Turning the pages on a decade of school reform

Schools Week launched in September 2014. In hindsight, it feels like a significant moment in the past government’s policy agenda.

Nicky Morgan had not long replaced the divisive Michael Gove, with the instruction to get people “focusing on the reforms” and not “picking battles”.

In the same month as our launch, eight regional school commissioners were ushered in to help ministers manage the explosive growth in school academies.

So while 2010 to 2014 was Gove ripping things up, the decade after has been one of implementation – working out how all these changes fit into the system.

And we’ve had a front-row seat in chronicling, and sometimes shaping, that journey along the way. Our job hasn’t just been to catalogue all of this, but to help our readers make sense of it and keep moving forward.

With that spirit in mind, we wanted to take a deep dive into the 10 biggest reforms of the past decade to mark our anniversary.
Whether you think these reforms were successful or not, it has been a period of huge change – and one full of lessons.

What worked, and why? What failed, and how should we progress now?

Whether the new Labour government decides to stick or twist with many of the changes, there is a heap of lessons it can learn.

Over the summer of 2024 we spoke to more than 75 people involved in formulating and implementing those policies – including politicians, advisers, sector leaders, civil servants and teachers.

Alongside expert Loic Menzies, we’ve looked at how policies were developed, where they’ve ended up, what the real sticky issues are – and what comes next.

The supplement will provide fresh insight, but crucially offer lessons to inform the policy-making of the next 10 years.

As the saying goes, those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it. And these lessons have never been more important.

Our anniversary comes at another pivot point for education policy. A new Labour government has not just boosted morale in the sector, it has also reignited the reform agenda.
Reforms in areas such as Ofsted, the curriculum and teacher training are all being worked on right now. We hope our supplement helps.

John Dickens, Editor