Kester Brewin

Teacher and writer living in London

Using Google Glass to 'gamify' education may, in the short term, lead to lessons being more entertaining - children always love screen-time, any parent will tell you that - but my experience tells me that it won't lead to greater understanding and greater educational empathy with the deep ideas being studied.

Tim Curtis

Academic, social entrepreneur and decision-maker

Michael Gove seems to think that the GCSE is too easy, and that we should wind back to the good ol' days of O Levels, and the CSEs, remember? But lets have a proper look at what the GCSE does, in comparison to O Level/CSE.

Hannah Gal

Award winning filmmaker, writer and artist

Inspirational, quality teaching is one of the topics I present to the UK's department of education along with cyber bullying, raising standards, bringing programming and code into the curriculum, academies, the rise of male teachers and more.

David Holmes

Chief Executive, Family Action

We know from our own work with families that children who come from vulnerable and disadvantaged families are most at risk of experiencing problems with school readiness. In 2011 the Sutton Trust found that children who come from low-income or disadvantaged families are often up to a year behind in their development...

Simon Woolley

Founder and Director of Operation Black Vote

The Jamaican Mary Seacole became an heroine when she travelled over 4,000 miles to nurse and attend sick British soldiers in the Crimea during the Crimean War. During her life her exploits were revered, by royalty, the military elite and thousands of ordinary citizens. More than 100 years later, tens of thousands of school children view Seacole as a wonderful role model.

Xavier Toby

Using my thought box to produce mind gems. Comedy, writing, opinion, sometimes politics

What have you got after a wedding? A dress you will hopefully never wear again, a ring you'll constantly be terrified of losing, hazy memories of an argument with a friend over nothing, a colossal hangover, and a million photos and hours of boring video.

Alana MacPherson

Graduate

The newly introduced testing of school pupils throughout England in a bid to determine their understanding of grammar, spelling and punctuation has sparked widespread debate about grammar in general. How much do we know about our language? How can we learn it? And does it even matter?

Atlanta Plowden

Student at the University of Liverpool

What this proposal really shows is that the matter of achievement is associated only with the acquirement of the higher grades and not when a student is awarded with a grade that corresponds with their potential and effort.

Shaun Dellenty

Deputy Headteacher, Founder of Anti- Homophobic Bullying Strategy 'Inclusion For All'

Education is the very best weapon we have in the fight against prejudicial, discriminatory and hateful attitudes towards LGBT people, educators must put the safety and well-being of children first, even if that means facing some unpalatable truths about their own practice.

Neil Durkin

Press Officer at Amnesty International UK

The King Edward's film rather brilliantly deals with Hakamada's case by focusing on what the passage of 45 years "feels like", as captured by the anecdotes of teachers and pupils speaking about notable events in their lives during the years 1968-2012.

Caragh Little

English teacher, book-lover, @TweeterofWit, blogger, lifelong learner

It's one of those things that gets annoying, when you're a teacher: when the Back To School posters appear in the shops before the Summer Term has eve...

Melanie Kendry

English Teacher, Tutor and Writer

When kids are fighting because they all want to do maths practice - or grammar - with you, it's a nice problem to have. But also one you need to solve. What if you're handling your kids solo, and there's no one else there to get the offender(s) in a headlock so you can carry on?

Pippa Smith

Co Chairman of charity Safermedia

New guidance for teachers from the Sex Education Forum is deeply disturbing as teachers are encouraged to tell pupils in sex education lessons that porn is 'not all bad', is 'hugely diverse', and to talk about all aspects of porn. Parents will surely be horrified by this.

Melanie Kendry

English Teacher, Tutor and Writer

My son said he was afraid of getting the answers wrong because he wanted to impress me. He'd tense up and breathe faster when we started practising the times tables. The solution came by accident. I asked him to answer 'smoothly', not fast, gave him a big hug and told him we need to make mistakes to learn.

James Kempton

Associate Director, Education and Social Policy at CentreForum, the liberal think tank

If there is one measure that will tell us that the RCOT has been a success in rebuilding the self confidence of teachers (other than hitting ambitious levels of pupil achievement), it will be in ending the appalling drop out rate among teachers from the profession.

Benjamin Butterworth

Student, London School of Economics

It would be a lie to suggest that nothing changes. I no longer throw extended, highly emotional screaming matches at being forced to eat sprouts, like I did when I was 12. Or wet the bed, like I did when I was 12. But fundamentally, it doesn't feel so different. I for one prefer a Tracey Beaker omnibus and ice cream to paying bills.