Opinion | Schools Week

Opinion

When did schools ban corporal punishment?

There is a division running rife through the Schools Week office and it’s not just which radio station we…

Laura McInerney

Opinion

Progress 8: beware confidence intervals!

Progress 8 scores offer a better way of looking at school performance than did the A*-C percentage GCSE pass…

Expert Contributor

Opinion

How should we define ‘disadvantaged’ pupils?

Separating pupils into those who qualify for free schools meals and those who don’t does little to highlight the…

Expert Contributor

Opinion

Tests for sale makes a mockery of selection

Where, exactly, is the line of “this has gone too far”? That’s a question teachers have to consider almost…

Laura McInerney

Opinion

‘Refuse, retract, resist’ school nationality data collection

Parents can choose not to be complicit in building border controls in our playgrounds – and so can schools,…

Expert Contributor

Opinion

Why we didn’t do the ‘disadvantage’ school league tables this year…

For the past two years Schools Week won love for publishing annual tables of schools getting great outcomes for…

Laura McInerney

Opinion

The long and the short of school uniforms

Last week a school in Kent gained national headlines for sending home girls whose skirts were deemed as too…

Laura McInerney

Opinion

Exclusive

Sixth-form colleges – not school sixth forms – are the route to social mobility

Education Datalab’s recent report on post-16 education has got it wrong, says James Kewin. It is a myth that…

James Kewin

Opinion

An autism diagnosis doesn’t mean other special needs are being missed

An autism diagnosis doesn’t mean other special needs are being missed – it’s just the first step in the…

Expert Contributor

Must Read

Labour’s first year

Six priorities for Bridget Phillipson’s second year at the helm

Labour has broadened the definition of success for schools. Here’s how it can now ensure everyone works towards this…

JL Dutaut

Liz Robinson

Letters to the editor

Letters to the editor, 5 September 2025

Schools Week’s legendary cartoonist hangs up his pen, perceptions of behaviour diverge, and a data disaster looms

JL Dutaut

Opinion: Accountability

How we’ll go further to ensure the consistency of our inspections

Roll-out of the new framework will be complemented by measures to ensure inspection outcomes are valid and reliable,

JL Dutaut

Rory Gribbell and Dr Verena Braehler

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

University clearing: How teachers can support students

All the important details school staff need to help youngsters through clearing this year

John Dickens

Sam Sykes

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

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