Skip to content
5 October 2026

Become a member today for unlimited access to Schools Week

Enjoy expert journalism on schools policy with fewer ads and exclusive benefits
subscribe

Opinion

“No, Minister.” Why Ofqual’s independence is no joking matter

There is room for improvement of Ofqual, but its independence is crucial to a functioning system, writes this member of its standards advisory group Ofqual, the exams regulator, has been in the firing line this summer over the way in which A-level, GCSE and BTEC results were awarded. But we do need Ofqual and we […]

Delaying 2021 exams is a good idea – here’s why

Pushing exams back a few weeks next summer is the best option. Arguments for more major exam reform fall into a series of traps, writes Jon Coles It’s clear that the Covid-19 impact on 2021’s exam groups will be greater than on 2020’s. The debate about next summer’s GCSEs and A levels is already well […]

Have changing attitudes made masks this season’s must-have?

Laura McInerney explores Teacher Tapp data showing evolving attitudes to face coverings in schools Dystopia is not what it was. Photographs from World War II show children sitting behind small wooden desks, in tiny school rooms, wearing gigantic gas masks full of vulcanised rubber. Boxes for the masks hung around their necks, tied on with […]

Ministers can’t muddle their way through to summer 2021 exams

Schools needed a plan for next summer’s exams weeks ago. Without it, we are already risking another fiasco, writes Sarah Hannafin Many in government would clearly like to put this summer’s results debacle behind them, as statements in parliament and in front of the education select committee attest. But apologies, however sincere, will do nothing for […]

Heightened risks mean more should be done to prevent exclusions now

The reality for excluded children is already dismaying and Covid could make it worse. It’s time for concerted action, writes Claire Heald Behind all those pupils who celebrated the bright futures ahead of them this summer and who are preparing to return to school this week, are pupils whose future is simply not so bright. […]

We’d planned the first day back at school perfectly. Then it rained

It would be no exaggeration to say the last few months rank up there with the toughest of my career. We’d had a successful year last year and I was feeling positive about driving forward our improvement agenda.  But planning for our first day back at school in the midst of a global pandemic was […]

I’ve had to tell 17 SEND pupils they can’t come to school – and I’m furious

Reading a recent report by ASK Research with the NFER about children at special education schools and colleges, I was grabbed by how many of my unknown colleagues are worried their pupils will not be returning. Whether 20,000 children with special educational needs (one in six children attending special schools) really don’t return to school, […]

Refusing to fund Covid costs will plunge schools like mine back into the red

Yesterday felt like the final straw for many school leaders up and down the country. Schools minister Nick Gibb said the funding settlement for schools this year and the next two years has been “very generous”, indicating schools can take the hit regarding Covid-19 costs. Apparently the decision to compensate schools for the costs of […]

While schools leaders continue to deliver, Westminster continues to fail them

Schools will do their job as they have throughout this crisis – now it’s time politicians do theirs, writes Paul Whiteman Ninety-seven percent of schools expect to open in full to all pupils next week. The rest will follow shortly after. That is the message school leaders have given me in their responses to a […]