Joyless, inaccurate, inequitable?
I recently enjoyed the opportunities provided by some longer than average train journeys and the al fresco possibilities of a sunny garden to catch up on my reading. Indeed, I diligently increased my...
View ArticleTime for radical change: grammar testing in England’s primary schools
It has not been a good couple of weeks for testing in England’s primary schools. There have been leaks of both the KS1 and KS2 spelling, grammar and punctuation tests, leading to the KS1 test being...
View ArticleA bridge over troubled waters?
In a recent post on this blog, After primary, the ‘wasted years’?, Robin Alexander questioned some of the assumptions behind Ofsted’s recent tendency to compare secondary schools unfavourably with...
View ArticleMuch ado about drama
The words ‘new’ and ‘national’ in relation to the primary national curriculum are misnomers. Much is similar to my primary school education in the 1950s, when there was a relentless focus on passing...
View ArticleWe’re all global citizens now
Migrants are rarely out of the news – mostly with negative words attached: ‘threat’, ‘invaders’, ‘illegal’, ‘flood’, ‘swarm’, ‘crisis’, ‘chaos’ ‘influx’, ‘sham’, ‘terrorist’ ‘suspected’. This is...
View ArticlePolitics at its worst and best
The politics of fear versus the politics of hate. That is how the protagonists themselves have portrayed the EU referendum campaign, and they are right. As for the politics of truth, they’ve been all...
View ArticleTeaching: am I in or out?
In two previous blogs Sadie charted her progress through her PGCE year and into her first teaching post. Here she is again, one year on. What a year! I’m sure there are other people out there who’ve...
View ArticleThe power of the arts in primary schools
The arts are essential in life. They can shape and define who we are and how we understand ourselves and our possible selves. It is a travesty that in some quarters the arts in schools are...
View ArticleAcademies: statisticians need to raise their game
Two major reports on the effectiveness of the government’s central education policy – turning schools into academies, preferably in chains – have been published in the past two weeks. But do they get...
View ArticleTeacher training, supply and retention: trends, policies and challenges
There has been no shortage of worthy advice of late, from the great and the good to the National College for Teaching and Leadership (NCTL) and Department for Education (DfE), on the subject of teacher...
View ArticleRe-thinking professionalism in teaching
Professions have standards for entry, early career formation and on-going practice that are set by members and leaders of that profession rather than through legislation or government policy. These...
View ArticleReading for pleasure: just window dressing?
Since reading for pleasure was mandated in the national curriculum, its profile has risen exponentially. This is assuredly good news, and many schools are seeking ways to demonstrate their commitment...
View ArticleThe call of the wild
So at last what many of us have instinctively understood is backed by evidence from England’s largest outdoor learning project. The weight of evidence is compelling. A hefty 95 percent of children...
View ArticleThe times they are a-changin’
Several years ago, in a life before teaching, a colleague of mine, who had drunk thirstily at the wellspring of self-improvement books, declared herself to be ‘made positively kryptonite’ by the...
View ArticleFree schools and free markets
Why isn’t policy done better in this country? We have some of the world’s best-known and most prestigious universities, churning out hundreds if not thousands of social science graduates every year,...
View ArticleAssessment, testing and accountability: a suggestion for an alternative...
The data from the new 2016 tests for 11 year olds in England is gradually trickling out. We have been informed that 48 percent of the children did not reach the new expected standards in reading,...
View ArticleNorth and South
This blog takes us to two beautiful corners of the UK, one to the north and one in the far south. We begin with the south, on England’s largest and second most populous island, the Isle of Wight. As...
View ArticleAfter Trump, what next?
President Donald J. Trump! My mind reels, stomach churns and spirit despairs. I’m disoriented and confused, as are about half the country. I’ve only met one Trump supporter in the three months I’ve...
View ArticleEducation in spite of policy: reflections on the 2016 CPRT conference
‘It is sometimes an appropriate response to reality to go insane.’ So observed American science fiction writer Philip K Dick, way back in 1981. Dick, whose work inspired the cult movie Blade Runner,...
View ArticleEducation in spite of policy: further reflections on the 2016 CPRT conference
It encapsulated probably the defining contrast I have seen in nearly 20 years covering education: the under-rated commitment and thoughtfulness of much of the teaching profession versus the endless...
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