Skip to content
26 April 2026

Become a member today for unlimited access to Schools Week

Enjoy expert journalism on schools policy with fewer ads and exclusive benefits
subscribe

Opinion

The third member of a school’s holy trinity

School business managers are more than a finance manager or an admin officer. But exactly what their role is should be clarified as schools take on more responsibility The emphasis on performance and standards in the education sector is exacting; financial pressures are significant. In the future, both will continue to rise and accountability will […]

Rewarding luck is not a formula to beat disadvantage

The Pupil Premium Awards benefit schools that had a little more talent and a lot of luck Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman, when asked to report his ‘favourite equation’, offered the following: Success = talent + luck. Great success = a little more talent + a lot of luck. He illustrates this with an example from […]

Should the civil service be costing the opposition’s education policies?

What does a Labour voter from Morecambe, a Lib Dem voter from Truro and a Green voter from Brighton have in common? Yesterday they made a huge political contribution to the Conservatives. A line-up of Conservative Ministers yesterday published an extensive report, pulled together by officials from the Treasury, which attempted to cost Labour’s commitments […]

So many reforms but do they mean anything?

It’s the last week of term and all through the school everyone’s . . . absolutely exhausted. The year has been brutal. Not that it was a surprise. When Michael Gove finally was shown the door in July, some argued it was because he was too big for his boots and had become mean to […]

What are the implications of Tristram Hunt’s private school plans?

Tristram Hunt’s recent speech turned the spotlight on the benefits independent schools receive as a result of their charitable status. His focus was the business rate relief that all charities enjoy: a mandatory 80% reduction with discretion for the local authority to grant up to 100% relief. Mr Hunt asserted that independent schools did not […]

SBMs now have the chance to shape their professional development

I spent much of this year visiting school business management (SBM) professionals across the country; from rural locations in Cornwall, Northumbria and Cumbria to conurbations in London, Birmingham and Manchester. There are some common challenges but each region has its own peculiarities. Differences include geography, culture, urban density, scarcity, economic performance, demographics and the political […]

The year the government remembered its duty of care

The end of Michael Gove’s reign as education secretary was the major educational event of the year. Most teachers and school leaders welcomed the departure of this most ideological of politicians. His successor, Nicky Morgan, moved quickly to repair relations with teachers and launched the workload challenge. Just in time before an election, the government […]

Are we really ready for the new, ‘more rigorous’ Maths GCSE?

The principles underlying the changes to GCSE maths are sound. But the practicalities are less so. For a start, where will all the extra teachers come from? When Michael Gove announced last November that maths GCSE was going to get tougher, I doubt many of us realised just how tough. From September, it will almost […]

Can you leave school when you turn 16?

Businesses benefit in all sorts of ways when they take on a young apprentice. It’s now financially easier too — and they can start the day they turn 16. Some kids are just not academically minded, it doesn’t interest them and they would rather be getting their hands into something practical. The kid may be […]