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25 April 2026

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Opinion

Should headteachers let children miss school to take part in social action?

Should school leaders let children miss school to take part in social action? Sarah Hannafin shares her advice… There has been some press coverage this week regarding UK Youth Strike 4 Climate and young people across the country taking a coordinated day of action. NAHT is  clear that a school leader’s job is to ensure children […]

How can we build a rich music curriculum?

The school minister’s plans for music will not come close to resolving the real issues surrounding the subject, says Emily Crowhurst Last week I asked a year 11 music student what he thought our school’s music curriculum was about. He wrote… “School21’s music curriculum is about everyone having the opportunity to create music no matter […]

How teachers are really using research

Not all research is top-down from senior teams, says Tim Cain. Teachers are finding out for themselves how research can influence what they think about and how they think From the Department for Education, Ofsted, the Chartered College of Teaching and beyond, the message is clear: teachers should use research evidence to inform their decisions. […]

Can teachers really remember how many hours they’ve worked?

As a psychology A-level teacher, one of my favourite teaching topics was the fallibility of witness testimony. A classic study, devised by Loftus and Palmer in 1974, had 45 students watch films of different traffic accidents and answer questions about it afterwards. The psychologists discovered that the way a question was phrased changed the answers. […]

Character or attainment: which would you choose?

Parents and teachers value the character development of young people more than exam results, but may need support to recognise that they share this priority, says Rachael Hunter The inclusion of character education in the draft Ofsted framework for inspection of schools was another significant step towards ensuring children receive an education that prioritises academic […]

Children shouldn’t be able to skip RE

High quality religious education should be a fundamental part of every school’s offer. It’s too important for young people to miss, writes NAHT’s Sarah Hannafin, a former RE teacher I chose to teach religious education. After graduating, I started work as a teaching assistant in my local secondary school to see what I thought about […]

What the new Ofsted framework says about the curriculum

Ofsted doesn’t need a new inspection framework, says Frank Norris. But as it’s here, he urges “all colleagues to analyse each word, sentence and paragraph closely” In 2004, I was asked to join the development HMI team for the new school inspection framework that was implemented in 2005. I redesigned the joint area review framework […]

The Early Career Framework will stop us throwing new teachers in at the deep end

Clare Sealy explains why the new early career framework is the best bit of edu-news she’s seen for some time Education is going to have a tough job if it wants to top this January in terms of important, sector-defining announcements. The new Ofsted framework brings renewed hope that the inspectorate can become the organisation […]

Don’t underestimate the importance of school culture for retaining teachers!

Support for new teachers needs something more intangible than a framework; the right environment is vital too, says Cat Scutt The new Early Career Framework released this week has the potential to radically improve the experience of new teachers. It marks a step-change in the support that they will receive at the start of their […]