What's Trending In Education

By Design, Not By Default

Learning spaces are rarely pure accidents, but intent fades fast. From open-plan hubs to beautiful work displays, this explore how schools, colleges and universities can design deliberately for every learner, not just the SEND register.

A Sky Full of Stars

One trusted adult is a brilliant start and a fragile design. Learners need a sky, not just one star: a connected web of people who stay in their corner through every single handover and transition.

Magical Thinking Dressed Up as Strategy

AI has become education's answer to every question before anyone bothers to ask what the question actually is. We argue for fixing purpose and joined-up systems first, so AI becomes an accelerant, not a distraction.

Still on Speed Dial

Strong parental engagement is worth two to three extra years of learning, yet we switch parents off at 16. Schools, FE, universities and employers must bring families back in before things go wrong.

Student Voice Is Not Enough 

Schools often collect pupil voice but keep decision-making power to themselves. Michael Fegan argues genuine student agency means involving pupils throughout the process - presenting findings, prioritising issues, joining leadership discussions -closing the feedback loop rather than treating consultation as a one-off event.

Compliance Is the Curriculum

Control and compliance aren't neutral classroom habits, they're inherited industrial tools built for a job that no longer exists. This piece unpicks the difference between safety and control, and asks what trust actually costs to build.

Results Days Never Fail To Fail Them

Nearly half of GCSE students "fail" maths and English every single year, by design. We unpack the assessment industrial complex, why results day measures nothing real, and why teachers already know it.

The First Disclosure May Be to a Machine

AI literacy is safeguarding now. Children can disclose fears to a chatbot before any adult, so schools must teach questioning and evaluation, not just device rules, while keeping trusted humans within reach.

The Child Is Not the Barrier. The System Is.

Two children, two barriers mistaken for learning gaps. When technology separates the knowledge being tested from the format used to show it, capability finally becomes visible.

The Half-Life of a Grade

A grade is a snapshot of what a young person knew on one particular morning, about content with a shelf life. We treat GCSEs, A-Levels and degrees as endpoints when learning has no finish line. Here's why the full stop is the real danger.

The Great AI Vocabulary Distraction

Education is stuck debating whether to call it AI literacy, fluency or competency. The argument itself is the problem, a governance fight distracting from the harder question of what students should actually be able to do.

Nobody Mentioned Quadratic Equations

A new Education Secretary is in post. We asked hundreds of people what they'd tell a ten year old about why school matters. Nobody said exams. Here's what that gap should actually change.

Clear Is Kind, Unclear Is Unkind

Education has confused kindness with silence. Drawing on Radical Candour, this piece argues that clear, caring honesty, for staff and students alike, isn't the opposite of kindness. It's the substance of it.

Passing the Parcel

Permanent exclusion feels decisive but rarely solves anything. Using UK exclusion data and cost analysis, we argue it just passes the problem downstream, to alternative provision and society, while the underlying need stays unaddressed.

One System Not Five Kingdoms

Education isn't one system but five walled-off kingdoms - early years, primary, secondary, FE, higher education - each hoarding what it's mastered while children lose something at every transition. The fix isn't reform but connection: one shared spine.

The Year We Rearranged the Deckchairs

A year of frenzied education reform - reviews, bans, a dismantled US department - changed nothing about how children actually learn. It was tinkering, not rebuilding. Iran's crisis exposed a system that collapses without its building.

The Curriculum After Growth

The Global Justice Report challenges education's hidden growth story. Schools shape young people's sense of the future, so flourishing must mean ecological, economic and relational justice, not just individual wellbeing, mobility or competition.

AI Should Make Learning Messier, Not Easier

AI should enhance productive struggle, not eliminate it. The best classroom use of AI helps teachers design richer human experiences and helps students think more deeply, not simply finish tasks faster.

The Weight Nobody Warned You About

Real leadership in education isn't about vision documents or data targets. It's a daily choice to stay human in a system that rewards anything but. Here's what that actually looks like.

