Schools
The triumph of Katharine Birbalsingh
There are two questions that need to be asked of any society: what is it that is going wrong; and…
Stop worrying if your child is a picky eater
One parent in our class WhatsApp chat raised a pressing concern: her daughter was coming home every day with a…
From ABC to AK-47: Russia’s new wartime curriculum
The Ukraine conflict has spread to Russia’s classrooms
The politics of exam results
August always means an anxious wait for results days, but this year pupils will be feeling particularly apprehensive. England’s exams…
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…
Why are my son’s teachers putting abstract principles before children’s education?
The teachers putting principles before children
How to bag the best spot in the supermarket car park
Our local Sainsbury’s, though admirable in every other way, has a slightly inflated estimate of the disabled population of Seven-oaks,…
The Roman roots of Tony Blair’s approach to education
Sir Tony Blair’s Tone-deaf suggestion that Stem subjects should dominate the curriculum of all schools would paradoxically take education back…
How to run a school
Taking a short break from persecuting Roman Catholic faith schools for ideological reasons, Ofsted has stuck the boot into the…
What’s on Ukraine’s new school syllabus
Ukrainian schools are starting to re-open, but will they be safe?
It’s time to repair the damage caused by lockdown grade inflation
When A-level results are published next week, we will find out if the government has made any progress in stemming…
Boris, Sherwood and the politics of the past
It feels like the end, but we’ve been here before. The past months of Boris Johnson’s teetering administration have felt…
The courage of Katharine Birbalsingh
Five years ago, I put my friend Nell Butler in touch with Katharine Birbalsingh, Britain’s most outspoken headmistress. I was…
What the new GCSE in global warming should teach
The new GCSE in global warming
What happened to Tory radicalism?
Whatever advantages money may have brought Rishi Sunak as he rose to become Chancellor of the Exchequer, his wealth has…
Masks in schools: how convincing is the government's evidence?
Why has the government changed its mind and asked children to wear masks in school? When Plan B was announced…
Virtue signalling is really status signalling
A £19,000-a-year London day school was in the news this week because it has started instructing its pupils about ‘white…
Letters: In defence of GPs
Out of practice Sir: GPs are not ‘hiding behind their telephones’ (Leading article, 4 September). In-person appointments are the core…
How ‘Xi Jinping Thought’ is taking over China’s classrooms
How ‘Xi Jinping Thought’ took over China’s classrooms
Will Knowland, Eton and the problem with the teaching misconduct panel
When Eton master Will Knowland was sacked last year over anti-feminist views contained in a YouTube video which he refused…
When will exams get back to normal?
It wouldn’t be credible to say that this year’s A-Levels grades are comparable with 2019’s: almost 45 per cent of entries…
Letters: Let the housing market collapse
Treading the boards Sir: As a teacher, I was sorry Lloyd Evans did not include school productions in his excellent…
It’s time to repair the damage done to the Covid generation’s education
Aswitch of personnel at the Department of Health this week has brought a welcome change in the government’s tone. No…
The curious parable of Dartington
I spent last weekend in south Devon at Dartington, the former estate of Dorothy and Leonard Elmhirst, and now a…
