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25 April 2026

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Opinion

Ofsted requires improvement – but how do we get there?

Ofsted’s name is mud this week. Amanda Spielman’s speech at last week’s Festival of Education went down like a lead balloon after she announced that grades for overall school effectiveness are “not effort grades”. Then she suggested that schools in white working class areas get lower grades partly because local families may not have the […]

The early-learning goals aren’t there yet!

The review of early-years assessment has morphed into a review of the curriculum by the back door, argues Beatrice Merrick Following apprehensive rumblings on social media about the review of the early-learning goals, it’s no surprise that the DfE orchestrated a chorus of positive comment to greet the minister’s announcement of the draft revisions. Headteacher […]

Graduate recruiters are clamouring for more talented women – and schools should be afraid

Gender pay rules are making corporations jittery, and rightly so. As Schools Week recently revealed, academy trusts usually have way more low-paid women than high-paid ones, which causes an imbalance in average pay. Reputationally speaking, this is bad for academy trusts. But for banks, retailers and large consulting firms, the damage is even greater because […]

Booze and backroom deals are under the accounting spotlight

The ESFA’s annual academies accounts direction document is usually fairly dry, but this year there are few more important things for trusts to look out for, writes Phillip Reynolds The Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) have released the academies accounts direction (AAD) 2017 to 2018 – a nattily named document that offers guidance on […]

Punk leadership means daring to think outside the system

The education community has a jaundiced view of school leadership at present, which is seen as risk-averse or even cowardly, says Keziah Featherstone has seen the alternative It’s doubtful that the model answer to the interview question “describe your leadership style” involves exhibiting so little moral backbone that you’ll do almost anything in pursuit of […]

No, teachers aren’t overpaid – despite what some think-tanks may claim

Last week, the Taxpayers’ Alliance, a right-wing think-tank, tried to claim that teachers are paid too much, flying in the face of all the evidence. Here, NFER’s Jack Worth debunks a few of the worst points in its research The Taxpayers’ Alliance (TPA) report on Schools Spending last week was a baffling and extraordinarily narrow […]

Ignore the naysayers, the new early-learning goals are great

Credit where credit is due, writes Clare Sealy; the government has done a really good job on its new early-learning goals So here we are again: another day, another early-years education story. There has been quite a lot of anxiety about these new early-learning goals (ELGs), and people are fearful that they will mark a […]

Why schools need a coherent curriculum

The curriculum at so many schools has narrowed as the government lays down more and more core targets. Mary Myatt believes that pupils will only benefit if we widen their horizons correctly There is a wonderful word, “gallimaufry,” that means “a confused jumble or medley of things”. It perfectly captures the mixed picture we get […]

Five things that work in teachers’ early-career development

Nearly a quarter of teachers leave the profession in their first three years. Cat Scutt believes a focused programme of professional development can stem that tide We know that new teachers’ expertise develops extremely rapidly. As Rebecca Allen and Sam Sims point out in The Teacher Gap, the learning curve for teachers is at its […]