1) The A-level results were a triumph for pupils and teachers, who have managed courses which were badly disrupted by COVID-19. Praise too for Ofqual and the exam boards who ensured exams happened at all. Back in the autumn of 2021 there were calls to scrap exams this year and the message went out from... Continue Reading →

"Education is dependent on the quality of the personal relationships between teachers and children" (van Manen, 1991) Several classical educational writers, e.g., St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) and JF Pestallozzi (1746-1827), highlight that personality and moral qualities of teachers are of utmost importance. With the end of this academic year and the opportunity to pause and... Continue Reading →

We must hope for a reduction in the role of central government, which has attempted to take control of everything since 2010 but cannot cope. I have worked regularly with the Department for Education and, although individual civil servants are often excellent, they change jobs frequently and, for people who work in schools, it is... Continue Reading →

How are things looking for school leavers this summer? 1) A-level grades We know that A-level grades will be pegged in the midway point between the grade distribution of each subject in 2019 (the last year before Covid) and that of last year. So, grades will on average be lower than last year. Each subject... Continue Reading →

The Times Education Commission, 15th June 2022 They propose: 1) A British Baccalaureate, o­ffering broader academic and vocational qualifications at 18, with parity in funding per pupil in both routes, and a slimmed-down set of exams at 16 to bring out the best in every child. Score out of 10:  3 The Government has only... Continue Reading →

This year's theme for Mental Health Awareness Week is "Loneliness". Spear-headed by the Mental Health Foundation, their press release published earlier in the year stated, "Loneliness affects millions of people in the UK every year and is a key driver of poor mental health. The Foundation’s Mental Health in the Pandemic research has found that... Continue Reading →

It is a strange phenomenon, particularly in Education that coaching and mentoring are always lumped together. It is not unlike the pairing together of Science and Maths as if they have exactly the same thinking processes, but don’t get me started on that. However, with coaching and mentoring we can even see people/institutions/courses declaring to... Continue Reading →

Nick Gibb departed last week but had been Schools Minister since 2010 with one short break.   There are numerous reasons to be grateful to him. 1) He had a clear agenda based on an understanding of what works. In his famous 1953 essay, The Hedgehog and the Fox, Isaiah Berlin wrote that ‘a fox knows... Continue Reading →