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24 April 2026

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Opinion

Ignore the rise in school-led teacher training routes – universities are here to stay

The Department for Education’s recent Teacher Training Performance Profiles for 2015/16 prompted inevitable cries in the media of “the end of initial teacher training in universities”. They’re wrong, argues David Spendlove. Once again the DfE’s training figures, which showed an increase in school-led training, are more down to its own creative accounting than any radical […]

Can a school decide to leave an academy trust?

As one regional schools commissioner ponders whether a school can voluntarily quit its multi-academy trust, education consultant Simon Foulkes examines the legal issues Schools occasionally leave one multi-academy trust to join another. They can be rebrokered for a number of reasons: failures of educational performance, management and governance, or those responsible for them might ask […]

Amanda Spielman is right: our schools are too risk averse

Risk-aversion in schools has gone too far, argues Andy Phippen. We need to empower our pupils to manage and mitigate risks themselves. In last week’s Sunday Times, Amanda Spielman, Ofsted’s chief inspector, called for a change in the risk-averse culture in our schools, claiming they have become places where children are so wrapped in cotton […]

We know how to close the attainment gap – but government and schools must commit to it

The answer to closing the attainment gap begins at home, and in helping poverty-stricken parents as much as their children, says Jaine Stannard A report came out last week from the the Education Policy Institute, saying that the educational gap between richest and poorest ‘will take 50 years to close’.  With over four million children in the UK […]

50 years before we have an equitable school system

We’re making slow progress in closing the attainment gap, claims the Education Policy Institute’s Jo Hutchinson, because the picture is far more complex than you’d think The gap in attainment between disadvantaged pupils and their peers has been entrenched in our education system for generations. These gaps become evident in the early years and grow […]

Tougher words on academy pay are welcome, but we need action

The Department for Education’s move to toughen up rules over academy trust executive pay and good governance is welcome, but it misses two crucial points, argues Gillian Allcroft.   The academies financial handbook is updated annually and describes the principles of good financial management and governance that all academies should abide by. This latest version […]

We need a Bacc for the future, not a curriculum from 1904

The English Baccalaueate is driving pupils – especially those from poorer backgrounds – away from creative subjects. This cannot stand, argues Deborah Annetts After 18 months, the government has finally published its long-awaited response to the EBacc consultation. And it isn’t good news. Ambitious plans to have 90% of pupils in England study the English Baccalaureate […]

The NFF is saved – but major issues still remain for schools funding

The government has rescued the National Funding Formula by the skin of its teeth. The Education Policy Institute was clear that Justine Greening would need to give clarity over whether the National Funding Formula would be introduced in 2018 as planned, before parliament breaks for the summer recess. Today she gave that clarity, along with […]