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21 August 2026

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Opinion

What would it cost to maintain current school spending levels?

Protecting schools from cuts will not come cheap, says Luke Sibieta, so the political parties must be clear on how they will fund their manifesto promises Schools in England currently face two main funding challenges: squeezes on overall funding levels and a changing allocation across schools. What would it cost to ease these pressures? English […]

How to motivate your GCSE pupils

The messages that teachers and school leaders give students about the value of GCSEs does have an impact, says David Putwain – although it may not be the impact intended For the past decade I have been researching how students interpret and respond to messages about the value of GCSEs; what sense they make of […]

Headteacher boards are corrupt, self-serving and secretive

Headteacher boards are the most baffling and stupid part of the schools system. They are also corrupt, self-serving and secretive. Think that’s unfair? Prove it. Only you can’t. Because of that secrecy. What I can say is that they aren’t democratic. Democracy means rule by the majority. Problem is, the headteacher boards (HTBs) aren’t voted […]

The “big fat maths” GCSE is not working as planned

Pupils will soon sit the first new “big fat maths” GCSE. Joanne Morgan looks at the challenges that it presented – and those still to come Two years ago we were uncertain about how our students would adjust to the demands of the new maths GCSE. We worried that many of them weren’t equipped with […]

Schools! Don’t ask parents for cash and then run off – engage us!

Most school issues – from curriculum to uniform changes – affect parents. But often they are the last people to know, says Emma Williams More schools are appealing to parents for donations to plug the funding gap. Headteachers and unions also have been lobbying parents to sign petitions, to join public meetings and to write […]

How school folks can influence politicians during the election campaign

A snap election during the summer term is about as welcome as a major football tournament. Both tend to disrupt pupils, who are usually more attentive to football, but become equally intrigued about this politics thing that the adults are banging on about. Labour has focused on children from the off, with its first party […]

May and Hammond are the obstacles to progress in education

June’s general election is a make or break moment for schools and young people, says NAHT president and headteacher Anne Lyons. The good news about this surprise general election is that education has found its way to near the top of the agenda. Not since the heady days of 1997 have we seen this kind […]

3 ways to address BME representation in schools

Last week The NUT and The Runnymede Trust launched their report ‘Visible and Invisible Barriers: the impact of racism on BME teachers’. It included a number of heartening findings, including that younger BME teachers were more likely to have ‘positive experiences in school’, such as being valued by their managers and feeling school was an […]