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24 April 2026

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Opinion

What happened to education policy in the Queen’s speech?

Education was virtually absent from the Queen’s speech, but if this means little will change, it’s only a good thing, says Russell Hobby For education, this year’s Queen’s speech was most interesting for its omissions. Given the weather, it was probably a blessing for all concerned that it was brief, and equally good for the […]

Will the Conservatives really remove the faith school 50% cap?

With no mention in the Queen’s speech, and its chief architect Nick Timothy no longer in post, the Government’s plan to remove the faith school admissions cap might, just might be dead in the water, argues Andrew Copson In September last year, Theresa May announced plans to remove the limits on religious selection at new […]

Should we base education policy on evidence or values?

The former senior DfE civil servant David Bell muses on one of the thorniest philosophical divides in education. Should it really all be about evidence? Just before the general election, I participated in a press conference in which a group of experts looked at the various political parties’ manifestos through a lens of educational evidence. […]

How to make your school more LGBT-inclusive

Lesbian, gay, bi and trans people at school continue to face bullying, discrimination and isolation, argues Stonewall’s Sidonie Bertrand-Sheldon Homophobic language is a huge issue. A shocking 96 per cent of gay pupils hear homophobic remarks such as ‘poof’ or ‘lezza’, and 99 per cent hear the words “that’s so gay” used to describe something […]

Colouring in the curriculum

It would be tremendously enriching for students to add more non-white, non-male perspectives to the curriculum, insists Bansi Kara At the inaugural BAMEed conference, I spoke to a room full of teaching and non-teaching professionals about a few of the arguments used to justify a white, male curriculum. I argued the national curriculum is inherently […]

Is the grammar school nightmare finally over?

In the delirious early hours of last Friday morning I tweeted that, finally, the nail was in the coffin for the grammar schools project. A hung parliament meant the Conservatives would have to form a coalition and that would be the end of that. By 10am I was regretting my words: as the realisation dawned […]

What does a no-majority government mean for education?

One week on and the dust is still settling on the General Election. As Theresa May forms a government and prepares for her first parliamentary test in the Queen’s Speech next week, those of us who spent the election period wondering what a new government would mean for education are still left wondering. School funding […]

Trojan Horse hearings were an abuse of justice

Five of Lee Donaghy’s former colleagues have had their names muddied and their careers ruined, he argues, through politically-motivated negligence As headteacher from 2001, Lindsey Clark transformed Park View School in Birmingham from a byword for low standards in the city into a school feted by a prime minister, with David Cameron citing it in […]

Schools must be more vigilant on Islamism than ever

We must not downplay the seriousness of Trojan Horse, claims Jamie Martin, even if the case collapsed Barely a week after the Manchester Arena attack – which was carried out by someone educated in the English state school system – a procedural failure led to the collapse of misconduct hearings against three teachers suspended after […]