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22 May 2026

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Opinion

Teacher recruitment could turn from a serious problem into a crisis

The government risks making a bad recruitment situation worse through its reforms to teacher education. Under its “school-led” policy, the infrastructure is becoming increasingly fragmented, undermining long established, and often genuinely schools-led, training partnerships On December 9, the education select committee will take oral evidence as part of its inquiry into teacher supply. The witnesses, […]

Whose knowledge is it anyway

We are entering an era of knowledge-porn. But while children need certain knowledge to take part in the “cultural conversation”, they also must be handed a way in to culture, and the ability to challenge it. This cannot be done with draconian authority, under-skilled teachers and cookie-cutter curriculums The introduction of a core knowledge curriculum […]

Why ‘Tired Teachers’ Might Hold The Clue To The Teacher Shortage

During an event at the RSA, editor Laura McInerney revealed for the first time the paper’s investigations into ‘Tired Teachers’   Over the summer our newsroom had one mission: to find out why everyone in schools said there was a teacher shortage yet government stats didn’t agree. We published our first deep investigations back in […]

Schools must not miss out on women leaders

There is inequity in school leadership, particularly at secondary level where men outnumber women almost two to one. An equalities network set up by ASCL is aiming to redress the balance Women significantly outnumber men in teaching, except when it comes to secondary headship where the reverse is true. This is not new, but progress […]

Primary assessment: the good, the bad and the ugly

The changes to primary assessment and accountability have been under review for the best part of five years, and even now there are many unanswered questions Many of the questions surrounding the new primary assessment are impossible to answer until the first round of statutory tests next May. Others will hopefully emerge in the coming […]

Ofsted says you can see their evidence – but should you ask?

Complaints about schools inspectorate Ofsted are ten-a-penny. It was therefore a shame to see good news buried in the final section of a letter sent by Sir Michael Wilshaw to the education select committee. As our cover story reveals, it read: “”Ofsted has, for some time, been providing inspection ‘evidence bases’ to the public on […]

Governors might be in danger of getting too much attention

As a chair of governors I agree with Michael Wilshaw’s commentary that “Governance is an issue that does not always get the attention it merits”. That is certainly true of Ofsted inspections which until recently have only given it token attention. It is also true of the research community who have largely neglected it. Government […]