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5 October 2026

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Opinion

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 […]

Schools must stay open and here’s how to achieve it

The former prime minister reveals a long-term strategy that he says will build confidence to keep schools open Covid-19 has already deprived 300 million children of their education worldwide. We cannot let this happen again and must do everything in our power to keep schools open throughout and beyond this second lockdown. It is essential […]

Why the rank order contingency plan is flawed

If the best contingency we have is to slot students who missed exams into an unreliable grade ranking then we need to look again at the fundamentals, writes Dennis Sherwood Despite assurances from ministers that exams will go ahead in England this academic year, the exams regulator and exam boards are nevertheless developing contingency plans. […]

School closures or not, a second wave of lost learning is already upon us

The latest data shows the most disadvantaged pupils were more likely to have missed the most school this term, writes Luke Sibieta Passionate views have been put forward over the past few days about whether schools should remain open, and it is almost certain that arguments will only intensify as the national lockdown comes into […]

Technology has reduced workload and stress, right?

Laura McInerney looks at the latest Teacher Tapp data to contrast the perceptions of policy makers with the reality in schools Policy makers keep asking an odd question. Every time they ask it, I’m totally baffled. “Why are teachers so stressed out?” they ask, “Surely they’ve got less to do now that technology has become […]

How to make the best of one-to-one tuition

As the national tutoring programme rolls out, David Hatchett sets out the lessons AET have learned about effective implementation of one-to one tuition When I joined AET in December 2017 and took on responsibility for 28 secondary schools, it was immediately apparent that our results that summer were going to be a real issue. We […]