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22 April 2026

Tag: education policy

Forget opening more grammars, get PRIVATE schools to open up instead

There are more imaginative ways to improve social mobility than opening more grammar schools, explains former political advisor Adam McNicholas I’m 30. In the not too distant future, I might have kids. Friends of mine are starting. Soon, when we get together, discussions will shift from plans for weekends away to plans for dealing with […]

Education committee chair joins growing opposition to May’s grammar schools plan

Education select committee chair Neil Carmichael has joined the growing ranks of politicians, policy experts and academics opposing Theresa May’s reported plan to lift the ban on grammar schools. The backlash against the proposal, revealed by the Sunday Telegraph over the weekend, has been fierce, and has crossed party political and ideological lines. There is […]

Free school bid changes pave way for more studio schools – despite spate of closures

New rules governing the opening of free schools could pave the way for more studio schools, it has been claimed, despite question marks over their viability after scores of failed projects had to close. The new guidelines for would-be sponsors of free schools have already prompted fears that it could spark a “free-for-all” as the government […]

MP relaunches compulsory PSHE bid as police boss calls for education to tackle child abuse

A new bid to force the government to make personal, social and health education (PSHE) compulsory in schools has been launched amid claims by a senior police commissioner that sex education is the only way to tackle child abuse. Caroline Lucas (pictured), the Green Party MP for Brighton Pavilion, has re-tabled her PSHE bill, which demands formal lessons on […]

Teacher top-ups: a solution to under-performance in Northern schools?

Ofsted’s annual report for 2014/15 highlighted an educational gap, not only between primary and secondary, but also between the north and south of England. Duncan Sim offers some concrete proposals to address the discrepancies in both funding and attainment. The north-south divide starts young. This is, at any rate, what the statistics about the relative performance of secondary […]

Isolation of pupils with lunch debt ‘inappropriate’ but ‘rare’ say school leaders

A London free school’s controversial policy of isolating pupils whose parents or guardians fail to pay their lunch bills has been branded “inappropriate” but “fairly rare” by education leaders, who described the “frustrating” dilemma headteacers face with parents who don’t fulfil their responsibilities. Michaela Community School, in Wembley, has been criticised over a letter sent to parents who owed […]

Nick Gibb is wrong about modern foreign languages

Boosting foreign language GCSE entries is not the way to improve our country’s language skills – but there is a better way, insists David Harbourne The Schools Minister, Nick Gibb, wants 90% of 16-year-olds to take a foreign language GCSE. In a recent House of Commons debate on the EBacc, he said this is necessary […]

What to make of ‘British values’ in the aftermath of Brexit?

More than 37 headteachers and representatives of professional associations have signed an open letter to Justine Greening calling for a renewed commitment to the teaching of PSHE, Citizenship and Religion in post-Brexit Britain. The letter to the Secretary of State for Education, dated Wednesday 27th July, points out that values education such as PSHE, Citizenship and Religion […]