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24 April 2026

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Opinion

What happens to grammar schools in a minority Conservative government?

Can the Conservatives still push through their plan for new grammar schools now they are a minority government? Editor Laura McInerney explains what we know so far. The first rule of a government is that almost nothing will stop one implementing an outrageous policy if they really, really want to. I learned this back in 2010 when […]

Some images of injustice are hard to erase

Some images are hard to shake. Year 6s crying for fear they will “fail” their primary tests. Year 11s drawing on each others’ shirts as they disappear for study leave. Michael Gove making speeches about his knowledge of “Indian sex manuals” (it’s three years now and I’m still not over it). But, from this week’s […]

The NCTL was created in a rush and it’s time to reform it

The NCTL was created in a rush and it’s time to reform it, structurally and operationally, argues Andrew Faux The National College for Teaching and Leadership was born from a rushed decision by a deeply political secretary of state to abolish the General Teaching Council for England in March 2012. Given its recent failures there […]

NCTL processes are robust but must be applied correctly

The NCTL’s procedures are robust and rigorous, says James Lynas, but it needs sufficient numbers of properly trained staff to apply the rules correctly The National College for Teaching and Leadership’s disciplinary process has rightly come under more scrutiny after the collapse of action against five teachers in the so-called “Trojan Horse” scandal – after […]

Giving UTCs a lifeline through the free school model

UTCs face a big challenge in that the English school system isn’t set up for recruitment at 14, but there are ways to make it work, says Sam Parrett With the people in charge of university technical colleges sticking their head in the sand over the growing problem of recruitment at 14, it’s no wonder schools, UTCs and […]

Leadership of school leadership is a white male preserve

The new board of the Foundation for Leadership in Education is all white and nearly all male – a fact which in no way reflects the reality of the sector it claims to represent, argues Dr Kate Chhatwal If the role of a board of trustees is to set the tone at the top, I’m […]

How the Tories made a hash of school breakfasts

When Labour’s shadow minister for terrible live interview, Diane Abbott, made an error on national radio about the cost of police officers, she was laughed at. Not knowing your numbers is now labelled “doing an Abbott”. Well, we may need a new phrase. Last week the Conservative party sent a very clear press release stating […]

How do the education manifestos stack up?

Jon Andrews looks at how each of the three main parties proposes to tackle some of the main challenges facing education In every general election, education ranks with the economy, national security, and the NHS as a priority of swing voters. This election, although sitting alongside Brexit, is no different. Each of the three main […]

Less rhetoric, more funding for schools, please

The Conservative manifesto talks about governing from the mainstream, but its education policies hardly match the rhetoric, claims Kiran Gill I recently wrote an assessment of Labour’s manifesto policies on education, and one of my marking criteria was on how well the party could shift the “narrative” of education. By narrative, I mean the stories […]