• Design and technology: 87 MPs demand inclusion of subject in EBacc

    Pupils should be able to choose between computer science and design and technology as part of the EBacc, almost 90 MPs have said in a letter to the government. Conservative MP Michelle Donelan has secured the support of 87 MPs for a change which would allow schools to offer GCSE design and technology as a…

    16.51 Jul. 26th, 2016 | News

  • Disadvantaged pupils benefit from swift EBacc changes, research finds

    Schools that swiftly overhauled their curriculum to meet the government’s English Baccalaureate (EBacc) when it was first introduced boosted results for their most disadvantaged pupils, a new report has found. The report, released today by the Sutton Trust and compiled by Education Datalab, compared a sample of 300 schools that vastly increased the proportion of…

    0.01 Jul. 20th, 2016 | News

  • EBacc: MPs prepare to debate petition on exclusion of arts subjects

    MPs will debate a decision to exclude expressive arts subjects from the English Baccalaureate (EBacc) this afternoon, after more than 100,000 people signed a petition calling for a change in the rules. The debate on the EBacc will take place in Parliament’s Westminster Hall from 4.30pm, and campaigners from groups supportive of the petition have already…

    15.04 Jul. 4th, 2016 | News

  • Why did some results dip last year? Ofqual reveals all...

    Last year, on GCSE results day, panicked phone calls came through to the Schools Week office. There were dips – big dips – in the results of schools with outstanding records and well-respected leaders. What was going on? Many callers said the exams regulator, Ofqual, must have moved the boundaries of English and maths GCSEs,…

    5.00 Apr. 22nd, 2016 | Opinion

  • EBacc and primary testing pushing arts out of the curriculum

    New findings from The National Society for Education in Art and Design (NSEAD) Survey Report 2015-16 published this week indicate that art, craft and design education in England has been significantly side-lined. The results from more than 1,100 NSEAD respondents are dismal, indicating a systemic marginalisation of the visual arts across all education sectors since…

    16.59 Feb. 11th, 2016 | Opinion

  • ‘The job that we love is being undermined’

    Government policy on curriculum, exam and assessment is crippling headteachers. The result? There will be no one left to do the job . . . We have 23 years of headship experience between us, all of them in communities that face challenging issues. We are both national leaders of education (for now!) and we both…

    7.00 Sep. 12th, 2015 | Opinion

  • Twenty-seven years on from the national curriculum

    Will the 2015 drive for curriculum entitlement succeed where 1988 and the national curriculum did not? We’ve been here before. A government re-elected; impatient to press on with education reform; concerned about the way schools respond to change; determined to implement radical curriculum and assessment change. This time it is the proposal that the EBacc…

    7.30 Jun. 19th, 2015 | Opinion