Schools

The appliance of real science: Should all children take the IGCSE?

Thursday, 15 July 2010

Parkside Federation is the first state school to offer the more demanding IGSCE, to replace the 'dumbed down' alternative.

New GCSE course in personal finance teaches pupils how to manage money

Thursday, 8 July 2010

I used to switch off when the business news came on GMTV in the morning as I was getting ready for school," confesses Emily, a Year 8 pupil at Coloma Convent School in the south London suburb of Croydon. "But now when I hear them talking about interest rates going up or down, or the budget, or the cuts that are going to be made, I really listen because I feel I understand what they mean. And," she adds with a smile, "I've even been explaining it all to my parents."

Leading Article: Ofsted must retain its independence

Thursday, 1 July 2010

It comes as no surprise that the Chief Inspector of Schools, Christine Gilbert, will not be renewing her contract as head of Ofsted, the education standards watchdog, when it expires next year.

Shape the future: How mosaics are firing up pupils

Thursday, 1 July 2010

Creating mosaics can transform a child's experience of school

How Sarkozy is forcing reform on a reluctant establishment

Thursday, 1 July 2010

France lags behind other countries in the league tables, which is why the President is calling for change.

Education Quandary: My son says that he can take a GCSE in personal finance. Is this an exam subject? Is it worth taking?

Thursday, 1 July 2010

Royal approval: How Michael Gove is taking lessons from the Prince of Wales

Thursday, 24 June 2010

The influence of Prince Charles's annual summer school is growing.

Leading Article: Baker's dozen new colleges

Thursday, 24 June 2010

Lord Baker is unstoppable. Now aged 75, he is still at it, trying to persuade the Government to put more money and effort into technological education for teenagers. Back in the Eighties when he was Education Secretary under Mrs Thatcher, he set up the city technology colleges; now he is pestering everyone in sight to establish what he calls "university technology colleges". And he is having some success. The former schools minister Ed Balls agreed to open two of these, one in Stoke and the other in Southend, which will be taking their first students this September.

Education Quandary: 'My dyslexic daughter has found timed mental maths SATS questions a nightmare. Aren't tests like this unfair for children with her problems?'

Thursday, 24 June 2010

Alan Smithers: Letting schools do their own thing is a recipe for chaos

Thursday, 24 June 2010

Iam warming to the new Government's policies. Binning academic diplomas, Sir Jim Rose's recommendations on the primary curriculum and the Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency and the General Teaching Council all look good moves to me – provided they are replaced by something better. But I cannot see where the extended academies programme is going. Michael Gove has said many times that he has drawn inspiration from the charter schools in the United States and the Kunskapsskolan in Sweden. Some of the charter schools have impressive records. They have, however, tended to attract the better pupils, leaving other schools worse off. They have also tended to take fewer pupils with special needs and to have higher dropout rates. The apparent success of Swedish "free schools" is linked to home background.