Opinion

At a time when so many youngsters are glued to their Xboxes and mobile phones, communicating by grunts, emojis and abbreviations (LOL), it’s time we rose ‘Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more’ and shouted about the benefits of learning the words by heart of the Bard,  Michael Rosen or whoever their favourite […]

Too much research literature is skewed towards positive representations, says Baz Ramaiah Imagine that you’re planning a holiday. A quick survey of websites show nothing but positive reviews for your chosen hotel, so you commit your cash and book. It turns out to be half-building site, half-bus station. How did this happen? Knowing is half […]

Students are more likely to commit to a task if they are confident that they can complete it successfully. What can we do to increase their confidence and encourage them to begin tasks, complete them and recognise their success? Albert Bandura is a key figure in the study of self-efficacy. An early introduction to his […]

A ruling by the Advertising Standards Authority will allow many more organisations to use the title “graduate school”, explains Viv Ellis. What do you think of when you hear the phrase “graduate school”? A part of a university that deals with postgraduate and research degrees? An organisation that can award those degrees? You don’t need […]

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 […]