Education
Must try harder, Education Secretary
The headmaster of one of the best comprehensives in the country was once asked the following question by Tony Blair:…
Decline and fall: how university education became infantilised
Last month, after 21 years study-ing and teaching Classics at the University of Cambridge, I resigned. I loved my job.…
Why French students want English uniforms
Béziers, France The École Mairan in Béziers in southern France is a happy neighbourhood elementary school housed in a superb…
The ancients knew the value of practical education
The welfare state was designed to serve everyone’s needs. But those needs were defined by the state. So schools teach…
Letters: A cautionary lesson for England’s schools
Lessons to learn Sir: Your leading article ‘Requires improvement’ (7 September) rightly raised concerns that a curriculum review in England…
The real crisis in our school system
For years, each school in England has been put in one of four categories: ‘outstanding’, ‘good’, ‘requires improvement’ and ‘inadequate’.…
The culture wars are far from over
It’s only been a month since the new Culture Secretary, Lisa Nandy, declared that the ‘era of culture wars is…
Labour’s outrageous attack on academic free speech
In an extraordinary outburst, a government source has described the new Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act, introduced by the…
Should Labour be messing with the school curriculum?
Labour’s new education secretary wishes, as usual, to change everything. She might consider the advice of the Roman educationist Quintilian…
The cult of Bedales
Another of my ageing Bedales school cohort has died and so there’s an ad hoc reunion in his honour at…
The mystery of teaching composition
Summer study courses for young composers have been popular for a few generations. After the second world war, up-and-coming experimental…
The intersectional feminist rewriting the national curriculum
The appointment of Becky Francis CBE to lead the Department for Education’s shake-up of the national curriculum is typical of…
The craft renaissance
As long ago as the 1960s, the poet Edward James was worried that traditional crafts were dying out. Having frittered…
Labour’s plans to rewrite the National Curriculum
Michael Gove’s decision to stand down in this election was a reminder that the one really bright spot in the…
We have lost an unforgettable teacher and one of the greatest living critics
Tanner, the critic RICHARD BRATBY Michael Tanner (1935-2024), who died earlier this month, had such a vital mind and stood…
The great sociology con
My default mood at the moment is bleak despair, although it can sometimes be triggered into nihilistic loathing, which I…
Britain’s schools are facing an epidemic of bad behaviour
Something troubling is happening in Britain’s schools. This week, the government released its findings from the first national survey into pupil behaviour in…
Wild life
Laikipia The principal of the local polytechnic was waiting for me in the kitchen. Frequently in the kitchen there is…
Academic arguments
The teachers putting principles before children
University challenge
Our country still excels when it comes to higher education. Britain has seven of the world’s top 50 universities. In…
British universities are beyond redemption
There’s no doubt that the government has the best of intentions when it comes to clearing up the Augean stables…
Why are our universities still cosy with China?
It sounds like something from a spy novel: scientists linked to the Chinese military complex working at UK universities on…
Who’s pursuing a vendetta?
Lord help me I love a hatchet job, and you’ll have to too if you want to make it through…
Learning on the job
Sir Tony Blair’s Tone-deaf suggestion that Stem subjects should dominate the curriculum of all schools would paradoxically take education back…
