Warwick Mansell
@warwickmansell.bsky.social
Dad of two. Founder/writer of the website Education Uncovered. Investigating and reporting on education policy since 1997. Please support my work via a subscription to educationuncovered.co.uk Views personal.
New: Government makes significant concession to overseas-trained teachers, as recruits from six countries are given fast-track access to Qualified Teacher Status, after 12 months' teaching here.
educationuncovered.co.uk/news/governm...
educationuncovered.co.uk/news/governm...
Education Uncovered | News| Government makes significant concession to overseas-trained teachers, as recruits from six countries are given fast-track access to Qualified Teacher Status
Move follows coverage in Observer last year of conditions facing Jamaican recruits to Harris Federation schools
educationuncovered.co.uk
November 21, 2025 at 2:33 PM
New: Government makes significant concession to overseas-trained teachers, as recruits from six countries are given fast-track access to Qualified Teacher Status, after 12 months' teaching here.
educationuncovered.co.uk/news/governm...
educationuncovered.co.uk/news/governm...
New: Cutting academy reserves to level seen in LA schools would release £1.5 billion for spending in classrooms
educationuncovered.co.uk/news/cutting...
New piece comparing levels of reserves in the academy and non-academy school sectors.
educationuncovered.co.uk/news/cutting...
New piece comparing levels of reserves in the academy and non-academy school sectors.
Education Uncovered | News| Cutting academy reserves to level seen in LA schools would release £1.5 billion for spending in classrooms
Academies sector as a whole had £2.7 billion sitting in reserves in 2023-24, this website's analysis shows, as DfE says schools could be doing more to make use of their funds.
educationuncovered.co.uk
November 18, 2025 at 1:51 PM
New: Cutting academy reserves to level seen in LA schools would release £1.5 billion for spending in classrooms
educationuncovered.co.uk/news/cutting...
New piece comparing levels of reserves in the academy and non-academy school sectors.
educationuncovered.co.uk/news/cutting...
New piece comparing levels of reserves in the academy and non-academy school sectors.
New: The academy chains sitting on £1 billion of reserves
educationuncovered.co.uk/news/the-aca...
Exclusive Education Uncovered analysis of DfE school finance data comes with the government having said schools could be doing more with money currently held back.
educationuncovered.co.uk/news/the-aca...
Exclusive Education Uncovered analysis of DfE school finance data comes with the government having said schools could be doing more with money currently held back.
Education Uncovered | News| The academy chains sitting on £1 billion of reserves
Some 63 academy trusts collectively held £1 billion in 2023-24, DfE data shows, with the 10 with the highest levels of reserves sitting on a third of a billion between them.
educationuncovered.co.uk
November 18, 2025 at 1:46 PM
New: The academy chains sitting on £1 billion of reserves
educationuncovered.co.uk/news/the-aca...
Exclusive Education Uncovered analysis of DfE school finance data comes with the government having said schools could be doing more with money currently held back.
educationuncovered.co.uk/news/the-aca...
Exclusive Education Uncovered analysis of DfE school finance data comes with the government having said schools could be doing more with money currently held back.
New: Under-pressure academy trust forced by minister to reverse its decision to close school sixth form educationuncovered.co.uk/news/under-p...
Quite unusual to see DfE intervene as it has, following this attempted move by the Arthur Terry Learning Partnership.
Quite unusual to see DfE intervene as it has, following this attempted move by the Arthur Terry Learning Partnership.
Education Uncovered | News| Under-pressure academy trust forced by minister to reverse its decision to close school sixth form
The 24-school academy chain has had its proposed closure of Nether Stowe School’s sixth form in Lichfield blocked by the government, with ministers concerned about local options for students.
educationuncovered.co.uk
November 17, 2025 at 3:18 PM
New: Under-pressure academy trust forced by minister to reverse its decision to close school sixth form educationuncovered.co.uk/news/under-p...
Quite unusual to see DfE intervene as it has, following this attempted move by the Arthur Terry Learning Partnership.
Quite unusual to see DfE intervene as it has, following this attempted move by the Arthur Terry Learning Partnership.
So many AI fails. Here's another one, from Google summary: "X Multi Academy Trust is a group of schools.. with its history dating back to ..1902." Of course the academy trust only dates back a few years; it's the schools it now controls that go back that far.
November 14, 2025 at 3:11 PM
So many AI fails. Here's another one, from Google summary: "X Multi Academy Trust is a group of schools.. with its history dating back to ..1902." Of course the academy trust only dates back a few years; it's the schools it now controls that go back that far.
