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22 May 2026

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Opinion

Ofsted needs to recognise the role of governors in its new framework

School leaders who help other institutions “turn around” are to be recognised as “exceptional” with a letter from Ofsted, it was announced on Monday when the inspectorate’s Common Inspection Framework was launched. Headteachers have already discussed the ins and outs of this change, which will also see a copy of the letter going to the […]

Ofsted Reforms: Is this the right way to inspect, or respect, schools ?

Earlier this year Ofsted claimed “the reforms we will introduce in September 2015 are intended to enable us to inspect the right things in the right way”. That was a rash claim – based on two highly contestable assumptions. First, that there is one right way to inspect and, second, that after almost yearly revisions […]

Hold a child’s hand and walk him through the curriculum

The curriculum starts off as a document: it’s then up to teachers to turn it into something that will resonate with them –and their pupils I’m not a proper teacher because I don’t work full or part time in one institution. I don’t have the long-lasting relationships with a GCSE class anymore and I miss […]

Our specialist approach to alerting our pupils to extremism

The emergence of extremist ideologies should be taught within academic disciplines such as history. Only then will pupils understand the root causes and have vital reference points The Counter Terrorism and Security Act 2015 that comes into force on July 1 mandates all schools with a duty to prevent the radicalisation of young people. Many […]

How much pay can be withheld if you go on strike?

You are not entitled to be paid for the time you spend on strike, but the amount docked will depend on what type of institution you teach in In maintained schools in England the Burgundy Book says that deductions for teachers on strike should be calculated on the basis of a day’s salary being 1/365th […]

Developing great teaching: eight lessons from new research

Good CPD focuses on subject or topic-based pupil issues and outcomes, uses collaborative problem-solving approaches over several months and moves away from the one-size-fits-nobody approach Too much CPD is unproductive but the evidence suggests a better way. No teacher has ever got to the end of their day with an empty to-do list; we’re an […]

Bradford school stabbing: “Response must be proportional to risk”

The news that another teacher has been stabbed sent shudders up my spine. Last year, Ann Maguire became the first teacher to die at the hands of a pupil in a school for nearly 20 years. Fortunately, schools are among the safest of public places but incidents do happen. As I know to my own […]

Education research: The intractable problems

One of the more curious aspects of our profession is the way in which knowledge about what makes effective practice has been created and disseminated to its own practitioners. We are I think, singularly myopic in this regard. Education research has traditionally been one-way traffic. Research has been something done to teachers and not something […]

Measure teacher quality: not student results

An overreliance on standardised data undermines our efforts to keep schools improving. If we really want to help our pupils then the best thing we can do is make sure that the people educating them also have the chance to keep on learning I recently completed a strategic review for one of the largest academy […]