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25 April 2026

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Opinion

Academy conversion is an unnecessary distraction – here’s how to survive it

Schools must become academies by 2022. Prolific education tweeter (@SchoolDuggery), and governor, Rachel Gooch advises what to do.   Budget Day for the Chancellor coincided with budget day for the large secondary school where I am a governor. Like Osborne, the financial outlook was rather worse than we had expected a year ago. Unlike the […]

What Is An Academy? (And other questions about converting schools)

The government has announced it wants all schools to become academies by 2022. But what are they? Editor Laura McInerney looks at questions about the policy, and tries to answer them straightforwardly.   1.  Aren’t academies run by private companies? Is this just privatisation of schools? Not quite. We have to be careful with language […]

‘This revolution in governance does not include barricades’

The multi academy trust is an increasingly common form of school governance. Should governors embrace the change or make more fuss as they lose their decision-making powers? A school governance revolution, arguably as fundamental as devolving local management to schools after the Education Reform Act 1988, is going on largely unnoticed in England. The changes […]

A former minister’s view: thoughts on the school-led system

Five areas need to be given priority if schools-led system is to become a reality English schools have a large measure of autonomy compared with many other countries. But this is qualified by some of the most important determinants of what happens in schools sitting with the Department for Education. The control of the curriculum, […]

From the frontline: thoughts on the school-led system

Former executive principal Ros McMullen sets out her vision of what a school-led system now needs. In the first of a two-part series, she says it is time to think about how to join the social policy agenda with the education reform agenda, and to unleash the best school leaders to operate as community leaders […]

People in education are not saints: we need to have difficult conversations about money

Conversations about money in education are difficult, tinged as they often are with a sense that real teachers are “here for the children” rather than their wallets. But such conversations need to happen. People working in schools aren’t saints. They are professionals swapping time for cash. It’s perfectly possible to care deeply and want to […]

National funding formula: ‘The debate should be a marathon not a sprint’

The publication of the national funding formula consultation yesterday has fired the starting pistol on the race to create a funding framework that is fit for purpose. There is a palpable sense of relief that we are finally underway. After all, we have been waiting, lobbying and training for this debate for years. The argument […]