University of Buckingham
The Lucy Powell argument is that children from poorer backgrounds and with special needs have suffered as a result of the Gove reforms because many of them do badly at GCSE and end up unemployed. Where does the truth lie? Gove got rid of ‘vocational alternatives’ to GCSEs because of clear evidence that they were... Continue Reading →
More than a decade ago I was the head of Harrow, a good school but an unusual one being 100% boarding and 100% boys – and private. So when I retired I decided to do a few things which might inform me about state schools, the schools which teach the vast majority of children. What... Continue Reading →
For forty years I was a classroom teacher and a head teacher. I recruited hundreds of teachers, observed thousands of lessons and I am confident I know what good teaching looks like. As Jonathan Smith, the former head of English at Tonbridge School, once said, the characteristics of good teaching are pretty obvious, but it... Continue Reading →