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26 April 2026

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Opinion

The myth busters

Education bursts with myths: such as teachers don’t need qualifications, local authorities control schools and academies raise standards. But there are more, all of them easy to disprove. And it’s vital that they are Many things widely supposed in education to be true, simply aren’t. It’s widely supposed that choice, competition and markets are the […]

Scrapping levels was great says Nick Gibb – but he forgets the impact on workload

Last week, members of the government’s ‘assessment without levels’ commission were announced. Much was made of the fact that Nick Gibb, the minister in charge of the group, had said it would be ‘teacher-led’. However, there are no full-time teachers on the panel. The Department for Education defended itself by pointing to the three current […]

Land sharing: it’s going to be difficult to resist

The DfE cannot compel academies to share their land, but changes to funding agreements will make it difficult to resist Amid concerns about the shortage of pupil places at primary schools in England, the Department for Education (DfE) has introduced new provisions into the model funding agreements of academy schools. These are designed to enable […]

Here’s what politicians REALLY think about education

If you ask politicians, of all parties, to tell you what they really think would improve education – what do they say? Education is something that affects all of us. We all go through school, 49% of young people go to university, and later on in life as parents we want to ensure that the […]

6 super-nerdy things you might have missed in the Policy Exchange free school report

Today’s Policy Exchange ‘research’ conveniently released a bunch of positive facts about free schools on the exact same day that David Cameron announced 49 new ones and committed to opening 500 more. Well, fancy that. There have been endless back and forths about the correctness of the report. People seem to see what they want […]

David Cameron has NOT built the most new schools in history

In a press release today, the Department for Education claims: “This move brings the total number of free school places created since 2010 to almost a quarter of a million, making this policy the most successful new schools programme in national history with schools being created more quickly than ever before.” Except…. There are now […]

Why aren’t teachers treated more like doctors?

After all, they both top any poll for the most trustworthy professions. Perhaps it’s because everyone knows how to teach . . . don’t they? Teachers and doctors are well-educated, hard-working public service professionals providing invaluable frontline services. Each year millions of pounds is invested in preparing tens of thousands new entrants to each profession, […]

Cybercrime: it could happen in a school near you

You must prepare for risk in the digital world. But don’t think that you must fight technology with technology; the education of staff and students is your most potent weapon against cyber criminals Schools have to deal with a huge number of risks, from fires and flooding to budget cuts and a squeeze on places. […]

Who is the right group to monitor schools?

Having increasingly ‘freed’ schools from local government, it seems they still need to be monitored. But who should do it, and how? It’s now clear that whatever form the next government takes, further expansion of the academies programme is likely to continue. Equally clear is that the frameworks within which these more autonomous schools operate […]