Opinion

The fifth  #WomenEd unconference highlighted the need for flexible working to become standard in schools, says Vivienne Porritt. But she admits that won’t happen without collaboration and a willingness to innovate When 300 women and men gathered at Sheffield Hallam University recently for #WomenEd’s unconference, values-led discussions were the hallmark of the event. They included […]

Last week, the Education Policy Institute published new research examining unexplained pupil exits from English schools. While the EPI was very careful in the language used, it is clear from the media and social media that many people have seen the phrase “unexplained exits” as ultimately being the terminology to raise the debate about “off-rolling”. […]

Teachers are less religious today than they were 50 years ago. In some ways, this is no surprise – the profession’s loss of religion mirrors society. In August the British Attitudes Survey reported a doubling in the past two decades of the number of people who don’t believe in God. According to our recent Teacher […]

Ofsted has been inspecting schools under its new framework for little more than a month. It is probably too early to infer too much, says Alex Ford, but publication of the first batch of reports shows Ofsted’s understanding of curriculum quality in practice – and it isn’t without problems Schools and parents were promised that […]

As the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education (CLPE) publishes its second Reflecting Realities report, Sonia Thompson reflects on what it will take to make the report’s priorities part of pupils’ daily fare The CLPE’s first Reflecting Realities report last year was ground-breaking. It received a substantial amount of publicity and cemented the term “reflecting […]

Peer review has finally made it on to the political agenda as evidence of its benefits grows, writes Dr Kate Chhatwal, but as politicians catch up, there’s evidence its benefits could go much further than schools alone. Conference season, with a possible snap election around the corner, has brought renewed interest in school improvement and […]

The deeper scandal of Wakefield City Academy Trust is that it could all too easily happen again. All that’s required to avoid this is some scaling up and a bit of legal tidying, says Martin Matthews. So what’s the hold-up? What about the trustees? That is surely one of the key questions raised by the […]

What do teachers in effective primary schools do? It’s a question teachers, teacher trainers, school leaders and policymakers alike would like a clear answer to. Now, research from the Effective Pre-school, Primary and Secondary Education (EPPSE) project, can help to answer it. EPPSE is the UK’s first major study to focus on the effectiveness of […]