Education
The Roman roots of Tony Blair’s approach to education
Sir Tony Blair’s Tone-deaf suggestion that Stem subjects should dominate the curriculum of all schools would paradoxically take education back…
One worldview has taken over the historical profession
Professor James H. Sweet is a temperate man. He seeks to avoid extremes. But he also seeks to be bold…
How to run a school
Taking a short break from persecuting Roman Catholic faith schools for ideological reasons, Ofsted has stuck the boot into the…
What’s on Ukraine’s new school syllabus
Ukrainian schools are starting to re-open, but will they be safe?
It’s time to repair the damage caused by lockdown grade inflation
When A-level results are published next week, we will find out if the government has made any progress in stemming…
Our long, vulnerable childhoods may be the key to our success
Could our long journey to adulthood actually be the key to our success, wonders Sam Leith
The toxic cult of the superhero
Why this mad insistence that everyone has special powers?
Boris, Sherwood and the politics of the past
It feels like the end, but we’ve been here before. The past months of Boris Johnson’s teetering administration have felt…
Will my kitchen be designated a ‘safe space’?
As the father of four children who will be entering higher education in the next few years, I’m worried that…
The courage of Katharine Birbalsingh
Five years ago, I put my friend Nell Butler in touch with Katharine Birbalsingh, Britain’s most outspoken headmistress. I was…
What schools should be teaching
The state of Florida recently passed a piece of legislation making it illegal for teachers to hold discussions with pupils…
Nadhim Zahawi: how I escaped Saddam’s Iraq
The Education Secretary has come a long way since his Baghdad schooldays
How schools are captured by ideological institutions
This week, Nadeem Zahawi told teachers that they have ‘an important role in preparing children and young people for life…
How the ancients approached the three Rs
German archaeologists have found ancient Egyptian tablets covered in repetitive writing exercises and ask — were they pupil punishments? But…
State schools and the rise of posh apprenticeships
Recently, a friend forwarded me a letter he’d received from his children’s school, an independent secondary in London, to mark…
We must never abandon children during lockdown again
Schools are far more than mere exam factories. Across the UK, teachers in 32,000 schools and colleges care for children…
Why we should study literature, not science
Gstaad Who was it who said good manners had gone the way of black and white TV? Actually it was…
The mind virus killing academia
We lost a giant last month with E.O. Wilson’s passing. A man who stood on Darwin’s shoulders, Wilson had that…
Masks in schools: how convincing is the government's evidence?
Why has the government changed its mind and asked children to wear masks in school? When Plan B was announced…
Virtue signalling is really status signalling
A £19,000-a-year London day school was in the news this week because it has started instructing its pupils about ‘white…
America’s campus culture wars come for St Andrews
The University of St Andrews has been keen on American imports for some time. Americans make up 16 per cent…
Boris should keep copying Blair
Having written here at least once before that Boris Johnson is the heir to Blair, my first thought on the Prime…
How to burst the grade inflation bubble
The Tories regard a return to rigorously marked exams as one of their big achievements in education. In 2010, the…
The truth about Nick Gibb, history and ‘dead white men’
In 1983, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, a great American sociologist and politician, wrote: ‘Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but…
The plot against religious education
Faith is not the declining force that some secularists believe or indeed desire it to be. Even here in the UK,…
