If throwing money at things always made them better then the world would be a very easy place to run. But sadly, life isn’t that simple and just increasing the education budget will not result in us suddenly climbing up the international performance league tables. Yet the Labour Party manifesto seems to think that is…
Theresa May’s shock announcement to hold an early General Election had barely registered before all political pundits pronounced it a Brexit Mark II referendum. And I for one will be deeply dismayed if the well-worn argument over Brexit dominates the election debate when there are so many other pressing domestic issues, not least in education.…
I am deeply disappointed that the government looks to have caved into parent and teacher pressure, with SATs for seven-year-olds set to be scrapped. This is the latest example of successive governments losing their nerve on testing. First SATs for 14 year-olds were shelved, and now the government is planning to scrap those for seven-year-olds,…
The tale of two countries whose names both beginning with ‘S’ demonstrates perfectly how progressive education does not automatically equal success. One of these countries is within our very own United Kingdom while the other is on the other side of the world. Both have similar-sized populations of around 5 million but there is a…
The current ‘one-size fits all’ education system has failed generations of bright working-class children, so yesterday’s budget, although not going far enough, signals a change for the better. We need to make pathways for academically bright children from poorer working-class backgrounds to succeed, just like their forbears. (Read my thoughts here http://stephencurran.co.uk/raise-aspiration-end-social-injustice/) The allocation of…