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23 May 2026

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Opinion

Six steps the government must take to win back support from headteachers

More than 50 headteachers have this week signed an open letter to education secretary Nicky Morgan claiming her government has plunged the education system into chaos. The heads have put forward six key proposals to improve the education system. Steve Hitchcock, headteacher of St Peter’s CofE Primary School in Devon, who helped organise the letter, […]

England’s controversial ‘new’ grammar school: fair process, or not?

After tirelessly questioning council officials and probing internet archives, anti-selection campaigner Joanne Bartley questions the fairness of England’s first grammar school ‘expansion’. When Nicky Morgan stood in parliament on October 19th 2015 to approve the controversial Weald of Kent grammar school expansion, she said: ‘‘I assessed the proposal in line with our guidelines on making significant […]

SPAG bol***** — Why grammar tests are a poor use of classroom time

Grammar exercises and tests do little but fill in the government’s beloved tick-boxes and are not the best way to use precious classroom time, says Gerald Haigh When I was a child I had a Meccano set. It was the daddy of them all, ultra deluxe, in a wooden chest gold-stencilled “Meccano” in that distinctive […]

Cuts in the Education Services Grant will prevent councils supporting schools

The government may have made a “u-turn” on academisation, but dramatic reductions in the Education Services Grant will prevent councils from adequately supporting schools, argues David Borrow. The plan to sever the link between local authorities, schools, and their communities, he says, is ill thought-out and undemocratic No doubt about it: the government’s climbdown over […]

Do careers talks in schools improve pupils’ life chances?

What have you been working on? The impact of school-based careers talks, with people from outside school, on earnings at age 26. We analysed data from the British cohort study of 1970 – which covers 17,000 people – to work out whether they had an impact, and, if so, what type of interventions and at […]

My change of heart about coaching

After joining Schools Week as deputy editor, Cath Murray was sent to mingle with readers at a training event – and bring back her observations. I approached the “coaching” day for education professionals with trepidation. Faye Kilgour, our trainer and lead coach for Graydin, a professional development organisation, had signed her preliminary email, “With heart”. […]

What school leaders can do to improve mental health provision

As many as three pupils in each class may be struggling with mental health problems, but many of their teachers say they feel ill-equipped to respond. Cuts are decimating statutory services, Ellie Mulcahy says, moving the onus on to school leaders to put improved support in place Teachers and schools need the skills to spot […]

Why some children with language needs are being missed

What have you been working on? A study on language impairment at school entry age, and how we can better identify, diagnose and treat language disorders. Using a sample of 7,267 state school children in Surrey, we assessed language, non-verbal IQ (NVIQ), social, emotional, and behavioural problems among 529 pupils aged 5 to 6. The […]