-
Latest Blog Posts
- 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
- Too early to reopen schools : look at Europe April 30, 2020
- Ofsted : unreliable, destructive, beyond repair December 5, 2019
Follow us on Twitter
My TweetsTags
- academies
- accountability pressures
- apprenticeships
- assessment alternatives
- baseline tests
- British values
- buildings
- childhood
- Children's Zones
- class size
- College of Teaching
- community
- comprehensive schools
- coronavirus
- creativity
- culture
- Curriculum
- disadvantage
- early education
- Education Reform Act
- English
- extremism
- feedback
- formative assessment
- free schools
- GCSE
- governors
- grammar
- grammar schools
- history
- inclusion
- inspection
- IQ
- Islamophobia
- language
- literacy
- local authority
- local democracy
- mental health
- migration
- Muslims
- National Curriculum
- nurseries
- Ofsted
- phonics
- phonics check
- PISA
- politicians
- poverty
- Prevent
- privatisation
- profit
- racism
- school closures
- school finance
- secondary moderns
- self-evaluation
- Shanghai
- signatories
- South Korea
- special educational needs
- spoken language
- streaming and setting
- stress
- Sure Start
- talk
- teacher education
- terac
- testing
- trust
- universities
- Vocational education
- welfare
- workload
- youth unemployment
Categories
-
-
Tag Archives: Ofsted
Grim up north?
In his final report as Ofsted’s chief inspector, Michael Wilshaw chose to launch again into a polemic about the poor quality of schools in the North of England. The data he used needs more serious analysis. In recent months, Wilshaw has … Continue reading
Posted in Accountability, Uncategorized
Tagged accountability pressures, disadvantage, inspection, Ofsted, PISA, poverty, youth unemployment
Leave a comment
Primary arts are in trouble
by Professor Pat Thomson, University of Nottingham The national curriculum guidelines affirm the value of cultural education for all children. The arts – including art and design, music, dance, drama and media arts, design and technology – are an integral … Continue reading
Remove the figurehead… and change direction
The NUT has called for the resignation of Nicky Morgan as Secretary of State for Education. We expect that other organisations of teachers and parents will soon follow. Morgan’s position is now untenable. She was appointed to calm the storms … Continue reading
Phonics fanatics: politicians who think they know best
This post concludes our series on phonics by asking what has been gained by politicians imposing their will on teachers. It draws on research by Professor Dominic Wyse (UCL IoE) among others, as well as official data. The issue is … Continue reading
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
Leave a comment
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
Leave a comment
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
A few anomalies? No, baseline is flawed from start to finish
In the pilot year of baseline assessment, the most popular provider Early Excellence has already had to apologise to its 12,000 schools for faulty scores resulting from “a few anomalies” (see Schools Week). Even this apology is economical with the … Continue reading
Posted in Accountability
Tagged accountability pressures, baseline tests, early education, Ofsted
Leave a comment
Blame poverty, not schools part 2
In part 1, we brought together statistics that showed how seriously poverty impacts on attainment. Government ministers are constantly trying to divert us from this fact by pointing to variations between schools. While there are some differences, they are often … Continue reading
Posted in Social Justice, Uncategorized
Tagged accountability pressures, disadvantage, Ofsted, politicians, poverty
Leave a comment
Low-level apprenticeships reflect Britain’s ‘coffee shop’ economy
by Martin Allen Ofsted’s hard hitting report on the quality of apprenticeship provision Apprenticeships: developing skills for future prosperity confirms what is increasingly becoming apparent. Large numbers of apprenticeships are poor quality, involve little real training and merely certify ‘existing … Continue reading
Posted in Social Justice
Tagged apprenticeships, disadvantage, inspection, Ofsted, politicians, Vocational education, youth unemployment
Leave a comment
Reclaiming Schools 