Tag Archives: schools

Improvement in our schools is not helped by Ofsted’s soundbites

By Guest | Published: June 14, 2013

For the second time this week the education sector has taken a beating, this time with the Ofsted report on the way that schools support high ability pupils.

Posted in Public Services for All | Also tagged , , , , , , | 4 Responses

Simply making exams harder does not guarantee higher standards

By Guest | Published: June 12, 2013

To date school leaders have not been consulted over the development of the new GCSE syllabuses so it is highly premature to design new qualifications before this consultation has been finalised. It is now time for our legitimate voice to be listened to carefully and acted upon.

Posted in Public Services for All | Also tagged , , , , , | 2 Responses

Is school selection by house price really better than selection by ability?

By James Bloodworth | Published: June 3, 2013

The Guardian reports today that that a growing gap in household incomes and rising house prices have made England’s top state-funded comprehensive and academy schools more socially exclusive.

Posted in Public Services for All | Also tagged , , , | 4 Responses

Ring-fencing the NHS and schools is no longer viable

By Tony Dolphin | Published: May 28, 2013

The chancellor went on the Today programme this morning to trumpet his success in getting seven government departments to agree on their budgets for 2015-16 as part of the Spending Review that he will announce on 26 June. It is reported that they have all agreed to cuts of between 8 and 10 per cent.

Posted in Sustainable Economy | Also tagged , , , , , | 3 Responses

Michael Gove should be held to account over the crisis facing London’s schools

By Guest | Published: May 25, 2013

I would like to see Michael Gove asked the following question: does he stand for every school child, or just those who attend academies and free schools?

Posted in Public Services for All | Also tagged , , , , | 20 Responses

School spending cannot be cut like this without compromising standards

By Guest | Published: May 24, 2013

I cannot be the only person with personal experience of managing schools whose jaw dropped at reading the headlines of the Reform report launched last week: Must Do Better: Spending on Schools. Based on lots of number crunching of data tables, it came to the conclusion that school spending could be cut by close to 20 per cent without compromising standards.

Posted in Public Services for All | Also tagged , , | Leave a comment

While Gove tinkers, Wales retains the GCSE

By Ed Jacobs | Published: January 30, 2013

The Welsh government has opted to retain the current exams model of GCSEs and A-Levels, putting Wales and England on course to see radically different systems.

Posted in Public Services for All | Also tagged , , | Leave a comment

Twigg: Gove is the “enemy of promise”

By Guest | Published: January 24, 2013

Shadow education secretary Stephen Twigg MP responds to today’s school league tables.

Posted in Public Services for All | Also tagged , , , | 19 Responses

Twigg: Gove’s plans will ‘take us back to the 19th century’ and risk a “decade of decline”

By Shamik Das | Published: January 17, 2013

Stephen Twigg today warns Michael Gove’s Ebacc plans risk “ushering in a decade of economic decline”, taking Britain back to a ’19th-century education system’.

Posted in Public Services for All | Also tagged , , , , , | 13 Responses

Mr Gove, What’s with the rush to the EBacc, Sir?

By Guest | Published: December 18, 2012

Michael Gove will do well to listen to those urging him to think again about his proposed reforms to secondary examinations, writes the NUT’s Christine Blower.

Posted in Public Services for All | Also tagged , | Leave a comment