New: Campaigners launch crowdfunding drives, shining spotlights on school attendance pressures and the experience of Ofsted
educationuncovered.co.uk/news/campaig...
Stressful scenarios within education could both benefit from greater scrutiny and discussion, the fundraisers argue.
educationuncovered.co.uk/news/campaig...
Stressful scenarios within education could both benefit from greater scrutiny and discussion, the fundraisers argue.
Education Uncovered | News| Campaigners launch crowdfunding drives, shining spotlights on school attendance pressures and the experience of Ofsted
Stressful scenarios within education could both benefit from greater scrutiny and discussion, the fundraisers argue.
educationuncovered.co.uk
November 13, 2025 at 4:34 PM
New: Campaigners launch crowdfunding drives, shining spotlights on school attendance pressures and the experience of Ofsted
educationuncovered.co.uk/news/campaig...
Stressful scenarios within education could both benefit from greater scrutiny and discussion, the fundraisers argue.
educationuncovered.co.uk/news/campaig...
Stressful scenarios within education could both benefit from greater scrutiny and discussion, the fundraisers argue.
Targets have always had a mechanistic, dehumanising element. This seems very much in that tradition. School leaders' points seem well-made: reaching for another target (or test) is so much easier for Whitehall than ground-up improvement. schoolsweek.co.uk/ai-to-set-mi...
Attendance: AI-generated targets to be set for all schools
AI-generated targets will be set for all schools in England, government has announced, as it looks to crackdown on absence rates.
schoolsweek.co.uk
November 12, 2025 at 3:50 PM
Targets have always had a mechanistic, dehumanising element. This seems very much in that tradition. School leaders' points seem well-made: reaching for another target (or test) is so much easier for Whitehall than ground-up improvement. schoolsweek.co.uk/ai-to-set-mi...
New: The local authority where eight academy trust chief executives are paid more than the Prime Minister
educationuncovered.co.uk/news/the-loc...
Situation in this moderately-sized county underlines the proliferation of highly-paid CEO roles under the academies policy.
educationuncovered.co.uk/news/the-loc...
Situation in this moderately-sized county underlines the proliferation of highly-paid CEO roles under the academies policy.
Education Uncovered | News| The local authority where eight academy trust chief executives are paid more than the Prime Minister
Union branch secretary, who carried out the research, said “the concentration of wealth and power in the hands of MAT executives” was undermining the principle of public education.
educationuncovered.co.uk
November 12, 2025 at 9:51 AM
New: The local authority where eight academy trust chief executives are paid more than the Prime Minister
educationuncovered.co.uk/news/the-loc...
Situation in this moderately-sized county underlines the proliferation of highly-paid CEO roles under the academies policy.
educationuncovered.co.uk/news/the-loc...
Situation in this moderately-sized county underlines the proliferation of highly-paid CEO roles under the academies policy.
New: The Francis review: Good in parts, but with one huge omission
educationuncovered.co.uk/analysis/the...
My initial take on the curriculum and assessment review. Better in the micro than the macro, I think.
educationuncovered.co.uk/analysis/the...
My initial take on the curriculum and assessment review. Better in the micro than the macro, I think.
Education Uncovered | Analysis| The Francis review: Good in parts, but with one huge omission
Review seemed better on the micro than on the big picture of how children are experiencing school.
educationuncovered.co.uk
November 7, 2025 at 9:28 AM
New: The Francis review: Good in parts, but with one huge omission
educationuncovered.co.uk/analysis/the...
My initial take on the curriculum and assessment review. Better in the micro than the macro, I think.
educationuncovered.co.uk/analysis/the...
My initial take on the curriculum and assessment review. Better in the micro than the macro, I think.
Reposted by Warwick Mansell
Lots of thought-provoking stats in this release from the Institute for Government, not least: "In 2023–24, there were an average of five suspensions in every secondary school class, more than double the highest rate seen pre-pandemic." www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/press-releas...
Labour is struggling to meet its education priorities | Institute for Government
The government’s spending plans mean it will struggle to narrow gaps in educational outcomes by the end of this parliament.
www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk
November 6, 2025 at 10:01 AM
Lots of thought-provoking stats in this release from the Institute for Government, not least: "In 2023–24, there were an average of five suspensions in every secondary school class, more than double the highest rate seen pre-pandemic." www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/press-releas...
Teaching grammatical terminology inc fronted adverbials in Key Stage 2. Review: "Responses to our Call for Evidence suggest that this content is advanced and overly theoretical at this key stage, disengages pupils, + does not help them to write well." See also: www.theguardian.com/education/20...
