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24 June 2026

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Opinion

Should maintained schools convert to academies?

Question: Will all schools still have to become academies eventually? And if so, what should maintained schools be doing to review their options? Christine says: We know that the pace of conversions to academy status dropped off once Nicky Morgan did a U-turn on the target for all schools to convert by 2022. However, it […]

Grammar schools aren’t from the 1950s, they’re from the Middle Ages

It is very trendy to say that reviving grammar schools would be a return to the 1950s. However, grammar schools are actually a medieval concept. A consequence of the Norman Conquest in 1066 was the growth of merchant trade in England. Slavery was banned, buildings were thrown up, and trading boomed. But the population was […]

Progress 8 is fairer, but some flaws need fixing

David Blow explains why your Progress 8 scores may have been lower than you had predicted. The move to Progress 8 has undoubtedly been fairer than the previous measure of five A*-C GCSEs, especially for schools with lower prior (key stage 2) attainment, who were likely to have lower outcome attainment (at key stage 4). […]

Some school leaders are taking us for fools – we need to stand up to them

The high-stakes accountability system is no excuse. Schools are funded by public money and it’s time to reclaim their moral purpose, says Emma Knights. Tight budgets and policy changes are making it tough for many in schools at the moment, whether you are a teacher, a school leader, a governor or a trustee. So, it’s […]

So it’s goodbye to the Education for All bill… or is it?

New laws forcing more schools to become academies will not happen in this academic year. That’s about the only certainty in a week of seemingly abandoned plans. It’s official. The Education for All bill is no more. Or so almost everyone was proclaiming last week when a throwaway line in a statement from Justine Greening […]

How to be an LGBT+ ally in schools

Posters on walls in schools don’t cut it – it’s how teachers and school leaders deal with specific incidents that really makes a difference, says Annette Pryce. Here’s a story: it’s about a teenage girl who was 14 when she came out at school as a lesbian. After months of verbal abuse and no support, […]

Women need to get even – let’s ban men from school names

Is anyone bored of hearing the ways women are disadvantaged in education? I am. Commentators like me bang on and on about women being relatively less likely to become leaders, less likely to get into Oxbridge, more likely to get low wages. Frankly, it all gets a bit samey. But that’s because inequality is boring. […]

Work experience can benefit employers as well as schools

Ask not what employers can do for your students. Ask what your students can do for employers, says Gerard Liston It was encouraging to hear Justine Greening tell the Conservative Party conference that, ‘British business is the ultimate opportunity giver. I want to see businesses spotting and polishing up the talent of a new generation’. […]

Respecting teachers’ professionalism

Winning friends and influencing people are important, especially when new ministers are appointed and new policies are introduced. Suggestions for the Consideration of Teachers was published in 1905 by officials very aware of the strained relationship with the teaching profession as a result of payment by results, which had recently ended. This was their attempt […]