Former schools and education minister Nick Gibb has penned an article in the Telegraph in which he rightly points out the success of curriculum changes. He notes: “We have now had the results of the international PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) survey of the maths, reading and science attainment of 15-year-olds across 81 countries. It…
The standard of behaviour among children in Scotland’s schools is plummeting, a conference has been told. Delegates attending this year’s Scottish Secondary Teachers’ Association (SSTA) conference spoke in doom-laden terms about the nation’s education. We can agree that the educational system is under pressure in Scotland due to Covid lockdowns and the problems of ‘unmotivated students with…
The Government has issued a white paper setting out the future of education and I broadly welcome it, but there is one important omission. Nadhim Zahawi, the Education Secretary, launched the document with a list of highlights including a minimum school week of 32.5 hours by the start of the next school year. Other changes…
The 2016 changes to the Key Stage 2 SATs tests grading system have been a travesty. Just as the positive 2014 changes to the curriculum saw us rise up the PISA rankings, the 2016 changes to the SATs grading system could see us fall back down. Accurate information about how children are performing means that…
Australia and Scotland might be in different hemispheres but when it comes to education they are on the same plane. In 2010 both nations introduced new curriculums that were heavily influenced by progressive thinking. Oddly for school curriculums, ‘knowledge’ was downgraded as an ambition and was instead replaced by a more generic approach. There was…