Author: stephencurran

I agree with Burnham!

I agree with Burnham!

Phillipson was awful. Powell promises to be even worse. I could weep for our schoolchildren with such hapless Education Secretaries. They don’t want rigour, they think exams are too hard, and they are overseeing the closure of many schools following the cruel Labour policy of taxing education. Empirical evidence shows that children do worse under…

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The New Education Secretary will be a disaster

The New Education Secretary will be a disaster

I recently wrote that the relief I felt after Bridget Phillipson was sacked as Education Secretary might be short-lived with the appointment of Lucy Powell as her replacement. I was right. The first few utterances of the new Minister have brought home my worst nightmares. She has claimed the spelling test for primary school leavers…

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A message for the new Education Secretary

A message for the new Education Secretary

I expressed serious criticisms about Bridgette Phillipson, the recently-sacked Education Secretary, so it was a relief when she lost the brief. But my relief might be short-lived because her replacement, Lucy Powell, could be even worse. Astonishingly, in an interview in 2019, she described the idea of spelling tests for primary school children as ‘draconian’.…

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Let’s learn from America

Let’s learn from America

The former MP Douglas Carswell – now CEO of the Mississippi Center for Public Policy in the US – has highlighted a crucial difference between the American and British education systems. He says: “As a parent, there is one striking difference that no one seems to talk about. It is so much easier in the…

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A countdown to disaster?

A countdown to disaster?

A survey carried out for The Richmond Project has revealed that many young people have a poor understanding of basic financial concepts, such as inflation and compound interest. The survey of 10,000 people revealed that younger generations have a worse grasp of their finances than their parents. The Richmond Project, a charity set up by…

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