Education
The Romans wouldn’t have understood our exam obsession
Many commentators have argued that the recent grading controversy indicates just how important public examinations are. Up to a point,…
Spare a thought for next year’s A-level students
Three years ago I was contacted by an official at the Department for Education to see if I was interested…
University challenge: the next education crisis
Many institutions face the fight of their lives
Inflated exam grades let the government ignore its own failures
It was obvious that closing schools would hit the poorest hardest, inflicting permanent damage and deepening inequality. While many private…
The proof that free speech in universities is in peril
About 18 months ago, I attended a debate at Policy Exchange, the think tank founded by Nick Boles, Francis Maude…
The rise of the Econian
The public school elite who rule the wokerati
The lost boys: the white working class is being left behind
Britain’s forgotten demographic
Home advantage: not going to school was the making of me
Not going to school was the making of me
In Los Angeles, school’s out…forever?
Americans have mixed feelings about opening schools this fall. Some — like the Trump administration’s Department of Education — want…
Target for half of kids to go to university dropped
In a sign of how worried the government is about youth unemployment, it will – quiet literally – pay firms…
Gavin Williamson is right to call out educational snobbery
Politicians give speeches all the time, but with differing levels of significance. Can you think of a genuinely important political…
To understand the past, you need to inhabit it for a while
‘It’s no go my honey love, it’s no go my poppet; Work your hands from day to day, the winds…
The private school advantage has never been greater than in lockdown
The private school advantage has never been greater
Children should get out more — even if it’s for hide and seek in the park
We live in an urban world. It’s a statistical fact. The great outdoors for most of us is a thing…
School’s out: the true cost of classroom closures
The lockdown is widening the gap between rich and poor pupils
Reopening schools must be our first priority
It would be a tragedy if one of the legacies of Covid-19 — a disease which hardly affects children physically…
Coronavirus has made amateur mathematicians of us all
‘What is the point of learning maths? When do you ever actually need it? How does it ever affect your…
British universities are a modern-day racket
One of the great myths of Scottish higher education is that it’s free. Outside observers can be forgiven for making…
Letters: Why have the Conservatives decided Chesterfield is a lost cause?
Given up on Chesterfield? Sir: Matthew Parris makes some interesting and accurate points about growing Tory support in the north…
What have the Anglo-Saxons ever done for us?
It has been a while since I’ve considered the vexed question of Byrhtnoth’s ‘ofermod’. More than 30 years, in fact.…
Must try harder: Labour wants to reverse a decade of progress in education
If education rather than Brexit or the NHS was the biggest issue in this election campaign, the Tories would be…
Asians are doing too well – they must be stopped
Riddle: when is discrimination against a historically disadvantaged racial minority perfectly legal? Answer: when they do too well. The first…
General de Gaulle’s advice to the young Queen Elizabeth
There were so many ear-catching moments in Peter Hennessy’s series for Radio 4, Winds of Change, adapted from his new…
When did English A-level become a science?
Now that my youngest has got her A-level grades, I’m finally free to say just how much I have loathed…