In her annual report the HMCI has suggested that one of the current problems with the education system is the lack of MATs with the capacity to take on schools in need of support. The report says:- “The current halfway house whereby all inadequate schools become academies and require a sponsor, but where there is… Read More The revolution is not being sponsored
After the 2015 election I published this post setting out the education policies contained in the 2015 Conservative Party Manifesto. I feel justified in publishing early this year as the result is pretty much a foregone conclusion. These are the education policies were are going to get. In the 2015 manifesto there were, conveniently for… Read More Meet the new boss
Today the DfE has proposed a new method of identifying what it calls “Ordinary Working Families”. The reason for this, according to the DfE is to ensure that children in those “just about managing” families are properly served by the education system. The reality of course, as exposed by the interviews Justine Greening has been… Read More Voodoo Statistics
Committed readers of this blog (and reading some of the comments many of you should be) will have noticed that I am invariably critical of government decision making, particularly that of the Department for Education. Well, hopefully this post will put to rest that my views are in any way based purely on ideology and… Read More Jam tomorrow
There are teacher shortages in various subject areas. Maths, Physics, Computing to name but three. There are less people applying to enter teacher training this year than last and fewer in training this year. 5,000 or 12% down depending on your source of favoured method of describing shortages. Some areas of the economy are experiencing growth,… Read More A Perfect Storm
Always good to start off a new parliament with a checklist. Here are the 39 38 things related to education that you will find in the Conservative Manifesto. They have promised to enact the entire manifesto, so probably best to get familiar with those that affect you. Here we go…. We will expect every 11-year-old to… Read More The 39 Steps
It seem that’s its kind of de rigueur to have your own education manifesto these days. Sadly, many that I read are so lacking in specificity that literally anything could be done in their name and at the end of the period in question the authors could claim a successful implementation in full. You know the… Read More Three things
A lot has been written about trust recently. How a lack of trust in teachers is holding back education. Or how we should have a trust based inspection process. Or we should trust teachers with the curriculum. I have my doubts. Like other parents, every day I trust teachers and schools with my children. I… Read More Trust, but verify…
The concept of National Curriculum Levels has been with us for nearly 30 years, borne out of the 1987 Task Group on Assessment and Testing (TGAT) chaired by Paul Black. I mention this not with any intention of persuading anyone of their merits but simply to place them in time. And in school terms the time… Read More Assessment: Throw away the pen and paper
We need more school places. That’s a simple fact. These places will come from either the expansion of existing schools, or by the building of new schools. That’s a statement of the bleeding obvious. If money is tight then expansion should only occur in areas where there is need for more school places. That’s fiscal common… Read More Everything else is politics
Distant Ramblings on the Horizon 