Patrick Watson is Managing Director of Montrose Public Affairs Consultants and EdCentral's resident policy and research expert.

Changes to SEND policy: what teachers and school leaders need to know

As of January 2016, there were 236,805 pupils in Englandwith a statement of special educational needs (SEN) or an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan. This is an increase of 640 from 2015 – and equates to 2.8% of the total pupil population. Schools are still coming to terms with huge policy changes in this area. Following on from the Equalities A...
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Count us in: what is maths mastery and how can schools in the UK get involved?

In the latest international Pisa tests, carried out by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 22% of 15-year-olds in the UK performed at the lowest level of mathematics proficiency. In practice, this means they may be unable to carry out simple tasks, such as recognising that travelling four kilometres in 10 minutes means going...
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Financial Literacy Education

Financial literacy education became part of the National Curriculum for the first time in September 2014, as part of citizenship education in key stages 3 and 4 (ages 11-16). The Citizenship programmes of study make provision for pupils in key stage 3 (aged 11-14 years) to be taught about: the functions and uses of money the importance and practice...
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Teacher textbooks are failing trainees. They peddle debunked ideas rather than evidence-based learning strategies.

Common sense suggests, scientific research tells you, and Pisa proves it; what makes the biggest difference to student outcomes is the teacher in front of the class. That means if you really want to improve the school system, you need to focus on teacher training and professional development. Teachers need the core knowledge to plan, deve...
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Guest — zoro
Teachers need the core knowledge to plan, develop and deliver good lessons, which requires a strong grasp of evidence-based learni... Read More
Tuesday, 28 July 2020 04:16
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Careers guidance in schools

Since September 2013, local authority maintained schools have been under a duty to provide impartial careers guidance to pupils from Years 8 to 13 (ages 12-18). The Department for Education (DfE) has published statutory guidance (most recently updated in March 2015) for maintained schools on their duty to provide careers guidance. The statutory dut...
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