Bodies in Seats Don't Equal Minds in Gear

Schools wrongly prioritise attendance over engagement. Students can be physically present but mentally absent. True educational success comes from creating compelling learning experiences that inspire genuine participation, not forcing compliance through attendance tracking.

Why Real Learning Beats Death by Worksheet

Education has become a joyless factory churning out worksheets instead of real learning. We need to unleash purposeful play, tackle authentic community problems, and rediscover that joy is the gateway to deep learning.

The 2 Sigma Problem: Why AI Tutoring Might Not Just Be Another Fad

Bloom found tutored students outperform 98% of peers. Most EdTech just digitises old methods. AI tutoring could finally solve personalised learning at scale - true considered disruption that starts with educational problems, not shiny gadgets.

OfSTED Unmasked

OfSTED has become a fear-driven regime that prioritises performative compliance over genuine learning. Its inspections warp priorities, harm wellbeing, and stifle innovation - all under the illusion of accountability. Reform is urgent and overdue.

When Monologues Die, Learning Thrives

Education is stuck in a top-down, talk-at-them model that stifles curiosity, collaboration, and real learning. True education thrives in dialogue, not monologue, where all voices are heard, power is shared, and thinking happens together.

Why Control and Compliance Are Killing Education

Education is being strangled by a culture of control, where compliance trumps curiosity and risk-taking is punished. To nurture creativity and real learning, we must trust teachers, value the unmeasurable, and prioritise professional autonomy.

Digital Literacy isn't an Option

Digital literacy isn't optional – it's essential. In a world shaped by technology, teaching students how to think critically, collaborate online, and navigate digital life must be woven through education, not sidelined by excuses.

Failure & Experience -The Dynamic Duo

We need to stop treating failure as a threat and project-based learning as fluff. Real growth happens when students tackle meaningful challenges, fail, reflect, and try again. It's messy, human, and exactly what learning should be.

Stop Being a Dictator and Start Being a Guide

Teachers are trapped between rigid compliance and the call to engage every learner. Real change starts by ditching dictatorship and embracing flexibility, trust, and curiosity. Great teaching isn’t about control - it’s about finding ways.

Digital Transformation is More Than A New iPad

Buying the latest gadgets isn’t digital transformation; it’s digital distraction. Real change means rethinking pedagogy, empowering teachers, personalising learning, and building integrated ecosystems that prepare students for a digital world. Tech alone won't save education.

AI Isn't Your Nemesis, It's Your Bloody Sidekick!

AI in education isn’t about replacement, but enhancement. It personalises learning, reduces admin, and supports teachers. The future demands we blend technology with human insight to rethink how we teach, assess, and prepare students.

It's Time to Hand Over the Reins

Student-centred learning means more than talk. It’s time to empower students to shape their learning, develop real-world skills, and share responsibility. With the right balance of structure and voice, education becomes truly transformative.

Unmasking the Skills Agenda: Rethinking the Knowledge-Rich Curriculum

Education must move beyond exam drills and outdated curricula. We need to foster critical thinking, creativity, and wellbeing through real-world learning, balanced assessment, and smart use of technology. Skills and knowledge together will shape future-ready learners.

Innovation vs. Compliance: The Education Tightrope

Innovation in education is being strangled by box-ticking and policy overload. Teachers need freedom to experiment, fail, and grow. Schools should be judged on creativity, not conformity. It's time to prioritise real learning over paperwork.

The Tail Wagging the Dog: Unmasking the Gatekeepers of Education

Education decisions are too often made by people far removed from classrooms. We need policies shaped by those who know the realities: teachers. It’s time to give educators real power and put pupils’ needs first.

Rewilding Education: From Monoculture to Thriving Rainforest

School needs to move beyond rigid uniformity and embrace a diverse, creative ecosystem. By fostering psychological safety and valuing culture over compliance, we can grow resilient learners, empowered teachers, and innovative schools that truly thrive.

