The former MP Douglas Carswell – now CEO of the Mississippi Center for Public Policy in the US – has highlighted a crucial difference between the American and British education systems. He says: “As a parent, there is one striking difference that no one seems to talk about. It is so much easier in the…
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…
I was recently interviewed by the Daily telegraph about a story in which Lord Kenneth Baker – a former Education Secretary – said GCSEs ought to be abolished. As the person who introduced the exams this is quite a U-turn, something his Prime Minister at the time, Margaret Thatcher, was not keen on doing. Lord…
In response to a Telegraph article on the announcement by the Department for Education on this year’s exams (you can read the PDF of the article here), is that you can only have one or the other. It seems there is going to be a ‘free for all’. Slimmed-down but compulsory exams offer a way…
One effect of the pandemic not yet wholly appreciated is the way it has exposed the weakness in assessing children’s progress at primary school level. A dramatic shake-up of the SATs system around four years ago has left educators and parents unaware of exactly how children in this age range are faring. Before the changes,…