Dear Justine, it’s not just about school funding and selective education – the way you ignore teachers is the real travesty

In early March, Theresa May articulated her vision for education, ahead of announcement that £320m would be confirmed for 140 new free schools and the expansion of existing selective schools. The prime minister wrote: "Our Schools White Paper…will remove the barriers that prevent more good faith-based free schools from opening, and it will enable t...

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Take it from an IT manager, schools are being flogged tech that they don't need

I get an average of 15 people a week phoning me up to sell me something. I'm an IT manager, so in many ways it is no surprise: from salespeople and trainers, to course organisers and seminar sellers – you name it, they have something my school couldn't function without. They often use underhand tactics to get through reception, my favourites being:...

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#NQTsurgery: advice for the summer – Twitter chat round-up

The holidays are here! While this should be a time for recuperation and relaxation, NQTs be tempted to get ahead of the game, only to find their precious break swallowed up by work. Our latest Twitter chat asked a few experts for their advice on how to make the most from the summer, preparing for a new school year and those awkward moments when you...

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Classroom fad or fix? Checking the value of performance-related pay

What is it?  Performance-related pay (PRP) is the policy, introduced in September 2014, that links teachers' pay increases to their performance, rather than them automatically moving up the pay scale (as they had previously done). The criteria for awarding a pay increase lies with each school's governing body, although the government recommend...

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How to close the gap? Put the best teachers in the most deprived schools

By Becky Francis  Our society is stuck in a rut on social mobility – or rather, immobility. For decades, governments of every persuasion have sought to improve social mobility, to narrow the gap between young people from disadvantaged backgrounds and their peers. But that gap – in education, income, housing, health – continues to yawn. It is t...

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