Durell Barnes

Dec 3, 2024 | schoolmanagementplus.com | Andy Kemp |Tom Arrand |Irena Barker |Durell Barnes

When seven former education ministers from across the political divide join forces to call for bold action, surely the incumbent must act. Collectively they highlight the need to move away from an overly exam-based system to a forward-looking education which includes character, creative thinking, problem solving and other skills, alongside the best of the more traditional aspects of our current system.

Oct 13, 2024 | schoolmanagementplus.com | Irena Barker |Durell Barnes |Aidan Warlow |Tom Arrand

Roughly speaking, the proportion of suitable applicants to Oxford and Cambridge who receive an offer to those who do not, is approximately 1:8. This is the first thing I explain to aspiring Year 12 students who have decided to take the first tentative steps on the Oxbridge journey.

Oct 1, 2024 | schoolmanagementplus.com | Irena Barker |Durell Barnes

Cambridge International has announced the launch of digital exams in six subjects from June 2026. Students at schools in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa and the US will be the first to take exams on laptops, including the AS English general paper and multiple-choice questions in IGCSE accounting, economics, biology, chemistry and physics. This first phase will be followed by a wider global rollout of digital exams across Cambridge IGCSE, International AS and A-level curricula.

Sep 25, 2024 | schoolmanagementplus.com | Irena Barker |Durell Barnes

Schools and educators have been invited to take part in a call for evidence for the Government’s new Curriculum and Assessment Review. The review, led by Professor Becky Francis, is asking for “suggestions and proposals to help them improve the curriculum and assessment system”. The call for evidence, launched today (Sept 25), says the review panel wants to hear feedback on what works, what doesn’t work, what is not helpful and suggestions for improvements.

Sep 25, 2024 | schoolmanagementplus.com | Irena Barker |Durell Barnes

“There are mixed views about reform of assessment across the independent sector,” says Kate Howell, director of education at The Heads’ Conference (HMC). Some people, she says, are “very much for exams” and the current system, believing it to be the fairest form of assessment. Others, she says, “feel it’s very constraining” and doesn’t equip children with the right skills for the future.