Opinion

Jane Manzone and her year 6 class adapt to a brave new normal I had a few bizarre dreams before I went back to school this week.  Hazard tape and metre rulers featured heavily, as did an odd militaristic incarnation of a rather unassuming member of staff who had been put in charge of “social […]

Education is key to tackling racism, says Jeffery Quaye. But what obstacles have school leaders and teachers had to overcome when it comes to race and what does the future hold? The senseless and horrific killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis has ignited a global discussion about racism and the need for change. It has […]

There’s been a welcome policy focus on vulnerable students throughout the coronavirus crisis, but little evidence of a strategic response. Jo Hutchinson lists foundations for a new approach The government last week announced that “up to” £750 would be made available for each pupil in alternative provision (AP) to aid their transition into post-16 education […]

Jeremy Hodgen and his team tested the evidence and identified the strategies most likely to close one of education’s most persistent attainment gaps Every year almost 40 per cent of young people leave school without a ‘good’ level 4 grade in GCSE maths. This problem of low attainment in maths is one of the most […]

Braced to comfort crying children without physical contact, reopening has instead resulted in huge smiles and boisterous enthusiasm. Tracey Hudson explains her school’s safety-first strategy Everyone at Rockingham Primary School knew that managing a wider reopening while maintaining strict social distancing was going to be complicated, but looking back on it, I couldn’t be happier […]

Big questions remain unanswered as schools reopen and big decisions still have to be made. The DfE must work better with the profession as we enter the next phase, writes Cat Scutt On May 20, the Chartered College of Teaching wrote to the prime minister requesting responses to five issues that we considered key to […]

Amid government fiascos and ongoing uncertainty, year 11 student, Olivia Eren opens her ‘half term’ lockdown diary

Today, the NFER publishes its latest overview of the teacher labour market in England. Eighteen months on from the launch of the government’s teacher recruitment and retention strategy, Jack Worth explores its findings This report was written before the coronavirus outbreak, and in many ways it describes a world with very different challenges to the […]