Battle on the adverbials front: grammar advisers raise worries about Sats tests and teaching
The panel of four who advised Michael Gove on the primary spelling and grammar test now have reservations
www.theguardian.com
November 5, 2025 at 2:06 PM
Teaching grammatical terminology inc fronted adverbials in Key Stage 2. Review: "Responses to our Call for Evidence suggest that this content is advanced and overly theoretical at this key stage, disengages pupils, + does not help them to write well." See also: www.theguardian.com/education/20...
Reading the curriculum and assessment review. Very interesting, and will offer longer thoughts when through. But reflecting on lack of mention, at least at the start, for the copious concerning evidence we have on pupil wellbeing/engagement,+lack of a parent or pupil representation on review panel.
November 5, 2025 at 11:49 AM
Reading the curriculum and assessment review. Very interesting, and will offer longer thoughts when through. But reflecting on lack of mention, at least at the start, for the copious concerning evidence we have on pupil wellbeing/engagement,+lack of a parent or pupil representation on review panel.
Also on "isolation": "The question for all of us, then, is: do isolation or removal rooms work?": www.teamteach.com/the-problem-...
The Problem with Isolation and Removal Rooms - Team Teach
With the recent change of government in the UK, we will undoubtedly be facing many changes to the education sector. While the newly-elected Prime Minister undoubtedly faces a range of pressing demands...
www.teamteach.com
November 5, 2025 at 11:12 AM
Also on "isolation": "The question for all of us, then, is: do isolation or removal rooms work?": www.teamteach.com/the-problem-...
This is interesting on the isolation/reset/internal exclusion etc debate: "Why I got rid of isolation at my school": www.tes.com/magazine/ana...
Why I got rid of isolation at my school
One head makes the case against isolating students for poor behaviour - and explains the improvements she has seen since abandoning the policy at her school
www.tes.com
November 5, 2025 at 11:11 AM
This is interesting on the isolation/reset/internal exclusion etc debate: "Why I got rid of isolation at my school": www.tes.com/magazine/ana...
Interesting that Bridget Phillipson's first point, in Today prog interview about DfE's response to the Francis review, was in terms of the government now extending the national curriculum to all state-funded schools. Although this wasn't mentioned, this of course includes academies.
November 5, 2025 at 9:53 AM
Interesting that Bridget Phillipson's first point, in Today prog interview about DfE's response to the Francis review, was in terms of the government now extending the national curriculum to all state-funded schools. Although this wasn't mentioned, this of course includes academies.
Curriculum and assessment review's proposal to reduce GCSE exam time by "at least 10%," which has been translated to a 3 hour cut per pupil, interesting. But seems to fall short of argument of head of OCR exam board last year of 8-10 hour cut. educationuncovered.co.uk/news/cut-the...
Education Uncovered | News| Cut the number and length of GCSE exam papers to boost pupil wellbeing, says head of one of England’s big three exam boards
England's big three boards are now all calling for reductions in the number of exams pupils take.
educationuncovered.co.uk
November 5, 2025 at 9:29 AM
Curriculum and assessment review's proposal to reduce GCSE exam time by "at least 10%," which has been translated to a 3 hour cut per pupil, interesting. But seems to fall short of argument of head of OCR exam board last year of 8-10 hour cut. educationuncovered.co.uk/news/cut-the...
Comment on LinkedIn on this piece, from a primary headteacher: "If the curriculum and assessment review is to have meaning, it must look beyond exam tweaks and reimagine what we value. High standards matter, but so does high wellbeing. I hope Becky Francis and the review team have really listened."
New: “Will the Francis curriculum and assessment review provide the radical look at the in-the-round impact of England’s school system on young people that is desperately needed?” Viewable (open access) here: educationuncovered.co.uk/analysis/wil... +here: warwickmansell.substack.com/p/will-the-f...
Education Uncovered | Analysis| Will the Francis curriculum and assessment review provide the radical look at the in-the-round impact of England’s school system on young people that is desperately ne...
But I would love to be proven wrong on this.
educationuncovered.co.uk
November 4, 2025 at 4:21 PM
Comment on LinkedIn on this piece, from a primary headteacher: "If the curriculum and assessment review is to have meaning, it must look beyond exam tweaks and reimagine what we value. High standards matter, but so does high wellbeing. I hope Becky Francis and the review team have really listened."
New: “Will the Francis curriculum and assessment review provide the radical look at the in-the-round impact of England’s school system on young people that is desperately needed?” Viewable (open access) here: educationuncovered.co.uk/analysis/wil... +here: warwickmansell.substack.com/p/will-the-f...
