Diary of a headteacher: A funny day for an anniversary 7 May 2019 Intent on celebrating her school's one-year MAT anniversary, our headteacher diarist sends an all-school email – sparking rumours of Ofsted inspection...
Picture perfect? Rejecting fake perfection 30 April 2019 Social media and in particular Instagram has led to an obsession with perfection that Karen Sullivan fears is damaging our young people. She looks at how we might tackle this in the classroom
The ESFA's conflicting duties raise important questions 4 April 2019 Delivering government policy while also regulating the academies system, the Education Skills and Funding Agency faces an impossible conflict of interests, says Jon Richards
Gangs: A national emergency 3 April 2019 A vital safety net is lost when a child is excluded or off-rolled – and the likelihood of their involvement in gangs and knife crime increases, says Anne Longfield
The stress of the exams system 3 April 2019 The summer term places huge stress on exam officers with serious consequences – for them, for the students sitting exams, and for the system as a whole, says Andrew Harland
RSE: We have come a long way 3 April 2019 There are still challenges ahead, but the RSE and health education guidance is a step in the right direction to helping children grow up healthier and happier, says Anna Feuchtwang
Diary of a headteacher: Where are all the female leaders? 3 April 2019 When our headteacher diarist is presumed to be a primary leader because she is a woman, she reflects on why secondary school leadership is still failing to close the gender gap... 5 comments
Diary of a headteacher: Getting your hands dirty 3 April 2019 With plenty of plans for his schools, our headteacher diarist is frustrated when circumstances force him to take on more teaching duties than he'd like
At the chalkface: Why can’t we all have some? 3 April 2019 They should have been scrapped in 1945. The Labour government had the chance, but bottled it. They couldn’t take on the English ruling class. No-one can
Diary of an NQT: Thinking about key stage 3 3 April 2019 Away from the pressure of examinations, teaching key stage 3 is liberating and allows our NQT diarist to push the boundaries of her teaching
Support staff are in crisis 20 March 2019 Support staff are the glue that holds a school together and yet are facing over-work, under-pay and redundancies as government funding cuts bite, says Dr Mary Bousted
At the chalkface: Certainties are toxic 20 March 2019 At first I took them on. Have you even read it? Why should we do what God says? When is obedience a good idea? Certainties are toxic. Complexities aren’t. We need doubt, we need humour. You burn books and you will end up burning people.
Progress 8: Is it time to tinker? 13 March 2019 There has been some debate about the inherent unfairness of Progress 8 towards schools with higher proportions of disadvantaged and SEN pupils. Dr Lesley Duff looks at the evidence... 1 comment
There are many ways to build character 13 March 2019 In proposing his Five Foundations for Building Character, the education secretary has set out his definition of character and resilience – but young people build these traits in many others ways that deserve recognition too, says Deborah Lawson
At the chalkface: Talking proper 13 March 2019 For girls it was marginally worse. Those with pushy parents went to something called a Lucy Clayton Finishing School. There they got finished. They practised enunciating “how now brown cow” with a telephone directory on their heads...
Diary of a headteacher: On the shoulders of giants 13 March 2019 When you start the headship journey, the most important thing you can do is have someone at your side to guide you through those early days… 1 comment
Diary of an NQT: The countdown to GCSEs 13 March 2019 With exams on the horizon, the pressure to run extra sessions and interventions is mounting, but our NQT diarist is making sure to protect her work/life balance
Why are teachers quitting? 6 March 2019 Workload has been identified as a key factor behind the retention crisis and why so many teachers choose to quit. But Dr Valerie Butcher asks whether it is also down to the type of work we’re asking teachers to do? 1 comment
When priorities clash... 6 March 2019 Recent events show that sometimes what parents, children and schools want doesn’t always match up, a fact that presents a particular challenge for school leaders, according to Sarah Hannafin
Diary of an NQT: Back from the school trip 6 March 2019 Exhausted and facing a pile of marking to catch up on, our NQT diarist is back from her first ever residential trip – and doesn’t regret taking it on for a moment
At the chalkface: A funny tinge 6 March 2019 He cites such things as “meaningless words”, “verbal false limbs”, “dying metaphors”, “exhausted idioms” and the sheer “lying”, consciously or not, of so much political speech 1 comment
Ofsted and your wellbeing 27 February 2019 Consultation over the draft Education Inspection Framework will close in five weeks’ time. Philippa Stobbs considers the potential within the proposals to foster better teacher and pupil wellbeing
Bullying: A new approach? 27 February 2019 Research shows us that fundamental changes are needed to how we approach anti-bullying work – both in national policy and practice on the ground, says Dr Elizabeth Nassem 2 comments
At the chalkface: Strike! 27 February 2019 The Cuban Missile Crisis. October 1962. We protested and refused to kick off in case the world was blown to smithereens. It wasn’t. Our protest might have been decisive.
Diary of a headteacher: We’ve come out fighting 27 February 2019 From the good to the bad and everything in between – life as a head is never without challenge or event... 2 comments
6 March 2019