Academies
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We need to reform the academy system – and stop the power-hungry super-heads
Our schools have become joyless, stressful places, run by principals who behave like football managers obsessed by tables. Why do we put up with it? This week’s Newsnight investigation into greedy “superheads” of academies coupled with headline claims about other heads involved inmoney-grabbing and cronyism has thrown a spotlight on to the role of headteachers.…
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Corbyn? Blimey, yes!
We need him to move the Labour Party forward. Why is Jeremy Corbyn so popular? Here’s a backbench Labour MP, a serial rebel during the Blair/Brown era proclaiming the same ideas he’s spouted for decades and no one has listened to. Now he’s the favorite to win the Labour Party leadership. Even people, like me,…
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Academies are an expensive red herring. Here’s how you really improve school standards
How many times must academies be discredited before policymakers look at the proven but less headline-grabbing solutionn but less headline-grabbing solution? The prime minister’s announcement today that, if elected, the Tories will force “mediocre” schools to convert to academies was important for a couple of reasons. First, it indicated that the government wants to make…
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What makes good teaching and how can we encourage it?
I appeared on Newsnight last night discussing the teaching profession with presenter Kirsty Wark and Sean Worth, who is a Fellow of the think-tank, Policy Exchange, which was set up by a few people, including Michael Gove. We were talking about Michael Gove’s comment on Newsnight the previous night that outstanding teachers supported his reforms…
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Academy plan to use untrained teachers is an outrage
Why is Michael Gove instituting this policy when he has praised countries like Finland where teachers are intensively trained? The news today that the education secretary is to remove the requirement for academies to employ qualified teachers sent a shudder down my spine. For a teacher like me, who has taught for more than 20…
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The councillor in charge of my LA’s schools will tell parents not to send their children to my local comp if it becomes an Academy…
Last night, I attended a meeting convened by the National Union of Teachers about my local secondary school, Bethnal Green Technology College, becoming an Academy. The school has already had a public meeting about this – as I noted in a previous post. Alex Kenny, a prominent NUT activist in east London, Alasdair Smith of…
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Is extending the school day the key to raising standards?
Braving the ice and snow on my bike, I cycled down to the King Solomon Academy (KSA) near Marylebone station today. Behind the black gates of the entrance there’s a huge banner proclaiming ”Climbing the mountain to university” which told me a lot straight away. This Academy, run by ARK, an education charity, is all about instilling high…
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The Coalition’s Academy Plans backfire
A new report shows that the Coalition’s education policy of allowing all schools to become Academies has seriously backfired. The stated aim was to raise standards across the board, particularly in our most socially disadvantaged areas. A new report published by the Centre for Economic Performance shows that the majority of schools who have become…
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The Local Schools Network: a broad church
The aim of the LSN is to support and celebrate local schools. I was talking at an Academy, Barnfield South in Luton, yesterday as a guest speaker at their prize-giving. It was very clear to me that this was an excellent local school, with fair admissions and a staff committed to their local community. All…
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What secondary school should I choose for my son? The comprehensive, the Academy or the Federated School?
My son is in Year 6 of primary school in Tower Hamlets; there’s real anxiety amongst the parents at his school about choosing a secondary school. The local comprehensive, within LA control, despite being radically improved, has a “bad” reputation. All sorts of rumours are floating around about it; students being stabbed there, rampant bullying,…
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Why I don’t believe in Academies anymore!
When I sent my son to a private school, I used to think the whole concept of academies was a good idea. Back then, I felt that “freeing” schools from state control would yield fantastic results because it would mean schools would be “free” to do what they wanted, to admit more pupils if they…