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26 April 2026

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Opinion

Finding NiMo’s sparkle is easy. Her policies less so.

Anyone who ever endured the pain of sweating over a piece of work only to have it disappear off the computer at the last minute will have empathy for Nicky Morgan this week. Toiling hard, she was the government minister with the most number of fringe events at the Conservative party’s annual conference. As I […]

‘Precious little’ to tackle money, teacher and pay challenges

The political context for education over the next five years can be summed up crudely as ‘more pupils and more demands — with less money, fewer teachers and lower pay’. So what did we hear from the Conservative Party conference to tackle these genuine challenges? Precious little. he debate in our governing party is still […]

3 ideas for improving pupils’ enterprise skills

What if schools were to focus on the soft skills with as much vigour as they do on core subjects and academic rigour? Rigour and results will get students to the interview stage, but it is the soft skills that show the real ingenuity and potential that lasts a lifetime When students leave school or […]

2 ways to switch girls on to engineering

Engineering can be a cool career choice – but ingrained biases mean that girls don’t always agree. One solution is to grab their attention between the ages of 11 and 14; it’s the prime time to turn their perceptions around Women have made great strides in the workforce on many fronts in the past few […]

How can we make schools more efficient?

Schools lose 80 per cent of their budgets to salaries, but they could be more creative with the remaining 20 per cent and drive down costs The education sector has grappled with efficiency for a number of years now and various initiatives have gone some way to improving operational effectiveness and a commitment to value […]

Will Lucy Powell be a great shadow education secretary?

It’s too soon to say and she got off to a slightly shaky start, but three speeches in and the signs are that the government is not going to have it easy Watching Lucy Powell give a speech three times is a bit like observing a teacher in their first few months. The first time […]

How to help your school stand out online

The internet has become the primary source of information for parents looking for the best school for their child, which means you need a strong online visibility. Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) can help 1. Focus on content and structuring The two most crucial elements of optimising your school’s online visibility are making sure your site is regularly […]

Answer the call of technology

Much of the debate about technology in the classroom isn’t above the level of tech = bad, textbooks = good. But forget the negative, technology (and that includes those mobile phones) present enormous opportunities It may surprise you that, given my job title, I’m pretty sceptical about technology as an educational tool in general and […]