education policy | Schools Week

From the frontline: thoughts on the school-led system

Former executive principal Ros McMullen sets out her vision of what a school-led system now needs. In the first of a two-part series, she says it is time to think about how to join the social policy agenda with the education reform agenda, and to unleash the best school leaders to operate as community leaders […]

People in education are not saints: we need to have difficult conversations about money

Conversations about money in education are difficult, tinged as they often are with a sense that real teachers are “here for the children” rather than their wallets. But such conversations need to happen. People working in schools aren’t saints. They are professionals swapping time for cash. It’s perfectly possible to care deeply and want to […]

National funding formula: We might benefit from the change but the government needs to be bolder

Southend High School for Boys is one of many schools that gets a “raw deal” under the current funding methodology. We welcome the long-awaited consultation. The Department for Education (DfE) proposals are broadly in line with what we expected, and in some cases feared! Of course, it is hard to assess the practical impact of […]

National funding formula: ‘The debate should be a marathon not a sprint’

The publication of the national funding formula consultation yesterday has fired the starting pistol on the race to create a funding framework that is fit for purpose. There is a palpable sense of relief that we are finally underway. After all, we have been waiting, lobbying and training for this debate for years. The argument […]

Transparency is needed from schools commissioners, not marketing

Six months ago I sat in a room in Oxfordshire full of top school leaders – mostly chiefs of multi-academy trusts – and chaired a discussion where they could ask education policy experts questions. To my surprise, the most popular questions were about regional schools commissioners (RSCs). What were they for? How much of a […]

Randomly allocating places in over-subscribed schools is the fairest option

As parents find out if their child will go to their preferred secondary school, Alastair Thomson considers what governors can do to stop lengthy appeals. Each year schools get a hard lesson about how they are perceived when parents express preferences for where their daughter or son should be educated. Eight years ago I was […]

Primary assessments a mess? Unions should propose a radical alternative

The schools sector is up in arms about primary assessments – both baseline and the standardised tests. I deliberately use the word “sector”. Teachers, school leaders, parents, unions, assessment providers: everyone is furious. One way to deal with late information and daft processes is a boycott. Get teachers to refuse to carry out the tests. […]

Key Stage 1 changes take writing back to the 19th Century

I attended a briefing by the Standards and Testing Agency (STA) on February 5 for local authority leaders of statutory moderation of writing (key stages 1 and 2). This briefing revealed to us for the first time some of the specific requirements of the writing that, in a few months’ time, we will be examining […]