Collective Illusions Might Just Be Our Biggest Enemy

We are trapped in comforting myths that stifle progress. It's time to question outdated beliefs, embrace discomfort, and turn schools into places of experimentation, curiosity, and honest reflection. Innovation starts where illusions end.

Inclusion: Stop Talking, Start Doing

Inclusion shouldn't be special or separate because it should be standard. Every learner, every space, every lesson designed for everyone. Not an add-on, not a label. Just education that works for all, by default.

The Whole Human: Embracing the And/And Revolution in Education

Stop forcing schools to pick sides. We need Shakespeare and coding, essays and empathy, rigour and creativity. Real education blends it all – because students aren't machines. They're messy, brilliant, unpredictable, whole human beings.

Digital Skills Champions: The Unsung Heroes We Desperately Need

Most schools are bracing for a digital future with nothing but a biro and a prayer. We need digital skills champions everywhere – not just techies, but disruptors, mentors, and agitators ready to shake education awake.

Why Giving A Sh!t Is More Than Halfway There

There’s a crisis no one’s naming: a chronic shortage of people who genuinely give a sh!t. Botheredness is the missing ingredient in schools - not another framework, not more tech, but raw, unapologetic passion that refuses to settle.

Mindset Makeover: Bin the Bullsh!t, Embrace the Balls-Up

Forget the wall decals and resilience assemblies. Kids don’t need another slogan, they need a mindset revolution. Real growth means failing forward, chasing dreams not dodging disasters, and learning from the glorious mess of it all.

The School Petri Dish: Breeding Brilliant Minds, Not Obedient Drones

Textbooks don’t start revolutions. Neither do timetables, tidy desks, or sticking to “what’s always worked”. If we want classrooms buzzing with ideas, risk, and raw creativity, we need to stop playing safe and start setting fires.

Beyond the Factory: It's Time to Rebuild Education From the Ground Up

The bell rings, the conveyor moves, and another perfectly packaged student rolls off the line, except the world they’re headed into doesn’t want factory outputs. It wants thinkers, makers, rebels. Time to bulldoze the blueprint.

The Golden Thread is Purpose: Reimagining Education Around What Actually Matters

Purpose has left the building buried under spreadsheets and tick-box nonsense. But the fix isn’t complex: give a damn, teach what matters, and let teachers teach. This is the golden thread.

Rebel Ideas: Rethinking Assessment in an Infinite Game

Still making kids handwrite essays in silence like it’s 1952? Madness. The world’s shifted, but assessment hasn’t moved an inch. It’s time to stop patching up the system and start building one that actually fits how learning works now.

Beyond Solutions Looking for Problems

Walking through BETT with stars in your eyes and AI on every stand is fun – until you end up buying a submarine when you needed a decent brolly. The EdTech Buyers’ Guide slices through the noise, helping schools lead with purpose, demand real evidence, and ditch the shiny distractions. No more chasing tech for tech’s sake – it’s time to buy smarter.

The Power of Collaboration & Connection

Change doesn’t start with policies or platforms; it starts with people. When educators connect with purpose, challenge one another, and co-create without ego, they spark something bigger than any one classroom: real, lasting transformation.

Unfinished Business: The Battle for Education Reform Isn't Over

Applauding pioneers is easy. Finishing what they started takes guts. Sir Tim Brighouse cracked open the system and now it’s on us to blow it wide. We don’t need nostalgia. We need action. The next chapter’s overdue.

Moving from Copy & Paste: Why Education Can't Just Control-V Its Way to Success

Shiny ideas might turn heads, but without roots in your own context, they collapse fast. Imported solutions, no matter how polished, won’t fix what you haven’t properly diagnosed. Real change starts by digging, not pasting.

The Soul of Education: Finding Our Way Back to What Matters

Teachers are waging a daily war against mediocrity, not because the system supports them, but in spite of it. While spreadsheets stack higher, the soul of education fades. It’s time to reignite the fire from the inside out.

