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22 May 2026

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Opinion

All talk and lots of action

Supporting all pupils to develop their speech, language and communication skills is everybody’s responsibility and can be a part of every lesson Speech, language and communication needs, or SLCN, is the most common special educational need within state-funded primary schools. But, while the identification of SLCN has increased by about 70 per cent in recent […]

Would you trust a human to mark your work?

You might say no to a driverless car or a pilotless plane, but it is time to trust computers to do your marking Question: A boy climbs slowly to the top of a slide and then slides down. At which point will his kinetic energy be a maximum? One student wrote as his answer: When […]

What does a fully-Conservative government mean for schools?

At a certain point last night I grabbed our election supplement and flipped nervously to the Conservative education pledge list. It was the first time I’d considered a party might need to deliver their list in full. So, what can we expect from a fully Conservative department? The Ministers David Cameron said before the election […]

‘If I were education secretary (again)…’

I would secure all-party support to launch a ten-year programme to spread technical education throughout the whole education system. One of the biggest challenges for the next government is to fill the skills gap: by 2020 we will need 830,000 STEM graduates and 450,000 technicians and engineers at levels 3 and 4. The institutions in […]

‘If I were education secretary (again)…’

Money is not the sole salvation in achieving quality education for all children. However, cutting the money available can have a devastating impact on those schools that have been making the most progress, reaching out and engaging with families and for whom the pupil premium was a lifeline at a time of retrenchment. That is […]

‘If I were education secretary (again)…’

Secondary schools have become an increasingly diverse and rather chaotic gathering. It seems to be held together (more or less) by Ofsted and the examination system, with huge emphasis on league tables and exam grades to the detriment of creativity and imagination. The result is the imposing of great stress on youngsters in the later […]

A GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY TO UNLEASH GREATNESS IN OUR EDUCATION SYSTEM

For too long the relationship between government and the teaching profession has been strained. Ministers have imposed frequent changes to curriculum, assessment and accountability, leaving school leaders and teachers to manage constantly moving goalposts. Their aim may have been to raise standards, something with which we would all agree. However, their approach – of micro-management […]