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25 April 2026

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Opinion

Independent schools want to engage with state schools but red tape abounds

Tom Hicks was thrilled when his son had the chance to play in a local under-7 football tournament. But then bureaucracy showed the red card… As a kid, there was little that got the blood stirring more than the anticipation of a sports tournament. It would start the night before: you would lay out your […]

Developmentalism vs mastery: should teachers be ‘flinging mud at the wall’?

Should teachers ‘fling mud at the wall’ or should they follow a mastery approach, asks Heather Fearn There are two teaching mindsets. First, there are those teachers that expose children to the curriculum and assume they will learn it when they are capable. They might suggest a child is not developmentally ready to learn letter sounds; […]

Historians make the best superheads. Ugh.

While it is easy to lie with statistics, it is even easier to lie without them. And if you are going to accuse teachers from certain subjects of being worse school leaders than others, you probably ought to have some numbers to back you up. Researchers Alex Hill and Ben Laker are no stranger to […]

Should the new College of Teaching receive state financial aid?

Recent archival research at the school of education, University of Adelaide, and at UCL, Institute of Education, London reveals that the foundation of the UK College of Teachers (originally formed as the College of Preceptors 170 years ago) and its sister organisation in South Australia, set up in 1851, were both shrouded in controversy. These […]

The social capital of a private education

Privately educated pupils earn more – but they also get better “quality” jobs. Why is that, ask Anna Vignoles and Francis Green The role of private schooling has been controversial in England for many decades. Despite being a relatively small part of the school sector (about 7 per cent of pupils), private schools have an […]

Is race the elephant in the staffroom?

Men at the recent WomenEd conference admitted they were scared to talk about gender. Are white people just as scared to talk about race, asks Cath Murray This week, Jon Chaloner writes a column for us about last weekend’s WomenEd “unconference”. One keynote event featured men: the HeforShe panel. There were eight men at the […]

Inclusion supporters need a winning way with words

Choose the words you use in the battle against selection with care, says Anita Kerwin-Nye, as they can frame the entire debate. Lots of clever people are writing on inclusion. Julian Astle of the RSA recently published a beautifully argued anti-grammars piece called The RSA Enters the Grammar School Debate. The argument is clear and […]

Making school leadership more accessible to women

For the first time we have a woman prime minister, home secretary and education secretary in office at the same time. But that doesn’t mean equality of opportunity for women in education is secure, says Jon Chaloner Last year #WomenEd was created by a number of female leaders as a grassroots movement to connect existing […]

How can schools best help ‘vulnerable’ children?

Research corner with Michael Jopling, professor in education a Northumbria University. What have you been working on? We’ve been researching and evaluating two programmes – one in Liverpool and one in Cumbria – supporting families with complex needs. While schools are key partners in the process, both programmes take multi-agency approaches. One is funded by […]