Thursday's Child
Article
It is an exciting time to be thinking about educational reform. The last few years have witnessed important shifts in the political agenda on schools in England. First, there has been a tangible change in how policy has emphasised the different objectives of the school system. Recent reforms have returned to the idea that schools have a wider role to fulfil than simply delivering on narrow measures of attainment - in equipping young people with the skills they need to achieve a version of success more broadly defined.
There has also been a shift from the idea prevalent in the 1980s that educational reform should mainly be about curriculum, assessment and accountability. There is now a recognition that focusing on these policy levers alone seriously undervalues the role of the teacher, which educational research shows has the biggest impact on learning in schools.
This report takes these two shifts as its starting point. It looks to the future of educational reform, underpinned by an understanding of the changing needs, goals and objectives of schools and sets out short- and long-term recommendations to address the barriers that prevent our school system from being world-class.
Related items
Taken to heart: Inequalities in heart disease in Scotland
More than 7.6 million people across the UK live with cardiovascular disease (CVD), around twice as many as live with Alzheimer’s disease and cancer combined.Skills passports: An essential part of a fair transition
This month, government will publish its Clean Energy Workforce Strategy. This plan covers two aims. First, filling the growing demand for skills in clean energy industries is essential to keep on track to reach the government’s clean power…Fixing the leak: How to end the £22 billion annual taxpayer losses at the Bank of England
The Bank of England increased its interest rates over recent years, aimed at reducing inflation. But this has also had an unintended effect on the Bank of England’s massive government bond buying – ‘quantitative easing’ – programme.