It’s been another frantic week of debate on the future of our education. Private school head and Blair biographer Anthony Seldon has argued that our children are not learning to think independently. The writer Toby Young continues to attract enormous publicity for the ‘comprehensive grammar’ that he and a group of parents are planning to start up in West London, while opposition spokesman Michael Gove has been holding talks with the actress Goldie Hawn. Read more...
Children opinion
The biter bit, by Mike Thatcher
Christine Gilbert had a glimpse this week of what it’s like to be berated for poor performance and to have your apparent failings dissected by what were once known as Fleet Street’s finest. Read more...
26 November 2009 | Mike Thatcher
Shooting the messenger, by Conor Ryan
Today’s Ofsted annual report has both good and bad news. There has been a substantial increase in the number of ‘good’ and ‘outstanding’ schools – the equivalent of 1800 extra good schools in three years – but there remains a stubborn group where teaching is poor. Read more...
24 November 2009 | Conor Ryan
Childcare lessons, by the Institute for Fiscal Studies
Gordon Brown’s speech to the Labour party conference gave more detail about an existing ambition of this government to provide free early education and childcare places for 2-year-old children in England. Read more...
30 September 2009 | Institute for Fiscal Studies
If it ain’t broke… By Kate Green
…don’t means test it. Proposals to end universal entitlements, such as child benefit, should be resisted by the government Read more...
24 September 2009 | Kate Green
Damned if they don’t, by Richard Jones
Sir Roger Singleton’s comparatively new Independent Safeguarding Authority has learned the hard way, during the past few weeks, that apart from walking barefoot through broken glass, there is nothing more potentially painful for a public body to do than burst into the heated, and very often overheated, world of protecting people from abuse. His has been the dilemma faced by social workers since the dawn of the profession: deciding what is an acceptable risk to take within a liberal society. Read more…
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18 September 2009 | Richard Jones
Keeping the trust? By the Institute for Fiscal Studies
The oldest children to receive a Child Trust Fund from the government today celebrate their seventh birthdays. Alongside their other presents, the government is making a further contribution to their accounts – those in families receiving a full Child Tax Credit award get £500 while everyone else will get £250. These are the first contributions that these children will have received from the government since equivalent amounts were paid in when the account were opened, at which point 30% qualified for the more generous award. The money is invested and, under normal circumstances, is locked away until the child reaches age 18. Read more...
1 September 2009 | Carl Emmerson
Some are more equal than others
Despite government rhetoric about reducing poverty and inequalities – and the slew of policies and laws to achieve this – the poorest people in the UK are being penalised and the rich are getting richer. Read more…
15 May 2009 | Gabrielle Preston
Fashionably early
Youth problems are a drain on society and the taxpayer. But early intervention – devoting resources to younger children to improve emotional and social skills – can prevent antisocial behaviour in later life Read more…
6 February 2009 | Graham Allen
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