know […]

Two out of 27. How government is failing the inclusion test

The government has only implemented two of 27 recommendations from the Timpson review of school exclusion. Cath Murray offers suggestions for how it could improve its score One of the Timpson review recommendations was quietly implemented over the summer. I like to think the change was made to pre-empt the findings of the online “Timpson tracker” we’ve been dropping hints […]