Author: stephencurran

Why go to school?

Why go to school?

Well over 100,000 children in England are being home-schooled. A year ago, the figure was put at 111,700 – an increase of more than 20 per cent on 2023. A decade ago, there were just 34,000 children being home-schooled across the whole of the UK. The increase has been dramatic. There are many reasons why…

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V for victory?

V for victory?

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson strikes again. Her latest wheeze is to introduce ‘V Levels’, which the government said will: “replace many existing qualifications, simplifying the current system and open up more high-quality routes for young people. “These reforms will make sure that whatever a student’s interests or strengths, whether academic, technical, or vocational, there’s a…

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Weighing up the evidence

Weighing up the evidence

Evidence. It is something that we teachers encourage our students to find and weigh-up before coming to a conclusion. In science, if the evidence does not back the theory, the theory is wrong. Pretty basic stuff, you’d imagine. But not for our Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson. She came into office with left-wing education theory, having…

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Is Bridget right?

Is Bridget right?

The Education Secretary, Bridget Phillipson, captured the headlines recently when she spoke about ‘white working-class children’. She warned that four-fifths of children from white working-class backgrounds were falling short in the English and maths skills required to get on in life. However, this headline-grabbing warning is slightly misleading because she is referring only to white…

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