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Theresa May, the new prime minister, is bravely pushing ahead with her plan to create more grammar schools despite a mountain of opposition from the liberal elite and middle classes, most of whom are opposed to grammar school – at least in public! Range of schools that we have  At the moment, we have three main types of schools in Britain: Fee Paying, Grammar and Comprehensive. I deliberately refer to all state schools that do not use academic selection as […]

One of the good things about autumn is that after a long summer break, students, teachers and even parents are all ready to start the whole routine of school and all that goes with it all over again in September. For parents, it may include the school run and driving the young ones to sports and other extra-curricular activities. As a teacher I always looked forward to September, despite the fact that I’ve enjoyed my summer break. There is something […]

Making vital choices for post-sixteen subjects and courses Most schools and colleges do not offer IB or Pre-U but offer A-level, which is safer and perfectly fine. Almost all the top universities list other courses such as BTEC as acceptable to gain admission but in reality they do not like them, and if a student gains entrance to a top university based on BTEC, the student will usually struggle to cope with the rigour of the course as their courses […]

University and course options – potential impact on lifetime income and prospects  In my last article, I wrote about a report by the Institute of Fiscal Studies, which highlighted the fact that certain universities are running degree courses that lead to no graduate premium. This means that students who study those courses do not earn higher income over their lifetime in comparison to non-graduates; in fact, in some cases they actually earn less than non-graduates. In this article, I reveal […]

Graduate premium – is it worth its weight in gold? According to Fraser Nelson of the Spectator magazine, during a discussion on the 10pm news last Sunday evening, research was conducted by the Institute of Fiscal Studies which indicates that many universities are running degree courses that employers do not recognise. The report also shows the concept of ‘graduate premium’ does not apply to the young people who study certain courses at the universities. Graduate premium, according to the government, […]

Facts and figures about the EBacc and why teachers and parents are worried In my last article, I highlighted the concern that headteachers, teachers and parents have as a result of the new more rigorous requirement the government has now put in place for a student to meet the criteria for the English Baccalaureate – EBacc. In this article, I show a bit of history of students’ performance since the EBacc was introduced. Included in the figures is a projection […]

The goal post for measuring success at the age of 16 moved – the new GCSE Grading system of 9 to 1 will make EBaac more difficult to achieve Since the EBacc (the English Baccalaureate) was introduced in 2010, the proportion of young people meeting the EBacc criteria has steadily increased. The worrying issue at present is that due to a new, more rigorous requirement the government is introducing from the summer of 2017, a smaller percentage of young people […]

Quality time or quantity time with the family – is there such thing as quality time? It is true that we save up, look forward to and invest a lot of emotions into planning for what we hope will be a fabulous holiday. The reality is, it is often the case that what we remember most from that wonderful holiday are small moments like when we got soaking wet or fell into the mud, or something so silly. For different […]