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24 April 2026

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Opinion

How schools should be preparing for GDPR

New data laws come into force next May; Theresa Kerr explains how to comply A lot of schools are aware that the law on data protection is changing but are not sure what it will mean for them in practice. A school business manager recently asked even asked me if he should be losing sleep […]

Greening’s taking education back to the 80s

This time last year, education was going back to the 1950s with grammar schools as the idea in vogue. This week, Justine Greening is taking us back to the 1980s, with her Youth Training Scheme for teachers (okay, apprenticeships), and back to the 2000s with her “social opportunity” areas. Let’s time-travel a little: it’s summer […]

Katie Hopkins is not a suitable speaker for schools

The ASCL recommendation that Katie Hopkins be allowed to speak in schools, as long as alternative views are presented, is dangerous and potentially misleading, says Bill Bolloten Last month the journalist Katie Hopkins announced a series of school talks for 14 to 16-year-olds, which she has branded the “Stand Strong School Tour”. Hopkins has a […]

Ofsted is right about the knowledge-rich curriculum

The inspectorate doesn’t always get things right, says Mark Lehain, but its latest review is important Ofsted gets a lot of hate from teachers. It’s just so easy to blame it, and wish it wasn’t there, especially when school leaders cry “it’s what Ofsted wants” when introducing a new initiative. (Spoiler alert: it isn’t.) While I […]

How and when money matters in education

We shouldn’t just throw money at the system, says Luke Sibieta; we have to use it smartly. School funding was a source of much controversy during the recent general election campaign, and the Department for Education changed its spending plans soon afterwards, to enable a freeze in school spending per pupil in England between 2017 […]

Is pushing the cadets really in pupils’ best interests?

Cadet units are not a social panacea but a recruitment tool, says Emma Sangster An interim report praising the social mobility benefits of the cadet forces was published last week by the University of Northampton. It states that cadet units can improve attendance and educational achievement, supporting children in ways that schools cannot, and was […]

All aboard the ‘Skills Revolution’! (Even you, Mr Gibb)

“The Conservative Party has got a major problem when its own secretary of state for education is on the stage announcing a ‘skills revolution’, but the schools minister won’t let civil servants write the word ‘skills’ in any of his correspondence.” Making this point while sat alongside a former Tory minister and in front of […]

Will short inspections solve the Ofsted problem?

The watchdog’s new consultation on short inspections needed to be much further-reaching, says to Colin Richards Almost all schools and inspections are “-ish”. Only a few schools are clearly and uncontroversially ‘outstanding’, and only a few are undoubtedly ‘inadequate’. The vast majority are ‘good’-ish or ‘requiring improvement’-ish. Inspection is not a science but an art; […]

What did the party conferences say about education?

Not all party conferences are created equally. Niamh Sweeney was at all three main ones, and discusses the many differences in tone, from Labour’s upbeat event to the Conservatives’ funeral march I have just about survived three weeks on the political party bandwagon travelling to the party conferences. What did I learn? Education is still […]