Over the last two decades, the number of young people in England getting a degree has risen sharply: up from around 10 per cent as recently as the 1990s, to more than 30 per cent today. This expansion has led to concerns being expressed in some quarters that not all young people who get a [...]
In the past few weeks both CentreForum (in conjunction with our very own Mike Treadaway) and the Social Market Foundation have published reports on education. Both reports discuss gaps in attainment between pupils from different family backgrounds, drawing attention to the importance of education for social mobility. Education is usually seen as an important factor in [...]
The decision to allow a new grammar school to open in Kent drew a lot of media attention recently. With the exception of grammar schools, state schools in England are required to admit children irrespective of their ability. A number of developed countries do have school systems, however, which select children into different-ability schools at [...]
I recently watched the recent BBC series 'Are Our Kids Tough Enough: Chinese School' which followed the experiences of five maths teachers from China as they started teaching in a school in Southampton. I anticipated that I might learn something that might explain the very high levels of attainment of students from China in international [...]
Note - this piece was first published on April Fool's Day 2015! The establishment of free schools by the current government aimed to meet a demand for new school places in particular areas and to raise the performance of all schools through increased competition. For researchers, trying to show whether the establishment of a free [...]
