I am a fan of Simon Caulkin’s management column, tucked away in the Observer’s media and business section every week. Last week’s, I thought, was very interesting indeed. I have argued that English schools have suffered from a combination of Stalinism and Thatcherism over the past 20 years. Read the piece here.    Read More →

Hmm, I thought to myself on reading the headlines about this report, produced last month by the National Audit Office. So where’s the news? On closer inspection of the report, it turns out that this review of primary maths teaching had come up with the not un-staggering conclusion that test results have hit a plateau, despite billions of pounds of investment. Well, you don’t say? I am tempted to put in a Freedom of Information request to the NAO to try to find out how much money was spent producing this finding, which could have been reached by anyone who knows where to look on theRead More →