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25 April 2026

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Opinion

Mixed prior attainment teaching: why it worked for us

In 2011 Rosendale primary was looking for ways not only to close the attainment gap between pupil premium and non-pupil premium children, but also to use evidence-based practice to ensure we maximised potential attainment for all pupils. The Teaching and Learning Toolkit compiled by the Education Endowment Foundation highlights that collaborative learning, metacognitive strategies, feedback […]

How well do you know your school’s curriculum?

Too many schools (and their leaders) know more about pupils’ scores than what they’ve actually learned about, says Tom Sherrington More schools seem to be undertaking some form of curriculum review, which is encouraging. In primary schools this is often around the foundation subjects; in secondary schools it’s mainly about key stage 3. No doubt […]

The new baseline assessment is fairer than what we have

The new reception baseline is a fairer way of assessing primary schools because it means we’ll get credit for the work we do early on, argues Cassie Young The reforms keep on coming. Not since Gove’s day have we seen such a quick pace of change in education. There’s of course the juggernaut that is […]

There’s no shortcut to quality relationships and sex education

Effective relationships and sex education is a partnership, and it needs an appropriate investment from government so that schools can access training, argues Lucy Emmerson Parents should have high expectations for the quality of education their children receive at school in all areas of the curriculum. The new government guidance makes clear that relationships education, […]

Relationships, sex and health education: What do schools need to know?

In what’s been hailed as a “historic” moment, the government has finally published the first new guidance on relationships and sex education for 19 years. From 2020, relationships, sex and health education will be compulsory subjects in all secondary schools, while all primaries will have to teach relationships and health education. It’s a real watershed […]

How edtech could help schools with flexible working

The Department for Education has promised a competition for innovative edtech solutions to promote part-time and flexible working. But how could this work? James Browning takes a look At the end of last month the government published its long-awaited teacher recruitment and retention strategy, with Damian Hinds pledging that teacher workloads would be cut. This […]

We need to talk about teacher wellbeing

Developing students’ self-regulatory abilities in school is under scrutiny. But what about occupational self-regulation for those working there? What are we doing about that? In the 1980s, Stevan Hobfoll, a hospital doctor and Kent State University academic, worked up an idea called “conservation of resource” (COR) theory (Hobfoll, 1989). Dissatisfied with how stress was conceptualised […]

New Church of England model articles – what’s changed?

New model articles should simplify and clarify the operation of multi-academy trusts with Church of England schools, says Susan Newell Earlier this month the Department for Education published some long-awaited new model articles for multi-academy trusts that include Church of England schools. These will significantly improve governance and clarify the responsibilities of the bodies involved […]

Why reinvent the education wheel, when a solution already exists?

It’s great that we’re talking about alternatives to GCSEs and A-Levels, but we don’t need to start from scratch – there’s already a qualification out there, says Ryan Kelsall Robert Halfon this week advocated the scrapping of GCSEs and A-Levels in favour of a broader baccalaureate-style education, with a mix of academic and vocational subjects, and […]