This article draws on European approaches to differentiation that do not entail fatalistic determinism. It describes two challenging initiatives in Denmark, where democratic learning and learning for democracy are enshrined in law. Other examples come from Germany, from the Bielefeld laboratory school and a sixth form college, where planning for…

It is a well-established norm in England that secondary school mathematics is taught in groups categorised by prior attainment. It is therefore worthwhile to report alternative practices of all-attainment teaching--but these are rare. In this article, we report aspects of all-attainment mathematics teaching in a secondary school that has…

A number of significant campaigning organisations and education trades unions--the Anti-Academies Alliance, CASE, Comprehensive Future, Forum, ISCG and the Socialist Educational Association, along with ASCL, ATL, NASUWT and NUT--staged a conference in London on 19 November 2011, with the title 'Caught in the (Education) Act: tackling Michael…

In this slightly amended version of the talk with which the author opened the "Caught in the Act" Conference on 19 November 2011, he talks about fighting the most vicious right-wing government that England has known since the end of the Second World War--and one that is determined to destroy what's left of "a national system of education, locally…

In September 2011, the author published "School Wars: the battle for Britain's education." Since then she has been travelling around the country engaging in intense debates with parents, teachers, politicians and students about the current state of state education. It has been an interesting experience for it has brought her, a passionate believer…

Neoliberalism is often addressed by commentators and critics as a set of ideas or a doctrine. This article considers neoliberalism as a set of financial practices and exchanges--as about money and profit--and goes on to suggest that as practitioners, researchers, activists we need to understand and engage with that logic and its mechanisms.…

In this article the author examines the response of the Labour leadership to the Conservative-led Government's policies for restructuring and re-agenting the school system. His focus is on the role of local authorities and local democracy. He identifies two contradictory dynamics in Labour's current thinking. One promises to enhance local…

The direction of the UK Government's policy is to remove schools from local authority control, and replace that relationship with private sponsors, undermining their ability, or indeed inclination, to deliver on the "Every Child Matters" agenda, among many others. The author argues that local authorities have much to give and where they have…

This article argues that comprehensive reorganisation was not a one-off policy reform but a complex, bottom-up campaign for equity and fairness in education, with varied consequences and outcomes. Recent battles over student fees, free schools and academies show that the quest for democratic education does not lead to a permanent achievement but…

This contribution is an edited version of the "Alumni Lecture" organised by the Department of Education of the University of Oxford at Lady Margaret Hall on 15th September 2011. The article reviews the drift towards the centralisation of power in the way the schooling system is run, the conflict between a desire for equity in education and the…

There has been research on grouping pupils by ability for most of the twentieth century since Whipple carried out a study of the effects of special class placement on a group of high aptitude 5th and 6th graders in the USA in 1919. Since then hundreds of studies have been undertaken and there have been many literature reviews and syntheses of…

The author argues that when the Labour Party has analysed its values emotional development has been neglected. He shows the importance of emotional literacy and uses education as a vehicle to show how Labour when in power reinforced right-wing ideology. Ways of changing education policy are indicated. It is hoped that this article will promote a…

As a former comprehensive school pupil herself, the author wanted to know more about the women who had pioneered comprehensive schools in England. Therefore, she chose the headmistress and comprehensive school campaigner Dame Margaret Miles (1911-1994) as the subject of a dissertation for her History of Education MA at the Institute of Education,…

This article reflects on the inequity of secondary modern school education. In doing so it draws heavily on the experience of the author while highlighting inputs from others who failed the 11+ examination and were banished to such schools. The article argues that selection undermines the self-esteem of secondary modern school pupils and places…

This article analyses some of the common assertions made in the public debate about the merits and disadvantages of faith schools and tests them against actual research findings. It argues that there is a growing body of evidence showing that current policy and practice in faith schools creates social division and that faith schools need to do…