September 2021

  • Education: A Very Short Introduction

    A second edition of Gary Thomas's OUP publication, Education: A Very Short Introduction, has now been published.  When this book first appeared in 2013, with its stimulating, readable approach, I thought it was so good that the Department of Education ought...

  • Smooth words from a Secretary of State

    This is the text of a letter that the (now ex-) Secretary of State for Education – Gavin Williamson – sent to Teach the Future's campaign co-ordinator, Tess Corcoran: 7 September 2021 Dear Tess, Thank you for your letter of...

  • High-flying environmental education

    As I noted the other day, the University of Reading held a Climate Education Summit on September 15th.  It aimed to attract young people, scientists, teachers, policy wonks and activists in order to create "a new, nationwide action plan for...

  • Will Gibb survive this time?

    A cabinet reshuffle is taking place, and speculation is rife that the gaffe-prone Education Secretary of State, Gavin Williamson, is due for the chop.  And chopped he has been No 10 has confirmed. Of more interest to me is what...

  • COP26 : a Guide to Glasgow

    I'll not be going to COP26 in Glasgow in November but here's some advice for those who are: –  You'll be drinking lots of beer to help you get through the tedious hangings around that accompany all such meetings.  You...

  • Reading between the Lines

    The University of Reading is holding a Climate Education Summit on September 15th.  It aims to attract young people, scientists, teachers, policy wonks and activists to create "a new, nationwide action plan for better climate education in schools and colleges"....

  • The Countryside in 1970

    Trouble House Halt was the first station you came to if you travelled by train from Tetbury to Cirencester.  It is close to what is usually regarded as the source of the Thames.  Though now long gone, the Halt was...

  • Fritillary Romano

    A while back, the Romans built a road from Charterhouse in Mendip to their settlement at what we know as Old Sarum just north of modern Salisbury.  Part of its purpose would have been to transport minerals.  The road ran for...