Opinion

In the first of our new series following the impacts of lockdown on the personal and professional lives of educators, Jonny Uttley opens up his #lockdowndiary

More schools are being asked to be emergency responders in the Covid-19 crisis, but that’s been the norm at Woodside for too long, says Gerry Robinson A member of staff made a welfare check on a student today. He discovered that the family was sleeping on the floor, so he bought them all mattresses. But […]

Tom Bennett is underwhelmed by a hotch-potch of futurist platitudes in the first episode of Alex Beard’s The Learning Revolution on BBC Radio 4 “A little learning is a dang’rous thing,” wrote Alexander Pope in the 18th century. “…drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring.” People writing about education often remind me of this. Once […]

The pandemic has forced us to reinvent how we award grades but far more fundamental questions about our exam system need to be answered, writes Roy Blatchford There was a time Before Coronavirus (BC), though it already seems months ago. We are all armchair critics and soothsayers now. None of us can be right or […]

Schools are doing an amazing job for the nation’s vulnerable children but many are invisible and government needs to do more ot dentify them before it’s too late, writes Layla Moran We are in a national emergency, facing unprecedented challenges and dangers. While that applies to us all throughout this coronavirus pandemic, I’m most concerned […]

Questions remain over whether exam invigilators can be furloughed under the Government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS). Phillip Reynolds and Louise Brenlund offer some advice The answer to whether invigilators can be furloughed will largely rest on whether they are employed via an agency or directly by a school under a zero hours contract. The […]

Mismatches between guidance and direction and continual reissues of guidance documents are contributing to a sense of chaos around the furloughing scheme, writes Jane Hallas. Here’s what we know we know and what we know we don’t Back when I was a lecturer, I would tell my students that there was rarely a “yes” or […]

Teachers seldom get the thanks they deserve, but what do you think this is, Dead Poets’ Society? Sixth former, Kate Grimsdale stands on her desk to express her gratitude Can I ask you, just for a second, to try and forget the madness that is going on around you and put yourself in the moment? […]

Under the guise of investigation, last night’s Channel 4 programme only further stoked the kind of stereotypes that see Gypsy and Traveller children miss out on school, writes Ellie Mulcahy “My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding happened and all those children that had [said they were Gypsies] were bullied. My own children were bullied remorselessly.” So […]