GCSEs
Why was a finals student disqualified for criticising halal meat?
We have to talk about the schoolgirl who was disqualified from a GCSE exam on the grounds that she had…
An inconvenient truth: white children are underperforming everyone else in UK schools
The Department for Education (DfE) published its finalised data on the 2018 GCSE results last week, revealing that, for the…
Genetics and the truth about private schools
A paper published last week in an academic journal called npj Science of Learning attracted an unusual amount of press…
Hard lessons
George Tomlinson, the post-war education secretary, declared that politicians should leave exams to the teachers because ‘the minister knows nowt…
As easy as 1, 2, 3…
The amount of nonsense being talked about the new GCSEs in English and maths, whereby exams have been graded 9-1…
Parents, not schools, are key to the knowledge gap
The Education Policy Institute (EPI) has just published a report looking at the attainment gap between disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged 16-year-olds…
The lessons of exam results season (and what to do about them)
Every year without fail, as the trees start thinking about losing their leaves, the papers are full of the same…
James McAvoy is wrong – the arts are better off without subsidy
The season of cringe-making acceptance speeches at arts awards ceremonies is nearly over, thank heavens. But it hasn’t passed without…
What are 16-year-olds supposed to learn by making posters?
My niece, Lara, 15, has a mind like a surgical blade. On any subject, from calculus to The X Factor,…
My tax avoidance tip – win literary prizes!
David Cameron is said to want a woman to be chairman of the BBC Trust, now that Chris Patten has…
