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5 October 2026

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Opinion

Are exams really the only option?

This year’s exams will go ahead but demands for reform are unlikely to go away, so what does the research tell us about end-point assessment? Asks Cat Scutt I’m always envious of anyone who is absolutely certain of the best thing to do, based on “the evidence”. But I’m also slightly bemused by it. “What […]

Ignoring pressure to cancel exams was the right call

There might be a debate to be had about assessment but cancelling exams now would have done more harm than good, writes Anne Heavey The consequences of Covid on last year’s GCSE and A level cohorts are still fresh in the mind, and preventing a repeat is a priority. Amid the fervour, the long-standing debate […]

Vulnerable students need more than a quick-fix catch-up

With the National Tutoring Programme about to get under way, one primary leader says schools need to use catch-up funding more creatively to address the needs of the most vulnerable “This is Operation Encompass. We are calling to inform you of an incident…” I received a lot of calls like this during lockdown. Operation Encompass’s […]

To get through Covid, we need more CPD, not less

More agile CPD is key to ensuring Covid’s legacy doesn’t become an injustice for the profession, writes Nicola Podd Easing children back into school life. Assessing and tackling the impact of lockdown on learning and on students’ emotional and mental health. All while adapting practices and policies to ensure schools are safe and Covid-secure. Re-adjusting […]

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 […]