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22 May 2026

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Opinion

Prepare well and school trips can be fun

Accidents happen, but what if they are on a school trip that you are in charge of? Jade Kent lists what you need to be aware of School trips seem great in principle, but what if something goes wrong? How should we prepare for taking pupils off site? As a starting point, teachers are required […]

Why did some results dip last year? Ofqual reveals all…

Last year, on GCSE results day, panicked phone calls came through to the Schools Week office. There were dips – big dips – in the results of schools with outstanding records and well-respected leaders. What was going on? Many callers said the exams regulator, Ofqual, must have moved the boundaries of English and maths GCSEs, […]

What is teaching for mastery in maths?

I was very interested to read the item in last week’s Schools Week that suggested pupils in one primary school were being prevented from reading books ‘above their level’ because of a ‘mastery’ approach to English teaching. Teaching maths for mastery involves employing approaches that help pupils to develop a deep and secure knowledge and understanding of […]

What would make an all-academy system work?

The schools landscape could look very different from how it does today, quite quickly, if the government’s vision for all schools to become academies comes to fruition. Professor Toby Salt examines what would make a universally academised system work, in terms of school organisation, management and conversion. 1. It’s time to trust If (and it […]

Top schools now profit from the struggles of the weaker

School improvement funding has moved from allocation based on need to survival of the fittest, says Kiran Gill As a policy rationalist I have to admit to being a New Labour (first term) education fangirl, starting with the infrastructure and funding for school improvement. Once upon a time, local authorities were expected to offer school […]

To reduce teacher workload, the DfE should lead by example

The timing of the publication of the workload principles and the recommendations will do little to change policy, says Ross McGill You could be pardoned for missing the publication of the workload principles from the Department for Education (DfE). Why? Because it was Easter and many teachers had long-forgotten their lesson plans and marking. Yet […]

Super heroes don’t solve problems, they punch people

Watching Nicky Morgan getting beaten up by her own party over forced academy conversions, I suddenly realised the fatal flaw of her plan is not so much money, but the fact it relies on imaginary, magical people. The idea of every school becoming an academy is that headteachers can do it all. They can train […]

‘It’s all about the money’: The REAL reason behind forced academisation

Why are the Conservatives intent on making every school into an academy? It’s not about standards, it’s all about the money, writes Mike Cameron. It is becoming clear to anyone with even a passing understanding of the issues that academisation is not a universal panacea that cures all of a schools ills. The evidence we […]

The government has abandoned the reception progress measure, but schools should not

I’m struggling to get caught up in the heat of debate over the government’s recent decision not to use the results of this year’s reception baseline testing for the purpose of comparing pupils’ progress. Why? Three different assessments were never going to provide comparable results, and comparability is, seemingly, at the heart of this decision. […]