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24 June 2026

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Opinion

The OECD’s PISA gender reporting reinforces unhelpful stereotypes

The OECD’s analysis of the gender gaps in education simply regurgitates centuries of educational bias, and it’s wrong, writes Markus Meier The PISA studies are received by the scientific community and the general public alike as a kind of educational verdict, distributing bragging and blaming rights. There has been a lot of criticism, sure, but […]

Are police officers in schools a force for good?

Hundreds of police officers are now based in schools but we don’t know enough about the work they do, or the impact their presence has on pupils, insists Dr Amanda Henshall The presence of officers in schools is part of a massive package of surveillance measures, including more CCTV in schools, that make children and […]

Schools Week is changing: we’re going digital first

I’d like to tell you about some changes we’re making to Schools Week, coming into effect in June. Since the newspaper’s launch in September 2014, we’ve always been brave with our approach to providing you with high-quality, independent, investigative and balanced education journalism. We’ve come a long way in these four years, but we wouldn’t be here today […]

What are the routes to opening new VA schools?

To open a new school three things are needed: a proposer, permission, and capital funding, explains Simon Foulkes The government announced this month that it “will develop a scheme to help create new voluntary-aided (VA) schools for faith and other providers to meet local demand, supported by capital funding. The VA route already allows for […]

Without a foundation in fact, oracy isn’t sufficient

Of course pupils need to learn to express themselves, says John Blake, but the fact is that without a firm basis in knowledge, their rhetoric will fall flat There are not many people who think literacy and numeracy are inessential objectives of our children’s education, even if there is far less agreement about how best […]

You don’t need facts to win a debate, you need confidence

Knowledge isn’t enough to navigate the world: children need to be taught the power of their own voice, argues Anthony David It’s not often that Parliament is silenced by a 15-year-old who is struggling not to cry as they try to convey the importance of being able to speak out, but that is what happened […]

Sex education reforms: can someone in the DfE give us a straight answer?

In Blackadder: Back and forth, our eponymous antihero runs into Shakespeare after an experiment with a time machine goes awry. “This is for every schoolboy and schoolgirl for the next four hundred years!” Blackadder cries, as he punches the Bard in the face. If I had a time machine, I should like to go back […]

Teachers shouldn’t have to be careers advisers

While teachers have an important role to play in inspiring pupils’ future careers, it’s wrongheaded to claim they should replace trained careers advisers, argues Denise Bertuchi In a column last week, Schools Week’s contributing editor Laura McInerney argued that teachers are the best careers advisers. While it’s true that many pupils find teachers a good […]

The apprenticeship levy: How to make the best of bad policy

The apprenticeship levy is badly designed and implemented even worse, but schools are stuck with it for now, says Jon Coles Although the government is keen that the apprenticeship levy is not seen as a tax, it is very clearly a payroll tax. It drives up the costs of employment and – especially in a […]