Opinion | Schools Week

Opinion

Virtual schools: beware ‘mission creep’

Guidance for virtual school heads was updated recently to expand their statutory duties to include previously looked-after children. Sally…

Expert Contributor

Opinion

Cheating at key stage 2 SATs: what does it mean for secondary schools?

What if the reason a secondary school had a poor progress rate was not due to its own teaching,…

Laura McInerney

Opinion

Educational disadvantage: how does England compare?

We know there’s work to do with the disadvantage gap in this country – but where do we stand…

Expert Contributor

Opinion

How to lead a successful multi-academy trust

There are lots of ways MATs can improve their schools, writes James Toop, but there’s one common factor needed…

Expert Contributor

Opinion

How schools and communities can work together more closely

Schools urgently need more funding, but they also need more scope to mould pupils into better-rounded members of society,…

Expert Contributor

Opinion

Grade predictions are unreliable – so why do we still use them?

Too many school leaders rely on having their teachers make predictions about pupils’ grades – but no-one’s any good…

Expert Contributor

Opinion

3 ways in which government needs to help school governors

School governance is a vital but oft-forgotten aspect of the school system. Here Mike Parker lays out what he…

Expert Contributor

Opinion

Fixing the madness of the teacher transfer window

Welcome to recruitment silly season! It is the time of year when everyone wanting to move schools has to…

Laura McInerney

Opinion

Schools are at the sharp end of rising child poverty

Schools are going to enormous lengths to ensure hard-up children don’t miss out, but funding cuts threaten the subsidies…

Freddie Whittaker

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

Leora Cruddas

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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