Designed to give the UK's most disadvantaged children an academic boost, the pupil premium is a £1.25bn allowance to be spent on disadvantaged students: those eligible for Free School Meals (FSM) and children of members of the armed services. It is an excellent initiative that has the potential to genuinely improve the academic attainment of tens of thousands of children.

Teachers are under fire. The Chief Inspector of Schools in England has commented that, if teachers want to receive pay rises, they should work longer hours, staying on in school after the final bell has gone each afternoon.

I do wonder whether the general perception of teachers in this country is informed largely by three main sources: Grange Hill, Teachers and Waterloo Road. It would be a real shame, when the profession has moved on from elbow patches and smoking behind the bikesheds whilst discussing a workplace romance, to see that undone by the constant barrage of generalisation about the way teachers perform.

Teachers' leaders attacked England's chief inspector of schools after he said they must work extra hours if they want a pay rise. Sir Michael Wilsh...

Thousands of the brightest children in England are failing to achieve top grades at GCSE because of a growing trend towards entering pupils early for ...

Schools need to spend pupil premium money on their poor students and not on recruiting more teaching assistants, Ofsted's chief has warned. Sir Mic...

Of late I have become fascinated with two of the main players in UK education. The Secretary of State for Education, the Right Honourable Michael Gove and the Chief Inspector of Schools, and Head of Ofsted, Sir Michael Wilshaw - from what I can tell he is the only person in the UK to have been knighted without winning a major sporting trophy.

Former failing headteachers have been recruited by Ofsted to inspect schools, it was reported on Tuesday. Governors and ex-school secretaries have ...

Ofsted's controversial chief inspector today launched a stinging attack on heads and teachers who make excuses and complain about their jobs, saying t...

It has long been understood that the quality of a school and the quality of a home life can both have huge affects on child development. The lack ...

Literacy standards in English schools are falling behind those in other countries, Ofsted's chief inspector is to warn. Sir Michael Wilshaw will sa...

More than a third of schools inspected in the last three months of 2011 were not good enough, according to Ofsted figures. Statistics show that of ...

Hundreds of outstanding schools could see their status downgraded if their teaching fails to match the standards of the institution, Ofsted announced ...

It is right that schools are competitive environments because a school is a microcosm of real society. A debating tournament is not won by the fastest or the strongest or the man who grafts.

Private schools could face unannounced inspections in future under a shake-up of the system, meaning they will be on a par with the rest of the countr...

Schools will no longer be classified as “satisfactory” by inspections, under plans outlined by Ofsted chief Sir Michael Wilshaw. Sir Michael sa...

Every school will face the possibility of no-notice inspections by Oftsed from this autumn, the new chief of the schools inspection body announced tod...

Incoming Ofsted chief Sir Michael Wilshaw has called poorly-dressed staff "patronising" to schoolchildren. In an interview on BBC Radio 4, Wilshaw ...

Schools which fail to improve after three inspections should be subject to a "three strikes and you're out policy", a think tank has recommended. S...