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25 April 2026

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Opinion

GCSE 2018 Variability Charts: Are Your Results Normal?

GCSE results are out. Each year Ofqual produces boring-sounding variability charts. It sounds dull but they show how many centres, i.e. schools or colleges, dropped or increased their results compared with the previous year. This means that if you dropped, say, 25 per cent in one subject, you can see how many other schools also […]

Why inset days should be like a driving awareness course

Teachers should get excited about inset days – after all, they’re a luxury most professionals don’t get, says Karen Wespieser, who shares some tips to inject the enthusiasm back into school-based CPD I need to make a confession. Following a period of intense learning and testing, I have for the past 18 years been doing a […]

When did ‘knowledge-rich’ and ‘enquiry-based’ learning become mutually exclusive?

‘Knowledge-rich’ and ‘enquiry-based’ learning are not mutually exclusive – the government is pursuing a high-risk strategy by allowing ideology to trump research, argues Sandra Leaton Gray Perusing the Department for Education’s latest curriculum-fund tender specifications, I find myself wondering when “knowledge-rich” and “enquiry-based” learning became mutually exclusive. Curriculum materials that are “knowledge-rich, and have teacher-led […]

More exclusions are definitely NOT the answer

Jules Daulby hits back against the claim that the number of pupils being excluded from mainstream schools might be too low In a recent article for Schools Week, John Blake, head of education at the influential think tank, Policy Exchange, appears to be fist-pumping the air, celebrating the rise in exclusions and salivating over the idea […]

Is this the real exclusions ‘scandal’ – leaving too many kids in mainstream?

How can the education committee claim the current level of school exclusions is too high, when no one even knows what the correct level should be, argues John Blake Every child in England is entitled to an education. Thus, this week’s report from the parliamentary education committee, on the experiences of students removed from mainstream schools as […]

Teacher pay scales are essential – here’s why

With the government having announced the teacher pay rises for 2018-19, Mary Bousted explains why she thinks centralised pay scales are essential DIY is not a good idea when it comes to teachers’ pay. If going it alone were a good idea, academies and free schools, which have the freedom to determine their own pay […]

Beware the government’s sleight of hand on academy finances

The government’s new method for calculating school budgets obscures the true number of schools in financial deficit, explains Jon Andrews The Department for Education yesterday published new statistics on the revenue balances of academy trusts. This does not provide data for individual trusts let alone individual academies, this is expected later in the year, but provides […]

Scrap national pay scales and let schools decide

With school leaders and teachers frustrated about the government’s delay in announcing teacher pay rises, Mark Lehain makes the case for scrapping centralised pay scales There is loads about being a head that I have missed since leaving Bedford Free School last August. One thing I haven’t missed is the challenge of setting a budget […]