Writing in Huffington Post this week, Nicky Morgan said about her Christian faith: ‘We have lots of different churches. Going to those churches reminded me about what it was I found comforting about going to church. I found a great church. I help out at Sunday school. People completely get the wrong end of the stick and call me ‘evangelical’, when I can tell you my church is very normal and Anglican.’ Read more
What’s the best way to learn music? For many, progression is best measured by the formal exam journey. The established music education sector remains fixated on formal learning and in doing so fails to reflect the diversity of young people and the ways in which they engage with music. Read more BBC Music, meanwhile, is to release a film specially made for secondary schools to introduce a new generation to classical music. Read more
Poet Benjamin Zephaniah is of the generation where teachers didn’t know what dyslexia was. The big problem with the education system then was that there was no compassion, no understanding and no humanity. At school his ideas always contradicted his teachers. But he explains how he turned dyslexia to his advantage by seeing the world more creatively. Dyslexics, he suggests, are the architects and designers. Read more
The Catholic Church has come out against proposed legislation that will convert thousands more schools into academies, branding it a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach. In a letter in the TES, the Catholic Education Service (CES) casts doubt over the Education and Adoption Bill’s central aim of converting all ‘failing’ schools into academies. The draft legislation is currently having its second reading in the House of Lords and is expected to be passed by the New Year. Read more
One of the farcical aspects of being a school parent is the way we see slabs of curriculum come and go, often for no better reason than a minister of education fancied it. We see our children bringing home paragraphs of knowledge that have suddenly been deemed essential and then, at a later stage, not essential. Funnily enough, what hardly ever changes is how the paragraph is supposed to make its way into our children’s minds. Read more from Michael Rosen
Children at leading independent schools are being forced into the hands of professional counsellors to help them cope with the pressures of appearing popular on social media, a leading headmaster has warned. There has been a rapid expansion in the numbers of counsellors employed by schools to meet the mental health needs of teenagers struggling to deal with the ‘modern world’. Read more
The ‘cottage industry’ exam marking system is not fit for purpose, a leading headmaster will warn as it is revealed that there has been a near 50 per cent increase in exam marks being challenged. These figures actually mask the true extent of the problem, with some schools unable to find the time and resources to fight a ‘byzantine’ appeals system. Read more
As parents become increasingly savvy about choosing schools for their children, one head teacher gives the inside track on open days. They are a key opportunity for schools to connect with new families and also ‘show off just a little’ as well. So what is the perspective on open days from the head’s office? Read more