In 2014, there were over 3.5 million children living in poverty in the UK. That is 28% of all UK children – or for those of us in education, 9 children in every class of 30. These shocking…Read more…
Developing the expertise of vocational teachers and trainers
By Lorna Unwin, Institute of Education. How can vocational teachers and trainers (VTTs) develop and their subject and pedagogical expertise? How much CPD goes on ‘under the radar’ as VTTs seek their…Read more…
Why are so many children so unhappy at school?
The 2015 Good Childhood Report comes to some chilling conclusions. Children in England were found to be among the most unhappy with their school life in the world. And their dissatisfaction…Read more…
This draconian and partisan bill has no democratic mandate
ATL vice-president Shelagh Hirst is among the members of ATL’s Policy Council attending TUC this year. On Monday, she spoke to a motion on the Trade Union Bill. Much has been written about the…Read more…
Education Select Committee, there are questions we want answered
Jill Stokoe is is an Education Policy Adviser at ATL. Last week ATL submitted evidence to the Education Select Committee on the work of Ofsted, based on members’ views and experiences –…Read more…
We have collectively chosen to drive the car towards an increasingly unequal society
James Meadway, Chief Economist at the New Economics Foundation gives us his thoughts ahead of Tuesday’s TUC fringe ‘Will the current education system deliver skills for the workforce of…Read more…
Put students at the heart of the curriculum, not political ideologies
Anne Heavey is an Education Policy Adviser at ATL. Stanley Park High recently hosted a visit for ATL members. In my last blog, I explained about their Excellent Futures Curriculum, and the pupil-led…Read more…
Academies are the government’s childlike solution – to everything
Laura McInerney, editor of Schools Week, gives us her take on the first 100 days of a Conservative government. There’s a moment in every child’s life where they happen upon the secret to all of…Read more…
Stop turning every wild idea into policy
Nansi Ellis, ATL assistant general secretary (policy), gives us her take on the first 100 days of a Conservative government. When I start a project, I usually spend some time scribbling ideas. I let…Read more…
This politicisation of public examinations must not be allowed to happen
On Sunday, schools minister Nick Gibb is reported to have expressed ‘greatest concern’ in response to Ofqual’s report on OCR’s problems in marking exam papers in time last summer. Apparently,…Read more…
FGM – Are we talking to the right people?
A longer version of this article was originally posted on Safer Schools. Over the past few years media attention on female genital mutilation (FGM) has increased dramatically. From a subject that…Read more…
Do schools really fail to prepare pupils for the world of work?
Anne Heavey is an Education Policy Adviser at ATL. Every week we see headlines decrying the crisis of skills teaching in our schools, the gist: our schools fail to prepare our children for the world…Read more…
Baseline assessment: questions but not too many answers
Here’s a puzzle for you. Q. In order to carry out an accurate reception baseline assessment of primary schools, what is the minimum number of schools that should be included in each sample? A….Read more…
Coasting schools: why the Education Bill proposals will harm the most disadvantaged
The designation ‘coasting’ severely disadvantages maintained schools – and is designed to do so. Schools with deprived pupil intakes will struggle to meet the threshold to avoid being deemed to be…Read more…
Clock is ticking for Ofsted on FoI requests
On June 30, ATL submitted a Freedom of Information (FoI) request regarding the failure of 1,200 inspectors to pass Ofsted’s rigorous new assessment process: Dear Madam/Sir Freedom of…Read more…
A learning and teaching toolkit for vocational education
Professor Bill Lucas will be giving a keynote speech at the ATL’s FE conference 2015 in London on Friday 10 July. Elsewhere in the world, they talk about pedagogy when discussing vocational…Read more…
One Size Does Not Fit All, Conquering the KS3 Cliff Edge
Anne Heavey is an Education Policy Adviser at ATL. For many children in this country starting secondary school can be a pivotal moment. The TES recently reported the following: “A range of studies…Read more…
Government needs to give up the backseat driving
Mark Wright is the assistant director of AMiE (leadership and management). Politicians and practitioners ideally work together to take education on a shared journey so it doesn’t bode well that the…Read more…
Cridland’s comprehensive demolition job on Tory education policy
And another thing… A weekly blog by ATL general secretary Mary Bousted John Cridland, director general of the CBI, cannot remotely be named or shamed as a member of the education ‘blob’. And yet his…Read more…
Is a bottom-up approach to professionalism the answer for the FE sector?
By Ann Hodgson, UCL Institute of Education. I was invited to chair a session on the Policy Contexts of Professionalism, as part of the in the Developing Collaborative Expertise in the Further…Read more…