Opinion

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 […]

The headlines from today’s new data on the number of education, health and care (EHC) plans show a dramatic 11 per cent increase in the number issued. But this belies a SEN postcode lottery, explains Karen Wespieser. Looking into the detail of today’s SEND data reveals that where you live is likely to make a […]

As the resignation deadline for staff planning to leave in the summer looms, Anna Hennell James’ hints help to ease the pain of recruitment I always look forward to the summer term since it’s a really upbeat time of year in school. But it’s also the term in which the resignation deadline of May 31 […]

The Conservative party has achieved much in education, says Steve Mastin, but school funding has become a huge distraction If you’re a teacher who will never consider voting Tory, then best look away now. I discovered my support for Conservative principles when I was at secondary school, around the time the communists crushed democracy supporters […]

Are teachers hungry for money or driven by compassion for others? It sounds a simplistic choice. But an interesting thing about all humans is that when faced with a choice between different outcomes we can usually pick one over another. So when push comes to shove, do teachers go for cash or conscience? The long-held […]

The Timpson review reveals the importance of engagement between alternative provision and mainstream, says Steve Howell. Why not a local representative group or some sort of commissioned oversight? When the long awaited Timpson review of exclusions was finally published last week, those of us working in alternative provision (AP) were keen to see how our […]