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22 May 2026

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Opinion

If you’re poor, you won’t turn up to school

School-Home Support can offer practical help to schools, families and pupils. Pupils like Dana, 7, who was missing 30 per cent of her lessons Department for Education absence statistics show a welcome reduction in the number of children who are persistently absent from school. About 67,000 fewer children missed 15 per cent or more of […]

Closing the science gender divide in schools

The latest statistics from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) show that the school science gender divide in the UK is amongst the largest in the world, with boys outperforming girls by up to 13 per cent. However, for some career paths, notably those in health and well being, there has been a […]

To Google, or not to Google: that is the question

Exam time is looming. As the weeks of revision draw to an end, thousands of students will soon be sitting in rows in large exam rooms, ready to pick up their pens and to turn over their papers. “You may begin!” It’s 2015. How much longer can pen and paper exams be the only medium […]

Leadership that goes on behind the scenes

The many hidden leaders within schools can sometimes be hard to spot. Here’s how to look out for them . . . What leadership do you do behind the scenes that is important yet unrecognised? Have you ever had to deal with a situation for which you felt unequipped? For example, dealing with the media, […]

‘If I were education secretary…’

The education system must change so that knowledge gives way to wisdom, emphasising the application of knowledge as a source of power for living that leads to individual happiness and success. I would create a system that enables students to develop a questioning mind and put in place systems that produce a new generation of […]

Wanted: home-grown teachers of Mandarin

The Conservatives are promising more Mandarin teachers – and in an ideal world every young person should be able to learn it as a language of their choice. But is this a manifesto pledge that can be implemented? Tucked away in the Conservative manifesto is the pledge: “increase the number of teachers able to teach […]

Soft skills can’t be taught… but they can be learned

The current education secretary, Nicky Morgan, has been on a drive recently to promote ‘character education’. Adding the teaching of ‘grit and resilience’ to a teacher’s already growing workload is a big ask but a greater focus on employability and skills beyond the classroom mean that it is no longer enough to simply get every […]

‘If I were education secretary…’

Over the past few years, there has been a grassroots professional rejection of bogus ideas within education, coupled with a wellspring of enthusiasm for more credible alternatives. New ideas — such as direct instruction, spaced and massed practice, curriculum sequencing, and mastery learning — are gaining popularity amongst certain teachers and schools. However, the 65 […]

‘If I were education secretary…’

Integrating private schools would bring down the Berlin Wall that grossly favours the 7 per cent on one side of it, and that remains an ugly, disfiguring scar on our society. Our private schools — and I use “our” in the loosest sense — are for the most part excellent institutions. The fundamental problem is […]