Your Bell Curve Is Missing the Point

Learning doesn’t end at exams, and education isn’t a checklist. The infinite game mindset challenges us to build systems that evolve, empower, and endure. As AI accelerates change, it’s never been more urgent to rethink everything.

The Strength of the Pack

Education doesn’t need more lone wolves - it needs stronger packs. Isolation might be the norm, but it’s not inevitable. When educators share, support and howl together, they don’t just cope; they lead the change. Together, we’re unstoppable.

The Problem with Playing it Safe

We’re still running schools like they’re building Model Ts, not moonshots. If the future demands creators, not copy-pasters, then it's time we stopped producing compliant answer machines and started cultivating courageous questioners. The factory model is dead - long live the ideas factory.

Stop Killing Joy: The Revolution Will Be Playful

If you want creativity, resilience and real-world thinking, stop feeding kids worksheets and start handing them cardboard boxes. Play isn’t a break from learning - it is learning. The future belongs to the curious, not the compliant.

The Heart of Education: Why Human Connection Matters More Than Ever

BETT 2025 brought the tech but the magic was in the moments between. Not in the demos or devices, but in the eye contact, the laughter, the “me too” confessions. If the future of education is digital, it better still feel human.

How Do You Eat an Elephant?

Who’s the system really serving, the learners, or the legacy? If the answer makes you uncomfortable, good. That discomfort is the birthplace of change. Let’s stop rearranging the furniture and start redesigning the house.

Why Schools Need to Break Down Their Walls

The biggest threat to education isn’t underfunding or Ofsted - it’s ego. Schools acting like corner shops guarding secret recipes while the world burns outside. Collaboration isn’t a nice-to-have - it’s survival. The future isn’t a league table. It’s a network.

Beyond Bricks And Barriers

It’s time to tip the LEGO box upside down. Real education doesn’t come from neat towers and tidy tests. It comes from the glorious chaos of connection, creativity, and curiosity. Let’s build something better.

Learning Has Left The Building

Learning no longer lives inside the classroom. It thrives in communities, digital spaces, and everyday experiences. Education must stop trying to control it and start connecting it. The future of learning is everywhere if we let it.

Stop Talking About Them and Start Creating With Them

The Choice is Ours

The Path Forward: From Exodus to Evolution

The Wellbeing Myth

The Factory Model is Killing the Craftspeople

The Bleeding is Real

Why We're Haemorrhaging Talent and How to Stop the Bleeding

The Digital Paradox: Can We Have Easy Access and Strong Security?

Five Ways to Build That Digital Bridge

The Uncomfortable Truth About the Digital Divide

Building Bridges, Not Walls

Not Another Bloody App

The Digital Chasm is Widening by the Day

Sorry Parents, We've Left You in Digital No Man's Land

Small Victories, Big Impact

Tech That Serves, Not Replaces

The Rainforest Rebellion

Hope in the Heartland: Why Education Still Matters

5 Steps to Make This Happen

The Time is Now

The Naysayers Can Get in the Bin

This Isn't Pie-in-the-Sky - It's Already Happening

What Pick 'n' Mix Education Looks Like

Imagine a World Where Education Funding Follows the Learner

The Current Buffet is Cold and the Food is Stale

Breaking Free from the Buffet

5 Ways to Create Brave Spaces for Educational Leaders

Becoming Gardeners, Not Just Growers

From Management to Metamorphosis

The Death of the Networking Event

Creating Spaces for True Connection

Beyond the Bulletproof Leader Myth

Leading From The Edge

Key Takeaways

Redefining Success in the Age of AI

Walking the Tightrope of Responsible AI

The Real Promise and Peril

Neither Saviour Nor Demon

An Uprising Of The Reasonable

A Culture of Freedom & Responsibility

To have a great idea, have a lot of them