• Greening's first education questions: Green paper 'will help' SEN pupils, and four other things we learned

    The government’s new(ish) education team faced its first proper grilling in Parliament this afternoon during the first education questions since Justine Greening’s appointment. Buoyed by the new additions to its own team, Labour went on the attack over grammar schools and funding, while Greening and her ministerial colleagues were forced to defend some of their reforms against criticism from…

    16.59 Oct. 10th, 2016 | News

  • What works for children in the most privileged schools will not work for everyone

    While the media continues to focus on the grammar school debate and the issue of selection, I fear we are in danger of overlooking an equally, if not more important determinant in how education can act as a driver for social mobility and enable children of all abilities and backgrounds to thrive. There is a…

    0.01 Sep. 28th, 2016 | Opinion

  • UTC architect Lord Baker slams government over 'narrow' EBacc

    The architect of the University Technical College (UTC) model has launched a scathing attack on the government’s “narrow” English Baccalaureate (EBacc), slamming it as a “missed opportunity” to fulfil the prime minister’s vision for social mobility. Lord Kenneth Baker, former education secretary and founder of the Baker Dearing Educational Trust set up to promote the…

    0.01 Sep. 28th, 2016 | News

  • A-level results 2016: Figures suggest EBacc might not be driving drop in creative subjects

    A drop in pupils studying some creative subjects has been linked to the government’s EBacc accountability measure squeezing students out of the arts – but data analysis by Schools Week suggests this may not be the driving the drop. A-level figures released today have revealed “worrying” decreases in the number of pupils across the UK taking…

    13.32 Aug. 18th, 2016 | Exam results, News

  • 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