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14 November 2026

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Opinion

It’s up to the schools community to deliver on social mobility

The education secretary’s vision for social mobility is a strong one, says Mark Lehain – now it’s up to the schools community to get on board Greening’s plan is a definite step forward – now it’s down to us to deliver it. It was always inevitable that education secretaries after Gove were going to have […]

Now the end of 2017 is near, I too face a final curtain

Now the end of 2017 is near, I too face a final curtain. Dear readers, this is my last edition as editor of Schools Week. It’s not a complete swansong from me, as I shall be continuing as a contributing editor: writing columns and popping up every now and then with a profile interview. But […]

We’re one step closer to solving the social mobility conundrum

Today, the government published its ‘Unlocking Talent, Fulfilling Potential’ report, which echoes many of the points made by the National Association of Head Teachers in recent years, particularly the focus on early-years education. The problem is, that despite the good and improving system that we know exists, and was noted by Amanda Spielman in her […]

What are the ACTUAL new policies in Greening’s action plan?

Justine Greening has finally published her social mobility action plan, entitled ‘Unlocking Talent, Fulfilling Potential’. Much of it includes policies we already knew and some philosophical underpinnings about how it hangs together, which are quite neat. But the bit you want to know is what’s new? And what’s specific, rather than a vagueish-sounding promise. I’ve […]

9 Interesting Things You Might Have Missed In Ofsted’s Annual Report

At 10am today Amanda Spielman, the Chief Inspector, launched Ofsted’s Annual Report. As ever, there were pre-arranged soundbites and heavily emphasised points on the radio and television. But if you dig down into the report there are always a few extra nuggets that you may have missed, which are worth watching.   1. 8% of […]

Government needs to rethink the alternative provision census expansion

The government needs to stop and think before rushing into an expansion of the alternative provision census, argues Jen Persson From the disastrous effects of the Universal Credit on children and the pupil premium, through the SEN crisis to the upbeat people of edTechUK, we constantly hear the call for more data. But more isn’t […]

Why we should stop ability setting in schools

Classrooms will inevitably feature children of very different ability levels, but keeping them apart helps none of them, argues Mary Myatt There are a number of problems with setting by ability and the first is the term “ability” itself. It is fraught with difficulty: all we can talk about with any confidence is prior attainment: […]

Nick Gibb is wrong: PIRLS data does not support synthetic phonics

The schools minister is looking at the results of a major international reading test wrong, and his dogmatic insistence on teaching children to read with phonics is a sham, argues the NEU’s Kevin Courtney Overwhelmed by problems of teacher supply and faced with rising evidence of the effects of funding cuts, it’s understandable that Nick […]