I do not think this is something to celebrate and I worry about what it means for poor children in schools that are underperforming: theguardian.com/education/20…

Obviously don’t know the full story, but things like this are usually negligence.

Dystopian.

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My daughter (13): “I’ve put my maths hoodie on for you, Dad” 😡

For a very long time, I was optimistic about the future of education in this country. This time last year, @amymayforrester and I predicted that when the next round of PISA results came out, England would tick up. There had been 15 years of positive change in the sector, and we thought that would pay dividends. That then came to fruition. England is doing well, especially compared to countries that are similar in many demographic and social respects, but have different education systems. But now, I am worried. There are lots of things going on that I think are problematic. The current government and DfE seem hell-bent on reforming a sector that does not need reform, and introducing changes that will row back some of the gradual improvements we have seen. Ofsted seem stuck in a mire of unpopularity, and are unable to convince the profession or the public that they are a force for school improvement. Big, respected, organisations that hold government contracts and an important place in the sector do not seem to be delivering. None of these groups are bad actors, and I really do believe they all want what's best, but that isn't always enough. Alongside that, we seem to now lack the public discourse infrastructure to adequately challenge these issues. The 2012-2019 years on Twitter were ones of fierce debate and criticality, and ideas could be well-tested before, during and after implementation. That doesn't exist any more. The debate seems so much flatter. That's partly a numbers game: social media has become a less popular place. But also, politically and commercially, more and more "big voices" find it harder to make public statements and take strong positions on things. It's easier to get in line and bend with whatever winds happen to be blowing at the minute, and you often see people taking surprising and contradictory positions. Critically, I don't exempt myself from this, and know that there are things I would have said 5 years ago that I won't now. For the first time in a while, I'm worried. I am certainly no longer optimistic.

"Everyone has always prioritised knowledge" Meanwhile, I was on the group that tried to work out the way to assess these competencies rather than subjects.

We need to get the Wolf report out. It’s still relevant.

If someone talks about their school 'knowing what greater depth in history is', what should you think of them?

If one’s government was going to announce a load of new key stage four qualifications to start very soon, one would hope one’s government would announce where the qualified teachers are coming from. And what’s happened to the curriculum review.

I used to like and respect Calvin. He was amiable and listened. But a few years ago I was one of a dozen people I knew (and likely more) warning he was on an inevitable path trodden by Katie Hopkins and others. He was offended. Now he’s too far down the path. The Times agrees.

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I am not a fan of the new Ofsted framework. We should definitely not pause Ofsted inspections, mainly because they are some (typically poor) kids’ only defence against extremely low standards. Both of these things can be true at the same time.

I know this is unhelpful, but I can't help it: I said that we should be careful what we wish for with the abandoning of overall Ofsted grades. I would have them back.

Worrying about the amount of time very young kids spend on screens is not alarmism.

Vicious time trial today @FPL__Raptor