Education Uncovered | Analysis| Will the Francis curriculum and assessment review provide the radical look at the in-the-round impact of England’s school system on young people that is desperately ne...
But I would love to be proven wrong on this.
educationuncovered.co.uk
November 4, 2025 at 1:17 PM
New: “Will the Francis curriculum and assessment review provide the radical look at the in-the-round impact of England’s school system on young people that is desperately needed?” Viewable (open access) here: educationuncovered.co.uk/analysis/wil... +here: warwickmansell.substack.com/p/will-the-f...
True dat. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Are your kids obsessed with ‘6-7’? Here’s my plan to break the spell | Dave Schilling
Rules seem unlikely to help – kids will just rebel. Instead, try saying it all the time yourself
www.theguardian.com
November 4, 2025 at 12:16 PM
True dat. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
It is quite a contrast with what goes on in many modern workplaces, for sure.
November 3, 2025 at 4:38 PM
It is quite a contrast with what goes on in many modern workplaces, for sure.
New: Academy trust cuts sanction for children with “inappropriate hairstyles” from three days in isolation to two:
educationuncovered.co.uk/news/academy...
educationuncovered.co.uk/news/academy...
Education Uncovered | News| Academy trust cuts sanction for children with “inappropriate hairstyles” from three days in isolation to two
Pupils at the Gorse Academies Trust also face “isolation” for “lines in their eyebrows,” for uniform violations, or for forgetting their student planner twice, its behaviour policy states. However, th...
educationuncovered.co.uk
November 3, 2025 at 3:52 PM
New: Academy trust cuts sanction for children with “inappropriate hairstyles” from three days in isolation to two:
educationuncovered.co.uk/news/academy...
educationuncovered.co.uk/news/academy...
The Times reporting that DfE's curriculum and assessment review will make triple science a statutory entitlement for all pupils. Implications perhaps for Eng's most successful Progress 8 school, Michaela, where almost all pupils take double science. www.thetimes.com/uk/education...
Science GCSEs to get biggest overhaul in more than a decade
All schools must teach each science separately, as part of a government review into the curriculum to boost social mobility across England
www.thetimes.com
November 1, 2025 at 3:45 PM
The Times reporting that DfE's curriculum and assessment review will make triple science a statutory entitlement for all pupils. Implications perhaps for Eng's most successful Progress 8 school, Michaela, where almost all pupils take double science. www.thetimes.com/uk/education...
Interesting story from @fcdwhittaker.bsky.social of @schoolsweek.bsky.social , but dubious language from DfE: "When responsible bodies acquire a new school..."
In the state sector, these bodies aren't "acquring" schools; they're being handed them.
schoolsweek.co.uk/strategic-sc...
In the state sector, these bodies aren't "acquring" schools; they're being handed them.
schoolsweek.co.uk/strategic-sc...
Revealed: DfE finally explains shady academy capital fund
DfE finally publishes guidance on shady academy fund that has paid out tens of millions over the past decade
schoolsweek.co.uk
October 30, 2025 at 6:00 PM
Interesting story from @fcdwhittaker.bsky.social of @schoolsweek.bsky.social , but dubious language from DfE: "When responsible bodies acquire a new school..."
In the state sector, these bodies aren't "acquring" schools; they're being handed them.
schoolsweek.co.uk/strategic-sc...
In the state sector, these bodies aren't "acquring" schools; they're being handed them.
schoolsweek.co.uk/strategic-sc...
“Labour truly focusing on within-school improvement, rather than changes in structures, Education Uncovered hears”
educationuncovered.co.uk/analysis/dia...
Interesting take on recent Tim Coulson appearance at DfE school improvement conference, in this new diary column.
educationuncovered.co.uk/analysis/dia...
Interesting take on recent Tim Coulson appearance at DfE school improvement conference, in this new diary column.
Education Uncovered | Diary| Shouldn’t they concentrate on their own schools? Five MAT CEOs, picked by government to advise on school improvement, have academies on list of those needing improvement
Analysis of schools and advisers on "RISE" lists shows the paradoxes and complexities of school improvement within England's fragmented organisational environment. Plus: we are leaked some "outdated" ...
educationuncovered.co.uk
October 30, 2025 at 1:43 PM
“Labour truly focusing on within-school improvement, rather than changes in structures, Education Uncovered hears”
educationuncovered.co.uk/analysis/dia...
Interesting take on recent Tim Coulson appearance at DfE school improvement conference, in this new diary column.
educationuncovered.co.uk/analysis/dia...
Interesting take on recent Tim Coulson appearance at DfE school improvement conference, in this new diary column.