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21 August 2026

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Opinion

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 […]

3 things I learned about social mobility

Participation in higher education from young people in disadvantaged groups is greater than ever – but is this the full picture? Andrew Berwick shares some insights from The Bridge Group’s recent social mobility conference “The UK is a remarkable country: we are the least socially mobile in Europe. You have to work really hard to […]

How schools can support students during Ramadan

Ramadan starts around May 27 for a month. Schools need to be prepared and aware that some students (and staff) will be fasting, says Amjad Ali Ramadan will again fall in summer this year, which means fasts will last 19-20 hours. Muslims will be expected to wake up before sunrise, eat, drink, pray and then […]

Is teacher workload a matter of perception?

Teachers face two types of demand that affect how they perceive their workload, says Ben White – which is why senior leaders must keep an eye on how staff feel about significant job changes When Justine Greening told a recent Department for Education event that excessive workload is mainly a product of inefficient working practices, […]

Marking Labour’s education manifesto: could do better…

Labour’s manifesto shows that it wants to do an awful lot in education. But look for specifics and you’ll struggle, says Kiran Gill If the polls are to be believed (even if they are not to be believed) the Labour manifesto is unlikely to be implemented next parliament. So I assessed it against some different […]

Fee forgiveness is welcome but Tories are unforgivably silent on pay

The authors of the Conservative education manifesto clearly spent a great deal of time and trouble choosing their words very, very carefully. First, I want to see the evidence that supports the claim in the manifesto that ‘contrary to what some people allege, official research shows that slightly more children from ordinary, working class families […]