Skip to content
21 August 2026

Become a member today for unlimited access to Schools Week

Enjoy expert journalism on schools policy with fewer ads and exclusive benefits
subscribe

Opinion

What does an ethical code for school leaders look like?

Carolyn Roberts outlines what an ethical leadership code might look like and why it is needed The Association of School and College Leaders is launching a year-long project to develop a code of ethical leadership. Between this year’s ASCL annual conference, which opens next Friday in Birmingham, and next year’s conference, we will invite experts […]

Words are all we have – let’s choose them carefully

In a bid to recover some of the optimism of the 1990s, I’ve been listening to Boyzone this week. (You can judge, I don’t care, they’re great.) Their 1996 cover of the BeeGee’s Words was a particularly apt soundtrack for something I saw during my daily morning perusal of the Department for Education’s job listings. […]

How to prepare year 6 for KS2 maths SATs

Education blogger @thatboycanteach explains what we can learn from studying the 2016 Key Stage 2 SATs results After the release of RAISEonline’s QLA data, teachers, Maths coordinators, and SLT alike will have scrambled to analyse the initial report on 2016s maths SATs results. It’s a resource with huge potential, offering ways for us to reconsider the effectiveness […]

Here’s why ‘low-cost’ private schools in England WON’T work

State school campaigner Janet Downs explains why proposals for a new ‘no frills’ private school in England – charging parents just £52-a-week – will flop… Low fee paying (LFP) schools already exist in England. They are schools not affiliated to the Independent Schools Council and likely to charge lower fees. But even their low fees […]

Here’s why ‘low-cost’ private schools in England WILL work

One of the architects behind proposals for a low-cost private school in England explains why he believes the ‘no frills’ education model can take off… My work over the past 17 years has focused on low-cost private schools mainly in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. In these regions, private education is everywhere, even for low […]

Confidence is at an all-time low in the exam marking system

Exams manager Paula Wood says confidence is at an all-time low in the exam marking system, but will Ofqual’s recent moderation announcements change that? Some 67,900 exam grades were changed after they were challenged in summer 2016 – that is 18% of challenged grades, not dissimilar to 19% the previous year – despite changes to […]

The top 3 priorities for ministers on primary assessment

As the education select committee prepares to grill the schools minister Nick Gibb about primary assessment tomorrow, Nick Brook sets out his three priorities for the government’s upcoming review.   As we await the launch of the government’s primary assessment consultation, teachers will be turning their minds to this year’s SATs. Setting work to produce […]

What happened to the old technical schools?

The 1944 Education Act famously created three types of schools: academically selective grammars, selective technical schools, and secondary moderns for the hoi polloi. Grammars and secondary moderns charged ahead. But what happened to the selective technical schools? Few opened and of those that did, several became mainstream grammars before the end of the 1960s. The […]

Teacher body cameras are not the answer to classroom management

Not only is there insufficient evidence to justify their use, body cameras may actually escalate situations in the classroom, says Alex Sutherland Police-style, body-worn cameras are being piloted by teachers in two schools in England to stop pupil disruption. However, recent research raises concerns about such a scheme and its potential impact on both teachers and pupils. […]