Last evening’s (8/2/10) BBC’s Newsnight report on the Swedish Private (for profit) School system prompts the question as to whether any other country can teach English schools how to improve, without the English first rigorously and honestly analysising what is the essence of their educational predicament. Contrary to what I suspect their glossy Party Manifestos will say shortly there is no one panacea that can deal with the numerous, yet inter-related, problems which have placed English education in a difficult, unpleasant and often embarrassing situation.

An incomplete diagnosis weakens the case for change John Abbott reviews the widely discussed Cambridge Primary Review in great detail here: http://www.21learn.org/archive/articles/abbott_cambridge_primary_review.php

A Review of Michael Gove’s speech at the Conservative Party Conference on October 7th 2009 In late August a copy of the Briefing Paper on ... Read on

Knowledge transfer It was in the early 1980s that several business people and educationalists came together to consider whether there was a role they could ... Read on

Leaders or Managers? The Labour Party it seems is to go into the Election with a proposal that schools will in future be organised into ... Read on

The solution to England’s education problem The first of the Party Conferences (the Liberal Democrats) is now over, and soon it will be the turn ... Read on

Collapsing democracy Under the Education Act of 1944 English state education was based on a partnership between central government who defined the structure, and provided ... Read on

A matter of democracy Chris Woodhead, writing in The Sunday Times about examination results, said “children are not equal.  Physically they come in all shapes ... Read on

Putting the cart before the horse A boy who had just left school was asked by his former headmaster what he thought of the new ... Read on

Being taken seriously I am having to take a short break from the tedium of “topping and tailing” letters to be sent out to every ... Read on