The domination of top British universities by people who have attended private schools remains controversial. Defenders of the status quo would argue that successful applicants to Russell Group universities…
Pupils in London do better at school than the rest of the country, but why? Sam Freedman, a former adviser to Michael Gove and now head of an education charity has called this “the biggest question in…
What are my options?
Student via gpointstudio/shutterstock
We ask young people to make a lot of life-changing decisions. At 13 or 14 you choose GCSE subjects. Make the wrong choice and you could be ruling out your chance to pursue medicine or a number of other…
Here ‘til we’re 16? Really, sir?
Ministry of Information Photo Division Photographer, via Wikimedia Commons
Seventy years on from its passage into law, the Education Act of 1944 is often remembered as a monument to political consensus – the art of the possible, in the words of its chief architect, R A “Rab…
London’s schools have started to.
David Parry/PA Wire
London’s secondary schools have seen rapid improvement in the last decade. Inner London moved from being the worst-performing region in England in 2003 to having better school results than any region outside…
The writing’s on the wall – and they can’t read it.
Reading capability is vital for young people to be able to access and engage with the curriculum by the end of primary school and even more so at secondary school. But the data we have indicates that a…
Present, but absent.
Kid in corridor via michaeljung/Shutterstock
At the end of last week the government released the autumn figures for pupil absence in English schools. The figures show an ongoing drop in the number of children skipping school. But they also raise…
Crunch time for Scotland’s National 4 and 5s.
Richard Lee
When desks fill gym halls in Scottish schools for the start of exam time in a couple of weeks, there will be a big difference for the country’s 15 and 16 year olds. It is out with the GCSE-equivalent Standard…
Punching a hole through privilege.
Ben Birchall/PA Archive
England’s 164 state grammar schools form a distinctive but controversial part of the nation’s education system. These schools are distinctive in terms of their high levels of performance – one consequence…
Philip Noden, London School of Economics and Political Science
As parents across England wait nervously for news of where their children have been allocated a secondary school place, new admissions policies of banding and ballots have come under scrutiny. The recent…
Once you done that there’s plenty more to be getting on with.
stuartpilbrow
The triennial jamboree that is the publication of the OECD PISA tests kicked off with the usual round of blaming and name calling among politicians. Both sides of the political debate naturally found ammunition…
Having floated ideas about return to O-level style examinations and an English baccalaureate certificate, education secretary Michael Gove has given in to opposition and stuck with the GCSE. But the reforms…
A graphic novel has been added to the year 12 English curriculum.
Graphic novel image from www.shutterstock.com
Next year, senior students in Victoria will be able to study a graphic novel, The Complete Maus, as part of the prescribed English curriculum. As a literary and artistic form, graphic novels combine the…
Australia’s educational system must be one of the most over-reviewed in the OECD. Hundreds of Select Committees – Federal and State, Upper and Lower House in the past 20 years have reviewed teacher quality…
Watch your maths: an Australian Academy of Science report looks to be based around mistaken use or interpretation of numbers. Flickr/emdot.
The Federal Department of Education says it advised the Australian Academy of Science’s authors of a break in the series of student-numbers when it supplied the data. The lead author, Professor Denis Goodrum…