Sir Martyn Oliver is the new HMCI. The Department is at pains to say this is subject to the Education Select Committee prehearing, but it isn’t really — they rejected Amanda Spielman in her pre appointment hearing, but the Department (rightly, in my view) appointed her anyway. I expect Sir…

In January, I speculated as to how the strikes might end. Today, we have an answer, and it’s close to option 2 from January – DfE has paid more. The settlement gives teachers 6.5% from September 2023 (up from the 4.5% offer in March, pre strikes). Schools are now expected…

Look, the last time I did one of these, I speculated as to whether “Liz Truss could be the education Prime Minister”. So read the below on that basis. …

The DfE this week has issued a consultation on AI in education — the opportunities and risks it presents. This goes hot on the heels of the PM saying education is one of the fields he is most excited about when it comes to AI. (As an aside, I have…

Never have I been so disappointed to scour the American branch of my family tree and discover it doesn’t flower that way. Jim Simons — sadly — I mean really sadly — no relation, has just announced the largest ever unrestricted gift to a US university in history: $500m to…

Andy Burnham has been making waves in the last couple of weeks with the announcement of his MBacc: the creation of “two equal routes — one academic and one technical — to give a clear path to all young people in Greater Manchester, whatever their interests, ambitions and passions”, according…

Last week, seemingly almost as a surprise to them, Labour confirmed one of the worst kept secrets in higher education policy when they formally announced they weren’t going to scrap tuition fees after all if they get into power. …

On Friday, I tweeted a stat I’d heard – that there was a huge spike in absence rates in schools that day. Parents had worked out that between the strike day on Thu, one unauthorised absence on Friday, a 3 day weekend, and then another strike day on Tue, that…

I was facilitating a focus group the other week, when I heard what Labour’s big education idea for the next manifesto could be. It was a group of pretty much EveryBritain — swing voters, in a swing seat, with a mixed age and gender and socio economic group. * And…