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- What curriculum do young people need? July 23, 2020
- School reopening? top scientists say not yet May 25, 2020
- Sending England back to work and back to school? May 11, 2020
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- Ofsted : unreliable, destructive, beyond repair December 5, 2019
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Tag Archives: academies
Academies: autonomy or asset stripping?
One of the main reasons Nicky Morgan gives for closing local authorities and turning all schools into academies is ‘autonomy’. To quote her recent statement to Parliament: “Test scores are higher when schools manage their budgets and recruit and select … Continue reading
Posted in Governance, Uncategorized
Tagged academies, free schools, local authority, local democracy, politicians, privatisation
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Comment: A budget of dispossession
It’s time we stopped talking about ‘Austerity’. What we are really living through is a ruthless process of dispossession. Behind the pretence of ‘balancing the books’ (endlessly deferred), Osborne’s real project is to boost the wealth of the hyper-rich. Public services have been … Continue reading
Posted in Governance
Tagged academies, governors, local authority, local democracy, politicians, privatisation
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Chief Inspector condemns academy chain disaster
Today’s letter from Chief Inspector Michael Wilshaw to Nicky Morgan is a damning condemnation of the Government’s plan to turn all schools into academies. “Given the government’s clear intention to move to a fully academised system and, in the Prime … Continue reading
Posted in Governance
Tagged academies, disadvantage, governors, local authority, local democracy, Ofsted, politicians, poverty
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Robin Alexander on Ofsted’s new boss
Michael Wilshaw too progressive? Whatever next! A few days ago news appeared that the Chief Inspector is so out of favour with the Government that they are not renewing his contract. This is not entirely surprising given his opposition to more grammar schools, … Continue reading
Posted in Accountability, Governance
Tagged academies, accountability pressures, inspection, Ofsted, politicians
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Bullying by numbers – its roots in neoliberalism
by Terry Wrigley, Visiting Professor, Northumbria University There is relentless pressure to raise standards – or rather scores – and it’s driving thousands of teachers to quit. The insatiable demands amount to bullying – bullying by numbers, reinforced by a … Continue reading
What business do universities have in academy schools?
by Nadia Edmond, University of Brighton first published in The Conversation (4 Jan 2016) There has been a transformation in English education in the last decade – the academies programme has brought private trusts and corporate sponsors into the schools system. … Continue reading
Posted in Governance
Tagged academies, free schools, local authority, privatisation, universities
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A future going backwards (part 2)
by Professor Sally Tomlinson, University of Oxford What a complex and fragmented collection of schools existed in 19th Century England. Voluntary philanthropic initiatives, struggles between the Anglican church and Dissenters, middle class reformers, business interests, and public schools for the … Continue reading
Posted in Governance, Uncategorized
Tagged academies, comprehensive schools, history, local authority
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How lay governors make better schools
Nigel Gann offers a more democratic vision of school governance. The second edition of his book Improving School Governance: How better governors make better schools has just been published. School management is often about measurable things – getting the data … Continue reading
A future going backwards (part 1)
by Professor Sally Tomlinson, University of Oxford So here we are in the 21st century seeing an education system being shaped on 19th century patterns rather than a system for the future. In those days, a combination of religious and … Continue reading
Posted in Social Justice
Tagged academies, comprehensive schools, history, IQ, politicians, privatisation, Vocational education
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Children deserve more than slums in the sky
by Terry Wrigley School provision now in England is built on the dreams of Conservative thinkers of the 1970s and 1980s, but the dream is fast becoming a nightmare. Neoliberal ideologists in the Conservative Party thought they could dispense with … Continue reading
Reclaiming Schools 