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…
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’.…
The cost of educating children with special educational needs is putting enormous pressure on council budgets. And there is one condition that is receiving a great deal of attention at the moment – attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). It is defined here as ‘a neurodevelopmental difference (that is, a difference in the way the brain develops as…
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…