IT'S EASY TO BE CRITICAL!

I am struggling to balance the negative, destructive and short sighted approaches and outpourings from the DfE and OFSTED, with the outstanding things I see every week in ordinary schools where ordinary teachers working with ordinary young people, are achieving extraordinary outcomes.

These experiences and the compelling research and evidence about what works, alongside a lifetimes' experience of building brilliant provision where people have told me that things were impossible, have convinced me that if academies, free schools and private schools are the answer to educational excellence we've asked the wrong question! If you read the McKinsey Reports, analyse the PISA data, review the research evidence about 'what works' and listen to people like Ken Robinson, Dan Pink and Tony Wagner it is increasingly obvious that we need to develop skills, character and knowledge in all our little learners and all our bigger learners.