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25 April 2026

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Opinion

Sorry, Mr Slater, schools can’t make any more savings

This week Jonathan Slater, the head of the education department, said that if the bottom 75 per cent of schools became as efficient as the most cost-effective 25 per cent of schools then the flat education budget of the next few years wouldn’t be a problem. He knows that isn’t going to happen. It’s optimistic […]

When did schools ban corporal punishment?

There is a division running rife through the Schools Week office and it’s not just which radio station we should play as we work. It’s the split between those who attended school when corporal punishment was still possible, and those who cannot believe that there was ever such a thing. This is because the answer […]

Progress 8: beware confidence intervals!

Progress 8 scores offer a better way of looking at school performance than did the A*-C percentage GCSE pass rate, says Stuart Kime, but be aware of how you interpret them . Removing the A* – C percentage pass rate statistic from the vernacular of English schooling was an eminently sensible decision. But is the […]

How should we define ‘disadvantaged’ pupils?

Separating pupils into those who qualify for free schools meals and those who don’t does little to highlight the more nuanced and complex picture in relation to attainment outcomes for different pupils, says Sameena Choudry. The Social Mobility Commission (SMC) research Ethnicity, Gender and Social Mobility, carried out in partnership with LKMCo and Education Datalab […]

Tests for sale makes a mockery of selection

Where, exactly, is the line of “this has gone too far”? That’s a question teachers have to consider almost constantly. When is a pupil “too” loud? When is a short skirt “too” short? One of the main reasons schools have so many rules is to try to avoid the psychological energy needed for such decisions. […]

‘Refuse, retract, resist’ school nationality data collection

Parents can choose not to be complicit in building border controls in our playgrounds – and so can schools, says Martha Spurrier. The spring school census started this week. For the second time this academic year, parents and guardians have been asked to share their children’s nationalities and countries of birth with the state – […]

Why we didn’t do the ‘disadvantage’ school league tables this year…

For the past two years Schools Week won love for publishing annual tables of schools getting great outcomes for pupils from lower-income families. But this year we have changed course. Editor Laura McInerney explains why. I’m going to make a confession. The award-winning Schools Week ‘disadvantage league tables’, which we first published in January 2015, […]

The long and the short of school uniforms

Last week a school in Kent gained national headlines for sending home girls whose skirts were deemed as too short. Uniform stories are not rare. Most weeks at least one will surface in a local rag. If the subject is outlandish enough, the national press will also pile in. Headteachers will defend their right to […]

Sixth-form colleges – not school sixth forms – are the route to social mobility

Education Datalab’s recent report on post-16 education has got it wrong, says James Kewin. It is a myth that the best way to improve the life chances of disadvantaged young people is to increase the number of school sixth forms. Last month, Education Datalab produced a report – handily summarised by Schools Week – entitled […]