Tag Archives: politicians

Primary school tests and children’s mental health

Posted on June 7, 2019 by

One study after another has shown the damage being caused by SATs to children’s mental health. In a survey by the ATL (now part of the National Education Union) in 2016, 89% thought that testing and exams were the biggest cause … Continue reading →

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Academies and local authorities: what a Labour government should do

Posted on April 30, 2019 by

by Richard Hatcher, Birmingham City University We know that the policy of academies been a disaster for education. The question is what should be done about them? Angela Rayner’s speech at Labour Party Conference in September was mainly about academies. … Continue reading →

Posted in Governance | Tagged , , , , ,

Grammar schools and “ordinary working families” again

Posted on January 23, 2019 by

In our last blog post, we looked into a new and deeply flawed ‘research report’ by former Department of Education official Iain Mansfield. It was written in support of the Prime Minister’s argument that expanding grammar schools across England would … Continue reading →

Posted in Social Justice | Tagged , , ,

Grammar schools helping “ordinary working families”?

Posted on January 11, 2019 by

On becoming prime minister Theresa May decided to expand grammar schools in order to benefit ‘ordinary working families’. There is no evidence that this is what grammar schools do. This week a former Department of Education official Iain Mansfield tried … Continue reading →

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Phonics test – Nick Gibb fails again

Posted on September 27, 2018 by

Schools minister Nick Gibb is crowing, once again, that thousands more children are ‘on track to become fluent readers’. Improved pass rates in the Phonics test show no such thing. “163,000 more 6-year-olds are on track to become fluent readers … Continue reading →

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Challenging the tyranny of the Phonics Check

Posted on July 9, 2018 by

It is hard to compete with Margaret Clark’s tenacity in challenging the deeply flawed Phonics Screening Check along with  schools minister Nick Gibb’s dogmatic support of Synthetic Phonics. After editing two books in a single year, she has just completed a … Continue reading →

Posted in Accountability, Curriculum, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

“Pull yourself together, child!”

Posted on May 13, 2018 by

England is in the middle of a mental health crisis for young people, and a major cause is the way in which they are being put under pressure to achieve. It happens at university: 146 students killed themselves in 2016 … Continue reading →

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