Replacing comparable outcomes with pupil passports

Whatever your view about how December’s general election turned out, there is little doubt that it provides an extraordinary opportunity for a government with a thumping majority to do something that could move the education system in England from good to world class. The question is: what?

Or, put another way, if you were secretary of state for education, what would you do? What would be the big idea you would deploy?

Let’s just pause at that point. Because in education it can feel as if we have lost the art of big ideas, at least in England. Back in 2010, a huge volley of changes was unleashed in a single White Paper – The Importance of Teaching. It was from this document that a raft of reforms ensued – academisation, changes in teachers’ conditions of service, the end of the specialist school movement, plus a major overhaul of curriculum and qualifications.