Opinion

What we can we learn from exceptional schools, and how can they support and challenge each other to improve. Josephine Valentine unveils the findings from a Challenge Partners pilot. The key question for school improvement is what are outstanding schools doing that sets them apart, and how can we bottle it? These schools have kept […]

Today’s release of the OECD’s five-yearly TALIS survey of teachers and leaders is a chance to confront reality. The dire situation facing English secondary schools is no secret: it’s been the subject of innumerable reports, advisory groups, and columns. There are too few teachers, too few new recruits, and too many quitting the profession early. […]

Many conversations in education these days seem to come back to the idea of early language development as fundamental to successful outcomes in school. The 30 million word gap on entry to school between disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged peers is a widely discussed concept. The changes in expectations in the year 6 SATs, including the key […]

Crunching the data from seven years of School Workforce Census let us identify the best ways that trusts can support career progression, says David Carter Does the answer to the recruitment and retention crisis lie in workforce development? The research suggests that it’s a strong place for trust chief executives to start. At the Ambition […]

Why are we educating the young for the low-paid, low-productivity present, instead of the workplace challenges of the future? ask Estelle Morris and David Blunkett Few will be surprised when we say that there is absolutely nothing new about a sense of disconnect between education ministers and the teaching profession. As former education secretaries, we […]

Pupils from Gypsy, Roma and Traveller backgrounds have the lowest school attainment of all ethnic groups, says Patricia Stapleton. School leaders can help to change that June is Gypsy, Roma and Traveller history month, which celebrates the culture and heritage of GRT communities and is therefore a timely moment to highlight the needs of children […]

If the only reason to study a subject is a passing grade, it’s no wonder that many pupils do not want to play the game, says Ben Newmark Politicians and other key decision-makers have become overly preoccupied in recent years with viewing education through the lens of what happens because of it, rather than as […]

The government’s latest boost for new maths and physics teachers may not solve much, apart from attracting staff to good schools in the pilot areas, says Mark Boylan The government’s latest approach to sorting out the shortage of maths and physics staff is to offer new teachers of these subjects a £4,000 boost paid in […]

Networks are powerful. Look at Barack Obama’s election based on community networks through the “snowflake model’ to see the potential of an informed, enthused, and mobilised community. While networks are already central to disseminating good practice among medical professionals, in education there appears to be a disconnect between best practice and actual practice, known as […]