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…
Press Release: An education expert and former government adviser has warned of a possible ‘digital divide’ developing in schools if exams become entirely computer based. Dr Stephen Curran was reacting to an exam board’s decision to phase out the traditional exam paper. It could lead to all papers being taken in front of a keyboard…
One of the few successes of the last Conservative administration was in education. We rose up the international PISA rankings because of the introduction of a new curriculum and a return to more proven, traditional methods. Now Labour is in power it is already planning to undo this success. To sum up, it wants all…
Whoever wins the General Election will have a huge inbox. There will be decisions to make on all manner of things including health, defence and the economy. There is one thing, however, that they shouldn’t tinker with too much – at least in England. That is education. Since the new national curriculum was introduced in…
An education expert and former government adviser has blasted a video that has been shown to primary school children. The short, animated CGI 3D film made available by ‘teachers resource’ company The Literacy Shed depicts a frightening, post-apocalyptic world with violent scenes. Dr Stephen Curran said the 8min 30sec film called ‘Ruin’ was inappropriate for…