What Do Kids Think About School?

What students think about the services they receive has not typically attracted the attention of the education system. The decisions are made by policymakers, educators, parents, and administrators.  Asking children about the value of education, their experiences with it, or their suggestions for improving it has been criticised as being naive or tokenistic because it…

What do kids like and dislike about school?- Why it matters

  A recent study investigated potential links between students and how their schools influence the likelihood of them staying in school or leaving prematurely: teacher support, connectedness to school, and the use of detentions, suspensions and expulsions were all found to be relevant. The central question was “how can the school system improve schooling from…

Pupils Boost Memory And Fitness From Daily Activity, Say Researchers

A decade since a Scottish head teacher set up a project to encourage students to run or walk for 15 minutes during their school days, researchers have found the students taking part are mentally and physically sharper than those who do not. Primary students who took part in a running program, such as the Daily…

Pupils Will Receive a Choice of Topics to Make Exams Fairer

GCSE and A-Level pupils will be given a choice of topics and advance information in order to “maximise fairness”. According to the Department for Education (DfE) the decision was influenced by the learning disruption caused by Covid. After a consultation that amassed over 6,000 responses, the decision is that for GCSE English literature, history and…

Williamson Outlines Catch-up Plans, Exams and Ofsted

Education secretary Gavin Williamson has recently outlined his plans for Ofsted, exams and catch-up funding. Here are some of his key education objectives for the near future: Accelerated Ofsted Inspections Williamson is considering accelerating the timetable of Ofsted inspections. There are some schools that have not been inspected for 14 years, and many of them…

Teachers Overloaded with GCSE Grading Work

According to a recent Tes poll, 8 in 10 teachers believe that the workload for grading GCSEs and A Levels has been too intense. Two thirds of teachers have reported that they have lost at least a week of their own time to grading work.  A Tes survey conducted of 2,800 teachers suggested that 64 percent worked…

Ofsted Warns of Insufficient SEND Support

After a new study reviewing the experiences of 21 SEND pupils in mainstream primary and secondary schools, Ofsted claims that some of these pupils are not receiving sufficient support. Many of the schools and families that took part in the research had experienced long waiting times and high levels of bureaucracy in the Education, Health…

Ofqual Reveals Grading Quality Assurance Requirements

Ofqual’s director of standards and comparability has stated that exam boards would request samples of work from every school for quality assurance. Some of the requirements include: Schools Will Need to Provide Samples of GCSE and A-Level Work Once schools submit grades, exam boards will request evidence from no less than five each of A-level and GCSE…