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25 April 2026

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Opinion

Teaching out of specialism: does it matter to pupils?

Imagine it’s Monday morning and you are suddenly told you must take a supply lesson. Your teaching subject is geography. Today, however, you will be teaching Urdu. For the few readers among you who speak the language, this may be an exciting moment. For everyone else, it is terrifying. I say this as someone who, […]

What role should schools play in teaching pupils to spot fake news?

There’s been lots of talk about the need for children to identify fake news, but what resources are available? Asha Carpenter brings us up-to-date Research conducted by the Reuters Institute last year showed that there are clear distinctions in how people of different ages access news. Older generations are more likely to access it via […]

What do schools need to know about assessment?

The land might have been cleared for self-improvement but the tools are in short supply, says Stuart Kime The coalition government of 2010 brought with it a secretary of state for education who believed passionately that “a thousand flowers” should bloom in our school system, borrowing from a phrase used in mid-1950s China to encourage […]

The science of dyslexia isn’t as straightforward as politicians seem to think

Our teachers are seriously overworked even without catering for special needs diets, says Tom Burkard Earlier this year, Warwickshire Education Authority published a radical new document that could go a long way towards resolving the crisis of provision for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities. They announced that poor readers would no longer be […]

How schools can support older teachers to join the profession

Older teachers bring experience, wisdom and resilience, says Katie Waldegrave, and there are many ways in which schools can tempt them into the classroom Four years ago Nicky Morgan commissioned a report into the effect of increasing retirement ages on teachers. It was something of a relief, last week, to read the resulting Department for […]

What does a good school workforce development plan look like?

Forget expensive, complex intervention strategies, says Sir David Carter – the best investment is to focus on the capacity, capability and competence of teachers Teacher development is the responsibility of the whole system. MAT CEOs, school leaders, school improvers, universities, local authorities and, of course, the Department for Education must all place teacher development at […]

How to develop good communication between MAT trustees and local academy committees

It’s vital to develop good communication between MAT trustees and local academy committees, says Sam Henson, who has some tips to share MAT trustees have a lot to think about. Overseeing a single organisation across multiple sites and contexts, is no easy ask. MAT governance should in theory enable more strategically focused governance, with the […]

Why education’s ‘trads’ are actually the true progressives

You can deny the debate all you like, says Tom Bennett, but sticking your fingers in your ears won’t make it go away When I began to teach, I was as unaware of the ideological framework I existed within as a fish is of water. It was progressivism, the famously child-centred educational philosophy that had […]

Is pupil enjoyment or ‘happiness’ key to effective learning?

Trying to motivate children to higher performance by making learning more enjoyable may have the opposite effect, argues James Croft The idea that pupil enjoyment or ‘happiness’ is key to effective learning is so widely subscribed to among educationists that it is almost never questioned. According to received wisdom of pedagogical authorities since Rousseau, real […]