Opinion | Schools Week

Opinion

Don’t ditch internal data in inspections

School leaders will surely welcome Ofsted’s stated intention to ‘dial down’ the influence that data has on inspection outcomes…

Expert Contributor

IAN HARTWRIGHT

Opinion

Secondary moderns can be really great schools too

“High scores” in school accountability measures does not always mean that grammars are better schools, says Ian Widdows The…

Expert Contributor

IAN WIDDOWS

Opinion

Improving the oral language skills of disadvantaged pupils

One barrier common to disadvantaged pupils across our trust is poor oral language and communication skills on entry. Aspirer…

Expert Contributor

JO ASHCROFT

Opinion

MPs are set to investigate teacher recruitment, training and retention issues in a new inquiry

These children need more than a system of escalating consequences

Ofsted’s new framework must recognise the enormous hurdles that some children have to overcome – and inspectors must make…

Expert Contributor

BECKY WHITE

Opinion

A plan to centralise school reserves and funding at REAch2 is to be paused for ACAS talks

No to cost-cutting, yes to optimisation

There is an important distinction between efficiency in the context of austerity and the optimisation of available resources, says…

Expert Contributor

STEPHEN MORALES

Opinion

For richer, for poorer – should MATs have a joint bank account?

What are the pros and cons of pooling funds across a multi academy trust? Mat Smith takes a look……

Expert Contributor

MAT SMITH

Opinion

Cognitive load theory: what does the research say?

As teachers we may have hunches about why pupils learn certain elements particularly effectively, but often it’s difficult to…

Expert Contributor

JESSICA MASON BLAKEY

Opinion

Children need to see more ethnically diverse school leaders

Few school leaders and senior managers are from non-white backgrounds. How long will education have to wait for that…

Expert Contributor

DAVID HERMITT

Opinion

The real ‘graduate schools’ for teachers already exist

Universities and their postgraduate courses for teachers tend to outlive the whims of ministers and secretaries of state, says…

Expert Contributor

RACHEL LOFTHOUSE

Must Read

Labour’s first year

We’ve laid the foundations. Now we build

Education secretary says her government’s work so far is just the beginning, and here’s what comes next …

JL Dutaut

Bridget Phillipson

Labour’s first year

Engaging trusts is key to the opportunity mission’s success

Ministers have shown they can listen to the sector. More of that will be necessary as the details of…

JL Dutaut

21h

Leora Cruddas

21h

Labour’s first year

SEND: Hope still prevails, but Labour must learn to listen

Treating the specialist and alternative sectors as afterthoughts means ministers have missed chances to progress towards a more inclusive…

JL Dutaut

Dr Nic Crossley

ITT

Degree apprenticeships are key to increasing and diversifying recruitment

Work to deliver the new qualification should continue at pace to meet recruitment challenges by making teaching more accessible,…

JL Dutaut

Melanie Renowden

ITT

ITT: Which is the odd one out?

The deeply flawed ITT reforms are a threat to sustainable teacher supply for purely ideological purposes, writes David Spendlove

JL Dutaut

David Spendlove

EXAMS

Exams

How sitting an exam re-affirmed my respect for our students

I still believe exams to be the best way of testing academic knowledge and understanding but they’re no bagatelle,…

JL Dutaut

James Handscombe

Exams

The number of penalties handed out to students caught cheating has risen for a second year

The stereotype that could be feeding exam anxiety

The ‘snowflake’ stereotype is damaging and unjustified, but a more pervasive idea may be perpetuating exam anxiety, says Stephen…

JL Dutaut

Stephen Caldwell

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