Opinion

UCL Institute of Education drew on their research network to find out how maths departments were adapting to closures and what they need to do it better. Here’s what they found When schools closed to the majority of pupils earlier this year, the immediate challenge for teachers was how best to enable pupils’ learning to […]

Localism isn’t a problem in itself but the lack of mechanisms for sharing best practice is, writes Toby Greany “Anyone who has recently tried to explain the English education system to overseas visitors will be sharply aware of its startling complexity.” So wrote the Educational Endowment Foundation’s Becky Francis in her foreword to our 2018 […]

The biggest looming crisis in education is at risk of being missed in the frenetic news cycle, writes Eleanor Harrison From August’s algorithm crisis, to the controversy surrounding school reopenings, teachers and pupils have rarely been far from the front pages. But despite the influx of news, there’s a chance that the biggest crisis facing […]

The Teacher Assessment Framework used to mark writing in primary school takes a long time to apply – and isn’t even that reliable, writes Daisy Christodoulou Teachers frequently report that one of the most time-consuming aspects of their job is marking. Given that time at the start of a frantic new year is in especially […]

Expert senior leadership teams have supported one another, but they must now be afforded the space to make decisions without constantly reacting to government, writes Sarah Ray The past six months have been described as stormy. For trust and school leaders it’s been more like a hurricane. The sense of responsibility and unpredictability has been […]

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) published an Education eBulletin on 4 September announcing its intention that, alongside businesses, it will be carrying out spot checks on schools, writes Hayley Dunn. Spot checks will be in the form of a phone call to review measures taken for reopening to “minimise the spread of the virus […]

Now is the time for all schools to act on the stand-out lesson from lockdown – that partnerships are central to overcoming challenges, writes Leora Cruddas We all know the challenges of Covid-19 have been significant for educators, pupils and families. So it is really important to understand how schools have coped. A new impact […]

School business professionals have worked their magic again this summer – but like hand sanitiser, stores of fairy dust could run out, writes Micon Metcalfe 2020 has been a year like no other. Since March, school business professionals (SBPs) – a group that includes school business leaders (SBLs), estates and premises staff and network managers […]

Supply teaching is precarious – and costly – at the best of times. These teachers need solutions to see them through Covid and beyond, writes Patrick Roach The NASUWT recognises the vital work carried out by our committed and dedicated supply teachers during the Coronavirus pandemic. Supply teachers make a really valuable contribution to pupils’ […]