A letter recently sent by Schools Minister Georgia Gould to Ofqual confirmed that GCSE students will no longer have to memorise equations and formulae. It’s been the case since the lockdowns, but now we know the situation has more permanence. You might say, well what does it matter? We don’t memorise all sorts of things…
The share of children receiving SEND support has nearly doubled in a decade, with spending set to reach £21 billion by 2029, according to an IFS report. Some numbers from the report: One-in-twenty (5.2 per cent) pupils aged under 16 in England have an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP). This share has almost doubled…
… and here’s what should happen. When then Prime Minister Tony Blair declared that he wanted 50 per cent of school leavers to go to university I held my head in despair. It was argued that as graduates earned so much more money than non-graduates we ought to send more youngsters to university – then…
There’s an interesting debate unfolding on LinkedIn about demand for tutoring versus the number of tutors in the marketplace. From my perspective, this isn’t really about whether there are enough students or enough tutors. It’s about the quality of tuition being offered. There are good tutors and bad tutors. In my view, tutoring should be delivered by professional teachers unless…
For many years now reports and surveys have shone a light on the plight of white, working-class children in our schools. We know they perform more poorly than any other demographic and that the problem is generational. And we know that if children come out of school without qualifications and being unable to read and…