Growing up in a working-class household in Kent I could never have envisaged that one day I’d be advising ministers on the education of our children. My mother was a cleaner who left school at 12 and my father was a railway guard. Neither were educated but both encouraged me to do the very best…
The government has recently announced a raft of measures to improve our country’s industry – with education playing a key role in this. I have long argued that what we need is as varied an education system as possible so our children’s individual talents are best harnessed. As well as raising the academic standards for…
If relinquishing the ban on new grammar schools is going to have a real chance of increasing social mobility it’s crucial that more deprived areas are targeted first. I have often argued that parents need a choice of all education offerings in whichever town they live. Currently, there are far too many parents with no…
When I was asked to advise the government three years ago on the new maths curriculum I was hoping for a return to more traditional teaching methods – and to a time when we used to lead the world rather than lag behind everyone else. In fact, our brief was to emulate the world’s most…
This week I was invited to be an audience member for a BBC Radio Kent debate on grammar schools. They had a very diverse panel, from a headteacher of an Academy vehemently opposed to grammar schools to journalist and author Peter Hitchens, a passionate advocate for the return of grammar schools. You can view the debate…