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19 April 2026

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Opinion

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 […]

Teacher training deregulation doesn’t solve the supply crisis

Once again, DfE meddling is making teacher training harder to pull off, says Prof David Spendlove The new initial teacher training allocations for 2018/19 are possibly the most significant confirmation that the government has lost all hope of developing an effective teacher-supply strategy. It also confirms that the sleight-of-hand allocations system has now ended in […]

Academisation makes it harder for local schools to work together

Changes to governance and organisation structures are starting to make it more challenging for schools to work collaboratively, says Anna Hennell James. In Ipswich, where I work, we have a cluster of local schools made up of two high schools and seven feeder primaries. Schools in the area have historically worked around school-based “pyramids”, which […]

Teaching apprenticeships will work if used wisely

There’s no reason why teacher apprenticeships can’t train new educators to the highest standards, says David Owen In 1947, my father, aged 17, left the Welsh market town of Carmarthen to start an engineering apprenticeship at Austin Motors in Longbridge, Birmingham. This was the start of a successful career in the car industry; he became […]

Social mobility isn’t about behaving like the middle class

We need to change the entire conversation on social mobility to have a chance of changing people’s lives for the better, says Prof Sonia Blandford A staggering 2.5 million children and young people in Britain live in poverty, and they are “born to fail” according to social mobility metrics as put forward by those in power. […]

Elite universities shouldn’t be pressured to sponsor schools

Leading universities can better help the underprivileged by widening access and outreach schemes, argues Oxford’s Dr Samin Khan In an interview on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme last year, Oxford’s vice-chancellor Louise Richardson was asked why her university had not yet sponsored or opened a school. “We’re very good at running a university,” she explained […]