In this article, two government education policies for primary schools in England are scrutinised, the Phonics Screening Check and Baseline Assessment, both claimed by ministers to be 'evidence based'. What has become a high-stakes test rather than a diagnostic assessment, the Phonics Screening Check, introduced in 2012, now dominates early years…

The history of the forced conversion to sponsored academy status of Castle Primary School in south Somerset is a tale of broken promises, lies, and a blatant breach of statutory procedures. Yet the Department for Education, the local Member of Parliament (and schools minister) and the local authority stood by--sometimes participated--while a small…

Michael Gove's personal tastes and priorities dominate the education landscape as he drives through reforms designed to ensure that every child has the opportunity to learn "the best that has been thought and said" as a foundation for upward social mobility. This article examines the coherence and progress of the government's reform…

This article looks at the impact of the Education and Childcare Minister on the provision of early childhood education and care in England. Policies being developed and promoted by Elizabeth Truss predate her appointment as a minister and are consistent with the radical neo-liberal agenda pursued by Secretary of State Michael Gove. The author…

Every school community is made up of several key partners, each of whom has a significant role in relation to the children. These are parents--who are their children's first educators, staff--all staff, the local community, the local authority and the governing body which represents all of these and is ultimately responsible for the school. All…

Democracy has been weakened in the United Kingdom with citizens increasingly frustrated at not being able to shape government decisions in any meaningful way. State actions at the local and national level are at risk of becoming even more influenced by vested private interests. This poses a major challenge to the democratic health of the country.…

This article restates the needs for a comprehensive system of education to be intolerant of "ability"-thinking, and wonders why so few government ministers are prepared to reveal the type of school to which they send their children.

Since the election of 1997 New Labour's education policy has been subject to variety of forms of critique--in this journal and others. One of the sources for such critique has been a barrage of letters unleashed for over a decade by Colin Richards in the "Times Educational Supplement". Here are reproduced a self-edited selection of his…

Here Francis Beckett, formerly Education Correspondent of the New Statesman and long-time member of the Labour Party "Comprehensive Futures" group set up to further the cause of non-selective schools for all children reflects on the prospects for radical state education in New Labour's third term. He argues that with Andrew Adonis made a…