Last week, I had a panicky phone call from my friend Alice Sharp asking me to get on twitter and read about the Channel 4 programme which proposes using a dog trainer to help parents manage their babies and toddlers. Watch the trailer clip here. This has caused outrage from many. Nursery World Magazine ran … Continue reading Train Your Baby Like A Dog?

It was the longest and largest consultation Ofsted has ever undertaken (four months with 100 focus groups and 250 pilots across the sector) and consequently 15,000 people replied.  Lesson to Ofsted, and the DfE may listen, but if you really want our views; give it enough time, be visible, share the information widely and people … Continue reading Ready, Steady: The New Education Inspection Framework has Arrived

If my future were determined just by my performance on a standardized test, I wouldn't be here. I guarantee you that.  Michelle Obama In 1994, I took my four-year-old daughter on a march against nursery vouchers, the first move to place four-year olds into school. I was dismayed at the idea of putting children into … Continue reading I am too busy being a child to be tested

Many will have watched the Extinction Rebellion unfolding on the streets of Westminster with probably a mixture of bemusement, support and irritation. In the last week I have experienced all three of these emotions, as someone working in Westminster I have to trudge wearily from place to place, held up by people of all ages … Continue reading Social Enterprise: using ethical fashion to change lives and save the planet

To be honest, cultural capital is not the usual conversation piece. But it is both a conscious and unconscious part of our everyday lives. Now that Ofsted has introduced the concept into the new Education Inspection Framework it will become more conscious for many people. In 2011, I started to investigate how I could put … Continue reading What is Cultural Capital?