There’s an obvious reason pre-school children are falling behind
Something is rotten in the state of British schools. According to primary school teachers, one in four Reception students are…
Fixing free childcare would be an easy win for Labour
Parents of young children should be happy: since September 2024, those with an income of less than £100,000 a year…
Strict schools are sapping the joy out of learning
When it comes to behaviour policies, schools have fallen into two extremes. Across the border in Scotland, schools practise ‘restorative…
The problem with ‘diversifying’ the curriculum
As an English teacher, one of my favourite poems to teach, to pupils of almost all ages, is Chinua Achebe’s…
Labour’s axing of Latin lessons is an act of cultural vandalism
The Labour government seems determined to undermine excellence in schools. The Department for Education has announced that from February it…
The hypocrisy of Labour’s plan to solve youth unemployment
The government has today announced a £45 million work drive, with proposed changes to the welfare and out-of-work support systems,…
Labour’s exam reforms make some sense
In an address to 1,500 school and academy trust leaders, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson last week asked schools to stop…
Labour’s term-time holiday crackdown won’t work
In the bestselling book Freakonomics, the authors Stephen J. Dubner and Steven Levitt outline an experiment which involved fining parents…
The problem with compulsory GCSE resits
This morning, students up and down across the country will anxiously open up their GCSE results, with local papers publishing…
Male violence does not take place in a vacuum
There have been lots of reasons to be optimistic this summer: the glorious spectacle of the Olympics; the (relatively) good…
Can we really teach children to spot fake news?
As part of the ongoing review into the primary and secondary school curriculum, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson has announced that…
Labour’s private school VAT raid will stunt social mobility
Following the announcement of Rachel Reeves’ spending cuts on Monday, the Treasury confirmed that VAT will be applied to private…
There’s a reason Eton is cracking down on smartphones
Eton College has just announced that it will ban new pupils from bringing smartphones to school from September, and will give them…
The truth about the ‘ban’ on sex education
Increasingly, it feels like the Tories want to distract from their looming defeat by doing everything they can to keep…
We know smartphones are harming girls – so why don’t we act?
This week a report by the Policy Exchange think tank found that children at secondary schools with a full phone ban in…
Britain is being too slow to ban smartphones
A few years ago, calling for a ban on smartphones for under-16s would have seemed alarmist – a minority viewpoint…
Why shortening the school summer holidays helps no one
A new report, funded by the Nuffield Foundation, has recommended that the six-week school summer holiday should be reduced to four weeks,…
Why banning phones in schools won’t work
Breaking news: schools have finally been given guidance on stopping kids from using mobile phones during the school day, three years after…
Can we blame universities for cashing in on foreign students?
As an English teacher and sixth form tutor, I spend a lot of my time at the moment celebrating and…
Parents should share blame for plummeting school attendance
Is school optional nowadays? Last year, 140,000 children were classed as ‘severely absent’ from the classroom, a rise of 134…
Teenage teachers won’t fix Britain’s classroom troubles
Teaching in the UK is in trouble. Less than half the number of secondary school teachers required this year, a…
In defence of Ofsted
When it comes to Ofsted, people often like to trot out the old adage that ‘you don’t grow a pig…
The Tory crackdown addiction
If there’s one thing this government is addicted to, it’s crackdowns. Rishi Sunak loves to talk tough on how he…
Rishi Sunak’s exam shake-up doesn’t add up
After 13 years in power, the Conservatives have decided to rebrand themselves as the ‘party of change’. Today, Rishi Sunak…
Starmer’s private school tax is a terrible, vote-losing idea
Today Labour have confirmed that they will impose VAT on private schools in its first year of power if it…
